Amsterdam

There was something very special about the last stop on our way- our awesome pal Soup would be meeting us. It was such a great thing to see a familiar face and share some of the tales of our previous 5 weeks. Our joy when seeing a dear friend was hard to contain and we spent much of the first few hours laughing and chatting incessantly. The boys immediately set into making plans for our short time together. Our first night we had a blast walking all around the city. It was absolutely beautiful and unlike what I had expected. Being that Amsterdam is so much more liberal than any other place I've been to, including NOLA, I was surprised to find the city had such a wholesome feel to it. The sound of bicycle bells filled the air, beautiful blonde people and their families lunched at little bistros, colorful and fragrant flowers poured out of wooden boxes hanging from the ledges of practically every window. It was far more utopian that I ever would have thought.

On the plane from Istanbul


Cooking up a plan (AKA Goofing off)


The boys


Our Hotel


Soup and Monkey


Near a Canal


Dutch Flowers


One of my fave A'Dam pics


It was nice having a pic of us taken by someone else!


T getting into it

Turkey Tres

Being so close to the continent of Asia as we were, we could not resist the cross continental trip. So we hopped aboard a small ferry, crossed the Bosphorous River, and had a little sit down in an Asian park. It was pretty much the exact same thing at Euro-Turkey, but now we can say we've set foot in Asia. That night, we ate in the most modern part of Istanbul, Beyoglu, at a rooftop resaturant named 360 because of its panoramic views of the city. Tres cool view, tres mediocre fare.
When we left Turkey, we were ready. We liked our pretty little blue room, even though it lacked AC, but even after a few days in such unfamiliar surroundings, some English speakers and pizza sure sounded nice.

Ferry to Asia


Asian Monkey


Beyoglu


Blue room

Turkey Two

Our visit to the Basilica Cistern was unlike anything we had seen before. Built in the 6th century during the reign of Emperor Justinian I, this underground marvel was both mysterious and beautiful. Water (up to 80,000 cubic meters) was brought from north of the city via aqueducts to the cistern. The space was dank, cool, and stale, and the few fish that adapted to the unique surroundings were blind and albino. The most talked about features of the site are the two Medusa heads featured in the back of the cistern. One is on its side, while one is upside down. No one really knows why, but the various explanations are certainly interesting. We were also introduced to a ritual while in the cistern involving what we think is called the "wall of tears." Supposedly if one maneuvers their hand in a certain way in these variously placed holes throughout the city, they can feel the tears of the virgin. I tried the ritual in the wettest place in the city, so whether it was tears or ancient underground scum, I certainly felt some moisture. ***Watch the video and see me impress an elderly local with my technique.
After the cistern, we took our chances in the Grand Bazaar. I've never experienced salesmanship with quite this level of enthusiasm in all of my life. I had previously found the merchants on Canal St. to be the pushiest I had ever seen, but I would take 10 of them to just one Turkish pusher. The Bazaar had everything one might dream of buying- spices, clothing, souvenirs, artwork. There was literally an entire street devoted to the sale of buttons, hooks, and fasteners. The experience was amazing, but I cannot express my happiness at escaping those short little guys relentlessly trying to push 5 packs of men's Hilfiger socks on me.


Basilica Cistern


Medussa I


Medusa II



Wall of Tears


Grand Bazaar

Turkish Delight

We had an overnight stop in Athens, where we again stayed at "John's Place," in a tiny room sans bathroom. It is amazing how much grooming one can do with just a tiny low hung sink with no water pressure. We woke at 4am to catch a flight to Turkey. Getting to Istanbul was a little stressful to say the least. We nearly missed out flight and had our passports checked and luggage scanned no less than 3 times. I'm assuming the whole "Middle East" thing might have something to do with the stifling levels of security. Anyway, we arrived early in the afternoon on Friday- the holy day. We chose to stay in the historic (and highly religious) area of the city called Iskandari (questionable spelling to be corrected later). Being that it was the holy day, the calls to prayer were frequent, at ear piercing volumes, and frankly, a little freaky. And at the time of the call, when people from all directions began rushing to the nearest mosque (of which there were many to choose from in this area), T would remind me that we were "Not in Kansas anymore."
Our first stop in Istanbul was the former Grand Mosque of pre-Constantinople days, Hagia Sophia. It was formerly a place of christian worship, then a mosque, and currently a museum. Traces of this dynamic history were left in every corner of this fascinatingly beautiful place. We were also quite near the Blue Mosque, and it is still a functioning place of worship, and therefore a place we did not feel comfortable touristing in. But the pictures are incredible. We had an amazing dessert on a rooftop cafe with a remarkable view. That night, we ate at a small outdoor restaurant and upon ordering a much needed cold beer realized, to our dismay, that the whole of Iskandari was dry- thanks a lot, Allah.

Call to Prayer


Outside Hagia Sophia


T and Hagia


K and Hagia


Monkey and the Blue Mosque


Blue Mosque

Sayonara, Syros!

I would be remiss if I did not share this story. As the days of our 40 day adventure began to dwindle, money did, too. Syros was a perfect place to save a few bucks- cheap hotel, only entertainment being the beach, and most meals acquired from the local fruit stand/market. Well, on our last night, we ate at a shoreside restaurant that had a fabulous looking fish selection in a small glass case. How expensive could it be with rooms for 30 euros a night? I mean, we're talking about a tiny piece of land completely surrounded by the Mediterranean here- how difficult can it be to catch a nice fish? We found the answer to that question the hard way. Tom ordered a great looking snapper, and thankfully it also tasted great, because this was the world's most expensive fish. In fact, judging by the price, he may have eaten the world's LAST snapper. In American dollars, Tom ate a 90 dollar fish that night- the equivalent of 3 night's stay in our current hotel. He assured me we would laugh about the debacle someday.
Anyway, our last day on Syros was spent on Kini beach and we were pretty sad to leave. It was a beautiful place and one we hope to visit again someday.

Dinnertime Entertainment (Included in the price of the fish)


T bidding farewell to Kini


Anemone wound, Part II


Views from the bus ride home

Day on Delfini (Syros Island)

Neighboring lovely Kini was another quiet little beach called Delfini. After renting a scooter and stopping at the market for some bread, eggplant dip, and fruit, we took a very dusty and bumpy ride to the beach. For 8 euros, you get an umbrella and two chairs- all you need for a nice long beach day. Here was the first place we decided to do as the Greeks and shed some clothes (or I did at least). It was pretty fun actually- especially since I used the silver sand as a cover up and it looked like I was covered in diamonds. T and I explored a calm little reef and found many scary creatures there- sea anemones, strange fish, and a plethora of prickly black urchins covering the ocean floor.
Now this event deserves its own paragraph. Despite our most careful efforts, one of those creatures got me. While wading back to the main beach, I felt what was like a bee sting. Having been stung a dozen times by jellyfish, I didn't immediately panic. I reached down in the water to rub my stinging leg and felt something rubbery still attached. I tried to get it off but eventually had to lift my thigh out of the water for T to pluck the little sucker off. That's when the pain really started setting in.
I tried to be tough and exited the water quickly to lie down. I looked down and everywhere I had rubbed the little tentacle had left a trail that was blistering and swelling at lightening speed. It hurt- A LOT. So I ran to the nearby bar and showed the bartender and she said with a very sympathetic look, "Ohhhhhh, coh-lee-tee-ahn-yos." Phonetic spelling is the best I can do, not being a Greek speaker. I know now she was talking about a local anemone that is known for "sticking" to its victim. She handed me a medicated lotion and a guy sitting at the bar said it would be hurting for a while- and boy was he right. T and I decided ouzo, the local liqueur, was the best way to cope with the pain. So we shared a few glasses, played some cards, and watched what is one of the most amazing sunsets I can recall in my short life time. It was a hell of a great day.


Our latest scooter adventure



Relaxing on Delfini



Sundown


T checking things out


Monkey relaxing after long beach day


OUCH!!


Sun setting on a fabulous day

Syros (Kini Beach)

T and I visited the travel agency in Athens about the possibility of heading to Santorini for a few days and were met with a few challenges-- money (that place is pricey!), time (you'd think with 40 days... but no), and the fact that another overnight ferry ride would be required (one a month is quite enough thank you). So it was time to rethink. After sitting down with our Greek Islands book, we discovered a very remote island in the same cluster as Santorini called Syros. What stood out most for us was a tiny beach called Kini, a name that for some forgotten reason, T calls me to this day. So Kini beach it was.
After a relatively painless ferry ride (there was a pool on top which was nice), we arrived on the tiny island of Syros and looked for a bus to take us to Kini. It's interesting- to get anywhere on this island, you must go UP. To get to Kini, directly across the island, we had to go to the top of the mountain and back down its other side. It was quite a ride. We arrived at the bay of Kini and had no problem finding a cheap room, mostly because there were only two places to choose from besides some lady's couch. For 30 Euros a night, we got a fabulous room. The beach was just gorgeous. The sand was not black like we've heard of that in Santorini, but SILVER! When you peer at a still place in the water, it looks as though a handful of coins is resting at the bottom. There was very little to do in Syros, and that may have been the best part of all.


T outside of our room


Eggplant field- yummy!


The road ending at Kini Beach


Monkey's view to Kini Bay

Athens, actually

Thank you, T, for that riveting (and somewhat accurate) picture of our neighbors across the Atlantic. We are doing catch up on the blog today because Turkey wasn't exactly the most blog-friendly country.

Athens in a nutshell:
"Help! I'm a big city trapped in a tiny nutshell!"
We liked it. The ruins were absolutely fascinating. The people were friendly and we had a much needed noodle house near our hostel. We ate there not once, not twice, but thrice-- Greece did not exactly have the most diverse restaurants.

Our newest computer wrinkle is that this computer won't let me post titles for pictures or change format, so here's some pics and you figure out the rest...