Fake Plastic Earth

~Josie

With the understanding that I’m about 6 months behind on this blog, I’m still going to continue updating it with posts from our adventure. After the world tour is completed, I’ll continue this blog with more day to day adventures. I don’t like having things half finished and I want to share our story. There are just too many cool things that happened, it would be a shame to keep it all to ourselves.

Currently, I am in London, England. I had all my ducks in a row to live in Amsterdam. Then I had a serious change of heart over the last two weeks. What’s life without spontaneity? Neil is traveling around England visiting various family members and I’ve planted myself in a nice new flat and in search of a job. I miss my boy.

Back to the story…

After Ephesus, we traveled to Pamukkale. It took me a while just to figure out how to say the name. (Note: Really awkward video below of me not remembering the name) This place was magic. If you are not familiar check out the history here. All of this is naturally occurring and people have been visiting this area for it’s potential healing power and plain curiosity for hundreds of years. Neil and I spent four days in the little village just hanging out.

It was so interesting walking around. There was a combination of white mud-like stuff, spring water pools and mineral hills to climb.

Everything looked like ice, but the water was warm, almost hot, to the touch. The temperature outside was around 30c.

As advised in our travel guide, and with use of common sense, you are NOT supposed to wear your bathing suit while on the mineral deposits. It’s a sacred place. People we’re in bikinis and speedos flaunting around taking sexy pictures. If you ever go there, wait until your are in the pool at the top to drop your draws.

Once we reached the top, there was a park that led into roman ruins.

It was so peaceful. We spent the better part of two hours just slowly walking through this ancient city.

After strategically wasting enough time to avoid most of the tour buses, we made our way to the sacred pool.

The water was perfectly warm (33c) and clear, there was only a hand full of people and thousand year old Roman columns were left as they fell in the pool. I can only describe this experience as pure bliss. The pool is famous for it’s natural healing powers from the calcium salts and minerals. It’s been noted for its curing properties to the ills of asthma, rheumatism as well as other skin conditions. I was just happen to swim around.

Neil was sweet enough to jump out and take a couple photos of me in the pool.

We stayed until they practically kicked us out. I didn’t want to leave. However, once we began our journey back down we had the unexpected pleasure of watching the sun set.

The rest of our time in Pamukkale was spent relaxing at our hotel. We unexpectedly booked the best place EVER, Artemis Yoruk Hotel! It cost 9 euros/each to rent a private room with free breakfast and a POOL!!! How could we resist staying a couple extra days?!

There were two KITTIES that lived at the hotel. I lured them in with food and then never let them go.

If you ever go to Turkey, you MUST go to Pamukkale. You would be missing out if you didn’t. Next stop Butterfly Valley and a cruise through the Mediterranean.

~Josie

Enjoy!

~Josie

And then there was Ephesus. I was ecstatic about this one. Probably the most amount of history that I have taken in at once. We waited until late afternoon to go to avoid the tour buses and the brain melting heat.

Kitty!

The Loo

Kitty!

The Library!

We spent hours walking around. It was almost dark when we left. If you ever visit Turkey, please go to Ephesus.

And, because I can’t go 10 minutes with out talking about food, here is a picture the an EPIC fruit salad as part of the free breakfast at the Boomerang Hostel.

~Josie

After what was most likely the worst bus ride on this trip, we arrived in Selçuk. Not only are overnight buses uncomfortable, claustrophobic, soul stealing modes of transportation, but they drop you off at such an awkward time, making it frustrating when checking into the next humble abode. It was very early morning and our hostel (Boomerang Guesthouse) wouldn’t let us check in until 11:00am. We had to, literally, sleep on the roof and wait for our room. Ok, so the roof was a killer hang out lounge, but still.

We checked in, got a few hours of sleep, then headed ‘downtown’ for some food. Once again, we followed our guide book and decided to eat at Ejder Restaurant. Selçuk is a very small town so it was incredibly easy to find.

Efes On Ice

It was great! All the seating was outside and situated right next to the Byzantine Aqueducts.

Stork’s nest on top of the Aqueducts

We ordered our Turkish favourites; veggie kebabs, lentil soup and ice cold beer. Mehmet Ejder served us himself. He was so friendly it made us feel right at home. After finding out how we ended up at his restaurant he asked for our book and excitedly ran to show his wife the review. We made sure to go back.

Always a kitty friend near by

Our whole reason to visit tiny Selcuk was to see Ephesus. Most people just do day trips on huge tour buses, but that’s not our style. We had all the time in the world so we decided to stay a couple days; it gave us time to take in the local culture. However, I wasn’t quite ready for a whole day of walking and site seeing in 35c heat so we decided to hit up Pamucak Beach instead.

Simply stunning. The sand was powder soft. The water was crystal clear and most importantly, there was (almost) NO ONE ON THE BEACH! Heaven. We camped out under one of the many available palm trees and spent the whole day there.

The next day, we did a mini site seeing tour. Right near our hostel was the Isa Bey Mosque (built by the Seljuk Turks) and the Ottoman castle.

Boo!

Puppy!

Pomegranate Tree!

Fig Tree!

We could see the Temple of Artemis from castle so we decided to walk. It was farther than we thought….

Serious Business

After many wrong turns and sweaty pounds shed, we made it! At first, dozens of huge tour buses blocked our view. Then we realized almost no one was actually going down to see it. Most people just stepped one foot off their air conditioned bus, snapped a photo and left. Unbelievable! I admit it wasn’t that impressive looking, but the history behind it was captivating. It’s one of the Seven Wonders of the World; I had to give it a touch.

So much history in such a small town. Tomorrow Ephesus!

~Josie

One of our last days exploring Istanbul, it rained, but it was so excruciatingly hot every other day, it was a pleasant change.

However, it called for a change of plans. Originally we planned to visit the Topkapi Palace, but it’s mostly outside. So, we opted for the Archaeology Museums. Honestly, it wasn’t on our ‘must see’ list, but we figured why not.

This place was fantastic. I couldn’t believe that we almost didn’t go. We spent half a day there, just wandering around in awe until the point of starvation. There was simply too much stuff to see.

There were three buildings:

1. Archaeological Museum (Main Building)
2. Museum of the Ancient Orient
3. Museum of Islamic Art (Tiled Kiosk)
(We spent the majority of our time in the first two buildings)

These artifacts were old. Not just old, but bloody old. Ancient. Some pieces were from 1200 BCE. I was impressed how preserved everything was. Living in Canada, the closest I’ve been to a piece of ancient history was in Drumheller when I was 10yrs/old. Ok, so dinosaurs are pretty old, too.

We took it all very seriously

The Garden

We made a friend

The rest of the day(s) were spent eating, not sleeping (hostel life), shopping, smoking shisha…

THE cheapest kebab in Istanbul (1.50 Lira/$1)

KILLER POTATO

Last Night

Unfortunately, the last day in Istanbul I was ILL! ILL! ILL! Seriously sick. We already checked out of our room and had hours(!) to kill before taking a 12 hour over night bus to Selcuk. Not fun. Besides me laying in a public park in 35c heat shaking and experiencing cold sweats, I really enjoyed everything about Istanbul. Hands down one of my most favorite cities in the world. I will most definitely go back.

On to our next adventure, Selcuk!

~Josie

The rest of the week was packed with excitement and FOOD. Most days we busied ourselves by wandering popular walking streets, guided by our stomachs or whatever shiny thing caught our attention. Turkey wasn’t the cheapest place we’ve been to, but it was affordable enough for us to indulge in a few luxuries.

One of my favorite things to do in Istanbul was lounge at one of the many cafes. It was mostly because they were perfectly set up for exactly that, lounging. Carpets, low tables and tons of pillows were thrown together in the comfiest of ways.

Turkish people, especially the men, drink gallons of tea. So, we ended up drinking unhealthy amounts of black tea (1 lira/$.70) while laying around playing cards and smoking flavoured shisha (10 lira/$8).

They served all tea in these cute little glasses

One afternoon, after our first and only visit to the baths, Neil and I spent, literally, hours at our favorite place, sampling everything off the menu.

The baths, you ask? Well, there’s a first for everything. I understood the general idea, but going through the motions of having someone else wash your ENTIRE body, is another thing completely. When in Rome….

First off, men and women had separate bathing areas. So right from the start I was on my own. I was guided upstairs to a dressing room and told to take off my clothes, replacing them with a spa like robe. I read previously that most girls keep their underwear on, so I did, erring on the side of caution. After leaving my belongings in a locker, I wrapped the white cotton robe around myself and headed to the “bathing room”.

The Bathing Room was incredible. Simply stunning. This particular bath house (Cemberlitas Hamami) was a touch pricey (95 lira) based on the history and most definitely because of this room. In the middle of the room stood a gigantic grey marble table for the bathers to lay on. The ceilings were vaulted 30feet high with mini stars carved out to let natural light shine through.

(I couldn’t take any of my own photos)

The air was warm, almost hot, with the light scent of soap. I was greeted by an older Turkish lady who motioned for me to take my place on the marble table.

There were only a few other girls in the ancient room, most of whom were in the process of being washed so I had only one girl to take a cue from. She was topless laying face down. I mimicked her position. As I laid half naked and vulnerable the minutes started to pass and I became quite curious. I noticed that the room was almost full compared to when I arrived. Some girls had there bras on and were told to remove them so they wouldn’t be in the way. Some girls pranced around naked and were told to lay down and put their underwear back on. I thought that was pretty funny.

My turn! A middle aged lady wearing only a bra and underwear (like most of the Turkish bathers) flipped me over and started washing. Feet, legs, belly, breasts(!) neck, back, bum, it was all on the program. First soap, then a rinse with warm water. There was no messing around and definitely no modesty from the lady scrubbing me down. A short couple steps to a chrome faucet and she began to wash my hair. It was really quite nice. Almost loving.

Once it was over she directed me to another room with a heated marble pool where I could stay as long as I liked. Because Neil and I are total brats, we opted for the ‘luxury’ package which included a half hour oil massage. It was very nice indeed.

After the whole treatment I met Neil in the lobby. He described pretty much the same experience except that the men didn’t have a pool (Ha Ha!). It was just bliss for the rest of the day. (see above)

If you have the opportunity to have a Turkish bath. Do it! My only regret is that we only did it the once.

~Josie

Day one in Istanbul was unexpectedly busy. I must admit I was feeling under the weather, but everything was so interesting that I wanted more. The sights were incredible, but when you feel like you’re under water the whole time, it’s kind of hard to tell.

Sick Face

After what was most likely a lousy sleep (blasted snorers!) in our umpteenth hostel, we were ready to face a new day. Istanbul was one of those places that, even at its dullest time, remained endlessly entertaining. There was always some sort of buzz around us (this was partially due to Ramadan).

Because we went on a spontaneous site seeing bonanza the first day, it was kind of hard to absorb the true culture. By day two it started to sink in.

Right out of the gate vendors were trying to sell you things; a room for the night, baklava, dinner at their restaurant, handmade rugs…It was really quite cool. Neil and I are pretty patient with these things so we found it entertaining.

Our mission for the day-The Grand Bazaar! It was near by, so we decided to walk. The action seemed to continue down the street. It was a cocktail for the senses; wafts of grilling meat combined with mosque incense filled our nostrils, vendors shouted in attempt to lure customers, traffic streamed from both sides with no sign of slowing, sleepy kitties sat on stairways welcoming all friendly pets AND people, people, people.

I loved all of it! It was an amusement park for adults. This is why people travel!

We stopped to refresh ourselves with $1 freshly squeezed orange juice before we entered the rat race.

“Lady! Lady! Where you from?!” “Buy my lamp/rug/mirror/scarf!” “I have best price!”

Why yes, maybe I will buy something…

This one?

Or, this one?

We got totally lost in the maze that is the Grand Bazaar. Horaay! Unfortunately that left us in the mercy of the food vendors inside.

Note to self: Do not eat INSIDE the Grand Bazaar. It’s literally 3 times the price.

We found ourselves unexpectedly at the Spice Bazaar. Fantastic!

We couldn’t have planned it better, if we tried. Such an overpowering smell; curry, cinnamon, paprika, cumin, pepper….you name it. Along with delicious Turkish Delights available to sample for FREE. How could one resist?

Once we were through the Spice Bazaar, we entered a huge pedestrian square that lead right to the water.

NEW SCARF!

Neil was pretty stoked on getting a grilled fish sandwich straight off a fishing boat.

A few tomato, onions and lettuce tossed in a pita and BADA BING, fish sandwich!

Apparently, it was amazing, but holy cow did it ever give Neil bad breath. No kisses for a week!

Not a big fish eater myself, I opted for a doner.

Hot Damn! That thing was intense; French fries, pickles, lamb, random sauce…I think I even licked my fingers.

After a day like that there’s nothing to do but lie down and rub my belly.

~Josie

After the beautiful, yet highly stressful train into Turkey, we arrived in Istanbul. We did the usual find the hostel song and dance then headed straight to find something to eat. I’ve been ridiculously excited to eat a real Turkish Kebab for weeks. Our hostel happened to be right in the heart of the backpackers area (Sultanahmet). Perfect if you’re lazy and want to overspend. However, we had enough energy to get just far enough to have a cheap and seriously tasty lunch. Our meal started off with a giant warm fresh piece of bread topped with sesame seeds. YUM! (The bread in Romania was never very good) This was a nice change. We decided to share a chicken kebab plate. My mouth is watering just thinking about it. Fresh veggies, creamy Tahini dipping sauce and spit roasted chicken. I must have been starving because I didn’t stop to take a picture, but I remember it vividly. The friendly waitress at the restaurant informed us that we arrived right in the middle of Ramadan. Because it’s a month focused so heavily on fasting, we were worried that it would mean that most restaurants were going to be closed, but fortunately it turned out to be quite the opposite. We had the best table where ever we went and people were more than happy that we were eating at their restaurants. It was fantastic!

After filling our bellies, we walked to see some of Istanbul’s major landmarks.

The Hippodrome of Constantinople; including, the Column of Constantine Porphyrogenitus

With such a busy first day we hit the sack early excited for a whole day at the Grand Bazaar.

As always check out our flickr for tons of photos.

~Josie