I ultimately spent 2 nights in Antalya which I think was a mistake since there isn't much to be done in Antalya. The harbor is relatively nice, but it doesn't take long to see, and the city otherwise was rather dull. I went on a 2-hour boat cruise, which was nice enough, but it didn't seem to be worth my 30 lira, even though that's a decent price. I also spent a few hours working on some work for my papers, and got my part all sorted out, which allowed me to leave for Olympos because I guessed (rightfully it turned out), that internet and computer access in Olympos would be a bit more challenging. After I got all my stuff sorted out in Antalya, I left for Olympos by minibus. It was something like a ... read more

I'm not a big fan of Ankara so this is going to be a quick post. Well, I suppose it is not entirely Ankara's fault. As soon as I dropped off my visa application I went back to my hotel, and pretty much immediately I felt sick, and I was hit with a strong bout of the runs. I felt really terrible and I quickly came down with shivers and a fever as well. I popped a loperamide and climbed into bed in the hopes of feeling better. My guess is the food in Erzurum bus station did it, but it might have just been a flare up from my first being sick in Istanbul. Even after when I woke up I still felt pretty nauseous. I tried to eat some yogurt and drank some Fanta, ... read more

Once the sun rose I found that Kars is actually quite a nice little city. Kars the city is much more well-to-do than I had imagined from knowing a bit about its history. Was Soviet Russian not too long ago, etc. I figured a downright dreary sort of place, but it was nothing like that. The apartment buildings, while rather uniform in structure (thank you Russia), were decked out in wild colors. I think this might have something to do with the Armenian influence, but a more astute student of history could perhaps fill me in. The standard of living seems to be quite high based on the products available in the home appliance stores (large LCD TVs, etc.). I figured Kars would be much more a sleepy city. I mean it is still a city ... read more

Istanbul is an awesome city. Probably in my top 3 favorite cities. Maybe even eclipsing my prior favorite, Paris. It has two of my favorite features of any great city - trams and ferries. And a completely wacky mixture of East and West and rich and poor and religious and secular. Coming to Istanbul was an enormous culture shock for me. I suppose it is all relative, but when I came from Jordan/Egypt to Istanbul, I was completely amazed at how free-flowing the alcohol is, how little clothes the women wear, and how many people eat and drink during the day during Ramadan. Traveling in Egypt/Jordan during Ramadan isn't fun due to the heat plus the inability to re-hydrate. Istanbul is a fully-modern city that still has all the trappings of a Middle Eastern city. Something ... read more

So now I'm in Istanbul - the topic for another blog at some point I suppose. Anyway, thought I would fill you all in on our adventures in Egypt. After visiting the Pyramids, we took the next day to go to Coptic Cairo. Coptic Cairo is a part of Cairo where the Copts, an ancient Christian sect who now form something like 10% of Egyptian society, live and pray. My thought in going to Coptic Cairo was that we could hopefully avoid Ramadan and find some food and drink, and drink water in public. This plan worked beautifully. We went to Coptic Cairo and wandered around the churches. Its kind of weird to be walking around churches in very Muslim Cairo, but very comforting. We also went to a Copt cemetery, which was a bit surreal. ... read more