March 31: Gordion: Today was a great day!

We had Anatolya to ourselves as we took both highways and back roads and saw Gordion, some Hittite sites of worship, and amazing countryside.

March 30th: Ankara was a bit difficult for us.

Some days are not as easy as others. . .

Today we came from Kayseri to Ankara without a problem.  Then we had problems.  The highlight of our day was seeing the Museum of Anatolian civilization, or at least the quarter of it that is open at present.

I had a flaky connection last night and couldn’t put up pictures properly.  I’m going to do that now.  Why not look at the rest of March 29^th?  Then come back and see our museum pictures.

March 29th: Tunnels and hills near Goreme

Another amazing, exhausting, wonderful day.  I have a “ski sunburn”, but I don’t remember skiing!  We went to the amazing underground city of Kaymakle, had an entire museum to ourselves in Nevşehir, went for a hike in the midst of amazing rock formations, had coffee in a Turkish pastry shop in Űrgüp, had another museum all to ourselves, met some charming people, and saw a caravanserai from the Silk Road in Mustafa pasa.  We drove back to Kayseri, and are ready for our flights to Ankara tomorrow morning.

March 28th: Fairy Chimneys and Caves

Our travel to Goreme went relatively smoothly – aside from the fact that we were counting on our GPS to guide us to our hotel in Goreme, and it couldn’t find the right town!  One thing we've learned id that a province or area is often named after a larger town, which we presume is like the "county seat".  Therefore, there can be several towns with the same name, and you have to guess which one you are looking for by the province named for the nearest big town.  Once here we settled into our “cave”, which may be dug out of the side of a mountain, but is the most luxurious place I have stayed in so far this trip. We went out to the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Goreme, where our guide, Sinan, guided us for two hours through some amazing churches and monasteries, then he went with us and showed us some secret spots to view the fairy chimneys and other rock formations in the area.  We had been planning to take a balloon ride in the morning, but it was -6ºC when we got here this morning, and snowing now, so we have rethought this and plan to visit the troglodyte city early tomorrow morning.  We saw Uchisar and it is COLD here!  Cold but amazing and very beautiful.

March 27th: Hosca kalin Istanbul!

Once again the muezzin is letting us know that the sun is setting.  The call to prayer is five times a day, based around the rising and setting of the sun.  This muezzin has a particularly pleasant voice. 

Our busy last day began with breakfast in the hotel, followed by a walk to the Mosaic Museum, which Ian was particularly looking forward to.  They made the museum by putting a roof over the excavation of the Imperial Palace and its amazing golden mosaics.  When we got there, however, the museum was closed for roof repair.  Figures that the only modern part of the building is the thing that doesn’t work. 

We went to the museum of Turkish and Islamic Arts, where I learned more about carpet than I knew there was to know, and saw examples of traditional Turkish homes.  We went back to the Archaeological Museum, and had time to see the parts we had missed, then sauntered through the now familiar streets to our hotel to take the minibus to the Asian Airport, about an hour out of town.   It was a wild ride! 

I tried very hard to check into the wrong hotel, and Ian got to use his best German to get us to our new hotel, which doesn’t really quite exist.  No one here speaks English, and I can’t get the Internet password.  Therefore, I hope two blogs will be posted tomorrow.  Ian haas just handed me a wine glass of water, and I have just eaten the best ekmek (bread) of all time.  I THINK I’ve called a cab for tomorrow at 5:30.  Now for an evening of flat out relaxing.

March 26th: Topkapi Palace, Bazaar, Istanbul hamam: This report is very clean

The muezzin is calling the faithful to prayer, and we are taking a break at tea time.  We saw Topkapi Palace today, including the harem, which seems to be the most popular – or at least the most crowded – tourist site in Istanbul.  We arrived shortly after opening at 9:15, and didn’t leave until 2:00, though to be fair, we did have lunch there.  We were disappointed to find the Hagia Eiriene permanently closed, although we had a great chance to wander around the archaeological dig that surrounds the church.  It is home to a huge colony of feral cats.  We headed off to the Grand Bazaar, which was actually very pleasant, as the salespeople were much less pressing than those in either Egypt or (especially!) China.  In fact, Ian hoped to buy a belt, and we found one that he liked, but there was no one nearby to inquire about the price!  We have "accidentally", due to limited Turkish, bought an entire kilo of baklava – no need for dinner now – and I am eyeing it as I type.  It is daunting.  We also bought chestnuts from a street vendor, (fabulous) and now we are off to the hamam (traditional Turkish baths) and to search for a decent cup of coffee.  The hotel serves Instant only, and tea is strong, dark, and served without milk or sugar.  Who knows, Ian might try to convince me to eat something more diabetic friendly than baklava!

You will be relieved to know that we are both extremely clean, thanks to our visit to the hamam.  More on that later, if you dare to read it!

March 25th: Bosporus Cruise, Tour of Istanbul, Dolmabahce Palace

Another amazing day!  I was awakened (Ian was up and in his jammies) at 8:55 with a call from the desk because our bus was here for our cruise of the Bosporus.  We thought we had another hour – as did another couple from our hotel.  Turns out that the clocks go ahead this weekend in Turkey.  Would you believe we made it out to the bus in five minutes flat?  Breakfast be damned!!  The rest of the day was pure pleasure.

March 24: Pinching myself in Istanbul! Blue Mosque, Hagia Sophia, Archeological Museum

After 27 hours of travel, we arrived here In Istanbul last night and checked in – to the hotel next door to our own.  This morning we moved to the Artefes Hotel in Istanbul, where we are within walking distance of nearly everything we would like to see.

One day left!  We fly tomorrow at 12:25 PM.

Three days and counting!

It's been a busy week! 

Ian was away in Durango, and Margaret has bought the cell phones for Europe, arranged for 10 week supplies of all meds, and is making a desperate bid to clean up the basement rooms before we head off.

We are both ridiculously excited about the big trip!

Our route through Turkey:
The white lines are flights and purple is by car.  We first arrive in Istanbul and fly east to Kayseri.  We return from Kayseri and fly to Ankara via Istanbul.  In Ankara we will rent our car and continue by road.  After travelling south to Pamukkale and then to Lycia, we will then travel up the Aegean Coast to Troy.  After seeing Troy we will head back south to Bodrum where we will catch a Ferry to Kos to begin the Greek portion of our trip.  We will be in Turkey for 4 weeks, but it is not enough time to see all that we wanted.