Day 4: Izmir and Ephesus

What a long day! After a hotel breakfast (every hotel/hostel I’ve ever stayed at in Turkey has free breakfast), we meandered along the Aegean coast, bought 50-cent fresh-squeezed orange juice, and looked at ruins of Smyrna.

We grabbed our stuff at the hotel and rushed to the train station. Minutes later, we were off. Of course we had to play Ticket to Ride during the ride.

Ephesus was HOT, over 100 degrees. Because of the heat and time of day (5pm), it was emptier than I’ve ever seen it. We found some over-turned pillars overlooking the coliseum, where we ate our snack.

Ruth: Dale! Did you bring your monkey?

Dale: Yes. Why?

Ruth: They have one, too!

Sure enough, there was an Australian couple taking pictures of a monkey with the coliseum! I grabbed Missy Franklin and ran over to them. The guy taking the picture told me that “Bongo” had been all over the world in the past 16 years. We were all amused that there are two traveling monkeys who got a chance to meet.

Other than monkey pictures, we did get some band pictures of Ruth, unbeknownst to her backups. 

Because of some scheduling things, we have an extra day to kill tomorrow. We decided to take a day-trip to the nearby Greek island, Samos. We are staying in Kuşadası so that we’ll make it to our boat early tomorrow.

P.S. I added the promised pictures to yesterday's blog post.

Pick-Up Line of the Day

"You look like angels minus the wings."

Day 3: Istanbul and Travel to Izmir

There were a couple more things that we wanted to do before leaving Istanbul, so we decided to hurry and get them done before hotel check-out.

First, we went to the Blue Mosque. Ruth and Hannah attempted to dress “modestly”, but I went a little radical by wearing a scandalous knee-length dress and leggings. They wrapped me in a Velcro skirt before I was permitted in. We put our shoes in plastic bags, then walked in barefoot.

“It smells like feet!” Those were Hannah’s first words when we got in the mosque. And she was right. We looked around a little, had someone take our picture, and then left. There was more to explore at Hagia Sofia, whereas the Blue Mosque was also pretty, but there was less to see.

We had 30 minutes and 30 Lira to walk down to the Basilica Cistern. It was fascinating that there is so much under the ground there; columns, arches, water, fish, tourists, a café…

We got out of our hotel room with just minutes before check-out, and then we took metros and a bus out of town.

It took over an hour to get out of Istanbul due to traffic and frequent stops at other bus stations. We saw a semi that was bursting in flames. The driver was in the cab grabbing his fire extinguisher. Our bus took a ferry ride, which reminded us of the ferry we took in Texas last summer.  Other than that, the 9-hour trip south has been pretty uneventful.

We arrived in Izmir around midnight tonight, and tomorrow we plan on going to Ephesus.

Pick-Up Line of the Day

"Hey Spice Girls! ;)" 

Day 2: Istanbul

We started out the day taking a cheap cruise to the Black Sea. 

I (Hannah) got my Black Sea, Ruth got her water ride, and Dale got her cheap.

 We arrived in Anadolu Kavagi, where, just as in Istanbul, cats litter the town. It reminds us of the geese at Grandma's house. I am tempted to kick a cat to see if it lands on all fours.

Dale: That's the Black Sea.
Hannah: It looks blue to me.

After that we explored the Ayasofya. It was interesting how both Christianity and Islam were represented. At some places the mosque tried to cover the evidence of the preexisting church.

We wandered through the Grand Bazaar and wound up in several sketchy alleys. Turks kept yelling at us, "Exit! Exit!" I kept politely thanking them as Dale and Ruth shamefully headed the direction they pointed.

Dale's creepy Turkish men

Spice Girl #1: Posh

Babies on nooses and skewers

Pick-Up Line of the Day

"Hey Ladies, you dropped something... it was my heart.

Day 1: Istanbul

Ruth and Hannah's flight was a little bit delayed, so they got to the hotel just 10 minutes before me. We immediately set out to see Sultanahmet.

In front of the Blue Mosque

In the courtyard of the Blue Mosque

I was hoping to find a non-touristy restaurant. We succeeded, though we were out of place. The neighborhood had mostly men and hardly any women.

Yeah, but does America Coke come in 330mL?

We took the long way home along the Bosphorous, where we were hassled by men setting up make-shift tea gardens and a gypsy family who awkwardly stood in front of us after we didn't give them any money. A wealthy Afghan couple had us take their picture. Tourism is big here.

We walked through a big park and enjoyed the statues.

Turkish for lion = "aslan"

She was missing part of her nose. Sad.

Ruth is quickly disproving everything I keep telling them about Turkish culture. Such as...

• People don't kiss in public (Hannah found a covered lady kissing her boyfriend).
• Guys hardly ever go shirtless (Apparently shirts aren't in-style along the Bosphorous).
• Turks tend to be modest (Except for that guy peeing in public).