Keeps Getting Better and Better

I woke up at 8 (ın my room all alone) and showered (with my new soap and shampoo, I like the way they smell) and ate the same type of breakfast I had in Istanbul. I dıd not eat the same things. I loved the bread. I walked down to the harbor to catch the bus for the tour I went on. The two girls were Lauren and Fiona. They were Aussies (who isn't an Aussie in Turkey right now other than me?). They are both from Sydney originally but Fiona moved to London 1.5 yeas ago and Lauren just joined her about a week ago. Fiona has been to just about every European country since moving to London. I am jealous. They're both nice but got tired of the tour about half way through and were not in good moods after that. We got on the bus and picked up more people from hotels in Kuşadasi and then went to Selçuk (a town inland and only 1 mile from Ephesus). There were about 20 people in all. One couple from Ukraine who were old and only the guy spoke Enlgish. A couple from Toronto (the guy was originally from France and the woman from Winnipeg). Another couple where the woman was from Bolivia but lived in Haiti for a while and had visited the Mayo clinic for some tests or something as a kid and the guy was from Spain but originally somewhere else. There was a couple (sensing a trend?) from Sussex County, England. They were nice and it felt good to hear an English accent again. A couple from Holland were also present. There were two other Aussie girls who were "bigger" and smoked a lot and had I think 4 cans of pop each throughout the day. That's about it I thınk. There were twenty or so total. One Aussie girl came with but only saw Artemis's Temple and Ephesus before she had to leave to catch a plane. She thought the tour was only going to be a half day thing and she really wanted to see Mary's House (more on that later) but ended up not being able to see it. Lauren and Fiona bonded with her and, after she left, Fiona said the girl's whole situation was "dodgy" about twenty times.

Anyway! Our tour guide was Mehmet. He was ok. Not that good, not that bad. He said "magnificent" too much. "Magnificent ruins" was his most used phrase the whole day I think. We went to Artemis's Temple first. It was built about 2300 years ago and is one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. It was huge although there is not much left of it now. There is no gate or entrance fee so the vultures (souvenir sellers) were out in full force when our bus pulled up. They are like mosquitos. I don't like them if you can't tell. Then we went to Ephesus. It was a huge town back around the Roman period. We went through the ruins from the top down to the bottom. This was good because it saved the best for last (theater and library). There were A TON of tour groups and people on the upper level but much less around and after the library for some reason. Lots of columns and carvings and awesome stuff. The library is amazing. The theater was built to hold 25000 people and still holds concerts in it (Sinatra sang there and some have U2 and some other famous people). The marble roads with columns lining them were cool too (minus the crowds). I would have liked to have spent a little more time there but I also would have liked all the crowds to go away so nothing I could do. Our next stop was lunch. It was at a cafeteria like place. I had a huge assortment of different stews, salads, rice, chicken fingers, and pudding. It was sooo good. Best meal I have eaten so far (most healthy anyway). Fiona wanted better food and a better atmostphere (it was basically a truck stop) but I thought it was fine.

The group splıt up after that. Half went to the Archaeological museum and half went to the Vigrin Mary's House. I went to the house. It is way up in the mountains surrounding Selçuk (sell-chook) which made it very peaceful and there were no stupid seller people. The house was basically a hole in the ground but there was a small church as well. I have had more religious experiences at Aya Sophia in Istnabul, St. Peter's in Rome, and Ste. Chapelle in Paris but it was still cool. The group met up again and we went to a place where they make (and of course sell, that was the point of the whole stop) carpets. We watched some women at work and then had a bunch of guys try and sell us carpets while we drank either red wine or apple tea (tea was great). It didn't bug me much beause it was still interesting and the carpets were beautiful. Plus, they looked at my blue jeans and t-shirt and knew I was not going to buy anything so they left me alone. Then we went to a mosque. Kind of boring and very bland compared to the ones in Istanbul (even the smaller ones). Then we went to (no kidding) a leather jacket fashion show. Fiona was peeved were doing two of these blatant "get you to buy something" activities but whatever. As Holland Guy said, "At least you will always remember it". Ain't that the truth. I felt weird because the models kept making eye contact and it was just a weird atmostphere if you ask me. Then we dropped everyone off.

I walked over to my fast food fish sandwich place. I sat down and the woman who takes orders recognized me (that made me feel good). I asked her what the optıons were agaın and she brought me into the kitchen and showed me. I got a "chicken fish" sandwich (breaded fish). DELICIOUS!!! I added some salt and that made it just great. The salad was awesome too. It was simple but so great. Then I walked over to my Baklava place and bought some more. That guy recognized me too. I got one pistachio piece and two walnut pieces. YUM!!! I ate them while I watched the most amazing sunset of my life (that is saying something). The sun turned bright red and I actually watched it cross below the horizon. Unreal. A guy in front of me caught a fish and the Bolivia couple watched teh sunset near me but did not notice (rightfully so, they had each other). I keep thinking each day has to be the most interesting, most spectacular, most different day of my life and they just keep getting topped. That is true throughout my time abroad. Tomorrow I have to catch a bus to Bodrum at 7 am (yuck). The adventure cotinues...

Mom emailed me and asked about my schedule for the next week or so which made me think I should post it here. There is a lot of traveling but it's not as bad as it looks. So here ya go.

Thursday and part of Friday - Bodrum

Part of Friday and all of Saturday - Greek Island of Kos

Sunday - Ferry to Mykonos

Monday - Ferry to Santorini

All of Tuesday and all of Wednesday - Santorini

Thursday - Ferry to Heraklıon, Crete

Sun, Sea, Smıle, Repeat

This hostel has free ınternet as well. I love Turkey hostels. I added some pictures to the posts below from Istanbul. There aren't many pictures onlıne but I took a ton so you have that to look forward to when I get home. So, to contınue my narratıve from yesterday, I went to the travel agency to catch the shuttle bus. Lots of traffıc, lots of honkıng, close quarters, basıcally your typical Instanbul drive through the city. The Otogar (bas station) was very busy. I figured out where I needed to go and got on my bus. There were leather seats that were comfy as well. There was a "flight attendant" a guy that walked up and down the bus serving us water, tea, coffee, and a delicious choclate cake wıth hazelnut filling. It was better than an airplane because he gave us seconds. I had three cups of tea throughout the ride. We took a ferry whıch I wasn't expecting. We drove through some mountains and the sunrise was spectcular. The guy behınd me snored a lot. I listened to my Zune for quite a bit of the ride. I probably only slept for an hour maybe a little bit more. Overall, it wasn't bad at all.

I got to the bus station in Kuşadasi and took a taxi to my hostel. They paıd for half the fare. There were people in my room still so I just set my stuff in there. Activity was everywhere. People were leaving for tours or coming to check in or checking out. Crazy. I really like the place though. I got settled and realized I left my shampoo and soap in Istanbul... stupid. I bought some more for only a lira so the financial burden wasn't bad, it's just annoying not having my usual soap and shampoo. I walked down the harbor. Kuşadasi has two bad things going for it. One, it's a stop for cruise ships. Two, it's a major holiday package town. It is still amazıng. It is set on some hills which lead down to the Aegean Sea. I walked over to the castle which is out on an island but still connected to the mainland. Speactacular vıews and I loved the palm trees. The weather here is the complete opposite of Istanbul. Sunny, seventy, not a cloud in the sky. I walked around the harbor some more. There were lots of people trying to sell things. I walked back up to the hostel and added the pictures to the earlier posts. I came back down to the harbor and sat on a bench and colored and finished reading Tell No One. a crime thıller that Mom picked up from Granada. It is pretty good actually. Then I walked around the town proper and some of the back streets. that was really nice to get away from all the tourısts stuff and see the real town.

I went back up to the hostel and napped for a while. I needed it. I woke up and went back down to the harbor (I did this like twenty times today) and ate dinner at a little restaurant looking at the cruise ships. I had a sardine sandwıch (fried sardine wıth lettuce and tomato on a french bread) with a wonderful salad. For dessert, I bought my first baklava (terrıble for you, flaky, nutty pastry) and watched the sunset. Just, I don't know, spectacular? Awesome? Amazıng? I walked back up to the hostel and caught up in my day to day journal. Then I hung out with some Australians and am now doing the blog and headıng straight for bed. Tomorrow I am going to see Ephesus (bıg ruıns). I am doing it through a tour provided by the hostel. It was kind of expensive but they provide lunch and a guide and it is the easiest option.

Bye!!