So nice to come home to a clean house, sons waiting to hug and welcome me, and a dog who was so excited I thought he would shake apart!
Tuesday, July 5, 2011
Home!
Ah... It feels sooo good to be home! My only complaint is the heat! I thought I had left Turkey?!
Sunday, July 3, 2011
Quick Note
Time to leave the beautiful hotel on the sea (The Adonis).... sigh.... Tonight I catch a two hour flight from Antalya to Istanbul, catch a nap, then my next flight at 5 am.... then its 7 hours on a plane to Germany, a five hour, then another 2 hours flight to Boston.... See you all soon! After I recover that is.
Saturday, July 2, 2011
Out on a Cliff
Hello Again!
Here I am in Antalaya and the world is looking much better. Izmir was not a fun city at all. As I said before the hotel was a nightmare but thanks to exhaustion, once I was able to wind down, I slept like the dead.
It is 6:41 here and I am in the hotel lobby as the wireless internet doesn't reach all the way to my room. Our morning went smoothly. Our flight uneventful. We visited Aspendos today and will dine with yet another host family tonight- in 15 minutes in fact.
As for the cliff.... this hotel is right on the edge of a cliff overlooking the sea! the view is stunning and tomorrow we are free to amuse ourselves until noon. I will most definately be down the cliff to the sea below. I MUST get into that water!
Here I am in Antalaya and the world is looking much better. Izmir was not a fun city at all. As I said before the hotel was a nightmare but thanks to exhaustion, once I was able to wind down, I slept like the dead.
It is 6:41 here and I am in the hotel lobby as the wireless internet doesn't reach all the way to my room. Our morning went smoothly. Our flight uneventful. We visited Aspendos today and will dine with yet another host family tonight- in 15 minutes in fact.
As for the cliff.... this hotel is right on the edge of a cliff overlooking the sea! the view is stunning and tomorrow we are free to amuse ourselves until noon. I will most definately be down the cliff to the sea below. I MUST get into that water!
Friday, July 1, 2011
I'm not even sure where to begin. Today has been a disaster all around. First the lack of sleep for several nights in a row with last night being the worst. I was up and moving at the literal crack of dawn. We waited outside for our driver who never did show. With only 15 minutes to our deadline we called a "Taksi" and hauled butt to the airport. unlike Mahir, this guy did not try run every other driver off the road but got us where we needed to go in record time. There were the usual battles with Turks who do not understand the concept of lines, but with my developing skills in line management,I managed to keep up with my travelling companions and not get left behind.
The flight was uneventful and our new driver, Murat, was right where he should have been. In fact, our tour guide was even waiting there too. Much to the distress of myself, Dan, and his girlfriend Krista we did NOT go to the hotel to check in but immediately headed out for sight seeing. Tired and dragging we all decided to just go along and enjoy. So off we went. First stop, BREAKFAST!!! We were driven to a very nice roadside place with of course an outdoor cafe right on the boundaries of a peach and olive orchard. We ate a terrific breakfast of fresh bread with honey from the beehive in the orchard and pita bread with spinach and feta cheese inside and of course tea. The toilets were semi permanent porta-potties, but hey, what can one expect in the country side of Turkey?
We drove off to Ephesus where we spent several hours tramping around the most amazing ruins- lots of wild cats, a giant grasshopper the size of my hand (I do not lie!!), fig trees, and more dust than can be found in the middle of the Arizona deserts. You definitely get a sense of the magnificence of the place when you see the two story remains of the library and walk up the steps of an arena where gladiators once fought. From the tops of those steps you can see the paved road leading off to what used to be a bay of the Aegean sea. Of course the sea still exists, it just doesn't come inland as far as it used to. By the time we reached the end of the ruins there was a revolt in the making as the three of us were so exhausted and hot (90 degrees here today) we just wanted to go to our hotel.... but no. The new guide insisted we simply could NOT miss the wonders of the Virgin Mary's house where she was reputed to have lived out the last of her days. So, off we went. From there, the ruins of Artemis' temple, and the Ephesus museum. A tiny open air museum with a few of the requisite wild cats lounging about. Wild cats, by the way, are not like our ferals. Though they are feral to a degree they all appear to be relatively healthy and some are even friendly. People feed them scraps and they wander freely about.
So.... lunch at yet another outdoor cafe.... with a cat of course strolling through..... and off to the beach in spite of us all begging not to go. We just wanted to go to the hotel. But, nope. "you MUST see the beach. ...sigh..... we arrive at the Aegean sea, walk to the water, dip our toes, and turn around and say.... "take us to the hotel." but wait... you MUST have your 57th cup of tea for the day..... sigh.... as we sit with Hakan, our new tour guide, our new driver and some guy we don't know but appears to be a friend of the tour guide when one of us realizes that we are scheduled to eat with a family tonight... on four hours sleep, sun burnt and sweaty, and dead tired... PLEASE, can we at least go to our hotel and change our clothing? "Sure, of course" one hour later we arrive in the depths of Izmir to the announcement... "Here is tonight's host family! Time to eat..." and have a 58th cup of tea.....
We arrived at our hotel to walk in to a place under construction!!! Dust on the floors, an elevator door that opens up to two workers and the cab piled with potato sacks of ripped out and broken tile. They tell us it is a mere 30 minute wait (at 8 pm in now 80 degree weather and no air conditioning) until we can use the elevator. We decide we can walk up the 4 floors, no big deal right? Besides, they have assured us that the construction work is not on our floor AND that they are done for the night anyway. As we walk up the flights each and every floor is clearly under construction. There are wires hanging from the ceiling and we reach the fourth floor sweaty, disgusted and beginning to anger. We are greeted by construction workers trying to hastily sweep up all kinds of dirt and dust from the hallway floors and are directed to our rooms which smell like smoke and are dirty..... sigh.... our hotel rooms are directly above a busy New York type street with cars beeping and constant conversation below. The window are thin so every sound carries.... I actually checked to see if a window had been left open because the noise is so loud....guess sleep will be a mere wish again tonight. Gotta be up and ready for that 8 am flight to Antalya.... sigh... the beauty of Turkey is beginning to wear thin.
The flight was uneventful and our new driver, Murat, was right where he should have been. In fact, our tour guide was even waiting there too. Much to the distress of myself, Dan, and his girlfriend Krista we did NOT go to the hotel to check in but immediately headed out for sight seeing. Tired and dragging we all decided to just go along and enjoy. So off we went. First stop, BREAKFAST!!! We were driven to a very nice roadside place with of course an outdoor cafe right on the boundaries of a peach and olive orchard. We ate a terrific breakfast of fresh bread with honey from the beehive in the orchard and pita bread with spinach and feta cheese inside and of course tea. The toilets were semi permanent porta-potties, but hey, what can one expect in the country side of Turkey?
We drove off to Ephesus where we spent several hours tramping around the most amazing ruins- lots of wild cats, a giant grasshopper the size of my hand (I do not lie!!), fig trees, and more dust than can be found in the middle of the Arizona deserts. You definitely get a sense of the magnificence of the place when you see the two story remains of the library and walk up the steps of an arena where gladiators once fought. From the tops of those steps you can see the paved road leading off to what used to be a bay of the Aegean sea. Of course the sea still exists, it just doesn't come inland as far as it used to. By the time we reached the end of the ruins there was a revolt in the making as the three of us were so exhausted and hot (90 degrees here today) we just wanted to go to our hotel.... but no. The new guide insisted we simply could NOT miss the wonders of the Virgin Mary's house where she was reputed to have lived out the last of her days. So, off we went. From there, the ruins of Artemis' temple, and the Ephesus museum. A tiny open air museum with a few of the requisite wild cats lounging about. Wild cats, by the way, are not like our ferals. Though they are feral to a degree they all appear to be relatively healthy and some are even friendly. People feed them scraps and they wander freely about.
So.... lunch at yet another outdoor cafe.... with a cat of course strolling through..... and off to the beach in spite of us all begging not to go. We just wanted to go to the hotel. But, nope. "you MUST see the beach. ...sigh..... we arrive at the Aegean sea, walk to the water, dip our toes, and turn around and say.... "take us to the hotel." but wait... you MUST have your 57th cup of tea for the day..... sigh.... as we sit with Hakan, our new tour guide, our new driver and some guy we don't know but appears to be a friend of the tour guide when one of us realizes that we are scheduled to eat with a family tonight... on four hours sleep, sun burnt and sweaty, and dead tired... PLEASE, can we at least go to our hotel and change our clothing? "Sure, of course" one hour later we arrive in the depths of Izmir to the announcement... "Here is tonight's host family! Time to eat..." and have a 58th cup of tea.....
We arrived at our hotel to walk in to a place under construction!!! Dust on the floors, an elevator door that opens up to two workers and the cab piled with potato sacks of ripped out and broken tile. They tell us it is a mere 30 minute wait (at 8 pm in now 80 degree weather and no air conditioning) until we can use the elevator. We decide we can walk up the 4 floors, no big deal right? Besides, they have assured us that the construction work is not on our floor AND that they are done for the night anyway. As we walk up the flights each and every floor is clearly under construction. There are wires hanging from the ceiling and we reach the fourth floor sweaty, disgusted and beginning to anger. We are greeted by construction workers trying to hastily sweep up all kinds of dirt and dust from the hallway floors and are directed to our rooms which smell like smoke and are dirty..... sigh.... our hotel rooms are directly above a busy New York type street with cars beeping and constant conversation below. The window are thin so every sound carries.... I actually checked to see if a window had been left open because the noise is so loud....guess sleep will be a mere wish again tonight. Gotta be up and ready for that 8 am flight to Antalya.... sigh... the beauty of Turkey is beginning to wear thin.
Thursday, June 30, 2011
It's 11 pm here and we JUST arrived back at our rooms! The adventures of today included our driver (Mahir) driving in reverse down an on ramp - which barely solicited a beep from other drivers- and the purchase of several negros. It was an interesting day to say the least.
Other than that, today was all work with several schools visited as well as a university. We capped off the day with dinner at a family's home. It took us 3 hours to arrive there. When Hakan said Istanbul was large, it simply did not sink in just how large large really is! Its the city that never ends. There are 17 MILLION people in Istanbul. The majority of them are on the European side where we are staying and where the hosting family lives.
Of course the house was something out of a dream. Overlooking the sea with chandeliers in every room and a bathroom off of every bedroom. The family was big and there were many of them there because they own three of these houses in a row: father, daughter, and uncle living side by side. They spoke very little English but it didn't really matter as we had a wonderful time with our little bit of Turkish, their little bit of English, and poor Hakan trying to interpret as fast as we all spoke. We had to force ourselves away to arrive here as late as we did because we need to catch a plane at 5 am tomorrow.
Tomorrow will be dinner with yet another family after some school visits and a visit to Ephesus where we are supposed to see the ruins of Artimesis' temple and a beautiful famous water fall. We will sleep one night there and then back to the hotel and another flight in the morning to go to Antalya. I am stressing out just a little because there has been very little time for shopping and I have specific things in mind that I want to buy.
sights and sounds of Turkey continue to amaze and there is more yet to come! I hope all is well with all of you at home!
Other than that, today was all work with several schools visited as well as a university. We capped off the day with dinner at a family's home. It took us 3 hours to arrive there. When Hakan said Istanbul was large, it simply did not sink in just how large large really is! Its the city that never ends. There are 17 MILLION people in Istanbul. The majority of them are on the European side where we are staying and where the hosting family lives.
Of course the house was something out of a dream. Overlooking the sea with chandeliers in every room and a bathroom off of every bedroom. The family was big and there were many of them there because they own three of these houses in a row: father, daughter, and uncle living side by side. They spoke very little English but it didn't really matter as we had a wonderful time with our little bit of Turkish, their little bit of English, and poor Hakan trying to interpret as fast as we all spoke. We had to force ourselves away to arrive here as late as we did because we need to catch a plane at 5 am tomorrow.
Tomorrow will be dinner with yet another family after some school visits and a visit to Ephesus where we are supposed to see the ruins of Artimesis' temple and a beautiful famous water fall. We will sleep one night there and then back to the hotel and another flight in the morning to go to Antalya. I am stressing out just a little because there has been very little time for shopping and I have specific things in mind that I want to buy.
sights and sounds of Turkey continue to amaze and there is more yet to come! I hope all is well with all of you at home!
Wednesday, June 29, 2011
Finally!!!
Well, we finally figured out how to get internet. Hakan, our guide and a teacher from Putnam Science Academy has linked his iphone to my computer and provided internet! Who knew you could do that?
I thought yesterday was busy but today we went to Topkapci palace, Hagia Sophia, the Basilica Cistern, the Blue Mosque, and Hippodrome. Least impressive: the Hippodrome. Most Impressive: Hagia Sophia. That being said everything we saw was amazing. AND we managed to fit in some shopping too. Everything was so beautiful and amazing that it got to the point of being overload. The architecture at these sights is nothing less than astonishing, especially when you think that these building were built anywhere up to 2,000 years ago!
I have to confess the things I find the most amusing and amazing are the simple one. The number of cats and dogs simply living on the street here is astonishing. They are relatively healthy and people treat them all very matter of factly. Twice we have dined in outdoor restaurants (these people love to be outside) and twice I have seen a street cat just stroll through looking for a scrap or two. No one acts surprised, the waiters don't rush over to shoo them out, and people sneak them food. However, I thought our guide as going to have a heart attack when I patted a cat! From that point on it amused me greatly to pat every cat or dog I happened to pass.... he was truly disgusted and told me I had to wash my hands at least THREE times!
Also amazing is the aggressiveness. Lines are for the wimpy here! the person who pushes there way to the front is the person who gets what she/he wants! Walking by a row of restaurants is a challenge. They have guys standing out front who grab passersby to tell them the wonders of their restaurant. And do not be recognizable as an American here! Americans all have money of course an every little kid on the street is the child of family who deals in Turkish rugs and is just dying to sell to you... or be your guide... or sell you postcards... or offer any service you need! You have to peel them off of you! Hard to do and still feel like a polite person, believe me.
And the driving! Oh MY GOD!!! lanes markers are just suggestions here! And tonight our drive drove up the wrong side of a divided highway to get us to the dorms where we are staying! I have mastered the technique of not seeing ANYTHING beyond the boundaries of the car.
Tomorrow we are visiting a charitable organization the foundation who is funding this trip supports, a high school, a university, and several other sites.... I hope my feet and legs can keep up with this! I wish I could say I miss all of you... but it is wonderful here so far!
I thought yesterday was busy but today we went to Topkapci palace, Hagia Sophia, the Basilica Cistern, the Blue Mosque, and Hippodrome. Least impressive: the Hippodrome. Most Impressive: Hagia Sophia. That being said everything we saw was amazing. AND we managed to fit in some shopping too. Everything was so beautiful and amazing that it got to the point of being overload. The architecture at these sights is nothing less than astonishing, especially when you think that these building were built anywhere up to 2,000 years ago!
I have to confess the things I find the most amusing and amazing are the simple one. The number of cats and dogs simply living on the street here is astonishing. They are relatively healthy and people treat them all very matter of factly. Twice we have dined in outdoor restaurants (these people love to be outside) and twice I have seen a street cat just stroll through looking for a scrap or two. No one acts surprised, the waiters don't rush over to shoo them out, and people sneak them food. However, I thought our guide as going to have a heart attack when I patted a cat! From that point on it amused me greatly to pat every cat or dog I happened to pass.... he was truly disgusted and told me I had to wash my hands at least THREE times!
Also amazing is the aggressiveness. Lines are for the wimpy here! the person who pushes there way to the front is the person who gets what she/he wants! Walking by a row of restaurants is a challenge. They have guys standing out front who grab passersby to tell them the wonders of their restaurant. And do not be recognizable as an American here! Americans all have money of course an every little kid on the street is the child of family who deals in Turkish rugs and is just dying to sell to you... or be your guide... or sell you postcards... or offer any service you need! You have to peel them off of you! Hard to do and still feel like a polite person, believe me.
And the driving! Oh MY GOD!!! lanes markers are just suggestions here! And tonight our drive drove up the wrong side of a divided highway to get us to the dorms where we are staying! I have mastered the technique of not seeing ANYTHING beyond the boundaries of the car.
Tomorrow we are visiting a charitable organization the foundation who is funding this trip supports, a high school, a university, and several other sites.... I hope my feet and legs can keep up with this! I wish I could say I miss all of you... but it is wonderful here so far!
Friday, June 24, 2011
I Can't Count!
OMG! I am not leaving in three days..... more like.... TWO.... Sunday afternoon it all begins. I only have one suitcase packed, the house is still dirty, I haven't written down instructions for the boys, what if they forget to feed the cats? And the dog might explode! What if they forget to bring him out to pee? I haven't sorted out my pills and other chemically type things....oh God.... I am soooo unprepared!
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