Ta Ta Turkey

If you think the 'Flintstones' are just cartoons, you are sorely mistaken. Cappadocia, Turkey brings animation to life; people live, work, and own caves and houses in rocks. İt sort of boggles your mind to think about and when you see it before your very eyes, it is still difficult to work out how this natural wonder came to be. Though we didn't do as much hiking or exploring as a good tourist would, we still saw a decent amount... thanks to our local friend, Hassan. He wouldn't take no for an answer and we spent a whole day being chauffeured from churches to sunset points to castles, stopping along the way for ice cream, fruit & cheese, wine, and tea (of course) with various cousins and uncles. The whole experience was unreal and we lived it up. I will put up pictures soon, but they don't do this place justice...so you might be better off looking some up on the internet. On our last day in Goreme, we caught up with a friend from Olympos, Colin, and left the following day for İstanbul.

Since returning to İstanbul we have been having a great time. One day we took a cruise down the Bosporus to the Black Sea with Colin and Mario (another friend from Olympos...check out the link to his website). We spent another day wondering through the Grand Bazaar, making some last minute purchases in Turkey. Despite being treated like queens and served an amazing fish barbecue on the river, we still bought our train tickets onward towards Croatia. İt is for this reason that today is a monumental day in our travels.

We are leaving Turkey, the land of kebabs and tea. Turkey has proven to be yet another gem of a place that we never intended on visiting before we left home. This is where mosques blare prayers 5 times and day and women walk the streets in head scarves; where my name has changed (yet again) to 'Amandica' and where Jess and İ have played hours upon hours of their national sport...backgammon. Speaking of sports, Turkey has been the location of my first ever successful betting experience - İ risked 500 Russian Rubles and won 20 TYL (15 dollars) picking Spain in the European Cup. We couldn't have been here at a better time for football (soccer) - Turkey had one of their best showings ever, reaching the semi-finals. All in all, we couldn't have had a more authentic visit and İ am sure that Turkey will be in our future travels. However, when we return, we will be sure to make Olympos our last stop so we can actually see a couple more sites before we are made captives at Saban Pension.

Now we are off to Croatia and then to İtaly to see the Schenck's...we have lots of long train, bus, and boat rides in our immediate future. Not excited about that, but İ think it will all be worth it once we reach Rome! If anyone would like to send small (or large) gifts, please contact my mother at jaeee@aol.com. Thank you and have a nice day.