I am in Edinburgh Scotland staying at a fantastic hostel and thoroughly enjoying myself and relaxing.
Scotland is beautiful; cold; windy; but beautiful.
Travel in Europe when the dollar becomes better because the pound is NOT fun.
It does make conversion easier since it's 2 to 1.
I saw Munich/Dachau and Amsterdam...they were great. Nour took us to Keukenhof...it was a photographer's dream.
Today I saw an Ansel Adams photography exhibit that is on loan here in Scotland. It was fantastic.
Soon, it will be Dublin for 2 days and London for 3 nights and then...taking the last train to Clarksville. It's just so exciting.
Ciao!
The blog will be totally updated when I return home!!
Wednesday, April 16, 2008
Wednesday, April 9, 2008
More free travel stories.
Last week, I gave you a rundown of my first couple of days of second free travel. I think I'll continue now.
Day 2 in Turkey. What a day! We got up and ate a fantastic breakfast (French Toast) at the hostel and then went out to the Hagia Sophia. This building was incredibly majestic. It kind of just looms over everything. It was built in 537 AD under the emperor Justinian and began as a church. In the 1400s, when the Turks took over the sultan requested that it be turned into a mosque. He wanted it done very quickly so because of this, care was not taken to make sure the art inside was preserved. Spires were added on and the beautiful Byzantine mosaics inside where also covered, and many were destroyed because of this. In the 1930s, it became a museum and when they were restoring and cleaning inside the church, they found remnants of mosaics all around the building.
This is one of the more in tact mosaics.
We spent at least two hours roaming around the floor and then the upper galleries of the building. It was definitely a sight to see.
After that, the boys went and did the Turkish bath thing and Libby and I wandered around Sultanhamet by ourselves. We went into one rug/ceramics/lamp store and started chatting with the owner about his family and his culture and his religion and all the traditions/rituals/rites associated with it. After about an hour or so, he asked us if Libby and I would like to sit down and have tea with the workers in the store. In Turkey, that is a HUGE deal - being invited to have tea with a Turk is a great sign of loyalty and friendship. So, of course we sat down and enjoyed apple tea served in a tulip shaped glass. What an experience!
We spent the evening journaling in a cafe near our hostel with tea and baklava. We met a couple there that were from Katy, Texas - were Church of Christ and live in the same area that my good friend Tyler Gentry from Harding does. It really is a small, small world.
Wednesday morning we woke up early and headed to the train station for 8:30 am train to Greece. Of course the trains in Turkey and Greece are never on time. And, a city as big as Istanbul the train station was tiny. We got on our train -- just hoping that we would eventually make it to Greece. We notice once we get on that we are 4 of the 5 passengers on the whole train - the rest (we were pretty sure) was cargo. There were more conductors than there were passengers! The 5th passenger was a Japanese guy named Ken - he very quickly became our friend. Nick, Tyler, Libby and I got into our compartment (that turned out to be a couchette) and we folded the beds down and we slept for a good three and a half or four hours. We woke up close to 1 because we knew that's when the train was supposed to get to Uzonkopru - the border town of Turkey - where we would switch trains to get across the border. We had a very narrow window within which to switch. Well, needless to say, the train was supposed to arrive at 1:15 and it was 1:05 and we were still a good 45 or 50 kms away.
When we woke up we heard voices in the compartment next to ours. They were American voices, Not Turkish voices. Lo and behold, the voices were coming from Coulter and Travis. They always appear out of nowhere.
Since we were running late, we figured we needed a plan. In order to make sure that all our trains worked and we would get to Greece by the next morning, we HAD to make that train at the border town so that we could get to Thessaloniki. Well, at the rate we were going we were going to have to RUN to catch the 2:03 train. Nick and Tyler decided that if we had to - we would cross the border on foot. (NOT SMART).
Anyhow, we were getting really close and Nick walked up to the conductor and said "Uzonkopru?" and kind of gave the "what" face and the conductor just chuckled, pointed out the window at something on the ground and yelled "TT!" It was a turtle. It didn't really matter though because we got to the town about 10 minutes later. We had our packs strapped on and we were waiting at the door when the conductor came out of his compartment and said, "Police! SIT!" (at the time, we thought he said Please, sit!) So, we sat, just as he told us to do.
Two very important looking uniformed men got onto the train and looked at us and said, "Why you have your bags on your back? Sit. Give us passports." Of course we couldn't refuse so we apprehensively handed over our passports. And, in some sort of broken English he told us to wait there and that he would go to the post office and copy our passports and he'd be back. "This train will take you to Pythion in Greece. Stay."
So, stay we did. We sat for a few minutes - 15, 20 - and got increasingly nervous because we could no longer see the man. Then, all of a sudden, our car started moving. We jumped up - screaming "PASSPORTS!!!!" And they stopped, reversed and pulled back into the station. At this moment, Ken was not happy either.
Still we sat and we saw an engine and some cargo cars go by. We got up to look around the car and realized that that was OUR engine that passed by. We were just a lone passenger car sitting on the tracks in Uzonkopru Turkey...with the Turkish police in control of our passports. Another 10 minutes go by and then BOOM! There's a very big jolt. Thankfully, it was just our engine reattaching itself. Not even 30 seconds later and the police got back on board and returned our passports, telling us we were good to go.
But no - we were NOT out of the woods yet.
We crossed over this bridge where there were Turkish flags painted on every beam and then all of a sudden they became Greek flags. And, of course we were hanging out and taking pictures of the border...because it was cool!
We stopped in Pythion and of course, we had to do another passport check since we were re-entering the EU. The Greek police got on, asked for our passports (we had just gotten them back!!) and then asked if we had taken pictures on the bridge. When we said yes, he asked to see our cameras and he deleted all of them. Obviously a breach of national security or something.
After another long and drawn our process we got our passports again. And, after many trials and tribulations including but not limited to: Pythion as a ghost town, again the only 7 people for miles, the supposed train station, the schedule posted was handwritten and getting on a bus not sure where it was going to take us but ending up in Alexanderopouli where we finally got a train...we arrived in Thessaloniki.
Here's the train schedule....hehe.
After a sleepless night on an overnight train, we arrived in Athens.
We found a cab and FINALLY made it to Porto Rafti.
We spent the day in town at the Plaka and climbed up to the Acropolis. It was incredible.
This is Libby and I in front of the Parthenon that is unfortunately covered in scaffolding.
We ate gyros and hung out in the city and then headed back to the HUG campus. The next day we slept in and hung out with our friends all day and then went to the Athens mall (I know.) and just visited and goofed off and it was great.
Saturday we took a ferry out to Aegina and rented four wheelers and tooled around the island all day. It was so deserted, but it was amazing. We ate lunch at this restaurant where the owner really catered to our every want and need because we were her only customers and after that we found a huge rock face and slept outside listening to our iPods by the sea for about two hours. So surreal.
The water sure was a pretty color.
We headed back Sunday evening by boat and ended up getting back to HUF around 7 or so Monday night.
And, thus ends second free travel.
It was a huge adventure.
Ciao!
Day 2 in Turkey. What a day! We got up and ate a fantastic breakfast (French Toast) at the hostel and then went out to the Hagia Sophia. This building was incredibly majestic. It kind of just looms over everything. It was built in 537 AD under the emperor Justinian and began as a church. In the 1400s, when the Turks took over the sultan requested that it be turned into a mosque. He wanted it done very quickly so because of this, care was not taken to make sure the art inside was preserved. Spires were added on and the beautiful Byzantine mosaics inside where also covered, and many were destroyed because of this. In the 1930s, it became a museum and when they were restoring and cleaning inside the church, they found remnants of mosaics all around the building.
This is one of the more in tact mosaics.
We spent at least two hours roaming around the floor and then the upper galleries of the building. It was definitely a sight to see.
After that, the boys went and did the Turkish bath thing and Libby and I wandered around Sultanhamet by ourselves. We went into one rug/ceramics/lamp store and started chatting with the owner about his family and his culture and his religion and all the traditions/rituals/rites associated with it. After about an hour or so, he asked us if Libby and I would like to sit down and have tea with the workers in the store. In Turkey, that is a HUGE deal - being invited to have tea with a Turk is a great sign of loyalty and friendship. So, of course we sat down and enjoyed apple tea served in a tulip shaped glass. What an experience!
We spent the evening journaling in a cafe near our hostel with tea and baklava. We met a couple there that were from Katy, Texas - were Church of Christ and live in the same area that my good friend Tyler Gentry from Harding does. It really is a small, small world.
Wednesday morning we woke up early and headed to the train station for 8:30 am train to Greece. Of course the trains in Turkey and Greece are never on time. And, a city as big as Istanbul the train station was tiny. We got on our train -- just hoping that we would eventually make it to Greece. We notice once we get on that we are 4 of the 5 passengers on the whole train - the rest (we were pretty sure) was cargo. There were more conductors than there were passengers! The 5th passenger was a Japanese guy named Ken - he very quickly became our friend. Nick, Tyler, Libby and I got into our compartment (that turned out to be a couchette) and we folded the beds down and we slept for a good three and a half or four hours. We woke up close to 1 because we knew that's when the train was supposed to get to Uzonkopru - the border town of Turkey - where we would switch trains to get across the border. We had a very narrow window within which to switch. Well, needless to say, the train was supposed to arrive at 1:15 and it was 1:05 and we were still a good 45 or 50 kms away.
When we woke up we heard voices in the compartment next to ours. They were American voices, Not Turkish voices. Lo and behold, the voices were coming from Coulter and Travis. They always appear out of nowhere.
Since we were running late, we figured we needed a plan. In order to make sure that all our trains worked and we would get to Greece by the next morning, we HAD to make that train at the border town so that we could get to Thessaloniki. Well, at the rate we were going we were going to have to RUN to catch the 2:03 train. Nick and Tyler decided that if we had to - we would cross the border on foot. (NOT SMART).
Anyhow, we were getting really close and Nick walked up to the conductor and said "Uzonkopru?" and kind of gave the "what" face and the conductor just chuckled, pointed out the window at something on the ground and yelled "TT!" It was a turtle. It didn't really matter though because we got to the town about 10 minutes later. We had our packs strapped on and we were waiting at the door when the conductor came out of his compartment and said, "Police! SIT!" (at the time, we thought he said Please, sit!) So, we sat, just as he told us to do.
Two very important looking uniformed men got onto the train and looked at us and said, "Why you have your bags on your back? Sit. Give us passports." Of course we couldn't refuse so we apprehensively handed over our passports. And, in some sort of broken English he told us to wait there and that he would go to the post office and copy our passports and he'd be back. "This train will take you to Pythion in Greece. Stay."
So, stay we did. We sat for a few minutes - 15, 20 - and got increasingly nervous because we could no longer see the man. Then, all of a sudden, our car started moving. We jumped up - screaming "PASSPORTS!!!!" And they stopped, reversed and pulled back into the station. At this moment, Ken was not happy either.
Still we sat and we saw an engine and some cargo cars go by. We got up to look around the car and realized that that was OUR engine that passed by. We were just a lone passenger car sitting on the tracks in Uzonkopru Turkey...with the Turkish police in control of our passports. Another 10 minutes go by and then BOOM! There's a very big jolt. Thankfully, it was just our engine reattaching itself. Not even 30 seconds later and the police got back on board and returned our passports, telling us we were good to go.
But no - we were NOT out of the woods yet.
We crossed over this bridge where there were Turkish flags painted on every beam and then all of a sudden they became Greek flags. And, of course we were hanging out and taking pictures of the border...because it was cool!
We stopped in Pythion and of course, we had to do another passport check since we were re-entering the EU. The Greek police got on, asked for our passports (we had just gotten them back!!) and then asked if we had taken pictures on the bridge. When we said yes, he asked to see our cameras and he deleted all of them. Obviously a breach of national security or something.
After another long and drawn our process we got our passports again. And, after many trials and tribulations including but not limited to: Pythion as a ghost town, again the only 7 people for miles, the supposed train station, the schedule posted was handwritten and getting on a bus not sure where it was going to take us but ending up in Alexanderopouli where we finally got a train...we arrived in Thessaloniki.
Here's the train schedule....hehe.
After a sleepless night on an overnight train, we arrived in Athens.
We found a cab and FINALLY made it to Porto Rafti.
We spent the day in town at the Plaka and climbed up to the Acropolis. It was incredible.
This is Libby and I in front of the Parthenon that is unfortunately covered in scaffolding.
We ate gyros and hung out in the city and then headed back to the HUG campus. The next day we slept in and hung out with our friends all day and then went to the Athens mall (I know.) and just visited and goofed off and it was great.
Saturday we took a ferry out to Aegina and rented four wheelers and tooled around the island all day. It was so deserted, but it was amazing. We ate lunch at this restaurant where the owner really catered to our every want and need because we were her only customers and after that we found a huge rock face and slept outside listening to our iPods by the sea for about two hours. So surreal.
The water sure was a pretty color.
We headed back Sunday evening by boat and ended up getting back to HUF around 7 or so Monday night.
And, thus ends second free travel.
It was a huge adventure.
Ciao!
Wednesday, April 2, 2008
Where did all my time go?
I'm really quite curious.
I returned home late Monday evening from...SECOND free travel. How did that even get here?
It seems like just moments ago that I would eat lunch with Tyler or I would go visit Leigh and Libby every night and we'd make plans for HUF...when really, it was SIX months ago. And, with each passing conversation, the four of us became more and more anxious and more and more excited about everything to come. It was during these times that we would entertain thoughts of places we (at that point) could only dream of seeing.
So many of our conversations revolved around the "what if we went here" question. We discussed many places, but one that we always seemed to return to was Istanbul. I can not explain the reasoning behind it - perhaps it's just the fascination of a culture so different from our own; perhaps it's the idea of going somewhere and doing something that has never been done before; maybe, maybe it was a little of both.
Therefore you can imagine my excitement when we finally pushed "send" to buy our plane ticket to Turkey. Of course, everything does not always go just exactyl as planned. And, thankfully the first kink came before we had even departed.
We had assumed that our 3:20 flight was departing from Rome at 3:20 pm --- but alas! The rest of the world (unfortunately) operates on a 24-hour clock. So - you know what that means, 3:20 really means 3:20 in the morning. Nevertheless, it turned out to be such a blessing in disguise.
We arrive in Istanbul around 6:30 last Monday morning. And, we could not have asked for a better trip to the city. We landed in Gokcen Airport which is on the Asian side of Turkey. Once we finally got our visas and they flipped through our passports about 100 times, we finally made it out of the airport. The moment we stepped on to Turkish ground it was obvious that we were in a world so completely unlike our own and even unlike our temporary home on Via Triozzi. After a long awful bus ride that took us from the Asian side of Turkey, over the Bosphorus and into the European side, we got to the metro.
We were so unsure of what to expect when coming to Turkey. Some told us to try to blend in as much as possible (Nick and I particularly...red and blond...) and others told us that it would be perfectly safe. I think we were definitely at least semi-apprehensive and worried about how we would be treated. Nevertheless, all of that was thrown out the window the moment we bought our first Istanbul metro ticket. The ticket worker gave us a look and then threw out his hands in a very welcoming way and said, "WELCOME! to the metro!" with a huge grin on his face. For me, it was then that I knew I must throw out all pre-conceived notions of the people, culture and city and begin to make my own story.
After we finally unpacked in the hostel and brushed our teeth, we headed out ready to explore. Of course lunch was first on our agenda since we hadn't eaten since we left the villa. We left our hostel - took a turn and walked two blocks and we were at the Blue Mosque in Sultanhamet square!
This is the Blue Mosque.
We were in such a fantastic location! We walked across the square to a place that had an indoor place for us to sit. They were serving pita sandwiches...cheap and very good! As we were enjoying our lunch, we all of a sudden heard some singing in Arabic coming from one of the towers outside the Blue Mosque - it was the call to prayer!! Years ago, the Imam used to climb these minarets (the spires in the photograph) at prayer time so the town would know when to pray. (Nour correct me if I'm wrong!) Now, because of technology they are just loud-speakers attached to them - but the Imam still is the one singing. It was really neat and moving.
We finished our lunches and walked on for a ways to the opposite corner of Sultanhamet so that we could go to Topkapi Palace and museum. Topkapi was the home of the sultan - so this place was ginormous for sure. We wandered around for awhile seeing all the main attractions: an EIGHTY-SIX (that's 8-6) carat diamond, Moses' staff (the real one...hehehe), David's sword, Joseph's turban AND Mohammad's beard. It was relic heaven.
We had plenty of time to kill after Topkapi so we went on over to the Blue Mosque. What a large, yet tranquil and beautiful place it was. Before you even entered you removed your shoes on the porch and put them into a bag. You walked down a covered wood walkway and went in through the side doors. It was unlike any place I had ever been. It was carpet inside with this beautiful oriental design. And, instead of being covered in icons inside, the walls and ceilings were instead plastered with intricate geometric designs.
This is just a shot of one of the ceilings/domes.
There was no unused space. Along the borders, before the roof started to dome there were verses of the Koran written. We watched as a little boy - maybe 7 or 8 - prayed with his father. It's so nice to be exposed to other cultures and religions and histories - broadening your world view and opening your mind only helps you understand those around you even better.
We ate dinner at a restaurant in that area after the mosque and then went back to the hostel to kind of wind down for the day -- so we could pack the next day full of adventures.
I have many more stories, all worth telling - many will be told.
But in installments.
Check back often.
Ciao!
I returned home late Monday evening from...SECOND free travel. How did that even get here?
It seems like just moments ago that I would eat lunch with Tyler or I would go visit Leigh and Libby every night and we'd make plans for HUF...when really, it was SIX months ago. And, with each passing conversation, the four of us became more and more anxious and more and more excited about everything to come. It was during these times that we would entertain thoughts of places we (at that point) could only dream of seeing.
So many of our conversations revolved around the "what if we went here" question. We discussed many places, but one that we always seemed to return to was Istanbul. I can not explain the reasoning behind it - perhaps it's just the fascination of a culture so different from our own; perhaps it's the idea of going somewhere and doing something that has never been done before; maybe, maybe it was a little of both.
Therefore you can imagine my excitement when we finally pushed "send" to buy our plane ticket to Turkey. Of course, everything does not always go just exactyl as planned. And, thankfully the first kink came before we had even departed.
We had assumed that our 3:20 flight was departing from Rome at 3:20 pm --- but alas! The rest of the world (unfortunately) operates on a 24-hour clock. So - you know what that means, 3:20 really means 3:20 in the morning. Nevertheless, it turned out to be such a blessing in disguise.
We arrive in Istanbul around 6:30 last Monday morning. And, we could not have asked for a better trip to the city. We landed in Gokcen Airport which is on the Asian side of Turkey. Once we finally got our visas and they flipped through our passports about 100 times, we finally made it out of the airport. The moment we stepped on to Turkish ground it was obvious that we were in a world so completely unlike our own and even unlike our temporary home on Via Triozzi. After a long awful bus ride that took us from the Asian side of Turkey, over the Bosphorus and into the European side, we got to the metro.
We were so unsure of what to expect when coming to Turkey. Some told us to try to blend in as much as possible (Nick and I particularly...red and blond...) and others told us that it would be perfectly safe. I think we were definitely at least semi-apprehensive and worried about how we would be treated. Nevertheless, all of that was thrown out the window the moment we bought our first Istanbul metro ticket. The ticket worker gave us a look and then threw out his hands in a very welcoming way and said, "WELCOME! to the metro!" with a huge grin on his face. For me, it was then that I knew I must throw out all pre-conceived notions of the people, culture and city and begin to make my own story.
After we finally unpacked in the hostel and brushed our teeth, we headed out ready to explore. Of course lunch was first on our agenda since we hadn't eaten since we left the villa. We left our hostel - took a turn and walked two blocks and we were at the Blue Mosque in Sultanhamet square!
This is the Blue Mosque.
We were in such a fantastic location! We walked across the square to a place that had an indoor place for us to sit. They were serving pita sandwiches...cheap and very good! As we were enjoying our lunch, we all of a sudden heard some singing in Arabic coming from one of the towers outside the Blue Mosque - it was the call to prayer!! Years ago, the Imam used to climb these minarets (the spires in the photograph) at prayer time so the town would know when to pray. (Nour correct me if I'm wrong!) Now, because of technology they are just loud-speakers attached to them - but the Imam still is the one singing. It was really neat and moving.
We finished our lunches and walked on for a ways to the opposite corner of Sultanhamet so that we could go to Topkapi Palace and museum. Topkapi was the home of the sultan - so this place was ginormous for sure. We wandered around for awhile seeing all the main attractions: an EIGHTY-SIX (that's 8-6) carat diamond, Moses' staff (the real one...hehehe), David's sword, Joseph's turban AND Mohammad's beard. It was relic heaven.
We had plenty of time to kill after Topkapi so we went on over to the Blue Mosque. What a large, yet tranquil and beautiful place it was. Before you even entered you removed your shoes on the porch and put them into a bag. You walked down a covered wood walkway and went in through the side doors. It was unlike any place I had ever been. It was carpet inside with this beautiful oriental design. And, instead of being covered in icons inside, the walls and ceilings were instead plastered with intricate geometric designs.
This is just a shot of one of the ceilings/domes.
There was no unused space. Along the borders, before the roof started to dome there were verses of the Koran written. We watched as a little boy - maybe 7 or 8 - prayed with his father. It's so nice to be exposed to other cultures and religions and histories - broadening your world view and opening your mind only helps you understand those around you even better.
We ate dinner at a restaurant in that area after the mosque and then went back to the hostel to kind of wind down for the day -- so we could pack the next day full of adventures.
I have many more stories, all worth telling - many will be told.
But in installments.
Check back often.
Ciao!
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