Day 236-239: Last Days in Jaipur

I can't believe this trip is really almost over! After Nawras left, reality sank in a bit. I started the good old job search, started organizing my things, packed, and watched a lot of good television shows and movies. We didn't leave the house grounds for 4 days! Pretty amazing, actually.

I decided that since I am not spending Christmas in India that I could bring a little Christmas here. What better way to do it than by feeding the Sinha family a good old fashioned Ewing Christmas dinner! Is there turkey? No, not really. Are there marshmallows? No. Are there fried onions? No, but is that going to stop us! Of course not!

We worked with chicken, no marshmallows for my sweet potato casserole (apparently it is already sweet enough - which I think is false. It can never be too sweet. Oh, and this is a side dish. Every American will swear it is until the day they die), and we actually had to fry real onions (gasp! Blasphemy. Who does such things!). It turned out and the family loved it. What is there not to love? This combo is American at it almost finest. Plus, some people might say it's just a bit healthier with a few of those friend/sweet elements missing. I think it's just not as delicious!

Pallavi's mom made an amazing apple pie to top it off. She asked if I liked apple pie. How silly! It's un-American to not like apple pie. There is practically the design of an American flag in that lattice crust if you look hard enough.

We played games and drank this amazing Spanish egg nog meets Bailey's meets spiced liquor. If time here has to end, what a great way to end our time here.

Day 235: Trip to Jaipur Airport

Nawras unfortunately only could take a few days of holiday to come to India before returning back to Dubai for an important presentation. We tried to convince her in many different ways to stay. This persuasion phase is a common Sinha family move. They are very good and really know how to pull your heartstrings. However, it failed.

At 1:30 a.m., we needed to leave to drop Nawras and her hubby off to the airport. Pallavi hasn't drive to the airport by herself in quite some time and the roads have changed significantly. As a result, she doesn't know the way to the airport. Normally, Pallavi's dad would drive, but we didn't feel right about keeping him up so late when he has to get up at 7:00 a.m. We were on our own.

Needless to say, Pallavi's parents wanted to make sure that we got there in one piece. Her dad, feeling responsible for us, pulled out his GPS and taught me how to use it. He even pre-programmed the route to the airport. Her mom also walked her through the verbal/visual directions. All set, ready to go, we got into the car, turned on the GPS, and set off.

We immediately started to ignore the GPS directions in lieu of the verbal/visual directions. Then, once we got to a point where Pallavi no longer recognized the route, we started following the GPS. Maybe what followed next wouldn't have happened had we not missed one of the turns. Next thing we know, we need to turn around. We can't just take a U-turn. Oh no. That would be too easy. Instead the GPS told us to turn left. Pallavi looked at the left and kept going, saying, "no way the GPS could mean that alley." Then it told us to turn left again. By this point, it was 2:00 a.m. The flight was a 4:00 a.m. Most check-in counters close 90 minutes before the departure time. We don't have time to be choosy. We need to just get to the airport! So, we turned left.

We then proceeded to follow some sequence of dirt alleys all the way through the back end of Jaipur. We joked that we were just giving them a last minute tour of Jaipur, since we hadn't really done any touristy things around the town while they were here. At one point we passed a camel parked outside somebody's home. We were so in the middle of nowhere that we had passed where the poor camel men live. Now, of course, it's 2:10 a.m. by this point, and Pallavi is rushing -  driving an SUV, with some speed, over all of the dips in the dirt road. She tried to be careful, but at one point, Nawras joked that she had just broken on of the bones in her body courtesy of one of those dips.

Finally, we make it to a main road and we see the end in the sight. The GPS has a little finish line flag on it. We pull up, ready to turn into the airport. What do we see? A closed military gate. The GPS had brought us to the opposite side of the airfield!

Quickly, Nawras' hubby puts on the GPS on his phone and we re-programme our GPS. It's 2:15 a.m. and we are 20 minutes away from the entry! We speed towards the airport. We got there at 2:27. Phew! We dropped them off without any problem.

So much for a GPS though!

Day 234: Pushkar & Ajmer

The Sinha family decided to show Nawras and her hubby one of Rajasthan's most iconic tourist towns: Pushkar. Pushkar is the home of the world's only Brahma temple. Hinduism has one god, who comes in many forms, 3 of which are primary forms: Brahma - the creator, Shiva - the destroyer, and Vishnu - the sustainer. Apparently Brahma had to do penance in Pushkar, and needed to make some prayer by a lake at sundown which can only be done alongside his wife. When his wife didn't come on time, the priests found some other local woman and married her to him, and then did the prayer. Then when the wife finally came out, there was hell to pay! She cursed him and told him that he wasn't fit to have a temple to his name. In the end though, she felt bad and told him, alright, you can have one temple here where you did your penance, because the place is so important to you.

Now, most Hindu gods are pretty groovy. One of them is even often depicted smoking hash. It is no great surprise that a place like this one would be a primary stop on the hippie trail. Times may have changed, but the amount of foreign hippies in this place certainly hasn't! This is the kind of town with one lane roads, lined with bulls and cows, Hindu priests all making their rounds, and white Europeans buying bongs.

Unfortunately, we didn't have much time to spend in this town before we went to Ajmer. In the morning, while we all sat down to discuss the plan, Pallavi's dad mentioned that there is a Durga located in Ajmer. This Durga is a holy place for almost every one of India's religions, and is the 2nd most holy place for Indian Muslims to Mecca. It contains the 'grave' of a sufi saint, who apparently sent his disciples away for a few days and stayed in his room, and, when they went to check on him 10 days later, discovered that a bed of flowers had replaced his body. They didn't even know he had died!

This place was absolutely mad! Now, Pallavi's family used to live in Ajmer, where her Dad was the commanding officer of the local military unit. As such, her Dad still has contacts there, so he had arranged a police escort and an Imam to help us break through the throngs of crowds. This was Islam meets India meets other religions. I haven't been so fascinated by India in a few trips. We moved through a heaving throng of people, past huge 400 kgs pots filled with food and money, past the Hindi wedding-style music playing, the men all sitting and sing/praying in the courtyard, the women tying cords to the edge of the grave in hopes their prayers come true, the men carrying offerings of flowers on their head, and pushed our way through the door to stand alongside the 'grave.' The Imam then did a blessing over our heads using a certain kind of cloth that had been placed on top of the grave. Then he tied cords for protection over our heads.

It was Incredible India at its finest! 

Day 230-233: Jaipur

I have roughly 10 days left in my journey and we decided to come back to Jaipur, Pallavi's hometown. Pallavi's friend, Nawras, and she have a pact to see each other once every year. Last year and earlier this year, it proved too difficult to coordinate; however, Nawras found a flight to Jaipur on 1st December for 5-6 days. Hence, we came back to Jaipur when we did.

We arrived mostly relaxed from our Business Class journey, visited with family, and then started the sleep deprived, anti-jet lag process. I do not jet lag. I refuse to start now. However, to not jet lag requires a bit of a painful process. You can't be fully rested and you have to push yourself through your tiredness to adjust your time clock. Whatever the time difference is, you must make sure that you fall asleep on time, on local time, on the very first day. If you do that, you will wake up on local time without any difficult. What's the problem in our scenario? 

It's a 4.5 hour time difference between India and Spain. We didn't sleep on our flight to Jaipur because we wanted to take advantage of our Business Class perks. This delayed bedtime meant we didn't sleep until the equivalent of 7:30 a.m. in Spain. To fall asleep at the appropriate time, we needed to wake ourselves from our sleep prematurely as if we had a nap.Okay, that is all well and good, but what time is Nawras and her hubby arriving? 3:30 a.m.! That meant that even if we sleep at 9:30 p.m. (which we did), we would still wake at 11:30 p.m., as if we just took a long nap! 

It is no surprise that we all stayed up talking until 9 a.m. after Pallavi picked up Nawras et. al from the airport. How in the world we only got 8 hours of sleep within a 48 hour period of time is definitely anti-bad backpackers. We've gotten so use to getting 10 hours of sleep every night that we winge if we only get 7. Good thing we have a few days of 'relaxing' around Jaipur before we start their tourism itinerary. 

Day 229: Flying Business Class

When we looked at flights back to India from Istanbul for my last pit stop before the US, flights from there cost approximately $500 AUD and something or 20,000 miles plus $350 USD. However, after a lot of plug and chug options, we realized we could fly to Spain and for an additional 10,000 miles, 30,000 total, plus $125 USD, we could fly Business Class on Etihad Airlines to India. Sold!

I've been saving my miles for years and rarely can I find a reasonable reason to upgrade and enjoy the Business Class. What better reason than ringing out our 8 months of backpacking on a luxurious note.

Etihad is one of the nicest airlines in the world and we were flying on one of their nicest aircrafts. A nicely groomed chauffeur in a tailored white suit picked us up for free in our Mercedes Sedan from our hotel to start our Business Class experience. At first, we were a little embarassed about the fact that we were getting picked up from a hotel labeled "Hostal," bu then we figured the driver didn't know whether or not we were trust fund babies just trying to 'tough it out,' so why not own it. Our flight was at 9:30 a.m., so it was really nice to just get into a car at 6:30 a.m. instead of having to navigate our own way to the airport.

Once we got to the airport, obviously we went through the expedited and extra-customer service friendly Business/First Class check-in and airport security, and then went right into the Premier Lounge to relax, have my first cup of coffee for the day, and eat a small breakfast. I didn't realize how stressful the general pre-flight experience actually is until we finally arrived on our airport completely relaxed!

We got to our seats and sat down on our Airbus A320 and immediately were served champagne. Our seats had in-built 4-area, 2 setting massage facilities, which I proceeded to use for the next 7 hours (plus the 3.5 hours on the next flight). We had little amenity kits waiting for us, which includes not just the standard high-end eyemask, flight socks, and earplugs, but also facial lotion and lip balm. The bathroom also had face mist and hand lotion. I had no idea how dehydrated my face gets in flight!

Our seats also lay down completely flat, which I only tried once, just to say that I had tried out every setting on the seat. I then got to taking complete advantage of the endless flow of mimosas and food, while we went on our comfortable movie marathon, with our feet stretched out, wrapped in our uber comfy blankets. I swear, I never want to fly economy again!

Day 228: Madrid

When we tried to figure out which airport offered us the lowest associated costs alongside my American Airline miles, the lovely AA person I spoke with told me that she couldn't get me out of Barcelona. She told me, I can get you out of Madrid.... maybe..... nope.... yes... maybe you'll just have to take a train to Madrid. Additionally, we wanted to spend extra time with Elena in Valencia without sacrificing our already short time in Barcelona. What did that leave us with on our Spain itinerary? One afternoon in Madrid.

It turned out to be just the right amount. We used a popular European share car service to get the 300 kms from Valencia to Madrid. It's a cool system. If you are driving to a certain location, you select the departure time, arrival time (based on your knowledge of the route), the pickup and drop off location, and the price per seat in your car and then you can 'rent' your car seats. Our driver, Tony, works for the Spanish National Police, and had to drive to Madrid for work. Did we learn much about what the Spanish National Police do? No. Did Tony get to practice his English with us? Yes! His English is way better than my limited Spanish anyway.

We got to Madrid and immediately got to exploring the place. We had two items on our agenda: the Palacio Real and the Prado art museum. Everything was within 1.5 kms of each other, so we got a chance to walk around the city. I can now understand how and why Spanish territories all have a certain look to them. Madrid architecture has the exact same feel and design. The churches all have what I know to be typically Latin look (obviously, it's a Madrid look). However, Madrid itself doesn't have the same charm as Barcelona. It appears to be the kind of city that is fantastic for world-class museums, night-life, and history; however, it certainly isn't the place you go for charm. At least not in my opinion.

We walked to the Palacio Real, or Royal Palace, past the Plaza Mayor (which not only held bull-fights and parts of the Spanish Inquisition, but is now the location of the happening Christmas market), only to find the Palacio Real was closed for some event. We then started our walk to the Prado museum. The Prado is on par with the Louvre, known for having works by El Greco and Goya. The museum also has this great art appreciation scheme where it opens to people for the last 2 hours of the day for free. We stood in our queue and went and saw some amazing art! Thankfully my Lonely Planet had the museum highlights by room, or else we would have missed so much of the Prado's great works.

After we had finished, we walked around for the evening, but we ended up feeling so cold that even though it was the last night of our trip, we just took a hot shower and went to bed, ready for our early morning airport pickup. 

Day 225-227: Valencia

Seeing my old friend Elena in Valencia played a significant factor when Pallavi and I decided to come to Spain before heading back to India. Elena is just as gracious a host today as she was the first time I visited. She had prepared the house just like an AirBNB - there was a map, a loaded metro card, a tourist book, and various welcome signs all over the house. 

While Elena went to work, we happily went and explored Valencia. Valencia is such a cute 'small' town of 2 million people. It seems so incredibly different in terms of culture and feel than Barcelona. Valencia always feels 'brighter.' Maybe that is because it is sunny and 'warm' all of the time. We froze when the sun went down in Barcelona. In Valencia, the sun goes down and it is still a 'balmy' 15 degrees. No hats and gloves needed here people! 

However, there isn't that much to do in Valencia. At least not in terms of historical sights, etc. Valencia is more of an experience. Apparently, I do not remember much about any of Spain from my previous visit; however, only after visiting it again do I realize that Elena took me on the best of the best that Valencia has to offer. I really must remember Valencia Take 2! 

We went to see the beach and watched some guy continue to get stung by jellyfish as he fruitless and stupidly tried to bathe himself in the Mediterranean. Dead jellyfish littered the beach! It's not like the stings should have surprised him, at least not continually. Yet, this guy got stung, ran away swearing, and then re-approached the ocean again, only to get stung. Dumb!

Pallavi and I also explored the old city. Did you know that Valencia played a key role in the silk trade? Or that it has a bull fighting ring? I did not! Later, Elena took us out on Friday night to a meetup in the old city. We walked around, slightly lost, looking for the venue. I asked Elena, "isn't this your city? You've lived here your whole life. Shouldn't you know your way around?" To which she replied in a hushed tone, "This area isn't my area. I don't like it. The streets are narrow and you can't see around the corner." My response, "the streets are wider, it doesn't smell like pee, and it's well lit. It's an amazing old city!"  Oh, perspective!

We found the venue, which was an English-language/cooking school. Great concept and well targeted in terms of the meetup group. Elena's meetup is a group of people who want to speak English. If I ever re-learn Spanish, I must participate in similar groups to this one. It's a great way to practice. The night continued to a few different pubs and a bad club, but at least now we know the nightlife in Valencia. 

Elena also spent her Saturday coordinating a lovely day out to the 'country' for us. She first took us walking around Valencia's state-of-the-art Arts and Science Center. As we walked around, warmed by the sun, hardly needing a light sweater, Elena pointed out a political gathering of some kind. The previous day, Pallavi had asked Elena the name of the Spanish president. He isn't discussed much on the news! Everybody knows the German chancellor, the British PM, the French president, and the Italian president who is always sleeping with lots of women; however, nobody knows the Spanish president. We went down to the basement and when we came back up, Elena's husband told us that the Spanish president was in that building. That building! The one with no security. The building we had just casually gone downstairs and used the bathroom in. We could have taken God knows what into the bathroom with us and left without anybody knowing. Sure there were a few guards with guns situations all around the park, but those are only a few people! No wonder nobody knows who the Spanish president is. Even his own people know that nobody cares enough about him to require additional security. I kid. Mostly. But still! Where was the security?! Even the Australian PM has more security than this guy! 

We then went a whole 16 kms outside of Valencia to a town called El Palmar, but it was like stepping into another world. Just 500 meters from the sea, exists a landlocked freshwater lagoon that is over 2500 hectares large. This area is filled with traditional one-room, A-frame, thatch-covered traditional Valencian fishing homes. Additionally, every historical sign is written in both Valencian and Spanish. Personally, I could barely tell which from which, so I'm not sure how much of a difference actually exists between the two. Also, I asked Elena if she speaks Valencian. No! What kind of Valencian is she. She claims it's because her parents came from outside of Valencia (although in the same province), which is why not only does she not speak Valencian, but she also doesn't have a single one of the traditional costumes from the area. Jorge, on the other hand, showed me that indeed Valencian culture is alive and well in his family, where he and his parents all speak Valencian. Whew! 

We went out for a huge traditional lunch with rice that comes out on a pan the size of your entire over. The key to eating said rice? Scraping the pan to get the carmelization off of the bottom. Elena had then arranged for us to go on a boat ride at sunset around the lagoon. It was such a perfect end to a perfect trip. 

Next stop, Madrid for a day for our last full day backpacking. 

Day 222-224: Barcelona

I LOVE Barcelona. If I could speak Spanish and get a job in the EU, I would 100% come to Barcelona. What is there not to love about the city? It has:

• Gaudi moderisma architecture
• Roman ruins
• Gothic quarter
• Beach and mountains that you can literally take a long walk between
• Funky fun bars and cafes tucked all around the Gothic quarter walls
• An amazing public transportation system
• Water you can drink from the tap (Yes, I have been travelling so long in "bottled water land" that I did need to ask if you can drink the water)

The only sad thing is that my friend Camilla, who has a base here in Barcelona, was in Berlin instead of here.

We actually ended up in Barcelona in a roundabout "how can we get to India in the cheapest possible" way. Believe it or not, it was cheaper for us to fly from Ankara to Barcelona and then use my American Airlines miles to fly out of Madrid (Business Class baby!) to Delhi than it was to fly to Delhi from Istanbul directly. Hence, we are in Spain! One baby touch of Europe to send us off of our backpacking trip properly. 

Barcelona really is just as lovely as I remember it. However, I do NOT remember the directions to anything! Last time I was here, I just followed Camilla around (and I did find some of the places, with Camilla's help, that she took me too the last time). After an uncomfortable low-cost airline flight from Ankara to Barcelona, poor Pallavi then ended up following me in the wrong direction for food when she was in a hangry state. I started looking at the map after that! 

We had less than 48 hours in Barcelona, so I took Pallavi on the highlight trip. Obviously, that meant taking her to Gaudi's Parc Guell and to the Sagrada Familia. Both have changed so much since I was last there. The administrators of Parc Guell are now trying to control the number of people on Gaudi's architecture, so to get to the main bits, you now need to pay a fee, which only allows you 30 minutes inside. It's a bit much for crowd control, although I do get it. Lucky for us, you don't have to go in in order to still see all of the great Gaudisms that exist in the park. Plus, in my opinion, it is the best view of the entire city! You can see the Sagrada Familia, the Gothic Quarter, the sea, and more. 

It's also really cool to see the Sagrada Familia again. It's a building that's been under construction for over 100 years and I had heard that it looks different ever time you see it; however, you have to experience it to really understand it. How amazing to see it change! Different statues. Different pillars are now almost complete. The tourist route is different because new construction has come up. Plus, you can see a lot more detail the second time around. I forced poor Pallavi to take the audio tour, but I think it was a big hit. It just was an incredible experience. Inside Sagrada Familia you really do feel the glory of God.

The next day we had just a few hours to 'finish' Pallavi's Barcelona highlights tour on a budget before catching our bus south to Valencia. We just walked! We walked by the sea (which turned out to be quite boring since all of these rich people boats were inconveniently parked in the harbor blocking us from the sea). Then we walked to the 'local' side of the Gothic Quarter, towards the Picasso Museum, by the old Roman walls and defense towers of the city, past the Cathedral of Santa Maria del Mar and finally back to the Cathedral. Tragically, our timing was wrong, so we missed all of the free entry times into all of the churches. Next time! Also, I'm so sad that we are here in November instead of December, because although we could see the Christmas markets being set up and get a sneak peek as to the wares, we couldn't experience it properly.

We left Barcelona very much with a 'see you again soon,' attitude and jumped on our bus to Valencia, to the waiting arms of our friend Elena.

Day 218-221: Ankara

We had heard that bus travel in Turkey is quite the experience. Legend has it that they have an attendant who serves you complimentary drinks and snacks, in-seat entertainment, and more. We had yet to travel via bus in Turkey and, as life would have it, that was the best way to get from Cappadocia to Ankara.

We got on board only to realize that the legend was true! We had in-seat entertainment that had a welcome screen with our name on it. The attendant came whenever we called him after his first run through. The movies and TV shows were only shown in Turkish, but Pallavi found an exception that was half in Hindi and wasn't dubbed over. That is the way to travel by bus!

We arrived at Ankara's airport-like bus station and needed to make our way to my friend Josh & Anca's house. I had not done my thorough research and only knew that their place was 12 kms south of the bus station and that it might be possible to get there by bus, but they and Wikipedia and the Ankara city bus website couldn't tell me how to do it. Did that stop us?? Of course not! A few questions from random strangers and the information desk later and we made got there. Check public buses in Turkey off of our transportation list!

It was so great to see Josh and Anca. Josh is in the Department of Commerce in the US Embassy, so we got to see all of the perks of staying with a diplomat (he does have a diplomatic passport!). We just relaxed with them and spent the whole next day preparing for and enjoying pre-Thanksgiving dinner. The day after they showed us around the Old City of Ankara, which is surprisingly cool.

Ankara is the capital city, primarily because it is strategically close to nothing. It lacks the charm of Istanbul and some of the size, but at first glance it just looks like a modern city. The old city has a beautiful citadel that clearly was rebuilt multiple times using leftover stones from the previous citadel. As a result, you have a mix of stones with Latin, Greek, etc. written on them, with random stone heads sticking out. We also just walked around the area, which surprisingly is the locals market. There are tons of artsy shops filled with mostly different stuff from what we had seen across the rest of Turkey. All of which are at artsy prices.

We then just relaxed, went to the mall, drank lots of wine, and stayed up just chatting. What a great way to end Turkey. Next stop: Spain! 

Day 217: Hot Air Balloons in Cappadocia

Ever since I saw my first hot air balloon rise above me as I went on my morning run in Melbourne, I have wanted to go on one. We never went in Melbourne. We always said we would go somewhere else. Cappadocia has earned the reputation of one of the best places to experience a hot air balloon. After some convincing and overcoming some trepidation about the -8 degree temperature we'd experience while up in the air, we decided to bite the bullet and get up at 4:30 a.m. for our 5:15 a.m. pickup time with Butterfly Balloons.

The experience was not like I expected and all in a good way. We missed sunrise because our original balloon had a problem and we needed to wait for them to set up another balloon. That didn't stop us from taking pictures of the other balloons starting to rise alongside the "sailors beworn" red sun, with a snow-covered volcano backdrop. It turned out to be the best use of that 10 minutes. Once we all climbed into our hot air balloon basket, before we knew it, the balloon had risen a few hundred feet. I didn't feel a thing! I always thought that a hot air balloon would create a sense of instability and would shake and blow with the wind. I didn't feel a thing. It was such a smooth experience. We soared over the fairy chimneys and the various valleys, catching all of the colours and shadows caused by the sunrise. Then we also saw all of the Byzantine Christian villages from the sky. You could see the various pigeon houses and cut-out windows in the volcanic stone. I hadn't expected to see that. Plus, because of the 10 minute delay, we were able to cross a mountain which other balloons hadn't been able to cross because of a wind that died out when we got there. As a result, we landed right near one of the open-air Byzantine museums. How did the balloon land? We were all prepared for our landing positions, which involves holding on for dear life while in a squat at the bottom of the balloon. We had mentally prepared to be dragged for a few hundred feet. Did we need to use our landing positions? No! Not only did we not need to use our landing positions, but the balloon operator landed spot on to the balloon trailer!

We then helped to squish the air out of the balloon and had our champagne while the balloon guys packed up everything before delivering us home. That wasn't the end of our day! We ended up meeting this American critical care doctor, Luke, who is in residency at Bellview Hospital in NYC, on the balloon. He is hilarious! We ended up meeting up with him after breakfast, sharing a long shisha and having tea, and then relaxing for dinner and drinks later. It was absolutely a perfect day. 

Day 216: Cappadocia & Goreme's Open Air Museum

Cappadocia is one of the top 10 IT places to visit in the world. At least according to what I had read. Obviously, when I learned my close friends Josh & Anca live just 250 kms away from Cappadocia, it only made sense that Pallavi and I pay this town a visit. Cappadocia is famous for it's "fairy chimneys," formed by some volcano that erupted 10,000 years ago. It has hit the tourist trail primarily as a hot air balloon destination.

We arrived completely unprepared for the weather. Believe it or not, a flight here cost us less than a bus ticket would. We stepped off of the plane from Istanbul at night and couldn't see what we can see now - that mountains surround this area on all sides.

We stayed in a town called Goreme. What we didn't know prior to visiting turkey is that Cappadocia was a refuge for the Byzantine Christian population. They lived here from about 300 AD until 1400 AD or so. They used the fairy chimneys and various vertical volcanic rock structures as hideouts from persecutors. Apparently, there was some sort of Lord of the Rings-like signal system that ran from Jerusalem to this region to alert the Christians that the persecutors were coming. They built entire monasteries and cities completely underground to help protect themselves.

We went to one particular monastery that is part of one of an open air museum. It is a series of complexes carved into the rock. I figured it would be like the cave dwellings found in Bandelier National Park in New Mexico. In some ways, it was exactly like that. You'd find random doors and windows carved into the rock face. However, nobody told us about the gorgeous, amazingly preserved Byzantine art found inside each of these various rock chapels. It is stunning. The colors are more brilliant and amazing than almost any 'outdoor' paintings I've seen. Obviously, these aren't nearly as old as the Pyramids or Pompeii; however, they are gorgeous. I've never seen anything like them. Unfortunately, their eyes are gouged out. We aren't completely sure what happened in history that caused people to mark out their eyes; however, it still didn't mar their beauty.

We explored the entire museum in awe and then booked our hot air balloon the next day. In a tragic turn of events, I quickly realized that it was going to be -8 degrees C up in the air. We decided to bite the bullet, despite the cold, but I made the decision that I needed gloves! Fortunately, some Turkish nana who ran a tea shop also happened to be knitting gloves. If only I had my Grandy, she could have made me some gloves as well. It didn't matter. This nana could solve my problem.

We called it an early evening. Hot air balloons await! 

Day 211-215: Back to Istanbul

I never want to drive in Istanbul again. How can people stand to drive how they drive here? I can handle the zipping across 4 lanes at high speeds to get to your exit. I can handle all of the fast moving truck traffic. I cannot handle start/stop traffic in a manual vehicle to travel 7 kms in 30 minutes just because this is a) a toll that is meant to be automatic, b) an on ramp, c) a bridge or d) some high profile escorted vehicle that requires the traffic to be stopped. I should be less stressed as a driver. Who does it help? Nobody! However, dang, Pallavi and I were so stressed that after we dropped off the family at the airport, we grabbed a kebab, went to the hotel, and refused to leave!

The next day we decided to just check out Hagia Sofia. As you enter that place, you can't help but think that this decor reflects how religions should interact with each other. Where else can you find the Virgin and Child next to Muslim decorations? Or Byzantine images of saints next to 12th century minarets? It is hard to imagine that this is the site of Constantine. Without Constantine, where would Christianity be? 2nd to Jesus, I'd say this is the next birthplace of Christianity. What a cool concept.

The whole church is beautiful. Layers are built on layers. Remaining mosaics of different former Emperors who commissioned a picture of their family alongside Jesus showing them giving money to the church. Circles on the floor show where the Emperor use to sit. All in all, it's an amazing place.

We finished up and went to stay at a friend of Pallavi's, staying at Taxim Square, who just landed in Istanbul for a month for work. All of the interesting museums closed the next day, on Monday. As a result, we did nothing but watch TLC on television, which launched in Turkey just a month ago. We only stepped out to get dinner at  Taxim Square. Taxim is the local area and it is humming. Thousands of people are out on the main pedestrian street walking around. When I stepped out earlier in the day to find a grocery store to buy breakfast stuff, it felt like I had slipped into living in Istanbul. It had a completely different feel than the touristy Sultanahmet.

The final day in Istanbul, we had just a few hours after we got up and around before we had to leave for our flight down to Cappadocia. We made a call and only I went off to the Dolmabahce Palace. Rick Steves told us that the Dolmabahce Palace was built at the end of the Ottoman Empire, by some 'weak' Sultans, who were determined to show the world that they still had it.

Overcompensate much? This palace had a huge wow factor. It has huge gates that look out upon and step down directly into the Bosphorus. On the inside, the palace doesn't have just one 1 ton crystal chandelier; the palace doesn't have an additional 1.5 ton crystal chandelier; the palace also has a 4.5 ton crystal chandelier. Oh, and that doesn't include the multiple crystal lamps and minor crystal chandeliers in each of its 100+ rooms. Or the huge crystal staircase. I must confess. I was a bit disappointed by the crystal staircase. I was expected floors of crystal! What did I get? Only the railing balustrades were 100% crystal. Disappointing! How am I supposed to be wowed by that.... ?

Of course, that doesn't include the 500 kgs of gold that gilded the palace. Or the beautiful baroque-style paintings that covered the entire room and ceiling. Or the historic paintings. Or the grand ceremony room, which I swear was built in size and style like Hagia Sofia, topped by that beautiful 4.5 kg crystal chandelier, and floored by the largest handmade carpet in Turkey. It is just as grand as any a crazy King Ludwig palace.

I barely had one hour to tour the palace before I had to get back to leave for the flight. You can't tour the palace by yourself. You have to join a scheduled group. I had seen my group leaving, knowing I didn't have enough time to wait for another group, I ran to join and the tour guide waved me on! You have to wear booties on your feet to protect the elaborate parquet floor made of 3 woods. As a result of the rush, I only saw half of the palace (the other half is on a separate ticket that I had wisely not purchased). Then I made it back just in time to start the 2.5 hour hike, including a ferry over the Bosphorus, to get to the other Istanbul airport for our flight to Cappadocia.

Istanbul is a cool city. I would absolutely love to go back.

Day 208-210: Pamukkale

I feel like the theme of the drive to Pamukkale, Pamukkale, and the drive back from Pamukkale is tractors. I feel like we got a glimpse into authentic, rural, agrarian Turkey. We didn't just take the main roads. Oh no, the shortest route to where we were going took us through all of these back road, country Turkish towns. Not that it would have made a difference. I have never seen so many tractors driving around in my life. Not even in Warrensburg, MO! Tractors drove on the highway. Tractors drove on the farms. Tractors drove on the small town roads. We even passed what I have decided was a tractor depot! Tractors parked on all sides of the roads AND driving on the town. My now TWO-tractor owning Dad would have loved this place.

Pamukkale itself is an interesting place. This location was Pallavi's sister's pick. Pamukkale is the site of an Ancient Roman spa town, set upon a cliff, with natural hot gas and water. Over a period of time, somehow, the water flowing off of the hill, has formed a series of calcium-deposit terraces with water pools. If you look up the site, it'll make more sense as to what it looks like. However, as one bypassing American tourist said: the fact that only a few and not all of these pools have water must be Turkey's best kept secret. There were a few pools that you could go in, and go in these people did!

Traditional Muslim head-covered women, would pull up their trouser legs to dip their legs in the cold water pools. European women would strip to their bikinis and sunbathe. Children would all try to play in the small fast-flowing water channel. One child even fell in! If there hadn't been another tourist, she would have been swept all of the way down the mountain in this narrow water channel. I, not realizing this was an accident, at first thought, water slide! That is why I'm sure I would not have made it long as a child in these kind of countries!

A local sweet owner of a restaurant we were at pointed us 6 kms nearby to the 'hot water.' Here is where we found all of the locals dipping their feet into the hot water pools. I swear it was like taking a bath! However, lots of people were drinking the hot water that was bubbling up. I can't help but think two things: 1) that can't be healthy, and 2) even if it were, how can you drink boiling water like that? I've tried drinking just hot water. It is not nice!

We made a call to drive Pallavi's parents back up to Istanbul rather than let them to their own devices. The whole aggressive drivers and driving on the other side of the road was getting to them. We switched our plan around a bit, but next stop, Istanbul. 

Day 207: Ephesus

We drove like mad to get so that we could see the ancient capital of Asia Minor, Ephesus. This is the town of "love is gentle, love is kind," Paul [Saint] letter to the Ephesians. Apparently, this is also where Mary, mother of Jesus, is rumored to have spent her remaining years (which I don't believe, but you gotta love a bit of Christian mythology). To start my day right, I ended up chatting with an older gentlemen, dressed in his Sunday best on a Tuesday, from Kokomo, Indiana, who was a Bible conspiracy theorist who believed that "Turkey will play a key role in the end of days." The key, he says is in the last verse of the 1st chapter, the first verse of the 2nd chapter, and the 10th verse of the 3rd chapter. I'm writing this down just in case he is right and I need to quickly reference from where the end is coming so that I can run in the other direction. 

We got on our way and made it to Ephesus. WOW! I have never seen such amazing ruins outside of Rome. I am so happy again that I listened to Rick Steves' recent podcast which touched upon Ephesus. His podcast helped bring the whole journey to life. They measure the size of an ancient city by estimating its theatre capacity and multiplying it by 10. As a result, they estimate Ephesus' population at 250,000. The theatre itself is an acoustical marvel. Some sound engineer was on Rick's program, and he said that the people of Ephesus figured out the same amazing acoustics as a sound engineer would today - if not better. You can stand in the middle of the theatre and speak in your dramatic Shakespearean voice and a person sitting on the top of the 25,000 capacity theatre can hear you. Obviously we tried it. It was amazing!!! I went to the top and Pallavi called out to me and did "Friends, Romans, Countryman," and I swear it sounded like she was right behind me. 

The people of Ephesus primarily made their wealth from the selling of deity icons. So, when Paul [Saint] went to go and speak at the theatre, the people in the crowd basically booed him off, saying "Great is Artemis," since this whole 1 God, 0 icon Christianity thing would put them out of business. That's why Paul wrote the letter to the Ephesians! 

You really can see why Ephesus was important and a great city. Only 15% of the city is excavated, and yet, you can see a complete city. You can see the exact layout, the basic structure of the town, visit the library or the merchants. You can see how they put anti-slip devices on the marble streets and the terracotta piping for the aqueduct. You can see the Library of Celsus, which was the 3rd largest library in the Ancient World, holding 12,000 scrolls. It was incredible. 

Then, just 1 km down the road from Ephesus, what do you have? The ruins of the Temple of Artemis, one of the ancient wonders of the world. There isn't much to see in terms of ruins, but there is enough to be in awe of the size and scale of the place. You can see how it would have been a wonder of the world. 

Incredible. 

Day 206: Gallipoli & Troy

Gallipoli defines ANZAC. It is what D-Day is to Americans. We had to go. The Turkish government appears to have held the entire Gallipoli Penninsula as a National Park/Cemetery/Memorial. It is hard to believe that this beautiful spot next to the crystal clear Agean Sea saw such catastrophe. It is also hard to believe why in the world a) this penninsula is the key to taking over Asia Minor and b) you would pick this spot to attack. The ANZAC Cove, where most of the Australia and New Zealand troops landed to try to take Gallipoli at the start of their 9 month campaign, doesn't really have a beach. It is a small patch of beach that immediately meets a steep hill. No wonder these guys had no luck!

It took only a small part of our day to visit, and we didn't visit many of the trenches or cemeteries just due to rough roads or time limitations, but the bit we did see made me just want to watch the Mel Gibson movie of the same name. It is incredible. 

We had to travel 450 kms and Google Maps said it would take 6.5 hours, so we had to hustle a wee bit. After we got on the ferry, and crossed from the European side of Turkey to the Asian side, Just 40 kms away, we made it to the ruins of Troy. 

No, Troy is not completely mythological. In fact, it isn't just one city. There were 9 versions of Troy, built one on top of each other. The oldest version was from 2500 BC. At first, I thought, nah, this isn't very big. It looks nothing like the Troy from that Brad Pitt movie. It is way too small. That is until we started to encircle the enclosure. This certainly wasn't a small town. It was quite large and complex. Plus, because they built one city on top of the other, you can just see archaeological developments side by side with their predecessors. How cool to think we've been to Troy!! 

We then power drove the remaining 4 hours to the city of Selcuk (again, mostly in the dark), so we can see the ancient city of Ephesus.

Day 205: Driving to Gallipoli

Whatever you do, don't drive at night. When Pallavi's parents asked if I could drive them in Turkey, as I know how to drive on the right side of the road (India drives on the left), I said "sure thing, no problem." I mean, I've driven in Morocco in the old city of Marrakesh. Driving in Turkey cannot possible give me that much difficulty. I even looked up the basics of info about driving in Turkey. I ignored all of the bits about aggressive Turkish drivers. I figured, Chicagoans are aggressive drivers. I am a Chicagoan. Therefore, I am aggressive. See? Just like a simple SAT question. However, the one bit that I took seriously was 'whatever you do, don't drive at night.' Let me continue. 

Pallavi's family wrapped up with Istanbul in the morning, despite the loss of power in our hotel, and we all made our way to the airport to pick up the vehicle. We had all intentions of renting a GPS or getting a local SIM with data on it (as we had in Morocco) before picking up the car; however, they gave us only high tourist prices. Armed only with the PDF of the Google Maps instructions I had cleverly emailed myself, we got the car and started to battle our way through Istanbul aggressive driving traffic. 

I felt in my element. I can totally drive in crazy fast traffic. In, out, weaving... okay, I drove cautiously. I don't want to kill the family on my first hurrah out! We happily drove 20 kms of the 300 kms we had to drive until WHAM... TRAFFIC JAM! This was like the Eisenhower/Eden highway split kind of a jam. You might as well just park the car. It certainly would have saved the blood which gradually drained from my left foot as I just held the clutch, in anticipation of any movement. We thought it might be an accident kind of jam, as a police car did manage to miraculously part the traffic like the Red Sea. It was 3 p.m. on a Sunday. Finally, we passed the cause. It was like the Eisenhower/Eden split. There was some sort of fair going on that everybody was going to and it had caused us to be stuck in traffic, moving only 7 kms in 1.5 hours! 

What did that mean? The sun sets at 5:30 and we finally got free of traffic at 4:30. 5 hours of driving in the dark! Why did they warn not to drive in the dark? Because of the pot holes! Did I see pot holes? Not until we ended up taking the shortcut towards Gallipoli, driving in the dark past small town after small town, with Pallavi reading the poor PDF instructions, and bypassing pot hole after pot hole! 

I don't think I did that badly. I only almost killed us once! I swear that guy zipped out of nowhere! As Grandy says, it's not who is right, but who is left. I think the family is only slightly scarred from the experience. Seriously, the Turkish people really are aggressive drivers that zip at double the speed limit and these roads really are badly marked. Maybe I should have paid more attention to the warnings. 

We made it in one piece to Gallipoli. I swear we didn't even say goodnight. We all just went to the rooms in the apartment and closed the doors and passed out. 

Day 204: Istanbul, the Blue Mosque, and the Grand Bazaar

We arrived in Istanbul at 9:50 a.m., after flying 2 hours to Greece, and then 1 hour to Istanbul. We were absolutely exhausted on the plane, but I wasn't so exhausted as to not eat just my Greek-cheese bun, but to also eat Pallavi's! We easily met up with Pallavi's parents in Istanbul. Apparently their arrival in Istanbul had been fraught with issues, and they hadn't had a chance to see anything the day before when they had arrived. As such, we really wanted to make sure they saw the highlights in the time they had left.

Our room wasn't ready, so we put on what we needed for the day, dumped our stuff in Pallavi's family's room, and made it out the door. First stop: the Blue Mosque. I feel like everybody has heard about the Blue Mosque, however, what you've heard certainly isn't nearly as amazing as what you can see. It is breathtakingly beautiful. Contrary to my previous belief, the Blue Mosque isn't called that because the exterior is blue. Oh no, it's called that because it's filled with blue tiles on the interior.

I'm so glad I listened to Rick Steves' podcast on Istanbul, so that I could learn about Sinan, the architect of the Blue Mosque. He was right there in the class of 1500 with Michelangelo, Da Vinci, that guy who built St. Paul's ..... (oh man, I know this!!!!!), and all of those other Renaissance folk.

Next stop: the Grand Bazaar. When you enter the Bazaar through it's old gates, you start to see fun historical facts about the Bazaar on signs hanging down from the main arcade. For example, did you know that competition was banned in the Bazaar, so shops didn't have any names or numbers or signs? You just had to know which guy you wanted to see. The Grand Bazaar also appears like a mini-city. I think it had a mosque and some schools at some time. The odd thing is that it is all under one building. It's also the ultimate shop. You can shop and shop and shop for hours and never know what time it is or how to find your way out!

Pallavi and I will go back to Istanbul to see it properly before we leave, but if this is the first toe-dip into the city, I cannot wait to really dive right in! 

Day 203: Last Day in Egypt

We got off of our night train back from Luxor and immediately went into "Last Day in Egypt Party Central." Heba and Nayeli had previously told us that they had a day party and a night party to attend today when we were coordinating our flight to Turkey and our train back up from Luxor. We thought it would be more important to spend time with our friends than get sleep. That is exactly what happened!

We arrived to the girls home at 10:00 a.m., repacked our stuff, took showers, had 3 coffees, had an amazing homemade Mexican breakfast, and by 3:00 p.m. we were out the door on the way to the day party. How were we getting there? The way Egyptians do - by the Nile! We happily hopped on a 20 minute boat ride down the Nile, skipping traffic and enjoying the rainbow that was coming out on this rare rainy day.

The day party was set up just like a festival, only it was an island on the Nile. There were tents set up everywhere and Egyptian-style blankets underneath them. There were two live bands and two live DJs playing pop and funk, depending upon what style you wanted. After we finished up there, we went, grabbed our stuff from the girls' house, and went to the night house party.

At 2:00 a.m. we had to leave for our 4:45 a.m. flight to Turkey. We had such a great time in Egypt and it was all due to these lovely ladies. Next stop, with minimal sleep, Turkey!

Day 202: Valley of the Kings, Temple of Hatshetsup, Medinet Habu

Finally, 3 years after my first trip to Egypt, we finally went to the Valley of the Kings. I love the idea behind the Valley of the Kings. The Pharaohs saw that tomb raiders had already looted the Pyramids, so they thought, "I will show those tomb raiders. No more of this above the ground tomb business. I'm going to hide my tomb where nobody else will find them. Therefore, I pick..... there... that big mountain across the river from Karnak. I will pick the furthest most place in the mountains, hire a village of workers, and swear them to secrecy. And, to make sure nobody finds my tomb, I will not leave any blueprints or record of the location of my tomb. Bwah hahahahahahhahaha."

And so it was. The Pharaohs all thought this was a good idea, however, since there weren't any blueprints (or so it seems), their tombs crisscross each other underground, there are locations where you can see the new tomb digger had realized he had struck another tomb and just changed directions, etc. It's all just a mountain tomb.

They number the tombs in the Valley of the Kings based upon the order in which the tombs were found. It's no surprise that the 'genius' Pharoahs who built their tombs at the entrance of the valley got discovered first. They didn't just get discovered first... they got discovered before the Ancient Greeks took over. How can you tell? Ancient Greek graffiti from Alexander the Great's tourism agency  is carved alongside the funerary hieroglyphics. Oh, and the Coptic Christians used these tombs to camp out while they were hiding from Roman persecution. These tombs barely lasted 1,000 years. I'd call that a lack of forward planning!

How about that Pharaoh who originally started the Valley of the Kings? They found his tomb somewhere in the 30s of the 63 discovered tombs. I'd say he didn't do half bad.

The tombs themselves are amazing. We had taken a guide for the day, and he recommended the 3 tombs that we should see (you get to pick 3 with your ticket). We went to the tomb of Ramses III, who was the last of the great pharaohs. The detail work in the tomb is amazing. Did you know that the hieroglyphics used to be painted? Did you know that those little hieroglyphic owls had multiple colors and wings drawn? Or that the pharaoh hieroglyphic had stripes painted on his skirt? It's so incredible.

We also saw the tomb of Ramses II's successor Merenptah and Ramses IV. All of which just showed different styles of ornamentation of the same 'Book of the Dead' story. You could see that at some stage, they just stopped cutting out the hieroglyphics from the stone and just started painting on the hieroglyphics. You can also see exactly how deep these tombs went. It was incredible.

We also went and saw two more temples. The Temple of Hatshetsup and Medinet Habu (the 'military temple' of Ramses III). These West Bank temples were built by the different pharaohs for burial processes and when Amun Ra had to take a vacation to visit the dead.

We had a great time at the place we stayed, enjoyed one last Egyptian dinner, and then we went to go and get our train back to Cairo for one more day before we head to Turkey. 

Day 201: Karnak Temple

Considering the mode of transport, we managed to sleep most of the train ride to Luxor. If only that darn baby hadn't been crying for 3 hours. At least it felt like 3 hours. At one point, I thought I hadn't fallen asleep, until I checked my watched and saw indeed I had slept 3 hours. So goes time when babies cry! 

Everything went smoothly upon arrival. The train arrived early! The driver had already arrived to pick us up. We could check in early. You name it. The hotel terrace overlooks the Avenue of the Sphinxes and Luxor Temple. What a great greeting to Luxor!

We freshened up and arranged our itinerary for the day. The family decided to take a guide with us, so off we went to Karnak Temple. 60% of the Ancient Egyptian treasury went to the upkeep of Karnak Temple, which was dedicated the sun god Amun-Ra, his wife Mut, and his son (who I forgot). The 'famous' pharaohs, Seti I, Ramses II, Hatsetshup, Tutmosis, etc. all contributed to the building of this temple at some point. 

The temple not only contains the usual hieroglyphic trappings, but it also contains three of apparently only five remaining obelisks in Egypt. As we walked around the temple, I realized that totally would do what the Pharoahs did when they took power: create 1,000 drawings of myself on various walls, getting introduced to all of the Gods, doing cool stuff, and then just writing my name everywhere else. I would let the power go to my head. Why not? I mean, without these guys, who would we know what Ancient Egyptians looked like? See?! Doing my part for the future generations. That can't be completely self-centered, can it? 

Karnak Temple is pretty impressive, although I was disappointed to learn that the Pharoahs didn't actually live in the temple. They lived in some mud-brick palaces near-by. I thought for sure they would apply the same building techniques to their homes as they did to the temples. After all, they were 'Gods,' right? No! Apparently they had some humility or couldn't get supplies, or something like that. Anyway, no palaces. Just the temples. 

We left Karnak, and Pallavi's Dad and Sister went inside Luxor Temple. We decided to give it a skip. It'd been a long day, and we have to prep for Valley of the Kings tomorrow.