istanbul = love

Loving Istanbul... We made it here two days ago. It is a fantastic city.

It's super modern, super chill and super clean. I love the food and am still loving the Turkish people. Yesterday we did the tourist circuit of the Blue Mosque, Hagia Sofia, the Grand Bazaar and the spice market.. today we are going to go to a totally different part of town to hang with the musicians and hopefully get to play some music, go to the Turkish bath (which i am totally in love with) and eat another AMAZING meal... the food here is out of this world super yum!!

yesterday in our wanderings we also happened upon the goldsmith part of town, which I am going to explore more after steven leaves on Monday. I am going to try to hang with the goldsmiths and get a feel for how they work.

All is well here.. still in love with Turkey!!

leaving this land of unusual rocks and caves

It's our last day, well actually it's our last few moments in Cappadocia. I think of all the wonderful places in the world, I've been, this one had me gasping the most. The combination of ancient civilizations ingenuity and the incredible geology makes for a great combination in my book.

Yesterday was a full day. We wandered around on the motorbike driving through small villages and hiking along some paths. Steven loves to go offroad on the motorbike and I love adventures so it was quite fun, as we explored the countryside. We made our way to an unassuming village. In a quiet corner of the town lay an underground city. It is called Kaymakli. We decided to hire a guide for this underground labrynith. It is said, this city began to be built 4000 years ago as a place for the Hittites as a place to hide from their enemies. It was abandoned during peace time and many others followed in their footsteps eventually ending with the Crusaders in the 12th century. The Crusaders made it into what it is today. A city that can hold 5000 people for 6 months.. all underground and completely unseen above ground. There are tunnels and communication holes, bathing areas, small living quarters, a place to make wine, churches and booby traps, a communal kitchen and blocked entries for the enemies.... I LOVED IT and loved imagining what it was like living in there. It is not for the claustophobic, that is for sure.

From there we tried to go to another town, but a storm came in so we decided to go back to our cave and hang for the afternoon. it was a wonderful few hours of rest before we went into town to see a whirling dervish performance, have a lovely meal and then watch another amazing performance from two local muscians...

We are on to Istanbul in a few moments and I can't wait.

badlands on crack!!

The cave is raining on me... raining little pieces of limestone.. I love it..

Cappadocia is like the Badlands, Bryce Canyon, Mesa Verde and Petra on steriods!! It is really quite unbelievable. We rented a motorbike and rode around yesterday, I couldn't stop taking pictures. Really it is quite inspiring.The combination of geology and ancient traditional living. It makes my heart go wild just thinking about ancient civilizations and what they accomplished and how they lived. Steven and I were in awe the whole day and I couldn't stop talking about it. He said he was feeling really inspired too..

We went to a place called Zelve yesterday, it was a living place until 1950 when the government decided it was too unsafe (because of erosion) to keep on livi, the people were moved to another location. It was a cave fantasy land of tunnels and monasteries and mosques and living quarters. One of my favorite things is the pigeon houses. the photo with the little squares carved out. There was a mill and all sorts of other amazing things.

Today we are going to explore an Huge (8 stories deep) underground city that was living thousands of years ago.. I can't wait...

Badlands on crack!!

The cave is raining on me... raining little pieces of limestone.. I love it..

Cappadocia is like the Badlands, Bryce Canyon, Mesa Verde and Petra on steriods!! It is really quite unbelievable. We rented a motorbike and rode around yesterday, I couldn't stop taking pictures. Really it is quite inspiring.The combination of geology and ancient traditional living. It makes my heart go wild just thinking about ancient civilizations and what they accomplished and how they lived. Steven and I were in awe the whole day and I couldn't stop talking about it. He said he was feeling really inspired too..

We went to a place called Zelve yesterday, it was a living place until 1950 when the government decided it was too unsafe (because of erosion) to keep on livi, the people were moved to another location. It was a cave fantasy land of tunnels and monasteries and mosques and living quarters. One of my favorite things is the pigeon houses. the photo with the little squares carved out. There was a mill and all sorts of other amazing things.

Today we are going to explore an Huge (8 stories deep) underground city that was living thousands of years ago.. I can't wait...

Rumi, and fariy tales

Unexpectedly we left the coast late Saturday night... It was the only bus ticket we could get and as awesome as the beach is, Steven was ready to get out of there and move on. So, we got the midnight bus to Konya and arrived at 5:30 in the morning. We decided to check our bags at the bus station and spend the day wandering around Konya, the place where Rumi died and is enshrined.. It was a lovely day of wandering and his memorial and tomb were quite powerful. Over 1.5 million visitors (mostly Turkish) visit this site every year.

The stop was a middle point for our journey to Cappadocia. An amazing place of caves and towers of limestone which doubled as castles at one point in history. We hopped on the 2:30 bus out of Konya and made it to Urgup by 6:00. We now have our amazing private cave room overlooking the vast landscape of beauty..

I am loving Turkey!! the people are so very very kind and the food is amazing (especially the deserts). The place where we are now is other worldly and we have decided to stay here and rest for a few days. we will rent a motorbike today and tomorrow to see it by two wheels. i'm quite excited...

First Class....ticket to paradise.

I made it!!!

Seattle to LA...nothing exciting. I made it to LA and had a 7 hour layover, which I was not looking forward to, just happy I had a flight out.

LA to Paris... The Air France ticket counter was chaos. People had been stuck in LA for days. They let me check in 6 hours before my flight. The lady gave me my boarding passes and she handed me a ticket to the VIP room (the fancy room as my friend calls it).. hmm I thought, that is really nice of them. I get to wait in the VIP room during my super long layover. I looked at my ticket and my seat was 04L. hmmm I thought, that is really close to the front of the plane. So, I went to the fancy room and there were snacks and alcohol and nice chairs and it was quiet and light.. aahhhh... I took out my book and read. The 6 hours went by quickly. It's interesting how my perspective changed when I went back out by the gate. It was crowded with people and loud and messy and I thought, I could really get used to the fancy room.

I boarded the plane with a smirk on my face knowing I was going to be in FIRST CLASS, let me say that again, FIRST CLASS.... aaaaaahhhhhhhhh..... the 10 hour flight to Paris was in a 180 degree reclining super comfy chair, with an electric massager and my own little lamp along with several different adjustments for my comfort, and much more, my own lotion, and cucumbers for my eyes :)... OMG!!! I still can't get the shit eating grin off my face. It was so awesome. Because of the volcano.. you know, the volcano I hated a few days ago. Yes, that one, because of it, they were able to rearrange my frequent flier ticket to any open seat on any plane going to Istanbul and I just happened to call at a moment 04L was available and I got it... So exciting!! I slept the whole way to Paris. comfortably.

Paris to Istanbul... not quite as exciting, although I did sit next to a Turkish national ice hockey player who was on his way home from the World Cup in Mexico.. He was cute too..

Istanbul.. arrived at midnight.. got picked up at the airport, went to hotel and slept..

Istanbul to Antalya.. this morning woke up early and flew to Antalya to meet my husband and be on the beach. He has a conference here and it is in a big hotel on the beach. it's beautiful, the blue blue sea is surrounded by amazing mountains, some of them snow capped. The air is warm, the sky is blue and I am so happy to be here...

leaving tomorrow...

I'm so excited... Yesterday, I called the airlines every 2 hours with no changes.. Then, this morning I called again and got a flight out to Turkey tomorrow... yay!! I hope, it's smooth flying from here.

I'm hoping to continue this travel part of my blog from Turkey, so, we will see how easy that is. The jewelry there is supposed to be fantastic!! And I would love to show you picts..

Our journey is planned like this.. Antalya (on the coast), Konya (a little north, where Rumi died), then to Cappadocia, the "fairy towers" of sandstone, i am soooooooooo excited about that place.. we will end our trip with a few days in Istanbul and I will stay on for a few more after that..

yay!! thanks for all your support and listening to me whine about something I could not change or do anything about.