Jess Barrington Travels

I Caught a Full-blown Case of Albania Mania (with a side of Montenegran salmonella)

Hi all! It’s hard to believe that Phil and I left Greece three weeks ago! Man, time flies when you’re having fun. Although I greatly enjoyed the food tour of Athens we did and I wrote about here, we did a lot more in our five days there which Phil wrote about here, here, here, and also here.

Albania has been so fun! I say this even after having been out of commission for almost a week with what I am pretty sure was salmonella from some peanuts I ate during a day trip to Montenegro. Whatever it was is gone now, hallelujah, and I am so happy to be feeling back to normal. I’ll spare you the details on the food poisoning and jump right into the beauty and hospitality of Albania.

Why Albania? Where is Albania? I’ve been asked both of these questions more than once. Where? Albania is a Balkan country located on the coast of the Adriatic Sea, across from the boot of Italy. To it’s north lies Montenegro and Kosovo, to the east North Macedonia, and to the south, Greece.

Why? Well, in looking at our post-Spain, pre-return home summer travel options, we looked at several criteria. Summer is notoriously the busiest, touristy time to visit anywhere in Europe. This is why all of our previous trips have been in the spring or fall. We did not have the luxury of choosing the season this go-round, so we looked at places that aren’t necessarily the most popular destinations in hopes we’d find a few less tourists. We also looked at countries that sparked our interest but that if we were flying to Europe from the U.S. would not be easy to get to (therefore taking up valuable vacation days with travel time).

Phil and I visited Croatia and Slovenia in 2004 during our first trip to Europe together. We knew the Balkan countries were beautiful and have talked about visiting more countries in the area on multiple occasions. We also knew July anywhere in Europe was going to be HOT, so best to choose a country with plenty of options to get in the water and/or up into the mountains for a respite from the heat. We watched videos on Albania and not only was the country beautiful, we heard and read over and over again how friendly the people are. And so, it was decided. We would spend July exploring Albania.

We picked up our rental car in the capital city of Tirana after landing and were off to Shëngjin on the northwest coast of Albania, on the Adriatic Sea. Phil and I have now been on both sides of the Adriatic, most recently with my mother-in-law in Pescara, Italy. We took an unforgettable road trip up the Adriatic coast of Italy in the spring of 2019 (ah, sweet pre-pandemia). It definitely holds a special place in our hearts.

Shëngjin is a laidback beach town. Not all beach towns in Albania are so laid back, we would later discover. Shëngjin is mostly a tourist destination, with a long strip of sandy beach and beach bars (forever chiringuitos to me) on one side of the street and restaurants and more bars on the other side. Lining the beachfront are various beach chairs with umbrellas, usually with a small table. Each change in chair style or umbrella color denotes a change in ownership of the seating area. Once you identify a seating area/umbrella situation that suites your needs, one simply sits down at an open seat and shortly a fellow will be by to collect the small sum (less than $5 USD) to rent the chair(s) for the day. Oftentimes, these seats are affiliated with a beach bar. This offers both the comfort of lounging by the beach and the ease of procuring a beverage mere steps away.

Our first beach day in Shëngjin was spent a short five minute walk from our accommodations (let’s talk more about Albania accommodations later because they are worth mentioning). We set up in beach chairs equidistant from the sea and the beach bar. We had a large umbrella with a table around it to block the sun and hold our drinks. The beach was soft and sandy, the water blue and while not the clearest or most beautiful we’ve seen, it was warm and inviting. The water was so shallow near the shore, one could walk out nearly fifty yards and still touch the sea floor. We swam and lounged and drank the whole afternoon, grabbing a couple of pizzas on the way home for dinner.

A waiter at one of the beach bars had advised us to check out the Rana e Hedhun Beach (Thrown Sand Beach), a short drive north of Shëngjin as it was a nice place to watch the sunset. The next afternoon we did just that.

As laid back as the beach in Shëngjin had been, the Rana e Hedhun beach was even more so, with fewer people and larger stretches of beach between the beach bars and seating areas. The Italian fellow who owned the beach bar we settled at was very nice and even made us mojitos that he served us on the beach. The sunset, as advertised, did not disappoint.

The next day we said goodbye to Shëngjin and headed for the mountain village of Theth, set high in the Albanian Alps.

During our time in Albania we have stayed in what are referred to as guesthouses, very similar to rural casas in Spain. They typically consist of a building or house that has been divided into several guest rooms, with indoor and or outdoor common areas. Breakfast is often included and the guesthouse is usually operated by a couple or family. Some rooms are spacious and feel like studio apartments whereas others feel more like dated hotel rooms. We haven’t had a bad stay in a guesthouse yet. Albanians are known for their hospitality and the guesthouse owners genuinely want to ensure their guests are taken care of. The gueshouses are also extremely affordable. The one we stayed at in Shëngjin was the equivilant to $20 a night for a large room with queen bed and two twin beds (we often ended up with triple or quadruple rooms or the “family suite” where we stayed because we wanted a private bathroom), a kitchen table with four chairs, and a kitchette complete with full-sized refriderator. The room wasn’t fancy and it looked like it was straight out of the 1970’s but it was clean and had airconditioning so suited us just fine.

Ariel photo of SH-21 courtesy of dangerroads.org

The road to Theth winds high through the Albanian Alps (aka the Accursed Mountains-for real, that’s the name). The road, known as SH-21, is impassible from November-May due to the heavy snow and ice accumulation. In fact, prior to September of 2021, one needed a four-wheel drive and an extreme thirst for adventure to drive the road at all as it was unpaved and guardrails were sparse. I found this video of someone driving the road before it was paved and it was no joke.

Phil is driving during our time in Albania. We thought the extra money to rent an automatic would be well worth it as we’d read that Albanians are very aggressive drivers. In fact, the fellow at the rental office (who himself is Albanian) said Albanians don’t like to follow the rules of the road and are the worst drivers in Europe. Phil is from Chicago, home of the aggressive driver. Offensive driving he calls it. O-ffensive driving I call it. After driving all over the U.S. and having lived in LA where there are up to six lanes on each side, Chicago is still one city I prefer not to drive in if I don’t have to. Anyway, we felt Phil had a unique set of skills that lent themselves well to driving in Albania.

Luckily, we didn’t encounter anyone driving too crazy on the way to Theth because although the road is paved, it is still windy, mountain driving with narrow roads and switchbacks. As is also true with most mountain driving, we had glorious views of the beautiful country.

At the end of SH-21 lies Theth. It’s a cute little village on the Shala river whose icy waters flow down from the mountains. The village is composed mostly of Guesthouses, restaurants, bars, and a couple of small convenience stores. Theth National park also lies in the Shala River Valley and the surrounding mountains. A relatively short but narrow road led to our guesthouse, Bujtina (the Albanian term for guesthouses, literally translated as Inn) Dreni.

We arrived in the evening after being greeted by young Aron, the teenage son of the owner, who showed us to our room. It was our simplest accommodation; a bed, nightstand, and small bathroom but it met our needs just fine. The main guesthouse had a restaurant and dining room on the first floor, with guestrooms on the upper floors. There was also another, smaller house next to the mainhouse that was a bit like a hostel, offering shared accommodations and bathrooms with no private rooms.

The guesthouse had a very laid back, wandering traveler kind of vibe to it; a couple of fellows were hanging out on the front porch drinking beer and playing cards, a solo young woman emerged from the shared accommodations and headed toward the river to take a dip, and a few other pairs of backpackers made their way down the road presumably returning from a day’s trekking in the area.

The mother of the family running the guesthouse, Anna, told Phil the two must-sees in Theth were the Blue Eye of Theth (a natrual blue pool in the mountains-which we had already planned to visit) and a nearby waterfall. She told him the waterfall was only about a 20 minute walk from the guesthouse. We decided it was still early enough in the evening for us to check it out, so off we went. We walked along the river, following red signs pointing the way to the falls. We eventually saw the waterfall in the distance but were confused as to how to reach it. Soon the trail curved upward and we knew how we would reach it, by climbing up the damn mountain (escalar, escalar). We had already been walking for well over 20 minutes but figured we’d made it this far so might as well keep going.

Up we went, climbing and sweating. Before too long, we felt the temperature drop as we neared the mountain falls. They were lovely and well worth the climb. As we were there not long before sunset, there were only a few other folks and pretty soon, it was just the two of us. It was a great way to spend our first few hours in Theth, getting out into nature and breathing in the fresh air (respira al aire). The green hills and rustic stone walls of the area reminded me of our beloved Asturias.

On our way back to the guesthouse, we stopped at a little beer garden; an area with small tables that had a couple of coolers of cold beverages and a few snack offerings. We drank water and enjoyed a beer while we cooled off from our impromptu mountain hike.

The next morning after a tasty breakfast outside, gazing at the mountains, we walked into the village where we found a little festival that was taking place. A stage had been erected outside of a large indoor/outdoor restaurant and two fellows were speaking and laughing as the audience listened. We saw some other folks in traditional looking garb preparing for some kind of performance and decided to carry on with our walk (the village is not that big) and circle back afterward to see what was going on.

After a quick stop at the tourist information center and the general store, we headed back toward the festival. We found out from the gal working the tourist information that the festival was celebrating the opening of the tourist season. The town essentially closes in the winter and all but a few families return to wherever they live full-time. Anna, Aron, and their family who ran our guesthouse live in the capital city of Tirana for most of the year.

After watching a bit of the performances and grabbing a beer, Phil and I decided to make our way back to the guesthouse as the sky was getting dark and rain looked to be moving in. They’d even started taking the stage down from the festivities. On the way we saw the Kisha e Thethit, the small Cahtolic church in town. It was in the direction of our guesthouse so we decided to take a different route that would take us home, passing in front of the church.

The church was completely encircled by a gate, though one area had steps that let up and over the gate and down again. The door to the church was open and there was a white horse hanging out in the grassy area near the door. We’re pretty sure he was the guard horse as some young men approached the church as we were standing there, and the horse walked toward the door and seemed to block it. The sprinkle of rain that had started as we neared the church had turned into a full blown rain, so we put some pep in our step and headed for the guesthouse with haste.

The wind picked up and the rain drops grew fatter and our umbrella turned inside out! As we rounded the corner toward the guesthouse, a friendly barkeep who must have seen us coming, stepped outside and opened his door, ushering us in. We thanked him and sat down, ordered a couple of beers, and tried to dry out a little. The nice fellow brought us a small plate of tomatoes, cucumbers, and cheese to have with our drinks. About 20 minutes later, the rain began to let up a bit and we decided we should make a run for it before the road to the guesthouse was one big mud puddle.

The next day, we made the trip to the Blue Eye of Theth. One can take a small bus to the trail head that leads to the Blue Eye for only €6 and hike the remaining 45 minutes or one can take a 4 hour hike to the Blue Eye. We like hiking but an hour and a half round trip is much more our speed than eight hours round trip. We boarded the bus along with some other folks from the guesthouse around 10:30 am and were off. After a bumpy half hour ride we arrived. A small bridge over the river and lovely blue swimming hole led the way, past a couple of small stores and restaurants. A couple from Dublin who were staying at the guesthouse with their two teenage girls invited us to join them and their private guide for the hike to the Blue Eye. We happily accepted, chatting as we went.

The relatively flat, gravel trail led to an uphill rocky one. At one point we stopped for a breather and one of the teen girls asked the guide if we were almost there to which he replied we were not quite half way. She audibly groaned and said she was just going to stay seated in that spot and wait for them to return. She wasn’t so lucky and on we went, up the mountain. As we got closer we passed through a little shack on the trail selling cold beverages and a covered spot to drink them. I figured if we stopped at that point, I might make an offer much like the teen girl did so we refrained and carried on.

We arrived at what we thought must be the Blue Eye, a large blue swimming hole with a bridge atop it and another man selling ice cold beverages in a huge metal trough cooled by the mountain water. I asked the man if we were at the Blue Eye and he said, “Blue eye up” and pointed. Damn.

At that moment, we saw a group of hikers coming down from the direction of the fellow had pointed and we asked them how close we were. “Three minutes” he said. That sounded doable so we walked up and then back down to the Blue Eye. It was beautiful and blue and clear and freezing cold. Some folks lounged near the edge of the water in their bathing suits but only a very few braved the icy waters. After sitting along the water’s edge, taking a few photos, and refilling our water bottles with the cold, fresh, mountain water, we headed back down to meet back up with the bus.

That evening, after dinner, we sat outside and played cards and drank raki, the traditional, potent, distilled spirit made from grapes. It was a lovely way to end our time in Theth. The next morning we were off again, back down (and up and down and up and down) the mountain road. This time we were headed for Lake Shkodër. Stay tuned for more on our time there.

Eating [my way through] Athens

I’ve wanted to visit Greece for a long time. Because it’s so far away from the rest of Europe, it wasn’t an easy add-on to our previous European travels. It is also a long flight (15 hours from LA). Though once we knew we were going to Turkey and then Albania, Greece, being between them, was an easy choice and with only staying a few days, it wouldn’t break the bank.

Because we only had five days, we decided to stay only in Athens and forgo a trip to the islands (we had beach time in Antalya and more to come in Albania). Islands are nice but c’mon, it’s Athens. While a trip to the islands would have technically been doable, after spending the fifteen prior days in intense Istanbul, we felt like staying put and chilling. Now, the idea of chilling in Athens may sound funny given that it is a major tourist destination, especially in summer. Compared with Istanbul however, Athens is a relatively small city.

In Athens we had an entire rental to ourselves! No more box of a hotel room that barely fits around the bed! We had a full on apartment with a separate bedroom, bathroom, living room, and kitchen. It was so very nice to spread out. I was even able to fit in some yoga which I hadn’t been able to properly do in several weeks given the size of our accommodations. The apartment also had AC! Athens is hot, very hot, so being able to chill in a cool apartment during our down time was a dream.

We arrived in Athens around 9am and couldn’t check into our rental until 2pm. Schlepping around luggage in the hot hot is not fun so we found a cafe and hunkered down for a few hours before grabbing lunch at a fantastic restraunt right around the corner from our rental called the Traditional. Our lunch consisted of a Greek salad (with an entire flippin’ slab o’ feta cheese on top!), mousaka, and what the menu simply listed as “piglet” which was roast suckling pig. It was nice to have pork again after being in Turkey where it is tough to come by. I do love lamb but pork will always have my heart (if you keep eating so much pork it will, Jess). It was all delicious and at prices that rivaled those in Turkey which was a surprise indeed.

The next day, we had an Airbnb experience booked; a food tour of Athens hosted by a native Athenian, Julia, who was assisted by her husband George. A few days before, Phil and I had been talking about some religious images we’d seen and I said I thought it was St. George. He wasn’t convinced. My logic was that we had seen the image in a Greek Orthodox church and I thought George was probably a pretty common name in Greece as almost every Greek restaurant I have ever been to in the U.S. was named George’s (we later discovered, it was indeed St. George). Julia informed us on our tour that George (pronounced Yay-or-hee-os… kind of) is the most common male name in Greece and said if you find yourself in trouble and simply call our “George!”, someone is bound to come to your aid.

I was very excited for the tour as the reviews were great and promised we wouldn’t leave hungry. It did not disappoint. We met Julia, Geroge, and the four other folks on the tour; a newly retired couple from Pennsylvania and two friends in their late 20’s who had met studying abroad in Germany during college (one lives in Long Island, NY and the other is Bahamian) at a bakery near to our rental. We sampled an Athenian pastry, bougasta, made with filo, custard, and plenty of cinnamon.

After introductions and the pastry sampling, we were off to the next stop; spice shops. We walked past shops, some 3rd and 4th generation, filled with beautiful looking and fragrant spices. Probably the most loved and most often used spice in Greece is oregano. I can totally support this. I too love oregano. They even have oregano flavored potato chips that are super tasty (not on this food tour, on the food tour that is my life). After the spices, we saw meats, delicious cured meats hanging from the rafters, literally.

As we walked through the neighborhood we next stopped at an olive cart with bins upon bins of olives, at least thirty different ones. We tried kalamata olives, green olives, back olives of all curing times and styles, spice pairings, and sizes. My favorite was probably a large green olive brined with lemon. So delicious. I probably ate fifteen to twenty olives. Good thing we brought a large water bottle with us.

After the olives, we stopped at a quaint local restaurant where we sat in the small back room and Julia made us simple, homemade tzatziki: full fat Greek yogurt, red wine vinegar, garlic and olive oil. We ate it atop a grilled Greek bread called lathobrekto that is a bit like a thick, square crostini with a distinct olive oil flavor. We also tried local red and white table wines that one could commonly find in Greek homes. The restaurant served us a generous charcuterie board of cured meats: pork and lamb salami along with a dried beef that is coated in spices and then air dried called bastruma or pastrima (a cousin of pastrami that is neither cooked or smoked). It’s distinctly bright red, hard casing looks a bit like wax but is not and really packs in the flavor. We also had feta and graviera (Greek gruyère) and learned that true feta can only be of Greek origin and made with at least 70% sheeps milk and can have up to 30% goat’s milk), otherwise it is not feta. It can be called feta-style or Greek-style cheese but true feta meets the origin and milk criteria (and a few others) set by the EU after Greece petitioned them to do so.

After the restaurant, we were off to eat a bit more. Por qué no (wait, that’s not Greek)? We stopped at the local meat market. Before heading in, Julia and George ordered up souvlaki makings. Julia showed us what she considers a perfect bite of food; a small pita triangle, the ground souvlaki meat dipped in a mustard sauce, topped with onion and tomato. She made two perfect bites and customarily, just like her grandmother used to, served them to the [two] men in the group (they’d be unable to do it themselves, she said) and then the gals were free to make up our own bites. They were delicious though pretty dang big bites.

After our bites (I was beyond full at this point), we walked through the meat market. Julia’s grandfather had owned a shop in the meat market when she was growing up and she knew the vendors and her way around well. We saw a variety of animals and their hearts, livers, testicles, heads, and faces. Living in Spain, it was fairly common to see heads and faces on butchered animals (unlike in the states) but in Greece for the first (and hopefully last) time I saw a skinned sheep’s head, complete with wide, staring eyeballs. It was extremely unsettling. Luckily I didn’t get a photo of it because it was something nightmares are made of. Clarice! Clarice! Yikes.

After the meat market, we stopped at Polykala distillery, a one hundred and twenty-five year old family run distillery. Rena, whose grandfather started the business, told us a bit about the various liquors and liqueurs they make, complete with samples! We tried small servings of coffee, lemon, sage, cherry with cinnamon (that tasted like Christmas), grapefruit, and rose flavored liqueurs. My favorite was sage. It was so, well, sage-y. Phil’s favorite was peppermint. We compromised as he did not like the sage and I did not care for the mint, and purchased a bottle of the lemon, or limonata. It tasted similar to limoncello but not quite as sweet. I like Rena’s style. Inviting folks in and getting them a bit liquored, or liquered up as the case may be, tends to loosen the purse strings more often than not I imagine and everyone walks away happy from the experience.

After the distillery, we were off to eat more food. The booze did help to counter balance the extreme fullness I had been feeling so I was up for tasting a bit more. We went to a tiny, unassuming little restaurant and all sat together outside. The owner, from a small Greek island, uses fresh local produce to make different menu offerings daily, using his mother’s old recipes. On the day we visited, he offered us meza (small plates similar to Spanish tapas) of meatballs, zucchini fritters, fresh tomatoes with seaweed, and more tzatziki and lathobrekto bread and served with small glasses of rosé. Julia and George left to meet their next tour and we all sat and chatted for a bit. The owner of the restaurant came out and gave us and himself all a shot of Tsipouro, a grape distilled spirit very similar to raki. After taking mine, I looked at Phil and gave him the look of, “that was surprisingly smooth”, to which the owner responded by giving me, and only me, another shot. When in Greece I suppose.

We walked with the twenty-somethings back toward where we began the tour as the four of us were all feeling quite chatty at this point. We parted ways near our rental and we made our way back so I could promptly lay down and take a nap. It was a fabulous tour and a wonderful day in Athens.

Istanbul Part 3: The Princes’ Islands

The Prince’s Islands are a cluster of nine islands, the four largest of which are inhabited, located southeast of Istanbul in the Sea of Marmara. A former colleague of Phil’s who is married to a Turk and had visited Istanbul several times told him that her favorite thing in Istanbul was Büyükada Island, the largest of the Princes’ Islands. That is how we learned about them.

If one only has a few days in Istanbul, the hour and forty-five minute boat ride to the islands may not land it on the must see list but as we had fifteen days in Istanbul, it was definitely on ours. The boat is part of the Istanbul public transportation system so the rechargeable card that allowed us to ride the public buses and metro also got us on the boat to the islands.

We decided Sunday might be a good day to head to the islands. We were wrong. The huge boat was SO crowded. We were lucky enough to score a two person seat when we boarded. Folks on stops after ours were not so lucky and soon there were people sitting on the floor and stairs. A few smart passengers who had brought along portable beach chairs unfolded them and made their own space on the boat to sit.

We decided to disembark at the first Princes’ Island stop of Kinaliada, the smallest of the islands, and travel on to Büyükada later in the afternoon. It felt nice to get off the crowded boat. The port area was bustling with passengers arriving or waiting to leave, with plenty of bars, coffee shops, restaurants, and souvenir shops to offer them. There were even beach resorts where one could rent a lounge chair on the pebbly beach and swim. We had brought our swimming suits with us but a busy, rock beach right beside the buslting port wasn’t all that appealing so, we decided to walk on and if we found a spot to swim we would and if not, no big deal.

As we began our walk, we passed more cafes, restaurants, and beach bars but as we got further from the port, the less people we saw. The islands are primarily car-less other than emergency vehicles (and from what I read, only electric cars, though we didn’t see any). Residents drive mopeds and what look like suped-up jazzy scooters. The island is quite hilly so I understand why they would be the preferred method for getting around. We just had our feet but getting out in nature and moving, even if it was up and down hills in the hot and humid afternoon, felt really good.

We walked around the whole island and while we did find a couple of beach spots that looked inviting, we opted to stay dry. It was nice, after having been in the super crowded city, to be in a place where we could get away and be by ourselves. We encountered a few people while walking around the island but for the most part, it felt like we were alone.

Before we reached the port area again, we passed by a couple of water-side restaurants and decided to stop for a late lunch. We opted for fish as it was very reasonably priced and we were literally sitting beside the ocean, so bet on it being pretty darn tasty. It was. We dined on small, whole fried fish that I think were anchovies or sardines though I really have no idea. They were small enough that once fried, you could eat them whole (including heads), with the exception of the tip of the tail. We also had the sea bream which was equally delicious. We paired it with a salad of tomato, pepper, parsley, and walnuts with balsamic that was absolutely delicious (our favorite salad during our entire time in Istanbul).

After lunch, we slowly walked toward the port. We purchased tickets to Büyükada Island (we didn’t want to wait for the public run boat so opted for a reasonably priced private one) and sat at one of the many cafes and enjoued a Turkish tea while we waited. We joined other folks on the dock waiting for the boat to Büyükada and boarded slightly earlier than anticipated.

It was a short while later than we realized we had boarded the wrong boat and were headed back to mainland Istanbul. It was too late in the day to take another boat back to Büyükada from the mainland, so we decided to return again the next day when it would hopefully be a bit less crowded with tourists.

Just as we expected, there were much fewer people on the Monday morning boat to the Princes’ Islands than there had been on Sunday. We had our choice of seats and purchased round pretzel-like simit bread from a fellow selling them on the boat and settled in for the nearly two hour boat ride.

Büyükada is the largest of the Princes’ Islands. Many folks visiting rent bicycles or opt to take the small mini-buses that shuttle people around the island. After a quick bite for breakfast at a cute little cafe, we opted to walk.

Our path took us straight up the middle of the island to its highest point at the Aya Yorgi (Saint George) Greek Orthodox Church. On the way we passed the The Prinkipo Greek Orphanage, a 20,000-square-meter wooden building that served as an orphanage from 1903-1964 and is considered the largest wooden building in Europe (the second largest in the world). The orphanage is fenced off and closed to visitors but is huge, and creepy. There is a house within the same fence as the orphanage and we saw [presumably] the owner walking around inside as we snapped a few photos. It was especially creepy as the [presumably] owners two small little girls were playing near the orphanage which gave it a super scary ghost vibe. They were ghosts, weren’t they?

We walked on and continued up the hill to the church (and former monastery) of Saint George. The church while small was very beautifully decorated inside (photos were prohibited). Phil and I had never visited an Eastern Orthodox church before. While there are similarities between it and the Catholic churches we’ve visited, it was distinctly unique (stay tuned for my post about Athens that includes photos of an Eastern Orthodox church).

The church was nice but the view was the main attraction. It made the long climb up the hill totally worth it. A nice young woman was kind enough to offer to take a photo of Phil and I. We have a ton of selfies from our travels but photos of the two of us together are in short supply. After our photo op, we found a spot overlooking the sea and sat there together for at least an hour, enjoying the scenery and each other’s company.

Something I had noticed on the walk up that became even more notable at the top of the hill were trees with what looked to me to be trash (and in one paticular case a candy bar wrapper) tied around the branches, specifically strips of plastic, like plastic grocery sacks. Near our lovely vista of the sea, we saw even more trees with plastic tied around the branches. I consulted google to try to find out exactly why folks were leaving behind these non-biodegradable souvenirs. Most of what I discovered talked about Muslim Turks and Eastern Orthodox folks alike making a pilgrimage to the church on April 23rd, Saint Geroge’s Day. On this day, they leave bells and candles symbolizing prayers. I found only one article that mentioned tree branches that said mostly women will tie cloth (most I saw were plastic) threads around the trees as prayers for children.

We walked back towards the port down the opposite side of the hill that we climbed up. We were glad we did as this route took us past some of the famous old mansions of Büyükada that we had read about; huge, old, colonial-looking homes, some in better condition than others. We stopped for an ice cream before making our way back to the boat (we took the right one this time!).

We pulled into the port at the Kabataş stop an hour and a half or so later and disembarked. We decided we were a bit peckish and opted to find a dinner spot in the area. After a quick google search, Phil found a spot less than ten minutes away and off we went. We didn’t know the entire ten minutes would be spent walking uphill but it was totally worth it for the delicious meal we had at Ali Ocaskbasi Gumussuyu. We dined on stuffed zuccini blossoms, babaganoush, tzastiki, liver kebabs, and lamb ribs. Lamb ribs! I had never had lamb ribs before. They were amazing and tasted like the fatty/meaty part of a deliciously grilled steak where the meat meets the bone. We finished the meal with Künefe, a sweet cheese pastry made with shredded filo dough, honey, butter, and pistachio.

After dinner, we discovered we were very close to the famous Taksim Square that we had yet to visit, so decided to make our way there. It was bright and bustling and full of young people hanging out, talking, and smoking cigarettes*. After snapping a few pics in the square, we headed back to our tiny hotel, grateful for another fantastic day.

*Side note: Turkey is the smokinest country we have ever visited. Europe in general loves their cigarettes and I thought Italy was number one in cig love but they’ve got nothing on Turkey. Cigerettes also happen to be super cheap in Turkey. At around $1.50 a pack, Turks can afford to pick up smoking as a hobby and not just a habit. It was gross and stinky and only made me want to pick smoking back up a few times.

After initially having apprehensions about going to Turkey, I am so glad we did! It was an amazing cultural experience. The history, art, architecture, food, and people were wonderful. I left wanting to know more about the country and its history; from the Byzantines, Ottomans, to the father of modern Turkey, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk and I wouldn’t hesitate to return. It was truly a life changing experience.

Next stop on our adventure: Athens!

Istanbul Travels Part 2: Schmoozing, Boozing, and Cruising

Phil and I experienced so much in Istanbul I couldn’t possibly write about it all. I mean, I could. It is humanly possible. Phil is going to (try). What I am saying is that I could not possibly write about it all without taking an extraordinarily long time, and so I won’t; but I will tell you about some of the things that I enjoyed while we were there.

After our whilwind first two days of rug buying and close call with religious converstion (you can read part 1 here), we met up with our friends Amanda and Rob, whom we’d met in Antalya, for dinner and drinks. We dined on pide (like sauceless pizza), vegetables, and kebabs at a tasty little restraunt Phil and I frequented several times while in Istanbul, The Three Partners Cafe (that we kept referring to as Tres Hermanos). I uncharacteristically have no photos of the food but trust me when I say we enjoyed good food, drink, and conversation. Amanda and Rob have traveled to many countries and we enjoyed listening to their travel adventures while recounting a few of our own.

After dinner we took a short cab ride to the hip Karaköy neighborhood near Galata tower that was absolutely bustling with nightlife. People were in the streets talking and laughing while music played from the bars that lined the sidewalks. We stopped at a little bar called The Tower Bar and ended up talking with a Turkish fellow named Mehmet for several hours. He had struck up a conversation with Rob about darts as we first sat down. I don’t believe anyone actually ever played a game of darts for the remainder of the night, just threw a few at the board intermittently while talking.

Mehmet was an interesting guy. He had studied in Oregon for his Ph.D and had traveled extensively. I was surprised when he asked us to guess his age and I said 36 that he responded he was in fact 26. He had a beard that perhaps covered a more yourthful looking face and had traveled more places than most 26-year-olds I know (I guess I don’t know that many 26-year-olds now that I think about it, but I once was 26). Phil later said he believed Mehmet’s age because although he was skeptical, he wasn’t yet cynical. Cynicism comes with age. And while I consider myself to be an optimist (you’re straight up delusional, Jess), I do agree with his summation.

We met up with Rob and Amanda again a couple of days later for a cruise on the Bosphorous Strait. Many local cruise operations catering to tourists offer two hour cruises from 20-30 euro. Lucky for us, Rob and Amanda had spotted one the day prior that is run by the city government for only 32TL (about $1.50)! The cruise was lovely and we had great seats on the middle level of the boat which was elevated enough to have great views but also covered to protect us from the rain and harsh sun (belileve it or not we had both on this afternoon). And we saw more dolphins than we ever expected to see. Bonus!

Phil and I visited several palaces and museums which he wrote about here and here. Below are a few of my favorite photos from the Rumeli fortress, Topkapi Palace, The Museum of the Turkish and Islamic Arts, the Naval Museum, under the Hagia Sofia, and the home of Turkish poet Tevfik Fikret called the Aşiyan Museum (that was quite a climb).

In addition to the places we visited, it was also cool just to walk around different neighborhoods and through street markets. There are so many areas and neighborhoods to explore in Istanbul, one could live there for years and still not see it all.

Probably my favorite thing we did (it’s so hard to choose!) was to visit the Prince’s Islands. We visited two islands, one each day, and here is a little taste of what those looked like.

Stay tuned!

Istanbul Part 1: Mostly Mosques

After leaving Antalya in the south of Turkey, Phil and I were off to Istanbul. I was equal parts nervous and excited for the trip. After getting used to the relatively laid back vibe of Antalya, I knew Istanbul was going to be intense. At least we would have a larger hotel room in Istanbul than we’d had in Antalya. Our room in Antalya was very cozy, consisting of a full bed, a closet, a desk and a chair all in about 75 square feet, though we did have a small balcony, which was nice. We were very much looking forward to spreading out in Istanbul and having a bit more space to decompress from our days navigating the densely populated city.

The taxi ride to the hotel was long; the driver drove way too fast and frankly, at times, seemingly dangerous, but a friend who lived in Istanbul for a few months told me when she first took a taxi in Istanbul she thought she was being punked due to irradic driving. When we finally arrived at our hotel we found that we had misjudged the size of the room based on the website pictures, and it was in fact even smaller than our room in Antalya. Oof.

Well, Phil and I have gotten used to close quarters so what was another 15 days? The nice fellows at the hotel put a small table in the corner of the tiny room at our request so at least one of us had a place to sit and type or eat, or just relax in a place that wasn’t the bed. The hotel also has a common area downstairs and a rooftop terrace (with a lovely view of the Bosphorus Strait) so at least we had a couple options for getting some more free space.

I also found a great coffee shop only a five minute walk away that I visited a few times by myself. I love espresso and I like turkish coffee but after spending so much time in the lands of small coffee, I wanted a large Americano; not nescafe or other instant coffee. I wanted a super tasty, good quality big ol’ cup of coffee, dammit. And I got it (several times)! God bless you, North Art Coffee. If you find yourself in the Sultanahmet Square area of Istanbul (and you will if you visit) I highly recommend it.

Enough about your hotel and weird coffee obsession, Jess. Tell us about Istanbul. Ok, ok. Our first two days in Istanbul we bought a turkish rug and almost converted to Islam (Istanbul is going to eat these two impressionable midwifeterns alive!). Alright, so I’m exaggerating a little. I mean, we did buy a turkish rug. That is a fact (Phil talks about it here). We also visited Suleymainye Mosque (upon the recommendation of our rug salesmen) and talked at length with a volunteer there about his faith.

As we walked around the lovely mosque, a fellow approached us with a volunteer badge around his neck and introduced himself as Ahmet. He explained that he was a member of the mosque, a medical doctor by trade, and a volunteer. He asked if he could tell us a bit about Islam and we said of course. I for one, knew very little about the religion. I enjoy learning new things and given that I was in a country where 96-99% of the population identify as Muslim (and the fact that I am a citizen of the world) it felt right to expand my knowledge of the subject.

We talked to Ahmet for at least an hour, learning the basics of Islam and just how much it overlaps and intersects with Christianity and Judism. Muslims believe that Abraham, Ishmael, Moses, David, Jesus and Muhammad were all God’s prophets, Muhammad being the last and final one. They believe the Bible and Torrah are holy books along with the Quran. They even believe in the immaculate conception and virgin birth. In fact, just as the Angel Gabriel appeared to Mary, he appeared to Muhammad. While we weren’t quite ready to convert (it’s not you, it’s me and my distaste for organized religion at large) after our conversation, we did enjoy talking with Ahmet.

In addition to the fine conversation and beautiful mosque itself, the garden area outside of the mosque offered lovely views of the city. They also had a separate Garden that housed the tomb of Sultan Suleiman the Magnificient, the longest reigning Sultan and his favorite wife, who converted from Orthodox Christianity, Hurrem.

Prior to our trip to Istanbul, I had never been to a mosque. The ones we visited in Istanbul were each beautiful. Having visited many, many (many, many, many) Catholic churches throughout Europe it was cool to view the mosques in contrast. The lack of pews or seating of any kind (you sit on the carpet, or kneel when praying) highlight the tall, interior domes with brightly painted ceilings. Muslims do not have any imagery in mosques (why replicate what God has made perfect), rather beautifully painted ceilings and columns along with prayers written in Arabic (the language the Quran was written in) calligraphy hung throughout the qubba (dome). Another mosque feature that really struck me are the low-hung chandeliers. Simple yet beautiful and mesmerizing. I couldn’t take my eyes off them.

Because we were in Istanbul for so long, we were able to revisit the famous Hagia Sofia mosque several times as it was very close to our hotel. Our first visit was with our friends Rob and Amanda, whom we met in Antalya. That visit was extremely crowded and a bit rushed as we had to wait so long to enter and they needed to catch a flight back to London soon after. While we were there, however, Phil overheard a tour guide telling some ladies that you can come back at night around the nine o’clock prayer time. Typically, tourists are not allowed in mosques during prayer time so this bit of information was quite helpful. We also wouldn’t have thought to return at night, assuming it would be closed.

Twice we returned at night, once toward the end of prayers and once after. Anywhere you are in the city, one can hear prayers from the loud speakers atop mosque minnerettes five times a day; at dawn, midday, mid-afternoon, sunset, and night. It was cool to be inside of the mosque as the prayers were being recited. Both times we visited Hagia Sofia at night, it had a very calm and welcoming feel. People walked around, snapped photos, others stood, and many sat on the carpeted floors. Kids ran around, laughing as family and friends talked quietly. Tourists are not allowed in the areas reserved for prayer so those seeking that connection still have privacy and a relatively quiet place to pray. We enjoyed our nighttime visits, sitting on the carpet, feeling tranquil, and taking in the beauty of the mosque.

Across from the Hagia Sofia is the equally famous, Blue Mosque. Unfortunately for us, it is currently under a major renovation. It is still open to tourists and for prayer but those seeking to take in the ceilings and grandness of the mosque have nothing really to see. I was able to snap a quick pic of the only piece of the ceiling that wasn’t completely covered by scaffolding and tarps.

Another of my favorite places we visited in Suntameht Square was the Mosoleum of Sultan Ahmet that houses the tomb of three sultans and thirty-three sons and daughters of the sultans. It was bright and stunning and had the low-hung chandeliers that I like so much.

Though Istanbul has more to offer than just mosques and tombs (much, much more in fact). Stay tuned for my next post and I’ll tell you more about the magical city that is Istanbul.

Antayla, Part 2

Antalya has a lot to offer aside from the food and the beautiful turquoise water. It has a bustling night life, family friendly activities such as the aquarium and asusement park, as well as numerous public parks. We saw many Antalyans, particularly in the evenings once the blazing hot sun had started it’s journey westward, enjoying the parks. Almost everyone had portable camp chairs, some had blankets, and a lucky few scored one of the picnic tables provided in the park. It was nice to see so many people out enjoying each other’s company. Families picnicked, friends shared beer or tea, old men played batgammon. We saw this same scene repeated in each of the several parks we visited in the city. We have noticed in our travels that in cities, where people tend to live in apartments, and most folks don’t have yards, they really take advantage of their communal, public green spaces.

Probably the coolest thing(s) Antalya, has to offer (again, aside from the food and the Mediterranean) is the region’s multiple historical, archeological sites. Antalya was first settled around 200 B.C. by Attalus (and named in his honor) II Philadelphus, king of Pergamon. Shortly after it was occupied by the Romans and was a thriving port city. Turkey has around 120 ancient archeological sites and the region of Antayla has seven of these. We were lucky enough to visit two, as well as the archeological museum. Phil loves ancient history so he has written about these visits here, here, and here (He writes really fast. He’s a professional. Check out his book on amazon). Because Phil has written extensively about our visits to these sites, I’m just going to post a few of my favorite photos from our visits. Click on the photo for the location.

One other highlight from our visits to these archeological sites that I want to mention is that on our visit to Pammeluke, we met a couple from London; Amanda (originally from Canada) and Rob. We ended up having dinner with them after our tour and we hit it off so well, we made plans to meet up in Istanbul (stay tuned). It is really nice to have travel buddies!

I have mentioned several times how lovely the turquoise waters of the Mediterranean are (Yes, you have. We get it. But do you?), and a couple of my favorite activities from our trip were taking a day to get out on the water and a day to get out in the water. We took a two-hour boat cruise that rode us to Düden Falls (that we actually walked to a couple of times, as mentioned in Phil’s blog) and back. I really enjoy being out on the water and find it incredibly relaxing. Maybe this is from happy childhood memories of pontooning with my family on the Lake of the Ozarks or maybe it’s because everyone loves being out on the water and finds it incredibly relaxing. Either way, it was fantastic and the beautiful water mesmerizing.

Our hotel had a pool which we took full advantage of but we really wanted to get out in the sea. Our hotel was only about a two-minute walk to the water but quite a far walk from an actual beach. We were high above the water on rocky cliffs, which made for both spectacular views and a difficult time accessing the water, or so we thought.

On one of our walks to Düden Falls we noticed, while taking in the views that below us were beach chairs, sitting on decks that had been mounted to the side of the cliff. There were many of these places for sunning and swimming. They were sometimes connected with a hotel and always with some kind of restaurant or bar, in order to access refreshments easily as you lounged. At any of them, one could rent a chair with umbrella and towel for a relatively small fee (around $12 USD for two) for the entire day after descending the stairs to the cliff bottom. The aforementioned refreshments are available for an additional charge. There are also changing rooms and bathrooms for folks to utilize.

Luckily for us, a hotel/restaurant three minutes walk from our hotel had very nice swimming decks so we took half a day to enjoy the beautiful water and respite from the heat. They had two tiers of decks and we grabbed chairs on the lower one. The umbrellas offered sufficient shade for my pasty skin and a ladder off the end of the deck access to the water. We had a couple of beers, lounged, swam, and half slept for a few hours. It was divine.

Another fun activity Antalya has to offer is their cable car, or teleferik, as they call it. Up, up, up we took it to the top of Tünek Tepe Hill where more spectacular views awaited. Phil wrote in more detail of our trip but I have included some of my favorite photos below.

I would be remiss if I did not mention a few quirky features I noticed and found endearing about Antayla. The first is the number of well mannered and well cared for street animals, namely dogs and cats. There are dogs and cats all over the place, just hanging out. The dogs were usually quite large and while typically a large wild dog might be a bit (or a lot) inimidating, these dogs were passive. Why? Well, many businesses and individuals leave fresh food and water out for them. There’s no reason to be aggressive if you’re well fed, left alone, and living in paradise (that goes for people too, I suppose). When talking about the dogs to a fellow we met from Denmark, I said, “They all seem pretty chill” to which he responded (in a surprisingly very California sufer-sounding accent), “Yeeaaah, they chill suuuper hard”. The cats still slip in occasionally to the indoor-outdoor restaurants but mostly they are looking for dropped morsels and never usually stick around too long and never once meowed at us for food.

Another thing I noticed was almost every business, from hair salon, real-estate office, nail shop, car dealship, you name it had a table and chairs right out front for employees to utilize for relaxation (mostly tea drinking and smoking from what I saw). I first noticed this when I thought one nail shop was a cafe because of the table and chairs. These spots don’t seem to be used specifically for an official “break time” as such. Simply, if there is down time, they sit and releax. Much better than the “If you’ve got time to lean, you’ve got time to clean” approach most U.S. employers take. I wasn’t able to take as many photos of the employee relaxation stations as I would have liked because they were usually being utilized. It would take away from my relaxation if a stranger randomly snapped a photo of me while I was chilling, so I had an eye out for vacant ones. I found a couple.

Lasty, a very handy feature of Antalya that I have never seen anywhere (they are not in Istanbul either) are taxi call buttons. The buttons are mounted on poles or the sides of bus stops. You simply press the button and within a few minutes (or often seconds) up pulls a taxi. A Russian fellow we met said, ” Who needs Uber when you have Button on a Pole?” Who indeed. Not me. Button on a Pole worked great.

We really enjoyed our two weeks in Antayla and have agreed we would definitely go back in the future. So, until next time Antalya!

Antalya Part 1: Let’s Talk Food

Our first stop in Turkey was the beach city of Antalya, in the south along the Mediterranean coast. Citizens of the U.S. need a Turkish Visa to enter the country, though this can be easily obtained via website or in-person at the airport upon arrival (we read). Phil completed the application online, paid $50 each, and we were able to print out the 90-day Visas, which we presented at the airport in Geneva prior to boarding our flight. Easy peasy.

We planned to stay in Turkey for a month, though that seemed too long to stay in Istanbul exclusively. After a friend of a friend in Spain mentioned she was going to school in a beach town in the south of Turkey, we started looking at our options. Antalya seemed like a great one, so we booked our flights. Antalya is a city and a region located on the Tourquoise Coast (the name tourqoise actually comes from the french “pierre turque” meaning Turkish stone) of the Mediterranean Sea. Antayla is in Asia and is a resort city popular with tourists and expats from all over the world. Neither of us had ever been anywhere in Asia previously, so that was cool.

Our hotel in Antalya was very on brand for our “nice hotel about 20 years past its prime” preference (that I mentioned in this post). A couple of nice bonuses were their pool and free breakfast. I’m not a big breakfast person (brunch is another story all together) and often opt to skip the meal all together. However, when it’s included, it not only helps us save money on our overall daily food expenses (if we have a big breakfast, we usually skip having either a full lunch or dinner and have a snack for one of the meals instead) but it also forces us to wake up by a certain time. With that being said, I like to sleep. Not having a job and having a lot of time in the day to do what we please, often leads to us sleeping in. There’s nothing wrong with sleeping in. Sleeping in is great but having a semi-routine is also valuable. For me, a routine helps to serve as an anchor (to the day, to time, to reality) during a time in which I have no other obligations. Plus, if I really want to sleep in, I still can. You’re not the boss of me, breakfast!

The hotel breakfast was good. Turks are actually quite known for their breakfasts and many restaurants offer traditional Turkish breakfasts. A typical Turkish breakfast consists of different types of bread, cheese, meat, honey, jam, olives, eggs, tomato, cucumber and sometimes potatoes and other vegetables or delicious fried cheese rolls (looks like a taquito but tastes like phyllo stuffed with cheese). Oh, and tea. Lots of tea. Turks love their tea, even more than they love their famous Turkish coffee. In fact, Turkey is the largest consumer of tea per person in the world. Kahvalti means breakfast in Turkish and literally translates to “before coffee,” so while Turks still love their coffee (just not quite as much as tea), they do not drink it with their breakfast, only after. I am not Turkish, so I had both coffee and tea with my breakfast.

Unlike the Brits, Scots, and Irish, the tea loving Turks do not add milk when they have a cuppa, though may choose to add sugar. The strong, black tea is poured into a traditional, small, tuplip shaped glass. One drinks it by grabbing the lip of the glass with the thumb and pointer finger to avoid burning themselves.

One of the things that has struck me since being here, starting with our first hotel breakfast, is how fresh the produce is and how abundant (agriculture is Turkey’s largest employer). Some form of vegetable comes with almost any meal you order here. This is a very good thing for us. We like vegetables and try to eat them as often as we can. When traveling, however, especially when being budget conscious, we don’t always have as many as we would like.

As long as we are talking about the food, let me tell you more about the food. It is amazing. I love Turkish food. It consists of a lot of meats including lamb, which I love, also a lot of bread, which I also love. Typically when I think of Turkish food, I think of flat breads but we have encountered all types of bread here from fluffy white to a tasty pretzle-type ring bread called simit that is covered with sesame seeds (a favorite of Phil’s). But it’s not all meat and bread. We have also had delicious seafood, rice, chickpeas, pickled vegtables, and a bounty of the aforementioned fresh vegetables including; tomato, cucumber, eggplant, peppers of all kinds, onion, garlic, and fresh herbs. We have had a lot of fresh parsley since being here and it makes me wonder why we don’t incorporate it into salads more in the U.S. We have yet to have a bad meal in Turkey. In fact, you can find a delicious, meal for two if you look a bit outside of major tourist areas, for around 200TL (Turkish Lira), which is roughly $12. Oh, the food!

Some of our favortie dishes in addition to döner kebab are stuffed grape leaves (they call then vine leaves in English here), içli köfte (a stuffed, fried meatball), lahmacun (often referred to as Turkish pizza) which is a crispy flat bread with spices and minced vegtables and/or meat, pide (which actually tasts more like pizza than lahmacun) that’s a flat bread (thicker than lahmacun), covered in meat, cheese, or a mix of the two. We also found some tasty treats at the nearby bakery in Antayla including a delicious beef and onion stuffed flaky pasty (see excited photo below). One of the most surprising dishes we had was what the waiter described as “Turkish macaroni”. It was not something I would typically order but he urged us to so we did. It tasted a lot like toasted ravioli (if you’re from or have been to St. Louis, Missouri, you are very familiar with this) which is essentially deep fried pasta, then covered in a tomato sauce and yogurt. It was pretty good.

One of my favorite meals in Antalya was a small restaurant where the couple working spoke very little English. The woman was able to convey that we needed to come inside and look at the dishes they had prepared, select what we wanted, and then they would bring them to us. This type of set up is fun but can be quite dangerous for someone who likes to try a lot of foods. I kept pointing and they kept loading up plates and bowls. I even let Phil get a few dishes. The other notable thing about the restaurant were all of the jars of pickled vegtables they had stacked up. The dishes we had, usurprisingly, had a lot of pickled veg incorporated. It was all so delicious. We were way too full for dessert yet somehow ordered it anyway. It consisted of a Turkish flan-like dish and a crumbly cake with honey and cinnamon.

Antalya has way more to offer visitors than just delicious food, although that would be enough for me. For what we did (besides eat), stay tuned for more about our adventures in Antalya!

Adventures in Turkey: Pre-travel Worries and Confronting my Biases

After parting ways with my mother-in-law, Marie (read all about our adventures here), in Geneva, Phil and I flew to Turkey. Turkey is a place Phil has wanted to travel to for a long time but to be perfectly honest, I did not feel the same. I was apprehensive and a bit nervous about traveling to Turkey.

In texting with a couple of friends since being here, I said, “I’m not sure what I expected, but it wasn’t this.” That isn’t entirely true. I think deep down I did have some expectations and I think they were mostly tied to Turkey’s religion and geography, not that I know very much about either.

I know Turkey is an Islamic country, with 96-99% (depending on the survey) of people identifying as muslim. I have never traveled in a majority muslim country. I don’t know much about Islam, only some of the basic tennants and am familiar with western stereoptypes and (mis-)information.

Turkey shares a border with Iraq and Syria but it also shares a border with Greece and Bulgaria (and Armenia and Georgia, now we’ve covered them all) both of which are in the European Union. So while, it’s a good idea to stay away from the south-eastern border area, Turkey is a relatively safe travel destination.

So, what exactly was I nervous about? What was I expecting? If I answer with the first things that pop into my mind, in simplest terms, I thought: 1. I’m not going to be respected because I’m a woman. 2. I’m going to stick out as an American and that is a bad thing.

In researching our trip to Turkey, I read that because Antalya and Istanbul are big tourist hot spots, you can pretty much wear whatever you want and no one will look twice at you. Istanbul is the 13th largest city in the world (for comparison’s sake New York is 45th) for crissakes, no one cares what I’m wearing or look like. Did I think a group of radicals was waiting to disappear a big blonde American lady in her early 40’s for baring her shoulders in public? Did I think I would enter the spice bazaar and never come out? No. Of course not. Maybe? I don’t know.

Well, we’ve yet to visit Istabnul so TBD on the disappearing but so far so good. We have only visited Antalya which is a very international city and I have been amazed by the live and let live attitude here. Women in conservative muslim dress walking next to friends in shorts and tank tops (something one might see in Sourthern California, so why did it surprise me here?). Bars and restaurants serving alcohol are next to tea shops and restaurants that do not. A sex shop displaying their products in the window near a fancy dress shop offering very conservative options. Bridal shop after bridal shop (y’all, there are SO many bridal shops!) offering backless and sleeveless options alongside floor length, long sleeved ones. I was surprised when a muslim family asked me to take their picture while Phil and I were out and about as I was wearing a sundress that displayed a bit of cleavage. No one cares. Why should they? You do your thing, I’ll do mine. Let’s be cool with one another and mind our own business. In fact, Antalya feels much more tolerant than many US cities*.

*From what I have read, Turkey has a way to go with LGBTQIA rights and in fact due to shifting politics has taken a few steps backwards in terms of rights in recent years (the same could be said for the U.S.).

Much of what I expressed above sounds like it was written by a sheltered individual, ignorant of the world. It was. The more I travel, the more I realize how little I know about the world and other cultures and the more I want to keep traveling to experience them and gain some understanding. Yes, I was apprehensive but I came anyway. That’s a big part of travel; being [of course] excited but also a little nervous about being out of your comfort zone.

So, regarding the two fears I listed above, what has my experience been? Well, 1. Other than a taxi driver telling Phil that the people around him were all driving like women, I haven’t encountered any sexist sentiment, 2. I stand out here less than I did in Spain. There are all kinds of folks here, dressed in all kinds of ways with all kinds of body shapes and skin tones. Turks know I’m not Turkish when I don’t respond to them in Turkish when they speak to me but they don’t know I’m from the U.S. and if they ask where I’m from and I tell them the U.S., it’s always met with, “Oh, America!” in a friendly tone.

Since we’ve been here, Phil and I have attended two meetup groups (one was a spanish/english language exchange!) and met people from Iran, Mexico, Kasikstan, Denmark, France, Pakistan, and all over Russia (there’s quite a large Russian population here); Moscow, St. Petersburg, and Siberia. I mentioned that Antalya was a very international city and it also has an exciting and collaborative vibe to it. In some ways, I feel like I’m experiencing international travel for the first time here, in Turkey.

As I discussed in this blog post, the fact that I am very lucky indeed to be experiencing these adventures is not lost on me. The fact that I was born in a country that speaks the lingua franca and has one of the world’s most powerful passports that allows me to travel broadly is also not lost on me. I’m human, so there are still moments of frustration, laziness, and anxiety during this grand adventure but Phil and I make it a point to catch ourselves when we are in spectacular or sureal moments of our travel (like recently when we had an amazing meal on a terrace overlooking the Mediterranean Sea), gesture to our surroundings and acknowledge,”This is pretty amazing.” Turkey is pretty amazing.

I can’t wait to tell you all about our amazing adventures here in Antayla and Istanbul, so, stay tuned!

Covid, My Mother-in-Law, and Prosecco: Three Unforgettable Weeks in Italy

Phil and I have been lucky enough to have visited Italy three times previously. Our first trip was to Rome in 2004 which also happened to be my first trip to Europe and it was a magical experience. Then, a short fifteen years later, in 2019, we took a road trip up the Adriatic after beginning our trip in Raiano, in the Abruzzo region. Raiano is where Phil’s mother was born and where his grandparents were from. We were hosted by Phil’s mother’s cousin, Sandra and her family, including Phil’s great aunt, Fernanda, who is the sister of his late grandmother, Giovannina. We most recently traveled to Florence from Gijón this past September (which I wrote about here).

Italy is a wonderful country to visit. The people are friendly, the food is delicious, and the country is beautiful, not to mention the rich cultural and artistic history. I highly recommend anyone considering a trip there to rent a car if you can. Seeing the country and stopping in cities and towns a bit off the beaten path is not only fun but also typically less expensive than sticking exclusivity to big city tourist destinations. If you have a limited amount of time, of course see Rome, Florence, or Venice (in that order of importance, in my opinion). Full disclosure, I have never visited anywhere south of Rome so take my recommendation for what it’s worth. I guess that just means we’ll have to keep going back until we’ve explored the whole boot.

As mentioned, Phil’s mother, Marie, was born in Raiano. She left at age two with her mother and brother to join her father, Attilio, in Chicago where he had already been living for a couple of years. Marie had never been back to Italy. The fact that Phil and I were already in Europe and could join her there relatively easily seemed like the perfect recipe for her visit. Phil and Marie began discussing the possibility and before I knew it, Phil had a plan and a rough itinerary for the journey and the flight tickets were purchased. We were going back to Italy!

We would start in Rome. I loved Rome when we visited in 2004 (Oh geez…that was almost 20 years ago!) and was very excited for the opportunity to go back. Phil and I had five days to ourselves between parting ways with my aunt and cousin in Edinburgh and Marie’s arrival in Rome. Instead of trying to cram in another destination between trips, we decided to get to Rome early and decompress a bit. We chose a rental apartment in a neighborhood outside of the city center which was a 20ish minutes via train or cab away from the hustle and bustle.

As it turns out, we would need those five days to recuperate from covid. So instead of seeing the sites of Rome, we ate soup in bed and watched a lot of Netflix. Instead of staying in our rental with us, we booked Marie a hotel right across the street from the Vatican (she saw the pope her first day in Rome!). Phil was able to join her the day after she arrived and they toured the Vatican and St. Peter’s basilica together (Phil wrote about our time in Rome here). The following day, and our last day in Rome, I was able to join them for a tour of the Colosseum and Palatine Hill. We also revisited Trevi fountain (which was even more spectacular that I remembered) and the Pantheon.

I feel very lucky we had the extra days in Rome before Marie’s arrival that allowed us to recuperate and I am also glad I was well and able to see the Colosseum. It was the number one site I wanted to see on the trip. When Phil and I were in Rome all those years ago, it was the one major site we didn’t see. We tried to peak in from the outside but as it was the last day of our trip and we were poor twenty-somethings, we couldn’t afford the entry fee.

After Rome, we rented a car and drove to Pescara, a lovely city on the Adriatic Sea in the Abruzzo Region, about an hour’s drive from Raiano. Marie remembers her family talking about Pescara as a summer beach vacation getaway. We were there just before the busy season kicked off in Pescara which made for very affordable accommodations as well as a less congested time on the beach.

We stayed in a nice hotel right on the beach. We’ve come to realize our favorite hotels seem to be ones that are nice but about 20 years past their prime. Everything is clean and in good condition, but a bit faded. The service is typically quite good plus they often offer free, tasty breakfast buffets as a way of enticing guests. The Hotel Promenade fit the bill perfectly.

We enjoyed our first two days there so much, we decided to scrap our original plans and stay for two more days. We sunned on the beach and splashed in the (cold) ocean, enjoyed delicious seafood and local cuisine, drank a lot of Prosecco, and had a day trip to Raiano and Sulmona, home to the famous Italiana Confetti (delicious candy covered almonds). I was unfamiliar with these almonds until I met Phil and his family. They are a part of Italian tradition and are a staple guest takeaway of any good Italian wedding.

After bidding arrivederci to Pescara, we were off to Florence. On the way, we made a stop in Perugia, famous for their delicious chocolates (as well as the Amanda Knoxx/Merideth Kercher murder scandal as I was informed by Marie, who loves true crime stories). The chocolates are indeed quite delicious (and we neither witnessed nor were party to any crimes while there).

Next stop: Florence! Marie is a woman of many interests and in addition to true crime, she loves the Medici family (and the series about them on Netflix). The Medicis are a famous family who moved to Florence and became the most powerful and influential family in Tuscany for several hundred years. Florence was a must for Marie.

As I mentioned, Phil and I were just in Florence last September. We’ve jokingly been referencing the movie Something About Mary in relation to having a second trip to Florence so quickly after the last. In the movie, while lying about being an architect and where he’s designed buildings, Matt Dillon’s character asks, “Have you ever been to Santiago, Chile?” to which the Tucker character responds, “Twice last year.”

After Florence, we headed to the town of Rapallo on the Amalfi coast. But first, a quick stop in Pisa! Rapallo is very near to the famous city of Portofino. Rapallo more affordable and much less crowded than Portofino so it met our needs perfectly.

In Rapallo we stayed at a Best Western which may literally be The best Best Western. It was amazing. It felt like a fancy five star hotel (we broke our general rule of staying at the oldy but goody hotel). The staff were fabulous, the breakfast buffet was restaurant quality, and they had a spa. Not to mention that we had two balconies with sea views! While in Rapallo, Phil and I celebrated our 15th wedding anniversary. As an anniversary gift, I had a massage (my first since 2019) and a pedicure. It felt so luxurious.

Rapallo was beautiful with the sea and mountains surrounding it. A highlight of the trip was taking the funicular to the top of the mountain where we visited the beautiful hilltop church of Sanctuary of Our Lady of Montallegro. We also grabbed an Aperol Sprtiz (have I mentioned how much I deeply love Prosecco?) at a super cute boutique hotel-restaurant with sweeping views of the sea and town below.

We finished our whirlwind trip in Geneva. We stayed just over the boarder in Annemasse, France, a diverse, working lass suburb of Geneva (Phil and Marie took a day trip to Chambery France to visit her aunt which Phil will be writing about soon). Switzerland is the second most expensive country in the world (Bermuda is number one. Who knew?). An espresso which costs about €1.25-2.00 in most European cities, is €5.00 (actually 5 Swiss Francs but it has pretty much the same value as the Euro and in fact both Francs and Euros are routinely accepted in most business establishments in Geneva).

The two highlights of Geneva for me were the boat cruise we had on Lake Geneva and the amazing French Dinner we had at Côté Square Restaurant. It was expensive but totally worth it. You only live once and how often do I get to have a fancy French dinner in France er, well Geneva (which was once France)? Plus, it was absolutely delicious; in the top three best meals I have ever eaten.

We had such an amazing time on our trip. What I enjoyed most, even more than all of the lovely places, food, and even more than the Prosecco, was getting to know my mother-in-law. Phil and I have been together for 22 years. We have never lived close to his mother. We have of course visited Chicago and Marie visited us both in St. Louis and in Long Beach but we have never really had much one on one time. In fact, I was honestly a bit nervous about so much togetherness prior to our trip and three weeks is a long time and a LOT of togetherness. I’m happy to report there were no fights or really any disagreements. We laughed a lot and really enjoyed each other’s company. I couldn’t have asked for a better Italian getaway or better travel partners.

Next stop: Turkey! Stay tuned.

Adventures in Seville and Edinburgh: A Story in Photos

Our last Spanish city (for now) was Seville, and we arrived the evening we left Granada (Phil also wrote about our time in Granada here). My aunt Harriet and her daughter, my cousin, Hannah had arrived a bit earlier at our rental apartment in Seville and we were eager to meet up with them. Hannah visited us last year shortly after we arrived in Gijón but I had not seen my aunt Harriet since Christmas 2019 so I was very (very!) excited to see her. This was Harriet’s first trip to Europe so she was quite excited as well, and that made for a super fun and unforgettable trip!

The plan was to spend four days in Seville before flying to Edinburgh for another five days. Time continues to fly way too fast; as I type this from our current location in Antalya, Turkey, it has been three weeks and three countries since we parted ways with Harriet and Hannah. In an attempt to catch the blog up to real time, I am going to make a couple of shorter (mostly photo posts) of our recent travels, starting below. I hope you enjoy them all.

*Also, Phil wrote a really lovely piece reflecting on our year in Gijón here. Give it a read. You won’t be sorry you did.

Seville