Turkey....it isn't just for Thanksgiving.
Istanbul
Merhaba/hello from Turkey. Pour yourself a glass of apple tea (my new favorite drink), and hunker down for the first installment of my Turkish adventure.
I arrived in Istanbul Sat. night. Though my flight was 2 and a half hours delayed leaving LA, I still managed to catch my connection in Franfurt, which was good news considering the other option was a 9 and a half hour layover in Frankfurt. The bad news is that my bag didn`t have the same luck, so I didn`t get my luggage until Sun morning. I figure once you`ve passed the 2 day mark in the same clothes, one more day isn`t going to matter.
I checked in to a B&B type place around 7pm. Not a lot of english being spoken, but
the place was cute and the room was practically all red, so I was happy. I wandered around the city a while to work off some jet lag. The city`s monuments were all lit up making for a beautiful backdrop and introduction to Istanbul. People and cars were everywhere. I saw a bus hit a man walking on the street (note to self, stay out of streets).I can`t say I found the city super easy to navigate. It`s a complex network of streets shooting off in every direction, and they aren`t well marked. Even when they were marked, it didn`t matter, because there aren`t any good detailed maps of the city. The city has been around a bit longer than the grid system, but I think they could stand to benefit from it. Even taxi drivers wouldn`t know the street where I was staying. So needless to say, I was quite proud of myself for finding a restaurant I wanted to go to on the first night. It was a part of the train station, end of the line for the Orient Express. People dress pretty well for dinner I quickly noticed as I scanned the room while trying to flatten my matted plane hair and 2 day old clothes. The guy said there were no more tables left inside, but that I could sit outside. Yeah, no more tables for the riff raff, but luckily riff raff doesn`t translate in Turkish, so he kindly led me outside, which was much cooler than indoors and had a great view of the trains outside. I had a great meal of lamb on a bed of pureed eggplant. Melted in the mouth, which was probably just as well since the local red wine I had was a bit difficult to get down. It was really cold and very medicinal. This could be a long trip.
Got a good night`s sleep and started the next day in the same clothes from the night before..and the night before that...Breakfast was served on the roof of the hotel with great water and city views. Nice spread of scrambled eggs, hot dogs in sauce (go figure), cold cuts, cereals, olives, fruits, and cheese. Yes, they have cheese pretty much at every meal, so things are looking up.
I decided to take a tour my first day to see some of the major sites and get some historical and cultural background on the city. I was very glad I did because it added more local flavor and history than I could have gotten on my own. On top of that, I met several cool, independent female travelers, 2 of which I hung out with my 2 nights in Istanbul.
The tour went to the major attractions in Istanbul;
Aya Sofia which was commissioned in the 6th century and for some time was the largest enclosed space in the world.
The Blue Mosque named for its over 22,000 blue tiles on the inside.
Topkapi Palace where some of the great rulers of the time lived. They had a Treasury section which housed some amazing gems like an 86 carat diamond. 
We also went to the oldest mosque in the country and 2 of the girls I had met ran into a guy the work with (in NY!). Very random. He ended up going out with us that night, which was great because he was visiting some locals and knew some good places to go.
The 4 of us had a really nice seafood 
dinner. Fish was served for 4 in a big copper pot with a bunch of fabulous seasonings. We drank white wine there as they said it was their finest. Was definitely better than the red. Tasted like Pinot Grigio. We then hit the European side of Istanbul and wandered down a happening street in the Beyoglu area. It was Midnight on a Sunday, and the place was filled with people, mostly locals. Had a great dessert - love the baklava.
Next day after breakfast, I headed out on my own to get a taste of the neighborhoods. I had to start with the
Grand Bazaar which is home to over 2600 individual shops, all strung together indoors. Each shop has 2 or 3 guys working there and trying to get you to buy their goods. Lots of haggling while selling everything from leather to gold to lamps to clothes...you name it. I then went to the spice bazaar - pretty much the same thing, but with spices. The aroma is unreal.
After I couldn`t take any more of the men hollering and haggling, I grabbed a taxi and headed out of Sultanhmet, the old city. A Turkish friend told me about a cool neighborhood north of the city with great shopping. Right she was. It was the Beverly Hills of Istabul. The people were all beautiful, shops nice, and very clean. Had a quiet lunch at an outdoor cafe and sat and read and wrote for a while before coming back into the hustle and bustle of the downtown area.
That night I met the girls for dinner and belly dancing. We weren`t belly 
dancing, though somehow I ended up on getting pulled on stage with the Turkish dancers. I`m not sure how that always happens to me, but I do have some pictures to prove it. Had another good meal and enjoyed some live Turkish entertainment. The two girls I was with live in NY, but are from the Philipines and S. Africa. Interesting people who I just may see again in NY.
Today was a cruise on the Bosphrous which separates the European and
Asian sides of Turkey. Was a nice ride with good views of the city and surrounding areas. I ended up getting off the boat at a small fishing village, evidently not much of a tourist stop, which made for getting back into town an interesting exercise into charades.
I capped the day off with a visit to a turkish haman or bath. Talk about an experience. The haman is separated into two halves for men and women. You get a locker and strip down and walk into this interesting round room behind an enormous wooden door. It`s all tile and in the middle is a big round raised platform. On the sides are little faucets with small basins underneath. So you lay on the big round wheel in the middle (yes there are others next to you doing the same). The tile is very warm and meant to loosen you up. You lay there for about 15 minutes and then a woman comes over and taps you to come lay and the edge of the wheel. She is only in her underwear (don`t worry, this is all legal). She starts by dumping an enormous bucket of water on you. A handshake may have been a little friendlier, but when in Rome. She then takes this loofah type mit and scrubs you head to toe...and when I say head to toe, I mean head to toe and front to back. No stone is left unturned. I`m now laying in a pool of my own dead skin. She then walks me over to the little faucet and gets the bucket and dumps about 5 of them on me, turning me each time...as if I won the superbowl...again and again and again. She pushes me back to the wheel and I`m laying down, unsure what`s going to happen next and then she dumps about a foot of sudsy bubbles on me. I`m covered in them and they`re super thick. Wash cloth comes out and again she cleans me every which way times ten. Did I mention I`m paying her for this? After much suds-ing, we`re back to the faucet and the buckets on top of the head. As if there could still possibly be any dirt left anywhere on my body, she takes some soap type object and starts washing my hair. No, I mispoke, she washed my head....and in case you`re unfamiliar with my head it includes my eyes, nose, mouth, cheeks....she`s rubbing the whole thing with vigor and there are enormous foot thick bubbles. Is anyone wondering yet on how to breathe during this process? About 10 seconds in, I certainly was. I tried holding my breath for a little while, but the washing kept continuing so I tried for gasps between maulings. Then the water bucket comes, again and again and again...and again I`m left to wonder on the breathing thing. Then it`s over and she leads me back to the wheel to rest or die or whatever it is you`re supposed to do after that experience. Actually, besides the head washing, it was really nice. I don`t think I`ve ever been so clean. My skin is baby soft.
Now it`s time to leave Istanbul, and I`m ready. I really enjoyed the history and culture of the city, but it can suck the life out of you. Besides the tourists walking around the city, the other people on the streets were probably 90% Turkish men. I saw very few Turkish women and if I did see them, their heads were covered. The men are very aggressive, constantly calling out to you, "lady." I got everything from nice hair, to nice watch, to nice fingernails (?). One persistent Turk walked (or was the followed) me for about half a mile during which time I learned he lived in CA for a little while. He loved the Sunset Strip, especially the Standard, because of the woman displayed in a plexiglass box behind reception. Ah, the things that cross cultural boundaries.
So needless to say, I was ready for a change of pace and that`s just what I`m getting in Capadocia. I`ve gone from Istanbul population nearly 12 million to Urgup population 15,000. It`s truly spectacular.
Capadocia 
Before I tell you of the rest of my time in Turkey, I must first make a confession. My name is Kelly Page and I`m a caffeine junkie. I`m addicted to Turkish tea. I`m sure all addicts say this, but really, it`s not my fault. It`s everywhere and when you say no to a Turk offering you tea, they lookd at you like you said you hated their family and country. Doesn`t matter if you say no, because they bring it to you anyway. I was hiking in the middle of these remote mountains and bam, there's a cup of tea, exploring the oldest church in Turkey, another guy giving you tea. Don`t know where they get it, but I can't stop drinking it..literally. So now that we`ve gotten that out of the way, here`s the rest of my tale of Turkey.
My time in Capadocia couldn`t have been more different than Istanbul. I arrived at night so couldn`t see much, but could hear nothing, which was such a change from Istanbul. I took a shuttle from the airport with a bunch of Turks (one who worked at my hotel and couldn't have been nicer with his broken English). A guy from the hotel greeted me when they dropped me off and showed me to my room and told me to come up and fill out some paperwork...whenever I felt like it. It was about 9pm and I was starving and of course ready for a bad glass of Turkish wine, so I headed up to register and see if I could get some food somewhere.
The hotel reception was attached to a large, open aired rock terrace. The guy told me to sit at one of the tables outside on the terrace and he'd bring me the papers and would I like a glass of wine. Oh yes, I like this place a lot. When I enquired about food, he said, they'd make me whatever I wanted. Next thing I know, I'm eating, drinking and hanging out with the hotel guy whose English was very good. He was telling me about the area and I was giving him some marketing tips on the hotel. I was then appropriately ready to retire.
Where did I retire - to my cave room. Capadocia used to be home to many active volcanoes which caused the soil to be soft so people dug their homes in the sides of mountains. Coming to Capadocia, I thought it only appropriate to stay in a cave. This place was so 
amazing. It's open air with walkways carved out of the mountain and then there was my room, attached TO the mountain. Big heavy wood door and wood floor, but the rest...all cave. Good size bed in the room with 2 sitting areas coming out of the walls, or mountain, with lots of pillows on it. A true built-in fireplace was also in the corner of the room. Was really a great room and I had the best night's sleep.
I woke to the phone ringing. I was completely disoriented, but eventually answered the phone and it was the hotel guy from the night before telling me that my tour had come and gone. I was supposed to meet the tour at 9:30 and it was 9:45. I completely overslept and slept I did for 11 hours. The thing about sleeping in caves is that they're dark, cool and you can't hear a thing. Guess who likes sleeping in caves? The hotel guy luckily was so nice that he talked to the tour group and arranged a private tour for me. Wasn't sure how much that was going to set me back, but everything is really spread out in the area, so I didn't have much choice.
I went to the terrace for a quick breakfast before my guide got there and was stunned by the view. All you see is a gold colored canvas. It almost looks dead, but the volcano left this golden ground cover and the soil is really rich...and thus is home to some of their best wines (or so I can only hope). Next thing I know a cute, young Turk sits down at my table and introduces himself as Fatih, my tour guide for the day. I finish breakfast and Fatih, a driver who spoke no English, and I load up in a little mini-van to see the area.
We started in the underground city of Kaymakli. During war times, the people would need to hide from their enemies and they did this by moving their whole world underground. They had living rooms, kitchens, ventilation chambers and even the animals would move underground with them. They would live there up to 6 months at a time. I had been told by several people it can be a bit claustrophobic under there. There was 8 levels and each was connected with complex, and extremely narrow passageways. I was ok through most of it. Just couldn't think about how far down I was, and that you couldn't go out the same way you came in. I started to get a little cocky and let Fatih take 
me down some passageways that had absolutely no light. He was using his cell phone light when there were bumps in the floor to look out for. It was pretty cool until we kept not coming out into an open area. I'm literally hunched over half my size and barely can fit my body straight through the width. You kind of had to go at an angle. When I was on hands and knees in the pitch black, I had to call stella. We were back in the light in no time. It was really an interesting experience, but was happy to see sunshine afterwards.
We then went to the Ilhara Canyon and did some great hiking through mountains, along a stream and in the middle of pistachio 
and blackberry trees. I had never seen a fresh pistachio but we picked them off the trees and they tasted quite different. It was 2 weeks until harvest and evidently they will be fantastic soon. After an hour or so following the stream we came to a clearing and there was a cute little restaurant on the water. We
had a great lunch and ate fresh yogurt, which was amazing. More good food and of course tea. We did more hiking in the afternoon and explored some of the natural wonders of the area like the Rose Valley which had interesting pink colored rock formations. The volcano and erosion has left so many unique sites. Hopefully my pictures will do it justice. I was dropped back to the hotel at the end of the day and Fatih said he'd see me again tomorrow for the rest of the tour.
My cave hotel is pretty high up...seeing as it's attached to a mountain and all, so I decided to take a walk into town and see what was cooking. The walk was pretty steep downhill, but on the way down I picked up a familiar smell. Then I saw a familiar site and realized I was passing a winery. So I went a snooping when I saw doors open at the winery. There were about 10 men gathered around a bar and it looked to me like they were sampling wine, so I pushed my way in and asked if I could taste. It's that moment when you hear loud music and the record scratches when you speak and there's silence, but I stood my ground. I was determined to find some drinkable wine in this area. So the guy says white OR red. I'm perplexed and thinking about my trip to New Zealand where they lined up 15 different bottles starting with bubbles and ending in dessert wine. So I say both? Then the pouring begins. Nothing too good, but I have a hard time getting him back and he doesn't seem anxious to pour anything else, but I get him to pour 2 more that aren't much better. But I have a white that's actually nice and decided to cut my losses and buy the bottle I liked. Feeling satisfied, I went into town to a restaurant I heard about.
I walked in to find that I was the only person in there, but it was too late. I was spotted and they were already whisking me to a table. It turned out to be a great meal. The lamb was soft and tender and they grilled some mushrooms for me that just melted in my mouth. Good stuff.
I walked back up the big hill to my cave and had a decent night's sleep, but not too good since I didn't want to oversleep again. I had breakfast on the terrace and watched hot air balloons soar passed the valley. Fatih showed up and off we went with the Turkish, non-English speaking driver. I asked if any others were joining and he said there were 4 others but they made other plans. I never did have to pay more for a private tour and I got one for 2 days. 
We started in "imagination valley," named because it's filled with enormous rock formations and you're supposed to use your imagination as to what they look like. You really could see things in them like when you see shapes in clouds. We did some great rock climbing that day and explored the valley for a while.
We then went to Zelve Open Air museum where we did more rock 
climbing and hiking. There's so many huge valleys and they cut churches into the mountains and made living quarters. This time he took me through some passageways underground which were pitch black like the underground city, but I was able to do it since we weren't miles underground. The only tricky part was when Fatih said now, feel with your feet, but there's about 10 stairs going down right here. It was ok though and actually really fun.
We stopped in Avanos for lunch. Fatih is from Avanos so we ate at one of his favorite lunch spots and I had my first ever yogurt soup (fantastic) and the best baklava ever. Avanos is the center for terra cotta since 3000 BC so we went to a potter's place and I got a pottery demonstration and even got to try my hand at the wheel. I made a lop sided vase, but the guy helped me and gave me the piece to take home. I decided it best he keep it.
We did more hiking in the Goerme Open Air Museum, home to one of the most famous churches. Many of the churches had hand painted frescoes of religious scenes. This one was spectacularly preserved. This was right where someone offered me tea...coming out of the church. Go figure. The day finished at Uchisar, another beautiful destination. I can't even do justice to what I saw in Capadocia - the countryside, the rock formations, the mountains and the incredibly nice people of the area. It was the highlight of my trip.
Ephesus
I caught a flight to Izmir that night. I had to fly through Istanbul and that flight was delayed so I didn't end up getting in until 2am. A guy from the hotel who spoke no English picked me up with the owner's daughter who learned a little English 8 years ago in school. So you can imagine how the 3 of us yucked it up on the 45 minute ride to the hotel. When we were driving the girl asked if they could buy me a soda or tea. This was about a 10 cup of tea day for me, so I didn't need any more caffeine at 2am. The girl said, he'd really like to get you something to drink. I told her water would be great. She nodded and we stopped at a gas station where I was handed a can of Coke. Do you see what I mean...these people are caffeine pushers!
I check in the hotel and flop down on my tiny little twin bed about 3am. I sleep a little while before hearing much noise around 7a. I miss my cave. I'm staying in Selcuk, near the ruins of Efes. I'm taking a tour here too to get around to the other sites and hear the history.
I'm picked up by Vulcan, the tour guide and I'm fortunate to have only 1 other passenger, Leon, an architect from NY. He was a really good guy and we had a great day seeing the sights. We started at Meryemana, where it's believed Mary lived her final days. That was followed by the tour of the ruins in Ephesus. We were battling an in coming storm, but only a few drops came. We capped the day of history at the Selcuk Museum. Vulcan took us to some other touristy shopping destinations and when he was wrapping up, I started to push him on taking me to this wine region called Sirince. I heard it was a great, small little wine making village that was not overrun by tourists. He hesitated and said we'd need to pay for gas (gas was about $6/gallon there!), but then I got Leon in on it and we both chipped in some money and got them to take us there.
This was the highlight of the area. It's a 60 year old Greek stone village. Wine making was continued in the area by the Muslim Turks in the 1920s. It was up and over a huge mountain. When we came into the little village, someone with a clipboard stopped us and I asked what that was for and Vulcan said they count how many people come into the village so they can get money for things like a paved street or more electricity. We were let out and Vulcan took us to a great little wine shop and the guy poured away. I can't say the wine was that good, but I felt like I had to buy something to keep the village running. The guy eventually poured some of the fruit wines and I really liked the blackberry one so I bought a bottle and Leon did as well.
Vulcan then wandered with us and he wanted to go see an old friend who had a shop. He stopped to chat and I looked at the shop which had really cool jewelry that the guy Vulcan knew did by hand. He was the oldest jeweler in the area. Turned out he also ended up designing jewelry for Brad Pitt in Troy and is doing some things for Lord of the Rings. If you could see this guy, this shop, this town, you'd have laughed at the thought. I hope they're paying him enough. I of course had to support the cause and ended up buying a really cool ring that I can't believe he sold me for only $14. In Istanbul it would have been $200. He even took off all my other rings and took them to a machine to professionally polish each one, so it now looks like I have 4 new rings! We wandered the town a bit more and were completely amazed, but it was time to go. I was dropped back to my hotel happy as could be. Had a good dinner at my place and then headed to the airport in the morning to begin my Greece journey.
It was a long day of flying. Izmir to Istanbul. Istanbul to Athens. Collecting my bags in Athens and then rechecking them to Santorini, only when I did that they said they had no record of my ticket. Turns out I had a ticket to Thesoloniki, but not Santorini. The girl could change the city no problem, but there was only one more flight to Santorini that day and it was sold out. She said I could try and stand by, and I did. I lucked out and they stuck me on the last seat of the plane. I arrived in Santorini at sunset and I immediately feel a world away from Turkey...not to mention the US. I'm a bit put off by all the English speaking tourists here, but I guess that's me too. Danika arrives early tomorrow morning and then we start our Greek island adventure.
Phew. I really don't think I'll have this extensive of an update from Greece...unless of course you want to hear about all of the drinks and sunsets we see. Turkey was wonderful. A great experience that I would recommend to everyone. Off to bed now!
