Merhaba (hello) from Istanbul, Turkey

As Jeff said in his previous post, I’m not a good haggler. Shopping in Turkey is definitely not like shopping at Nordstrom’s, although if the Nordie staff starting giving out steaming cups of apple tea in cute little cups, maybe some of their prices wouldn’t be so shocking! There is more variety at the Grand bazaar than at Nordstrom’s. Every step you take someone is trying to get you to come into their shop. There are bowls, tea sets, spices, clothes, jewelry, rugs, cups, beads, lamps, and so much more. It’s a beehive of activity and despite being approached at every step, its quiet fun. The Turkish people are so friendly and interactive even when they aren’t trying to sell you something. One shop owner simply told Jeff he looked happy.

Outside the entrance to the grand bazaar

Inside one of the many hallways of the Grand Bazaar

Jeff, in action, haggling for peanuts at the spice market

Attempting to haggle at the spice market

There is so much more to Turkey then shopping though. We toured the Aya Sofya which is over 1500 years old.  This building is magnificent.  It was originally a Greek Orthodox church, but was converted into a mosque in 1453.  In 1935, it was a made into a museum and all the Christian mosaics were uncovered from the plaster that used to cover them up.  They are the most beautiful mosaics I have ever seen.





Inside the Aya Sofia

Outside the Aya Sofia

One of the mosiacs inside the Aya Sofia

We paid our ticket fee to see the Topkapi Palace where the Sultans used to live…. Unfortunately, the day and the time we went, it was clogged up with cruise ship tours. We, sometimes not so patiently, had to wait in long lines to see some of the rooms and the crown jewels.  The crown jewels were amazing though.  Gold thrones and baby cradles, crystal goblets and flasks, candle sticks, jeweled swords and daggers,  emerald & gold balls that would just hang room the ceilings, and an 86 carat diamond (the world’s 5^th largest).  Instead of using wallpaper and fabric to decorate the walls like the Europeans, the Ottomans used hand painted tiles that were beautiful. 

The room where the Sultan used to hang out with his four wives and his concubines

We visited the Basilica Cistern which was built in 532 AD and could once hold 80,000 cubic meters of water.  It was used to store water for the palace and was constructed with columns from ruined buildings.  Two of the bases of 336 columns were Medusa heads that looked eerie in the dim lighting.  

We had to go back several times to the Blue Mosque before we finally were able to go inside.  The mosque is closed to visitors during prayer times which happen five times daily.  The first call to prayer happens at 6am (we know this because our room is across the street from a mosque) and the last is around 6pm.  The prayer is chanted over loud speakers from every mosque in town and although its different then the clanging bells of the Christian churches in Europe, I still like it.  

We walked along water front and crossed under the Galata Bridge.  Under the bridge there are many cafés and restaurants.  We stopped at one, had a few beers, and puffed on some apple tobacco from a nargileh (water-pipe).  It was really relaxing sitting on a bean bag, watching the people walk by, the boat traffic, and seeing the fishing lines being reeled up from the top of the bridge with their catch (or lack of).  On the other side of the bridge is a fish market, where all kinds of sardines, tuna, salmon, flat fish, shrimp, anchovies, and other fish are sold.  We ate some little fried anchovies and a fish sandwich at one of the stalls. 

We took the tram to the old city walls which were disappointing.  You could still appreciate how high and how thick they were, but when we tried to walk along their base, it was sadly just a huge garbage dump.  So we ended up walking through a neighborhood to get to where the water taxi was.  Groups of kids would come up to us and ask us where we were from and locals sensing we might get lost always pointed us the right direction.  We came across a pigeon market where hundreds of birds where being kept in cages and people were haggling over them.  No one around spoke much English, but the guy grilling mystery meat for sandwiches told us that the birds weren’t for eating.  We never did figure what the birds were used for despite Goggling it when we got home.

We took a day cruise up the Bosphorus Sea to see Istanbul from the water.  The boat stopped at Anadolu Kavagi which is northeast of Istanbul.  We hiked up a hill to where we could see the mouth of the Black Sea.  There are some castle ruins at the top of the hill, but they were closed for excavations.

Tomorrow we move onto Egypt and get another stamp in our passports!

Cheers!

Haggling 101

Let me start this off by saying that I love my wife very much.  She is a constant source of joy in my life, and at times a source of sheer insanity.  Since we have been in Turkey we have left the world of fixed prices and entered the world of haggling.  To some this is considered to be a pastime that provides endless amounts of entertainment (me) and to others it is considered a bottomless pit of frustration, a form of trade that the civilized world should have abandoned eons ago (Teresa). 

Nonetheless, when in Constantinople… 

After reviewing the guidebooks, searching the internet, and watching Monty Python’s “Life of Brian” beard haggle skit on You Tube we developed a few rules which follow:

1.       Check a few vendors before buying

2.        Under no circumstance accept the first offer

3.       Start the counter bid at about half the initial price

4.       Get to the price you’re willing to pay

5.       WALK AWAY and let them pull you back

So it was finally go time for Teresa’s haggle.  We sat in our corner going over the rules and how we were going to approach the battle, then in she went.  The item a metal thimble initially offered at 3 lira (a buck fifty) which was a nice small item to start with.  We had scouted this the other day and I almost got it for about 1.5 lira but all I had in coin was 1 lira.

Ding, Ding, Ding…round one proceeds as follows:

Teresa: How much?

Vendor:  3 lira,  but if you get more I give you better deal.

Teresa: How much for 2?

Vendor:  5 lira

Teresa: OK

…OK!!!!!

She was knocked out in the opening seconds of the first round with one punch.  This was not the “Thrilla in Manilla” I was hoping for.  

She knew what had happened as she walked over to me.

Teresa: Don’t start, I like my thimbles

Jeff: First offer??

Teresa: DON’T!!!!

In her defense they were nice thimbles, and they were worth 5 lira to Teresa which at least adheres to rule 4 from above…and it wasn’t a $1000 Turkish rug.

The cruise ends!!

After much kicking and screaming, we had to get off our cruise ship yesterday.  Overall it was nice time and we had amazing weather.  We had a cabin on the outside so it had a little window we could spy out of.  There was an outdoor pool where movies would play on a big screen at night.  There was a 24 hour buffet and room service plus three dining rooms.  There was a bar at the top deck of the ship where they would have a happy hour during sail-aways.  Even with all this eating and drinking, Jeff and I did work-out 25% of our days on the ship!  They had different entertainment every night.  One night we went and saw the Princess dancers do a variety show.  It reminded so much of a Saturday Night Live skit, we never went back for the others!  We really enjoyed our time on the ship and most of the ports too.

So after we left Venice, the ship took us to Dubrovnik, Croatia.  There we climbed up the old city walls and had wonderful views of the sea.  The next day we came into port in Corfu, Greece.  We were planning on taking a bus to a beach, but after arriving at the bus station the oh-so-helpful information guy told us that the bus didn’t run on Saturdays.  So we went to a shop that rented scooters, but the oh-so-helpful guy there said we needed a scooter license to drive the stupid thing.   So we re-named Corfu to Corpoo and got back on the ship and sat by the pool sun to ourselves.  Who needs a sandy beach when you have three pools and six hot tubs to choose from? 

The next port of call was Katakolon (Olympia).  Well, it was a Sunday and not just any Sunday in Greece, but election Sunday.  So not only were the local buses not running, but the Olympia grounds were closed.   Instead of getting off the ship that day and getting frustrated, we slept in and had another relaxing day by the pool. 

The next day we docked in Athens, Greece and we finally got off the ship to see the sights!  We walked from the cruise ship dock to the metro and took the metro to the acropolis.  It was a beautiful temple overlooking Athens.  We also walked to down the smaller theater and the temple of Zeus.  We got some really nice pictures and had a great time.

From Athens the ship went to Mykonos, Greece.  We had meet a lovely newlywed couple on the boat, Phil and Ashley who live in Indiana, that we wandered around town with.  Mykonos is beautiful with white washed buildings with bright blue trim.  The four of us took a taxi across the island to Paradise beach.  During the busy season, there appears to be many restaurants and bars lining on the beach.  But since its quiet time, we were basically the only ones there.  The sun was out, even though it did start sprinkling just before the taxi came back to pick us up. The water was still cold so Jeff was the only one brave enough to swim.

After Mykonos, we went to Kusadasi, Turkey.  We took a 30 minute taxi ride to the ruins of Ephesus.  This has been the best pile of Roman rocks we’ve seen so far!  There were paved roads, an ampitheater, a library, and hundreds of pillars.  It was impressive!  We arrived back to the port area and wandered the local bazaar for bit.  I was really temped to buy a beautiful handmade Turkish rug, but (1) I couldn’t bear the thought of carry around that heavy thing in my backpack and (2) we didn’t have thousands of dollars to buy it.  Besides, it doesn’t really make sense to buy such a beautiful rug and not have a home to put it in when you get back!

Our next stop was Rhodes, Greece.  We spent the warm day on the beach with Phil & Ashley and the water was much warmer than in Mykonos so everyone went swimming.  There was a platform 50 meters out from the shore that had three different level diving platforms.  The highest jump was about 20 feet and I wasn’t brave enough to jump, even though Jeff made it look easy. 

The island of Santorini was next and was by far our favorite stop.  The ship had to anchor out and we were shuttled to shore in tender boats.  Once you got to shore, it was steep 900 feet up to the town.  There were three ways to make it to the top: 1. Pay to take the cable car up (lame!!! It’s no German Zugspitz) 2. Walk up the winding cobblestone path (which we were planning to do) 3. Ride a donkey for five euros (AWESOME!!)  Who could resist riding a donkey for 5 euros up a steep hill covered in donkey doo-doo in the hot sun? Not us!  The Greek guys throw you on a donkey and off you go.  You basically have no control of the donkey.  They don’t have bridles just a halter with a rope tied to one side and there is a ‘oh-shit’ metal handle on the front of the saddle.  The donkey walks when it wants to and where it wants to and takes breaks when it wants too.  We laughed the whole way up!  Once to the top, we wanted to see more of the island than just the tourist trap so we traded in our donkeys for a gas-powered means of transportation.  No not a car, not a scooter, but a four wheeler, which apparently are totally legal to drive on the roads.  We went to the black sand beach awhile and then to some of the other smaller towns on the island before we had to go back to the ship for the evening.

Our last port was Naples, Italy.  We skipped Naples for ruins of Pompeii just a short train ride out of the city.  Pompeii was an old city in the shadow of the volcano Vesuvius.  Around 74 AD the volcano suddenly erupted and buried the city in 7-9 meters of ash.  This preserved many of the buildings, including the frescos on the walls.  We could see many of the homes, the shops, the laundry, the brothels, the markets, the temples, the theater, the bakery and much more.  The ash also encapsulated the people and as the bodies decomposed there were air pockets left behind.  When they began to excavated the city, the diggers would expose little areas around the air pockets and pour in plaster of paris.  Once the plaster harden, there would be a likeness of the person who had died.  Some were so detailed you could make out the expressions on their faces. The castings are not preserved in the areas where they are found, instead they are preserved either at the museum or newly built covered areas in Pompeii.  It was a very interesting site to visit.

The cruise ship dropped us off in Rome and we’ve spent the last two days sightseeing here.  We toured the Coliseum yesterday, the Pantheon (oldest building in Rome), and saw the Trevi fountain (biggest fountain in Rome and we both threw coins in to make a wish).  Today we went on a tour of the Vatican City and St. Peter’s Basilica.  The Celestine Chapel was amazing.  Two days wasn’t enough time to explore everything Rome has to offer!

Tomorrow we catch a flight to Istanbul, Turkey.  We’ll be in Turkey on Turkey day!  Hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving.  Jeff and I are both thankful to be doing this adventure together.

Cheers!



Parthaon in Athens




Temple of Zeus in Athens




Dubrovnik Croatia



Windmills of Mykonos, Greece

Our ship, the Star Princess.  Its a big upgrade from the Chelsea Sunset!



The library ruins in Ephus Turkey



Jeff launching himself off the swimming platform in Rhodes, Greece

Riding my donkey in Santorini

The ass is on the left



The ass is on top



The Cruise begins!!! Venice, Italy

After upgrading from a 6 bunk couchette to a double sleeper car on the train from Zagreb to Venice we figured we would have a good night sleep.  The sleeper train got us again!  Cramped with a very strange smell that required the window to be open the whole time we bumped and bounced our way through the night. We got off the night train from Zagreb and made it to the cruise ship dock with little problems.  We then had to wait over four hours at the ferry terminal to check-in.  We were finally able to board the ship, drop off our stuff, fill our faces with food, and head into Venice.

Venice is so different from anywhere we’ve been.  At first we thought that Venice was sinking… There were many streets that were flooded with water going up to mid-calf.  Everywhere you looked people had on plastic garbage bags tied to their feet and the locals had on their rubber boots.  Some people had just given up and walked right through huge puddles.  Well we finally figured out the flooding was related to huge tides that happen a couple times a year.  Luckily we had on our gortex© shoes, so we hiked up our pants and picked our lines through the water.  Venice is not a city for claustrophobics, if there was an inch of space it was filled with something and it was easy to get lost in the rats nest of alleys and canals that snake through the city.  Finally we made it to the tourist hub of St. Marks square (which was under 6 inches of water) to soak in the history and architecture.  You couldn’t help feeling in awe at the contribution to civilization that the city of Venice has made throughout history.  As dusk approached the clouds closed in and rain began to fall, it was time to head back to the refuge of the  mothership and our quest for the cheese at the end of the maze began.  The next day we set sail for Dubrovnik and as a bonus treat we sailed through Venice on our massive cruise ship giving us a Birdseye view of the city.  Just amazing…nuff said.

First ones waiting to get on the ship!

Oh Xtra-tuffs, Where are you?

Random canal

Gondola traffic jam

Bon Voyage!

Finally!  A relaxing honeymoon starts!

Venice from above

Zadar, Croatia

After a bumpy ferry ride back to the mainland and a couple hour bus ride, we made it into Zadar, Croatia.  Two things made Zadar one of the coolest places we've visited so far.
1) The Sea Organ.  Its set within stone stairs that descend down into the sea.  Within the stairs there are a series of pipes and whistles that makes wistful sighs when the movement of the sea pushes air through the pipes. 
2)  Right next to it is the Sun Salutation.  Its a big circle of solar panels that collect energy during the day.  At night, the energy that was collected power a bunch of multi-colored LED lights and produce a fun light show all night long.
I have uploaded some videos from you tube with both the sea organ and the sun salutation.  There are not our videos, so just ignore the people in the them!






Tonight we take a night train to Venice and jump on our cruise ship that is going to take us around the Greek islands!
Cheers!

Split & Korcula, Croatia

We left Budapest by train to Croatia.  We entered the European Union way back in Iceland and haven’t received any stamps in our passports since that time.  Well, we got both an exit stamp out of Hungary and an entrance stamp into Croatia!  How exciting!  The train brought us into Zagreb, where we stayed the night a little hostel.  In the morning, we took another train to the coast of Croatia to a little city called Split. Diocletian’s Palace is in the city center.  Some parts of the Roman palace are still standing, some areas have been rebuilt, and the areas that are in ruins the modern city has just been built on top.  We took a city bus to an area called Solin which was the capital of the Roman province during the time of Julius Caesar.  There is a huge archaeological area in Solin where there are ruins of the old Roman city.  There are ruins of churches, bath houses, an amphitheater, and other buildings. We found the sun here too on the coast of Adriatic sea.  Its definitely warmer here than the areas of Europe we’ve seen!

After several days in Split, we took a two hour ferry ride to the island of Korcula.  It is currently the low season here so we might be the only tourists in town!  We have  rented a really cute little apartment and have enjoyed our time here very much.  The apartment has a fish tank with two fish in it.  It’s been nice to have some little pets again even if it is for just a couple of days. Korcula has lots of vineyards and olive tree groves on the island.  We bought several bottles of wine last night and drank it on the old stone wall looking over to the other islands.  We really enjoyed being on island time! 

What’s next?  We take a ferry back to the mainland this afternoon.  From there we are taking a bus to Zadar, another coastal town, for one night.  Then we head back to Zagreb to catch a train to Venice, Italy.  We are going to jump on a cruise ship in Venice and cruise around the Greek Islands for 12 days.  Life is great!

Above the hill in Split

Old town Split

Our street in Korcula

Old Town Korcula

Our pet fish in our Korcula apartment

Budapest, Hungary

Go time for Budapest.  What’s the best way to save time and money, how about a deluxe overnight train that leaves Krakow at 10 pm and gets you into Budapest at 9.  I expected to arrive feeling rested and refreshed after a tranquil night of slumber, lulled by the rhythmic clickity-clack of the train as we smoothly passed through the quiet Polish-Hungarian countryside.   So my predicted journey was pretty far from reality.  We ended up in a 6 bunk couchette with 3 other people -5 total.  All of us with large backpacks, no one trusted each other as we were told that there was theft on the sleeper trains as we attempted to shoehorn all of our belongings into the small cabin.  As we realized that we were all travelers with the same fears of theft we formed a weak alliance and loosened our death grip on our belongings and decided to use our bunks for what they were intended for…people not luggage.  Our train broke apart in different towns, so you would be jolted from your sleep by the train coming to a quick stop or by your car being attached to another train going in a different direction. In the middle of the night the conductor woke us up saying we were in Prague…Prague? One of our bunk-mates got up and attempted to depart the train as quietly as possible which does not work in that small of a space.  Moments later we were on our way again only to stop a few hours later in Bratislava to repeat the process.  When we made it to Budapest we were far from rested and refreshed and felt the strong need to remedy the situation.  Enter the Szechenyi Baths.  The baths on the Pest side (Everything on the west side of the Danube River is the Buda side, to the east Pest.  Once separate towns they finally merged and… viola we have Budapest) are heated by thermal springs that sprout out all over the city.  This complex offered a huge variety of ways to relax from saunas, steam baths, warm pools, hot pools, cold pools, and a huge outdoor swimming complex.  Unlike Baden-Baden this facility was not au natural but we went anyways and after 4 hours later we felt human again.  We made our way back towards our apartment, wandering the streets,  grabbed some dinner of traditional Hungarian grub (I had the goulash and T had the chicken papirkash) and brews, then called it a day for some much needed rest and recovery.

The next day we were eager to see the city and after a quick cup of coffee we made our way.   Upon reaching the Danube River we were instantly blown away by the beauty of the city.  Still on the Pest side, which is the beginning of a large plain that extends into Hungary, we looked across the river to the hilly Buda side to see castle and monument topped hills and the “blue” Danube swiftly flowing between.  Overwhelmed by what we saw we needed to form a plan to attempt to take in all in with only one day to do it and once we had our “strategery” we were off.  Heading north on the Pest side we visited the Parliament building and town square checking out various monuments as we went.  In the afternoon we crossed the river to the Buda side and climbed up Castle Hill to visit the walled city and soak up the views of Pest and the other touristy sites as this is where most were located.  The sun began to sink closer to the Buda hills and it was time for our coup de gras, the accent of  Gellert Hill for the best views of the city and an evening splash in the Gellert Baths to soothe our muscles and quiet our barking dogs.  While the baths were not as large as the Szechenyi Baths they were none the less relaxing and all but erased any trace of the 8 miles we walked.  Tired and hungry we made our way back to our apartment on the Pest side, enjoyed the best bowl of goulash soup we’ve had to date, then called it a night.  Tomorrow we head towards Zagreb for a week in Croatia.

Cheers.

               

Inside the Szechenyi Baths

Outside the Szechenyi Baths

Playing in the fountain in the outside pool

Riverfront view of the Parliament

Hungarian Royal Palace at night

Krakow, Poland

We took a train from Warsaw south to Krakow, Poland.  For those of you who have seen the film Schindler’s List by Steven Spielberg, most of it was filmed in Krakow.   The movie was based on a true story of a businessman who saved Jews from the wrath of Nazis during WWII.  We didn’t tour the Schindler factory and museum, but we did take a hour and half bus ride to Auschwitz.  Auschwitz was one of the largest death camps used by the Nazis and was only partially destroyed after the war.  The camp was actually divided into three separate camps.  We first toured Auschwitz I were many of the original buildings still stand.  We were able to see the bunks, toilet facilities, and cells of the prisoners.  In some of the rooms there huge piles of clothes, shoes, suitcases, hairbrushes, and the most shocking, a large pile of hair taking up the hole length of the room, all taken from the prisoners as they entered the camp.  After the two hour tour of Auschwitz I, we took a short 3 km bus ride to the second area of the camp known as Birkenau.  This is what most people think of when they hear the name Auschwitz.  It had over 300 prison barracks holding up to 200,000 people and was where the murder of huge numbers of Jews took place.  The Nazis built railroad tracks into the camp, which are still there, so they could more efficiently off load people into the gas chambers.  When Birkenau was fully operational, there were five gas chambers each with their own crematoria.  Standing at the back of the camp and looking over the vast area, it was horrifying to think of how systematically the Nazis tried to exterminate an entire population of people. 

The next day, we needed something a little bit less an intense, so we jumped on another bus to the Wieliczka Salt Mine.  The salt mine was in operation for over 500 years and is now on the Unesco’s World Heritage List.  The mine is no longer used today, but is now basically one of the coolest tourist traps I’ve seen.  There are statues, chandeliers, and altarpieces all carved out of salt.  One of the biggest and the most impressive of the chambers was the Chapel of the Blessed Kinga.  This room took 30 years  and over 20,000 tons of rock salt was removed to carve out.

Our last day in Krakow, was spent wandering around Old town.  And what European Old town wouldn’t be complete without a tour of the castle and a church?  Wawel Castle sits onto top of hill and we toured the State rooms and the Crown Treasury & Armory.  Unlike the other castles we have visited during our travels, this one had a Dragon’s Den with a fire breathing dragon!  We also visited the 14^th century St Mary’s Church.  My opinion is that it was the most beautifully ornate church we’ve seen on our trip.  The focus of Old town is Rynek Glowny.  It is Europe’s largest medieval town square, and at its centre is the 16^th century Renaissance Cloth Hall.

While we were in Krakow, we ate some really good Polish food.  Besides piergos and kielbasa, we had wonderful onion soup and a traditional potato pancake topped with a mushroom cream sauce at a cute little restaurant.  We actually went there twice it was so good!  There was a little bakery just downstairs from the apartment we were in where we would get fresh bread and pastries every morning.  On our last night we ate at a bar mleczny (milk bar).  These little cafeteria style restaurants are leftover from the communist era and they serve traditional foods more or less.  I had a wonderful garlic soup and J had the sour soup which actually was really good despite its name!  After eating our dinner, it was time to head to the train station to take the night train to Budapest.  It should be interesting!

New Jewish cemetary

Pile of shoes at Auschwitz

Railroad tracks and Birkenau gate from the middle of the camp

Chapel in the salt mine



Fire breathing dragon outside his den