Posts Tagged ‘Turkey’

Sailing Along the Silk Road, Swimming in Hot Springs and Swerving Over Mountain Curves

Posted: May 20, 2024 in Art
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Good-bye enchanted beautiful Fairy Chimneys, amazing valleys and colorful balloon clouds in the sky.

Hello high desert, Silk Road Caravan Stops, Dirt Roads, Romani Camps, Rumi and Whirling Dervishes!

First pull over is a ancient caravan stop along the Silk Road from China to Europe. The history, the the adventure, the dangers, oh my! The trails from the US East to the West is nothing compared to this.

ADVICE: Do stop at the Silk Road Caravan Stops. Unless you have unlimited time, don’t go off roads looking for more history.

Looking for another ancient Silk Road Caravan Stop got us off road, a wee bit lost and on an adventure.

We finally found it! Ha, no we did not. But we did find one in a small town!

We reached Konya, home of the Whirling Dervish and its creator, who lies in death there too.

I always associated Rumi with the yoga/self help/hippy seen, but he was a Sufi muslim, which is kind of a hippy sector of Islam.

We went to the museum/mosque where the Whirling Dervishes do their ceremony, but unfortunately we were not there on a night they do it. Sad to miss  them, but visited Rumi’s resting spot.

ADVICE:

Try to go to Konya on a weekend to see the real Whirling Dervish ceremony. Do stop at roadside fruit stands to buy a kilo of strawberries for $2.50 (do wash before eating though). And definitely help tortoise safely cross the road.

We walked around the city center and turned in for the night for a long road trip the next day.

The drive where I bought strawberries from the farm, opium poppies grew, and I saved 2 Greek Tortoise to boot! 

And then came Pamukkale, aka the Cotton Castle, which is a hard calcium buildup dripping down a mountain side for 1000s of years from the natural hot mineral springs. And let me not forget Hieropolos, an ancient Roman town, which was smartly built by said hot springs.

ADVICE:

The travertine (cotton castle), Cleopatra’s pool and the Hieropolos ruins are all in one 30 Euro fee. No wait, Cleopatra’s pool is extra, but it is in the same park. Carry towels, bathing suit, and water in with you. We did not know this.

The warm spring water “pools” at the top of the travertine are beautiful but just wear shorts to go in, they are very shallow, not very warm and the bottom is weird to sit on.

And do all three, including the hike up to the theater at Hieropolos.

We packed in a lot that day, the ruins, and a swim in Cleopatra’s pool, which was another hot spring (immediately above) where ruins are tossed about the bottom. She never went, but the water was brought to her to bathe in upon reaching the shores of Turkey. And also, we slightly bathed in the cotton Castle’s very shallow pools of hot mineral spring water at the top of the mountain.

It was another early night for an over the mountain road trip to the beach the next day, with a stop at a farmers market and a quick stop to save another turtle!

And we made it to the sea, the coast, the Blue Lagoon, Baby!  We are having a nice rest for 1.5 days before we head to Rhodes, Greece!

ADVICE:

If you want a quite very chill stay, get a hotel on the Blue Lagoon. If you want party and action, stay in the beach area of Oludeniz. Do hang out and do activities in the Oludeniz beach area. The pirate ship cruises, the sky dotted with paragliders and the all around festivity is appreciated.

Beach Time, Eating, Drinking, a great massage and then we jumped off the top of a 5000 mountain!

ADVICE:

Do go paragliding here if you want to. It is scary before the take off, but so beautiful and relaxing once you are in the air. Other than that enjoy the many colorful parachutes in the sky all day. Also we went in May, so it was mellow and the water was chilly.

It was amazing, but honestly it scared the caca out of me before we took off. I mean, who purposely walks to the very edge of a 5000ft high mountain with a kite on their back. Um, me, I guess, with weak knees, fear in my heart and my brain exploding. But I did it, we both did it.

I’m 60 Damnit!

This was a long one, will go shorter next time.

Thanks for visiting My Gnome Little World.

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Us Gnomads on the way to Rhodes Greece!

Tripping Through Fairy Town

Posted: May 16, 2024 in Art, Travel
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Not that kind of a trip! We are on a road trip. First stop, Cappadocia, where the Fairy Chimneys live and magic happens.

Ok, it may not be called “Fairy Town” but the rock formations all over town have been nicknamed “Fairy Chimneys”. You don’t have to ask me twice, you had me at “Fairy”.

We left Istanbul and flew to a town an hour away from Goreme (where the “Fairies” live), so we rented a car and are now on a road trip.

As soon as I saw the Fairy Chimneys as we were on the outskirts of town, I got excited and emotional. They are amazing, not just as a weird freak of nature but they were carved out for people to live in, for churches and crazy enough to be tombs too. What is left is a town that now uses these places as businesses and hotels and restaurants. It is a magical place.

The area is called Cappadocia and it’s not only a world wide tourist spot, but people from Turkey come by the droves to see this cool natural thing and to maybe to stay inside a fairy chimney for the night as well.  The Turkish people have been keeping a secret though, they come for the wine too. There is some good wine being produced in this area. So ending the day looking at Fairy Chimneys with a local red and white is the best thing we could do!

My photos do not do them justice. But it may get even better, because if weather permits there will be some colorful hot air balloons floating around the sky as well for even better picture taking!

The weather permitted one fine, but way early morning!

After we finally got up, we got back down, way down. We bent over and squatted our way down 8 floors below the surface into an Underground City! It’s amazing and a bit claustrophobic, but so worth it.

Like People lived in the Fairy Chimneys, People lived underground too. These particular Christian people were hiding from Arab Muslims a thousand years ago or so

Their cities were intricate and had everything, even wineries!

The Cappadocia magic didn’t end there, they have magic valleys as well. We danced through the Imagination Valley, with kissed through Love Valley, we were amazed through the Ihlara Valley and we passed through Pasabag Valley.

The Ihlara Valley

The Love Valley…

Can you tell why it’s named that?

Imagination Valley

The Pasabag Valley

The photos and my words do not relay just how magical this place was to me. Constant beauty everywhere you looked.

We left this morning along the Silk Road west. My next blog will be Silk Road Stops, Konya, Pamukkale and maybe Oludeniz…depending on my experiences, photos and the stories I want to tell.

Thank you for visiting

MY GNOME LITTLE WORLD

And come back soon for travel adventures, art exploring and all around mayhem.

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The Push and Pull of Istanbul

Posted: May 12, 2024 in Art, Travel
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Beautiful, yet Confusing

Historic, but Unattainable

Endearing and Angering

Skilled, also Copied

Welcoming and Lazy

Before your mind goes negative, read below. This is meant to give advice to future travels as well as sharing our experiences and photos. We loved Istanbul, the history, the textiles, the colors, the domed mosques and the people. Now we are off to see some Fairy Chimneys in Cappadocia!

BEAUTIFUL, YET CONFUSING

Beautiful to the eyes in every direction!  And there are many streets, alleys, and walkways in all directions, up hills, down hills, to the far right or just vere right, to the left and up the stairs! It is confusing to find places, the right entrances, the right lines, and/or the right information. Once you get your bearings down and good phone mapping system some of that can be solved, as for the right entrances and lines to go on…ask ask ask. Don’t be afraid to ask, sometimes it helps, sometimes you need to keep on asking.

Which ever way you look there is endless beauty inside and out. Here is some of the beauty my eyes saw.

HISTORIC BUT UNATTAINABLE

Let me start off, I love history. Historic doesn’t describe it, this city is ancient. Everything is beautiful, down to non ancient cats. Just on historic buildings alone, this city wins! You walk around in awe, reading these little info obliques, which are in several languages and free.

The unattainable issue is it costs a lot to explore inside said buildings. It is around $55US to get into the Topkapi Palace. It’s way less for Turkish people, but young International travelers on the cheap it’s a no go. The Haga Sophia, ancient church first then and now a still working mosque is $27US to get in and see it. Non-Muslim people can’t go to the first floor, so you see half of it for that much. They are both beautiful and important places in history if you can afford to see them. If not walk around them and just enjoy them from the outside with enough money to enjoy a pint at a cafe to people watch later.

Advice coming…please do not do what we did. We bought the Istanbul museum pass for 10 museums. The museums we wanted to go to were recently dropped from that pass, but nobody told us that when we bought it. Another museum was closed. We did not get our money’s worth at all, we spent more on that card than it would have cost to get in the 3 museums we did go to. And we had to pay extra for the other museum that was dropped. Lesson learned. Learn from us!

We learned lessons shopping too. Here are some photos from the wonderful busy colorful  Bazaars!

ENDEARING AND ANGERED

“Hi guys”, “Yes, please”, “Where are you from?” You will hear this from the streets, in the bazaars and it’s so kind of cute. They are trying to sell you something and there are hundreds of people selling the same thing, so they must work hard.

But stuff is so overpriced for tourists it hurts a bit. I don’t want to be rude, but some prices had me laughing to myself. I have bought less here than I normally would because of the pricing. Believe me I love a good negotiation, but if they start so freaking high I just walk on. But don’t give up, I did not and found the right things that were not in every booth with someone who did not start crazy high and negotiated with me! He even threw in a free magnet. He did ok, I did ok and we both walked off happy. Very endearing.

Another lesson. The taxi’s may quote you a price and try to tell you higher after you drive away. This could anger a person. You have to be strong and stick to your guns. Uber doesn’t really work here, it’s more of the taxi’s just trying to get cash from you. Don’t use it. Do get your hotel to order them for you with an agreed price beforehand.

The people, whether locals or from all over the world were beautiful to be around in Istanbul. Yes, some try to take advantage of you, but that happens everywhere. Be safe and enjoy all the sights.

SKILLED ALSO COPIED

There are lots of skilled artisans making leather goods, rugs, tiles and art…but they are all thrown into together in bazaars also selling lots and lots of similar faked items including fake designer stuff.

My hotel desk clerk kept on asking if we wanted to go to the rug and leather factories. We did not, but I feel if you wanted those items, the real ones, you should try it out. 

But other than buying things and going into historic buildings, we enjoyed just being out and about in very busy old Istanbul.

WELCOMING CATS AND LAZY DOGS

See you thought I was going in a different direction…but the cats are really welcoming and the dogs napped.

Some were clean as a whistle, some not so clean, some healthy looking, some seen better days, but all of them were well fed. Some were even leaning to the heavy side. Some were fixed with their ears clipped, and some were pregnant.  Some dogs had tags on their ears showing they were fixed too. Some were just babies and some were old. Some had collars, most did not. Lots of food dishes were left around. And some stores claimed cats as theirs. Some cats claimed humans as theirs. It’s a very copasetic situation.

I got a little frustrated at times here in Instanbul, but I more so loved being in a new place, seeing new things, being around all kinds of different people and seeing so much culture and art.

If you love travel, you know it’s not all easy peasy roses and daisies. People and places may do things differently than us, but if we want to see their country we better get in line and deal with whatever that comes. Off to new and maybe changes, wish us luck with that ferry we hoped we booked online!

Thank you for visiting MY GNOME LITTLE WORLD!

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