Turkey and Greece 2006

Looking across the ancient Agora (marketplace) up to the Acropolis















The Parthenon atop the Acropolis up close (yes, I have the standard shots too, but these funky ones are kind of fun)
















A little guy who was just wandering across the Agora by the Great Drain. Gee, I wonder where the Greeks got their idea for their armor which flares out in sections at the limb joints?

Ancient Thira high on a bluff overlooking the sea.... the Pompeii of Greece
















artsy little Ia town and its port down below





















Sunset















Fira town at twilight














Our teeny little smart car

I have so many amazing photos of Santorini. In addition to the beaches and the sunsets from the end of the island overlooking the sea, we climbed up to and explored the ancient ruins of Thira high up on a cliff, buried in lava since 1600BC. If I get a better connection later on I will try to post.















Athens is nice, very cool to climb up on the Acropolis and see the Pathenon et al., but as much as we could have used a few more days on Mykonos Island, in Turkish Cappadoccia, and in so many cool places, I am none the less glad to be headed home.

Yesterday we spent the day on Mykonos.















The above is little Venice; the restaurant and shopping district. Vachy, the capitol of Mykonos is a quaint little pedestrian town with teeny little walkways lined with shops which all look alike. Easy to get lost! Also famed for the windmills which in old days were used to grind corn.



















Late in the day we took the high speed ferry to Santorini Island, which of course is the dramatic remains of a violent volcanic caldera. We are staying in Fira, but had dinner last night with the sunset in the charming and stunning town of Oia.














Note how the city hugs the steep volcanic cliffs.

We rented a 'SmartCar' (how cute!) and are spending the day today exploring ruin sites (ala Pompei), and beaches too. Here is the black sand beach where J is while I write this.















We spend all day today and tomorrow here on Santorini, then head to Athens for our final days. Pardon that my commentary is brief; as the vacation winds down we are slowing down, too. Love to all.

Vachy (Samos Town), Samos Greece















We met a sweet old man who was as delighted to tell us about his childhood growing up in the house above as we were delighted to hear his stories.

Yesterday we went to Hieropolis, and largely unecavated site inland. It was/is a sacred site because of the geothermal activity which has been pushing up lots of white calcium to the surface for thousands of years. We also went by the St John basilica in Selcuk, purportedly where John the baptist lectured and maybe even was buried. It is just some ruined walls fortified by the Ottomans many years later.

Early this morning we arrived in Greece on the island of Samos. Ah! lovely. More later this evening.

Today we went to three different ancient ruins. Two cities, and one temple site.

The first city we visited was Priene, a lovely, genteel but small town, I imagine to be somewhat like Saratoga CA. (allow me my diversions). It has a cool temple to Athena, as well as a hospital, theatre, agora, and all the usual things which make up a city. Small but beautiful. Amazingly, all of the columns of the temple to Athena still stood until 1958 when a major earthquake hit the area. Now there are five which are re-assembled by archeologists.

next we visited Didyma, a temple dedicated to Apollo. The site was massive, under construction for some 200 years, and never finished.





















Finally, at Miletus (which is connected to Didyma by a sacred road) we saw the planned layout of the largest city in ancient Asia Minor - a complete town, theatre, square, and Roman baths which are still quite intact (below).





















The town of Selcuk we are staying in right now is very small but a hub for acient sites. It had its own aqueduct which supplied the town of Ephesus (see yesterday's post). Below you can see how modern life fits in between the towers of the aqueduct here, just as it does in Istanbul.





















We love Turkey.... the people are friendly and the ancient sites are numerous and completely open. In most other areas of the world one needs to look at antiquity from afar. Here you can touch, smell, feel the centuries. Tomorrow will be our last full day in Turkey. We go to Pamukkale and Hieropolis.

Oh - and check out photo friday!

Sorry no post yesterday. The internet here at our new hotel went down. We flew early yesterday morning from Istanbul (European Continent) to Izmir. Most of Turkey out side of Istanbul is actually on the Asian Continent, so we are now technically in Asia. :-)















All day yesterday we spent at Ephesus, the most intact classical Greek city. The marble paved town streets are still extant, as are many restored building facades, gates and fountains which gave us a much better appreciation for what ancient life might have been like.

We also saw one of the 7 Wonders of the Ancient World - the Artemis Temple. Built approx 400BC the temple was the largest ever built. Little remains. Two other 7 Wonders sites wer closeby, including Hallicarnasis, but the remains of both have been removed to other European city Museums.














(there we are in front of the Greek Theatre in Ephesus)

Finally went by the house where Mary purportedly spent her days after the crucifixion. It is now a pilgrimmage of sorts. As you can guess, it was a very long day, and it didn't take me long to crash as soon as we had a local Efes Beer back at the hotel. I couldn't even wait for dinner. Poor J had to eat alone. It was OK, because we have made many friends here.

Today we spent some tıme at the Topkapı Palace, the largest and last of the great Ottoman Palaces ın Istanbul. We toured the Sultan's harem, the chambers of the royal famıly ıncludıng the sultan's and crown prınce's bedchambers, and the treasury whıch ıncluded many gorgeous gems, jewelry and fınely crafted works of gold and art. We also took our mornıng run along the ancıent cıtadel walls surroundıng the cıty and alongsıde the Sea of Marmara to the Bosphorus.

The pıcture above ıs the northern part of the cıty, above the Golden Horn waterway ınlet from the Bosphorus. The tower was buılt by the Venetıans durıng one of the early Crusades.

The photo below ıs the remaıns of the Roman Aqueduct buılt by Constantıne when he moved the capıtol of the Roman Empıre from Rome to Constantınople. It ıs now merely a hındrance to traffıc, wıth most people not even notıcıng ıts enormous ımpact to hıstory.














A few other notes: the Grand Baazar ıs fun but defınıtely not the best prıces ın town. Carpet sellers here are lıke used car salesmen ın the States. And, much to our delıght and surprıse, STARBUCKS has not yet found Turkey! Not only ıs there NOT one on every other corner, but ındeed we have not seen one the entıre trıp! Turkısh Coffee ıs wonderful, as are tradıtıonal sış kebaps.

We have fınally made our plans for the rest of thıs week... We decıded to skıp ancıent Troy and head to Selçuk and Epheses on the Aegean Sea tomorrow. From there we wıll spend a few days more ın Turkey before headıng to Samos, Mykonos and Santorını Islands ın Greece.

We started our day wıth a stroll around town before breakfast to get orıented.
Thıs ıs just one of the many charmıng streets near our hotel.





















We lıterally stumbled across thıs underground excavatıon of Emporer Constantıne's fırst palace. It was just a staırway leadıng down behınd a carpet store, and when we got down and started explorıng, ıt was fun checkıng out the dıfferent passageways. It was buılt ın the style of the Roman Colıseum.

















The Blue Mosque.

















The Dome ınsıde the Blue Mosque. All ceramıc tıles from Izmır regıon















One of the stunnıng frescos ınsıde the Hagıa Sofıa created durıng Byzantıne (Roman) era; c. 500 AD

Comıng ın over Zurıch
















Vıews from our hotel room wındow and terrace

We leave tomorrow. I cannot believe I am ready, packed and the house is clean.
I am actually able to get a run in down by the creek, because I have no last minute 'running around' to do.

Decided against the laptop, BUT we are taking the Treo, a second worldphone, and a NEW handheld PC/GPS device for 'net access with all the bells. Boy I love new electronic toys!

Yup. I bought the camera. Its a Lumix DMC-FZ7 12x optical with a Leica lens.
I shot this Dahlia from way across J's patio.

Ok, this post is really a test to verify that I can indeed send picture blogs from my mobile phone.\ andy got a clean bill of health from the vet on Wednesday.

Woohoo! check out this sexy post from my phone!

Today it is officially less than a week before we leave. We have both been so busy with work, and this weekend with parties, that we are not even started thinking about packing. I still don't even know what suitcase to take. I must have two dozen bags, but a large percentage of those are for two or three day trips. And with J's shoulder, we definitely need to take bags with wheels. No hotels yet. We aren't worried about it, we like to play it all by ear. But M has threatened bodily injury to us both if we don't send our hotels and itinerary prior to the departure. Things may change along the way i've assured her. Still debating over a laptop. I think the best option is just to use the local internet cafes and take our chances of finding places to post our pictures. And of course I can post using my Treo. Between the GSM services, worldphone considerations, lack of CDMA hotspots, and the fact that my GSM card for my laptop is only dual band, not quadband, the benefit just does not meet the hassles and risks we take by having it. Although, to argue for the other side, the hotels all have unlimited WiFi access.

I got a text message on my phone from Sprint just Friday saying my Treo was now activated for international services. This just days after speaking with a representative who assured me that my phone was not international capable. I want to post a test blog from my phone this week prior to departure just to get the hang of it. I am also thinking about getting a new camera for the trip. Just another toy to carry... but I really want a better telephoto lens. But, again, torn between traveling light and awesome pictures.

Maybe I'll get around to all of that later today......