the rumors are true, everyone…turkey makes you tired
June 3rd, 2009 | Written by hurricanic
Greetings from Istanbul, friends! Our sincerest of apologies for not writing yesterday. We’re busy. And tired. But there is much to tell.
Yesterday morning, we woke and had breakfast by our hotel. A nice man made us some menemen. Oh? You don’t know what that is? Let me enlighten you. It’s like the Turkish version of a skillet. Scrambled eggs, tomatoes, peppers, and feta. It was delish. Gave us just the right about of fuel for our tasks ahead.
We jumped in our rental car and headed to Pamukkale, a.k.a. The Cotton Castle. It’s not really a castle or cotton, but whatev. Pamukkale is this fantastic formation of calcium deposits made from hot springs. We had thought it was two hours from Izmir. A little over three hours later, we found our way there. This was good news as the day before after securing our rental car, we had to fill up…and that was far from inexpensive. Here in Turkey? You buy gas by the liter. And right about now, liters are running around 2.5 to 3 lira (about $2). That’s right people, that’s about $8 a gallon. We watched in horror as the gas pump rolled higher and higher to fill our little economy car’s tank. In the end, we spent about $100 on gas, which was about the same cost of the car rental itself. There are many flawed business practices in Turkey. If Curtis was in charge, all rental cars would come full of gas, because to guess what you might use is impossible. All this to say? The unexpected hour of driving put to use the liras used and gas was not a-wasted.
I will tell you that Curtis continues with the ninja driving reputation when yesterday he managed to bring our rental car from 140 kilometers and hour to an abrupt stop on the highway we were driving on just in time to make the turn to Pamukkale. It was like he was starring in “Gone in 60 Seconds”, “Fast and Furious”, and “The Italian Job” all at once. No lives were lost, but a bit of our tire tread was left behind. (Good thing we splurged for the insurance.)
We climbed in the heat, on the hottest day so far during my stay in Turkey, to the top of Pamukkale. We saw ruins of an old graveyard were we decided the world’s best and creepiest game of Sardines could be played. We also saw more ruins of Hieropolis. Pretty cool. And then we saw the Cotton Castle. Ironic that we were boiling hot, while our surroundings looked like ice and snow. Here’s where we noticed the cultural differences abounding. There were Turks covered from head to toe for religious and cultural reasons. There were Koreans with huge brimmed hats, umbrellas, and gloves to protect their porcelain skin. And then there were the Europeans in all their glory. Speedos and bikinis with no regard as to what they looked like. Annie spotted a bit of booty crack at the top of the Cotton Castle. Curtis and I took the opportunity at hand…you know, to “capture our surroundings.”
We headed back to Izmir and had dinner with Ayhan, Neşe, and Kayra, friends of Curtis and Annie’s. They made us the most delicious Turkish meal, comprised of minced meat in eggplant, rice, yogurt with mint. Man, you have to love yogurt to enjoy this culture’s food. It’s in everything. It was a great night, and Kayra stole the show coming up with a thousand reasons to stay awake…our favorite being her declaration of “I’m BOILING!!” It’s funny listening to a Turkish girl speak English so dramatically. Made our night.
We got back to our hotel and tried to get all packed up as our flight to Istanbul left at 7 a.m. It was going to be a short night for sure. Annie and I decided to shower in hopes of making our morning run a bit more smooth. It was a good idea. We had sweat our brains out walking that afternoon. But the shower totally woke me up, and I laid restless. Since we were all sharing a room, I felt the need to be quiet. Thankfully our hotel was on a very, very well lit street, and the light coming in from hotel signs and neon provided just enough illumination for me to spend more time with Edward and Bella. I have no idea how late I was up, but it was late, so this morning came very, very early.
Today has been the day of experiencing all forms of transportation. From dawn to dusk, we have been in a rental car, an airplane, a bus, a ferry boat, a train, and a tram…oh, and our feet. Let me tell you, we have been on our feet. By 9:30 a.m. we were in Istanbul having breakfast on the Asian side of the city. That’s right, folks – Istanbul is on two continents. Curtis spent some time reading this morning in a local Starbucks while Annie and I went to buy some Turkish Delight and see a local marketplace. I was able to see where she lived during her time here before moving to Adana. And I managed to buy myself another suitcase because I’ve somehow purchased so many things here I can’t get my bag closed. Those MC Hammer pants are quite cumbersome.
We meandered our way over to Europe around lunchtime and found our hotel. This one is a bit nicer than our last home. It’s always nice when your bathroom as a separate toilet and shower space. Then it was off to explore. We saw the Ayasofia, the largest church/mosque/museum perhaps in the world, but definitely Turkey. Amazing. Then we saw the Blue Mosque. And then we had dinner. We met up with Krista again as well as their friend Ashley and dined on more authentic Turkish cuisine before heading off to (close your eyes, Aunt Carol) smoke nargile. It’s flavored tobacco smoked in a water pipe. We found the cutest, quaintest little alleyway welcoming us with colorful pillows and rugs, as well as many waiters trying to persuade you to their particular establishment. Would you believe this line? “Excuse me…I have question. I believe it is a good question. Where are you from? Are you from (wait for it) heaven?” Geez. I literally turned around, rolled my eyes at him, and said “No.” It was enough to make me almost want to walk away, but the alleyway was so cute. And it was a fantastic evening. We sat and laughed and smoked and danced in our pillows to some great Turkish pop music. It’s perhaps my favorite cultural moment from my time here to date.
We had to run to catch one of the remaining metro rides back to our hotel tonight. I almost impaled my leg on the turnstyle, making myself a version of a kabob. And Curtis was almost left behind tragically as his metro card was .25 lira short. Thankfully, the nice man working that station let him in.
Here we are back at our hotel exhausted from the LONGEST DAY EVER. We can’t wait to sleep. Clearly the more tired we get, the less funny our blog entries get…but we’re having a fantastic time. More to come tomorrow.