Jane and Jeff – Page 8 – Travel with Jane & Jeff

Relaxing…

Lahaina, HI

Today, we have decided, is going to be our down day – no plans, nothing to do except BE.

We have chocolate macadamia nut pancakes (just add water) and coffee for breakfast – so decadent and so good!

We eat out on the lanai where we can hear several little kids shouting “Big wave! Big wave!” There are three little ones, the oldest is maybe 7. They have boogie boards and are barely in the surf as it gently comes to shore. Every time, at practically the instant the water is under their boards, their arms flail and they topple right off into the sand. Once, the little boy, apparently in anticipation of water touching his board, simply face plants himself into the sand. I am laughing so hard I can hardly stand up. Jeff takes a 6 minute video of these ‘surfers’ and we walk down to the beach to give their dad a note with our email addresses so when he gets home if he writes us we can email the video to him.

Walking back toward the condo, I realize that I do want to snorkel, so we go upstairs where I put on my suit, grab my gear and head out. Jeff settles down on the lanai to read.
The snorkeling is nice, better than the other day in visibility, the water is very warm and, what do you know? There’s a turtle! I watch the turtle for a long while. I keep lifting my head to see if there are other snorkelers in the water to whom I can point him out. Nope, no one around. I try to get some photos but it is impossible to see anything on the screen of our underwater camera. As the turtle surfaces for air he is practically right beside me. Got this great photo!

Eventually he swims further out than I want to go so we part ways and I return to shore.

I rinse off at the outdoor shower and jump in the swimming pool to float around a little bit. It was very pleasant but it is time to get out and continue doing nothing…

Back upstairs, Jeff has read that the Maui Brewing Company brewery and restaurant is in this area so we take a walk to see if we can find it. Yup! It is a less than 5 minute walk from our condo. We check out the menu and decide to have dinner here tonight. Last night’s dinner, after the Road to Hana, was two bags of microwave popcorn. Tonight we’ll treat ourselves.

We relax at home…did a little laundry (by hand since there is no washer/dryer), read and just generally hung out.
Walked over to the brewery for dinner and drinks. I was happy to find out that they make their own root beer and, just for the record, it is not as good as Coopersmith’s root beer!

Time for bed…tomorrow we are going to “Turtle Town”. That’s what Jeff calls it anyway. I’ll explain next time.

2014 Adventures Back Close encounter

The Road to Hana

Lahaina, HI

We actually got up early as planned and after a quick breakfast of shredded wheat, bananas and coffee, we head for the car and out for adventure.

Jeff did some research on the Road to Hana and discovered “there’s app for that.” Unbelievable! The app is an audio tour, tied to the GPS location of your car along the route. We splurge, spend the $4.99, download the app to my phone and we’re off.
Let me preface this post by saying it was a great day and I hope never to do the Road to Hana again!!

The Road to Hana is famous not only for the incredible scenery, specifically waterfalls, but for the fact that it is a dramatically serpentine road (the book says “600 twists and turns) with 54 one-lane bridges. What you don’t know starting out is that most of the road is slightly wider than a normal sized sedan or maybe a little wider than normal driveway. There isn’t a centerline because the road is not wide enough to divide in half. Of course we didn’t realize this starting out.

It took us about an hour to get to Lahaina and to begin our drive. We switched on the the audio tour and off we went. The audio tour was wonderful and specific to the point that the narrator pointed out the cows in the field we were passing. We couldn’t believe it.

There is is a LOT to see on this 60 mile trek and I’m going to describe some of our stops in no particular order.

Our first stop was at the Huelo Lookout Fruit Stand (it was mentioned in our book). I had crepes with fresh coconut, almonds and Nutella. Jeff had a hunk of freshly baked banana/pineapple bread.

Both were delicious. Here is a photo of the young woman who was at the stand which, by the way, is in the middle of nowhere.

Because we were driving up into the rain forest we weren’t surprise that it started to sprinkle. One of the most famous things about the Road to Hana is the number of waterfalls. Unfortunately it began to rain in earnest and though our cheery narrator told us to look here and there to see spectacular cascading waterfalls, all we could see through our steamy windows was dense foliage and the narrow winding road.

After a bit, and just in time, the weather cleared as we were approaching 3 Bears Falls. So pretty!

But soon we were driving in the Ko’olau Forest Preserve where the jungle seemed to take over and the road seems, is it possible? even more narrow. This area gets 200-300 inches of rain a year! Our narrator pointed out and we saw a stand of painted eucalyptus that have brilliant rainbow colored bark.

After what seems like hours of white knuckled driving, (how are you to yield to oncoming traffic on a one-lane bridge if you can’t see through the jungle to the other side of the bridge??), we get to the Ke’anae Peninsula. This peninsula was created by a late eruption of Haleakala and is oddly perfectly flat. Unfortunately its topography, or lack thereof, was the reason for a terrible tragedy. I forget the date but think it was in the ’40s that a tsunami swept Hawaii and completely washed over the Ke’anae

Pennisula. Of course this was before the tsunami warning systems were in place

Many, many people died and the peninsula was wiped cleaexcept fo

The Ke’anae Congregational Church was built in 1860 of lava rock and coral mortar. It is a pretty little church in a beautiful setting, and that it survived the tsunami is amazing.

Opposite the church is the Ke’anae Beach Park. The coastline is jagged black lava rock and the waves pound into the shoreline. It does make for some nice photos.

Ke’anae is one-half way to Hana and it seems we have been driving forever!

We are getting hungry and though we packed a lunch and healthy snacks we want to try a restaurant listed in our book. Actually, it isn’t a restaurant but a series of three roadside stands in Nahiku that comprises that village’s commercial district. We drive a bit and then realize the little shacks we passed a few minutes ago were where we wanted to stop. We make our way back to discover that 2 of the 3 stands are closed and the third is heavy into meat. Happily there is a little coffee shack serving nice 100% Maui coffee. I get a cup, buy a yummy (and huge) shortbread cookie and chat with the young barista. She is from Montana and next week will have lived in Nahiku for 2 years.

We visit the tiny gift shop which had some nice glass work – no way to get that home in one piece – and we were on the road again.
We take a short diversions to ‘Ula’ino Road to visit the Hana lava tube but when we realize it will cost $12 each and takes around an hour to tour we decide to go back to the Road to Hana.

Van tours that take folks on The Road to Hana and back typically take twelve hours. We are on our own and already are realizing twelve hours might be possible if we spent very little time at each site. Happily, we are in no big hurry.

We stop at Wai’anapanapa State Park. Very cool! There is a black sand beach, a cave to swim in (hope the video here will work for you) and a nice coastal walk past a burial ground, a natural sea arch and a blow hole that roared out as we watched. This was a nice relaxing spot.

On we go…happily our audio guide told us right from the beginning that taking the Road to Hana is the point – not Hana as a destination! And he was correct. There was a small general store, gas station, restaurant and not much else, though I readily admit that we didn’t explore this area. We stopped in the parking lot of the general store to eat the lunch and snacks we packed and were soon on our way. After Hana the road is okay – at least it is big enough to put a stripe down the center!

We drive out of Hana to the ‘Ohe’o Gulch or Kipahulu area which is actually part of Haleakala National Park – which is a totally different section from the Haleakala Crater part of the park (you can’t get there from here). We are on this side because we want to do some hiking. We go to the Kipahula Visitor Center to get oriented, back to the car to change into hiking boots, get backpacks and water and here we go.
We take the Pipiwau Trail – it is 2 miles to Waimoku Falls. These are the falls you see at the beginning of the old Fantasy Island TV show. You’re supposed to allow a little more than 2 hours round trip. At 1/2 mile we get to Makahiku Falls. They drop about 200 feet into a deep gorge. We pass a ginormous banyan tree (the photo does NOT capture its immensity) and we walk through the most beautiful, seductive bamboo forest. I feel truly transport to someplace mystical. Through the bamboo forest we are on raised boardwalks (it is very muddy here) and making good time.

Finally we see the falls and, honestly, they are breath-taking. Absolutely beautiful. To get a closer look we need to cross a stream – more like a raging stream – with really big rocks in it. Jeff scampers across leaping at the end to the other side. It takes me several minutes to figure out how to cross as I don’t scamper OR leap. Jeff’s extended hand helps me off a big rock and safely onto the other side. A wonderful view! (sorry that the photo is sideways!)

We watch the water pouring over the top..400 feet down a sheer rock face. Even standing back quite a ways we feel the spray. Ahhh… We admire the view for a long time before turning to head back down. I do better crossing the stream, but Jeff’s ankle gets caught between two rocks – that’s gonna leave a bruise.

Hiking back to the car we see guavas that have fallen from their branches and split open on the path, their fruity scent is quite nice. I stop to smell some pretty white flowers, I think they were plumeria. They smell soooo tropical. I pick one and put it behind my ear – the fragrance accompanies me all the way back to the car.

It’s time to head home. Instead of retracing the Road to Hana back down – in which case I guess it would then be the Road to Lahaina – we decide to take the Pi’ilani Highway. As I’ve done all the driving so far, Jeff takes over. It was a darn good thing. Used to be that rental car contracts forbade driving this highway, but we didn’t read ours closely and they didn’t tell us NOT to…

Our book refers to the “untamed Pi’ilani Highway” and describes it as “the road winds like a drunken cowboy.” That is an UNDERSTATEMENT! The damn thing wasn’t even paved for most of the way! By now night has fallen, we are on this rutted dirt road where the signs say “Safe speed 10 mph” and it is like driving a roller coaster track. WHAT have we gotten ourselves into?? Oh, and it is also open range so there is a likelihood that we will turn a corner into a herd of cows. Nothing to do but forge ahead.

You always should focus on a positive aspect and ours was that since it was nighttime we would be able to see the headlights of oncoming cars (as though anyone else was dumb enough to be out here in the dark!) and the stars were really pretty. I told Jeff this as his eyes were glued to the road so we didn’t miss a turn and drive off the cliff into the ocean. I finally just closed my eyes and tried not to whimper.

Our Road to Hana adventure was about 15 hours, and like I mentioned at the start, it was great but I hope to never do THAT again!

You have been such a sport to read this whole post and here is your reward….to the first person who will comment telling me the name of a famous “Road to” movie and the name of one of the male leads who appeared in them…I will bring back some Kona coffee.

See you again soon!

2014 Adventures Back Relaxing…

Honolua Bay

Lahaina, HI

Seriously, can this be only the 2nd full day of our vacation? Island time, slow and laid back, is wonderful.

This morning’s breakfast was darn good. We had saved one of our 2 baked potatoes from last night – shredded it, added some chopped onion and tomato and made hash browns. Accompanied by scrambled eggs with onions, toast and juice (and of course Kona coffee!) it was a nice way to start the day.

Today we are going to explore some other places to snorkel. We pack up water bottles and snacks, snorkeling equipment and cameras, put on a boatload of sunscreen and hop in the car. We are heading for Honolua Bay which, according to our book, has excellent snorkeling. Honolua Bay and Slaughterhouse Beach are right next to each other separated by narrow Kalaepiha Point. Together these two areas make up the “Honolua-Mokule’ia Bay Marine Life Conservation District” and we’re hopeful that the water will be clear.

Here is a photo of the walk down to the beach…it was beautiful.

The path to Honolua-Mokule'ia Bay — The path to Honolua-Mokule’ia Bay

When we got to the water we were surprised to find not a sand beach but a very rocky one. And chickens – lots and lots of chickens! Do you know the history of the chickens in Hawai’i? We were told that years ago a hurricane hit the Islands and most of the domestic chickens were set loose in the storm. What we have now are a LOT of wild chickens – talk about free range! 🙂

We find a little shade in a less-rocky spot for our towels and head for the water. I’m heartened because there are two snorkeling tour boats anchored out on the right side of the bay. Getting into the water is tricky because of the rocks but the bay is so sheltered that there is virtually no surf. As I lowered my head into the water my heart sank – it was murky, sandy. I tapped Jeff and pointed out by the tour catamarans. “Let’s head that way. The boats always drop off at the best spots.” It was a longer swim than it looked and I’m so proud that Jeff did it. He has never been very comfortable in the water, but he is doing awesomely.

Oh, MUCH better snorkeling out here! The coral was spectacular! Colors I’ve never seen before – blue coral? Who knew. There was a lot of fish life as well. This is a trumpet fish

I had started taking underwater photos when a snorkeler tapped me and said “Come look at this ” I followed him and a very large free-swimming green eel was moving through the water.

Turns out that Jeff was right behind me and he got to see it too. This was great!

A few minutes later a woman swam up and very excitedly told us that she had just seen the biggest turtle of her life. It was “out past the catamaran”. Jeff and I decided to head further out. It seemed to be taking forever to get there. Then Jeff called out to me to “hang on – that catamaran is sailing away!” No wonder we never seemed to be getting closer. Hahaha. I saw three scuba divers surface and swam over to ask about turtles. Yup, they had seen one about 150 feet further out along the ridge, so we followed the underwater wall for awhile. No turtles.

Time to go back closer to shore and to the coral. I swam ahead and a little ways along heard Jeff calling very loudly and excitedly, “Octopus!!”
“NO WAY” I shouted back and began swimming to him in earnest. He had seen the octopus walking on all 8 of its legs and more amazingly than that he had watched until it attached itself to some rocks, so by the time I got there he could point it out to me! WOW! Once it was camouflaged it was very difficult not only to see but also to tell it was an octopus. I did repeated surface dives trying to get down close enough to get a decent photo. We called to two passing snorkelers to come see the octopus. The four of us hung around it for a bit and we told them to keep an eye out for the turtle.

Okay, now we really are heading back closer to shore. Oh, wait. The two snorkelers we had been talking too called out to us that they found the turtle! We swam out to them and there was a huge green sea turtle calmly eating. This turtle was missing its left front flipper. I wonder how that happened? We watch the turtle so long that it surfaced twice for air. The second time it swam up It came to the surface almost under Jeff.

Here is apretty good photo of the turtle diving back down and Jeff in the background.
We stayed out by the turtle a long time, just hanging in the water until we both started to get cold.

This time we headed for shore and went all the way in.
It was so much fun to sit on our hot rocks drying out and talking about the octopus and turtle. I cannot believe we saw an octopus! This bay is known for spinner dolphins, but we didn’t see any. It’s probably a good thing because I don’t think I could have taken much more excitement.

We’ve spent more time than we planned to spend here and we decide not to go to the next beach we had planned to visit, Malu’aka Beach – also known as Turtle Beach – because it is about an hour drive away. We’ll do that later this week instead. We walk back up the path to the car and drive to an overlook to see Honolua Bay from above. It is pretty, isn’t it?

One of the snorkelers we chatted with on the beach suggested we try Napili Beach and since it’s on our way home we stop there. The beach is gorgeous! But being so late in the afternoon it has gotten windy and the waves are rough. We decide we are too tired to deal with the surf and sit on the sand, a welcome relief for our butts after the rocks at Honolua.

While we sit a young woman and an older woman come out of the water together. It was quite clear that the older woman had never been in the ocean before – she had an excited, semi-terrified look on her face along with a huge smile. She shouted “Isn’t this great?” at us as she walked by. We agreed.

We got back to our condo, washed up and had dinner. A repeat of Friday night’s fare – pasta and salad.

Tomorrow we are planning to drive “The Road to Hana” so we pack snacks, swim suits, hiking boots and backpacks, unsure as to what all we will need. We are hoping to leave no later than 7am so it is time for bed.

I hope you will come along on our road trip tomorrow….

2014 Adventures Back Road to Hana

Las Tortugas

Lahaina, HI

Happily we slept great on our Murphy bed last night and woke up at a “normal” time of 7:30am. Getting that jet lag under control…

We ate breakfast (cranberry juice, bananas, shredded wheat, and lots of coffee on our lanai (pronounced lah-nigh) or balcony. It is impossible to sit out and not look into the mesmerizing ocean. Unbelievably, from nine floors up we spotted a large turtle lazily swimming past our building. We are excited to start snorkeling, but first we want to do a little exploring. Time for a walk to check out the area.

First we walked north – not much to see that way and the sidewalk soon ended. We were gone long enough that we returned to the condo to grab water bottles and hats. Did we think of sunscreen? Nooo…
We walked south for about 1-1/4 miles and ended up back at the grocery store we visited yesterday. We took this opportunity to buy some fresh flowers…here is a photo of Jeff carrying them back.

Jeff carrying flowers

I also picked up a bunch of postcards hoping that if I get them in the mail soon I won’t beat them back to the mainland.

Finally we got home, slathered on the sunscreen, and it was time to hit the water. Before we could get out the door we heard one of our neighbors calling down to the shore “There’s a turtle right behind you!” We rush to the balcony and looked down. Sure enough, a turtle was swimming past and this one was huge!

Our location is so wonderful. We go down to the lobby and out the back door to the surf and sand. We headed down right away. It took us only seconds to gear up and get in.

It was AWFUL!!! Some of the worst snorkeling we’ve experienced! The water was terribly murky and I told Jeff that the only way I was going to see a turtle was if it swam up and introduced itself. We snorkeled out further from the shore – still murky; we swam south toward some mossy rocks – murky and rocky; we headed back toward the sandy area where we had seen the two swimming turtles from above. Nada. We had been in quite a while. Jeff got out and I snorkeled a little more. When I raised my head once a nearby woman called to me ” Did you see the turtle?” “No! I didn’t.” She pointed at me and said “it’s right in front of you!” So I stuck my head in, looked down, looked around and around, up and down. No turtle. Stupid amphibians.

I got out, very reluctantly. We sat on our towels to dry and later noticed a woman frantically waving to someone on shore. Yes, she has spotted a turtle. Well, by now we were dry and we knew by the time we geared back up and got into the water the turtle would be gone.
We watched for five or seven minutes and the woman was still hovering in that same spot. Then we noticed her companions on shore waving to her and pointing very close to shore – there was another one! Okay, this got us up and moving!

We got into the very rocky area…big, slick, moss covered rocks, and, holy mackerel, THAT rock just moved!!! Huge turtle! The water was still terribly murky so the turtle just popped into sight and we were WAY to close. Jeff tried to turn and his foot made contact with the shell. As the surf pulled me out, the turtle, who was feeding, swam forward. Suddenly it and I were practically nose to nose – and I have the picture to prove it!

Talk about a close encounter! I can’t believe I had the presence of mind to swing the camera up and click – no viewfinder check, just wild clicking. Then there was another turtle – this one was massive – probably 5 feet across. Now I seriously can’t tell what is turtle and what is rock. Raising my head I see both Jeff and our mystery turtle-spotting lady gesturing below themselves at other turtles. Because of the poor water quality it was impossible to see las tortugas unless you were within 6-9 inches of them – exhilarating and a wee bit frightening at the same time.

Jeff called out that he was getting bashed and scrapped up by the rocks; I was pooped trying to maintain my equilibrium in the surf – we headed for shore. Back to our towels to sit in the sun and dry. We sat and talked about our fun when someone called out. Looking up we saw a turtle coming on shore! Unbelievable!

Naturally we walked over (no need to scurry, because, you know, it IS a turtle. LOL) we got some wonderful photos and I have a very short video of it’s movement up the sand.

We chatted with a local person and learned that the turtles often come ashore on this beach to sleep during the afternoon and at night. Lucky us!

Back upstairs to shower off and make dinner. Jeff took some salmon (yes, I know…we are in Hawaii and eating Alaskan salmon…) down to the grill while I baked our 2 potatoes in the microwave and steamed some broccoli. Dinner with a glass of wine was the perfect way to wind up our day.

Tomorrow we are planning to snorkel at some other beaches and we might make a serious attempt to find the converter we need to move photos from our cameras to our IPads so you will be able to enjoy our photos.

Between the walk this morning and the snorkeling all afternoon we are beat. A 9:30 bedtime doesn’t seem too early at all.

I hope you are enjoying reading about our trip and will come back tomorrow to see what we have been doing.

2014 Adventures Back Honolua Bay

Early morning/late (early!) night

Loveland, CO

4 a.m came much too early this morning, but up we were. Last minute chores: feed the cat, take out the trash, turn off the water heater, make coffee -> not necessarily in that order.

The doorbell at 4:50 told us that Tom had arrived. It takes a very good friend to offer to drive you to the airport at dark:thirty in the morning. Thanks, Tom!

Our flight to Phoenix left Denver International Airport on time, wonder of wonders, and was just long enough for me to start and finish Lois Lowery’s novel “The Giver.

The time between our arrival in Phoenix and our connecting flight to Maui passed very quickly. We had time for a bathroom stop, to purchase a salad to eat later and we were boarding. Here is a picture of Miles. He is 6 and all we know about him is that he was traveling with his mom and (slightly older) sister. We know this because by the time they boarded they were getting the last 3 seats on the plane and those seats were not together. To make a long, quite funny story short, Jeff and I rearranged two rows of passengers to get Miles Miles into our row and within arms reach of his mom. So, I gave up my aisle seat on a six hour flight to voluntarily sit next to a six year old – do I get a prize? Don’t let this photo fool you. Miles was WIDE awake until literally 10 minutes before we landed! We and his mom laughed and laughed that NOW he fell asleep! Seriously though, he was a good little guy.

Arriving in Maui we quickly got our rental car and after getting lost for only a short time made it to our condo at the Kahana Beach Vacation Club in Lahaina in less than an hour.

When we checked in I asked if we would be able to see the ocean. Here is the view from our balcony!! Whoopee!! Lahaina, HI

Our condo is a studio with, get this, a Murphy bed! The kitchen is minuscule with a two-burner cook top and teensy sink. It is perfect. 🙂 Though we are exhausted we head out to the grocery store for provisions like wine, beer, and microwave popcorn along with real (and healthy) fare.

Because we are four hours behind Colorado we know we have to stay awake until our regular bedtime or wake up and be raring to go at 4 am…so, we make dinner. We had a yummy fresh salad and rotini with diced tomatoes, onions, carrots and broccoli. The “kitchen” is too tiny for both of us at the same time so we made shift work of chopping and sautéing.

After dinner we stood out on our balcony and looked out over the ocean. I am in HEAVEN. As I stood looking down at the sand something caught my eye. Yes, that big rock DID move. OMG!!! There is a sea turtle coming ashore right below us. Turtle

We grab our cameras and go charging down to the sandy beach. Really, think about it – we are dashing around trying to outrun a turtle? Yep, we’re tired. Anyway, we get to the beach and there’s the turtle – resting. We got some incredible photos. And let me apologize here – we forgot to pack the converter that moves photos from our cameras to our iPads, so no turtle photos for you unless we can think of a solution.

I can NOT believe we saw this turtle. If I had to go home right now, I would not feel cheated. Well, okay, maybe a little bit because I haven’t been in the water yet…

Finally, mercifully, it is 9:30 and I declare it close enough to a normal bedtime…we’re folding down the Murphy bed and going to sleep. I hope you enjoyed our day of travel and arrival. We haven’t made plans yet for tomorrow – please come back and vacation with us.

2014 Adventures Las tortugas

If it’s Tuesday this must be Belgium

Yup! It’s Tuesday and we’re in Belgium.

After getting up at dark:thirty in the morning and getting a cab to the airport, we said goodbye to Istanbul, driving by the Golden Horn one last time.

Our flight to Brussels was just under 4 hours -uneventful. Once we deplaned in Brussels, got through Passport Control and all the rigmarole of international travel, we caught a train to our hotel. Riding a train from the airport is always an adventure – made more so because we were hauling our luggage and all the signage looked like gibberish.

The train was comfy and fast…and it was maybe 35 minutes before we were hopping off. Now, here we are in the Brussels Central Train Station. It is only a 10 minute walk to our hotel but that apparently did not take into account the 40 minutes it took us to find our way OUT of the train station!
Then, we walked for about 30 minutes, got lost, (dragging our suitcases behind us on cobblestoned streets) ended up back at the train station. Hmmm, didn’t feel like we were walking in a gigantic circle!

Now its starting to rain….okay, we’re getting a taxi. But first we have to figure out how to get out of the train station again. I feel like I’m in a Marx Brothers movie. We can’t find the taxi stand. We walk into the Royal Windsor hotel (not ours) and let Eve do the talking because she, after all, has an English accent and it IS the “Royal” Windsor. Go out the door, in the rain, turn left, take the first left and there’s a taxi stand. RRRIIIGGGHHHTTT. We’re back at the damn train station.
Finally, finally we find a cab. Success!

We have rooms at the “Welcome Hotel” This place is a riot and it is wonderful! Each room has a different theme.

All Good Things…

Oh, can it be?? Today is the last day of our scheduled sightseeing during our wonderful tour of Turkey. Before telling you about today’s sites, here’s a story about last night’s farewell dinner.

Our group went to a very tasty fish restaurant for our farewell dinner. Great food, great wine and lots of fun. Afterwards we straggled back to our bus.

You know how sometimes you just get an odd feeling about someone? I was walking and got a creepy feeling about a young guy walking behind me, so I step suddenly off to the right, whirled around and stared directly into his eyes. I must have startled him or looked menacing or both (I hope I looked menacing and not just like a crazed squirrel) because he took a wide step around me. I still had that creepy feeling and looked quickly to see where Mary was. She was just getting into the bus

As I watched, I clearly felt what this kid was going to do. Faster than anything I’ve ever seen before in my life, he slipped his hand into Bill Chew’s front pocket and lifted his wallet! Slickest thing I’ve ever seen in my life! And it seemed like slow motion. Bill sent up a hue and cry and I grabbed the kid. If I’d been thinking I would have grabbed his clothes or just body checked him into the side of the bus, but it happened so fast. Anyway, I grabbed his arm, but he squirmed away – whoever he is, he’s got a nasty scratch on his arm. What we didn’t realize at the time, was when I grabbed him he dropped the wallet. Whether by accident or because he thought he’d been caught I don’t know. Ender and our driver (who could easily play linebacker for any NFL team) took off running after him. Holy moley – those guys can run!! Needless to say, they didn’t catch the kid, but Bill wasn’t hurt and his wallet -picked up by two passing Turkish men who brought it to me – was recovered. A great ending to what could have been a real bummer for Bill.

Other than that, we’ve had no issues at all with crime in Turkey and never felt unsafe. Now though I appreciate my ‘creepy’ radar more than I did.

Now, onto today’s sites… one of the biggies – the Blue Mosque. I’m sure you’ve heard of it because the Blue Mosque is one of the most famous religious buildings in the world. It is because of the (mainly) blue Iznik tile work in the interior that it is called the Blue Mosque. I think the French originated that term. It is striking.

The mosque was built between 1609-1616 and received a very negative response because in its opulence it incorporated six minarets. This bordered on sacrilege because the mosque in Mecca had six minarets. This affront was dealt with most expediently by adding a seventh minaret to Mecca.

The mosque is gorgeous outside and inside.
Each of those minarets has two or three balconies and I never found out what they’re used for.

Inside the underside of the domes are painted. They used to be stained glass windows but I guess 17th century stained glass didn’t hold up. This mosque was designed with over 250 windows. The domes are beautiful painted though.

It was difficult to get decent photos in the mosque because of the lighting, but I did my best. Here’s a photo of Mary trying to get a nice shot.

The famous blue tile is found on some of the mosque’s walls (not the ceilings or domes) and it is beautiful.

This abulations fountain (left) is now decorative but the minbar (right) is still used by the imam during Friday prayers.. I’m sorry that the photo of the minbar is so poor (it is the slanted piece in the background). It is, of course, also from the 17th century and is beautifully carved marble.

The Blue Mosque is an active mosque with regular prayers. It was wonderful to experience it.

Within walking distance of the mosque is Topkapi Palace.

Topkapi Palace was the home from which the Ottoman sultans ruled for 400 years. 400 years! Having only a few hours to explore the huge palace was scarcely long enough to scratch the surface. I could spend several days here and hope that someday I’ll be able to do just that. There was too much to see and not enough time to absorb what I was seeing and I know I missed 98% of the palace. But I’m thrilled with what I did see and here are my highlights…

The entry to the Palace is called the “Gate of Salutations” and leads to the first of three courtyards.
The first courtyard is open to everyone, but the others have restricted access,with the third being restricted to the sultan and his family and maybe one or two persons permitted inside on business.

The viziers (or members of the imperial council) would meet to discuss matters in the Divan. It’s pretty clear from where our meaning of ‘divan’ originates, isn’t it?
There was a room in the upper wall of the divan that the viziers could not see into – that was the sultan’s room. So they never knew if he was listening to their conversations.
This was the age of beheadings so I’m guessing everyone was on their best behavior.

Because I knew I wouldn’t be able to see everything at the Palace, I had to pick and choose. I chose not to go to the Treasury because jewels are jewels and while I’m sure they were spectacular I was interested in seeing the more unique offerings of the Palace. I found what I was looking for in the “Privy” and, NO, it’s not what you think!

The Privy has some of the most holy relics of Islam on display. In fact, Muslims make pilgrimages to this room. Photos were not permitted so I tried hard to capture in my mind the treasures I was privileged to see. For me, the most powerful item was Moses’ staff. The walking stick that Moses carried…the stick that assisted Moses in carrying down the 10 Commandments, that parted the Red Sea. The other thing I remember most is the Prophet Mohammed’s cloak (mantle). You can’t even go into that room, but you look through an open door into a separate chamber. As an indication of the importance of this relic, passages of the Koran are read live, 24 hours a day over the gold chest that stores the cloak. It certainly added to the atmosphere to have the Koran verses continually chanted while seeing this important artifacts. Oh, but I did kind of smile to myself because there were about 20 vials all labeled “Prophet Mohammed’s beard” because it reminded me of how we save the hair from kids’ first haircuts. Interesting.

After the Privy, I went to the Baghdad Pavilion. It was built in 1639 to celebrate someone’s (Murat IV?) capture of Baghdad. Anyway it has gorgeous blue and white tile work.

I also popped into the Circumcision Room – no explanation needed here!

and to the Revan Kiosk (the Chamber of the Turbans).

The Chamber of the Turbans was built in 1635-36 and is where the sultan’s turbans were kept. Is this like having a separate closet just for your hats?? Anyway, it has beautiful marble decorations and blue tiles and is one of the last examples of classic Ottoman architecture.

Walking the grounds of the Palace, I saw the Breaking Fast Pavilion where the sultan supposedly broke his fast each day of Ramadan. It overlooks a beautiful view of the Bosphorus and city of Istanbul (though I’m pretty sure there was not a cruise ship in his view!)

Like I said, I didn’t see much of the Palace and one of the things I missed was the Harem. Yup, harems were for real! In fact, the last concubine left the Palace in 1909.

World War I brought an end to the Ottoman Empire.

Today’s sightseeing is over…our tour with SmarTours has come to a close. Riding the bus back to the hotel, different folks departed at different places. Eve, Leroy and Elaine got off at the Spice Market to do some last minute shopping. Mary and I rode back to the hotel, where we very sadly said goodbye to Ender – the guide extraordinaire.

But we weren’t done. After Mary and I had a cup of tea, we decided it would be fun to walk to Taksim Square. Taksim Square might sound familiar as it was the site of some newsworthy protests in Turkey 3 months ago. Since it is only 10 minutes walk from our hotel we thought it worthwhile to visit.

It is a beautiful city park – in the middle of all the hustle and noise of Istanbul sits a lovely oasis of trees, fountains, a children’s playground. There is a tea man who walks about with cups and a thermos of tea to sale. Wonderful, shady, green and relaxing.

It was this little park that incited the demonstrations three months ago. The authorities decided it would be a good idea to replace the park with more shopping. Oh, just what is needed….more shopping. You can see why the protests ensued.
Part of Taksim Square is also a large paved square…kind of an big, ugly, concrete pedestrian way and that is where the protesting took place. Here are a couple of photos of that area as well.

And with our walk back to the hotel, Mary and I brought our sightseeing to a close.

When Elaine, Eve and Leroy returned to the hotel the five of us celebrated our trip with a picnic dinner in Eve and Leroy’s room. Then it was time to think about packing up…tomorrow morning we leave for Brussels!

What’s behind Horse #2?

We spent last night at the Iris Hotel in Canakkale – right on the Aegean Sea.

I have been looking forward to today’s sightseeing more than any other. We’ve all heard the story of the Trojan horse and today we’re going to Troy.

Troy (Truva in Turkish) is the site of the decade long Trojan War (1200 BC) and is the pivotal point of Homer’s lIiad, which I’m reading now. Being here makes the Iliad sooo fascinating!

Troy is actually nine different sites, one built over top of the other, so its timeline is something like 4000 BC to 300AD. Here is a signpost showing visitors the way to Troy 7B, Troy 8 and Troy 9.

As you walk around the site(s) you can see obvious differences in the ruins – like how the walls were built for example. In this area, there are markers right in the ground showing to which Troy the ruins belong.
The little white squares give the number of which “Troy” that area is linked to. You might have to click the photo to enlarge it enough to see the distinct signs.

The fact that there are 9 different cities atop one another threw off Heinrich Schliemann. Schliemann, a German amateur archaeologist, was determined to discover Troy, and he kind of did. Schliemann dug sideways into the “tell” and as a result there is now a huge trench that has caused damage to that part of the site. That and the fact that once he found a hoard of gold and silver jewelry he was done, makes him either an archaeological pioneer or a sleazy plunderer.

Here are a couple photos of Schliemann’s trench. Actually the one on the right is the road over the trench.

Its hard to imagine the excitement of the later archaeologists when the depth of this site was uncovered (all word play intended)

This photo (left) is of homes located outside the walls of Troy.

Below is a view of Troy’s amphitheater.

Now, on a totally different note: do you see cat in this photo? The black cat is a shadow. I don’t know what it is a shadow OF, but it stopped me in my tracks. There is a real kitty on the rock just to the right of the shadow cat. Weird, eh?

Be honest now…if you were hiking around ruins and saw this very unofficial sign, wouldn’t you want to explore?
Yes, of course, you would. Despite the handwritten sign, I followed the path and sure enough it lead me to a cave. Why? Beats me, but it was a pleasant side jaunt, peaceful and uncrowded.

And here it is! A replica of the Trojan Horse!

Our morning in Troy drew to a close and we headed back to Istanbul. Our return trip involved taking a car ferry (car, semi, tour busses, pickup truck with gypsies in the back) across the Dardanelles. (Remember the Dardanelles connects the Aegean and Black Seas.) Here’s a photo of the line to the ferry.
The ferry took maybe 20 minutes then we were on the road again.

At one of our rest stops, this little guy (the cook’s son) decided he’d like to go for a ride on the big bus, too. With all the attention he was getting he wasn’t interested in disembarking.

Too soon we were back in Istanbul, pulling up next to the TRYP by Windham. Since this was our original hotel it was like coming home after a vacation!

There is so much that I haven’t talked about in my blog – I wish I could share everything with you. Tomorrow is our last planned sightseeing day. Until then –

Pax Romana

Saturday, September 14, 2013

Today we are traveling from Izmir through Bergama to Canakkale.
Bergama is the modern city that sits below the ruins of the ancient city of Pergamum. At one time Pergamum, a Hellenistic kingdom, was more important than Ephesus. Pergamum was a big administrative center with large imperial buildings before Ephesus became one after Augustus.

Pergamum is perched on a hilltop which, of course, most of these large centers are for security reasons: you can see the dust of galloping horses or lines of solders coming from a far distance.

The Acropolis of Pergamum has several large sites or spots where the sites used to be.

To reach the site we left our bus and got into a cable car. 8 people to a car. It was a great ride up the mountain. Very quiet and the car rocked a little, in a soothing way, in the wind.

Here’s a view down from the cable car and a photo of a car arriving at the top.

Though the Altar of Zeus was the site’s largest temple, (there is also a Temple of Athena and one of Dionysus) all that is left of it here are these two stone steps. In the late 1880s German archaeologists removed (looted, is probably more accurate) the Altar of Zeus and shipped it by boat to Berlin where it stands reconstructed in the Berlin Pergamum Museum. Because these antiquities were removed in the 1880s they do not fall under the Antiquities Repatriation Act. (That isn’t really the name of the act, but it is something like that.)

One of the more intact ruins (well, more intact than Zeus’ Altar) was the Temple of Trajan (built 125-138 A D). Trajan was one of the “5 good Emperors”. It was the 2nd century AD when the rule of these five emperors was at its height. During this time Roman outlying areas, like Pergamum, flourished. Aqueducts, theaters and other imperial structures were built – peace prevailed. I think this is the period that Ender refers to as “Pax Romana” which I interpret as “Roman Peace” Just think 200 years of peace…
Anyway, Trajan’s temple ruins are easily identified because it was a huge white marble structure.

In this photo I have climbed up behind the temple and am shooting down toward my subjects: Elaine, Eve, Leroy and Mary.

As an administrative city Pergamum was one of the ancient world’s center of learning. And what does every good center of learning need? A library!

This is the site of Pergamum’s library.

It supposedly had 200,000 parchment scrolls, so was giving the library in Alexandria some competition. Interestingly, when Mark Anthony married Cleopatra part of his wedding gift to her was sending a LOT of these works to the Alexandria library.

A city this old and important had to have a theater. Pergamum’s was built in the 3rd century B C. and it could hold approximately 10,000 people!

Unbelievable. The theater ruins, perched on this hillside, show the difference in how the Roman’s constructed as opposed to the Greeks. You can see from my picture that this is built right into the hillside.

Now, compare that to how the Romans built some of the outer walls. They used arches to elevate the ground and give themselves a flat plane to work with. Remember the theater at Aspendos ? (look at my XX entry dated Wednesday, September 11th) That theater, which was built by the Romans, is on level ground, not built into a hillside; the Greeks didn’t have the construction skills of the later Romans.

Here are some photos of the Roman arches supporting Pergamum. I’m totally fascinated by this stuff!

The walls of Pergamum encircled the hilltop city – about 3 miles of rock work.

The five of us walked way out on the city walls and came across Pergamum’s arsenal. Pretty smart of them to put it so far out of town ( but still within the city walls of course). A sign there said that 900 types of shells have been found here.

Walking back to the city proper, back to our big white bus chariot, I left the others and walked down and under the city arches. Gorgeous! Up under these arches were areas for storage and other rooms. Leroy was exploring this area as well.

I’d never heard of Pergamum and really know nothing about ancient times, but I am having the most wonderful time! I know some of the things I’m writing might have the wrong dates or the photo might not be what I think it is because I’m writing mainly from memory and scribbly notes I’m taking when Ender is talking. So, don’t take my blog as historically accurate but as a simple record of a fun vacation.

We boarded our bus to continue on to Canakkale which is where we’ll be spending the night. We drive along the Dardanelles, the sister strait to the Bosphorus. The Dardanelles leads from the Aegean Sea to the Sea of Marmara. So, the route is… Black Sea, Bosphorus, Sea of Marmara, Dardanelles, Aegean Sea, Mediterranean. The only way for the Russia navy to get out is through Turkey. Interestingly, Turkey has no sovereignty over the Bosphorus or the Dardanelles, but is responsible for keeping those Straits open for the rest of the world.

You history buffs will recognize Dardanelles as playing an important role in World War history. It was up the Dardanelles that the British (and French?) fleets sailed. There is place in the Dardanelles called “The Narrows” where the Turks and Germans (and sea mines) turned them back.

Ah!! Our hotel is on the Aegean Sea..and it didn’t take me long to get in!

The Mother Goddesses

Every day at the end of our touring I think to myself, “That was the best!” and every day it’s true. Therefore, today was the BEST.

The title of this post “The Mother Goddeses” is a bit obscure (and inaccurate) but here’s what I was thinking. Today we’re exploring Ephesus, built about 1000 BC, and which became a center of worship of Cybele, the Anatolian Mother Goddess. After Ephesus we’re going to the final home of the Virgin Mary, mother of Jesus. Two Mother figures…get it?

When we got on the bus this morning, Ender told us that he had some bad news from a friend he had dinner with last night. His friend, also a guide, told him that there were 7 cruise ships in Izmir today. YIKES! All those people swarming to Ephesus the same time as us. Apparently it isn’t unusual for 2 or 3 cruise ships to be in port at the same time, but 7??

You would think forewarned is forearmed, but I was taken aback by the disneyland-like crowds.
Still, this was the best day!

I could write pages and pages about Ephesus and I’ve tried to keep this post short (and,hopefully, interesting).

Ephesus is considered one of the greatest ruin cities in the western world, and it really is amazing. It was a port city and very an important ‘administrative center’ for Rome. Do you see any water in the photo below?
Nope, I didn’t think so. Ephesus’ decline was due to the silting over of it’s harbor…where there was water there is now miles of flat land. This silting over of this Aegean harbor played a death knell for other cities as well but it is in Ephesus that the flat land is so obvious.

Joining the hordes of cruise ship tourists, Ender bravely lead us into the fray with his flag.

I loved this carved angel and below is a photo of the Temple of Hadrian. Hadrian visited Ephesus in 123 AD and this temple was built to honor him. Isn’t it amazing that this is still standing?

But my favorite part of the entire day was the Library of Celsus. Remember, Ephesus was an administrative center and a library would have been important. This library was built by Celsus’ son and he put it right in the MIDDLE of the town’s main thoroughfare.

As an Imperial administrative site, Ephesus would naturally have a large theater. I walked up almost to the top of the seating so you can get a feel for the scope of this structure. It was originally built during the Hellenistic period so was built into Mount Pion but was later renovated by the Romans.

We have lots of free time to wander the sites on our own (we aren’t flag followers really) and I have a tendency to find myself off the beaten path. That was the case here in Ephesus. I walked away from the crowds to find a faint grassy path that had a small sign: “Church of the Virgin Mary.” Naturally I was curious and walked down it. I came upon a live dig.

A wee bit further along was the “Church of the Virgin Mary”. This was as close as I could get (I’m still pulling stickers out of my socks). I don’t know anything about this site and since I was alone and it was quiet I simply reflected on what it might have been or meant to the citizens of Ephesus.

I eventually wandered back to the bus. Our next visit was to the House of the Virgin Mary – a much smaller site and strangely moving. There are probably four different countries that claim to have the final house of the Virgin Mary; each with it’s own proof. Because John was known to be in this area and Jesus referred John to Mary as her son (“Mother, behold thy son”) the thinking in Turkey is that St. John the Evangelist came here from Patmos to take care of her. My Biblical knowledge borders on nil, so I may not have all the names correct. Ephesus was very important in the spread of Christianity (Ephesus=Ephesians) and two great Councils of the Church were held here in AD 431 and 449. So, sure, this could be the final house of the Virgin Mary.

The part I found strangely moving in this experience was this wall.

There are a bazillion small pieces of paper, tissues, ripped from notebooks or tablets – whatever people have in their pockets – they write their “wishes” or prayers. I had a “moment”. I wanted a HUGE HUGE piece of paper and I wanted to write ‘bring us peace” and cover the wall. Some of the more simple slips left said things like ‘help me to pass my exams’ and “help me find a good husband.” My attitude is, if you have the ear of the Virgin Mary, ask for mankind.

A great day…let’s end it with some food! Pomegranates