Sorry for the lack of posting. I have been (in some cases literally) running around so much on this trip that I have barely had a chance to sit down. Will have to fill you guys in when I'm back stateside.
As you may have guessed, I have been doing an in/extensive tour of Turkey. Basically, I tried to pack about 16 days worth of stuff into about 10 days. The result? Some of the most interesting sleeping arrangements I've encountered on a trip, and very little actual sleeping. Quick overview:
Sunday- Hopped an over-night bus to Cappadocia.
Monday- Got there at 9am, started a day tour at 9:30am. Went around and saw all the cool "Fairy Chimneys" (weird chimney looking rock formations caused by volcanic action back in the day). Spent the night in a fairy chimney cave!
Tuesday - Got up at 4am to catch a hot-air balloon ride over the fairy chimneys at sun rise. IT WAS AMAZING. I always wanted to go on a hot air balloon. Figured this was about the best place in the world for it. Ran around Cappadocia all day. Hopped another night bus.
Wenesday - Arrived at Olympos at 10am, after changing buses about 3 times, and long delays. Spent the day at the beach and hiking around the ruins. Did a night hike up to the top of Chimaera, the mountain that strangely holds fire! In ancient times, they believed there was a dragon-like creature inside (a Chimaera) and it was this endless flame that inspired our current Olympic torch (apparently, people used to light torches with the flame and then run races down the hill). Spent the night in a treehouse! (Olympos is famous for its tree houses).
Thurs- Got on a boat! Was a bit hesitant about a 4 day boat trip (which could be torture if the boat was awful). But the booking agent talked me into it. And I have to admit, it was pretty awesome. The 'blue cruise' as its known around Turkey, is a standard trip around the south coast, stopping at lots of famous places like the sunken city, Kas, and the beach from 'blue lagoon'. Some of these places are only accessible by boat, so it was kinda cool. Although "cruise" is a bit of a stretch. A quite compact little yacht, most of the 16 of us preferred sleeping on deck to sleeping in the tiny cabinet-cabins below.
Fri-Sat - Slept on a boat! Star gazing on the deck was really pretty magical.
Sun - Got off the boat at Fethiye. Got a bus to Pamukkale. Spent the night in A REAL BED!
Mon- Spent the day doing a whirl wind tour of the famous ruins and pools of Pamukkale. There was actually water in the pools when I was there, which is apparently not always the case. Got a bus to Selcuk. Another night in a real bed!
Tues - Ran around the AMAZING ruins of Ephesus and then the once-incredible Artemis temple (one of the wonders of the ancient world!). Hopped a night bus to Eceabat.
Wednes - Got there at about 7:45am. Hopped a ferry to Troy at 8am. Spent the day among the ruins and hopped a bus back to Istanbul. Where I met up with my Best-Roomie-Ever (Wendy, my roommate in Singapore had just got into Turkey hours before). Was planning on spending the night at the airport, but ended up catching a few hours sleep on Wendy's friend's couch.
Thurs- woke up at 4am and miraculously caught my plane into Albania. Still a bit impressed/surprised that I pulled off running to all those cities and making it back in time. Not that there weren't glitches along the way. In fact, I think more may have gone wrong on this trip then with any other. But thats a story for a different post. Besides, alls well that ends well.
In my final travel-clue, I will tell you that I will be bumming around Albania for the next week or so, before crossing into the country named after its 'black mountains'. A few days there, then a flight back to Istanbul on Aug 2nd, and a flight to the Capital of the USA on Aug 3rd.
Over and out!
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