Turkey - The adventure starts here!

This is it. Turkey. It is from here that I will begin my Class Afloat year.

I can’t believe we are already here! The summer went by quicker than expected (as usual!), so to everyone that I didn’t get the chance to see before I left, I hope you had a great summer and I will miss you all!

I don’t report to the ship until September 5^th, so until then, we are traveling around Turkey. We first flew into Izmir (Aegean Sea side), and drove from there to stay at a really nice little place just outside of a small rural village called Şirince. The place we stayed at had a bunch of small guest houses connected by stone paths through the trees. It was located on the mountainside just above Şirince, so it offered an amazing view of the town below.

Cottage where we stayed in Sirince

The view from our cottage

 From there, we visited Ephesus, a nearby Roman ruin. It was really neat; there was a huge theatre (biggest of the ancient world, where St. Paul preached) that could seat 40,000 people, and an incredible library (commissioned for Julius Caesar)! But it was so hot – we pretty much just shuffled around all day!

Theatre at Ephesus

Library at Ephesus (Second Century)

Statue at the entrance to library at Ephesus

More of Ephesus

A couple of days later, we visited another ruin, called Xanthos (greatest city of ancient Lycia). Xanthos was a lot smaller, but had a theatre and tombs that were interesting. We stopped there on our way to a town called Çirali.

Theatre at Xanthos

Tomb at Xanthos

 Within walking distance from where we were staying in Çirali there was an amazing beach (5km long)! It was quiet and backed by mountain, with ruins at one end (Olympos) and best of all, the water was great for swimming! We went to the beach our first morning in Çirali and then drove to another nearby town to go scuba diving. It was my first dive as a certified diver, and though we found that there really wasn’t much to see, it was still fun. After the dive we went to a little restaurant that made huge things that were like crêpes. Yum!

The beach at Cirali - looking towards Olympos ruins

The beach at Cirali

Making gozleme - Turkish crepes

The next morning, we went to a third ruin, this one called Olympos. The other two ruins had been hot and dry, but Olympos was different because it was in a forest and you got to meander through the trees and ruins. We saw some neat stuff, including a huge gate/entrance and a roman bath that were both still mostly intact.

On the way to Olympos

ruins at Olympos

Gate/entrance to the Palace at Olympos

Roman baths at Olympos (being excavated)

That night, we flew out to the city of Kayseri. The next day we drove from Kayseri to a small town called Mustafapaşa in the Cappadocia region. The region is known for its incredible rock formations. Houses and churches and basically entire communities were carved into these rocks as well. We went to Love Valley where we got amazing views of the rock formations. We then visited two churches that were carved in the rock. The amazing part is that because they were carved out, the entire church is just one piece (there aren’t bricks or anything like that). The first church was built/carved in the 6^th or 7^th century, and the other one, with a ceiling covered in painted frescoes, was from the 11^th century.

Love valley

Painted frescoes in the cave church

The rock formations

Afterwards, we went to a Turkish carpet store where we learnt about the making of carpets and even saw weavers working at their looms! It was really interesting and the carpets were beautiful.

Wool used to make carpets

Weaver at the loom - it takes many months to make one!

In the town of Mustafapaşa we checked into a hotel called Upper Greek House. It is a cave hotel, so it has some rooms that are partly caves (we stayed in one) and it’s really nice, with really nice people. The next morning, September 2^nd, we got up at 4 in the morning for one of the best experiences yet; a hot air balloon ride! Around the area where we are staying the conditions are perfect for hot air ballooning, so every morning balloons fill the sky. We watched as they filled the balloons and then we took off. We flew low over the rock formations and saw the sun rise over the cliffs. It was incredible!

Filling our balloon with hot air (more like flames!)

Skies filled with hot air balloons over Cappadocia

Picture of our balloon, looking up from the basket

The following day we went for a hike through Gomeda Valley, and we met the mayor of the small town Mustafapaşa. He was out there because a restoration project was underway of some of the old churches carved in the cliffs. He took us around to visit 3 of them.  And over the course of the 9km hike, we got to see the rock formations and all the cave dwellings up close again. We then flew out later that evening to Istanbul!

View out one of the churches, looking at dwellings carved into the rock

Gomeda valley - cave dwellings

Gomeda Valley - cave Church

Frescoes in St Basil Church - Gomeda Valley

Pigeon houses - Gomeda Valley

Our first and only full day touring Istanbul, we visited the Spice Market (Misir Carsisi). There were piles of spices (of course), nuts, teas, and Turkish delight! After that we went to the nearby Basilica Cistern (Yerebatan Sarnici), also known as Sunken Palance (James Bond rowed through in "From Russia with Love"). It was meant to store water (subterranean reservoir) and was built with over 330 huge columns, so it is quite impressive to look at! Following the visit to the cistern we went to the Blue Mosque (Sultan Ahmet Camii). The outside of the building was impressive, but inside the ceiling and walls were covered with coloured tiles and there were stained glass windows. It was beautiful! It was a busy day, but not as busy as the days that will follow – Class Afloat days!

Misir Carsisi - Spice market

Turkish delight at the Spice market

Yerebatan Sarnici - Basillica Cistern

Sultan Amet Camii - Blue Mosque

Inside Blue Mosque - covered in beautiful tiles

Note: I just want to quickly mention that my internet connection may be iffy in some places that we will travel to throughout the year, so though I will try my best to post at every port, it may not always be possible.

Also, I know that the picture quality isn’t the best, but I need to compress the photos in order to post them. Sorry!