Turkiteece

Rome to Athens

oddgrue — Wed, 19 Sep 2007 09:46:00 GMT

The first part of the day was a travel day. I caught a bus to Termini and took a train to the airport from there. I forgot to mention that Rome has a great bus system and is free. It was a really great way to get around.

The flight was pretty bumpy on the way to Greece. There were a few "exciting" dips as we descended, and the pilot received applause upon landing. I took the train to the center of the city and headed off to my hotel. Athens was modernized for the 2000 olympic games, but it is still kind of sketchy. On the way to the hotel, I caught a pickpocketer almost in the act by placing my hand over my pocket. He took off fairly quickly, and no one seemed to notice, so I tried to get to the hotel as quickly as possible to dump my luggage as it probably made me a pretty big target.

Hotel Adrian is decent with a view of the Acropolis and a nice patio. I rested for a bit before hitting the town for the evening. The front desk guy recommended a restaurant nearby, and it was great. After walking around for a while, I went to bed. Tomorrow I will do some sightseeing for my final day on holiday.

Florence

oddgrue — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 09:32:00 GMT

Italy has a great train network, and I used it today for an adventure in Florence. The ride up took about an hour and a half, and we rode through some REALLY old and small towns. Most of them were perched on top of a small mountain or hill with fields below, and many of the towns still had thick stone walls around them.

Wow, Florence knocked my socks off. Marvelous structures were found at every corner. There were tons of people walking around, and even though it was pretty touristy, there weren't as many tourist traps. The Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore is the main cathedral of Florence. It was really wonderful.

After walking around the cathedral, I visited the Piazza de Republicca, which is kind of the city center. It was bustling and I took some time to watch the action.

After that, I came upon the Vecchio Palace, which has a great sculpture garden in front. I'll post some photos here later as a description simply does not do it justice.

After lunch near the Vecchio Palace I crossed the river and headed up the hill. The city converted one of the old villas into a museum and botanical garden. I saw a great Cabianca exhibit, who lived and worked in Florence in the 19th century. The gardens were absolutely stunning. It was set up like the Huntington gardens at home, but had less plants and more art. It also provided fantastic views of Florence on one side and a whole bunch of Tuscan towns on the other. I spent most of my time on the hill and eventually made it back to the city for dinner.

I was pretty much beat after returning to Rome, so I stayed local for a few hours before bed. Tomorrow, off to Athens!

Rome and Vatican City

oddgrue — Mon, 17 Sep 2007 09:25:00 GMT

Today I set off in the opposite direction and headed for Vatican City, the smallest soverign state in the world. First stop was St. Peter's Basilica, which was huge and beautiful. Someone told me that the line to get in was three hours long, though, so I just admired it from outside.

Then I tried to get in to the Vatican museum, which was a four hour wait. Skipped it as well. I should have listened to my travel agent and purchased in advance!!! At any rate, the Vatican was pretty cool. There were the usual tourist stuff, but you could also buy anything and everything catholic, including the cool smoky thing that the priest waves around as he enters the church.

The university area was nearby, so I walked down river a bit and had lunch there. If I ever return to Rome, this is where I want to stay. The food is great, there weren't too many tourists around, and the architecture was great. I popped into a few churches, checked out a great Mark Rothko exhibit, and spent the rest of the day wandering around until I eventually found my way home.

Rome - Day 1

oddgrue — Sun, 16 Sep 2007 09:08:00 GMT

So, today was my first day in Rome. I began to figure out my neighborhood a bit last night, and it made things much easier in the daylight. There is basically one plaza to the south that connects streets in all directions. I did not have a major agenda in mind today, and one of the great things about Rome is that you can't throw a rock without hitting something interesting. I wandered around aimlessly for the most part seeking out elevated points in the city, looking for interesting stuff, and then walking in a general direction.

Rome is a really cool city. The main tourist attractions are spread out, though, and I found that the smaller museums and random churches were good ways of seeing things without joining the tourist hordes. The churches were beautiful without exception, and it was not uncommon to find a Michaelangelo fresco inside. I eventually made my way to the Unknown Soldier Monument, which is a gigantic military museum that covered a vast period of Roman and Italian history. The place was a bit overwhelming, but I happened upon a balcony on the third floor that provided an excellent view of Rome, including the Pantheon and Colluseum.

I set off for the Colluseum. The fact that there were a bunch of guys in cheesy Roman soldier outfits (USC?) nearly put me off to the whole thing, but I ended up shelling out 11 Euro for a tour of the place. It was worth it in the end, as the structure is really neat from inside and the tour allowed me to bypass the line for tickets. The tour guide was kind of informative, but he did have a unique lens on the history of the place. For one thing, he said that the Romans did not execute Christians because of their religion. Romans, according to him, only executed criminals at the Colluseum. That said, Christians were considered criminals by the government because their beliefs conflicted with the Romans, and so they were executed because of a difference in beliefs. Hmmm....

After a romp around the Colluseum, I visited the Pantheon which was also very cool. After that, I had a late lunch at a dumpy Italian place and met a really cool Columbian guy who was also traveling alone. He was a molecular biologist who was studying malaria rates of pregnant women and was on holiday. We ended up talking for a couple hours at the restaurant.

After that, I strolled around some residential neighborhoods, watched a rugby game, and crashed.

Travel to Rome

oddgrue — Sat, 15 Sep 2007 08:37:00 GMT

Everyone caught planes out of Turkey today. Jim and Jane headed back to the states, Jenn and Allen headed for the islands, and Eric, Lisa and I went back to Istanbul. Eric and Lisa had one more night in Turkey and I am off to Rome!

Eric, Lisa and I shared a car to the Dalaman airport and boarded without incident. After a short layover in Istanbul I boarded a jet for Rome. It was a decent flight, and after landing I took a train to Termini, the main station in the city. On the way I chatted with a Turkish woman and a couple from Brazil who were on holiday.

After a light dinner I caught a cab to my hotel, which was about 3 km away. The neighborhood is pretty cool. Parts are very touristy, but others have small restaurants and such. Naturally, I opted for the less touristy part of town. Pedestrians rule this part of Rome. You can basically walk anywhere you want and there are very few cars and mopeds due to the narrow streets. I spent the night trying to orient myself to the neighborhood and then read up a bit on some sights for tomorrow.

Islands and Gocek

oddgrue — Fri, 14 Sep 2007 08:28:00 GMT

Today we sailed to a wonderful bay that was surrounded by mountains. A wealthy Turk lived in the bay during the summer on a house boat that was the size of a small town. It was basically a giant catamaran with a tennis court under the main deck. He also owned Ataturk s yacht, which was parked nearby. It was, as one might imagine, gigantic.

We spent most of the day swimming and waterskiing. Jen Agnew is a great skiier! I was able to stand up on my first go, but promptly wiped out in a fantastic fashion over and over again. Apparently it was quite amusing.

After a few hours, we docked in Gochek for our final night in Turkey. Gochek is a cool town with a few good restaurants. We opted to dine on the ship, though, as we had the best chef in the land. We chatted with the crew until late that evening.

Day Trip = overcoming phobias!

oddgrue — Thu, 13 Sep 2007 08:17:00 GMT

Our captain s brother and his seven year old son picked us up today in a tiny boat for a day trip. The boat was tiny because we were headed into a river that meets the sea. I cannot remember the names of the places we saw at the moment, so I will add them in later. First, we went to a great beach on a sand bar. On one side was the sea, and on the other, a freshwater marsh followed by the river. It was really great! The funny thing about travelling like this is that you forget that other tourists are also around. While we were on the beach, a whole bunch of tourists from a cruise ship appeared out of no where and the population went from seven (us) to over a hundred people. It was quite jarring, so we hopped on the boat and headed into the river.

Next we visited some very well preserved ruins. There was a wonderful amphitheater as well as a nearly intact Roman bath. Eric and Jim brought their guitars along and treated us to a few Beatles tunes in the amphitheater.

After cruising around the ruins for a couple hours we shoved off for...MUDBATHS!!! Now, some of you may know about my fear of mudbaths, but for those of you who do not, consider how gross it is to swim in a public pool with kids around who are likely urinating in it and hence on you at any moment. Well, for me, the same theory applies for mudbaths but with a different orifice. I had absolutely no intention of participating in the mudbath experience, but after much ribbing by my travel partners, I decided to go for it. My timing was perfect, because as soon as I jumped in the mud, a little kid was promptly pulled out of the bath for a diaper change! See!!!!

We checked out the little town after bathing in poo, then headed back to Serenity 70. The wind picked up while we were in the middle of the sea and we were treated to an exciting and bouncy ride back.

Bozborum and more snorkeling

oddgrue — Wed, 12 Sep 2007 05:32:00 GMT

Allen and I woke up early today to explore Bozborum. Bozborum probably is not on any map or guide. It is a small town of 200 or so and depends on fishing and small backyard farms for the most part. There were a few shops here and there as well as a prominent mosque in the middle of town. Allen and I walked around the farms then had some chai with a couple locals. Then we hit a grocery store which I found to be a great cultural experience before stopping off at a bakery. We bought a ton of baked goods for the boat and everyone seemed really happy for our business!

I suspected that the mosque interior would be really cool given its prominence in the town so I decıded to check it out. The inside had some great tile work and was very well-kept.

We met back on the harbor and headed back to the boat. Some other members of our party explored ruins that were all over the surrounding islands. We had breakfast and then went swimming near Rhodes. Ali took us to a really cool ancient castle with a great view and we met some more locals at a restaurant - the only local business. Barbarosa owned the place and catered to incoming yachts. Some friends of his were just hanging out and we had a really good time chatting with them.

After several hours of chatting we set sail for another beach and turned in for the night. Tomorrow we are heading for ekincik and the town of Dalyan as well as the ancient site of Kaunos.

Daça

oddgrue — Tue, 11 Sep 2007 05:18:00 GMT

We left early for the fishing town of Daça this morning. Daça was once a tiny place but has grown quickly as a result of the new road that was constructed ten years ago. The harbor area was the usual tourist trap but a real town exists just a few blocks inland. There were tons of dumpy little restaurants with what must be great food as well as domino halls and other regular places. It was by far the coolest town we saw so far.

Jane and I stopped by a honey store. The guy who was working there owned a rug store across the street and was just watching over things for his friend so it took a while to find out how much things cost. I picked up a great Turkish coffee and tea set for cheap and we ended up staying for tea with the owner and his friend. It turns out that the rug guy was another nomadic Kurd who fled Iraq during the first Gulf war and has been traveling around Turkey since. He was a really great guy who told us all about his family and village. Ultimately he invited us over to his store. I thought we were in for a sales pitch but he just wanted to show us some pictures of his dad! Very cool.

After leaving Daça we headed over to another random beach for snorkeling. This one was spectacular - we saw some crazy sea millipedes lots of plants and gigantic schools of sardines. The coast was very rocky and steep and at one point Allen and I were swimming above a 1000 foot cliff with big schools of black fish halfway down. It was an unforgettable feeling - flying above the fishes.

After swimming for several hours we had lunch and set off for Bozborun. We docked a half mile off shore and went hiking around some random ruins that had been converted into makeshift shelters and goat pens.

After a light dinner of cheese olives caprese and fruit we went to bed.

The Greek Island of Symi

oddgrue — Mon, 10 Sep 2007 04:59:00 GMT

After a brıef swim and breakfast we set sail for Symi. We traveled for most of the morning and used the sails for the first time. The wind was not very strong though so we turned the engines on for most of the trip.

We hung out at a great secluded cove for more snorkling and lunch before heading for Daca. Daca is part of Turkey and we had to clear customs. The crew took care of everything however so we were able to simply enjoy the view.

After sailing for twenty minutes or so we found ourselves ın Symi. Jenn Allen and I walked around the harbor. The harbor area was very touristy but the architecture was nice. Apparently the Nazis bombed Symi into oblivion so everything was relatively new.

We heard about a monastary on the other side of the island and decided to rent a car. The rate for a car on Symi was 50 EU per day but we only needed it for a couple hours. Theodore the car rental guy said to make him an offer for two hours. Allen offered 40 EU but Theodore said that 40 was too much - try again. He must have been the only person on that island who was not out to fleece the tourists! He finally talked us down to 25 EU and we were off. He said that there was only one road to the monastary and that we would not have any trouble getting there and back. Ummm yeah. We quickly found ourselves driving around lost on incredibly narrow streets with busses that were going in the opposite direction.

We finally found our way to the top of the mountain overlookıng the town. There were a bunch of ruins from the Nazi bombings on top along wıth some military stuff. We also saw more wild goats who were quite at home up there. The sun was going down and we were not so keen on driving around the alleys of Symi at night so we turned back without visiting the monastary. Next time!

We returned the car and headed off to dinner where we met the rest of our party. Jenn and I had tzetzıki feta and great mashed potatoes while others had fresh seafood. Someone was celebrating his birthday that night at the restaurant so the staff blasted Stevie Wonder s happy birthday. The place quickly and temporarilly became a night club as the entire restaurant as well as the place next door wished him well!

Jenn Allen Alı and I went out after dinner to chat until 2 AM. I must say that while the dinner was pretty good it paled in comparison to the food on Serenity.