Istanbul & The Black Sea

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We celebrated our 3rd anniversary of living as expats while we were in Istanbul. With a population of 14 million, Istanbul was by far the largest, noisiest and busiest place we visited this summer. Our home exchange was only two metro stops from most of the touristy stuff and we also did a large amount of walking. Although we got out and about in the city we also had a couple of down days with Allan and I both getting a stomach bug.

Galata Tower was our first stop, from here we weaved our way through the streets and across the main bridge where we could easily view the city. It was surprising the number of mosques that could be counted from the bridge alone.

Making our way to the spice bazaar followed by the grand bazaar was an experience in itself. With the constant offers to sample food and buy products it was quite a bit of fun. The best line I heard was, "If you want to spend your money, I can show you some ideas." After choosing a selection of Turkish Delight and dried fruit, we found a spot to nibble on our treats.

While in Istanbul we visited the Archaeology Museum, the Aya Sofya, Topkapi Palace and the Blue Mosque. The Archaeology Museum was similar to other museums we have visited although had more items from the late bronze age 1650 - 1200 BC, and artifacts from the Hittite Period which was pretty interesting.

The Topkapi Palace also had some interesting stuff, that people literally cued to see even though they are more than likely not real such as Moses staff and Davids sword. Allan did sneak a photo of each even though we weren't supposed to. It was interesting that the Topkapi Palace seemed to present items that were of significant religious value to both Christians and Muslims. During our time in Turkey we became used to listening to the early morning, afternoon and evening prayers, at the Topkapi Palace we were there during the afternoon prayer and saw the Koran being read with an English translation (fascinating and a little bit scary).

Taylor and I were required to cover up when we visited the Blue Mosque. Once again it was fascinating to see how the mosque ran. Men praying up the front, no seats anywhere and woman down the back behind screens and doors.

The weather had been hot and perfect all summer, except for the day we caught the ferry to Princess Island on the edge of the Black Sea. Although we didn't swim, we did enjoy the boat trip and walking around the island looking at the stalls and avoiding all of the horses and bikes.

We were certainly thankful to visit Istanbul, but it's wasn't the highlight of our Turkish adventure, a little bit noisy and busy for us.

Goreme Open Air Museum, Village & 4 Wheel Motorbiking

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Another early start with the Goreme Open Air Museum. This is the main city of caves that people lived in up until relatively recently about 100 years ago. The city is full of cave homes, store houses, and cathedrals. The homes and cathedrals with the most spectacular paintings we were not permitted to take photos. Once again another wonderful morning climbing through the chambers and through little doors, every cave and little corridor is so interesting. Corban and Leo especially loved the caves. 

Following this we headed to Pigeon Valley for some photos and a look at the cliff side markets. Goreme is so interesting, always interesting stalls, friendly people, camels and someone trying to sell you something. You'll see a picture of a tree in one of the photos, these are blue eyes. The blue eyes are everywhere and are supposed to bring good luck or good fortune, so you can often find them in the concrete outside shops or hanging near doorways. The cafe with this tree are certainly hoping for some good fortune. 

Today was a compulsory afternoon sleep because that evening we were booked for a 3 hour, sunset 4 wheel motorbike tour. Allan was getting sick (fever and backache) and everyone tired from the big days. 

After a good rest we were ready for motorbiking, another absolute highlight of our trip. For the first hour at least Leo screamed with joy constantly and Taylor couldn't wipe the smile off her face, meaning she had a mouth full of dust. The track was family friendly weaving our way through different valleys and stopping at great lookout and rock formations. By the time we reached the sunset point Allan had broken into a bad fever, headache and was hardly able to continue. The kids and I went up the rock palace without Allan, leaving him to rest for the journey back. On the way home Corban switched to riding with Taylor and Allan made it back without puking which was a bonus. Allan was straight to bed, while we had our dinner at our local Turkish eat out all exhausted and chatting about our adventure!    

Hot Air Ballooning, St Nicolas Monastery, Hiking & Turkish Night

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Crawling out of bed at 5am to go Hot Air Ballooning wasn't hard at all because we were all so excited. In Goreme approximately 150 hot air balloons fly every morning.

It's a fantastic morning beginning with a light breakfast and drink outside before we were driven to our take off site. We watched the whole process of the balloon being taken off the trailer, being prepared and blown up with large fans. Once we were in, we were given a lesson on how to land and then we were off. The ride was so smooth and the scenery was breathtaking. Our balloon floated above and inside the different valleys and mountainsides. At one stage our pilot came down so low we could touch the tops of trees and see early morning rabbits in the fields. During different stages of the trip he flew the balloon a varying altitudes explaining along the way what we were seeing and how he was controlling the balloon. Our landing was a couple of bumps before the support crew held the balloon down, followed by celebration drinks. It was a fantastic experience in a magnificent location, Leo was also very excited to be awarded with a certificate at the end.

In true travel style our day didn't stop here. We headed back to our pension for another breakfast before meeting up with the Limmers. Today we explored and had lunch in one of the smaller villages. Nikolas was very happy when we found St Nicolas Monastery, another great monastery carved into rock.

By late afternoon we found a road leading to Love Valley. Nicole was clever and found herself a spot in the breeze with a great view, while we went hiking (I think she had the best plan). Hiking in the desert in the afternoon is incredibly dusty and hot, but he views and rocks were just so much fun! Allan, Andy and I had to convince the kids that after several kilometers downhill we should head back, they wanted to keep going ... we were sure the walk back up was going to be challenging but they all did it with fun, laughter and good speed.

After a very long day, Taylor was put in charge of babysitting while the adults went to Turkish night. Without thinking we went without charging our camera, we still got a couple of short video's and a few photos of  the dancing before the battery went flat. There were about 15 different dances from across Turkey, musicians, more food and drinks than we could possibly eat. It was a fantastic evening!

Ilhara Valley, Selime Monastery and Derinkuyu Underground City

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After an 8 hour drive from Antayla to Goreme, Cappadocia we knew there was going to be no time for resting!  With only 4 days in Goreme, we prepared for the heat and planned our days around trying to get as much done in the mornings, with a break mid day before heading out in the early evening again. 

Our first full day was the busiest. We began by piling into the car and driving to the Ilhara Valley where we enjoyed morning tea in the huts and tables in the river before hiking in the valley. Everything was very pretty, even the little silver coffee cups. The valley is beautiful with carved out rock houses and churches which were in use up until about 1923! The kids enjoyed climbing through the rocks and pretending they lived there. Some of the caves have graffiti dating back to 1843. 

Next stop was the Selime Monastery, this is where some filming for Star Wars took place, on the planet Naboo. The rock formations and different parts of the Monastery were fantastic! It was amazing how big the place was with all of the different homes and parts of the Monastery. We loved climbing through to all the different areas and stopped for lunch by another river restaurant. 

Our last stop for the day was Derinkuyu underground city. Tourist are only allowed in 10% of the city, we went down 6 levels. The underground city was very complex with ventilation shafts, stairs that could be blocked quickly with large round stones, wells, different living quarters, churches and everything you needed to survive for a long time to out wait the enemy. Derinkuyu dates back to the Hittites. Once again we loved exploring the city and were very thankful to be out of the heat!

Ancient Ruins of Olympos, Markets and Chiemera Fire Mountain

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Antayla was certainly full of great places to visit and beautiful beaches to swim at. We made our way to the Olympos Ruins where an ancient city used to be, stretching about 3km's along the coastline. The ruins were neat and surrounded by two great beaches. The city was extensive with an amphitheater and an aqueduct that brought fresh water from the mountains. We are always so impressed with how sophisticated and well planned out the ancient cities used to be. 

Andy and Nicole also took us to a local farmers market, where there were no tourist and very little English spoken. The vendors were shouting and making deals left, right and center. The produce was probably the best I have ever seen in my life, we were so busy with what we were doing we forgot to take photos! I chose our vegetables and fruit by the age of the salesmen. I was so impressed with the kids maybe between the age of 8 -12 years old who were in charge of stalls. It is likely that they totally ripped me off, but it was worth the winks and smiles they were all giving each other, not to mention that the food was so cheap and lovely it was a deal whatever we bought. 

Another stroll through Antayla Old Town was a must, this time we made our way though the spice markets, bazzar and rug area. There were many interesting things to look at and sample. 

One evening after a delicious dinner with the Limmer's we decided last minute to drive to Mt Chiemera, about 1 1/2 hours from Antayla.  It was well worth the evening drive! With torches on our heads and with the temperature still extremely hot we hiked the 6km's up a rocky, steep, slippery mountain to the constantly burning fires. We could only find chocolate covered marshmellows on the way, but they were perfect for cooking on the fires. Some people were even cooking sausages. We were so impressed that Corban and Leo managed the walk there and back with such excitement so late in the evening. We didn't get back down the mountain until midnight, they are truly adventurous travel kids. 

Antayla Boat Trip & Kursunlu Waterfalls

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It was fantastic to arrive in Antayla and meet up with our good friends Andy, Nicole and Nikolas Limmer. Our Home Exchange looks out on a river leading to the ocean where we can see people fishing and of course some local cats and ducks to keep us entertained. Our complex also had a very large swimming pool which we all enjoyed cooling off in.

Our first day began with a personal tour of Antayla Old Town. Nicole and Andy know lots of great little spots and treated us to a boat ride in the harbour. After our trip we walked up some 2000 year old steps. Antayla was the port where the Apostle Paul came and preached the gospel, it is believed he preached on the very stairs that we walked up. We ate a yummy Turkish lunch and tasted Ayran, a sour milk/yoghurt drink that is salty.

With the extremely hot weather we once again found ourselves drawn to the beaches and some waterfalls. We found Kursunlu Waterfalls, a lovely walk and scenery not far from the city. The waterfall wasn't flowing with as much water as usual because we were there in the height of the summer heat, but it was still fun being able to walk behind the waterfall. It was a lovely afternoon exploring the different tracks, waterfalls and ponds. It was neat to see turtles swimming in some of the ponds.  

Pamukkale - Cotton Castle

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Pamukkale, meaning "cotton castle" in Turkish is an amazing natural wonder. The city has hot springs and travertines with terraces of carbonate minerals left by the flowing water. People have bathed at Pamukkale for thousands of years.

Although a popular tourist site, it was well worth the trip on our way to Antayla. We parked at the bottom and made our way up the hill enjoying the smooth rock under our feet (no shoes allowed). The water flowing from the top is quite warm and cools slightly by the time it reaches the bottom. It wasn't long before Leo and Corban ended up having a soak.

We were surprised how big the site was and how many pools there were, some were only for looking at while others were for swimming in. It was amazing that the surrounding countryside was just regular hills and farmland.

A truly magnificent place!
 

Milli Park, Zeus Cave and Halicilk Kursu Rug Shop/School

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Over the next couple of days we found some truly hidden gems.

Unfortunately our photos of Zeus cave didn't turn out that great. If the flash was on you couldn't see how blue the water was and if the flash was off, everyone was blurry. Zeus cave was great, just a short walk in +40 degrees to find yourself in a nice cool cave with freezing water. Leo and Taylor couldn't bear to get in. So it was just Allan, Corban and I who dared to swim in the freezing water!

After our dip we headed to Milli Park nature reserve. This was certainly the most beautiful water and spectacular swimming so far in our holiday. Because we were swimming and snorkeling, we left the camera in the car so there are not many photos.  Allan even found a cave that he swam into and could poke his head up and breathe. Milli Park is also full of walking trails, we walked along the bottom of a canyon. All the girls felt hot and tired, but Allan and Leo were keen to go further! Before leaving Milli Park we decided to stop for one more sunset swim before heading back to our Pension. Our final swim was well worth it, we came across a family of wild boar eating people's picnics!

The owner of the Pension was such a great guy. We wanted to buy some souvenirs, so in true Turkish style he insisted that his brother in law come and pick us up and that we buy something from his shop. He also arranged for us to visit a Turkish rug shop/school, which was absolutely spectacular! We were given a demonstration of how the silk for the rugs is made, how the wool and silk is coloured, saw women weaving and given lessons on how to distinguish the quality of a rug and what area of Turkey a rug is made by the pattern. After we had learnt everything there was to know about Turkish rugs we were provided with apple tea and had about 40 rugs rolled out for us to examine, we were even quizzed! As much as we would have like to purchase one, we left empty handed but certainly know where we will purchase one from if we are ever in the market for a Turkish rug.

You'll also see some photos of chickens on a roof of a little shack type house. This is the closest shop to our Pension! We cherished each little unique place and the lovely hearts of every person who was so kind and open towards us. Turkish people make you feel like family. We loved all the stray animals and our Pension where we looked a St John's hill each evening at dinner. It was cool watching bats fly around during our meals and we were even entertained one night by a fabulous thunder storm. However after 8 days of exploring and beaches it was time to move on. Our next stop was Antayla.

Sirince, Mary and Ladies Beach

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It didn't take long for us to begin loving Turkey and the Turkish people. Everywhere we go people make a fuss of the little kids, woman will come out of their houses and offer them turkish delight and other sweets. Everyone is very friendly and helpful with a relaxed way of living. 

Among the many things that we did was a visit to The House of the Virgin Mary. It is believed that Mary lived in Ephesus until she died. In the 18th century a nun by the name of Anna Katherina Emmerich had such a vivid vision with detailed description of the characteristics of the city of Ephesus and the place where Mary lived, that several years later an expedition began. The expedition uncovered the site that she had described even through she had never visited the area. Alongside this there are scriptural references in the Bible and written recordings from Ephesus of Mary. It was very 'touristy' but still a great place to visit. Some people paid a lot a money to purchase a small flask and fill it with the holy water from the natural springs (looked more like tap water to us). There was also a prayer wall covered in the prayers of pilgrims who have traveled to the site.

About 15km from Ephesus along a winding mountainous road we found a small Italian wine village with streets filled with handmade crafts and market stalls. There was heaps of colourful pottery, felt crafts, rugs and lamps. Everything is bright and colourful and everyone wanting to sell us something. 

Ladies beach is a very popular beach, you can see from the photos that there almost isn't room to even find a spot to sit. There are many Muslim woman who wear full bathing clothes, I tried to get a photo without being rude. Everyday was packed with new sights, sounds, smells and people. As you can see after traveling for 6 weeks Leos gets a little tired every now and then, nothing like a quick nap before dinner. 

Ephesus and St Johns

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Our start in Ephesus was a little slow, I was sick on the first day. While I stayed in our cute little pension Allan took the kids to the local markets and spent the day swimming in the pool.

The first thing we noticed about Turkey were all the stray animals. On our first morning we were all delighted to find goats eating out of the rubbish bin across the road. There were chickens and turkeys everywhere. In Turkey people don't really own pets, they literally just live in the streets so there are cats and dogs everywhere. The day we visited Ephesus Corban counted over 50 stray cats, there were definitely no double ups. Much to the delight of Corban and Leo during our stay we also saw plenty of donkeys and horses just walking around the streets.

We followed this up the next day with a relaxing day at a private beach that our host drove us to. Everyone was in for a shock at the lack of rules and regulations we are used to. The Czech Republic is far more relaxed with rules than New Zealand, but as far as cars and road rules in Turkey, pretty much anything goes. Our little taxi van didn't have enough seats, no problem our host grabbed a seat from inside for someone to sit on.

Unfortunately Taylor was sick on Day 3, it was her turn to stay in bed. We visited the ancient ruins of Ephesus (Taylor went the next day). There are many biblical sites in Ephesus and it is also famous for the temple of Artemis. Ephesus was one of the seven churches in Asia that are cited in the book of revelations. It also has the ruins of the first church that was dedicated to Mary, as this was the city where Mary lived after the crucifixion.

Taylor was feeling up to visiting the Basilica St John after lunch, so we all headed up the hill above our pension for a look around. The hill where the Basilica of St John is located is home to two mosques and two churches, so this was also our first visit to a mosque.

The site of the Basilica of St John's is huge and used to be in the shape of a cross with six domes. If it were still standing it would be one of the largest churches in the world. It is believed that John wrote 4 books of the bible here, and also looked after Mary.

Throughout different periods of time the Basilica has been used as both a Christian church and also a Muslim mosque. It was used up until the 14th century when it was destroyed by an earthquake.

Ferry to Turkey

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We were very excited about the next phase of our summer as we began the journey to Turkey. Another early morning to catch a ferry from Athens to the Greek island of Chios. The ferry trip was 9 hours of heat, cigarette smoke, dogs barking and board games! It was certainly not the lovely, entertaining and enjoyable type of ferry we experienced last summer on our Baltic's tour. 

On our arrival at Chios, we found the next ferry terminal that would take us to Cesme Turkey. First we en-counted a small problem with our passports because the border security did not stamp our passports when we arrived in Greece.  Thankfully we looked honest and they let us through as our entry point being Macedonia. 

They let us board the little, old ferry that only took 10 cars to Turkey. We were all laughing hoping that we would make it alive. It was only a 50 minute trip to Turkey and we meet another family who were moving to Turkey from Sweden. They had a problem that all of their documents and money had been stolen, we also had a problem because our car isn't officially in our name so we all bonded very quickly knowing it might be interesting once we reached Cesme. 

As predicted everyone else went through the Turkish customs relatively quickly. As for us and them we needed lots of patients, stamps, checks and waiting. Eventually after 2 hours of paper work, our car was let in to Turkey. The other family were still waiting when we left. 

But we did get to see a lovely sunset from the port and arrived at our pension only a couple of hours late, around 10pm. A very long boring day, but we were all excited to be in Turkey! 

Athens Museums and Changing of the Guards

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Visiting Athens wouldn't be complete without visiting the Athens Museums. We knew it was going to be hot, so we started early!

Arriving at the Acropolis at 8.30am before it was scorching hot and the crowds not so big was a great plan. The site is extensive and was the main sacred and religious site in Ancient Athens. It was occupied since the Neolithic period, but had the height of its power in the 5th century. We spent several hours wondering around the various buildings, northern and southern slopes of the Acropolis and the Oden of Herodes.

By mid morning we were ready to tackle Hadrians Library and Ancient Agora. We literally took 100's of photos of the different statues, buildings and columns. Everywhere we looked there was something else to explore.

After a stop for lunch we headed to the Temple of Zeus, followed by a visit to the ancient pottery and cemetery city of Kerameikos.

It was heading towards the late afternoon, everyone was exhausted but we didn't want to come back into the city again. So after refueling with an ice cream we began to make our way to the parliament building for the changing of the guards. Our walk was very eye opening, we followed the gps through some not so tourist areas and saw shops filled to the roof with junk. These shop keepers sold their items on the sidewalks. There were also many homeless people.

Changing of the guards in Athens is pretty funny. The soldiers uniform has funny pom poms on their feet and they actually do this hilarious little march, step, point their toes routine. We decided it was to stop the enemy from attacking because they looked so silly.

We finished our day at 5.30pm. If you can imagine that at 8.30am it was already 36 degrees and quickly rose to 42 degrees. So after 9 hours of heat and walking we were all ready to go home, have a cold shower, eat dinner and go to bed!

Athens is a truly amazing place!

     

Rafina Beach, Alimo Beach and Lykavittos Hill - Aegean Sea

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Because the weather was so hot and the city so crowded we decided to spend a couple of days exploring some different beaches and little coastal areas. 

We drove to Marathon where the battle of Marathon took place and enjoyed spending time there and at Rafina Beach. 

The next day we went to the other side of Athens, a more popular and busy place and enjoyed swimming and playing at Alimo Beach.

 On the way to Alimo we stopped at Lykavitto Hill, a big hill in the center of Athens with a small white chapel at the top. The 360° view showed us how huge Athens is. It was a beautiful day and you can literally see all the way to the ocean from every angle. 

Athens, Greece

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We knew Athens was big, but we didn't realise how big! The population is slightly over 3 million and is a sprawling city of narrow streets and back to back buildings. Thankfully the main historic sights are all located in the Old Athens area and our home exchange was a short bus ride and metro trip not far from everything we wanted to see. 

We began our visit with a walking tour. Our guide was very knowledgeable and we enjoyed learning about Ancient Greece, visiting many historical sites and listening to the many legends of the Greek Gods. The Olympic stadium  above is made completely of marble. The weather continued to be stifling hot and we drank almost 10 liters of water between all of us! 

One of the things most noticeable is the change in culture. People are so friendly, the store vendors and people in the street love chatting and playing with Corban and Leo. When we walked through the markets the butchers would steal Leo's hat and play with him in a cheeky way.  There were plenty of Albania's who kept trying to talk to Corban because she was wearing an Albanian hat. When we explained that we were on holiday, they were so happy that we had visited Albania and wanted to hug her. 

Macedonia

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Macedonia is a lovely little country, we spent two nights in the capital Skopje. Filip's dad lives here so we also had an evening catching up with them and he took Taylor out for one of the days.

The central city of Skopje is under reconstruction as part of their bid to become part of the EU. There are many statues, water fountains, bridges and fancy things being built.  They clearly have a vision and the city is very pretty. Macedonia is the birth place of Mother Teresa, so we visited the Mother Teresa memorial house and read the little gold plaques that we scattered throughout the city with her quotes.

Only a short walk out of the city is the Old Town markets nestles below the old fort.  We wondered through the cute little market streets looking at the rugs and hand made leather crafts, of course stopping for an ice cream because it was so hot.

Another must do in Macedonia was the Millennium Cross.  It is the largest cross in the world, it was erected in 2000 as a celebration of 2000 years of Christianity. Pretty impressive for a predominantly Muslim country. We took a gondola ride to the top of the mountain and enjoyed the view, play park and watched a thunder storm rolling in over the mountains.

Once again we we surprised by the surrounding countryside and little farms.  There were lots of horses and carts, children herding goats, little road stalls with fruit and vegetables or as you will see in one photo a guy literally walking his cow up the state highway.  Although new highways and bridges are being built, many people appear to do what they have always done e.g. we saw a number of people happily walk across the 3 lane state highway and climb the barrier in the middle rather than walking to an over bridge a few hundred meters up the road. We also saw little children maybe 8 or 9 years old driving tractors to the petrol station to fill up.

What would make headlines in a New Zealand newspaper is everyday life here. Unfortunately not long after leaving Macedonia we learned that they have closed their borders to refugees. There are many people mounting up at the borders. Police and military have lined the border and even used tear gas where families are desperate to get help. Europe is in crisis, and from what we have seen are not dealing with it very well.