efes and beyond

so ephesus - efes in turkish - is a wonderful oasis of ruins, vıneyards, mulberry trees, and olive groves. we walked for miles yesterday and after only about 5 hours of sleep on our 12 hours of bus ride from istanbul to sulçuk - the town that efes ıs ın - we were exhausted, we got slap happy on mulberry juice well at a little rest stop on our walk - it seems exhaustion can serve as a cheaper way of getting drunk. we,re staying at a lovely hostel and have met some fellow back packers - mostly from canada - so far americans seem few and far between - except when it comes to big organized bus tours.

we have just booked a cruise on the aegean sea - we will be sailing from fethiye to olympos. İ can,t wait to be out on the water and taking in the coast from a sail boat and exploring ruins by swimming over them.

i,ll update the photos when we get back to istanbul in two weeks.

day 2

our luggage arrived around 9 in the evening - so we wasted much of the afternoon on day 1 just waiting for our luggage to arrive... but once we showered and put on fresh clothes we were out the door to a local brew pub - apparently a new thing on the Istanbul bar scene - to toast the arrival of our clothes.

We got an early start on day two and caught a ferry to old Istanbul - the part that had been known as Constantinople. We toured the Topkapi Palace - the palace of the sultans and the harem - the photo above is from one of the ceilings in the harem - which means private place - but anywhere from 300 to 500 concubines did live in the harem to serve as the wives of the sultan, the princes as well as for court officials.

We spent hours touring the buildings and grounds, which stand in the shadow of the Hagia Sophia, our next destination. That Hagia Sophia is amazing - it was rebuilt in 414 - i think it maybe on of the oldest buildings i have ever been in. Aside from all of the beautiful tile work that is being exposed from under the plaster that was put over it when it was claimed by the Muslims and made into the mosque after being a church for a thousand something years - the shear size of the dome is just something to be in awe of.

After taking in the views we went across the street to the Basilica Cistern - built by Constantine to help solve water issues - it was built using columns from other buildings - apparently they also salvaged some medusa heads - so the big attraction was two medusa heads - one which was upside down and one which was on its side that support two of the columns. But just seeing the structures and knowing that the cistern has existed for almost 2000 years was the real attraction - people lowered buckets down into the cistern to bring water back up to their homes and sometimes they even caught fish in their bucks - many fish remain today swimming in the underground well... they look well fed - there's now a cafe down there as well and they have a stage were small concerts are held in the summer - it's pretty darn cool.

We then wandered through the old streets to the grand bazaar just to have a peek - we're saving the shopping until the end of the trip - it wasn't nearly as overwhelming as i thought it would be - put it is really hectic and people try to get your attention at almost every stall - we came out and made our way through the maze of old streets down to the spice market where we picked up a box of lukum - turkish delight - there are so many amazing smells - i'll be sure to bring home spices for everyone to try.

back on the ferry we relaxed and took in the views - we were exhausted at this point - but the walk home nearly killed us - we went a little off track - and it was all uphill - after a day of being on our feet - it was the last thing we wanted to be doing. We finally got home, took cold showers, and Zeynep took us out for a night on the town. We went to this amazing restaurant on the top of an old apartment building - we had amazing views of the city and the food was wonderful - Russ took the plunge and tried Raki - a turkish anise based alcohol - you mix it with water - but even then i don't think i could drink it. After dinner we went basically to the party street - there were hundreds of people out walking, eating, drinking on the main strip of Beyoglu - a little like Hollywood Blvd or Times square - minus the cars and plus a lot more people and action. We wove down narrow streets filled with cafes and bars until we found Zeynep's favorite dive - beers were cheap, the guns and roses was blaring, and there was plenty of people watching. After a round of cheap beers we went back out to find a more trendy bar that had amazing views - it was a great night out filled with amazing views of the city.

a little taste

I'm starting this blog on Turkish blogger - so i kinda have no idea what i'm doing or if this will even work since i can't read the directions... but i've gotten this far without understanding what i'm doing.... so here it goes....

We arrived in Istanbul yesterday afternoon after a smooth flight from NYC to Rome - which seems very lovely from the airport - we joked it would have been nice to have had plane issues and have to spend a day or two in Rome - however everything went as scheduled except apparently our luggage decided to spend an extra day in Rome, touring without us. After arriving in Istanbul Russ ominously said as we approached the luggage carousel "well this has been a smooth trip so far" never something that should be uttered when you're waiting to get your luggage as we soon found out.

We had a nice taxi ride through town to Zeynep's apartment - a friend of Anna's from school - who graciously offered to host us while we are in Istanbul - we couldn't have asked for a nicer host or nicer place to stay - after dealing with the luggage issue it was nice to know we had a place to go and didn't have to search around for a hostel. Zeynep lives in an area of town - much like Soho... it's a chic shopping area filled with cafes, lots of cool bars and all my favorite shops from London and Spain - a good thing for a girl who has missing luggage - although i'm trying to hold off on shopping, as our luggage has been promised to arrive at some point this evening.

Russ and I had a big sleep after a nice meal and a couple of Efes beers in some of the cool little bars that populate the neighborhood. We woke this morning and headed down to the water to tour one of the old Palaces, only to find it was closed for the day so we enjoyed cay (tea) at a little cafe along the water front and watched the ferries come and go. We eventually made our way through much of the side of town we're staying in - poked around a couple of mosques and wound through some beautiful narrow old streets up to the Galata tower where we took in the view of the city - which is divided on 3 peninsulas - eventually heading back to Zeynep's apartment to wait for the luggage to arrive.

a little taste

We arrived in Istanbul yesterday afternoon after a smooth flight from NYC to Rome - which seems very lovely from the airport - we joked it would have been nice to have had plane issues and have to spend a day or two in Rome - however everything went as scheduled except apparently our luggage decided to spend an extra day in Rome, touring without us. After arriving in Istanbul Russ ominously said as we approached the luggage carousel "well this has been a smooth trip so far" never something that should be uttered when you're waiting to get your luggage as we soon found out.

We had a nice taxi ride through town to Zeynep's apartment - a friend of Anna's from school - who graciously offered to host us while we are in Istanbul - we couldn't have asked for a nicer host or nicer place to stay - after dealing with the luggage issue it was nice to know we had a place to go and didn't have to search around for a hostel. Zeynep lives in an area of town - much like Soho... it's a chic shopping area filled with cafes, lots of cool bars and all my favorite shops from London and Spain - a good thing for a girl who has missing luggage - although i'm trying to hold off on shopping, as our luggage has been promised to arrive at some point this evening.

Russ and I had a big sleep after a nice meal and a couple of Efes beers in some of the cool little bars that populate the neighborhood. We woke this morning and headed down to the water to tour one of the old Palaces, only to find it was closed for the day so we enjoyed cay (tea) at a little cafe along the water front and watched the ferries come and go. We eventually made our way through much of the side of town we're staying in - poked around a couple of mosques and wound through some beautiful narrow old streets up to the Galata tower where we took in the view of the city - which is divided on 3 peninsulas - eventually heading back to Zeynep's apartment to wait for the luggage to arrive.