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Published: August 7th 2007
Turkey in ten days, unpossible they say!? Everyone tells me you need to devote at least 3-4 weeks to properly enjoy all that Turkey has to offer. But then again, they say that about every major country. My brother showed me through tireless days just how much of a country you can squeeze in in a short amount of time. Robert and my travel styles are definitely different, but the end result is usually the same. Rob prefers precision targeting of all the major sites a city has to offer to move on to the next city as quickly as possible, while I prefer to take my time a bit, maybe get lost in the city for awhile and taking the sites as they come. To be sure, he probably see's more than I do, but does he really see more? I'm sure he'll tell me that he does but thats up to debate. The important thing is that I got to spend the 25th anniversary celebration of the day I was born in Istanbul, Turkey with my favorite travelling partner thus far and my favorite brother of all time (sorry Dave, you dont technically qualify here). It was funny to
Brothers @ the Blue Mosque
The building is not as big as it looks but its definitely nice. And free.see in college many guys actually get depressed as they got older, but I think to myself, "I spent my 24th in New York City, my 25th in Istanbul, where in the world and what good fortune is in store for me for my 26th!"
After the most exciting bus ride I have ever been on I finally arrived in Istanbul at around 6am. I bid farewell to my new and most patriotic romanian friend and then tried to figure out what I could do for the next 6 hours to kill time before I could check in to the hotel. Rob wasnt getting in until about 5pm that day so I just ended up walking around the city, playing around in an internet cafe for a bit, and getting a new turkish makeover. It was really interesting to see Istanbul as it was waking up and the streets gradually started getting more crowded. I sat down and had a small breakfast at a cafe right in front of the Blue Mosque. I took a nap as soon as I was able to check in to the hotel since I hardly got any sleep on the bus. It was
Egyptian Spice Bazaar
It smelled pretty nice walking through there but instead of spices we bought some quality nuts. really good to see my bro when he finally got in, it had been more than 6 weeks since I had seen a familiar face and he was a sight for sore eyes to be sure. After settling in we hit up the town, it was Sunday night so we werent expecting too much. We went to a district lined with restaurants, cafe's, shops, and bars that was actually surprisingly packed for a Sunday evening.
The next day, my birthday, we got an early start and hit up most of the sites in the downtown district known as Sultanahmet. The sites were nice to be sure, and since most of them were packed tightly together we got through most of them by the afternoon. The Blue Mosque was especially nice but it was interesting to note that although the building looks quite elaborate from the outside, it really is just a big room on the inside. We did the Grand Bazaar later that afternoon which was something I was really looking forward too. It wasnt as hectic as I thought it would be but it was certainly quite large, we got lost a few times but came out with
a few choice goods. That night Rob treated me to a Birthday Bath in one of the nicer Turkish baths in Istanbul. I wasnt really sure what to expect when I got there, after all, I had never gotten a professional massage before (that 10 minute one on the beach in Barcelona doesnt count). I was slightly-unpleasantly surprised to find out that following strict Turkish tradition, there are separate areas for the male and female masseuses . Unfortunately, males go with males, and females with females. Yes, I was getting a massage from a male; a nail-biting, excruciating, vigorous one hour massage. But luckily, unlike with George from Seinfeld, "It didnt move." So before the massage, you get scrubbed down with hot water and soap. This actually worked out pretty well as my tan from Mallorca was barely starting to peel off and this got all the dead skin off. After that you get the massage, and then another scrub down. The guy was rough, but I felt much refreshed after it. Ready for another few months travel.
Tuesday was our last day in Istanbul as we had a later afternoon flight to central Turkey. That morning we booked
Basilica Cistern
Very cool place to visit, got some nice photos in here. a tour and boat ride that would take us through the rest of Rob's visit. The Egyptian Spice Bazaar was definitely worth the visit, and the lunch was pretty good (although I would steer away from Turkish Pizza, not so good). After a small mishap with our hotel reservations that night we finally found our way to the Flintstones Cave Pension in Goreme. In addition to all the crazy sorts of hostels I've stayed in, I am now able to boast I have slept in a cave. The next two days were filled with tours of underground cities, 1500 year old christian churches, some very picturesque mountainside views, and a spectacular hot air balloon ride at 6am to watch the sun rise. The hot air balloon ride was an unexpected treat, as we werent planning on it but arranged it the night before. We got up at about 4:45am and after a quick breakfast at the site we were in the air by 6am. Total airtime was about an hour and we were treated to a champagne toast when we landed, which has been tradition since the first hot air balloon rides over a century ago. After a whirlwind tour
Egyptian Spice Bazaar
It smelled pretty nice walking through there but instead of spices we bought some quality nuts. of various sites throughout central Turkey we made our way via overnight bus to the southern coast where a boat was waiting to take us on a 3 night journey.
The boat was nice, probably a good 20 feet long with 6 small cabins on the inside. It was run by two brothers whose names escape me now. The idea was to go from Olympus to Fethiye with several stops along the way. Since the cabin was only slightly larger than a full size bed I opted to sleep up top, under the stars, so Rob could take the bed. The meals that were provided for us were surprisingly good, varied, and healthy. On one of the nights the captain went snorkeling at night with a flashlight and a spear gun and was able to catch a lobster. One of the more memorable stops included the Blue Lagoon where we were able to jump off a cliff that was about 30 feet high, and St. Nicholas Island where there was some decent snorkeling. Butterfly Valley was quite nice, although there really werent that many butterflies, but it did remind me of one of the areas in the Di Caprio
Flintstones Cave!
It was actually quite comfortable sleeping in the cave. Maintained the same temperature all day. movie, "The Beach". Oh yeah, forgot to mention our traveling companions. The boat had a capacity for about 10-12 people but there were only 5 of us. Apparently the bombings in Eastern Turkey really hurt tourism pretty hard. We had two guys from the north-eastern US, Simon from England, and then a Kiwi that joined us on Day 2. We were pretty disappointed to see that it was all guys when we first boarded the ship, but its hardly surprising as we probably had only seen a total of 4 girls so far in Turkey, 2 of which were tourists and the other 2 were debatable as we could only see their eyes. The next day we got up at 6am to catch a flight back to Istanbul. Rob was headed back to New York and I was on my way to Amman, Jordan. A most unexpected trip that was made available to me thanks to the kindness of my brother.
I'm writing this almost a month after I started traveling in Turkey. I have been in the Middle East this whole time and I just didnt find the time to update so unfortunately this post does not get
Fairy Caves
They explained a few times why they were called the fairy caves but I still dont get it. the attention it deserves. I'm sure there are lots of things I omitted but I'm glad my bro was along for the ride to help me remember anything I might forget.
Since then I have traveled to Jordan, Israel, and Egypt. Each of these countries will get their own blogs and I promise I'll catch up soon. I didnt plan on staying in the Middle East for a whole month but thats the beauty of a trip like this, some of the best memories and travels come when you least expect them. I am in Cairo right now and will be headed to Athens late tomorrow morning. Its going to be great to finally get back to Europe!
P.S. In case I didnt mention, I finally set my return date for August 29th.
P.P.S. I dont actually make it back to Houston until the 7th of September. This is because I am staying in New York for a few days then going on a cruise to Jamaica and the Cayman Islands to celebrate my Dad's 60th birthday. Please dont hate me guys, remember you all get to share in the memories through this wonderful journal!
P.P.P.S.
Cave Lunch
This was included in the tour and proved to be quite good actually. These guys sat in the middle of the restaurant and played throughout our meal. I miss everyone and I'm finally starting to get a little homesick. But dont worry, its nothing that a little island hopping in Greece cant cure!
*Disclaimer: Rob gets credit for some of these pictures, although he really isnt as good a photographer as he would have you believe.
**Note: Turkish food is gooooooood
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JG
non-member comment
Um...
Why is your brother grabbing your butt in that first pic, Eddie? Happy Freakin' Birthday, dude!