I'm not sure how the internet connection will be in the next hotel, so I'll take this chance to catch you up on the past two days. At least the highlights... In the morning I decided to count how many times the tour guide said "Ladies and Gentlemen" and lost count in less than 2 hours at 37 times (just to explain how much he says that). Yesterday we went to Pergamum, which was settled in the 8th century BC and ruled by Alexander's general Lysimachus, it was famous for having the spoils from Babylon (many of which are now on display in London and Berlin).
From Pergamam we drove through the territories of Thyatira, Sardis, Smyrna (which is the only city still in existence, now known as Izmir), Philadelphia, and then on to Ephesus.
We're staying in the city of Kusadasi, which is a beachfront resort town, the hotel is gorgeous, and our rooms are facing the water. Today was our tour of Ephesus, wow! It was much more than we expected, Chad was speechless the whole tour, it was so much to take in. It was amazing to walk down the original marble streets, entering the houses of the Ephesians that are being restored, the mosaic floors and wall frescoes still intact, nearly perfect. It was amazing to see them so well preserved. Even seeing the theater, where the riots over Paul's ministry broke out, it was huge, easily sitting 25,000 people, it must have been a terrifying experience. To learn that the city was believed to have been built as the birthplace of Artemis, its easy to understand the uproar he caused in teaching the truth there.
The view from our room... it felt like we were on a cruise ship!
That's it for tonight, hopefully tomorrow's hotel will have as good a connection as this one! Ciao!
DAY 3: This day started with the tour guide telling us that we were going to make a surprise stop at an orphanage that Gate1 (the tour company) was making a donation to.Upon arrival at the “orphanage” (picture the air quotes as you read this)the first thing out of director’s mouth was “this is not an orphanage, we take little poor children who meet “specific” requirements from their families, do not allow the families to have contact with their children, and give them a new “family”.We’re unsure if it was a cult or a sweatshop, but one of the other people on the tour screamed out “CULT” as soon as we got on to the bus (this man is affectionately referred to as Elmo, as he has a VERY high pitch voice).Today’s program was brought to you by the letters C – U – L and the letter T.
After the whole bus was completely freaked out, we quietly made our way by ferry across the Dardanelles, ladies and gentlemen (and yes, we convinced the captain to let me ring the bell)
We stopped and toured Troy (after a LOOONNNGGG explanation to those on the bus who had apparently never heard of Troy, not in school, not in literature, not in the movies, seriously had no clue what we were going to tour, weird!)
This is the day we started on the bus tour, there are 34 of us in total, along with our tour guide. At the orientation meeting one woman spoke up and asked if people could restrain from peeling or eat oranges on the bus. The tour guide also told us to be sure to carry water with us for the ride as we would be stopping approx. every 2 hours and you might get thirsty. A woman asked how much water the bus could hold, the tour guide said he was getting concerned as to the nature of her inquiry since the bus could probably carry a ton of water, but we should remember we could get water as we went and maybe we would not need to carry that much.
The first announcement of the morning when we all boarded the bus and were on our way, was to the effect of "I have something funny to tell you, well, no not funny, serious, but well, you see, ladies and gentlemen, it is orange season in Turkey, they are the most delicious oranges you will ever taste, they are everywhere and you have got to try them..." (at which point we start cracking up laughing because it sounds like he's about to say, so I got some for everyone! You get an orange, and you get an orange and you get an orange!) But of course he says "but don't forget you cannot have oranges on the bus, but you must try them, ladies and gentlemen". Yes, he says ladies and gentlemen A LOT! (That should answer many of your questions as to why I keep repeating this phrase... ladies and gentlemen) And as for Orange Lady, I, if anyone, understands dietary restrictions, but she's just weird, having nothing to do with the oranges, she's just strange!!
And as far as nicknames go, we have the two men sitting in front of us, Elmo and Cookie Monster, you know how Elmo got his name, his friend has the deepest, raspiest smokers voice I've ever heard, listening to them talk together sounds like a Seseme Street episode.
It has been such a whirlwind, ladies and gentlemen! I literally woke up this morning and had no clue what day of the week it was.
DAY 1: We landed Friday afternoon and got to the hotel around 4, we immediately set out to see the sites, picking up 4 others that were to be on our tour that wanted to tag along. Chad led the way to the Blue Mosque... ladies and gentlemen
the gardens of Haghia Sofia, ladies and gentlemen
We took our time strolling back, had dinner at the hotel, then decided we were too tired to bathe ourselves so we would pay someone to do it for us (you can do that here and its totally legal! even the oil rub down!). Ladies and gentlemen, let me say, I used to wonder how royalty could deal with other people bathing them, I TOTALLY get it now. Tasha on the otherhand is not sold on large naked ladies bathing her, we're working on it. It only took about an hour and she was as comfortable as the rest of us. We went to Cemberlitas a Hamam in operation since 1584, ladies and gentlemen. Not quite knowing what to expect, us girls came bearing bathing suits... not needed. Then we were given what appeared to be dinner napkins and black panties (new with tag, thank goodness), we were to put on the black panties and try to find a way to wrap the napkin around ourselves to be modest. When we walked into the Hamam we actually gasped, and then had to stifle the laugh as we were greeted with every sort of boob and belly known to man/woman. What a way to break Tasha into going topless! (Moms and Dads don't worry it is VERY segregated). Don't worry, no pictures, ladies and gentlemen. The actual process was interesting... they lie you down on a hot round stone along with many other people and use a modified brillo pad to scrub you down (apparently Chad was extra dirty, when they found out he was from New York he got "special" treatment, being held by his hair while they scrubbed his face and we all know how much Chad loves people touching his hair). Then they completely cover you with bubbles and lather you up head to toe then slap you to make you flip and do it again, then take you to a sink that you sit in front of and scrub your head and then dump buckets of water on you until you sparkle. Then they yell at you to get out, so you run pulling up your underwear trying not to slip in the 5-times too large bath slippers you're wearing all the time trying to figure out where your napkin went AND where you're supposed to go. Skip to the end.. you emerge two hours later polished and scrubbed, unsure of whether that was the most delightful or slightly freaky thing you've ever experienced. As I said... I'm sold on it... the others are still undecided.
We finished off the night with a night cap and then tucked ourselves in for a much needed night of sleep.
DAY 2: Woke up at to the call to prayer wafting through the morning mist (as Chad puts it) screaming at us (as I put it) from the 3 surrounding mosques. Chad hit me and told me to turn the alarm off. Then we woke up again at 7 and met up for breakfast and an amazing day of site-seeing (now that everything was open).
First took the tram (interesting odor on the tram, chicken soup, dirty feet and saffron, lovely smell first thing in the morning) straight to the Blue Mosque (also, interesting smell of musty carpet and again dirty feet, Chad apparently passed out) ladies and gentlemen
Then the Gardens of Haghia Sofia during the day... you may remember this from our previous discussion
Next, the Basilica Cistern (every bit as beautiful as we had heard)
Followed by our first Turkish Coffee (Tasha says it tasted like mud, but delicious with a cookie)
We went to the ArcheologicalMuseum (where we saw Alexander’s Tomb and Ishtar’s Gate)
Onward to TopkapiPalace and the Harem, ladies and gentlemen
The Spice Market (Egyptian Bazaar) (We have come to learn that Tasha may not be sure what a turkey, the bird, looks like, we found her taking pictues of a pheasant while screaming "there's a turkey in Turkey!", apparently it was Genea's fault, she said "look! a turkey!" really kids, learn this in elementary school)
The Grand Bazaar (We overstayed our welcome and got locked inside. Other interesting events, everyone thought Genea was a Turkish princess, Tasha was offered love, and someone asked Chad how many camels he would take for me, ha!)
We went our separate ways for dinner, the girls went to meet up with a bethelite couple, they got in a cab to Taxim Square the driver dropped them off and pointed in the direction, they stopped passersby and asked for directions and were told 300 meters that way (huh? how far?) they went what they thought was 300 meters and asked someone else and were told they passed it up 200 meters back. They did make it to the restaurant 30 minutes late, and it seemed to be their confused look that made the leaving bethelites think it may be them since they had no way of knowing what each looked like and no one thought to ask before arranging to meet up. At the end of the day, Tasha CAN identify a Turk, but not a turkey.
Chad and I hit the pool (duh).
Ok, it’s after here and we’re exhausted, so we’re going to have to stop there, and I think this will take everyone a while to read anyway, so it should hold you til tomorrow, ladies and gentlemen.
p.s. I promise we will give you some insight into the private jokes so obviously referred to in today’s blog, along with the list of nicknames of our fellow travelers… Cookie monster, Elmo, Orange Lady, Turrets Lady, Belly-shirt Lady, Scrapbooker and Mr. Marsh Marsh.
We landed safely. Having such a great time that we haven't had time to post anything! Istanbul is amazing and we have a lot to share, but it will have to be tomorrow when we have more down time :)
In the past two days we thoroughly covered:
A quick walking tour in our first night, along with dinner and two hours at a Turkish bath (from this point forward referred to as the himam) and then an amazing night of sleep (after being awake for over 30 hours any sleep would have been amazing).
Today we toured the Blue Mosque, the gardens of Haghia Sofia, the Basilica Cistern, the Archaeological Museums, Topkapi Palace and the Haram, the Spice Market, and the Grand Bazaar.
We'll post more of the history of the places we've been along with pictures tomorrow. Any of you have been here before so if you have suggestions of other places to go please let us know.
Ask and you shall receive...
we will try our hardest to keep a blog going of our trip to Turkey. Its a beginning at least, that we have a spot reserved. Since we're not technically on our trip yet, the most I can do now is to provide everyone with our basic trip information. There are 4 of us traveling together, Chad and I, and our friends Natasha and Genea. Here is a list of the places we'll visit on our trip...
Istanbul
Canakkale Pergamum, Kusadasi and Ephesus
Pamukkale, the Necropolis and Hieropolis Konya Cappadocia, first seeing the Caravanserai of Agzikarahan, then going on to Nevsehir
Anakara
then back to Istanbul
Here's a graphic, so you can follow along...
And here's our route marked on the Bible map... (thank you Chad for your work on this)
Ok, that's it for my first post... check back soon!
