Magical Mykonos

06/29/2012

Mykonos was the first place where we had no formal plans. The area of the island which we were docked was basically the area to explore and the rest of the island (I assume) is more suburban. We spent a lot of time exploring Little Venice which is known for a few things: maze-like tiny streets, a large gay community, and windmills. It was a really neat area for taking photographs and I found myself reaching into my inner artistic soul and wanting to capture and create. So I basically made some art in Mykonos!

Windmills of Mykonos

Although it was fascinating to feel lost within the maze of streets, after a while I began to feel claustrophobic. I don't often feel claustrophobic in that sort of situation, there usually has to be a crowd of some kind to set me off, but this time was different. A part of me was wondering if we had any intention of a place we were trying to see or if we were just wandering aimlessly or if we were actually lost.

Little Venice

Eventually we emerged from the maze and had a nice Greek lunch. More stuffed tomatoes, some souvlaki (at last, and oh how delicious), and moussaka (which I much preferred in Turkey). The food was alright, but the best food we had in Mykonos was this tiny little bakery called "Seven Sins" or something along those lines. We had several pastries from there, including a local specialty called Kremidopita which is an onion stuffed pastry and was mouthwateringly divine, and I also had a dark chocolate cookie/brownie thing that was out of this world. I enjoyed my brownie while walking through the sea, barefoot, squishing my toes in the sand and it was a most enjoyable experience... and one of the rare ones I had alone on the trip.

Stunning Santorini

06/28/2012

Today we arrived in Santorini which is absolutely breathtaking. We were up in time to watch the sun rise and it was supremely gorgeous. We had a lovely breeze alongside the hot hot weather! Santorini is sort of divided into three parts. In the center there is Fira which is the main "city" of the island, where you take donkeys up or down, or in our case the funicular. Then at the south end of the island is the ancient city-site of Akrotiri and there are some beaches, a beautiful red beach. At the north end of the island is Oia (pronounced ee-ah) which is where the picturesque white-washed houses drape over the cliffside.

Red Beach

Because the island is only 13 miles long, we saw most of it by car in our one day there. We rented a car in Fira and picked up a guide along the way to visit Akrotiri. Although what they've found in Akrotiri is incredible, it wasn't too fascinating aesthetically (like in Ephesus for example) and there was so much history to consider that it was really hard for me (personally) to concentrate on what we were looking at and attempting to understand. At this point in the trip I was definitely starting to feel like saving my energy for Pompeii was more worthwhile than visiting this site that needs tons of archaeological and restorative work still. However, I'm glad to say that I did visit there and it was interesting enough. (I wrote that the visuals were underwhelming and the history was overwhelming... not the best balance).

Church with a miniature model of the church. The tiny model was a promise for the church to be built in honor of someone, sometimes a son who is away in the army or something along those lines. Many families have their own "family church".

We drove from Akrotiri up to Oia to have lunch and look around, in the process depositing our guide back in Fira. The views from Oia were breathtaking. We found a restaurant that had seating outside and a view of the sea and it was so beautiful. I was very excited to eat on Santorini because they had some interesting local specialties that I was looking forward to trying. One dish was fava beans prepared "Santorini Style" where they have been boiled and puréed and topped with shallots, capers and olives and maybe a little olive oil. It was a delicious paste for bread or just to lick off the spoon. We also had these meat-free meatball like things called Tomatokeftedes which are basically tomato meatballs. I really loved how they tasted, but mom wasn't too pleased. We also enjoyed some stuffed tomatoes (which I love and want to make all the time), marinated olives, and eggplant stuffed with some kind of cheese. We enjoyed a bottle of white wine with our lunch, one of the local wines. Wine in Santorini is really fantastic, so if you have a chance to drink some wine from Santorini, DO IT!

Oia

We wandered around Oia for a while before eventually ending up in Fira, returning the car and finding our way down. Mom and I waited in a 45 minute line for the Funicular while Dad, Mike and Kit braved the stairs down (which are crowded with donkeys). They had quite the experience and I really wanted to have that experience, but since my mom doesn't have the greatest sense of direction (sorry mom, I love you) I didn't want to desert her and take the stairs (although I suggested it about 15 times).

Rhodes was a Breeze

06/27/2012

Today we arrived in Rhodes which is one of the many Greek islands. Rhodes was really beautiful, and finally we reached a place with bearable weather! Rhodes is a walled city-island, and it reminded me a lot of Visby (Sweden) which is an island in the Baltic we visited four years ago. Apparently in Rhodes there is a tea made from sage leaves that helps cure asthma. We were unable to find any of this tea, but I'm going to keep my search up because my asthma is driving me insane.

So far on this trip we haven't really had any opportunities to dip our feet in the water, so we finally did that today. Mom and I dipped our feet in the sea and it was cold and refreshing and sandy and wonderful. There wasn't too much to see in Rhodes. There is a medieval castle in the center of town which we sort of walked through and around (but didn't go inside), and then lots of little shops all selling the same things. I bought an apron with some hand-embroidered sailboats on it (I didn't see it anywhere else, so I thought it was unique).

We did stumble upon this really cool tree which had an eye painted on either side of it:

But other than that it wasn't really necessary to spend the whole day a-wandering. It was actually nice to just sit by the pool, read, swim a little, etc.

Turkey is Incredible.

06/26/2012

Turkey is so incredibly different from anywhere I have been before. I found every crack in the sidewalk, every corner turned, and every face absolutely fascinating. We arrived kind of early in the morning (to Kusadasi) and so we wandered through the maze-like streets of the Grand Bazaar when nothing was opening and it was quite magical. It was a similar sensation to walking through a dark alley at night, but it was early morning so the stray cats were about but not frightening, and there were some shifty characters, but they were only in need of a coffee not a killing. The reason why I say it is similar is because it's sort of the same kind of fear you have when walking through a place you've never been before, it's kind of thrilling. As most of you know I'm not really a thrill seeker, but take me through any foreign city before 7 am and I'll love you forever.

We had a fantastic guide, Tamer (not pronounced like a lion tamer, but tah-mer), who was very nice, but also very quick. Some of us had trouble keeping up with him. We first went to the archaeological museum to look at all of the sculptures which have been preserved from the ancient site of Ephesus. Some of these sculptures were really beautiful, and I was almost sad to see them separated from the ruins, but at the same time I cannot imagine what the elements would do to them if they lived outside forever.

After visiting the museum we went to the ancient site of Ephesus (which they have found artifacts for dating back to the 14th and 13th centuries BC). Not only was Turkey hot, but it was also incredibly humid. This made for probably the most uncomfortable visit to a ruin site for us all. I felt that the ruins were just as interesting to look at as the ones we saw in Athens the day before. It was interesting to see what they have already uncovered and restored and what they are currently in the process of restoring. There was one part of the ruin site where there must have been millions of tiny fragments of a fresco, and they are trying to put it together. More jigsaw puzzles, right?

The most beautiful building was the Library of Celsus, which used to hold scrolls and other writings. (Not pictured here). It was also the coolest place to stand. They have a huge Odeon in Ephesus where they used to hold rock concerts, but because the fans were disrespectful to the site, they have closed it down from that type of entertainment. They are in the process of restoring it, and then they plan to hold classical concerts there.

Kittens Fighting

After that we went to a restaurant in the countryside that is owned by this family. There are two ways to eat there. You can order off the menu, or you can eat whatever you want at the buffet. We chose the buffet. We ate every Turkish dish imaginable. The food was excellent. The quality was fantastic and the flavors were so beautiful, and for a buffet the presentation was reasonable. I couldn't even begin to describe to you some of the delicious things we ate, but it was quite fantastic. They had a cookbook (thank goodness) and so we bought a copy because.. the food was really that good. I also tried Turkish tea which was EXTREMELY strong and bitter. It was almost like drinking coffee.

One of my goals in Turkey was to visit the Tuesday produce market, and so I asked Tamer if he would take us there. All of the fruits and vegetables and spices were beautiful, and the way you taste things in Turkey is nothing like the way you taste things in the United States. When we were interested in apricots, they gave us whole apricots to try, not just a sliver. We bought some fresh and some dried apricots. I wanted to buy spices, but I forgot to make a list before I left of what I might need. They let you try spices as well. It was such a beautiful experience. I love markets, especially food markets, because you see the most interesting people there, and also you see people who are just living their daily lives there, and that's a really wonderful thing to see.

Afterwards we went back to the Grand Bazaar to find a whole different scene from the one we saw earlier in the morning. Everyone was out and about, and boy are they pushy about sales there. They'll say anything to you to get you to walk into their store and buy something. I bought two bowls (for my roommates) and I did the best bargaining job I could, but I'm not very good at it. I convinced my parents to buy pillowcases (Which are really kind of cool so I'm glad they went for it).

All in all I think I'd really love to explore more of Turkey, and of Asia in general. I feel so lucky to have seen as much of the world as I have in the "few" years I've been alive, but I'm aching to see more. I wish we had included Istanbul in our itinerary because I feel as though that would have been a magnificent experience as well.

As many of you know I don't really ever drink enough to get drunk, but on this night I was probably about as drunk as I've ever been (maybe not including that one time in London, or those two times in Oakland) but about the same. Thankfully, my dad was having it too. We had lots of laughs together being drunk, but for me it was strange because (being on a ship) I couldn't tell if I was super drunk and everything was moving, or if the ship was just naturally rocking back and forth.

But maybe I should get drunk a little more often, because I turned $10 into $54 at the casino!

Athens: Ruins, Fancy Lunches, and New Shoes

06/25/2012

I don't know if I would need to spend a whole week in Athens to really feel like I've experienced it, but one day was simply not enough time. This was our first stop in Greece and we were all very excited seeing as dad is the only one of us who has ever been to Greece. Athens is kind of amazing. The city is a mix of old and new architecture, and there seems to be an endless amount of things to do and see. Apparently the political and economic climates are unstable, but it wasn't too noticeable on our end. We met our lovely guide Mariza first thing in the morning and the first thing I noticed about her was her awesome shoes. I'd never seen anything like them before and I just felt like I had to have them as well. I rarely experience this feeling when looking at someone else's clothing items, but I knew we were only going to be in Athens for a day, and I assumed (correctly) that they were from Athens so I asked her where I could get them, and she showed me later.

Our first stop was the Acropolis. You know it. It wasn't terribly crowded, but it was early on in the day. I have to admit that I wasn't really swept off my feet by the Parthenon. Maybe if I'd never studied it in college or had never seen a picture of it before I would have felt differently. I guess the amazing thing to me is that even though it has been struck with bombs and gone through fires it's still mostly standing and together. It was beautiful, to be up there and to be next to something so terribly old and grand. It's interesting that they don't have any "plans" for how the Parthenon was constructed, so even though they are trying to reconstruct it to the best of their abilities, they don't know where to begin. It may be the world's most complicated jigsaw puzzle (if not the Jackson Pollock jigsaw puzzle we have at home). It's at least the largest.

Parthenon in Progress

Temple of Athena Nike

It was pretty hot, as it was everywhere, but that made things slightly more uncomfortable as it always does. We walked down from the Acropolis to the Ancient Agora and wandered through the "marketplace." Mariza knew a ton of information and so it was really cool to walk through with her and be told where the philosophers spoke and where the wheat was sold or what have you.

After walking through the ancient marketplace, we went to the modern one. The shopping neighborhood (for tourists) is the Plaka, and it's right next to the Agora. The most beautiful shop we went into had everything made out of olive wood, which is one of my favorite types of wood. We bought a salt spoon and I think Mike and Kit bought some things there too. They had whole chess sets made out of olive wood, but it was mostly kitchen wares.

For lunch we were hosted at the Hotel Great Bretagne. Some work associates of my father's work there and we were also joined by the tour company that arranged our tour. The restaurant had the perfect view of the Parthenon and so that was a lovely backdrop to our exquisite luncheon. We had a beautiful white wine from Santorini (I wrote exceptional in my notes) and most people ordered the fish special so that was a nice pairing.

After lunch, Mariza and I ran over to the shoe store so I could buy the shoes. I think they're really cool, but not everyone seems to agree. What do you think?

We then went to the National Archaeological Museum which had thousands of artifacts, sculptures and other tidbits here and there. It was pretty cool to see everything that they have found and preserved from the ancient sites.

It was a relatively exhausting day, so I had room service for dinner and turned in early!