Traveling Dina - Explore. Dream. Discover.

Yes, even the McDonald’s in Turkey was different. You could get your tavuk nuggets, potates and coca colas, but you could also get the…

McTURCO!!!!

(your choice: chicken or lamb!)

I haven’t buckled down to sort through any of my pictures yet, but here are a few from Lisa’s collection!

Dina & Lisa at TopKapi Palace:

At the “Library” at ancient ruins of Ephesis:

More Ephesis:

Ruveyda, Atilla & Dina w/stray cat, carpets, & nargilis (aka ‘hookas’) (oh, and the tank-top Atilla’s mom got me…)

Amazing carpet weaver — this was only a “demonstration” carpet for a carpet shop instead of an actual dowery piece, but I was amazed at the skill, speed and precision of this weaver.

Delicious food! Note the “shepherd’s salad” of chopped tomatoes, cucumbers, onion, and parsley with oil & lemon, served at almost every meal and delicious! Also shown is kofta (like spiced lamb patties or meatballs), chikcen, peppers, yogurt, spicy stuff… Just lots of food, for one meal no less!

Hopefully more pics to follow!

I’ve got lots more to post about Turkey, now that I’ve got internet access again.

However, I’d like to report, that after 3 weeks cold-turkey (no pun intended), I finally had sushi again today, for lunch. And dinner.

So we spent 3 nights and 4 days just ‘maxin’ and relaxin’ in Olympos, a ‘backpacker’s ghetto’ on the Mediterranean, a little stretch that they call the Turquoise Coast. After our go-go-go itenerary and 12-hour bus rides, Marcus was in need of some serious recuperation and this was the ideal place for it.

We chose to stay at the Şaban Pensiyon, a place with literal ‘tree-houses’ of platforms in the trees and small air-conditoned bungalows for 30 Lira \ night per person, breakfast and dinner included. It was, how do you say? Fan - f’ing - tastic. So amazingly relaxing, and the food was practically the best we’ve had so far, every night a variety of meat, fish, and vegetarian entrees with exquisite spicing and more than we could ever hope to eat. (The first night the highlight was Köfte, Turkish spiced lamb patties kind of like hamburgers; the 2nd night an amazing eggplant-suautee medley and spaghetti, the 3rd, succulant whole trout)

While at Şaban, we met up with Fiona and Matt, a super-fun and friendly couple from Brisbane, Australia. It was slightly like hanging out with clones of ourselves with cooler accents — Fiona was a fiery 5′ 0, friendly, well-traveled, talkative and opinionated, while Matt was a mellower, chill, more laid-back ‘let her drive’ kind of guy. It was great to meet up with them — we had dinner and drinks the first night, and the 2nd night all headed up to the Chimera together, next day spent hiking ruins and swimming in the warm salty water.

Chimera was truly amazing — a spot at the top of a mountain where the ground literally is on fire. At several spots around the mountain, there are cracks in the scraggly rock where blue rumbling fire licks around the crags and bursts into triumphant yellow flames. Each small campfire can be put out with a simple strong breath, but several minutes later bursts back into flame. No one yet has solved the mystery as to exactly what type of gas is causing this miracle, but apparently it has been going on for thousands of years.

Lest I let you continue to think that I am super-trooper adventure girl, I must let you know that Marcus, Fiona, Matt & I opted to pay the 15 Lira each (approx $11-12?) to take the mini-bus most of the way there, hiking up the last 15 minutes (and I do mean straight up). On the way down, we met up with an Israeli couple who were also staying at the Şaban. They, we discoverd, had spent the better part of an hour walking the 7 kilometers to the base of the site, having hitchhiked a ride for the majority of the 2nd half there. *WAY* more hard-core than I’ll ever be, and I admire them for it! On the flip side, I’m truly grateful I can afford the more comfortable ride to these amazing wonders of the world.

For the last run of our trip, Marcus and I opted to spend some extra money and go luxurious. Instead of another 12+ hour bus ride, we flew from Antalya (near Olympos) back to Istanbul — miraculously, only about $75 each (Imagine trying to get a last-minute, one-way flight in the US from NYC to Cleveland.) It was SO MUCH BETTER than a 12-hour bus ride. No joking, here. (The bus rides themselves deserve their own entry — stay posted, dear readers…)

Anyway, we landed safely in Isanbul, and settled into our mediocre hotel in the tourist district of Istanbul, ‘ Sultan Ahmet’. We slept soundly in the lovely air conditioning and did more of the tourist thing today — the ‘Grand Bazaar’ of leather, clothes, Turkish crafts and textiles, plus an amazing under-city Cistern and the Top Kapı palace. We had a couple of street Doner Kabops then headed to Marcus’s favorite carpet shop, where, after several hours and not a small amount of stress, I left a few hundred dollars poorer but in the possesion of an amazingly exquisite, hand-embroidered silk carpet in background shades of pale pink with black embroidered stitches and motifs symbolizing the power of love. I’m quite pleased.

With a little bit of help from mom, dad, and their wonderfully effective travel agent back home, Marcus & I landed in a fabuloulsy Western hotel (Ahhhh, the joys of a bathtub and a shower head that is actually attached to the wall instead of a hose that dangles down tothe floor) in a trendy, European-styled neighborhood with dozens of al fresco restaurants with tantalizing menus.

We opted for a ‘Mezes’ restaurant, similar to Spanish Tapas with different dishes — basically, the diners choose several small dishes to share. We got a sauteed spinach with spices, a wonderfully exotic potato salad, couscous, and calamari and shrimp for me, plus drinks. It all was delicous, along with interesting people-watching and the requisite Isanbul kittens and cats (in Turkish, ‘Keti’, or, as we might say in English, ‘Kitty’)

Marcus is ready for home and a good American breakfast with fried eggs and bacon or sausage instead of cheese, olives, and bread, but I want more adventure, more novelty. I’m definitely not ready to go home!!! I love traveling, and I can’t wait for my next adventure.

Hopefully when I get home I will fill in some of the missing details of the amazing sites I saw on this trip, so feel free to keep checking in, and don’t forget to use the ‘comments’ link down below, I’ll respond to you all when I get home!!!

Back to California in 2 days.

xo -d-

9:20 pm, Thurs Aug 31, 2006 (from paper journal)

I’m sitting at a combination outdoor cafe - indoor internet shop in Ankara — I’m just sipping çay (tea) at a 4-top table by myself; the decor is silver-tube low-slung chairs with lime green vinyl cushions. It’s one of the only places with outdoor seating we’ve actually seen women at — and they’re both with guys. There have been a few couples at restaurants but no single women anywhere, especially not at the male-dominated cafes and tea houses, where gropus of men sit drinking endless cups of çay, smoking and playing aggressive games of backgammon. (I read in the guide book that single women are often ushered into seperate ‘family rooms’, segregated behind curtains — I assume so they can retain theır virtue and pose no temptation to the common men who might see them dining alone…)

This area of Ankara is clearly a young, hip, modern area. (We actually saw what we think was a gay couple strolling down the street holding hands and acting rather flirtatıously toward each other… imagine that!) The women ın tight jeans, strappy tank-tops and teased or dyed hair outnumber those with headscarves by like 20 to 1. A few of those women, walking around mostly paired together, we guess to be ‘Natashas’, the name given to the pretty young immigrants from the former Soviet Union countries who often work as call girls. I doubt I’ll be mistaken for one, though, even though I’ve dared to sit alone at a cafe. With my ultra-conservative by US standards (and clearly Ankara standards) loose blue t-shirt and flowy black pulazzo-style pants, unstyled long straight hair, short nails, no makeup, birkenstocks, and the minor problem of my (rather lacking) height, not to mention my massively untrendy, bulky travel purse I’m carrying, I’m no Natasha.

(It reminds me of when I arrived in Costa Rica and went to a local bar with a male friend — he noticed way before I did that there was something odd about the female clientelle. Only after İ went to the bathroom and two scantily-clad, heavily made-up women were obviously trying to impart some friendly advice indicating that I needed to change my clothes and fix my hair did I get it…)

Anyway, another interesting thing about his area of Ankara are the street vendors. Marcus and I had been walkıng down the pedestrianonly street, which was crowded only with people strolling along (most on cellphones). We ducked into an İnternet cafe for about 10 minutes, and when we came out, both sides of the street had been taken over by vendors who’d set up shop on sheets and cardboard boxes, selling everything you can imagine, from sneakers to fake designer wallets and purses to scarves, t-shirts, chess\backgammon sets, travel pıllows, caribiners, clothes, blinking\moving plastic robot toys, perfume, jimi hendrix posters, carpets, jewlery, wet-naps, you name it, they were selling it. It was crazy — he sheer numbers of them, the way they were practically on top of each other, and how they all seemed to appear out of thin air all at precisely the same moment, kind of like cockroaches when you turn off the lights in a too-dirrty NY apartment…

~~~

We checked out 2 of Ankara’s museums today, both very interesting, and walked around the old citadel area which has tiny, tiny cobbled back streets climbing up a hill and buffered by the ımmense rock walls of the old fortress. We popped into a small, old antique shop where the owner made his own beaded jewlery and bought a pair of earrings for 5 YTL. We ate overlooking the old part of the city, then took a taxi to a tourist site — the glass elevator and restaurant at the top of a tower with unsurpassed views of the city. Sadly, we were at the top of the tower for Ankara’s first day of rain in 3 months of sunshine. But, the view was stıll pretty good, if the food only so-so. Afterward, we poked around the huge, modern mall downstairs (which comes complete with a KFC, which, I must admıt, had me salivating) and bought what we hope is conditıoner plus some REAL apple juice at the supermarket.

Now it’s off to the massive bus station where hopefully we’ll manage to get on the right bus and head back down south toward the ‘Turquoise Coast’ (on the Mediterranean), where we have on schedule: absolutely nothing. Well, exept for swimming, sunning, and relaxing. I may be able to convince Marcus to take a boat trıp or venutre out to see one or 2 of the few other sights in the area. We’re hoping for good weather, a comfy place to sleep and a pleasant bus ride.

More later from the Turquoise Coast!