Touring Athens

ATHENS June 21 - 24, 2009

We welcomed Athens with open arms, and the mood was reciprocated. After getting a cab with relative ease to our hotel, we were able to navigate the public transit (with assitance from our hotel desk clerk) to an area not far from the hotel where we had an amazing dinner with, as expected, excellent wine. We also realized that the 80s style is back in a big way, as evidenced from the hot pink tights this young woman was sporting.

Having been pretty spent from ferry-traveling, we retired early that night, and admittedly, did not figure out how to pay for the use of the bus until the next day.

On Monday (the 22nd) we tried without success to enter the new Acropolis Museum. Though it was officially open to the public, we needed advance Internet reservations, which we didn't have. Bummed but determined to enjoy the beautiful day, we headed over to the ancient Acropolis (which is the name of the ancient Greek city) to see the Parthenon (which is the temple).

We didn't take a guided tour of the Parthenon, but highlights were the Dionysus Theatre and the Herod Atticus Theature. I won't go into a lot of the history here, but instead will let some of the pix speak for themselves.

Goddesses I loved this.

Parthenon view.

Senor felt at home here.

Having our trusty guidebook, we tried to find the Temple of Zeus, but first wandered up a small trail to the Philopappou Monument. I cannot remember what greatness Philoppaou is known for, but the view of the Parthenon from his monument was pretty grand.

After trying, in vain, to get an employee at the Acropolis to guide us to Zeus' Temple, we wandered around in other areas known for their spectacular ruins and called the Ancient Agora (what we thought was Zeus' Temple most of the day from far away views). This was the heart of ancient Athens for years and years and where political gatherings, debate, elections, theatre, athletics, religious occasions, and trading took place. However, it was repeatedly plundered and destroyed over the years, and it was last excavated in the 19th century with more effort going into it beginning in 1931. Having a great lunch after leaving the Ancient Agora, complete with Mythos Beer, we continued our journey until we finally came upon yes, you guessed it, ZEUS' Temple!

Lib holla-ing at Zeus' Temple!

It wasn't nearly as rad as we had hoped, but it still was pretty great, and we also got to see Hadrian's Arch. From their we wandered in the beautiful National Gardens where we came upon some delightful old men playing chess and a wild turtle. Soon, we came to a road that we discovered was in front of the President's residence, and just as the Changing of the Guard was taking place. A small group of men were filming some sort of TV show of the process, but we never did figure out what that was about. Being a huge nerd, I needed a photo with the guard. I am pretty sure he hated me, and all others like me who pose for such photos.

After my photo opp, we made it to the original Olympic Stadium that was re-used in recent years.

By now though, it was time for happy hour where we made it to a delightfully decorated watering hole. After our drink though, I hit the wall, and wanted nothing more to rest up for the night, and we soon ventured back to the hotel.

With only two days left in Athens (and the last day of holiday for Lib) we took the day fairly easy, doing some shopping and of course sampling more great food. The highlight was an open-air concert at the Herodeion at the Acropolis which featured a classical music concert by Thanos Mikroutsikos and was part of the Athens & Epidaurus Festival. We did end up leaving before it was over, partly due to the fact we had been there for three hours and partly because we had our fill of entertainment by the extremely enthusiastic woman in front of us who was overprotective of her seat cushion and had a little too much love for Thanos.

It was sad to send Lib off in her taxi to the airport, but I was so happy to have spent the time traveling together and took such great memories away from our trip! I was also lucky enough to get into the Acropolis Museum my last day in Athens, and it was very impressive, featuring tons of Greek sculpture. Including this Half-Faced Man.

Athens was a great city, but in comparison to Istanbul it didn't hold quite the same allure to me. I did wish we would have had time to go to Marathon though, the city where Pheidippides, the man who was said to have run the entire distance from Marathon to Athens to declare that the Athenians had been victorious over the Persians in the Battle of Marathon, started his fateful journey (he died of exhaustion after relaying his message of victory). I was thinking, maybe it would make me faster in the half-marathon I had coming up in a few days.

The Turkey/Greece leg of my adventure was certainly full of surprises, happy memories, and tons of fun. All the same I was very excited to be heading to England to meet two friends I had met on my southern India tour and oh yes, run a half-marathon.

Onto England!

Santorini, its sunsets and Captain Marcos

June 18th-June 20th, 2009

Whereas Mykonos was fun and beautiful, Santorini was beautiful, beautiful, beautiful. Arriving at the port, you are surrounded by rock face that seemingly shoots straight up--and sure enough, soon enough that is what you drive up to get to your hotel.

A popular spot for couples and honeymooners, it was appropriate that we crashed the party here, but it was also a welcome calm from Mykonos. More than anything for me, Santorini was marked by gorgeous sunsets and great food.

I seriously miss the feta and those Greek salads.

Santorini also has breathtaking beaches, but we didn't sunbathe on any here. We did see some that had the famous red sand though

Being rather spread out, the best way to see Santorini is again by renting a scooter or 4-wheeler. Our second 4-wheeler was just as fun as the first, and perhaps more comical as it did not have reverse so we had to push it everytime we wanted to back up.

One of my favorite stops on Santorini was Captain Marcos' restaurant. Our friend Jorgos that we had met on Mykonos used to live on Santorini and gave us the general location, and we were able to search it out. Basically, it is Captain Marcos and his wife's house, and we were the only people there, but they graciously obliged making us lunch of fresh (fried) fish, Greek salad, excellent white wine, and bread. (I think it was at this point my pants started getting much more snug).


We spent the rest of the day hitting up two wineries, spying on a cliff side wedding, and walking along a beautiful beach.


Before the day was over, we decided to drive up to Oia, the northernmost part of the island reknowned for its sunsets. Finding a poolside hotel, we sat back and enjoyed the amazing view.


The next day we joined a tour group for all day tour of Santorini, where we visited the Prophet Elias' Monastery, which is the highest point of the island and built in 1711, as well as Pygos Village.

Our tour continued with a boat ride to an active volcano that we got to hike around on for a bit, and also some hot springs that you could jump into from the boat (Libby took the plunge, I resisted based on my sub-par swimming skills).


Following a great seafood lunch of shrimp souvlaki, we boated over to again see the sunset at Oia. However, we landed at the base of the cliff, but had the option to take a donkey up the hill.

Of course, we took up that offer.

I am not sure if I have ever laughed as hard as when we rode the donkeys; the lady next to me was freaking out, and then the guy leading mine kept spanking the other donkeys. Overall, it was a high level of hilarity. However, we were a bit disappointed it did not bring us ALL The way to the top.

The evening wound down with more fun cocktails and this time, a windmill accenting our sunset.

Libby in the window giving a holla!

That night we were hungry for Mexican and despite our better judgment tried some Greek Mexican food. The guacamole was great, but the next day those choices were not quite so good. We left Santorini via ferry, with wine-filled, 4-wheeled memories and soon were to land on the mainland to see what Athens had in store for us.

Adios Turkey Hola Greek Islands

Paros & Mykonos; You only turn 30 once and have to Make the Dance
June 14 to 18th, 2009

When Libby and I talked and planned our trip, I had only one request--I wanted to go to Mykonos on my birthday. The only context I had for this was that it was a really good place to go out, they had good wine, and great beaches. Sounded good enough to me.

We left Kusadasi via Ferry early on the 14th, and with my second Twilight book in tow, had a few hour ride to the island of Samos, where we switched ferries to get to Mykonos but not before we had a delicious pizza lunch and some fried feta cheese.

It was already good to be in Greece.

With vistas like this, there is no room for complaints

Several chapters of "New Moon" (AKA Twilight Book #2) later, we arrived on the island of Paros where we were to spend one night.

Paros did not disappoint.

We stayed near the water, and leaving our guidebook behind, wandered the narrow streets and stumbled upon a beautiful, quaint church that was holding a service, and soon after came across Pebble Bar, with one of the most beautiful sunset views I had ever seen.



We enjoyed the sunset, and the wine, and on a recommendation of the owner, walked to have dinner at a small seafood restaurant that had no other customers, and thus the old man working treated us like royalty, bringing us Grappa shots for free (a Greek liquor) and leaving us very, very full. A bit too much wine and grappa later, we headed back to our hotel but not before playing some mean soccer with some teenage boys in the street with a lemon (I scored two goals).

As my 30th birthday dawned the next morning, I took advantage of the nice weather to take a short run before heading off to a delicious brunch, which consisted, among other things, a waffle covered with Nutella. I figure on my birthday, I can get away with anything.

We did a little more exploring and shopping that morning before we caught our next ferry to Mykonos, and most importantly, I bought the next Twilight book, "Eclipse". Happy Birthday to me!

Upon arrival in Mykonos, you are greeted by masses of people from surrounding hotels and hostels wanting to recruit your business. We already had a reservation, but we liked this guy:

After settling in to our place, we decided to walk into town; but it turns out our hotel was a bit "rural" and the walk took some time, but we were rewarded with beautiful scenes such as this along the way.

Having an early birthday dinner, we met an American couple from Alabama who had been coming to Mykonos for 18 years. The woman, Christine, was quite the southern diva and we were very entertained by her company, and her husband bore an uncanny resemblance to Trent Lott.

We then sauntered over to rent a four-wheeler, but not before we saw this fellow on the boardwalk:

Driving a four-wheeler was one of my favorite things we did on the islands. Not to mention that it made us laugh to know end that it was a bit tricky learning to drive it--and put gas in it. I also had some technical difficulties putting my helmet on correctly


As we headed back to our rural villa, we had a deep desire to go out that night because A) we were in Mykonos and B) it was my birthday. One small problem was transportation, because we did not want to drive our precious orange 4-wheeler if we were going to have some cocktails. Determined, at midnight we headed to the driveway, hoping against hope that in the dark, the town bus would pass and pick us up.

Just when I was succombing to the fact that maybe tonight was not our night, Maria, co-owner of the Villa, rolls up in her 15-passenger van and exclaims "Oh! You girls going to go make the dance!? Oh! I give you ride! You meet nice boys, Yes?!"

Thus, my birthday was extended into the wee hours, we met a delightful Dutch couple who shared some drinks with us, we later met some otehr friends, danced on a few tables, and completed the night at 7 a.m. with a chocolate croissant from a great small Greek bakery.

Our Dutch friends

After 4 hours of sleep, it was time to do the most important thing: Hit the beach. We 4-wheeled it to Super Paradise beach, which as you can tell, was fantastic:


After several hours on the beach, we headed back, continued trying Greek foods and loved them, and the next day headed to Paradise Beach, perhaps the most famous beach on Mykonos because of its party-time atmosphere. It was fun, but Super Paradise was preferred. Our last night in Mykonos consisted of me trying several cocktails that were no comparison to bourbon and ginger ale, and Libby becoming a fan of the Gin Fizz. Another late night, we decided Mykonos was fun for it food and its frolicking, but it was definitely time the next day to head to Santorini.

Rub a Dub Dub

American girls go to the Turkish Tub!
June 13th, 2009

Going to a Turkish Bath was on Libby's short list of things to do before we left Turkey. Being a good sport and also very interested in the process, I was game.

After our Ephesus tour, we did some research and happened upon one in walking distance from our hotel (after a bit of hassling from one man aiming to sell us stuff).

It not only met, but exceeded, our expectations.

A run down of the Turkish Bath process:

First of all, it is not a svelte 21-year-old muscular young man that rubs you down. Think, rather, of a roly-poly, hairy, pot-bellied, mustachioed large Turkish man.

When we arrived we were instructed to wrap ourselves in towels (swimsuit, optional, if you brought one), and then head back to a sauna type area (I had opted to only get the bath, not a massage, because I feared it was an oil massage like the one I had in India). We chatted with a Welsh couple who were also haivng their first Turkish Bath. As I sweated out every possible calorie from all the kufte I had ate the past week, I wondered just what I was getting myself into.

A short time later, we found out.

Mr. Roly-Poly comes in and shouts "COME!" to the Welsh couple, and they leave. Soon, he beckons Libby and I, and we obediently follow.

"SIT!" shouts the loud, plump Turkish man in the towel as he pours water over my unexpected head, and then washes my hair with a large bar of green soap that suspiciously resembles Lava. After we each get properly scrubbed and rinsed, we sit until he is finished with the Welsh duo.

"LADIES, COME!" Our man bellows, and we walk into the first room and are instructed to lie on a large, warm, marble slab/table (one at a time). Our man proceeded to exfoliate our skin, (picture him wearing a large scrubbing mitt and going to town), and we then rinsed with a bucket of water from a tap on the side of the wall.

We again, one at a time, climbed onto the slab and were slapped on our backsides with a foam bag that oozed out soapy bubbles, and proceeded to rinse again.

What, may you ask, is going through my mind at this time?

1. I really want one of those soapy foam bags.

2. Don't slip on the floor when I get off the marble slab table.

3. This is hilarious.

After we are both bathed, we have a cold shower and are wrapped in clean cloths/towels and sent back to our "room" where we have apple tea.

At this point, I am thouroughly enjoying my Turkish Bath experience, and decide that yes, I needed the massage too.

Wrapped in our terrycloth blue towels and turban-like headdress.

The massage consisted of Libby and I each having our own burly and rotund Turkish man massage us, included more slapping of the backsides, and a command of "LADY, TURN OVER PLEASE!"

On the way out, we were given a bit of lemon spritzer to put on face, and we re-emerged into the world, cleaner, more cultured, and well, hungry.

Our last night in Turkey, we had ice cream, we had schnitzel, we had wine, and, we saw a very impressive Turkish mullet.



As the sun set on Kusadasi and we looked out into the waters it was exciting to think that the next day, we would be in Greece.

The Virgin's House and Ephesus

June 13th, 2009

From Pammakale Libby and I traveled on a small bus (where I was privy to watching some of the Weeds season on Libby's iPod) and we met one of the founders of Moveon.org (randomness) to Kusadasi, where we found that we had much nicer accommodations than planned, and crashed early for the night after elevating our for some unknown reason very swollen feet.

We embarked the next morning with a small and shall we say eclectic tour group , with the first stop being Virgin Mary's House (this part of Turkey is known for much Biblical history). Virgin Mary's house, which is where she is said to have lived out her last years, was small and very, very peaceful. Outside you can even leave a message for her, on the wall displayed below.

This way to her crib.

Awaiting entrance.

Sample of some of the notes left; this was part of a long, narrow wall.

There wasn't a ton to see there, so we headed off soon to Ephesus, an Ancient Greek City known to once have the Temple of Artemis and said to perhaps be the site where The Gospel of John may have been written. It is well-known to have been an important center for early Christianity, and the Apostle Paul is said to have lived here.

It is also widely known, that they sell Genuine Fake Watches outside the entrance.

Ephesus was under Roman rule for many years, and is said to only be 15% excavated, and contains the largest Roman ruins in the eastern Mediterranean (thank you, WIKIPEDIA). The Library of Celsus is a striking image, as was the Theater which is said to be the largest outdoor theatre in the Ancient World and I think still holds concert where once gladiators fought.

Library of Celsus

Libby and I in the Great Theatre, channeling the Gladiators.

Nike, swoosh

The photo below is interesting, our tour guide noted it was so the men in the city knew which way the Library was, which also had a tunnel to the Brothel. Hmmm, scandalous!


I would say Ephesus emphasized the communal life, as evident from the latrines that were situated in close proximity.

After our tour of Ephesus and a few more tour stops of the day at a mosque and at a Carpet store where the guy was straight out of the mafia--curly black hair, chest hair, gold chain and all (we resisted buying the rug). We headed back to Kusadasi, where a real adventure awaited us...

Journey to the center of the earth

Or rather, the center of Turkey and yes, that IS Constantinople
June 10th - 13th, 2009

From Istanbul, Libby and I took an overnight bus to Central Turkey. As you might imagine, overnight buses are not chock-full of amenities, but we reached the conclusion that it could have been worse, despite the lack of sleep. We had booked this leg of our trip through a travel agency in Istanbul, thus we had a tour guide for the day named Alli when we arrived in Cappadocia, and we turned out to be his only clients for the day; thus, a private tour.

Cappadocia is an area unlike anything else in the world; volcanic eruptions some 40 million years ago left the landscape of the region littered with thousands of rock formations which have been dubbed "fairy chimneys". I'll let the photo speak for itself:

Panoramic view of C-docia.

Fairy Chimney + Flowers = Fabulous.

A cluster of shroom-ish fairy chimneys.

The rock formations were multi-purpose: they lent themselves as cave homes and people lived in these all the way up to the 1960s; the caves also housed lots and lots of churches, of which we were able to see some beautiful paintings on the walls done over the past centuries; finally, the caves were also home to our feathered friends the messenger pigeons and you can still see the holes for the pigeon houses in many caves.

Pigeons in their house.

Alli drove us around the area and we also went to a large handmade pottery studio where I realized that, alas, pottery is not my calling, as you can perhaps discern here; I was told not to shift career tracks.

You want me to smoosh what?!?!

Later in the day, we visited Goreme which is a large open air museum featuring several cave churches. I met this fine gentleman there:

Who knew I would meet my fro-soulmate at Goreme?

However, it was scorching hot and Lib and I were dragging from bus, church, cave, and heat fatigue. Alli called us out on it when he pointed to a painting and said to me "Who did I say that was?" And I answered "Jesus". I mean, we were seeing like 80 churches, it had to be a good hunch.
Nope, Wrong Answer. Constantinople was the man. At that point, Jesus seemed close enough, and we just wanted to learn how to say "Best Meatball of my Life." Needless to say, after we asked him how to say that in Turkish, he brought us back to the hotel so we could nap.

Goreme!

Somehow, I had never heard of this region previously; however Budget Travel magazine had, as that night Alli took us to a neighboring village to a restaurant called "Old Greek House" (that's right, Old Greek House in Turkey; there is much Greek influence here) which was featured in BT magazine earlier this year.

After another great meal with excellent wine and lots more kofte, we got in Alli's car once again and traveled just out of the town to see a performance of the Whirling Dervishes at a nearby castle. The Whirling Dervishes perform traditional Turkish dance featuring all male dancers. Lib really enjoyed it, but after running around all day, I must admit to napping for a bit mid-dervish.

The next day, we ventured out early as we had something on the itinerary I was really looking forward to, as it was a first-time experience for me: a hot air balloon ride over the Cappadocia area. The pictures, again, can speak for themselves:

Ballooning it up, up, WAYYYY UP in Cappdocia

Notice I am extremely excited even afterwards when presented with my certificate of flight.

The best part of this photo is the dude on the left fixing his hair.

We continued another full day by seeing some more rock formations with a different guide, and getting accosted by a salesman that wrapped our head's in a turban like concoction (we did not buy one).

I like to accesorize, note the matching green travel shirt.

From there, we trekked through the Red Valley, taking in pigeon holes in the caves, more churches, and then we stumbled upon a man selling tea seemingly in the middle of nowhere, concluding that he has The Best Job in the World.


Our hike was cut short because we needed to meet another girl who was to join us in the afternoon, and so we headed off to have more kofte and meet her, and then drove to another small town which has an underground city which I think was called Meskendir. Despite my claustrophobic tendencies I handled the underground city OK, but preferred the outdoor, open-air activities. Before our tour day ended we caught a panoramic view of the valley and the Ortahisar Castle, and sampled some organic Turkish Viagra (almonds, corn nuts, you know, the usual).

Quite the pad

This man was only selling NATUREL Viagra.

After two packed days in Cappadocia we again headed off to catch another overnight bus the same night, this time to Pammakale. This overnight bus was a little more brutal, and despite my best efforts some of my B.A. was becoming exposed. However, later that day it had passed.

Pammakale is in Central Anatolia, known as the land of the rising sun. Ancient Greeks first settled here for about 200 years until an earthquake destroyed the city, then Romans came and made it a center for health and trade. There was a huge Roman amphitheatre there as well as natural hot springs we were able to bathe in (which was surprisingly pleasant even though it was hot out; no shower + an overnight bus = hot springs are awesome).

Roman Amphitheater. Drew quite the crowds back in the day.

The main draw to Pammukale though is to walk across this large area of limestone which is quite stark in comparison to the rest of the landscape and quite beautiful, though the barefoot walk is not like walking on shag carpet by any stretch of the imagination.

The barefoot journey in Pammakale.

This time our tour group was about 10 people, with a mix of Australians, Indonesians and a few others. We again had too much for lunch (on these tours most of the lunches were in large mess hall places with a generous buffet) and were again exhausted by the time our approximately 21 year old tour guide dropped us back at the hotel. Before another bus ride (this time an evening ride, not an overnighter) I was able to take a dip in the pool where we were storing our bags, which is always a pleasure. By the time we reached Kusadasi (a western Turkish city) that night, I was exhausted but looking forward to more sights the next day.

Stay tuned for a summary of a trip to the Virgin Mary's house and a Turkish Bath...