Accommodations: Meghan
Natural: Brent
Monument: David
Cultural: John
Sport: Jeanna
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Day 8 in Dubrovnik, Day 1 in Istanbul:
This morning we decided to take it easy and relax a little bit before leaving Dubrovnik. We have a long drive ahead of us to get to Istanbul and it will take about 20 hours driving. I figure if we leave around lunchtime today, we can stop somewhere for dinner, drive through the night and get to our hotel in Istanbul around lunch tomorrow.
Having to do the majority of the driving, I slept late this morning while a few of the others went on a shopping spree to buy Croatian memorabilia and other trinkets. I asked Jeanna to grab a few bottles of homemade grappa from the market for me because you can never have enough. John spent the morning perusing the internet in the hotel lobby to find somewhere to sell the Range Rover once we get to Istanbul. Amazingly, they have a Craigslist for Turkey but being that there were only 3 other vehicles listed, I doubt that will be a viable resource. We need to dump the car before heading off to Yemen and I really hope we can get a private buyer as opposed to have to deal with a dealership.
http://istanbul.craigslist.com.tr/
http://istanbul.craigslist.com.tr/
We all got together and had a light lunch at the hotel bar before leaving town. It is so nice and peaceful here overlooking the Adriatic that none of us are really ready to go, but alas, the road is calling. We stopped on the outskirts of Dubrovnik to fill up on gas and to say goodbye to the city walls. From here, we will be following the coast for a few hours before heading inland towards the mountains and Macedonia.
The drive along the coast was simply amazing. The landscape is so dramatic here with steep rocky terrain and cliffs dropping right off into the sea. It reminds me a lot of the coast of Maine or the Pacific Northwest. We said our final goodbyes to the Adriatic Sea in Ulcinj as we headed for the border crossing into Albania. We had no issues getting through the border here and the guards were actually very nice. They asked us about where we were heading, where we had been, and then told us to have a good time. It was like entering Canada, like they didn’t really care but just doing their jobs.
Albania is a small country and after a few short hours of driving through small villages, scenic valleys, and mountain passes we came to the “border control shack” leading into Macedonia. This was seriously a joke; John started hyperventilating he was laughing so hard. Thank god the guards did not realize we were laughing at them or they may have been stricter with us. These guys actually checked some of our bags and scrutinized our passports a little harder than usual. Still, they gave us no trouble and we were on our way in no time.
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| The "Border Shack" |
Macedonia is beautiful and we were able to catch a great sunset over Debar Lake. It is this huge reservoir nestled into this mountain valley high up in the mountains. After stopping for to snap some pictures, we headed on to Skopje, the Macedonian capital, for dinner. We got into Skopje at about 9pm and stopped at Lira, a traditional restaurant not too far from the beaten path in downtown Skopje. We had a good dinner of stew, braised lamb, and baklava, finished with lots of wine of course. They had a live band there that played what they called “Old Time” music. It was a lot of accordion and violin playing and sounded like what you would imagine a gypsy caravan to be listening too.
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| The sunset over Debar Lake in Macedonia |
After dinner we stopped to get some gas and then headed further into the mountains on our way to Bulgaria. Bulgaria being the birth of vampire lore and us being there at night, in the mountains, alone…oh man was I just ready to start messing with the other guys.
We stopped at the border crossing and this time, we had some issues. I guess they aren’t used to cars full of American kids coming through the Balkans at 1am. We had all of our bags searched, they brought out a few dogs and sniffed around and they even checked under the Rover for bombs and contraband. Meghan got an attitude with them when they made her wake up and get out of the car which did not help the situation any. They even checked through the spare tire area and every little cubby they could find. Of course, finding nothing, they stamped our passports, gave us our visas, and let us go.
Somewhere outside of Sapareva Banya, Brent and I decided it was time to freak everyone out. I slammed on the brakes, we both yelled, and came to a stop in the middle of the road. Everyone woke up and we started yelling about having hit something huge and it running out into the brush. John started screaming saying we needed to leave now and we better not have messed up the car because he already posted that it was in excellent condition. Brent said he was going to check it out to see if there was any damage and I asked David to see if he could find anything in the ditch. He of course declined, so I went. While standing behind the car Brent and I could still hear the others, obviously frightened, and we watched as they tried to get better views of the surroundings. We were discussing our next move when we actually saw something move in the shadows about 100 yards down the road. We figured it was just our imagination and continued to plot against our friends, but then we saw it again. It may have just been a drunk, a rather large drunk, wandering along the country roads in the middle of the night but we were not going to take our chances. We hopped in the car, pretended nothing was wrong and sped off. As we passed the place where we thought we had seen someone, there was nothing but a black cloak stuck in a bush flapping in the breeze.
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| No, a real vampire, not a depressed kid in a coat |
We drove on through the night until we reached Svilengrad near the Turkish border. We stopped for a quick breakfast at some random hotel that had butchered English on the sign out front. They advertised “Cheep Beakfeast Leeds.” So we hoped we were getting a cheap breakfast as opposed to a lead on where the local poultry festival was taking place. I guess you can say we got lucky. After coffee, bread and a few eggs, we piled back in the car and headed for the border. The border complex here was no joke. They have a huge developed complex of buildings for security and passport processing. This was very different from the smaller stands and booths we had seen thus far. We made it through with no trouble as this was the first place to actually scan our passports into the system. Seeing that we are obviously not trouble makers or ones that don’t get caught, they gave us our stamps and we moved on.
I went to sleep after a long night of driving and John took the wheel. John didn’t stop again until we started to get into Istanbul at about 12pm I guess everyone was tired of being in the car and were ready to just get there. I am just ready for a hot shower and a good meal to try and forget about the coat flapping in the wind.
Oh, and of course, for your listening pleasure…THEY MIGHT BE GIANTS!
BA
Accommodations for Day 1-7 in Turkey:
For our accommodations for Istanbul, Turkey I decided to book the rooms while vacationing in Iceland. To give us the appropriate time I went ahead and did these weeks in advance (reservation made Sept. 13th at 8:04pm). https://www.istanbulhotels.com/main/reservation/reservation3.aspx?h=65 We will be staying at the Valide Sultan Konagi also known as Mansion of Queen Mother. For 6 nights, 6 adults, and 2 rooms the cost will total up to be: 1.764,00 EUR equaling about $2,302.57. The Valide Sultan Konagi is a 4 star hotel located within Istanbul giving us access to multiple visitor attractions. The reservation comes complete with a breakfast buffet as well as plenty amenities within the room itself.
Address: Cankurtaran Mah. Ishakpasa Cad. Kutlugün Sok. No: 1 Sultanahmet - Istanbul
TURKEY
TURKEY
Pulling up to the hotel was absolutely stunning, the architect was beautiful and awestruck. Once we arrived, we proceeded to check in. The detail in the lobby was so incredible to witness; we ended up turning in circles to capture the beauty of the hotel. The desk clerk could speak some broken English; however, the hotel owners happen to be on-site. Owners, Zuhal Kabak and Meral Caktu, explained the history of the hotel as well as explaining the hotel is family owned and operated. John was curious as to how the hotel was named and what it meant. The owning sisters explained a Sultan Valide was a title held by the mother of a ruling Sultan in the Ottoman Empire. A Sultan can be resembled to the aristocracy of Great Britain or the bureaucracy of the United States of America. The Sultan had much power in Turkey and authority. The hotel owners were very helpful and insightful, they gave us our keys and we proceeded to our rooms.
Our rooms were triple bed rooms, having three twin beds in each and a bathroom with hot and cold water. Some of the facilities at the Sultan Vilade are: Lobby & Lounge, Cable TV, Rooftop Terrace, Café and Restaurant, Elevator, Room Service, Air-Conditioning, Cleaning service, and Internet access. So we all picked rooms, settled in for a bit, refreshed, and prepared for our first outings in Istanbul.
-Meghan Dees
Day 1 afternoon in Istanbul:
After our long car ide, we wanted to get out and get some fresh air before settling in at the hotel. With a long list of sctivities for us to do, we wanted to first get a taste of the Turkish culture. We had originally planned to go on a museum tour of three museums called the Istanbul Archaeology Museums to learn about the culture of Istanbul.
But, after listening to the group complain about museums being boring, I decided that we needed a little excitement. So I got the group together and we left for what they thought was the museum. Instead, I took the group to a local cock fight to get a taste of real culture. I heard about the cock fight at our hotel from one of the staff who said he would be there. The farm was only a 15 minute ride out to a small farm and there were probably over a hundred people there for the fights.
As we arrived to the area where the fights were going to be, people began placing bets. I immediately heard the group start to question our whereabouts and I reminded them that they wanted excitement and that we needed to look past our cultural norms and experience something new. Brendan pulled out some money and said we had to place wagers, so we placed bets on all of the 14 matches that were scheduled. With all of our wagers set, we settled in for the fights. The pure insanity that happened during the fights was more than we had imagined. Most of the group could not watch the fights because of the gruesomeness of the injuries.
Meghan was in the front the entire time screaming and cheering for whichever opponent our money was riding on. Halfway through the match we had already won 5 matches and we had started to make money on the wins. So Meghan placed our winnings on the rest of the fights and we were now gambling with about $175. We watched as the animals tore each other apart while the crowd screamed and went wild. By the end of all of the matches, we had won 11 of our 14 bets placed. We ended up winning about $350 and we decided it was time to take our winnings and leave. It was know abot 6 PM and we had been at the matches for over three hours. Even though we had not eaten in hours, no one seemd to be hungry after what we had just witnessed. We hopped back into the car and headed back to the hotel for a drink to erase from our minds what we had just participated in.
Activity by John Olive
Day 2 in Istanbul
On our first full day in Istanbul we decided to visit the Blue Mosque, one of the most popular attractions in Istanbul, and a must-see for tourists. After sleeping in we got a little bit of a late start to the day. Since the mosque is less than a mile from the hotel we decided to walk so we could see a little bit of the city.
On the way we decided to stop and get a late lunch. We stopped at Karadeniz Aile Pide Kebap Salonu, a traditional Turkish restaurant. We got to eat at an outside table on a cobblestone side road. We ordered lintel soup and pide, which is sort of a traditional Turkish pizza. It was only 6 euros a person and we continued to the mosque on a full stomach.
When we got there we immediately regretted going on a Friday afternoon. This is by far the busiest day of the week and it was crowded with people. However, the mosque was a beautiful architectural feat, consisting of several domes and six minarets. It is one of only two mosques in the world with six, second only to the mosque in Mecca, which has seven. We walked up to the main entrance and quickly learned that we were not allowed to enter through this north gate. Tourists are required to enter from a secondary door, so they don’t disturb the worshipers.
When we walked in we all had to duck to get under the hanging chains, placed there so everyone has to bow when entering, regardless of their religious affiliation. After entering we were all asked to take off our shoes and the girls were required to cover their heads. This made them a little uncomfortable, but we have to adapt to local cultures.
Once inside we were all glad that we waited despite the crowd. The mosque is quite a sight, with over 20,000 blue tiles, hence the name Blue Mosque. It also has 260 stain glass windows. These windows are only replicas of the original workmanship, but they are still quite a sight to behold.
After walking around for a while we were asked to leave because it was prayer time. This was fine with all of us because we thought we had already seen everything that the blue mosque had to offer. After leaving we decided to visit the Yerebatan Sarayi Turkish for “the sunken palace.”
The entrance fee was 8 euros per person, and none of us really knew what to expect while we walked down the stairs. It was actually a little creepy once we came into the main room. It was originally built as a water supply and filtration center, which can hold over 100,000 tons of water at its capacity. Now there are just a few feet of water at the bottom full of carp that are fed by the tourists. There is a series of platforms to walk on to explore, but before they were built tours were only given by boat.
The strange floodlights, ancient carving, and eerie classical music were starting to make all of us feel a little uncomfortable. The carvings were beautiful, but after seeing the famous Medusa columns we were all ready for some fresh air. We climbed back up to the surface and by this time it was already almost nine at night. We saw a crowd growing by the blue mosque, so we decided to go see what was going on.
At 9:00 they started an amazing light show, which was a surprise to all of us. The show is accompanied by a short history of the mosque. Luckily, it was in English tonight and it was pretty interesting. After it was over we were all ready to get some food and have some fun after a pretty quiet day.
Activity by David
After leaving the Yerebatan Sarayi Turkish monument, we walked a few blocks down and found a fish restaurant called Sultanahmet. They served every type of fish in any kind of dish whether it was appetizers, soups, salads, or main courses. The atmosphere was awesome walking in and being seated, it was a neat restaurant. No alcohol was served, so we all ordered up some food, I personally wanted to try the Turkish Herbal Tea and we enjoyed a good and fishy meal!
-Meal by Meghan Dees
Day 3 in Turkey:
Today the group woke up around 9:00 am and everyone was ready to find out what the plans were for the day, luckily John was reading the "Hurriyet Daily News," Istanbul's newspaper that the hotel provided for us and he noticed that there was a cheap 2 hour private yacht trip for 2-12 people on the Bosphorus River. Everyone agreed that this could be really fun so we were on a way in a second. We took the bus down to the river around 11:00 and found out that another group had already paid for a trip an hour prior so to kill time we went to the nearest convenient store and bought 30 Euros worth of snacks. We ate them while pacing along the river waiting for the chance to get on our private yacht. Meghan and David were furious and at times almost encouraged us engough to leave but Brendan calmed them down and said he thought it would be well worth the wait, John and Jeanna agreed so we all stayed. I had just eaten too many snacks for my body's liking so I was sleeping on a nearby bench, the group woke me up when it was time to get on the yacht.
The yacht ride was a total blast, it was 369 Euros for the 2 hour trip with food included. The sights were amazing as the yacht took us down along the city of Istanbul and then to the beautiful outskirts and back, On the way back into the city we saw two massive boats! They were almost titanic size! That was a cool sight to say the least.
We thanked the yacht owner and exited the boat around 3:00 pm or so. We then took the bus back to the hotel and all of us took a long nap until around 6:00 pm were we ate dinner at the hotel. After dinner the group agreed to take it easy and stay in for the rest of the night to rest up for whatever lied ahead the next day.
Post by Brent Schwartz
Day 4 in Istanbul, Turkey
When we first woke up we all went down to enjoy the breakfast provided by the hotel and discuss what we were going to do today. I had been hearing a lot about one of Turkey's unique national sports, called Yağlı Güreş, or oil wrestling. Essentially, during these wrestling matches the competitors grease their bodies down with olive oil and put on some handstitched leather shorts. Initially me and Meghan were excited about watching Turkish men wrestling around in tight leather shorts, but as we were trying to get the boys eager to go watch a match, a news clip came on and we decided it was just not for us. It was a little bit too "grabby" if you know what I mean. So, we thought about what else we wanted to do in such a beautiful location. Always being a fan of water and beaches, I suggested we go out and find a place to enjoy the beautiful seas surrounding us. So we all decided to head to Solar Beach, an easy hour car ride away sitting on the black sea. Since it was a bit colder than most people prefer when at the beach, we had plenty of room to walk around. We walked past a stand which rented go-karts and of course we had to try them! John and David decided they wanted to set up a type of race track to see who could go fastest. Luckily there weren't many obstacles for them to avoid. After the brief go-kart session, we noticed a place where we could go wind-sailing and wake-boarding. The guy at the rental counter looked at us like we were crazy, but common with turkish hospitality, he allowed us to go out for free, as long as we didn't break anything. Brendan tried to show off his "skills" at wake boarding and threw the board a bit too far, ended up having to run to catch it before it disapeared into the black sea. John tried to figure out how to actually start wind-sailing and Meghan decided to pitch in and help him out. I, not being a fan of cold water, decided to idly walk around on the beach until everyone got tired and cold. In an effort to warm up, we started playing a game of beach vollyball, but all that did was get sand stuck to us. Besides, the boys were no match for me and Meghan!
JEL
After our beach-going extravaganza it was time to find some food. I had researched some must go to restaurants or pubs in Turkey to make sure we were able to wine and dine on the finest cuisine. The word around the town was the restaurant called Refik was a hot spot for locals and tourists looking for good meals and great Raki, otherwise known as local beer. Here it has the nickname of “meyhane” which means “local drinking house.” All of us felt like this was definitely the place to be!
We booked a reservation a day in advance! The pub is very small and is packed usually all the time. We were lucky to get inside the building. Once seated, it was a little different than most places. There was no menu, the system of waiting on guests was very fast and they hurried you in a selection. They would bring out plates of Mezzes and you select from there. The lamb and grilled fish were the local favorites so we decided to get those along with dessert and Raki! The price was excellent, your average bill is between 50-70 YTL. After dinner, we walked the streets, window shopping, being hustled by street vendors trying to sell their collection of items. Jeanna and I bought a few items to please the owners, the guys paced outside. Once purchased our items we loaded the car and John drove us back to the hotel where we watched some TV and later we all passed out asleep, what a long day!
Meal by Meghan Dees
Day 5 in Istanbul
I saw a flyer in a coffee shop the other day advertising something called an Ice Museum. I found this rather intriguing and when we got back to the hotel last night, I got online and looked did some research. Come to find out, Europe’s largest mall is located in Istanbul about 20 minutes from our hotel and it not only has this so called “Magic Ice” museum, it also houses Europe’s largest aquarium.
After breakfast, everyone piled in the Rover and we drove up Forum Istanbul. No sane person would drive in this city, which is why John keeps volunteering. He gets some sick enjoyment out of watching the rest of us grow steadily more anxious and he almost plows through throngs of pedestrians or rides bumper to bumper with the other drivers. Thankfully, traffic was rather light today and getting to the mall was fairly easy. It is this huge complex that you can see from miles away, mainly because of the giant IKEA attached to it. IKEA is awesome, and I can always spend hours playing in that store but today, we have an entire mall at our disposal.
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| IKEA a playground for adults with too much free time |
John quickly found a parking space and we headed for the mass of steel and concrete ahead of us. I just hope we can find our car again in this vast sea of windshields when we get out. This mall is freaking huge. I have never been to the Mall of America, but this has to be close in size from what I have heard. They even have a full size Ferris wheel in here! Most of the stores are these weird European designer shops that none of us have ever heard of. After some wandering about, we found a directory and headed for the aquarium but not before John spied the green beacon of a Starbucks sign. We are in Turkey, home to some of the best tobacco and best roasted beans in the world and you want me to have some of “Seattle’s Best?” No thanks.
The aquarium was really neat and we were able to walk through this huge tunnel and view all of underwater wildlife. They even had whale sharks in there. WHALE SHARKS! Do you know how weird it is to be walking along and have something as huge a damn whale shark floating along beside you?
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| Not very comforting |
After the aquarium we hit the food court, which had more than a hundred restaurants and of course, being perfect Americans, the rest of the group ran for the familiar signs of KFC and McDees. I found some place with a bunch of consonants in the name and had some meat on a stick for lunch. Next up, the Magic Ice museum awaits us.
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| I sure hope there is an apology written on that |
This was one of the weirdest things I have ever seen. With our tickets, came an arctic parka that we were told to wear because it was only five degrees Fahrenheit inside. The novelty of random things carved out of ice blocks wore off rather quickly. There was nothing in there to really write home about. It was mainly just poorly carved sculptures of various animals that you would find nowhere near Istanbul. They have a few plaques carved out of the ice, but not being able to read Turkish, and with the horrible translation, we could not really decipher what was going on. We left the museum rather confused and slightly poorer but at least we can check that off our list.
We spent some more time just wandering the mall corridors in awe of the sheer size of the place. We found an incense shop that said they would ship for free; so I went in and purchased a boatload of awesome smelling things and had them sent back home. We never did find the Ferris wheel but no one seemed to care, it was getting close to naptime and so we headed towards the parking lot. Thank god for keyless alarm systems because without setting that off we never would have found the car.
We got back to the hotel and crashed for a few hours. After getting well rested, we headed out again for dinner and a show. Tonight, we walked down the street to the Hocapasa area where there are many restaurants clustered around, you guessed it, a really old and sacred mosque. One of the locals at our hotel had suggested that we try pide, which is kind of a Turkish pizza, and there was a good place down here that served it. The atmosphere was excellent and the food was even better. We ate at a place called Hocapaşa Pide Kebap Lahmacun Pizza that was outside in an open tent. The spices here that they flavor with are beyond incredible and I want to just buy tons of it to ship home.
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| no guys, pizza is supposed to be round |
After dinner we finally got to go see what I have been waiting for all week, the whirling Dervishes. The dervishes are part of the Melevi order of Islam dating back to the 13th century. Having dealt with much persecution throughout the ages, these mystics are now allowed to practice their religious rituals freely. They have a show every Tuesday and Thursday night in the cultural center near our hotel and tickets are rather cheap. Ever since seeing the movie The Fall a few years ago, I have wanted to see these guys in action and the show was not a letdown. The music was great and the dancing was simply mesmerizing. I think some of the guys got bored, but to hell with them.
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| = Awesome |
After the show we went and had a late cup of coffee and a drink in the hotel lobby before heading up for the night. I hope we have something cool planned for tomorrow.
BA
Day 6 in Turkey:
A little over half way through our 8 week vacation was taking a toll on our bodies. As our activity for today we decided to go to a local spa called Suleymaniye Hamam. We figured this would be a great place to relax or bodies and minds, as well as take in the cultural and environmental aspects of the spa. We ate a quick breakfast provided by the hotel, got some coffee, and we headed out of the hotel around 9:00 am.
Walking into the spa, took us right back to the Ottoman time period. People were dressed in typical Turkish clothes and robes. We walked in a little confused while staring at the building. Brendan checked us in and they gave the males a “pestemal” or towel/wrap while the females received a bra and shorts and we all were given “takunya” which are slippers. They directed us to the locker rooms to change and keep our normal clothes. We dressed into the appropriate Turkish spa attire and were then directed to the massage areas. After we amused and joked at each other, while the employees looked at us weirdly, we were broken up into three groups of two.
The spa treatment included a bath washing, peeling/scrubbing, and soap massage. There were three sections to the treatment: cold, lukewarm, and hot. You begin in the warm room where you relax and begin to sweat, after that is over you are moved to the hot room where they served us cold water. We stayed in the hot room for about a half an hour before being moved to the final room where you cool off. During the cool off time the workers serve you hot tea. After that it was time for our soap massage, where you are covered in soap bubbles while an employee implements the massage. The whole process takes about 2 hours. This is actually one Hamam where different genders are allowed to be massaged, some are only offered to one gender. This Hamam also gives the tourist a great experience and look at classic Turkish architecture. The building was incredible with many cool sky lights, not typical one’s you see in America.
The whole experience was…different. Leaving the spa I’m sure some of us felt somewhat violated and confused as to what just happened, but ultimately we just experienced something we couldn’t anywhere else in the world. Never the less, we felt energized and ready to go check out some local shops, bars, and flea markets.
For the second part of the day we found a local spice market they have downtown. The market sells every kind of spice, sweet, and nut needed for Turkish or Egyptian cuisine. The building and streets were filled with people. The chatter and bustle of people surrounded us. We made our way through people while looking at all the different collections of foods and spices. A few vendors let us taste some sweet treats, but David and Brent couldn’t resist making an “ugly” face and walking away. Apparently it wasn’t sweet to them, yet bitter. Without knowing, a small man ran out of his small hole in the wall shop at the market and ushered inside. No one could understand what he was trying to tell us, but he pointed to a small jar that was clearly a male supplement otherwise known as Turkish Viagra. It was a wild and fun experience much like our spa visit. There were some other local shops around but we decided to find a bar or café to eat lunch at.
A few blocks, in walking distance, was a café & bar called Konyali Restaurant. It offered Turkish dishes from soups, salads, chicken, casseroles, and pizza to pastries and alcohol. So we all sat down, ordered up a round of shots, and chowed down to some decent Turkish food. After our late lunch we headed back to the hotel around 4 pm.
-Activity and Meal by Meghan Dees
Today was out last day in Turkey, we were actually going to the airport today to fly out for Yemen. We woke up, showered, got our stuff packed (our bags were getting quite full; we may need to buy some new or extra luggage in Dubai). We ate breakfast at the hotel breakfast bar for the last time, we talked with the owners and desk clerks that we had become so familiar with, thanked them for their hospitality and told them to visit the United States some day. We insisted their hotel was much nicer and more unique, which the hotel was a comfortable and enjoyable stay. We loaded up on coffee and prepared for our flight to Yemen. First, however, it was time to sell the car we had been using since London, where John’s personal friend sold it to us for $5,000.00. We went to small dealerships who buy used cars; they took a look at the 2010 Range Rover with under 10,000 miles on it. We made a deal to sale it for $11,000.00 or $15,346.10 TRY. We caught a cab to the airport, check in with our flight gate and waiting to board the plane. Some of us throughout the hours of waiting listened to music, walked around the airport and some dozed off. This trip was becoming extra long, and honestly, none of us were looking forward to experiencing Yemen. The culture barrier and ways of life were going to be the most extreme in this country not to mention the most violent country we would have had visited. A week without drinking? This was going to be hard!
-Meal by Meghan Dees
