April 17: Pamukkale

Another early early day! Looks like sleep is going to happen after my family goes home! We got up at 6:00am after going to sleep at 1:00am to get ready and head to Pamukkale. The six of us hired a driver to take us, since the season hasn’t started a group tour wasn’t available and all of my friends who had been told me that a guide was completely unnecessary. The drive from Bodrum was about three and half hours but it was SO worth it and everyone slept most of the way!

When we arrived I was literally speechless. The ‘cotton castle’ as it’s referred to stands out so much. It’s in the middle of a mountain range which is completely normal, so you’re looking at just regular average sized, green mountains and all of a sudden you see this huge White Mountain that looks like it’s covered in snow! We stopped to have gözleme (Turkish pancakes) which are more like really thin salty wraps filled with either spinach, meat, cheese, or potatoes. Dad really liked it because it was so authentic. You sit on the floor and it was connected to this old couple’s home; the old lady even made the gözleme right in front of us! After that we headed up the mountain.

You have to take your shoes off to climb the travertines because 1. It would be really slippery with shoes 2. All the mud and dirt from everyone’s shoes would just ruin the gorgeous whiteness of the place. Anyway we climbed all the way up, of course making sure to stop in every hot springs possible. It was actually the perfect day to come here. The morning when we first got here was rainy but by the time we finished eating and started climbing it was just cloudy and cool which was perfect; the few times it got really sunny my eyes hurt from all the white reflecting. At the top we visited Cleopatra’s hot spring, rumored to be Marc Anthony’s wedding gift to her, the theater, and the tomb of St. Phillip. This was my favorite place we’ve been to so far. It’s really hard to describe but I felt like I was seeing something from a fantasy the whole time I was there. Overall it was such a cool day; I’m really glad that we decided to suck it up and come see this place. It was just so unique there’s nothing anywhere else in the world that can compare to Pamukkale. Turkey should really work on marketing it better, which the right ad campaign this place could be the next pyramids or something!

April 16: Bodrum!

So we woke up at 4am after sleeping for about 2 or three hours and were picked up by an airport shuttle that literally drove at 90 mph the entire time. I’ve never been one to get motion sickness but I was pretty sure I was going to throw up the entire ride there. Seriously I’ve never been so happy to arrive at Ataturk’s domestic terminal. Well that glee wore off as soon as we stepped inside. So many things in Turkey are far superior and a million times better than in India or any other developing country but the airport is not one of them. Surprisingly the airport on the Asian side, the smaller and newer one, is much more organized and cleaner. Take it from me, fly out of Sabiha Gökçen if you can. Ataturk was pushy and crowded with people skipping the line and shoving in front of you the whole time. I was thrilled to get on the plane and get in another hour of sleep before arriving in Bodrum.

Bodrum is absolutely beautiful. Like I thought that Antalya would be my favorite beach town but Bodrum was better by far. Antalya is much more of a European beach town, it’s designed for tourists, crowded, has a lot of chains and is what you think of when you think of a beach town. Bodrum on the other hand was small and quiet and had a lot of Turkish tourists. All of the buildings are white washed and nothing is higher than two stories, mayor’s orders of course. After driving down the absolutely gorgeous and untouched coast of the Aegean Sea we arrived at our the hotel, Hotel Istanköy. This hotel was fabulous, anyone who goes to Bodrum MUST stay here. They had a very cute area with a pool, sun deck, bar and a delicious restaurant on site. We had complimentary breakfast and then decided on a whim to do the boat tour that the hotel offered. The season doesn’t start for another two weeks or so, so the whole yacht was empty other than the six of us and it was fabulous. We paid 25 Turkish lira each and got: the entire boat for 7 hours, a full lunch, tea and biscuits, and transport to a hot springs and three bays. It was the perfect thing to do after having to wake up at 4 am to get on a plane. We all just ate, relaxed, read our books and chilled.


Our own private boat!


P. Smurf, Pups, and I outside the hot springs!




Lunch on the boat


Have you ever seen water this clear?? Ah the Aegean Sea!



In the evening we all went to dinner at a waterfront fish restaurant. It was good but not as good as the place we went in Arnavutköy, Adem Baba. Afterwards Reuben and I checked out some of the the local bars. Damn I wish we had brought our cameras because one of the bars we went to was literally on the beach. Like you walk in from the street side and through the bar to tables and chairs outside that are a foot from the water. Luckily the Aegean is calm so there wasn't a lot of splashing just a still sea to look out over! Needless to say it was an amazing day. I’m so happy that my family is here to enjoy it with me. I’m so happy that they’re enjoying themselves and that I have been able to plan things that they liked!

April 13-16: Family Time...Again!

Wednesday

These past few days have been absolutely amazing! I get so complacent in life here that I forget life at home goes along without me. Mom, Dad, Uncle Kam, and Titia have been here since last Wednesday and I have been in heaven! Their flight landed at 4:00pm, unfortunately that means they were caught in the best of Istanbul rush hour on the way to the apartment. I was going crazy waiting for them at the apartment, but they finally made it there!!!!

Reuben and I helped them unload and then we all took a shot of Coffee Patron (of course). Uncle Kam insisted that shots were necessary for a proper welcome to the city and really who am I to argue with that?? Anyway I let them get settled and then we headed to Rumeli Hisarüstü to have dinner at our favorite restaurant in all of Turkey, Hazal Ana. I mean if Reuben can say that they have the best chicken he's had in his entire life, and his family is from Southern Louisiana, that's saying a lot! Needless to say they loved the food! The owners and waiters at that place are so fabulous. Even if they didn't have spectacular food, which they do, I probably would still go back just because they are some of the nicest people I have ever met. As usual the food was amazing and on top of that they brought us free appetizers, tea, and dessert. I'm glad that my family was able to see that I do have people taking care of me here! And that they were able to experience some real Turkish hospitality as soon as they landed.


More food than anyone should ever eat! Who cares though? Hazal Ana= Heaven!

After that we took everyone to Cafe Tetto. Dad and Uncle Kam were pretty tired, and rightfully so! They came on a direct flight from DC so they had been awake for almost a whole day without sleep. Mom and Titia of course were not about to go home early so we had a few drinks and I got to show them how to smoke nargile. It was epic. First of all if you know my Mom and Titia it's no surprise that they would be willing to try but not only did they try, Titia was blowing smoke out of her nose and mouth at the same time like a Turk and Mom tried to make rings of smoke! Success!!

Then it was really time to turn in. I quickly showed them mine and Reuben's apartments and put them in a cab back to their apartment. I was so excited that they were really here it was hard to fall asleep, but since I had class at 9:00am the next day and a paper to write before that it was time to get back to work!

Thursday

Today was a dreadful day! I hate that the days with the worst weather have somehow always been when one of my family members is visiting. All day it was cold and dreary but worse than that it was pouring rain, which is so weird because it has never rained like that here. At least not while I've been here! It's always just misted. In any case my family made the best of it. They met me after class and I took them for lahmacun (Turkish bread with lamb, tomato paste, and peppers rolled with lettuce, tomato, and lemon) and soup. They loved it! So far so good. That's the one constant fall back about this city, no matter how shitty weather or traffic is, the food here is so good that it really does fix everything!


Lunch at Urfam Lahmacun and Pide

After lunch I took them to the Spice Bazaar. Of course they loved it, how can you not? Even the non shoppers (Dad and Uncle Kam) enjoyed the experience of the bazaar and everyone was able to find something of their linking. After shopping for what felt like hours we headed to the restaurant overlooking the bazaar for Türk Kavesi and some good ole Turkish Balkava.




Rooftop views!


In the evening Reuben, Kalyah and I took Mom and Titia to Taksim. I've been anticipating this night for months! I just knew that going out with the two of them in Istanbul would be epic. Of course I wasn't disappointed! We went to Maytai, Eski Beyrut and of course ate tons and tons of stuffed mussels on the street! Overall it was a success we got home at 5:00am where Mom and Titia ate late night Pirzola and I passed out on the couch!

The start of an insane night


When did this happen? What? What is wrong with them??


Besties at Maytai!

Friday

I was exhausted when I woke up today but I already feel like time is flying by and there aren't that many days left in Mom and Dad's trip so we all go up guzzled glasses of water and headed out. Their apartment is in Kuruçeşme which is south of where I live. So since it was a nice day, we decided to walk to the bottom of the hill where I live from there. We walked for about an hour on the waterfront through Kuruçeşme, Arnavutköy, and finally Bebek. After that we caught a cab up the hill (don't judge it's literally straight up hill). Then we had lunch at Namli Kebap and explored the areas around campus.

We tried to go to Rumeli Hisar and climb the fort. We walked all the way down through South Campus to Bebek and kept walking north until we reached the fort but unfortunately by the time we got there it was closed :( So we found a nice cafe had some çay and börek and just chilled.

We decided to keep being healthy trekkers and walked about a mile to dinner from the apartment. We went to Adem Baba an INCREDIBLE fish restaurant in Arnavutköy. This place wasn't the fanciest but it was very neighborhood style and did I mention that it was amazing food? The waiters didn't speak much English and Reuben and I don't know the Turkish names for fish so instead of a menu they brought us out a tray of the raw fish they had and we picked from that!! We had delicious fish, calamari, stuffed mussels, salad and çay for only $20 per person! Gosh it's going to be impossible for me to eat out when I get home food is so delicious and cheap here! Anyway after that we dragged our full bellies all the way up the hill back to the apartment and passed out. Well only for about 2 and a half hours since we had to leave for the airport at 5:00am tomorrow! Oh well I'll sleep when I'm home...for now off to Bodrum, Turkey it is!

Reflections

These past few weeks since Rene left have just completely flown by. I can’t believe that my parents and Titia and Uncle Kame are going to be here on Wednesday! I can’t wait for them to come but honestly it makes me kind of sad because their trip was supposed to be at the end of my semester. They planned it so I could have time to settle and really show them around but the thought of my time here being over is really sad and overwhelming. I’m made such great friends and in a few months we’ll be scattered all over the world again. And I’ve really come to love my life in this city. Reuben and I were talking about this the other day, how Istanbul has greatly helped create balance in our lives. Life at home is just so stressful. Between working and school and all the headaches of daily life you barely get a minute to breathe. But here I enjoy my classes and they aren’t so demanding that they take over my entire life. I have enough time to go for a run through a gorgeous neighborhood every day. And I take time to just do nothing. And I don’t mean sit in front of a tv, but I mean sitting in Bebek and looking out on the Bosphorus. Or sitting in a café and having some türk kavhesi and nargile. I mean don’t get me wrong I definitely miss my family and some aspects of American life, I’m just not ready to leave Istanbul and my Turkish life.

Anyway life has been great. Yesterday Reuben and I went to the Istanbul Film Festival's showing of The Whistleblower (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0896872/). It was an excellent film, and a really cool experience. I've never been to a film festival before but it was really cheap (only 6 lira a ticket) and a great atmosphere. The festival is huge here they have 5 or 6 theaters all over the city showing different movies and some of them even have the producers and cast here for Q&A after the showing. They have a ton more movies playing until the festival's over next Sunday. I think next time I'll be super cultured and go to see a Turkish or French film!

General Update: We haven't killed each other yet! We love it here!

March 18-21: Antalya!

After experiencing the constant ups and downs of weather in Istanbul I was thrilled to get away to Southern Turkey for the weekend! My friends Kalyah, Max, Reuben, Rene and I headed to Antalya! We arrived to our hotel around midnight and we starving, so of course we went to the restaurant in our B&B and ordered börek and lots of wine. My friend Molly who had to stay behind in Istanbul was constantly checking the UNC site to see if Rene got in. Since we wouldn’t have access to computers all weekend we were thrilled to find out that SHE GOT IN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! OMG next year we’ll be in school together ahh I can’t wait :). Anyway we were all exhausted after that so we turned in early!

Day 2

We woke up lateeee all of us were exhausted but it was an absolutely gorgeous day! I have to say, getting to Antalya at midnight when the whole town was boarded up and it was pretty cold outside was scary, I was convinced that this was the wrong place to come…but during the day! Ah it was just amazing! The weather was perfect and the town completely came alive! We wandered around and found a beautiful waterfront restaurant. The food was eh but we were all so excited to be able to see the sea with mountains in the back ground and still be warm that we just didn’t care! Afterwards we went on a boat tour of the Aegean Sea. It’s funny when you walk around the harbor the boat owners can immediately sense that you’re a tourist and they literally jump off their boats and yell at you to get on! We walked around the whole harbor until we found one guy who chased us down. Originally he said 50 lira for all 5 of us but we used our Indian/African/Jewish bartering skills and got him down to 20 lira total for 5 people! What a steal! It was a beautiful hour boat cruise around the coast and they even had 4 lira beer and wine on board. Really what else could you ask for?

View from the boat

Waterfall

After the boat tour we hit up the local market and did some shopping. It was similar to a fusion of the Spice Bazaar and markets in all beach towns. Rene and Kalyah really enjoyed it (with the help of a lot of Efes!) We really wanted to go to Dürden Falls so we hopped on a bus and hoped it would take us there. OMG it was the longest bus ride every, well not really. It was an hour but we were not expecting it to be that long and the road was just so bumpy and dusty. It’s funny how quickly I forgot that we were in Asia, the main town looked so European that it completely slipped my mind but as soon as we drove out of town I was quickly reminded! The landscape other than the beautifully preserved waterfall area looked like rural India or Africa. It was very dusty, unpaved clay roads, and lots of run down or unfinished homes. Regardless the waterfall was gorgeous and I’m really happy that I got to see it.

Haman Café

Day three in Antalya and the weather sucked! When we woke up and had lunch it was cloudy and then we stopped in a café to smoke nargile and it started POURING! We huddled our table under outdoor umbrellas waiting for the rain until finally the waiter thought to tell us that there was an inside to the café. It was SO cool. The café used to be the town’s Hamam (bath house) so now it’s a very chill place for nargile and good food. It still looked exactly like a hamam inside, just there was no water everywhere. Instead there were beanbag chairs and tables! We sat there for about 3 hours just watching tv and sitting on beanbag chairs chillin! Overall an excellent day!