Hello everyone!
I'm in London right now...last stop before heading home! For those of you who thought it would never happen and have written to me expressing this concern, I will thank you by coming and spending a week sleeping on your couch and complaining about how expensive everything is. Seriously, I am very excited to be coming home and will be back in Los Angeles on September 12th. I will definitely send out contact info when I figure it out myself and would love to see most of you.
But back to Turkey...from Cappadocia, I made my way to Olympos...on the Mediterranean Coast, which is famous for the "treehouses" you can stay in. From everything I read, it was a place to chill out and spend a day (or week) relaxing in the serenity of nature. When I arrived on my overnight bus, what I found was somewhat different than I expected.
First of all, I found out that at the time of my check-in, Kadir's (the oldest and most famous of the treehouse places) was housing over 300 people! Secondly, the "treehouses" looked more like the Saddle Ranch in Hollywood (think Old West flophouse) than Swiss Family Robinson. Lastly, as opposed to being a "chill" place, just about every person was under 30, in good shape (like I used to be), and showing it off...it was like hanging out in a nightclub. I spent the nighttalking to a girl from the Ukraine who planned power systems (what?) and a Turkish girl who had just completed her law studies (but unfortunately...not her English studies). Oh well. To top things off,I visited the Chimerae...a natural fire that burns on a hillside that reputedly ancient mariners could navigate by in ancient times. Unfortunately, after a 3 hour hike from Olympos, it looked to me like someone left a very, very small campfire burning...not impressed. Overall, Olympos was actually quite fun, but I got tired of the "scene"(thumping music at 3am and sleeping in a room with ten people) and left in the morning.
From Olympus, I made a few more stops along the coast...Kas, Oludeniz,Dalaman, and the infamous Bodrum. Interestingly enough, costs skyrocketed as I headed to tourist central and the "scene" changed from completely Italian to completely northern English...I've never spoken to so many people that speak English that I cannot understand.
The highlight of Kas was trying to get to the neighboring town of Ucagiz to visit a family that took care of a (most likely at the time) stoned friend of mine a long time ago. What this friend didn't tell me is that there isn't a bus from the highway drop-off...so you can walk the 19km or hitch a ride. After waiting for 30 minutes for the bus, I tried to hitch with all the nice looking cars and/or families...to no avail. Finally, I did catch a ride with a guy wearing a tank-top and inappropriately short pants towing a trailer behind a 15-year old car. Luckily he just drove and I didn't have to use my training to jump out of the car and roll to safety. The family in Ucagiz was really, really great and even offered me a job helping out on a charter boat if I wanted to earn some money and get a great Mediterranean coast cruise at the same time.
Bodrum was very cool as I was reunited with Deanna and we spent three days completely ignoring the budget and eating great dinners and going to nightclubs that had no business charging a 27 dollar cover...but hey...we paid so I guess the joke was on us. Here's a rule for the future: Never get lured by the "free wine and vodka until 1am" offer. It's a good bet you can't stomach what they give you.
From the coast, we made a quick stop in Ephesus...the old Roman capital of Asia Minor...and then on to Istanbul. Istanbul is absolutely wonderful for sites and has a very "alive" feeling. We were very lucky to be hosted by Deanna's b-school friend - who was very concerned that I see everything and that we meet many of his wonderful friends and family members. It happens that his uncle owns a hotel that happens to be located directly between Topkapi Palace (where the Ottoman Empire ruled the world) and Aya Sofia (the world's largest church for 1000 years) and a 30-second walk from the Blue Mosque, with its 6 minarets and incredible tiled interior. Istanbul is a wonderful city to see the mix of East and West, Old and New, Christianity and Islam...and as I wandered the streets on my last day in Istanbul I thought an appropriate "last stop" for my trip and re-entry to the West. My last "sight-see" was a cruise along the Bosphorus that literally finished with a crossing of the river from Asia to Europe. Wonderful symbolism but as I sat and tried to think profound thoughts, all that ran through my mind was "that's two hours of my life I'll never have back." In the end, perhaps I haven't changed at all.
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