Italy

It's been hard to find time to be online, so I regret that I left Turkey without writing much about my trip... maybe I'll be able to offer a recap later. But for now, it's on to Italy! I got here a week ago... arriving into Milan after some more very serious f&ck-ups in Istanbul, caused by United mistakening canceling my plane ticket. Really.

We picked up our car the next morning and thanks to the navigation help of our little GPS, arrived in Bellagio, on Lake Como, in the afternoon. The GPS is pretty accurate, though it did choose a route that required us to put our car on a ferry... unexpected. Lake Como is beautiful and we enjoyed our time there, leaving after 2 days for Venice. Venice was delightful and charming, though the water ferries and small, unmarked walking streets take some getting used to. I'm writing now from Florence, which I have been to twice before, but it is a great city and nice to be here again. Tomorrow we head for Monterosso, one of the towns of the Cinque Terre on the western coast. I'll try for pics soon!

Photos

Blue Mosque, Istanbul


View of the Bosphorus, across Galata Bridge


Baklava... yum


Harem at Topkapi Palace


Fairy Chimneys in Cappadocia


More landscape in Cappadocia


After the hike to Uchizar Castle


View from our hotel in Kas


Sunset in Kas

More from Turkey

I tried to post some pictures last night, but the Windows system is in Turkish and I was unsuccessful. In the meantime Cat and I have arrived in Kaş, a small vacation town on the Mediterranean coast. It was a harrowing overnight bus journey, which lead us both to wonder if we are too old for this kind of travel!

Kaş is surrounded by beautiful mountains and the water is blue and warm so we happy. (On the other hand, the temperature is also warm... over 100!) We went out on a dive this morning, ending up somehow with a German operation, but the divemaster was very good and we are planning to go out again this afternoon. Tomorrow we will go for a kayak trip to Kerkova, a "sunken city" a short distance from here. The day after, we head back to Istanbul. More soon...

Turkey: Arrival and Then Some

Though I'm happily traveling around Turkey now, my travel got off to an unfortunate start with a four-hour delay at Dulles. This caused me to miss my connection in Amsterdam... which was preceded by serious anxiety and panic as I tried to figure out an alternate way into Istanbul that didn't delay my travel by a day. I held my ground at the rebooking desk in Amsterdam and succeeded in getting on a direct Turkish Airlines flight to Istanbul that actually arrived before my intended itinerary (traveling via Zurich). Fantastic for me... not so good for my luggage. It did not get rebooked and was nowhere to be found. After three days of washing my clothes in the sink and obsessively calling the unhelpful folks at Turkish Airlines, I went to the mall. Catherine was a trooper and spent a couple hours with me picking out a new wardrobe. Of course, as luck would have it, my bag arrived that afternoon after spending some time in Frankfurt. I was able to pick it up at the airport just prior to catching a flight to Cappadocia, where I am now. I know this bag stuff really isn't interesting, but I've been preoccupied with it for the past few days!

Additionally, however, we also did a whirlwind tour of Istanbul, taking in the Blue Mosque, Aya Sofya, cruising down the Bosphorus, going to the hammam (bath), and wandering the streets of Sultanahmet and Beyoglu. I'm currently writing from Goreme, a town in Cappadocia, which is a region in the center of Turkey. The topography and rock formations here are absolutely incredible and I hope to post some pictures soon. Tonight we take a night bus to Antalya, a city on the Mediterranean coast. In the meantime, here's a map of Turkey if you want to follow along (Goreme is near Nevesehir).