Don't worry, I'll enjoy the summer sun later today. In the meantime I thought I'd try to catch up somewhat on my travels since I finished them a few days ago. IfI don't write about themnow, I may never. This will probably, however, be a very condensed version of my normal epic porportion of writing. Sorry for those of you who were interested in the contents of all of my meals. If you want, I will send you a personal email with the info :).
May 13
First of all, I'm going to catch up on our stay in Kusadasi, Turkey. After our Ephesus tour, we called our travel agency and thankfully had a new tour guide for the next day. He took Becky,a couple girls traveling by themselves (theywere staying at thesame hostel), an Asian man, and few other people,and me in a tiny van to Pamukkale.
We had drive three or four hours to get to the city, but I had a phenomenal time. I could tell the tour guide was passionate about his culture and job, because he gave us a lot of information about every aspect of Turkish politics, education, economy, daily living, etc. I loved it! On the way back home I barraged him with a million questions about Turkey and his personal schooling. He happily answered them all.
We passed fields and fields of cotton--Turkey is one of the most popular bed sheet manufacturers--and finally stopped at a hotel in Pamukkale for a quick dip in hotspring pools and lunch. We then headed on to the main site of Pamukkale. Our guide took us to the Kleopatra pool where apparently Cleopatra soaked to stay healthy. He explained that the ancient column and stoa ruinsstrewn pool is a UNESCO site. UNESCO, along with the help of other organizations, managed to shut down three five-star hotels near the site that were polluting the water due to overuse. Now hotels below the pool are given a certain amount of water per week after it has trickled down the mountain. I was happy to learn of a successful environmental endeavor.
We had a few hours to explore the sites of the area, so Becky and I explored them all! First we walked along the snowy-colored mineralized pools and walkways outside of the Cleopatra pool. We took loads of pictures and quickly examined the artifacts in the local archeology museum which mostly had remains froma theater. Finally we changed and plunged into the Cleopatra pool. I loved its warmth and the fact that I was sitting and swimming underneath ancient columns. I accidentally got a little taste of the clearish blue-green water and I swear it was just like Perriet. Becky and I explored all parts of the pool and finally hung out by the spring's source. After awhile I felt like I was suspended in a big bottle of Sprite. It was very odd, but fun.
Eventually it was time to leave, so our guide took some pictures for us and we met the rest of the group. On our way home we stopped at a massive gravesite that is being excavated and, of course, covered in wildflowers. We then tried to hunt down some local soccer players at their hotel, but they hadn't arrived yet (our guide had told us about them, and we had voted to stalk them). Our final stop was at Red Rock which is basically a pathetic version of Puente del Inca, Argentina where rock is mineralized and takes on a reddish tone.
Saturday, June 03, 2006
May 14
Our final full day in Kusadasi we were picked up by no other than our Ephesus tour guide. Yea. I tried to keep on a happy face. Thankfully we had a great group of fellow tourists who were passionate about photography and seeing all the sites at a slow pace. The guide also apologized, sort of. He took us to Pergammom. I started sluggishly looking around at the ruins, not completely listening to the historical explanations (which is strange because I LOVE history), and snapping a photo here and there. Finally, at the temple of Zeus I realized that Pergammonis significant to me. In fact, I've been to the Temple of Zeus before, two times in fact...at the Berlin Pergammon Museum. Well, then the whole thing became fascinating; it was like putting two puzzle pieces together in my mind from two continents. Invigorated, I enjoyed sitting in one the steepest (in not the most steep) theaters of the ancient world,savoring the tastiest tour lunch we had eaten, and then heading on to peruse the Asclepium. The Asclepium is an ancient medical center dedicated to Aseculapis, the "God of Medicine." I found it to be one of the most enthralling archelogical sites of our trip because massive doric, ionic, corinthian, and composite columns are still partially intact. One can also see where the sick would stand to tell the "doctor" his or her ailments. Most interesting, however, are the ancient baths in which people would soak. Some of the pipes to heat them can still be seen. I just wish there would have been cleanwater, cause I would have plopped right in. Sadly only two or three turtles could enjoy its murkiness.
Around 6PM we finished our tour. This was Becky and I's last night together in Turkey, so we decided to splurge and go to a Turkish Nights show at a Cavansari near the harbor. On the way, we stopped at our usual email spot, and ended up running to the show (somehow I always end up running places on my trips). We madeit to the hotelthankfully in time and even ended up getting quite a bit of money off our tickets, just because we are beguiling. Theshow was entertaining and very thorough. We sawregional Turkish dances and listened to Turkish instruments. We watched in awe at the belly dancer fling her stomach and hair all about her and then hilariously get five or six old men from the audience to try to mimic her movements.The show was quite lengthy thanks to some singers who sang every imaginable famous song from all continents. The smoke on all sidesof us becamesuffocating, so we were ready to leave by the time it ended. We did, however, as a whole have a good time.
May 15
Turkey was amazing, but it was time to say goodbye. The next morning we launched off towards Samos and what we hoped would be some rest and relaxation. Thankfully our wish was soon fulfilled.We tooka peacefulferry ride and after settling into our hotel located500 meters from the port, we took a local bus to a beach (we had wanted to rent a moped, but none of us had an international driver's licence). I read in my guidebook that the beach was rocky, but that are sandy beaches nearby. Imagining rocky beaches in the US' Northeast, I figured we would probably walk to the sandy beaches, but such was not the case. The pebbles strewning the beach were amazingly bright and beautiful. I asked Becky to bury me in them...I mean, who has ever been buried in rocks!?! I tried to keep them from falling off of me as we both died laughing.
We walked a bit down the beach collecting tons of rocks, got tired, and then sat...and sat. We spent the entire afternoon on the pebbly beach as I read to Becky the bulk of a crazy Hispanic book (surprise, surprise) I had brought with me. We took the last bus home and explored the tiny streets of our town on the way back to our hotel. We stopped at a couple stores. I ended up buying some much needed knock-off sunglasses (the Greek sun is brutal!) and a bag similar to oneI'd seen on an Argentine girl on our ferry that morning(the Argentine Montagne brand completely gives them away). Becky went on a painting buying splurge. We returned our things to the hotel and ate our first true Greek salad at a nearby restaurant that faces the harbor. At the end of our meal, I had to save Becky from sampling the complimentary ouzo. She didn't know that the licorice smelling drink is full of strong liquor.
May 16
Becky and I did our normal morning routine: wake up, clean up, eat breakfast,hoard extraitems from breakfast for the afternoon, and then leave. We had to pack up all of our stuff because we'd be leaving (ALREADY!) that afternoon for Mykonos. In the morning we looked at the massive kore (male youth) statues and scary griffin handles in the Samos Archeological museum. Afterwards, we decided we needed some nature time, so we took a local bus west to a very small town suggested by my guidebook as a great place to go. I told the driver where we wanted to hike, and he said, "Oh, yes very beautiful." So he dropped us off and sent us in the right direction. We strolled on a road past fields and then started steeply climbing up, up, upon forest covered (thank the Lord!) switchbacks. We hiked for probably two hours or more in this 45 degree upward angled manneruntil we passed a group of seniors led by what looked to be a cruise activity director. Becky asked him how much longer it would be until we reached the waterfalls. He looked confused and told her waterfalls were in another town. I said, "Umm...Becky, you know we are going to the Valley of the Nightingales, not waterfalls." I felt bad about the mix up. I had read to her aboutthe waterfalls and the valley. I guess it had sounded like they were in the same place.
We passed some more people who told us we only had a little bit to go and that the village was very cute. Well, now I was confused about what we would be seing. I thought we would be hiking through a bird infested valley. I think that is what we had walked up, because indeed, by the time we reached the apex of the mountain we found a truly cute little village. It wasn't what we had been expecting, but we definitely had a photo binge looking at all the colorful little houses and churches all aperch on the top of Samos. Again we walked through narrow cobble-stone streets. Before we descended, we quickly ate homeade apple pie and ice cream and a helping of our daily Greek salad at an ivy-covered restaurant overlooking the valley.
Becky was worried about missing our bus, so we scurried down the mountain in probably a third of the time it had taken us to climb up it. At the bottom, a very drunk man and his embarassed girlfriend invited us to sit down with them for a drink (of water for us) while we waited for our bus. They told us our bus was coming a half hour later than we had thought, so we relaxed and enjoyed hanging out. They let us sample ricefilled grapeleaves (they weren't too bad) and I loved watching the girlfriend shake her head as her boyfriend said who knows what type of obscene things in Greek.
I should mention something about the fat-man's-squeeze that Greek island bus ticket takers must endure. Normally busses in all the places Becky and I traveled had a healthy number of people standing in the aisle. The Greeks, not wanting to let any person get away without paying his or her fare, will shove people aside using their stomachs or hands miraculously passing from the front to the back and from the back to the front of a bus
0 comments:
Post a Comment