Thursday, May 17th - May 18th - Kusadasi

Arrived in the evening and went straight to "Hotel Sammy's Palace" where I was greeted with a warm handshake from Sammy himself and a cold welcome beer. The staff goes out of their way to tell you their name and remember yours.

WARNING TO FUTURE TRAVELERS TO KUSADASI: IF YOU GO TO SAMMY'S PALACE BE PREPARED TO DRINK AND LEARN BELLYDANCING.

The Aussie bartender was adamant that I party with everyone at happy hour as was Sammy and his staff. They like to make sure everyone is having a good time (which most people do). I was so exhausted from the several ferry rides of the prior 48 hours that I abstained and went to bed early.

However, being well-rested the next day and having had an awesome "Turkish Bath" I was ready to party with the lot of them. This included Leon, Zona, Leigh, and Jane, who arrived that night (a day later than me) and were thrown into it as soon as they were handed their cold welcome beers.

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Then they had belly dancers come and put on a little show. But I am sure it was not nearly as good as the belly dance I did in order to get a free Sammy's T-shirt. Half jokingly, I told Murti, one of the friendly staff members, that I would do a belly dance if he gave me a free T-shirt. Next thing you know he was pulling out a belly-dancing costume - veil and everything - and I was doing a little number to traditional Turkish music for everyone at Happy Hour. I got a huge round of applause and was handed my Sammy's T-shirt. The best thing about this T-shirt is that on the back it also says... "24 hours hot water." Pictures to come soon (thanks to my Aussie and South African friends).

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Around midnight we all realized we hadn't eaten dinner, and since there were no good eateries open, Sammy - ever accommodating as he is - opened up his rooftop grill for us and put his staff to work. So we had midnight dinner, rooftop, in the fresh air. (Thank you Sammy!)

The last escapade of the night involved a jaunt to Jimmy's Irish Bar for more drinking and dancing, and the acquisition of my second T-shirt which says...are you ready for this......."Paddy in Turkey".

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May 18, 2001

I went to the Turkish Baths. I was a little surprised to see that is was men attendants and not women! Yikes! I am glad an Aussie girl warned my to wear my bathers, as she called them (bikini). There were two French girls going in front of me who went topless. It did not phase them at all. I wish I was that unselfconscious...but there was no way that was going to happen!

Anyway, it was great! You start off for about 15 minutes in a sauna type room with marble floors and a marble slab in the middle to sit on. After you have sweated and opened up your pores, you go to the next room where you lay down on this huge marble slab and they scrub your entire body with a loofah type scrub. I could not believe how much dead skin they sloughed off! You can see it coming off kind of like peeling skin after a sunburn.

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Next they rinse you off and throw tons of soap and suds all over you and you get a soap message! Ahhhhhhh! It was wonderful! They give you a little slap on the leg when they want you to turn over. And then they get the other side. The attendant even cracked my back, at which point I started giggling. You sit up and they give you a shampoo. Finally, you use a bowl to throw water over yourself and rinse off. They wrap about 3 towels around you and send you to the final area where you sit and relax in your towels and have apple tea, the popular choice of tea of the Turks.

Needless to say, I felt immaculately clean and ultimately relaxed afterwards. Maybe I will do it again in Istanbul.

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May 19, 2001 Ephesus

Today, we went to Ephesus. One of the biggest and best-preserved ancient cities in all of the Mediterranean. It was quite impressive. We actually walked down the main street - paved with marble slabs - that the chariots and daily traffic of market street tread on thousands of years ago. The ruins included a huge theatre where they would hold public parliament and theatrical productions...and St. Paul spoke to the Ephesians here also. In fact, for those of you who remember readings at Mass or Sunday school.... St. Paul wrote some famous letters to the Ephesians here. Not far from Ephesus, is the house where Mary (as in the Virgin Mary) supposedly lived out her last days.

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Sunday, May 20th

The white calcium-deposit cliffs of Pumakale. Overrated (or at least not worth a two hour bus trip one way).

Evening: Returned from Pumakale and went straight to the bus station to catch the overnight bus to Istanbul (9 hrs). Was lucky to have an experienced traveler of Turkey - my new Aussie friend, Chris, who went with me.

May 20, 2001

Arrived in Istanbul at 8AM this morning after an 11 hour all-night bus ride from Kusadasi on the Aegean coast. The bus service is actually quite good in Turkey as that is how most people travel. There is even a bus attendant (like a flight attendant) who serves coffee, tea, and we even got a small breakfast.

I traveled with an Aussie named Chris, who taught me a bunch of basic Turkish words such as thank you,soup, bread, hello, yes, no, and of course, "brain and foot soup" - a traditional Turkish soup which is prepared by boiling the brains and feet of a sheep.

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May 21, 2001

Saw Topkapi Palace today where the sultans lived for many years, and this included a tour of the harem quarters...the section where the sultans family as well as all his concubines lived. The decor is intricate and beautiful from the floor up and including the domed ceilings. It was something else.

Tomorrow I will visit the mosques and maybe get the guts to travel the "Grand Bazaar". This takes much courage as you get hassled every step of the way....."Yes, Excuse me!" "Aussie, Aussie! You come look at some jackets?" "Excuse me! Excuse me!" "You look at my carpets!" "Where are from?" "You from Australia? Good day, Mate!".

By the way, though I definitely cannot blend in here in any way, I have not yet been guessed to be an American. So far people have thought I am 1)Australian 2)Irish 3)Scandinavian. Oh, and an Aussie woman told me I look like Nicole Kidman. I don't where she got that from, but hey....woohoo!....it certainly made my day.

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Monday, May 21st - Sultan Hostel, Istanbul, Turkey ($7.00 US per night)

Enjoyed a few beers on the roof-top bar with other hostellers and Turkish hostel employees (their night off of course), and then went to a night club for dancing. Turkish men love to dance. They dance with each other even, in big groups.

WARNING TO SOLO WESTERN WOMEN IN TURKEY: YOU ARE FAIR GAME TO ALL TURKISH MEN. IT DOESN'T MATTER IF YOU SAY YOU HAVE A BOYFRIEND OR EVEN A HUSBAND. IF HE IS NOT WITH YOU, YOU WILL BE RELENTLESSLY "CHASED".

Wednesday, May 23rd

Splurged on a $200.00 plane ticket from Istanbul to Athens. I just couldn't bear to go with the 18 hour bus ride. (Sometimes you just have to spend the money.)

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July 20 - 8/1/01

Tim and I took a ferry from Athens to Rhodes - the largest inhabited medieval city in Europe - with a stopover on the island of Patmos, where the Apostle John resided in a cave and wrote the Apocalypse.

Anyway, we then hopped over to Turkey and spend a few days exploring the Mediterranean coast complete with Lycian ruins, beaches, canyons and gorges, and friendly banter at the family-run hostels. It is HOT and HUMID! And since they don't use air-conditioning here, one must be resigned to constant sweating and in Tim's case, being a bit smelly. Haha

Riding the Turkish dolmos (minibuses) are quite an experience by the way...packed in and dripping sweat, and just when you think the bus is absolutely full, he stops to pick up an entire family who cram in the front seat with him...and then we continue on with the van door wide open to let some air in, which at that point is definitely more important than safety.

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After enough sweating and humidity for a lifetime, we decided to go inland and experience unbearable dry heat instead. We took an overnight bus (complete with bus attendant similar to a flight attendant) to the town of Goreme, in the Cappadoccia region of central Turkey.

Goreme is funny because most of the establishments are set up inside actual caves carved out of soft volcanic rock, including our Hotel. Cappadoccia means "land of beautiful horses" and was labeled this back when the Selcuk clans - horsemen who perhaps were once part of the Mongolian empire - roamed the area.

We spent two days exploring this region, which is where parts of Star Wars were filmed. If you remember the desert scenes, where the Jawas lived in strange, cone-shaped cave dwellings....this is what you see all over Cappadoccia.

It was amazing to actually climb amongst the ancient cave houses, churches, and monasteries that were literally built well into the cliffs and mountains. There are even several underground cities where the Christians would shack up during Persian (or whoever) invasions. These underground cities go as deep as 8 stories and even included stables, chapels, and mortuaries. In general, throughout the whole tour, it was amazing to see, feel, and smell the same things people did who lived almost 2 thousand years ago.

Unfortunately, I had developed several ailments in Greece which continually got worse, until finally, exhausted from a fever and the unforgiving midday heat, I nearly collapsed with weakness. When the next day I lay shivering with the chills in an 80 degree room and hacking with a respiratory infection, Tim went to find a doctor, who subsequently hooked me up to an I.V. because my blood pressure was so low, and who prescribed me about 4 different medications.

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So, at this point, I am nursing myself back to health with the help of much medication and Tim who runs out to get me things such as fluids and fruit and drugs. Hopefully, I will be well again in a couple of days so we can continue our vacation.

Until then I am confined to rest in my small "cave room", but our goal is to get back to the coast and then island hop back to Athens.

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Aug. 4 - Aug. 7th, 2001

After another day of trying to only rest and recover, Tim and I were forced to board an overnight bus back to Turkey's west coast. We had to get to Kusadasi in order to catch a ferry back to Greece and catch our flights on time. The day after I received said I.V. and started all my "meds", Tim, himself, became ill with that popular traveler's ailment we all know and love (ahem). We made quite a pathetic pair with our various drugs and miserable demeanors. That was by far the worst bus ride I have ever had to "survive".

Things turned up when we got to the Greek island of Samos. Both feeling better and relishing the cool ocean breezes, we found a resort beach town and hunkered down for a night and a day. Strangely, it seemed to be a resort town for Germans. As the two token Americans, we did our best to blend in, and relaxed on the beaches and in the seaside cafes. Finally, an overnight ferry (I threw up on the boat) set us back in Athens. Tim is now on route to "sweet-home Chicago". And I embark on the next chapter. AFRICA.

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