It’s so nice to know that whenever I begin to miss Turkey, I can walk about 20 meters down the street and feel right at home.  I find this photo particularly odd considering there isn’t exactly a large Turkish influence in this country.  But hey, I’ll roll with it.

On my last day in Istanbul, I had to get a root canal and our apartment flooded, I think this country is telling us to get the fuck out…

More than a few times I heard someone around me say “I can’t wait to leave Istanbul for somewhere else – anywhere else”. I figured that eventually I would reach this point as well, but it never happened. I suspect that it was a combination of not being there all that long (1 month total) and having expectations that it was going to be much tougher travelling than it was. I was pleasantly surprised. The only thing that made me long for a change of scenery was the weather, which had started to morph into Canada-like wind and rain and cold. Other than that, I was totally digging Turkey. I loved the food, the sites, and the people. My only real complaint was with some of the Turkish men that I met…my apologies, but some of you need to chill out. Too much intensity and aggressiveness, and not for me. Maybe for some (you know who you are, Jet Set Ladies…)

And of course, everything costs more because you are in EUROPE. I’m not sure why myself and a lot of other people consistently arrive here thinking it’s going to be cheaper than it turns out to be. You can get whatever you want…but you’re going to pay for it.

I put together a quick video with a summary of my fave moments and some funny moments (and potentially embarrassing ones – sorry Rob and Brian)…enjoy!

On my list of “must-do” things while in Turkey was making a visit to a hamam.  The hamam is a public bathhouse and is a tradition in Turkey.  Before they had modern bathrooms in their own homes, Turks would come here to get clean.  And with socially restricted lives, the domain of the hamam was one of the few place where 19th-century Turkish women could let loose.  Hamams are still popular among locals and foreigners.  Jen and I went late one evening not sure of what to expect…

Jen opted for the basic “self-service” option, while I splurged and paid for the chance to have someone else scrub me down.  We entered the changing area and an attendant handed us each a pair of very large, black grandma panties, which immediately set us into giggles.  We then wrapped our almost-naked selves in towels and then entered the steam room.   We laid on the huge marble slab in the centre of the room uncertain of what to do next.  There were a number of small washing rooms off the main room, and after steaming for awhile, Jen tried to enter one of the rooms to wash but a very large naked Turkish woman yelled something indecipherable at her so Jen went elsewhere.  My friend was very confused and a bit frightened, I think.  An old woman with breasts sagging down to her hips came over to scrub me down…thankfully she put her bikini top back on before she started.  She proceeded to scrub me from head to toe with what I suspect was detergent…there was a bit of massage thrown in the there and then she washed my hair for me.  It was a pretty interesting experience and like most things, I just went with it.  After you’re finished steaming and washing, there’s a lounge area where you can hang out and drink tea.  I loved the experience and pure laziness of having someone else scrub me, but it’s not something I would pay for on the regular.  But it’s like Turkish delight…you can’t come all the way to Turkey and not try the Turkish bath.  And there’s no cameras allowed in the hamam, so unfortunately this is the only shot we snuck in the dressing room:

Yesterday was the anniversary of Turkey becoming a republic. Now I’m sure all of you have gathered a sense of this, but Turkish pride is pretty exceptional. For those of you coming to visit here in the future, I dare you, DARE YOU to be able to find any spot in an urban portion of this country where you can travel within in a 100ft radius (about 30 meters, yes I’m American and am pretty horrible at adjusting to being like the rest of the world) and not run into either a portrait of Atatürk or a Turkish flag. If you can manage to do this feat, I’ll be damn impressed.

Anyway, yesterday was a Turkish equivalent of the 4th of July in the U.S., and boy oh boy did we get told!

Take that rest of the world, Turkey just kicked your ass with the most amazing fireworks display I have ever seen. Ever.

October 29th is Republic Day, the day that Turkey officially became a republic and is taken about as seriously as I’ve ever seen a holiday taken.  The entire city is draped in skyscraper sized flags, and the Bosporus lights up with the largest fireworks show I’ve ever seen.  The banks of the straight were lined with people watching, but we got to just head up to the room.  Just an amazing way to end our time here.

It was bound to happen.  I was within days of leaving Turkey and not a single man up to this point had really caught my eye.  No offense to the Turkish gentlemen – they are lovely people but just not my type.  That all changed in Cappadocia.  We arrived for our second day of sightseeing and as we were introduced to our guide for the day, I felt my heartbeat speed up and my palms grow sweaty.  The man that stood before me was tall, lean, with piercing blue eyes and a goatee.  He had that look of indifference that I find totally irresistible.  And the icing on the cake was that he was wearing a castro hat, black jeans, a grey hoody and Converse sneakers.   If he had busted out an acoustic guitar, I would have proposed on the spot.  Let’s call him Nihat, for the sake of reference.  As he led us around the fairy chimneys and frescoes of this ancient world, I had difficulty concentrating on the history lesson he was trying to give us because I couldn’t stop staring at those stunning eyes.  Nihat had just graduated from university and was preparing to do his six months of mandatory military service. Damn it.

Nihat, if you’re reading this, please don’t think me creepy.  Creepy would be attaching your photo to this blog (which I briefly considered before thinking better of it).  Instead, slough off the military service and look me up in Vietnam.  I’d love to look more deeply into those eyes.

Trying to do a whirlwind tour of the major sites in Southern Turkey in just nine days was ambitious to say the least. We tried to maximize our time and money by taking overnight buses and then hitting the sites as soon as we arrived. By the time we reached Olympos, we were pretty wiped. Imagine my pleasure when, after spending each day prior at busy, touristy (though amazing) sites, we slowly winded down a long dirt road, gradually getting further and further away from civilization. The town of Olympos is found in a valley on the Southern coast of Turkey, right on the Mediterranean Sea. It had suffered from some serious flooding just two weeks before, where people were evacuated, some of their famous treehouse hostels were destroyed, and over 50 cars were swept into the Mediterranean. So our timing was fortunate. We spent our days relaxing in Bayrum Guesthouse’s cozy lounge area staring up through the orange and pomegranate trees, floating in the Mediterranean and lying on the beach, and taking turns beating Jen in backgammon. None of us wanted to leave when it came time to do so. I think the three of us are still there in spirit.

Jen learning to swim. Seriously.

Our stretch of rocky, yet practically deserted beach.

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I was wandering near the Grand Bazaar the other day when I heard shouting and commotion.  Naturally, I walked over to investigate.  There were a group of men standing next to a gold shop, yelling at each other and no one all at the same time and throwing their hands up in gestures that I did not understand.  When I asked the man in the video what was going on, he said that gold was going for 33,820 TRL a kilogram, when the market price was 34,000 TRL a kilogram (approx $23,400 US).

This seemed to be creating a kind of buying frenzy, and just like the stock market at home, I had absolutely no clue what was happening.  But it was pretty entertaining to see it go down on the street.