Day 15: September 19. A day of adventure!

Had a lovely breakfast this morning at the hostel before we embarked on our tour. The tour was guaged to go from 9-6:30ish, and took us on 200 km of terrain, all throughout Cappadocia.

Our first stop was Pigeon Gorge, although the guide only spoke briefly there. We went on to visit the underground cities, parts of which date to the 2nd and 3rd centuries B.C., and which housed from 2000 to 40,000 people in different eras. The city we toured was ingeniously laid out, with areas for animals, communal kitchens and living spaces, a church, a missionary for studying, safe-guards against attackers (as the cities were bulit as a refuge for the Turkish people when under seige), a temporary graveyard, and even a winery! It was an ingenious set-up; Karla and I were thoroughly impressed.

After the underground city, we were taken to Ihlara Gorge. There, we saw a couple of cave churches whose paintings were still visible from the 10th century! We hiked 3 Km (about 1.5 miles) and then stopped seemingly in the middle of the woods for lunch (more beef stew!).

After a nap in the van, we arrived at the Selime monastary. This was outstanding. We had to climb up quite a bit in order to see anything, but once we got up there, we were able to explore these caves built into the side of cliffs that were used by monks, and later nomads and herders. By far the most impressive was the cathedral: it was huge and carved out of the cliff...complete with frescos and all! We couldn't really even imagine what it would have been like to live there, having to climb that far up to get home, and greeting every day perched on what felt like the end of the world!

After taking in as much as we could in the allotted time at Selime, we got back in the van and drove to a different viewpoint at Pigeon Gorge. This time we listened to an "explanation" about how jewelry is made, which was really a thinly veiled shameless plug for this onyx store.

Instead of staying at the store and eventually taking the van back to Goreme, Karla and I joined a fellow American on our tour (named Joe) on a hike through Pigeon Gorge. This was outstanding. We had a bit of trouble finding our path, but with the map, three good senses of dorection, and the help of some friendly Spaniards, we were able to walk all the way back to Goreme. The Gorge was even more beautiful from the bottom: we saw more caves that aee currently inhabited, as well as the owners harvesting the veggies that were growing in their gardens. The sun was starting to set as we entered the village, and the view was incredible. Even our pictures don't do it justice!

Hungry from our long walk, we three sat down to a great dinner, then were joined for dessert by our friend Jake (who we had met on the train to Ankara) and his new buddy Daniel.

Tomorrow we'll go see the Open Air Museum!
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Day 14: Thursday September 18. Two week anniversary.

After saying goodbye to our friends in Ankara thia morning, we took the bus down to Goreme in the region of Anatolia (aka Cappadocia). The bus took shorter than expected - 4 hours instead of 5 - so we had time to explore a bit after settling into our quaint hostel.

We saw some magnificent pencil-like rock and volcanic ash formations, and saw caves where people used to live on the side of the mountain. After our brief walk, we had a great dinner of beef stew cooked in a clay pot. The owner of the restaurant had to break the pot right in front of us so that we could eat it! We also tried raki, the traditional Turkish liqueur...it tasted like alcoholic licorish, and neither of us could finish it.

After dinner, we shared a couple of bottles of regional wine with some people staying at our hostel. Supposedly Cappadocia is the best wine-growing region in Turley, but we weren't all that impressed. Maybe tomorrow we'll taste something better!
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Day 13: Sept 17.

Started off the day with a lovely breakfast with Ugur and Irmak at the university cafeteria. We then had to move our stuff from the guesthouse where we stayed last night to a different university guesthouse (for guests of professors) because the first place didn't have enough room for tonight. Along the way, we got to stop and meet Ugur's twin brother who also teaches at the university, and studies tsunamis. He showed us his lab and explained a little bit about the experiments that he performs which was really cool!

After getting directions from Ugur's brother, we got to our guesthouse for the night. This guesthouse is gorgeous though - we have a kitchenette and a living room in addition to our beds and private bath - we're living in luxury (especially compared to the 5-person dorm room we shared in Istanbul!)

After checking in, we dropped Ugur off at his office, and Irmak took us to lunch with a couple of her friends. It was a really cute cafe, and we felt like we could have been anywhere else in the world with people our age in a city which was an interesting and cool feeling.

Irmak had to go to work after lunch, so Karla and I walked to the Attaturk Museum in the north of Ankara. It was very interesting, both in the information it provided about the history of the Turkish republic (for example it was only established in 1922 and at this time the Turkish language was invented from a mixture of Arabic and Persian!), and the way in which it honored Attaturk. As complete outsiders to the culture who were learning much of the Turkish history for the first time, Karla and I felt like the Turkish people almost revered Attaturk, in addition to respecting him and the great work he did in establishing the Republic of Turkey. The museum definitely helped us to understand many parts of the culture that had formerly been alien to us.

Upon leaving the museum, we walked back to the office, where we briefly met Irmak's lovely mother, and had a chance to check our email. Irmak then took us out for a delicious dinner of kebabs, and dropped us back off at the guesthouse.

Tomorrow we're heading out to Cappadocia which is supposed to be one of the most beautiful areas in Turkey. Although we're going to miss being treated like princesses in Ankara...
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Day 12, Sept. 16: A Day of Rest

Although we woke up at 7am, we had a pretty easy day. That didn't stop us from eating our baklava we bought yesturday on two occasions.

We took the metro to the ferry to get to the train, again crossing into Asia. Unfortunately none of these modes had the special student rate this time as we were in more of a rush.

The six and a half hour train ride was quite fun. It was nice to watch the varied countryside as we rolled by. There were mountains in the background and flatter greenery and prairie lands in the foreground. We passed through some small towns that had apartments instead of houses, topped with adobe roofing. We passed farms and fields of melon and corn. We passed gypsy villages and stretches of nothing. The train was not very full overall. We learned later that buses were the prefered mode of cheaper public transportation. Apparently they are faster and safer but how were we to know....it was a very clean and new train, and we never felt unsafe.

When we arrived in Ankara, we started walking toward the office building of one of Alicia's parents' clients. We were struck by how different Ankara is from Istanbul! Ankara could be any city in the developed world: it has wide streets, a grid plan, large office buildings, etc.

What looked like a mile walk - a piece of cake at this point! - turned into an hour and a half journey. The road we wwre following (Attaturk Blvd, the biggest road in Ankara) had turned without us realizing. So we stopped to regroup, when we were approached by a university student who not only spoke English (well!), but went about 45 minutes out of her way to walk with us to the office. It was above and beyond hospitality!

At the office, we were greeted by Mr. Yalciner and his daughter, Irmak. Irmak took us out to a delicious dinner next door to the office, and introduced us to four of her friends. We had a very fun evening, making all of Irmak's friends practice their English!

At around 10:30 we returned to the office and printed a map of the city, before the Yalciners kindly drove us to the guesthouse. It's by far the nicest place we've stayed - what a change from hostels!

Tomorrow we may meet up again with one of Irmak's friends to go to the Attaturk museum.
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Day 11: September 15, How Bazaar!

We started off the day by going to the bazaar district. As it was along the metro line, we were able to take the 100 % discouted student metro ticket on the way there. Ok, we walked.

Once there, we entered a never ending maze of shops and vendors. I was looking for a scarf and alicia was looking for a table lamp. The lamps were made of glass mosaic and looked especially beautiful when you entered a store full of them. We walked and looked for a long time, all the while with our bargining faces on. Unfortunately it didn't stop everyone from yelling "yes please," "hello," or just whatever english they knew when we walked by. We even had someone yell "1,2,3,4" to us yesturday. So once I'd found a gorgeous scarf, we grabbed a water (when its cold we call it nector of the gods) and headed to the spice bazaar. It was much smaller than the grand bazaar but we both thought it was really great. The spices, candy, and dried fruits all smelled amazing. So far Turkey's smells have caught my attention more than anywhere else I've ever been. We bought some dried dates, a few delicous walnut baklava morsels (tastes like the nut dessert for everyone who knows what I mean), and then some what turned out to be some not so delicious turkish candies. We can't help it when it comes to trying sweets. After having some tea, we decided to go back to the grand bazaar to find a lamp once and for all (and for a good price of course). At least looking is free everywhere, or so they all kept telling us.

By this time we were pretty tired, so we sat down by the ferries while we tried to figure out our next move. We wanted to see how we could take a ferry to the train station on the Asian side of Istanbul. While looking at ferry times, a waiter offered to help and to sit and have tea for free at the restaurant. In need of some refreshment and a bathroom we warily accepted. Turns out he was just trying to be nice in the spirit of Ramadan. After this we went to buy our train tickets to Ankara for the next morning at 10 am. But first we decided to check out this beautiful mosque that was right by the water. It turned out to be absolutely stunning. Unlike the Blue Mosque, right by the Hagia Sophia, this mosque was mostly decorated with painted tile rather than painted walls. It was smaller but it felt airy yet cozy. A good find overall.

From here we walked up towards Taksim square along the lively street from the night before to find the restaurant we never made it to. It was a little more expensive than we thought, so we went looking for another eatery. We found a place and ordered wraps with meat filling. It wasn't enough to fill us so we ordered a bowl of soup. They thought we were nuts for getting the appetizer after the main course. Oh well. The soup was delicious.

After dinner we checked out some turkish icecream. I have to preface this with saying that occasionally you will walk by an icecream vendor and they will stick a rod into the icream and pull the whole glob of it out and swing it around in the air a bit and then put it back. Turns out that their icream is like a frozen goo, and to eat it you can't use a spoon. You have to pretty much bite the icecream off. We both decided that the chocolate was the best if we had had to eat it again.

It was another long day. Check back tomorrow.
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Day 10: September 14. Journey to the Black Sea

Trying to beat the crowds, we headed to the Aya Sophia in the morning. Although this "World Heritage Site" was still jam-packed, we adroitly weaved through the crowds to explore this building of paramount importance to two world religions. We were able to see mosaics that had been created before the Muslim religon even began! The two things that struck is about the Aya Sophia were its pure size (the buliding is HUGE!) and the fact that it's been around for over a millenium and a half!

After a brief stop to our hostel, to grab our sea-faring attire, we made our way to the Bosphorous Ferry. The scenery on the asian and european sides were beatiful. Did you know that Istanbul is the only city in the world on two continents? Its also the the most populated city in Europe and the third most populated in Asia. We just so happen to be going to the top two.

We took the ferry to where the Bosphorus meets the Black Sea. It was Karlas first in Asia. Horray. We hiked up to a castle at the last stop (surprising, we know) to get a better view of the sea. Unlike the rest of the castles we've seen, this one had not been destroyed by the turks. We hiked back down and had a delicious snack of mackerel (spelling?) Before heading back to the 6oclock ferry. The view on the way back was amazing as it was a twilight. We arrived right at the call to prayer and everyone started to eat.

Getting pretty hungry ourselves, we walked to find "the best baklava in town" and then headed into the heart of istanbuls nightlife which is also known for great restaurants.

Unfortunately, as our Turkish isn't great, we sat down at the wrong restaurantm we were halfway through our meal when karla looked up at the awning and realized that this was not in fact the restaurant we had intended to go to. It worked out fine in the end, not only because the food was good, but also because we happened upon some Turkish university students who spoke great English, and had the opportunity to hang out with them and watch a soccer match for a bit after dinner.

Hopefully tomorrow we'll make it to the right restaurant!
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