Simi, Greece

Hello from Simi,

We've made it down the coast from Istanbul to Maramis, have sailed since last Saturday, and just motor sailed into Simi today.

It's been an experience to arrange our touring and transportation along the way, and to email. Sometimes I haven't been able to get through because of oddities with the language and keyboards, so I apologize for the typos. The Turkish keyboard has the @ symbol in a different location and the "I" is also different, not to mention the punctuation.

Anyway, we're learning the difference between ancient and medieval. We've also learned that some of these older names we've heard about may have been macho and also gay. But maybe that was just of tour guide making stuff up about the time that men spent together in the Turkish baths. I did have a Turkish bath in Bursa, and loved it.

We've seen a replica of the Trojan Horse, the many markers of the Australians and New Zealanders that lost their lives in Galopoli, and what a major piece of land that was in WWII. Ephesus was much further back in history and of so phenomenal. I figure those who love to do jigsaw puzzles are the ones who may be prospects to be archaeologists. It's amazing to see what they're able to come up with from so many thousands of years ago.
We learned that marble can melt so some of the history can't be recreated.

The sailing has been great. We've had good winds. Got the boat up to 8.6 knots with a double reef. Today we motor sailed all day. Simi is a quaint Greece town, with wonderful food. And what a beautiful night. Almost a full moon, so we haven't focused on the stars too much yet.

I'll be in Turkey until 29 Sept when I head to Barcelona. I've learned that my host family is 5 minutes from the school in Sevilla so am excited about that.

More when we return to Turkey.

Istanbul to Selcuk

Hello from Selcuk, Turkey.

We’re quickly making our way down the coast. We arrived in Istanbul on Saturday, 3 September. Our hotel, the Sultan’s Inn was conveniently located to the Blue Mosque, Aya Sofya and other key spots in Old Istanbul, so as we stretched our legs after the long flights over, we enjoyed the sites at dusk. It was sprinkling lightly when we got to the Blue Mosque this evening, and every other time we passed it. Wonder what that means?

It was fun getting acclimated. The first thing we found was how polite and inviting the Turkish rug salemen are. We met a very nice looking young man on Sunday who said he wanted to practice his English, and me having just finished my course on “Teaching English as a Foreign Language” was ready to oblige, though he didn’t seem to understand we didn’t want to look or or buy a Turkish carpet. We did visit his shop yet didn’t even wait for the apple tea to arrive before leaving. He was disappionted yet polite.

The blue mosque was nice, as was Aya Sofya, but it was the Basilica Cistern that had my attention this first full day in Istanbul. It was an underground expanse with 336 column rising out of a pool of water. It was an unexpected surprise. The big attraction in Old Istanbul is the Topkapi Palace. It has an interesting history down through the ages. What people are most excited about was the Harem. The Sultan’s and their Harems certainly had a good life. Luckily for the women, they were highly educated and were given a dowry after nine years of service, and were then married to an officer of the Sultan. We also took an afternoon tour of the Bosphorus River. That’s certainly a key connection for the world.

Our pass through Turkey began after some stuggles with my credit card. Has anyone had the experience of VISA wanting to do a random verification of the user when in a foreign country? It’s not fun trying to figure out a way out of this one, but it works for small charges, and of course the first one I had was for our meanderings down to Maramis where we start our sailing trip—the instigation for this trip to Turkey.

We headed to Bursa, where I had what I hope was only my first Turkish bath, though not a mineral bath for which Bursa is famous. We then headed to Troy, where we saw at least a replica of the Trojan horse, and then cruised up to Gelibolu, more commonly known as Galipoli. a small but important penninsula in WWI terms. Next we traveled a little bumpily to Bergama, or Peramum, depending upon what century you’re referring to. We are getting our history lessons of the Byzantine eras, along with Greek and Roman history, or should I say mythology.
We’re now in Ephesus where we’ll get absorbed into yet more history. But we could say that just of our hotel rooms. Nothing like experiencing things first hand. Luckily, we’ve had good beds and hot showers with good water pressure, and accommodating Turkish staffs. Oh, did I say that I am enjoying the food. I may learn to really cook yet—Turkish style!