From the Bazaar to the Land of the Fairies

Our last morning in Istanbul we fit in a quick walk to the Spice Bazaar which we decided we liked better than the Grand Bazaar; it seems more locals shop at the Spice Bazaar with more tourists at the Grand Bazaar. I was somewhat disappointed that I couldn't bring Leorit to Istanbul for her wedding dress; I saw some pretty fancy meringue in the shops. One store owner wouldn't let me take pictures of his windows. I originally thought he might not want me to copy his dresses, but on second thought, he's probably afraid that I would have proof that he stole someone elses' styles.

We checked in at 12:10 for our 1:00 p.m. 70-minute flight to Kayseri, about 50 minutes by car from Gerome (Cappadocia). The shuttle picked up us and Minaz, a delightful man from Vancouver, BC. Coming into Cappadocia is like arriving on Mars.

I had never even heard of Cappadocia before, but apparently it's a famous and popular tourist destination, with many unique geological, historic and cultural features. Cappadocia has a unique, almost surreal, landscape. Volcanic activity formed a plateau of ash and strange, rugged rock formations were created by softer ash layers eroding faster than the harder layers which remained on top making the capped cone shapes. The formations are known as "fairy chimneys." The area includes over 600 Byzantine cave churches cut into volcanic rock and several underground cities (some for up to 20,000 people) which were used by early Christians as hiding places. Many of the ancient and modern people of Cappadocia live(d) in caves. Our room in our hotel, in fact our whole hotel, is a cave!

From the moment we arrived the Kelebek Cave Hotel the staff treated us like family. After settling into our cave (with modern bathroom) we strolled down the hill into town and had a delicous dinner. We walked back in the cold night (it's about 45 degrees here), went into our cave and passed out. We were awaken the next morning by the Muslim call to prayer (man, I miss Reveille) and a cat breaking into our sandwich/fruit/bread stash in the window.

Istanbul Revisited

Kamal took a day off from his carpet store to act as our tour guide in Istanbul. We checked out Hagia Sophia, which was a Christian church, converted to a mosque then changed to a museum. Next we saw the beautiful chambers, furniture, clothes and jewels at Topkapi Palace. After a fun and delicious lunch in an authentic (not frequented by tourists) Turkish restaurant, Kamal left Toby at the Erguvan and dropped off Cheryl and me at a real (not frequented by tourists) Turkish bath.

At first we saw it was only men, but luckily we found the women's side because after removing all of our clothing the lady gave us only large dishtowels to cover ourselves. We hung around there for about 90 minutes, pouring hot water all over our bodies, then getting scrubbed, exfoliated and soaped by a somewhat zaftig Turkish woman wearing only red granny-style underpants. It was all fun except for the few minutes of terror when I was laying on the marble covered in suds and the woman was kneading my back, propelling me closer and closer to the edge of the slab. Only my hysterical laughter saved me from soaring off the end.

We had leftovers for dinner in the room, then I went to the local hooka bar to smoke with Kamal and some of his buddies.

. . . Trains and . . .

Our first morning in Athens we took the Metro to the train station and then the train to the Olympic Stadium (from Summer 2004, not the original olympics) then got on a very smooth, noiseless, bumpless, train to Thessaloniki. During the ride we met Nikos (who introduced us life-saving hard bread) and Violette, who spoke English with a funny accent because she lived in London for a few years.

In Thessaloniki we had sandwiches and baklava at a place with orange chairs and then just barely made it onto the bumpy, noisy, jerking-back-and-forth overnight train to Istanbul. The sleeper was fun, with Cheryl bunking on top of me in one car, Toby next door, some cute Italians on one side of us and a really cute Greek guy next to Toby. The toilets (which really do empty out onto the tracks!) were next to the Greek guy. It wasn't difficult to sleep, except when the Greek authorities woke us about 2:00 a.m. to take our passports and then again about 3:00 a.m. to return our passports and then when the Turkish authorities woke us about 4:00 a.m. to take our passports and take us off the train to purchase our visas, and then again about 4:30 a.m. when the Turkish authorities returned our passports and visas. (I did have a visa from my list trip to Turkey, but it had expired just ten days before this entry.)

We arrived at the train station in Istanbul rested and refreshed* where my very sweet friend Kamel picked us up and deposited us directly at Erguvan Hotel^^ so we could relax and shower. The hotel staff is still gracious and friendly, the breakfast was as good as I remember and I continue to recommend Erguvan for anyone staying in Istanbul.

A couple of hours later we headed into town for a little shopping. Toby bought a beautiful anklet and bracelet, but not the necklace; I got one earring. Next we walked through and successfuly fended off most of the shopkeepers at the Grand Bazaar. On the way back to the hotel we certainly, in no way, at no time, absolutely, positively did not get lost for over an hour.

Dinner was at a fabulous local restaurant where we had some great food, marvelous Turkish wine, a little raki and our names painted by one of the other diners. Later than evening I went to hang out with Kamel and Toby and Cheryl went for coffee. On the way back to the hotel they certainly, in no way, at no time, absolutely, positively did not get lost for over an hour.

*That's a lie; we were tired, smelled like we had slept in our clothes (we had) and looked like crud.

^^See posts from my previous trip to Istanbul.

Planes and . . .

PTO started with a flight to Greece on Qatar Airways with one uneventful stop in Doha. On the plane I watched a very stupid movie (Aliens in the Attic) that had one of the best lines ever. The teenagers were fighting the aliens and they found a little machine with which they could maneuver the aliens. One kid says to the other:

Hey, be careful! You're not just playing on the X-box. This is real life . . . like Wii.

I had the row to myself so I thought with three seats, three seatbelts, three pillows and three blankets I might be able to sleep. I maneuvered and fidgeted and moved and changed and altered and tweaked and modified and repositioned and shifted and fiddled and managed to sleep for about twenty minutes. They I saw another guy who was on his side, so I thought I would try that position. After I maneuvered and fidgeted and moved and changed and altered and tweaked and modified and repositioned and shifted and fiddled, I slept for another ten minutes.

I arrived in Athens 7 hours before Toby and Cheryl, so I took the Metro to our hotel, freshened up (I always wondered what that meant) then ate a Greek salad in Greece at a sidewalk cafe across from the Acropolis.+ My entertainment was a 10-year-old boy and his 8-year-old sister playing with a soccer ball. Of course every boy or man who passed by had to take at least one kick with the ball.

Took the Metro back to the airport where I awaited my travel buddies, who arrived in very good spirits. Toby, Cheryl and I then took the bus back into the City (Metro runs only until midnight) and they dragged their suitcases about 20 minutes to our hotel.

+It's important to note that every single girl/woman I saw in Athens was wearing jeans or leggings tucked into her boots. Some of these woman should not be wearing leggings; some of these women should not be tucking anything into their boots. We need to get these people some mirrors.

A Real Confidence Builder

These are photographs of a map that was included in the "Stars and Stripes" newspaper a couple of days ago. The map is entitled "Iraq & Kuwait, U.S. Bases (Summer 2009)." What you may be able to see is that Camp Virginia is nowhere to be found on the map. I know where Camp Virginia is and I'm told that Google Maps knows the location of Camp Virginia, but apparently www.globalsecurity.org does not know about us. Well, darn!

To the Colors

I've been wanting to take these pictures for weeks, but kept forgetting, or it was raining, or I was busy or no one was outside.

If you remember my post of 11 April 2009 called "Traditions," I wrote about how guys change into soldiers when To the Color is played. Last night at 16:56 I took pictures of some troops hanging out, talking and having a smoke. When the first bugle sounded at 17:00 they came to attention; when the second segment started they saluted as soldiers; at 17:02 they went back to being guys fooling around for the camera. It's cool to see what I see.

Lake Camp Virginia

Camp Virginia lies in the Kuwaiti desert, so it doesn't usually rain much here. When it does rain, there's thunder and lightening and then the water comes down in sheets -- for about 20 seconds. However, a couple of days ago it rained hard for 12 hours straight, turned most of Camp Virginia into rivers and lakes.

-o0o-

Apologies for not writing much lately. Besides being busy supporting troops, I am now the go-to person for USO Camp Virginia on the FYI.USO blog. (See fyiuso.wordpress.com) Since I'm updating that about 3 times per week, I sort of run dry on what to post here.