Day by Day '09

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  • August 02:
    • 09:30: Arrived at Sirkeci; Train one hour late
    • 12:30: Found Eurasia hostel; Excellent
    • 14:00: Lunch at Hayak Cafe; Excellent
    • 15:00: Blue Mosque: Amazing
    • 16:30: Haghia Sophia: Amazing
    • 18:30: Walkabout Sultankhamen, bought Bosphorous river tour
    • 20:00: Back to hostel
  • August 03:
    • 07:00: Wake; Eurasia Hostel breakfest was excellent
    • 08:30: River tour pickup
    • 09:30: River tour; Better than doing it alone, but not sure if the guide was worth the $50 each. The cable car was OK, we skipped the free visit to the jewelry shop.
    • 12:30: Return to hostel
    • 13:30: Lunch at Doy Doy; Excellent, 5/5.
    • 14:30: Errands; The ATM's by the Blue Mosque will give Euro, USD, and TL. Buying a SIM was easy, but cost 35TL for 100 credits with Vodafone (actual service provided by TelSim network.) SIM's took 2 hours to register, but not the 1 hour nor the 3 days we were told by the shop owner and someone random, respectively. Also, we were able to retrieve the tripod I accidentally left at the Haghia Sophia yesterday, even though it was officially closed -- a nice guard went and got it.
    • 16:30: Grand Bazaar: Coming off the Metro, it's not that impressive, just a lot of gold and leather. But go further inside, and it starts to become amazing. Porcelain, clothes, buttons, ribbons, shawls, mannequins, food, calligraphers, ..., we ended up dropping much more money than planned. The market is 2.5 millenia old; Absolutely worth a visit.
    • 19:00: Spice Bazaar: We accidentally walked in here after getting lost in the Grand Bazaar. Fantastic sweets, treats, smells and colors. Must visit, if only briefly.
    • 20:00: Istikal Caddesi and Taksim Square: Had a great dinner at a cafe halfway up the hill: coffees and water pipe for only $8/person! Great atmosphere, very kind and hospitable people. Istikal Caddesi is a great place to see what everyone has called "Modern-Day Turkey": females in burkas and tank tops walking next to each other, shops, phones, food, coffee, club music, bookstores and throngs of people. It's all there.
    • 00:30: Return to hostel; Exhausted!
  • August 04:
    • 08:00: Wake
    • 09:50: Depart for SAW; EUR10 shuttle bus, good price, 10 minutes late to the airport due to other passangers being late and a little traffic. Picked us up at the front door.
    • 12:30: Depart for Izmir via SunExpress; SunExpress domestic flights depart from SAW Terminal A, so make sure you get dropped off there; we didn't and had to walk. SunExpress check-in went very smoothly, but the flight departed late and arrived one hour late, due to what seemed like airport delays. No mechanical work was being done on the plane, we were idling on the tarmac.
    • 14:30: Arrive at Izmir Airport: Here we had a choice: bus, bus, train, or taxi. Train only goes to Izmir train station, so that's not very helpful (YTL3.5), and not very often. Hayak Coach (whose office you can find inside the airport) seemed to run pretty frequently, but wanted YTL10/person to take us to Gaziemir. Another coach company wanted much less, YTL5/person, to take us to Izmir Otogar. Yet, we got lucky: it turns out that taxi from Izmir airport to Gaziemir dolmus area is about YTL12 total, which was both faster and cheaper than the Hayak Coach. Experiences chronicled here.
    • 15:15: Departed Izmir airport by taxi.
    • 15:30: Dropped-off at Gozemir dolmus area. Here we were actually dropped-off at the wrong corner, but the helpful locals showed us the way. The Izmir-Selcuk dolmus showed-up in about 30 minutes.
    • 16:00: Departed Gozemir; Dolmus cost 7YTL/person (not 8YTL/person as printed even inside the bus.) Very comfortable, air-conditioned Renault minibus. Professional and helpful driver and attendant, sort of like what service used to be like in the USA, I guess.
    • 17:30: Arrived at Selcuk otogar; Again, locals guided us to the right bus to take. For Attila's Getaway, one waits in a certain place and the shuttle is called for you when they see you waiting.
    • 17:45: Departed Selcuk otogar
    • 18:00: Arrived at Attila's Getaway; An evening of splendid relaxation ensued with great conversation from Brits and Austrians.
  • August 05:
    • Walk around Selcuk: Most interesting for us. Get to know the town, its people, and its food.
    • St. John's Basilica: Nifty view of Selcuk and the surrounding valley from here. Holy site tourists come in tidal waves and leave just as quickly.
    • Ruins at Ephesus: Not bad, though one can only see so much of ruins.
  • August 06:
    • Chill Day
    • Depart for Goreme by Bus: We went to the Kamil Koc counter, but were actually sold a Nevshehir bus company ticket. I guess that didn't matter too much, though. Sleeping on these buses is pretty much impossible.
  • August 07:
    • Arrive in Goreme: Check in at Backpacker's Cave hostel. Cool hostel. Owner, Yasin, is very nice and helpful.
    • Lunch: Ate at the only place in town where locals ate. Delicious. Try the stuffed grape leaves soaked in olive oil.
    • Goreme Open-Air Museum: Not nearly as interesting or revealing as we expected for 15TL. People had been inhabiting the area long before the Christians got there, and the monks primary improvements are some bad drawings. On top of that, you are not allowed to use a tripod for picture, which always seems to imply that you can take pictures, just not any really good pictures.
    • Nearby Valley on the Way Back: Gorgeous views of Goreme and the nearby fairy chimneys. Miles better than the open-air museum.
    • Dinner: Ate at what seemed like a tourist restaurant, but the owner was very nice and talked for a long time. Food was good, too.
  • August 08:
    • Bought Bus Tickets: If you're going to buy bus tickets for the weekend in the Turkish summer, buy them a week in advance.
    • Uchisar Castle: Pretty nice views of the surrounding area.
    • Dinner: Somewhere....
  • August 09:
    • Derinkuyu Underground City: Absolutely Rocking! Amazing thing to see, very interesting on the inside. We were impressed by how they had managed to survive underground in these sometimes very deep cities for as much as a month.
    • Derinkuyu: Chilled out and watched the locals. Derinkuyu is much more traditional, so this was interesting.
    • Bus to Kars: Explored in great detail in the journal entry entitled "On the Way to Kars."
  • August 10:
    • Arrived in Kars: Contacted Gelil Ersoglu ahead of time, which was a good decision.
    • Ani Lost City: Amazing, forgotten, desolate place lost to time and history. Absolutely must-see; It changed Matt's perspective on the world.
    • Hotel Tamil 2: No hot water, air in the pipes, people open the door randomly without asking. WTF.
  • August 11:
    • Depart Kars for Hopa: Went by Artvin Express, 30TL each. This trip is a serious mistake if you are feeling ill in even the slightest way, and/or are susceptible to motion sickness and/or have a fear of heights. (We fell under 2/3rd's of this rubric.) It is a tough ride with wild, unrefined, mind-blowing scenery.
    • Arrive Hopa: Haggled a taxi for 20TL to the border at Sarp.
    • Border Crossing: Unusually complicated, but nice people. You don't have to change money at the currency exchange on the Georgian side, as there is an ATM about 50ft past the border.
    • Sarpi to Batumi: Haggled a minibus cab for 16 GYL.
    • Hotel Oscar: Nice owner, noisy at night (angry woman next door), water pump runs all the goddamn time under your ears, toilet leaks, and neither doors nor windows close. 50GYL/night incl. air-con unit, which is from the 70's and built by the Russians, so it'll probably poison you if you turn it on past Econ.
  • August 12:
    • Rest Day in Batumi: Both pretty sick by now. I think we went out to see the harbor and get some dinner.
    • Hunt for Medicine: Batumi has some really bad roads, and little English. We got very lucky: Found a pharmacy (Aphteka) which sold us some "Probiotics" (which briefly helped) and a gal at Geocell who spoke French. Back to the hotel room because we were exhausted. Slept.
    • Walk Along the Pier: Kind of a disappointment. Lots of leery guys, some prostitutes, and just not very pretty.
    • Dinner: Hotel Intourist, Venezia Restaurant: Security is not the best, but service is very good. Food was perfect. A meal for two costs almost the average Georgian's monthly salary: 50GYL.
  • August 13:
    • Depart Hotel Oscar: Breakfast at Intourist, then leeched their Wi-Fi and drank their drinks. Recuperated.
    • Marschrutka to Tbilisi: Hardest ride ever, harder than the Artvin Express. Packed in the back, no seat belts, kids up front smoking every time they woke up from a nap. The M1 is Georgia's main East-West link, and it is, without exaggeration, the bumpiest, curviest, scariest road we've ever been on. Cars pass each other all the time, sometimes with no regard for safety or even an active regard for flaunting it. Made our illnesses worse, and no sleep at all. On top of all this, when the road passes Gori, it comes to within spitting distance of South Ossetia, which is presently occupied by the Russians who sometimes take potshots. However, on arrival, driver waited with us until David picked us up. 20 GYL per person. Don't do it unless you have to; Take the train.
  • August 14:
    • Church: Which one?
    • Old Town: Nice
    • Khinkali: OMG, so good! :-)
  • August 15:
    • David's Shop: Very cool, and actually, an amazing story.
    • Haircut: Excellent.
    • Theme Park: Great views, great times.
    • Cheese Khachapuri: Heavy, salty, and good.
  • August 16:
    • Sandro: Great wine, great people.
    • Khakheti
    • City of Love
    • Crazy Candy Buys
    • Traditional BBQ: Wine and fantastic dancing.
  • August 17:
    • Doctor: About time.
    • Train: Bought tickets.
    • Food: Bean khatchapuri, which was great.
    • TV
    • Learned how to play backgammon: Cool.
  • August 18:
    • David's House: Another fantastic breakfast.
    • Old Church near Old Capital of Georgia: Beautiful.
    • Train from Tbilisi to Baku: 15 hours, great views.
  • August 19:
    • Qobustan: Mud Volcanoes: Wow! Cool! Seriously!
    • Qobustan: Petroglyphs: Amazing! Some of these date back 10,000 years! Really, a profound experience.
    • Heydar Aliyev Mosque: Wow. Also, beautiful views of Baku.
    • James Bond Oil Field: The field itself, not so interesting. The area around it is much more of an environmental disaster, but there are people actually living in it so that dampens the whole decrepit-shock-cool of it.
  • August 20:
    • Death Taxi from Baku to Heydar Aliyev airport
    • Fly: Baku to Zurich: Avoid Air Baltic
    • Met up with Mom: Awesome.
  • August 21:
    • Fly: Zurich to Los Angeles
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