I forget how much I love Alaska until I return. It’s not just one thing though—there is so much to love. The green. The clean air. The lack of billboards. And of course, see the BFF and her family. The downside is that it takes FOREVER to arrive and two plane changes.
Worth it.
My first day in Cordova
Cathy’s husband bagged a moose on his first “serious” day of hunting. Mmmmm. Tasty. And a lot of work. Luckily, the gutted her out in the field but still. There was the hanging of the carcass, the skinning, the quartering and finally, the wiping down with vinegar. Which doens't sound like a bad job (considering what else had to be done) but is actually somewhat icky.
But it’ll be worth it cause hey, I like moose! Not exactly a vacation-like excursion, but definitely Alaskan-like.
Sunday, September 05, 2010
Tuesday, May 05, 2009
Istanbul
The trip is over and done and finally—Istanbul! One of the oldest cities in the world it is the only city that is on two continents (Europe and Asia). Since my hotel was on the Europe side, that is where I spent most of my time.
The worst part about Istanbul was that this was where I said good-0bye to my tour group. What Can I say, I’ll miss them all,. I learned so much from them—the odd phrase, backgammon and that drinking every night is what Holiday is all about.
Luckily, there is facebook to keep in touch.
Now, I have four days to tour the city by myself.
Blue Mosque
I ha e seen a lot of mosques and the Blue Mosque is truly one of the biggest and is impressive as hell. But but what sticks out is the vendor who would NOT go away. There I was, standing in line and he starts chatting me up. Whatever. Then he doesn’t’ leave and wants to escort me through the mosque. Um…no. And ‘No’ for so many reasons, but the biggest being that I like being by myself. So, I brushed him off and took in the blue-tiled interior by myself thank-you-very-much. And extravaganza is not an exaggeration. The oddest part about the Blue Mosque is that women don’t have to cover their heads. I covered mine. To do anything less seems disrespectful.
But when I walked out, guess who was waiting? Yes. Him. I had to ditch him again. What a pain.
Hagia Sophia
It used to be a mosque but is now a museum and is huge and wonderful and the mosaics are gilded as hell. And God knows, I do love the gilding (shiny….).
Topkapi Palace
Where the sultans lived and is now a museum. The grounds are impressive and the various building hold some fairly sparkly relics. There are no pictures of the sparkly relics though—they won’t let you take them. But the most interesting building was the Harem. I always pictured a harem like a Disney move—one giant room with pillows and perhaps a pool. Instead, it’s multiple room with rooms for the eunuchs, the girls, the kids, etc. Impressive. And also tiled up one wall and down the other.
Basilica Cistern
Too cool! An underground cistern as that the Roman’s built. And this is no small feat. The room is as big as a mosque and held up with arches and columns. I can’t imagine how they managed to dig out the ground and then construct a building (and it really is a building in many ways) of such impressive beauty. It was forgotten for a long time until someone saw a villager pull a fish from a hole in his floorboards (the cistern was beneath the house). Now, we all get to enjoy it!
The worst part about Istanbul was that this was where I said good-0bye to my tour group. What Can I say, I’ll miss them all,. I learned so much from them—the odd phrase, backgammon and that drinking every night is what Holiday is all about.
Luckily, there is facebook to keep in touch.
Now, I have four days to tour the city by myself.
Blue Mosque
I ha e seen a lot of mosques and the Blue Mosque is truly one of the biggest and is impressive as hell. But but what sticks out is the vendor who would NOT go away. There I was, standing in line and he starts chatting me up. Whatever. Then he doesn’t’ leave and wants to escort me through the mosque. Um…no. And ‘No’ for so many reasons, but the biggest being that I like being by myself. So, I brushed him off and took in the blue-tiled interior by myself thank-you-very-much. And extravaganza is not an exaggeration. The oddest part about the Blue Mosque is that women don’t have to cover their heads. I covered mine. To do anything less seems disrespectful.
But when I walked out, guess who was waiting? Yes. Him. I had to ditch him again. What a pain.
Hagia Sophia
It used to be a mosque but is now a museum and is huge and wonderful and the mosaics are gilded as hell. And God knows, I do love the gilding (shiny….).
Topkapi Palace
Where the sultans lived and is now a museum. The grounds are impressive and the various building hold some fairly sparkly relics. There are no pictures of the sparkly relics though—they won’t let you take them. But the most interesting building was the Harem. I always pictured a harem like a Disney move—one giant room with pillows and perhaps a pool. Instead, it’s multiple room with rooms for the eunuchs, the girls, the kids, etc. Impressive. And also tiled up one wall and down the other.
Basilica Cistern
Too cool! An underground cistern as that the Roman’s built. And this is no small feat. The room is as big as a mosque and held up with arches and columns. I can’t imagine how they managed to dig out the ground and then construct a building (and it really is a building in many ways) of such impressive beauty. It was forgotten for a long time until someone saw a villager pull a fish from a hole in his floorboards (the cistern was beneath the house). Now, we all get to enjoy it!
Monday, May 04, 2009
One Word...
RAKI
A licorice liquer, we drank vast quantities of it at a belydance show in Cappodocia. Then we headed to Fat Boys (best local bar ever!) and danced the night away
A licorice liquer, we drank vast quantities of it at a belydance show in Cappodocia. Then we headed to Fat Boys (best local bar ever!) and danced the night away
Sunday, May 03, 2009
Goreme, Turkey
What an amazing town. Small. Friendly. Good food. Great bars (yay Fat boys!) But what doominates the lasndscape are Fairy Chimneys.
Fairy Chimney's are geological oddities--towers of stone left over from the wear and tear of time. And in this regions, peopel use them to as houses.
Yep, they tunnel those suckers out to make a home and as understand it, have done so for centuries.
Fairy Chimney's are geological oddities--towers of stone left over from the wear and tear of time. And in this regions, peopel use them to as houses.
Yep, they tunnel those suckers out to make a home and as understand it, have done so for centuries.
Underground Cities
Imagine an entire city built underground and in the stone and you have the Cappadocia region of Turkey. And when I say city, I mean an area big enough for thousands of people plus livestock.
Built during times of war and persecution, these cities could house the people of the region until the invaders left.
Amazing.
The underground area we visited went down seven levels and had its own well. There were even churches. Another fun fact, they used round doors that rolled into place and could only be opened from the inside.
Built during times of war and persecution, these cities could house the people of the region until the invaders left.
Amazing.
The underground area we visited went down seven levels and had its own well. There were even churches. Another fun fact, they used round doors that rolled into place and could only be opened from the inside.
Friday, May 01, 2009
Busted!
I was hoping it wouldn’t happen, but it did. Earlier, I posted that I used Spanish to get away” from people I didn’t want to speak to. Frankly, a lot of people in the Middle East speak French and English (as well as their native tongue) but few speak Spanish.
This has worked for four weeks!
Anyway, I was trying to ignore a vendor and used my sad sad Spanish. Turns out, he speaks about six languages and his Spanish is quite excellent.
Geez—talk about embarrassed.
This has worked for four weeks!
Anyway, I was trying to ignore a vendor and used my sad sad Spanish. Turns out, he speaks about six languages and his Spanish is quite excellent.
Geez—talk about embarrassed.
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
Shopping-A Lesson in Charades
I went shopping yesterday. I needed leggings (it’s somewhat chilly and rainy here in Nigde) plus we plan to go dancing in Cappadocia and I have NOTHING to wear. But Nigde is anything but touristy and so very few people speak English.
This is where the ability to kickass at charades comes in handy. First, the tights. I was walking along the street that seemed dedicated to clothes and I passed a shop with footless tights in a bin outside. Good enough. I sorted through but needed longer ones so went in side, held them up to my leg and mined “longer” .
She got it and pulled out a longer pair. I pointed to my but and gestured that I needed to make sure they fit . (I do have some “junk in the trunk” as it were). She held the tight up and pulled them to show the stretch. Nice. She totally got it. Purchase made.
So I went looking for a t-shirt. I entered the store and all the sales people were standing around looking bored (seems that's international). I said "Hi" and wow, did they perk up once they realized I was American. By the time I was finished looking around and had a few things to try on, I had three sales people talking to me and we were all making hand gestures.
While they were good at charades, I couldn’t say much for their fashion sense. They tried to get me to wear an aqua, satin tunic top and leggings. Um, they eighties called and they want their clothes back.
Still, it was great fun and we were all laughing and chatting thought neither side understood a single freaking word. And as it turned out, neither side needed to speak the same language. For me, that brings home the lesson that words are just a tiny tiny partof communication. Facial expressions, gestures and tone conveyed everything that needed to be said.
I hope they understood how much fun I had and how much I enjoyed “speaking” to them!
This is where the ability to kickass at charades comes in handy. First, the tights. I was walking along the street that seemed dedicated to clothes and I passed a shop with footless tights in a bin outside. Good enough. I sorted through but needed longer ones so went in side, held them up to my leg and mined “longer” .
She got it and pulled out a longer pair. I pointed to my but and gestured that I needed to make sure they fit . (I do have some “junk in the trunk” as it were). She held the tight up and pulled them to show the stretch. Nice. She totally got it. Purchase made.
So I went looking for a t-shirt. I entered the store and all the sales people were standing around looking bored (seems that's international). I said "Hi" and wow, did they perk up once they realized I was American. By the time I was finished looking around and had a few things to try on, I had three sales people talking to me and we were all making hand gestures.
While they were good at charades, I couldn’t say much for their fashion sense. They tried to get me to wear an aqua, satin tunic top and leggings. Um, they eighties called and they want their clothes back.
Still, it was great fun and we were all laughing and chatting thought neither side understood a single freaking word. And as it turned out, neither side needed to speak the same language. For me, that brings home the lesson that words are just a tiny tiny partof communication. Facial expressions, gestures and tone conveyed everything that needed to be said.
I hope they understood how much fun I had and how much I enjoyed “speaking” to them!
Sense of Humor Day--Number Three
Today, we crossed the border from Syria to Turkey via taxi (three of them for our group). One thing that wasn’t written in the Intrepid trip notes was that the taxi driver will purchase packs of cigarettes and whiskey (two per person) at the Duty free and if he is caught smugglings...you say they are yours. Otherwise, there is hours of paperwork involved. Luckily, our driver wasn’t caught
Of course, the fact he slipped a bribe to the Syrian official as we went through probably didn’t hurt.
After the crossing, the drive to Antioch (Antakya) resembled an episode of The Amazing Race as each driver drove as fast as possible to get us to our destination. Scary but entertaining and the scenery was amazing. We’ve gone from desert to rocky, green hills and fields. We also passed (still at breakneck speed) a family of SIX on a motorbike. Yep…six. I’ve seen four and even five once or twice. But six was a new record.
We arrived n Antakya and wow, what a different a border can make culturally. I’ve only spotted a few habibs and not one burka. The streets are spotless and while some of the housing is poor, it’s colorful and in decent condition.
Once we arrived, we head to see the oldest church, St. Peters. (Founded by Peter—that dude from the Bible). It’s in a cave with some mosaics left, and was a secret church that the worshipped got to by crawling through a cave. After seeing the church, we hiked up the hills and crawled through a few caves as well, getting quite filthy in the process.
Call me crazy, but it doesn’t feel like a full day unless I ended up a little dirty.
Of course, the fact he slipped a bribe to the Syrian official as we went through probably didn’t hurt.
After the crossing, the drive to Antioch (Antakya) resembled an episode of The Amazing Race as each driver drove as fast as possible to get us to our destination. Scary but entertaining and the scenery was amazing. We’ve gone from desert to rocky, green hills and fields. We also passed (still at breakneck speed) a family of SIX on a motorbike. Yep…six. I’ve seen four and even five once or twice. But six was a new record.
We arrived n Antakya and wow, what a different a border can make culturally. I’ve only spotted a few habibs and not one burka. The streets are spotless and while some of the housing is poor, it’s colorful and in decent condition.
Once we arrived, we head to see the oldest church, St. Peters. (Founded by Peter—that dude from the Bible). It’s in a cave with some mosaics left, and was a secret church that the worshipped got to by crawling through a cave. After seeing the church, we hiked up the hills and crawled through a few caves as well, getting quite filthy in the process.
Call me crazy, but it doesn’t feel like a full day unless I ended up a little dirty.
Krak des Chevaliers (Still Syria)
A Crusader castle in Syria with a long history Krak des Chevaliers is way the hell up a hill and HUGE (took 90 years and a few sieges to make it as big as it is today) Just as good—our hotel, the Betaire. It’s right across the small valley and has a spectacular view.
We walked all over the Fort today and when we were standing on top of…oh…something..we ended up talking to some college students. They asked where we were from and we told them—America, New Zealand and Australia. When they students found out we were Americans, they were surprised to see us.
Who can blame them? The media goes on and on about how dangerous the Middle East is and sure, parts are freaking scary and should be avoided. Syria isn’t one of those areas. With the notable exception of a shopkeeper who was an absolute asshat, everyone here has been wonderful.
Anyway, we chit-chatted with the students about how the media blah blah blahed (basically making sure that everyone stayed freaked out because nothing sells advertisements like fear) and in thirty seconds, were had a huge group around us, just listening and them wanting to take our picture. It was just so damned sweet. The younger generation of Syria are just…endearing. So pictures were taken (I started to get almost a celebrity feelings)and then we headed back down to the guide who was waiting for us.
I’ll probably end up on a government watchlist.
We walked all over the Fort today and when we were standing on top of…oh…something..we ended up talking to some college students. They asked where we were from and we told them—America, New Zealand and Australia. When they students found out we were Americans, they were surprised to see us.
Who can blame them? The media goes on and on about how dangerous the Middle East is and sure, parts are freaking scary and should be avoided. Syria isn’t one of those areas. With the notable exception of a shopkeeper who was an absolute asshat, everyone here has been wonderful.
Anyway, we chit-chatted with the students about how the media blah blah blahed (basically making sure that everyone stayed freaked out because nothing sells advertisements like fear) and in thirty seconds, were had a huge group around us, just listening and them wanting to take our picture. It was just so damned sweet. The younger generation of Syria are just…endearing. So pictures were taken (I started to get almost a celebrity feelings)and then we headed back down to the guide who was waiting for us.
I’ll probably end up on a government watchlist.
