Calling all Climbers to Cappadocia

If you're looking for a place to climb with a rich religious history, then Cappadocia *or Nevşehir* is a great place to visit. We were a little pressed for time, so we just spent the morning in the Open Air Museum. Some early Christian communities fled to this rocky area and lived in caves to escape persecution. We visited multiple churches inside these rock dwellings. Frescos of church tradition, Bible stories, and the life of Christ were painted on the walls and ceilings. Turkish word of the day *dağ, or mountain. (pictures to come)

Konya

No whirling dervish sightings, but I did see a few Korans dated back to the 9th century. We covered with scarves in order to enter the interesting, beautiful, and historical mosques. Convincing, huh?

Ephesus

In case you didn't know, Ephesus was in Turkey. Now it is a small area of Roman ruins in Selçuk and Efes. It was very interesting to tour the archeological wonder, but I have to confess, I really needed something to read that explained things while observing. Turkish word - tamam, or okay.

Agean Sea

Things just happened to work out so that we spent Wed. in Didim visiting a family with a house near the Agean Sea. We swam and played during the early afternoon, and then dragged our luggage back to the beach where we were picked up by a minibus and dropped off at the nearest bus station. Our next stop - Konya, home of Rumi - founder of Suffism. Turkish word of the day- deniz, or sea.

Night Buses

Night buses are the best way to travel comfortably and cheaply in Turkey, once you get used to it of course. On my first night bus experience I awoke to find it boarding a ferry. Not wanting to miss out on a night-time boat ride, I got off the bus and watched as we sailed across the Mamara Sea. My bus attendant (we were served water, snack cakes, and tea) came and signaled for me to get back on before we docked. The ferry ride was probably the smoothest part of the trip - buses are very tall and seem to rock a little as they're driven. On our second night bus, Taci rushed us in to a rest stop at 4am to eat lentil soup. Because we were running out of time I decided to grab some cups off our bus for our soup. The passengers already on the bus stared at me as I searched the attendant's shelf for the cups, and I understood why as we boarded the bus next to it! In other words, the bus where I had just taken the cups was not our bus.

Talking Turkey on Turkish TV

Have you ever seen the news and wondered how reporters always seem to find the most ignorant sounding person of the group to interview and broadcast over national television? Yeah, so that was me! I saw the reporter walking near us and was hoping she wouldn’t stop, but she did, at my seat. So, she asked me some questions and I answered despite being the most ignorant of Turkish history, geography, and culture in our group of 5. This all happened on a relaxing, inexpensive boat ride down the Bosphorus around 1pm. At 8ish I got a phone call from Taci’s friend telling me she had seen me on television. Apparently the station is one of the most popular in Turkey and is broadcasted throughout the entire country. The other girls were also shown, including a clip of Polly talking a picture – probably of the fortress, picture provided.

First few days

We have seen so many amazing things here so far. Yesterday we went to an underground cistern built by the Romans that people didn't even know about until the mid 1500's. It had massive columns supporting it that have survived something like 20 earthquakes. Today, though, we're hoping to rest and take things slow. Word of the day: mashallah - what to say to ward away envy and the evil eye after you give a compliment

Comparing Countries

I can't help but to compare cultures and countries when I travel. I guess it's a matter of understanding the world through our past experiences. With that said, Istanbul feels very European. We've been traveling via ferry between the European and Asian sides of Istanbul. Tonight we had tea on a pier overlooking the Marmara Sea on the Asian (or Anaatolian) side. Spending time with so many friends from Auburn has been great too.