Turkiye

The highlight of this contract’s itinerary was Turkey and more specifically Istanbul.  I have such mixed feelings about this place because of cultural differences and beliefs.  Even so I really enjoyed the trip here.  Such a unique place in the world where east meets west and there are so many beautiful things to take in.  I am going to get to Istanbul in the next blog, but for now I’d like to share some photos of beach towns and the countryside. 

Kusadasi was the only place in Turkey I had already been to.   And if you are looking for an entirely new wardrobe in exchange for a quarter and a box of kittens, than this is the place for you.  Turkey is the land of knock-offs.  You can buy so much for so cheap and they will take any currency you have.  Kusadasi is just a tourist coastal city that is the gateway for Ephesus.  I haven’t been there still because I have hit my quota for hot rocks in the sun this season, but one day I might visit.  The last time I was in Kusadasi, I experienced a Turkish bath and some nargile- both great ideas.  

The city is just chock-full of knick-knack souvenir shops and cheap clothing stores.  You could throw a rock to the next store that had silk scarves or selfie sticks.  Shockingly enough I did not buy any new clothes here but I spent many days assisting my guy friends in purchasing new attire.  Someone has to make sure they make good decisions and don’t purchase shirts that resemble picnic table covers, but you can’t save them all.  This port is one of the gents’ favorites because of the famous Turkish barber experience as well as the incredibly inexpensive suits and magical wonders of the Turkish tailors. 

And while you wait for items to be hemmed and you want to avoid the horrific and unrelenting hassling from shop owners, you sneak into my favorite hookah spot for a delicious Turkish coffee and beer and maybe some free wifi.  The password is cute kitten.

An amazing hot pot meal on a cool rainy day.

I also went on a fun crew tour to a water park (Kusadasi has 3), but there is no photographic evidence of that because I wanted my iphone to continue taking pictures the rest of the summer.  It had been ages since I’ve been to a water park and it was a whole lotta fun with my besties Joey and Nick.

One cruise this season was a charter hosting the fabulous Atlantis group.  Money talks and it does buy happiness.  The folks from Atlantis paid a pretty penny to make sure all of our ports were fantastic and we extended our stay to the late evenings.  So for this single cruise we visited a few more unique places like Bodrum, Turkey.  Bodrum is a very clean and adorable beach town with lots of shops, restaurants and waterfront lounging restaurants.  We walked past some mouthwatering gyro spots.  We also walked past a diabetic coma of a bakery and on the way back an unusual gravitational force pulled me in.  

Yup this guy is pretty accurate with his apple tea in hand.

Bodrum had lots of beautiful boats lining the boardwalk and across from there were funky vendors with odd seashell trinkets.  People in the Mediterranean love to sell real dried sponges as bathing loofahs.

And of course Nick and I enjoyed a super refreshing swim on another summer scorcher.

Finally, there was a great tour called the Taste of Turkey where we drove out to smaller towns in the country and made some special stops.  I had to laugh because there were these two young girls traveling together on my tour who literally thought we were going to be eating food all day and joined the bus starving in the morning.  I had to explain to them that the title had a more cultural meaning and I’m sure we could find them food somewhere.

We began in a small town called Sirince and a wonderful couple from California asked me to join them for a cup of coffee.  I do love Turkish coffee!  The powdery coffee is mixed with water and then boiled from the coals underneath the sand here.  Once it’s frothy it’s ready to serve.

Turkiye is also great for fresh juices especially pomegranate which grows abundantly here, and you’ll see the pomegranate as a symbol on many items and patterns.  At the end of our free time in Sirince our guide brought us inside a mosque and talked a little about the daily prayers.  Appropriately after visiting the mosque we walked out of the town to this beautiful lookout location for some fruit wine tasting.  We tried pomegranate, apricot, mulberry and blueberry and they were all delicious.

Lavish dinnerware

Moving along we continued our drive and stopped at a nice restaurant sitting down family style for an authentic lunch.  And after lunch was a trip to a rug wonderland.  Our group spent an hour learning about the threading process, the weaving process as well as meaning behind different patterns in the carpets.  Our hosts were incredibly gracious as all hosts are in Turkey answering all questions and serving beverages.  With many many mulberry trees in the country there are many silk worms, which we can thank for the beautiful textiles and rugs.  The host explained the hours that go into the different patterns as well as the differences in feel and reason for usage of different threads such as wool, silk and cotton.  I found this trip to be super fascinating.   If I had the money and room in my luggage I would have bought you all a beautiful Turkish rug…but alas. It of course is a dying art because not many people would have the patience for this craft.  Definitely not me miss instant gratification glassblower.