Back In The Bay

Well I figured that I might as well pass the time before I hit the road again to post some blogs from time to time with my journeys across this great land. It has been a little of a year since I moved from the Bay Area. Time sure flies. I have been wanting to come back to visit some friends and ex co-workers before my father and I started building a new house in Jefferson. There was no better time than now. I arrived in San Francisco the 10 of August. My flight was delayed in leaving Denver because of a thunderstorm that rolled through. That caused my arrival time to be 45 minutes late. My old roommate and friend, KC was their to pick me up though. Its good to be back here. We have spent our time going to some old sites in the City and around the North Bay. The weather hasn't been as hot as I was hoping but at least there is no humidity like in Iowa. The highlights of the trip has been seeing one of my favorite bands, Hot Buttered Rum String Band, in Petaluma last Friday. For those that haven't heard of them, and I presume there are quite a few, they are a bluegrass band from the Bay Area. Some other highlights have been going to Stinson Beach, Point Reyes, and Bodega Bay. I love going out to those places and just relaxing especially if the wind is cooperating so I can play some frisbee. The only day that that happened was at Point Reyes. Most of my time here the last ten days have been hanging out and riding KC's bike around Novato. I was hoping to take the bus to various places but the transit system is only good for people leaving early in the morning and returning at night. But its been good to just relax with a good book, 1984 by Orson Welles, and enjoy the beautiful weather by the pool. I'm leaving Saturday. It will be good because I have spent way more cash than I was expecting and the house that my father and I are building is ready to be started. My next journey will be back to my second home, Ft. Collins, CO, in October to see my favorite band Widespread Panic. Below are pictures from my time here. Until next time......



Enjoying a hookah and moussakka at Kazaman on Haight in San Francisco



KC, Rosie, and me enjoying the day on a beach in Bodega



KC and I playing shuffle board at Raleigh's in Berkeley



Outside the 710 Ashbury St., SF where Jerry Garcia used to live



An iconic image of the Golden Gate Bridge shrouded in fog

No Tryptophan In This Turkey

Im back in good ole' Dublin. It is easy to fall in love with a town like Dublin. Especially if you love Guiness, and of course I do. The Guiness does really taste better the closer to Dublin you get. I say town because it doesnt have the big city feeling to it. This is going to be my last entry from this journey so I wanted to talk about Turkey. When I think of Turkey five words come to me. Cay, pronounced like the tea Chai, cigarettes, bread, cookies, and then back to cay again. EVERYONE, and I mean everyone, drinks Cay. Cay is Turkish tea. They put tons of sugar in it too. No matter what town or village you are in you will see a boy or a man walking around with a tray of tea. On the buses they serve tea. Turks take at least four tea breaks a day. The next is cigarettes. I think Turks smoke more than any culture I have ever been around. The smoke more than they drink tea and if you ever go to Turkey you will see what I mean. The third word is bread. Turks eat bread with everything and lots of it too. It is really good bread so it is easy to just keep eating it. Usually you will see a local walking in the streat eating bread. Also there are vendors that push a cart around selling a ring of bread covered in sesame seeds. The fourth word that comes to mind is cookies. Wow the Turks really love their cookies. When you go into a little market or corner store more than half of the inventory is cookies. Within that you have over 30 different types and kinds of cookies to choose from. I love my moms cookies but there is one particular brand in Turkey that I couldnt get away from. They rival my mothers. Its hard to say which is better. That last thing is cay. Again if you ever go to Turkey, and you should, you will understand why I cant stress that word enough. I really enjoyed my time in Turkey. Out of all the countries I have been to, Turkey is right at the top. There is just so much to see and do. So many different landscapes and thats only in one half of the country. If you go to the east you have more mountains and more trees and lakes. The Turkish people are very warm and inviting. Even if they dont speak English they will try to help you. I thought coming over to a country like Turkey that many men would have beards. Boy was I wrong. I didnt see one person that had a beard even close to the length of mine. The men that did have beards it was just a little stubble and they were older men in there 50s or higher. I received a lot of looks walking by people and even questions sometimes on why it was that long. I just told them I hate to shave. The other day in Istanbul a gentleman asked me if I was Santa Clause. I told him no because my beard isnt white. He said that I could have dyed it. I was laughing as I walked away. For those of you who are still reading this go to Turkey. If not for any length of time, just one day in Istanbul wandering the Grand Bazaar and going into the mosques will be well worth it. I leave tomorrow from Dublin and fly into Chicago where my parents will be waiting. Im not sure when I will venture back over the big pond we call the Atlantic Ocean. I have decided where though. My next trip will be southeast Asia. Id like to go in the fall of 2008 but when I do go it will be for at least 6 months if not longer. I hope you have enjoyed reading my blogs as much as I have enjoyed writing them. Take care to the folks who I wont be seeing anytime soon and to all you other freaks...see ya soon. Cheers!

Crazy About Cappadocia

I got back to Istanbul two days ago. It was kind of an ordeal to get here. First I almost missed my bus from Goreme. I thought it left at 9 PM but it turns out I had to take a shuttle from there to Neveshir where it left at 9. Thankfully I got there just in time before the shuttle got too far away and my hostle took me to meet the shuttle where it was waiting a few minutes away. My ticket was supposed to be right to Sultanahmet which is the old part of town where my hostel is at. But the ticket was only to the main bus station and then I had to take a shuttle to a metro stop and then the metro to here. No one spoke English at the station and they all seemed angry. After 30 minutes of waiting an Aussie and I decided to split a cab. We talked the driver down from 30 ytl to 15 ytl. When I arrived here at Bahaus the owner asked if I wanted to work the bar while I was here in exchange for free room, food, and drinks. Of course I said yes. Its been fun. I have started around 5 and worked until 3. The free drinks alone has been worth it. Alright back to Cappadocia. I spent 8 days there which was plenty of time. Most people only spend 2 or 3 days. The reason I stayed there so long was if I went anywhere else I would have only been there for 1 or 2 days before I would have to head back to Istanbul. Plus I have seen pretty much everything. So I just decided to stay there. The town I stayed at was Goreme. It is the most famous town in Cappadocia. Most people stay there. The reason why Cappadocia is so famous is for the rocks formations and cave houses. Centuries ago the 3 surrounding volcanos errupted all about the sametime. The lava and ash filled in the valleys. Overtime errosion from snow, rain, and wind carved away the soft sandstone leaving these cones that have been givin the name, "fairy chimmneys". Its amazing how the tops manage to stay and not fall over. You can see in my pictures below what appears to be doors and windows. Well they are. People used to live in them. Now almost all of them are just pigeon houses. They used to collect the pigeon poo and mix it with various other things to make the paint for their fresco paintings. Also they used it for fertilizer. Now the locals just use it for fertilizer for their vineyards. Cappadocia is also famous for there underground cities. The Byzntines built these underground cities to escape from enemy forces during wartimes. Most of the cities had tunnels that connect to eachother. I took a tour of the most famous one. It goes down 64 meters but they suspect it went as far at 90 meters down. The longest they stayed in the city was 30 days. After the Byzntines the Christians occupied them. Here are a few pictures from the city I went to.

Most of my time was spent hiking. Well all my time with the exception of two tours I took. But even those had some hiking. There must be at least 8 valleys within close proximity of Goreme and those are the ones designated as trails. You can easily just go to anyone and walk around. The second day I was there I hiked Love Valley. Im not sure how long it was but it took me about 90 minutes. When I got almost to the end it started raining and then to sleet. A local couple and their younger son sped by me on their bike at the end. When I got to the road they were across it in a cave. They were calling me over to them in Turkish to get out of the rain. We stayed there for 10-15 minutes until the downpour turned to a sprinkle. The walk back to Goreme was 3 km. I think this is a video of Love Valley but I cant remember.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0QWC6zoS_TE

A few days later I hit up 5 trails around Goreme. By the time I had gotten back to my hostle I had walked roughly 25 miles. Boy were my legs tired. The best valley on that hike was Zimi Valley. I should say that on these trails there arent any signs. Also the locals farm in the valleys so what might be trail or path to their plot can easily be confused with the trail. I learned this in Zimi Valley. After 2 hours the trail just suddenly ended. I was surrounded by trees and rocks. The first thought in my head was great Im lost and I would have to walk all the way back the other way. I decided to just climb up one of the rock faces to see if I could see the trail or a road at the top. I did. When I started to decend the face it came a sudden end and the drop was a good 15 feet. Thankfully I didnt slip going down because the face was covered with loose rocks and pebbles. So I had to climb back up and find another way down. Again the samething when I tried to decend. Now I was faced with trying it again or just continue walking up and out. I chose the later idea. When I ended up getting out of the valley I was north of the town of Urchisar which is 6 km north of Goreme. Now I had to walk the 3 km into town and the 6 back to Goreme. Eventhough it was a very long day it was one of the best I had in Turkey. The second to last day in Cappadocia I went to Ihlara Valley. This valley is famous for the churches carved into the face of the cliff walls. Most people take a tour there because it is out of the way and there is not a direct route there. I didnt feel like spending 50 ytl for a tour that was only going to allow us to hike 4 km of it. So I took the solo route. I got the 8:30 dolmus, which in Turkish means "squished", from Goreme to Neveshir. A dolmus can best be describe as a regular bus cut in half. Im sure you have seen these in smalltown America used by schools. When I got to Neveshir I grabbed the bus to Aksaray about an hour away. When I arrived to Aksaray I found out I had to take a dolmus to the center of town to the dolmus bus station. After asking a few locals I managed to find it. But now I had to wait an hour until it left for Ihlara. The ride to Ihlara was only 45 minutes. Ihlara was by far the best valley I had seen. There is a mini river that runs through the whole valley. The trail runs along the side but sometimes it cuts up along the rocks and shrubs. I loved every minute of it. The Lonely Planet guide book said it would take 7-8 hours to hike the whole thing. That was BS. I walked the whole thing in 3 hours. But I didnt stop and go into the churches because I was concerned about missing a bus back to Aksaray. Here are some pictures and a video from Ihlara Valley.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ubK7k3NagAg








Now is where the interesting part begins. When I got out of the valley I was in a small village outside Selime which is on the north tip of the valley. I got to a market just in time to catch a dolmus. The bus was occupied with little kids getting out of school. They all looked at me with awe. I swear sometimes that Turks have never seen a man with a big beard. But I will save my thoughts on that for the next entry. On the bus there was a young school teacher that told me I had to wait at the school until 4 when the bus would return and then we would go to Aksaray. When I exited at the school I was met by a handful of school kids that had to be 11-13 years old. They new hello and how are you in English. They couldnt believe that I was an American and I had a huge beard. They thought I was lying and I was from somewhere else. They tried on my sunglasses and pulled on my beard. They kept saying stuff in Turkish and laughing. I know they were bustin my chops about my appearance. At first it was cute and funny but then after 20 minutes it got annoying. Thankfully one of the teachers came out and told them to leave Im assuming, in Turkish, because they all left. When the dolmus came back I sat in the back with the first teacher and his friends. There was a funny Turk man on there that couldnt believe that I was an American. He was making jokes about having a beard because the only people who have long beards in Turkey are the "monks" so to speak who dont drink. I dont know the title for Islam. He was a nice man though. After some stops in Aksaray myself and another gentleman from Turkey but living in London helped me get a ticket back to Neveshir. It was 7 by the time I returned to Goreme. That day was one of the best days I had in Turkey because of the things I saw and the people I met. My last day in Goreme I walked to the Goreme Open Air Museum. It wasnt anything special because everything it had I had already seen in the tours I did. The thing to see was the churches. What was cool was the frescos in the churches they had. They were Christian frescos with images of Jesus and saints. On my way back I walked by a carpet shop. The salesman said carpets. I said no thinks. But then I stopped and I said actually Im curious on prices. "I cant afford one and Im not going to buy one but I just want to know prices", I said. Big mistake. I told him 100 YTL is the most I would spend but I wanted something fairly large. After 45 minutes I came out with a nice carpet for 144 YTL. I wanted to buy one regardless but I had decided a few days prior that I wasnt going to get one. Well turns out I did. So now along with my 30 lb backpack I have a 6 lb handbag to carry. Today is basically my last day in Turkey. My flight to Dublin leaves at 12:20 tomorrow. I am flying from Istanbul to London and then changing plans and flying to Dublin. Its been a great ride. When I get to Dublin I will make my last entry with my thoughts about Turkey in general and maybe some adventures in Dublin. I can already taste the fresh Guiness now. Cheers.


Mount Edis

Fairy Chimmneys




Old dwelling

Urchisar, with the Urchisar Castle in the background. Its the highest point in Cappadocia

Ancient house with pidgeon houses on the side.

Olympos....Maybe Heaven on Earth?

Ok boys and girls everyone gather around the computer. Its time for a magical story about an ancient settled nusseled away in Southern Turkey where pirates and various ancient civilations lived. And where some thought a monster lived in the hills. Olympos is by far one of the most beautiful places I have ever been to. It is located at the bottom of a huge, mini-mountain. When we were on the bus going to it we turned off onto this gravel road. There were no signs so I had no idea what the driver was doing. We kept driving down and down and around corners. Soon we got into a lot of pine trees. Before I knew it we were there. Olympos is famous for their "treehouse" dwellings. There most be at least 20 different places to stay at and they all claim they have treehouses. The truth is that most of them only have 1 or 2 and a few don't have any at all. Now when I say treehouse I dont mean the kind you had as a kid. Some of them are really fancy. You have a set of stairs to a wooden room basically. Some are just one bed while other have 2 bunk beds. What makes them tree houses can vary. I saw ones that had just the trunk of the tree going through it. Others had 2 or more parts of the tree going through it. They were really cool. I unfortunetly didnt get one. My room was just a box up on stilts. It had planks of wood for siding and shingles on it. BUT they didnt put them close together. So there were gaps all around. I considered it camping but without a tent. I thought I might get cold but I didnt. The treehouses are really the main draw for people to come to Olympos. There is some history though. Rather than type it out here is a link if you are interested.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olympos

One of the coolest things though was a place called Chimaera. This is a place were flames come out of the ground. It is caused by gases that come out of cracks and when they hit the oxygen in the air, they combust. The first night I got to Olympos some people from the boat and a few other cats and I decided to hike there. Every place offers a shuttle but it is 15 YTL. We knew we could hike there. So we took our torches, that is what Aussies call flashlights, and headed out. We didnt really know where we were going just the direction to go. The hike turned out to be about 7 km eachway. We made great time though. It was worth it because that place was something else. No wonder the ancient people thought a monster lived there. My camera sucks at night but here is a picture I pulled off the net.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:FiresChimera2.jpg

That was the first night. The next couple of days I just hiked around and explored the area. It was really nice out. I wish I could have stayed longer but my tour package only had me there for 3 nights. It was good to just relax and take it all in. Here is video I took from the top of the Akropoli.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o6oV3llqluA

Tonight I am leaving for Istanbul. Its an overnight bus. YIPPEE! I cant wait to update my time here in Goreme and Cappaducia. I will wait until Istanbul because my hostel has free net and faster upload speeds. Yesterday I started week 7. Time sure does fly. See ya soon. Cheers.

Looking down on Olympos.

Looking down on Olympos.



In ancient castle in the woods.

The castle from the beach.

A pic of a guy I met on my boat cruise. We are in my treehouse.

Cruisin'

It has been a few days now since I left the boat in Demry. I am just now getting my land-legs back. Thank goodness. The boat was fun. If the weather would have cooperated more than it would have even been better. We departed Fethiye on Sunday morning. Sunday was by far the hottest day. That day we sailed for 3 or 4 hours. We first stopped in the harbor called the Blue Lagoon. Myself and a few other people jumped in and swam. The water was freezing. The water was so called it took your breath away as soon as you got in. We picked up anchor and went around the bend and stopped at Butterfly Valley. Supposedly this is a haven for hippies protecting a certain species of butterflys. I jumped in and swam to the beach while holding my camera and flip-flops with my right arm out of the water. The water here was way warmer. A few of us hiked up to the waterfall. I believe it was about 800 KM. I ran into a few of the locals and they didnt really look like hippies. Granted they had dreads but that doesnt really classify you as a hippie. They were tilling the ground to plant crops. They also had a greenhouse and a few cows. You could actually stay here if you wanted. They had little shack type houses to stay in. After the hike I swam back to the boat. Thankfully my camera never got wet. That night we ported by St. Nicholas's Island. This is were St. Nick, aka Santa Clause, was born. The next day was the worst day of the whole trip. Myself and a few Aussies stayed up until 3 that morning drinking. It was really fun actually because these guys came onboard to fix the chain that pulls up the anchor. I got to ride with the captain in the dingy back to shore at 3:30. But that morning when we woke up the waves were really bad and it was windy. I wasnt hungover and felt fine until the boat started moving. I stayed in my cabin for most of the day with my eyes closed listening to my Ipod. We ported for lunch in the seaside village of Kas. Thankfully because I was able to get off the boat and walk around for a few hours. I forget were we ported that night for the evening. The weather the third day was much better than the day before. It was still windy but at least we had sun. It was so windy that we stayed in a cove for almost the whole day. We stopped at the island of Simena to check out a castle. It was funny because as soon as we landed and started climbing up, all the locals came down to meet us with scarfs, necklaces, and other items. An old lady took myself and two others up to the castle and gave us a personal tour. When we finally left the cove we only went about an hour before stopping for the evening. The next day was what we should have had the whole trip. It was hot and sunny and hardly any wind. We stopped outside of Pirate's Cove. I am not sure how it got its name but that is just what it is called. Myself and a few others swam to it and inside. I didnt realize how far the boat was away from it before I jumped in. It took me a good amount of time to actually get inside. Then I waited for 5 minutes while I got my breath back. We arrived in Demry in the afternoon on Wednesday. There we caught a bus to Olympos. I will save that story for another day while I am here in Goreme. Cheers.

Part of the guests.

The city of Kas

Where all the magic happens

castle of top of Simena

our tour guide on Simena

the Baba Veil, our ship









The boat.


Looking down from the waterfall in Butterfly Valley.

Waterfall at the top of Butterfly Valley


Butterfly Valley

Butteryfly Valley

Butterfly Valley

Outside Fethiye harbor

Leaving Fethiye on the boat.

Troy and Pammukale Pictures

These pictures really dont do the pools justice. If you look at any postcard you will see what it used to be like before the 80s and the pollution. It was still cool to see them though.







This is the pool I swam in. Pretty clear huh.








The pictures below are from Troy. There isnt much to see. You can climb up into this replica of the horse but there were tons of kids there and I didnt really feel like fighting with them.