"Don't worry, we will burn something"

This is what Mel told me after our search for fourth of July fireworks came up empty handed.

I was sure I was going to be homesick on the 4th.  It's no surpirse that it's my favorite holiday!!  And I was already recieving emails titled "4th of July weekend" explaining all the fun things that would be going on without me at home.  I am in a group of Australians, and one Turkish man.  Turkish people are very proud of their country, flags are all over the place.  Whereas the Australians find this alien, as they have laws restricting them on how many flags can be in a certain area at a certain time, it reminds me of how proud Americans are, with flags all around, in shops, on cars, etc.  The entire time I was planning this trip, I was debating if I really wanted to miss the 4th of July.  I was sure my family would be on the beach, along with a million other people.  Dad would have PB&J's, Cheez itz, and frozen water bottles, so that you would be so thirsty all day but your assigned bottle would at least last the entire day.  The girls at work would be busy decorating themselves in red, white, and blue all day and night, and they would try to catch the fireworks on the beach from the Rudder office.  Flags and bunting would be everywhere you look.  And people that I haven't seen in the midst of our busy schedules, would flood to the beach, and we would be able to do quick beer shooters in celebration of America's birthday.

Today, the only spirit I had was a freebee flag some bank had given out, and a ribbon (duh).  I already told the Aussie's to get ready, and they were good sports, but they were lacking the enthusiasm and patriotism from home.

Today's agenda included sea kayaking over a sunken city.  Other American's were in our tour group.  Things were already looking up.  We kayaked to a little cove and heard the history and saw some ruins, then continued over the sunken city.  "It's not Atlantis.  Don't expect that", our guide told us.  We also had to keep moving the entire time.  The city has not been touched by archeologists, and it's illegal to snorkel or scuba dive there.  So, when the kayak of two Koreans knocked into and flipped over Mel's kayak, and he lost his designer sunglasses, they were goners, maybe to one day be found.  The sunken city had a lot of Greek influences (you can see a Greek island from Kas, they apparently have had a lot of influence on each other's architecture and foods, etc)  It was destroyed by an earthquake.  You can see on the island (that used to be a penninsula) where the buildings, etc were, and then they just ended, and you could see the other parts of those buildings in the waters below you.  This was an Lycian City (even though it was a 3 hour bus ride from our previous Lycian trail hiking spot).  The litte island that we stopped for at lunch was beautiful and had a castle on the top of the hill that previously was used as a look-out spot.  The two American girls and I were excited to have pasta salad on the lunch spread.  We looked for burgers and hotdogs, but there were a no-go. 

An old turkish lady trying to sell you things while swimming!

Swimming at some ruins

Get to work Marnie!!!

The other American's were a family from CA that did a house-swap with a Turkish family (I thought that only happened in the movies...??)  The dad had a solo kayak, and the mom and daughter were in one together.  American dad (As I took to calling him on this day)  was not very coordinated from the start, barely fitting into his kayak, and struggling in and out when he was still on land.  You can only imagine him in the water!!!  The first time he tipped out, mom and daughter were joking with me, saying they automatically clung togeher from the start, knowing he was going to be bad news, and giggling, and pretending not to know him when the group did have to wait for him to get in and settled again before moving on.  He had a good attitude about it, but he eventually did just come back to port in the little tug boat that had been following us around.  That was best for us all!!


Marnie and I lounged after lunch, finding shaded benches and just enjoyed the view before kayaking back to our launch spot, and riding in the big jeep back to town.  We then went down to the beach for drinks and lounging in chairs by the beach bar before heading to dinner.  After dinner, we went to a bar that Mel had pre-arranged with the owner that they would have sparklers for us.  So, there were still some sparkly celebrations after all!!!  We then enjoyed a couple drinks on our roof-top veranda before calling it a night.  All in all, this independence day was not a bust, and I was glad that I had others around to help me celebrate!  However, I'm still thinking a "4th of August...Everyday is Independence Day" BBQ is in order for when I arrive home!!

Shots at Queen Bar

Sparklers for Independence Day!!! :)

"Man, I can't wait to do laundry!"

These words actually came out of mine and Marnie's mouths. And were super sincere. 
We just spent 2 days hiking and camping out on the Lycian Trail.  We didn't shower, we wore the same clothes (actually, I think Marnie's socks were on day 5), we were sweating, swimming, dust was getting everywhere and we were beyond dirty.  And then we got on another bus for 3 hours.  Sorry for those of you around us.

When we arrived to our new hotel, in Kas, a shower was the first thing on out list, and laundry was a quick second.  Mel (our tour guide) told us that the hotel does laundry, 15 Turkish Lira per load.  Entirely too much for these backpackers that have shared every meal since day 2 of meeting to save money.  (If you check conversion rates, 15 Turkish Lira equals about 10 American dollars.)

So, we went on a hunt for hand washing laundry detergent.  And we found some, for 3.5 Turkish Lira.  A bargain!!!  And it is probably enough to keep our clothes clean for the rest of the summer.  OK maybe not exactly considering how dirty our socks were, but we are coming to a close on the active hiking portion of our trip.

That night after dinner, we set up an assembly line.  Marnie maned the suds in the sink (which didn't have a stopper so we used a plastic bag b/c we were again too cheap to buy a bucket).  I was in charge of then rinsing them out in the shower.  And by shower I mean hose.  There is nothing that seperates the shower from the rest of the bathroom.  The good news about this is that no nasty shower cushion will accidently touch you.  Then we set up a clothes line (Thanks to Marnie's mum's backpacking brilliance) for them to dry.  The lines were so heavy, we had to place our big packs on either chair so that they didn't collapse.  And water soaked the floor in spite of towels being layed underneath.  And it set up quite the boobie trap in our honeymoon suite (please note, we didn't bother to seperate our beds).  But we not have clean clothes and we are happy!!  And not so smelly!!

Half of the laundry on the line being held up by our big packs on either end, and the stool in the middle

Our beds are still togeher and it's now practically impossible to get out to the balcony!

Also, we gave extra suds and soaking to our socks, leaving them in overnight and scrubing them several times.  Don't worry, there's no way they're making the trip back to America!!!

"If you do anything dangerous, just don't tell me until afterwards please"

These were the last words of advice from my mother before she dropped be off at the airport.  I'll get to that part later, but first my favorite day thus far.

When we left Ephesus, we headed to Fatihye so that we could hike 14 km of the Lycian Way, to Butterfly Valley. After a dinner at the fish market.  Where you buy the fresh fish and take it to the restaurant of your choice, and they will cook it for you.  This was our most expensive meal to date, and sharing did not work in our favor tonight, but it was good still.

Fish Market!

The restaurant, with pretty lights in the tree.  This tree also doubled as an entrance for the stray cats.

We started our walk early in the morning, circa 7 am, which was nice because the sun wasn't too hot yet. By about 10 am, it was time for a break and some lunch. We first spotted, at the top of a hill by two little girls holding hands, and then running to our trail tour guide to say hello. We asked if they were his kids, but he told us they were the kids of the family we were going to for lunch. One of the girls grabbed his hand and walked in her sandals down the path, as we walked along the dirt road, catching ourselves from slipping on the gravel. They were pros. We stopped at a natural spring to fill our water bottles, and they grabbed a two liter bottle, filled it with water and carried it back home, chatting merrily with our tour guide as we walked. We went into the village for our homecooked meal. Village is a bit of a strech. This place had 9-10 houses and about 30-40 people living there. The tour used to stop a little further up for lunch in a different village, but this family was hurting for funds, and the other family already had someone with a job, so they moved the lunch location in order to help their neighbors out. We all sat around a large table as we watched the wife cook us up a tradtional Turkish pancakes. She kneeled on the ground rolling out bits of dough until they were big enough, stuffed them with herbs, and put them on top of their open fire grill. While she was cooking the girls were entertaining us with normal children antics, except that we weren't able to understand a word of it. Sometimes they would translate for us, but either way, you could tell they were happy kids. Once we finished eating, the wife asked if any of us wanted to try to cook one of the dishes. So, of course I gave it a shot! (In spite of breaking my 26 and a half year streak of not cooking). She was much better than I was, but it was still neat to try. As others in my group tried, I played with the little girls, who were fascinated with our long hair, hung all over us and laughed and laughed. It was really great to see a Turkish family and be invited to learn about them, even though they didn't really speak any English. It was also very inspiring to see how happy these little girls who had next to nothing were; it made me very thankful for everything I have.

Hassan and our official greeters

The girls collecting spring water.

Look mum im cooking for myself!

Me trying to cook...check out the "stove" in the background

She cooks much better than I do!

The little girl was infauated with everyone's hair, but her's was cut so short :(

They loved playing pattycake, even though they didn't understand a word of it

 

The beach that can only be reached by boat or by one path in which 3 ropes are needed to get down there

Beautiful hiking views!

hiking.

After lunch, we hiked a bit longer and finally made it to our hotel.  PS, we hiked the entire way with everything we needed on our backs.  We all cooled off and relaxed by the pool until it was time to shuttle back down to the bottom of the mountain we just climbed for a bit of paragliding over Olumediz beach.  AKA jumping off the mountain with a parachute (and a man) on your back.  We swam and layed on the super rocky beach while half of our group jumped first.  Parachutes filled the sky all day, and we were able to watch them come all the way down.  When they all landed, they talked about how great it was, so that calmed my nerves quite a bit, until I reached the launch site.  This was just a cobblestone patio (ok, a very large patio) that tilted down the mountain and then seemed to disappear into the canyon below.  I watched as my tandem guy helped everyone else get their chutes ready and they all floated off into the sky.  I was suddenly by myself at the top of the mountain and was being barked orders in broken English to help unwrap the parachute.  They are then strapping me up, telling me to run, and I'm floating away.  There was no jumping off the side.  The wind just caught the parachute and I was in the air, over the cliff and drifting through the mountains, to the sea and the beach below, as the sun is starting to set.  It was a beautiful and enjoyable ride.  Until I made the mistake of allowing him to spin me, one that I payed for dearly.  It got to the point that I had to snap at him for taking my pictures, that he would later try to sell me, telling him I couldn't look over there and smile, I could only look in front of me, unless he wanted me to get sick.  A beautiful sunset back atop the mountain and a homecooked meal did the trick for feeling better, and in our bungalows we stayed for overnight camping.

nervous.

Check out Mr. Smooky behind Marnie

Jumping off the 2000m cliff

The view as I was flying

Paragliding with this beautiful view!

Olumdeiz beach where I landed!

Our bungalow for the night!

The next morning we set out for more hiking.  This time we were physically climbing up onto and over rocks on a narrow path directly next to the cliff.  And it was still hotter than ever!  Oh well, for me, going up is better than going down!!  After about 2 hours of hiking we made it to Kabak beach.  The shore was just made up of big rocks, but the ocean was so clear and blue and beautiful!!!  The kids were jumping off of rocks into the water (as their mom's watched).  But, I was just pretending to be Ariel the little mermaid, and saying a prayer that no one was getting hurt.

A blurry lense

Under water

Marnie's rando piece of hair

Ariel

Floating!

Soaking up some sun

Happy Fourth to everyone!! (officially over here)  Hope the beach is warm, the beers are cold, Jam sesh is solid, and the flags are prevelant!! :) :) God Bless America!! :)

 beach Olumediz

High standards have been re-evaluated

Finally got yesterday's post up, and it's a free morning, so we're slow in getting things going.

Yesterday we went to Ephasus (I'll add links to today's two posts later, to check out) after our 7 hour bus ride.  Our hotel is something else.  "Let's just say it could be called camping" is Marnie's response when I asked if this was a hostel or a hotel.  Our phone does not work (no wake-up call), no electricity to re-charge things, no way to turn the air conditioning on different settings, no sheets, just raw blankets and what looks like my poppop's old hunting blankets to keep you warm at night, also no water.  Meaning, no way to wash out the dirty socks I've been wearing the last 3 days in a row, no way to shower or brush your teeth, or even flush the toilet.  I think I've been camping in better conditions, but we at least have a balcony, and the people at the hotel were nice enough to leave the key to the balcony door on the outside so that anyone who can get to the door can get it.

Last night we also went to a Hamam for a Turkish bath.  I was rubbed down and massaged by sweaty, old, fat men. It was an experience to say the least!

Speacial shout outs to team Brad Lidge for 2 come from behind victories to take the ship!!  And Audrey for scoring the game winning run!!  Turkey Hill for all!!  Wish I could be there!!

Extreme touring has slowed since the Active tour began

So happy to have slept in beds instead of a bus!

To the plane we go!

 

1 hour on a plane > 13 hours on a bus, ANY day!!  I'm beyond glad we skipped out on our most recent overnight bus....don't worry, more bus rides await us!

Back to Istanbul in no time to meet up with our tour, and I'm the only American in a group of Aussies.  (Meg told me this was likely to happen) and of course our Turkish tour guide; but I'm totally OK with it (duh!).  Everyone asks Marnie and I how we know each other, and when we tell them that we just met last week in Turkey, no one can believe it.  I guess an overnight bus right really lends itself to some hard core bonding.  We do a guided walking tour around Istanbul, do a bit of shopping in the Spice Market and the Grand Bazaar, where aggressive and pushy aren't strong enough adjectives.

Group dinner

The next morning, Marnie and I head to Basilica Cistern, an undergound city in Istanbul.  It's increadible!  There's rows of pillars coming out of the water holding up the vaulted ceilings.  There's also two giant medusa heads that came from Egypt.  They're huge, and I have no idea how they got them down there.  The afternoon was a 5.5 hour bus ride that took us to Eceabat, a sleepy town compared to Istanbul.  Tourism I'm sure is their main attraction, but I bet there's as many stray cats and dogs as there are people there. 

In the Basilica Cistern

Basilica is the starting framework of the church, and Cistern is where water is kept.

(Oh, have I forgot to mention the strays all over Turkey??  The cats sit around when you're eatting dinner waiting for your scraps, it's quite disgusting.  The dogs are a bit cuter, but they're still pretty dirty.  We had a couple kittens in our room in Cappadocia, sneaking in through our open window with no screens to commendere the bread and cheese I snuck from breakfast.  They were a bit cuter since they were kittens, but pretty gross none the less)

The kittens getting at my cheese

Most of our Day 2 in Turkey was spent traveling (Our actual touring has really slowed since we started this "Active" Tour) and we watch Gallipoli (with Mel Gibson 30 years or so ago) after dinner, since I'm the ignorant American.

Anzac Cove....Hiking and later snorkeling here

Gallipoli is something that all Aussies know about and learn about in school.  I was reading over our itinerary and Marnie laughed out loud when I tried pronouncing it (gally-polly was what I said but guh-lip-uh-lee is the correct way).  It was a battle (I feel like battle implies that it was short period of time, it was several months, I just can't think of a better word) that the Anzac fought during World War I that caused a lot of casualties and gained no progress or land for the Allies.  Who are the Anzac you may ask, I did and got laughed at by everyone.  I knew the question was going to be a stupid one so I tried to pull the tourguide off to the side to ask him privately, but apparently I wasn't quiet enough because everyone laughed in amazment when I asked.  Anzac in the Australia and New Zealand Army Corp, hence why they learn about it in school. 

Silliness on the beach

We hiked the state park and learned all about what happened at Gallipoli.  There are tons of Anzac cemetaries and memorials all over the park, which I think is an amazing thing for one country to have memorials for other countries that were at war with them.  These memorials are beautiful and all in English, so that it can be read by the Aussies and Kiwis.  I'm sure it was much more inspiring to the Australians than it was to me, but even as an American, it was quite touching.  Lone Pine was the big Australian Memorial, several Turkish Memorials, too.  The views as we climbed up the mountain was increadible, and it was hard to imagine such brutal battles being fought there. 

Nek Cemetary....AMAZING views!

We then rode down and snorkeled Anzac cove over a sunken battle ship.  Pretty cool!  This is what I was doing as everyone back home was starting their nine-to-five. I was thinking of you all :)

That night, we took the Ferry over to Canakkle to check out the Trojan Horse that they used in the movie Troy.
This morning we were up early for another long bus ride.  Thank God for Wifi and Marnie's laptop :)

OK so when the websites are in a different language, it's a bit difficult to post, so I had to wait until today to get things figured out.

True tales from the over-night bus. (Where is the Knight bus when I need it Harry??)

So in the last 3 nights I've slept a total of 4 hours in a bed.  Night 1, an hour in London before catching the night bus, train and the first morning flight to Istanbul. 

All covered up heading into the Blue Mosque

As I last left you, we were starting our journey to Cappadocia...

The man at the hotel said 25 minute,s 30 MAX to the bus station.  So off we go into the steep terraine and cobble stone streets of Istanbul with our big packs on our back and our day packs on the front.  This is where the journey to our over-night bus adventure begins.  And oh what an adventure it was!!!  To quote from Marnie's travel journal.....

"After what was supposed to be a half-hour journey to the bus station, it actually took us one hour with a 20 kilo day pack on.  We got onto the bus, which to easily describe, was a local bus that had not one english-speaking person on there, but two; an Aussie and an American.  The Turkish squeezed between 4-6 people between two chairs, so the bus was filled to the brim.  Just to get your bag on the bus was push-and-shove.  Almost impossible unless you were a Turk.  The bus ride actually took 14 hours.  We had to stop to go to the toilet which was a ceramic hole in the ground, a hose to flush water, and doors that don't lock, they just swing right open when the next Mouslin lady decides it's her turn.  Toilet paper is a myth here.  Except of course, one euro for one 10cm x 10 cm square.  We finally arrived at our hotel at 11am after finally figuring out what bus stop to get off at."

What claimed to be an 11 hour bus ride took us 15 hours door-to-door.  The entire time I'm riding the bus I'm remembering after telling my dad that we were taking an over-night bus, him saying, "Oh, that shounds like fun"  I've been on a lot of long rides before, for this one, there was no uno-champion, there was no car sickness (thankfully), there was funky smells, and there was not much sleeping.  It was terrible, but I suppose it could have been worse.  At least Marnie and I at least got to sit next to each other and, there was only 2 of us in our two seats.  Night 2: zero sleep in a bed.
We didn't have much time here in Cappadocia (before our dreaded return to the overnight bus) so, we were off to walk through town and head to the Open Air Museum.  What should have been a 15 minute walk from our cave hotel, turned into 1.5 hour hike heading on a huge loop on the outskirts of town on the dusty streets in the heat of the mid-day without any shade in site.  The signs we were following for the Museum was a car detour, don't worry we found the "short cut" on the way home.  We lounged by the pool to cool off and relax from our rough journey and got to eavesdropping on some other hotel guests who were talking about their cheap flights back to Istanbul.  Marnie turns to me and asks, "How much would you be willing to spend on a flight back instead?"  We immediately went inside to do research and decided to stay in Cappadocia for an extra night, fly back and chalk our already paid for tickets up to a great story, and something we never wanted to do again, especially with just one night in between!! 

After getting all of our tours, trip and extra night details squared away, it was getting late.  We asked a solo travelling Chinese-American who just arrived to join us for dinner.  Whereas I would have much rathered it had been Kelsey Cheng, Sophie has continued to provide with good laughs.  She's quite the character and stereotypical Asian tourist (don't worry, we have been quite sterotypical tourists ourselves-nothing screams tourist like having backpack straps tan lines)!!  Late to bed and next thing I know, I'm woken up to the sounds that Marnie's only told me about.  The 4 am Mouslim prayer, sung through loud speakers that spread throughout the city.  Night 3: 4 hours of sleep in a bed

Today, our real wake-up call was shortly after the prayer at 4:15 so that we could take a hot air balloon ride (Don't worry Mom, it's the safest method of air travel).  The sky was full of everyone in their hot air balloons and it was awesome to get to see the whole town from above.  After our morning adventure, we proceeded on with a day tour, and guess who's there, but that we had to turn bacl around to get....Sophie!!  We went hiking through Rose valley, visit a Turkish Greek city, see the fairy chimnys, eat a proper Turkish lunch, see one of the rock castles, and visit an underground city.  Sophie showed up late for the bus in 3 of today's 6 events (4 if you include the start) and only because the other 3 were done as a group, with her camera clicking wildly the entire time.  She's great :)

Hot air balloons are going up everywhere!

Up we go!!!

Stopping at a cave church during our hike through Rose Valley

Going through the underground city!

Notice Ed's not missing out on any of the fun!

Being deleriously silly through the underground tunnels

(It's been a LONGGG day!)

I couldn't be happier to get a good night's sleep tonight in a real bed.  The next 12 day's agenda is going to be quite busy!

I would also like to give a shout-out, a year ago today I got the celebrate the marriages of Joanna&Dylan, and Edie&Chris in Mobile, AL, congrats guys!! Fun times :)  Also, happy anniversary to Mom&Dad.  Sorry, no card.