...part 3...

...Wednesday morning we jumped on another minibus, though this time from the bus station, not from under the bridge, and it was a bit bigger and newer. The bus took a similar scenic route farther South to the ferry out to Bozcaada, a small island off the coast in the Aegean. We made the 11.00am ferry



to arrive on the island at about 11.30am. Having done no research, all we knew about this island is that there were beaches and wineries and a big castle, but unfortunately we had no details about how to actually get to any of these places. The town had wine stores but few people knew enough English to get us past the stores and to a winery or vineyard, and that included the man sitting at the tourist booth who handed us our map of the island. However, we prevailed and found a bus to the beach we had heard of: Ayasma. And the beach was beautiful, as well as crowded and the water was extremely calm yet completely frigid, some may say refreshing.



When we finally had enough of the hot sun and the cold we decided it was late enough in the day to go try and find some wine to drink. After trekking around to the big, fancy winestores we finally walked into a smaller, adorable wine shop where a real Turkish man immediately began pouring us glasses of their wine to test. And there was an order to the madness, we ended up tasting every bottle...from the white wine to the sherry. Çok güzel! (i.e. delicious!)

Granted these were just test size sips of the wine, but by the end of our testing we were carrying on quite a conversation with the Turkish man and putting to good use his little English, our little Turkish, and our very helpful Türkçe/English dictionary. Long story short, by the time we finally left the shop we had met the vineyard owner (a very jolly, older man), bought a bunch of wine, and had been convinced to come back the next day and promised the arrangement of a hotel room so that we might stay friday night on the island. And seeing as our only set plan was to spend Thurs. night back in Çanakkale and then get back to İstanbul by Sunday...we had Friday and Saturday still at our disposal...and we hadn't seen everything we wanted to on Bozcaada yet...it was an offer that was hard to refuse...

At 8pm we got back on the last ferry and then took the bus back to Çanakkale and our hostel. Friday morning we did indeed get back on the bus, this time with all of our luggage, and made it back to Bozcaada by noon. Met by our trusty and pleasantly unexpected tourguide...we left our luggage at the hotel and headed off to the fortress. Luckily our tourguide spoke enough English and was proud of the history of his hometown so that he gave us an excellent tour of the fortress and explained many of the different buildings.




Next it was off to the 'fabrika' or the factories where they actually produce the wine:



Then, finally, it was back to the beach for more sun. That night we had some delicious mezes, wine and fish by the water before we were exhausted and headed off to bed. The next morning, on Saturday, still with no set plans, we wandered about the town a bit and had some lunch. By the way, lemonade in Turkey often has mint in it which is delicious! and often there is so much mint your lemonade will be green...

After which we decided we might as well take advantage of our vacation time and headed back to the beach, though this time we went to a different one. Sulubahce was not at all crowded which made up for the slightly less quality of beach and the water was still just as 'refreshing.'

Finally we said goodbye to our new friends, grabbed some dinner, and got on the last ferry.

From there we were headed back to Çanakkale and then on a 1am bus back to İstanbul. We made it to Cafe Nero in Bebek around 8am...exhausted, still sandy, content with life, and much more tan than we were on Monday.

...part 2...

...after Troy we headed back to Çanakkale for the evening and wandered around the older neighborhoods:

by the old military fortress:

and then had dinner by the water:

and then, the next day...

finally a real vacation...part 1...

Last Tuesday night Paistey and I headed off on a night bus to Canakkale down on the Asian side and the coast of the Aegean, at the entrance to the Dardanelles. Wednesday, early, early morning we arrived and then checked into our hostel and took a nap. After much deliberation we decided to brave Troy on our own, without the help of a 60lira tourguide and tourbus. It worked out well enough, we found the minibuses underneath the bridge down the road, grab some breakfast, and took a scenic drive down to Troy.

Troy was really interesting and I'm glad I've finally seen it. Not sure what I can really say about it...it's big, there are a lot of old rocks. Some buildings are able to be deciphered thanks to the many descriptive signs all over the site. Maybe one day I will be able to be able to actually understand a place like this all on my own? That would be cool. Oh and of course Troy would be nothing without a large wooden horse, right??!

and then...

Counting the ships going by...

I'm starting to understand what Orhan Pamuk meant exactly when he described counting the ships on the Bosphorous. Counting becomes a very subconcious activity, one I'm not sure I could or would do on purpose. But sitting here in Bebek in a coffee shop all morning, staring out the window to rest my eyes from reading or typing, I find I have counted about five large oil carriers. All of which have been sailing North to the Black Sea, to Russia. Of course I have not acquired, and doubt I ever will acquire, the knowledge of the specific type and names of each ship. Yet I have learned this summer that when a ship seems extra large and immerging from the water so a great deal of the red painted bottom half is showing, then the ship is probably not carrying oil. And often when returning from the North, and sailing South to the Mediterranean, the ships will be fully submerged in the water with only the tip of the black rim above water, thus weighted down with oil.

'Paistey'(i.e. Rachel) and I are currently staying at our friend 'Pascal's' (i.e. Can/John in eng.) apartment near Bebek as of last night. We left with him this morning when he went to work so his father could have some time to work in the house. Last week we had spent housesitting for the CatLady of Robert College. I have to say, as much sneezing occured while living there, the numerous pets did do a very good job of replacing the numerous campers we had become used to hanging around us everyday for the previous seven weeks. Paistey laughed at me when I started calling the cats by Campers' names....well, we didnt know they're actual names, so it was good I called them something and usually they were campers I liked. Today Paistey and I are spending the day in Bebek. She has some travel writing to finish for her job and I'm just wasting the day away with uploading pictures, net-surfing, facebook-stalking, and reading. We've been at Cafe Nero all morning, its about time now to change locales though and maybe get some lunch. Then its very possible that we'll be at Starbucks for the remainder of the afternoon. Thats how these chain coffee cafes get you -- free internet, lack of observant waiters, and real coffee and cappucinos. As much as I enjoy a good Turkish coffee...the Turks are not so good at straight coffee or espresso drinks. They will either offer Nescafe (instant coffee) or 'Filter Coffee' which is often way too weak. Therefore Starbucks and Cafe Nero bring in the business.

My registration for school is next week and the following week I should (hopefully) have my housing settled. Not sure where I'll be living next week, but for the remainder of this week I think Paistey and I have come up with an excellent option. Tomorrow night we'll be catching a bus overnight to Canakkale on the South coast of the Dardanelles, the strait between Asia and Europe at the entrance to the Aegean from the Sea of Marmara. When we arrive on Weds. we are planning on doing a tour of Troy and possibly Gallipoli on the North Shore. Then on Thurs. we'll catch a ferry to the island Bozcaada at the mouth of the Dardanelles. The island is supposed to be gorgeous, and it can't be all that bad if its in the Aegean:) I just can't wait to really get to a beach! It never feels like a complete summer, especially a summer spent so close to the Mediterranean, with a relaxing day at the beach (without 100 kids to be responsible for) tanning and eating and drinking local wine. Friday we'll mosy our way back to Istanbul, possibly stopping along the way, possibly not. Then I might be going to another football game friday night, though I'll have to switch my loyalties because it is a Besiktas game and not a Galatasaray game...(just as long as its not a Fenerbahce game, hah).

well, enough of my rambling for the time being...off to lunch somewhere...

pictures...

i am slowly but surely updating the photos on my flikr account when I have an extra moment, enjoy...

http://www.flickr.com/photos/11710788@N07/

ps. there are photos of turkey from this year on there, you just have to be a member/friend/family of me to be able to see them, so let me know if you want the invite.

"Real Istanbul"

Go Galatasaray!!!

The Grand Bazaar

The Spice Bazaar

RCSummer in the news...

http://www.treehugger.com/files/2009/08/istanbul-summer-campers-create-new-green-age.php