Cappadocia - Fairy chinneys

Cappadocia is a region of central Turkey famous for it "fairy chimneys". It is an amazing combination of geological beauty and interesting history! What happened was thousands of years ago there were three volcanoes that erupted. Then erosion washed away the looser layers of soil leaving these unusual cone shaped structures. Some still have their heavier top stones but others do not. They were actually called "fairy chimneys" because back in the first and second century a.d. Christians went there to escape the Romans that punished then. They carved out homes into these large rock formations and cliffs because the rock is easy to carve. Then when merchants were traveling on the Silk Road (which goes right through thus area) the traders though the peoples were fairies living the the rock chimneys because they seemed so small. There are tons of cave churches here with amazing architecture and some even have some of their frescoes on the wall. Many saints were supposed to have visited or lived here.
This land Is just magical looking. This is wher George Lucas got some of his first ideas fir Star wars (even though it was filmed in Tunisia in Africa).
We stayed in the main town of Goreme that is actually filled with houses that at fairy chimneys. We stated in an actual super nice cave hotel. Thus place was like an all inclusive (they had a pool, amazing restaurant, travel agency and were super helpful). We went on two tour and a couple of hikes on the two days we were there. The hikes were pretty hard because the trails are not well marked once you get in them. It was an adventure and as you know there are two sides to every story. By the end if our time in cappadocia I was done with hiking!! But the hotel was so nice! They let us come in at 4:30am and sleep and even have breakfast that day. I also told Micah we should not stay at this place because it was to expensive, thankful he dud not listen to me this time.
I really want to try to get a pucture up but it is hard with the iPod touch.
This us the website of where we stayed www.kelebekhotel.com. It has some good pictures!

Pumukkale - Mother nature's pedicure

Pumukkale is an amazing geological wonder! It is cascading white rock down a very steep large hillside. In most of these pools there is blue water. That is not all though, there are great ruins surrounding it from roman times because the Romans believed the pools had healing qualities. There was also a great ampitheater.
What I thought was the coolest part was that you actually get to walk in your bare feet up the hillside. It is just so cool to be able to walk on this rippled white rock and feel the cool water flowing over your feet. It felt so good on our travel worn feet. Some people swam in the pools and even covered themselves with the special mud, we didn't know you could. There were a ton of Russians there in skimpy bathing suits.
We also stayed in a very nice family run hotel. Travel agents in istanbul told us it would be hard to get from Pumukkale to Cappodica would be difficult. Micah got us tickets for a nice bus company but when we got to the bus station they did the bait and switch on us and gave us a lesser company. Needless to say it was a very long bus ride but we got to talk to some very nice regular Turkish people. At one point I had to go to the bathroom so bad and micah had to ask some Turkish people that lived in London and were home for a visit if they could ask the driver to stop the bus (it had three hours). It took the husband asking and the wife demanding that the driver stop for him to stop. Turns out lots of people had to go to the bathroom!
But we were dropped off basically at a gas station in the main town in Cappodica (region of central turkey).

Ephesus - ancient ruins

Ephesus is a ancient city near the coast of Turkey. It has an amazing history! Both the Greeks and the Romans were there. We took a night bus to get there. Micah slept like the dead, I unfortunately did not. It was not a bad bus. We got to ephasus right when it opened and got a guide and went through it before the Holland American Cruise people (which we also saw in Istanbul). There are really good ruins here and a good museum in town.
The only thing that was not good was that micah's ankles swoll up because we had been walking so much and he did not take off his flip flops on the night bus (this was all in my medical opinion). That afternoon we took a wild local bus with no ac to Pumukkale. Micah was able to take off his shoes and raise his feet.

Istanbul sights

So we started with Toplapi palace. This palace had been used by Turkish sultans (kings) . It has amazing grounds, tile decorations, interesting stories (rival sons being locked in the harem) and even a harem! That night we took a local ferry at sunset( my 0.50 sunset cruise), it was beautiful!
The next day we went to the Haghia Sophia, which is a Huge church from roman times that has been turned into a mosque but there are still amazing mosaics and frescos that date
back to the fourth and fifth century. After that we walked to the Blue Mosque which has 6 minarets and is filled with amazing
blue and white tiles. These two mosques make up most pictures you see of Istanbul. After we visited the mosques Micah wanted to go to a musuem that I didn't want to go to. So I sat under a tree in saltunhamen square (which had wifi because Istanbul is the European city of 2010 and they are making improvements). It rained a bit but I was fine under my tree and ended up making friends with an Egyptian guy who was also a tourist. We had a fabulous talk, you know you can picture it. Micah made friends with some professors and a guy from Dubia. That night we went to the happening part of Istanbul. It is called Beyogl, it is built on a very steep hill. To get there we took a tram across the Bosphorus, then a funicular (which is like a cable car that goes up a hill), an old fashioned tram to the square. The streets are filled with glittering lights, tons of all kinds of people, cafes and shops! It was just beautiful and lively! We ate at the base of the area the first night and then I talked Micah into eating at the fanciest Burger King ever!! It tasted so good with an amazing view of the square.
Our last day in Istanbul (we are going back for two days before we fly home) we went to the Cisterns and Beylerbeyi Palace. The Cisterns were how the people of Istanbul held fresh water for centuries. It is filled with all types of columns and even two Medusa heads. It was so interesting. Beylerbeyi Palace is the new palace of Turkish kings and presidents. The last sultan lived there and the first president of turkey, Ataturk (think a Turkish George Washington but from the early 1900s). It is so amazing!! The palace is filled with gold leaf, huge chandiliers, lovely carpets and drapiers. It could rival any European palace, which was the sultans goal but it unfortunately made Turkey broke and weak for world war one.
We also went the the Grand Bazaar (I tried to haggle some) abd the spice bazaar, which is where the real deals can be found.
As I said before I love Istanbul!! It is so colorful and alive.

I love Istanbul!!!

So from the second we got into Istanbul I loved it! It is clean, people are helpful (there are carpet sellers but they are not as annoying as the people in Egypt trying to sell stuff were). There also is a wonderful breeze from the water! Micah said it gas changed a ton! He said he stayed in a hostel right near where we are staying now for $2.50 a night and the area was super dirty! Now there are all cobbled streets, with tame cats walking around, tasteful hotels and relaxing cafes. Needless to say everything is more expensive but it is worth it. There is even an electronic tram that goes all around the city(it is so clean with ac and it is $1 per ride).
I will tell you more about the sights later!

Crazy train trips

Well it seems it should be easy to go from one capital city of one country to the capital city of the neighboring country easily! But that is not the case with going from Serbia to Bosnia. There was only one traine and one bus that went daily from Sarajevo to Belgrade. But there were serveral buses from the bus station in the srbuan town outside of sarajevo but no one could help us with the tickets. So we took an 8 hour training the heat of the day from Sarajevo to Belgrade. This train looked straight out of communist yugoskavia. There was no ac, the bathrooms were pretty nasty. But it was cheap and really the only option we had. They called it the Belgrade Special and it swear I felt like years passed. We had several border checks because not only did we go from Bosnia to Serbia we crossed into the Serbian republic in bosnia (very confusing) and even into Croatia again!
So we arrived in Belgrade later then usual and tried to book our next train ticket for a night train to Istanbul but it was not for when it was supposed to be because the timetables are out of date. But Belgrade was lovely, it looked very austro-Hungarian with grand buildings. But many of them were decaying and Micah felt there was seediness there we had not felt before.
The high point was we had dinner at an amazing place called Little Bay. It looked like a mini opera hall on the inside! Our dinner was a sampling of chicken, veal and beef all with different sauces, mashed potatoes, roasted veggies and mashed squash! All this cost with rolls and drinks was $15! I also figured out this place had wifi so I sent my parents an email! After that we walked around, explored (hard because they do not believe in street signs and those that were ther were in that funky sarilick, Russian writing), went a couple super cool bars.
The next day we got up very early (it was a Sunday and nothing was open) and we left our hostel for the train. We eventually found a place to get water (we had a feeling this train would not have food or it would be really pricey) and a bakery. We got an apple crousant, two soft pretzel things, and two local favorite called borak, which is heavy puff pastry with flavorful meat inside). So there were two other people on our sleeping train (it was supposed to be 22 hours). So I went to another empty cabin so Micah and I both could lie down and sleep. It was very hot but somehow not as bad as the day before. Our conductor even offered me some water at some point. I slept like a baby even without ac. My allergies were going crazy so I took benedryl and I was out! Micah and I chatted and played cards. I was even able to read! The night was wild though because there were more cars added in Sofia Bulgaria (Bulgaria looked just like central Virginia to me).
So the border guy from Bulgaria came in at like 12:30 for the passports and said "welcome to new York". Then we all had to get off at 1 am at the Turkish border, buy a visa and get a stamp (it was not that bad, we went to bed early). Then the conductor woke us up at 6:30 to tell us the last hour had to be by bus. Turns out that Istanbul train station is being redone. But the bus had ac so it was good!

Sarajevo- such amazing people

Sarajevo really is an amazing city. What the people of that it have been through (a 4 year long siege,bombed buildings, so many lives lost) it is simple mind boggling! Everyone in Sarajevo has a story about the war and are willing to share it. They live Bill Clinton because he saved them by bombing Serbia (with NATO support). Sarajevo is also filled with so many different cultures and religions (bosnians-muslim, Croats-Catholics, Serbians-greek/Russian orthodox). You can find a church and a mosque right across the street from each other. This area has such a complicated history (from roman rule, to their own kings, to austro-Hungarian rule, to being part of communist Yugoslavia, to fighting Serbia and Croatia to stay their own counties). Our first day there we got s tour from a guy with a masters in history. So informative but he had a very harsh view on Serbs, croats, and his own bosnians. We also went to two museums with really heart breaking exhibits on the war. We also saw Latin Bridge where world war 1 started. When it happened the people thought of him as a hero but now some consider him terrorist. We also saw how they have had to turn any park or large a soccer field into grave yards (we have some pictures from above the city that boggle your mind and shock you! But it is amazing how these bosnians still have to live and work with people that they know killed their friends and family. This area is still much of a powder keg waiting to go off.
The night life in Sarajevo was wonderful!! It was so hot during the day but it really cooled off and there was a breeze at night! There were colorful cages everywhere!! The streets were packed with young and old!! This made it hard to sleep at our hostel because it was old town.
Micah really soaked every bit of Sarajevo! I found it to be very overwhelming but wonderful people!

Mostar nights

Micah and I both loved Mostar. It is a small city in Bosnia famous for its bridge and the jumpers that diver from it. We stayed in a great but very simple hostel. The family was so kind. We stumbled upon a city tour with the owners son-in-law because we asked about tours to the surrounding towns and they said they had the city tour also. Our guide gave us a wonderful first hand account of what it was like living in Mostar during the war and how people survived. He also explained to us the history of the divers (he was one when he was younger). We even had train the special divers club house above the bridge. Mostar is very interesting because the old town has been completly restored but there are still many bonded out buildings around town. That night we had an amazing dinner at areally good touristy place that offered a local sampler (stuffed grape leaves, stuffed peppers, the local sausage dish in puffy pita bread and more).
The next day we did a tour of the surrounding area with a dingy Canadian girl and a fun swiss couple. We went to a muslim religious site that is the source of a river, winery (actually someones basement with yucky wine, Micah gave the old lady some money for letting come), waterfalls you can actually swim in and I even stood underneath a fall (there were nit even that many people there and it was free), then a new catholic pilgrimage place where these teenaged saw Mary in the mountains in 1981( the Vatican does not acknowledge it yet), then we went ti this centuries old walled in old town that a fee people live in but many of the houses were abandoned because the the war damage. The Bosnia countryside is so lush and green. It is filled with grapevines, corn fields and all kinds of other produce. Mostar had such. A great feel! I loved walking around! But it was very hot during the day!! That night we had a locally caught fish meal at our hostel with the Swiss couple. We had a great time talking with them, I think we kept them up to late. The guy teased me about my love for RS ( Rick steves) and I teased him and Micah about their love of the LP ( lonely planet). It was fun!!

Dubrovnik, Montenegro and Bug Bites

So we spent two and half days with Dubrovnik. It is funny that this is the city that got this whole trip going we did not stay that long.
As soon as we got to Dubrovnik we found a lady at the bus station that was offering rooms to stay at her house. These are called Sobes here and are very common. So we dropped our stuff off and then we walked the long walk to the Old Town of Dubrovnik. It is very famous for its walls and white buildings and orange tiles rooves. It is very striking against the blue sea!! So we walked the walls in the heat of the day on Sunday because it was SO crowded with people from the cruise ships. We thought it would be to hot for them, which it was for the most part. But the views from the all are amazing!! The thing is that most of Old Town Dubrovnik was destroyed during the Homeland war in 1991/1995. The whole place has since been retiled and repaired. There are some great museums, many shops and cafes in the old town with stunning views. We even saw a nude swimmer on one of the cafes tat is on the edge of the old town wall. We had a lovely pasta dinner and out waiter saw our Rick Steves book and said he waited on him. Who knows.
That night we got really eaten up by mosquitos and I am still dealing with them now on Wednesday.
The next day we took a day long tour of Montenegro. A small country right next to Croatia, it has some beaches and some mountains and is very poor. We went on a big bus and took these crazy turns going to Kotor and Kotor Bay. The Bay of Kotor almost looks like Norway with steep cliffs and interesting bays. Kotor has a small but lovely Old Town. We even stumbled upon a Orthodox service, it was SO interesting!! Then we went to a small mountain village for lunch of smoked ham and stinky cheese. We ended up in what used to he their capital when Montenegro had a King, before world war 1. We went to their one and only King's palace. Just like a cool old house with interesting stuff inside, presents from many monarchys around the world.
Then we ended the day in Budvar, which is a beach town. It is next to the island of Sveti Stephan (sounds like sweaty stephan( where George Cloney has a house.
Then on Monday morning we went on a Cable Car above the city where there is a fort and a museum from the Homeland War, small but itneresting.
The only thing about Dubrovnik that was a little disappointing was that we really felt like tourists. It had amazing scenery but it was hard to get the real soul of the town.

Korcula

So July 9th and 10th we are spending in Korcula. A small island north of Dubrovnik. It is so wonderful here. We took a bus ride to Split, which is famous for its Diocletian's Palace. I thought it was cool how the modern town just kinda winds its way through this ancient ruins. Micah was not impressed because there were a lot of pushy and rude people.
We took a fast boat to Korkula and had no idea what really to expect (many people said it was great, like Ellen). We were so surprised by this amazing little sleepy town that is SO easy to walk around. We were met when we got off the boat by a ton of people trying to get you to take a room. We got a room from a you boy (about 13) for about 40 dollars a night. It is right in town and has a bathroom in the room. Last night we had an wonderful dinner of fresh fish and mussels and wine. We also watched part of Sex in the City 2 in an outdoor theater!! It was in English with Croatian Subtitles. I totally thought of my Sex in the City girls!!
Must go now. No more internet time:(

Sibenik

We spent the rest of July 7th traying to get to Sibenik (which is a very small coastal town in Croatia). We did stop and walk around Zadar. Zadar is famous for its Old Town and Sea Organ. Both a let down...the sea organ makes weird moaning type sounds as the water pushes against holes in the seaside sidewalk basically. It does have a pretty old twon but there were a lot of annoying tourists.
But Sibenik was simply amazing!! It is a small quiet town with boats going in a out and an huge beautiful church and a castle. It reminded us a lot of Cinque Terra in Italy! It is also close to Krka National Park, lake that goes into a waterfall you can swim in. We went there on July 8th. Unfortunately, that morning at the bus station a women gave Micah back the wrong change and we did not catch it in time because we were afraid we would miss the bus. We went back and asked her about it and she said no and was ugly. It is sad when people steal. But the waterfalls were very cool! The water was very nice! There were a ton of loud annoying tourists around which distracted from it.

Plikvice Lakes

July 6th and July 7th we spent in Plikvice Lakes!

Plikvice Lakes are a system of 14 lakes and waterfalls that are the most amazing blue and aqua colors surrouneded by beautiful lush green forests! Grandma and Grandpa O Connor would really love this! It is a very large tourist attraction for Eastern European, Italian and German people. When took a train and then a bus to get there. The bus driver dropped us off at the WRONG bus stop and we had to walk over a mile up and down with our backpacks! But when we got our stuff put away and start adventuring it was well worth it. Micah thought it reminded him of something out of the Lord of the Rings! When we got there in the afternoon there were TONS of people there it was crayz but then as it got later we felt like the only people in the Park!! The park os so large that you have to take shuttle buses and boats to get around.
That evening it rained again but we had an umbrella and a poncho (sometimes prepared). We had a great traditional dinner at the park restraunt. Micah had goulash (again, he LOVES it)! Then our hotel looked like it was straight out of the Tito days (old dictator of Yugoslavia) but it had a really soft bed.
Then next day we got up early and explored somemore. We saw the Big Waterfall with a rainbow in front of it!! Magical!! Then we left for Zadar and Sibenik.

Skocjan Caves

July 5th was the Skocjan Caves.
It takes about 2 hours to wind your way through the tour of these caves!! They are HUGE!!
On the way back to Libb-J Micah and I met some really cool (also HOT, I thought so but kept to myself) Canadian guys that were traveling all over Europe. We had a really great talk with them.
Then that night when we checked out the lady gave Micah the wrong check out slip. She gave him one with the name of ANOTHER SOBCYZK at the hotel from Poland!! Can you believe it? Another Sobcyzk!!
The next morning we left on the train for Croatia.

Sad to Leave Ljubljana

Ljubljana (pronounced Lube-Lee-Anna) is one of the most wonderful cities I have ever visited! It is filled with beautiful buildings, squares, rambling river, pretty bridges, cobbled streets, friendly funky people and good food!
It is the capital of Slovenia, which used to be the most prosperous part of Yugoslavia. The old town is wonderful place to walk, people watch, have a bite to eat or a drink. Micah and I got here on Saturday night and this place was hoping! We had an amazing meal on the patio of a very tasteful restraunt. We had tomato guaspacho with buffalo mozzerella and I had veal chop with hollandaise sauce and Micah had mushroom and goose procutto rissotto. Super yummy!!
Then yesterday we walked all around the town. We had to stop and have a drink at a bar because there was a crazy thunderstorm that came out of NO where. But we had a chance to have Grapefruit Radler (radler is a German beer that is usually a mix of light beer and lemon soda only found in Munich).
I would suggest this city to anyone that likes Munich, Prague or Amsterdam. The other thing about Ljubljana is that it is so small that it is easy to navigate by foot.
Chat Later
Sarah and Micah

Lake Bled is Lovely

Micah and I took the night train from Munich to Lake bled Slovenia. It is just amazing! There is aqua crystal clear lake with a castle overlooking and a island with a church in the middle completely surrounded by mountains! The homes are very quaint Alpine looking homes. We walked so many stairs I thought my legs would fall off! The castle has amazing views and we saw it first thing! We were rowed in a gondola type boat to the island in the middle of the lake with the church. Things are kinda pricey here, 3 euros to get into the church each . But you get to ring the bell and Make a wish. Micah and I also had some famous creme cake( puffy pastry with a thick layer of custard and whipped creme between it). Yummy! I also took a bit in the chilly lake but it felt so good!
Then today we took an tour in the Julian alps with 1 canadian and a british couple. We saw some awesome mountains, ate a yummy lunch, did two fabulous hikes and met some wonderful people! For part of one hike you had to hold onto a cable rope and walk on a vary narrow ledge! It took you to an underground lake where the Soca river started. We also saw the longest ski jump in the world.
Slovenia is wonderful!! So laid back and friendly. Micah is watching world cup with our guide right now. I will try to put on some pix soon.
Dober Dan!! Good day in Slovenian!
By the way... My thighs will be able to crush coconuts when we are done with this trip!! But we are eating very good!
chat later!! Much love Sarah and Micah