Turkish Adventures!

Sorry for the gap in posts! After coming home from Turkey, things really picked up in London. I actually had things to do! :) Which is a good thing for me, but maybe not for those of you who like the blog posts. So on to Turkey!

I visited a longtime friend from good ole’ Bishop Foley High School, who teaches English at an international school in Izmir, Turkey. Izmir is Turkey’s third largest city (after Istanbul and Ankara,) and it is beautiful! It has a great combo of fun city life and gorgeous coastline along the Aegean Sea. Seriously, this was the view from the freakin' bus stop. I mean, c'mon!!

Happy to be in warm weather! London was freezing that week.

Please ignore the sweatiness - it was 90 degrees! Rach will kill me if she sees I posted this photo. Hope she doesn't subscribe to the blog! :D

I spent two days in Izmir eating tons of delicious Turkish food (I could live on their four main food groups of olives, cheeses, tomatoes, and cucumbers), shopping in the bazaar, and taking in the gorgeous sunsets. 

Turks know how to breakfast

Ruins in the subway! ha

Then we hopped on a short flight to Antalya on the southwestern coast. Our destination was Olympos, an ancient Greek city with mountains and ruins on the Mediterranean…we could taste the saltwater and feel the sun on our faces…but first, we had to stomach the 2 hour bus ride from Antalya to Olympos on this:

I should have taken a photo of the outside, but it was a 1970s conversion van. This type of vehicle is called a minibus, or dolmus. The name comes from dolmas, (grape leaves anyone?) meaning it is akin to stuffing as much inside as possible. No seat belts (or even seats for some) or puke bags provided. Good thing Rach advised me to bring Dramamine! The bus driver picks up paying customers along the road until he cannot fit any more. It was an experience! Needless to say, we needed a cold one upon arrival at our pension in Olympos.

Olympos is known for its treehouse pensions, which are little hotels with individual bungalows and a main eating/bar area. Our proprietors at Saban Pension were really friendly and helpful guides. But for the most part, we sat on the beach with this view:

Absolutely breathtaking! The Jurassic Park theme music played in my head the whole trip. When we weren't sunning on the beach,

we explored the Greek ruins around the area. I've never been to a city where you could climb on ruins! My art history/museum personality was, to use a British term, "gobsmacked."

It was an incredible trip, and I can't wait to bring Brandon to Istanbul in the coming months! Farewell, Mt. Olympos!