Afrodisias, Turkey

Afrodisias was our last classical stop before we laid out on the open waters of the Medaterranean Sea.

Toren Kapisi Gate

The gate to Afrodisias was probably the coolest looking structure other than the full size stadium. Surprisingly the structure is eighty five percent original, where as most structures here are fully reconstructed.

Maisie picking figs

I don't typically pick off fruit and eat it on the spot, but these fresh figs hit the spot. I felt like a kid stealing fruit from a neighbors tree.

Achillies and Penthesilea

There was a section called Aphrodisias-Sebasteion Reliefs inside the museum which contained way too many reliefs for me to look at. But this one shows Achilles supporting the Amazon queen Penthesilea who he had mortally wounded in battle, only to fall in love with her at that moment.

Pamukkale, Turkey

Walking up the limestone pathway.

Our group has had a bit of a quarrel with the town itself. The hostel people didn't like us, the ticket booth people didn't like us, the restaurant owners didn't like us. But I'll attempt to avoid writing about the quarrels.

Catching the sunset.



On the second day we walked up to the limestone pools. It was a bit strange because we would see all these tourists in their bathing suits and bikini tops waltzing around in this small town. We opted to avoid the crowd/heat and go later to catch the sunset.

Night time of the limestone pools.


As much as I didn't like the town, I had a great time at the limestone pools. We'd walk barefoot up the walk way where they had running water flowing over the pathway. Played in the limestone mud for a little bit. Walked around the museum and the necropolis, and barely made it in time for the sunset. Took some shadow pictures on the limestone walls, and wadded around in the pools at night.

Selcuk, Turkey

After traveling through the middle east and Turkey I've found that my taste buds have changed. I'm extremely tired of tomato, cucumber, and hard boiled egg for breakfast. I used to avoid eating watermelon and eggplant/aubergine but find myself gorging myself with melon and trying different eggplant dishes.

Stuffed Mushroom


Since we became a group of four our choice in food has been mezes. One: because it's easy to share, two: you get a variety of choices, three: it's vegetarian friendly. We found this place called Okumus Mercan Restaurant in Selcuk that serves these amazing meze dishes. We'd order maybe six dishes between the four of us and it was decently priced for good food. We actually ended up coming back here for dinner after scouring the town for another place with decent food.

Aubergine/Eggplant Melody


I don't have a picture of it, but one of the strangest things that we ordered and I ended up loving was this poached egg dish covered with yogurt and lemon juice. This isn't your typical type of yogurt you find in the states, or at least any that i've had before. Trust me, delicious.

Stuffed Bellpepper

Ephesus, Turkey

For all the ruins and relics i've seen on this trip, this site has some of the best preserved structures and mosaics. After checking out the theater, soaking in the sun and fighting our way pasts the tour groups we decided to sit in front of the Celsus Library. There was just way too many people, so we set up camp and just relaxed until it died down.

First set of terraced houses


Sitting in front of the library wasn't cutting it, the tourists weren't dying down fast enough. We opted to kill time by checking out the terraced houses. They had put major efforts into preserving this place. I love how they constructed the layout; covered with a membraned tent, raised glass walk way, and the pathway snakes through the entire site. The marble hall was quoted to be the worlds biggest jig saw puzzle. There's just buckets of pieces to be put together.

Ruined pathway at the top of Ephesus


The sun started to set and the tourists started to disperse. We walked around the Colonnaded streets, and snuck into the baths of Varius (which wasn't really sneaking in since it wasn't protected, more like jumping a rope), then sat ontop of the Odeon to watch the sunset.

Celsus Library


It was quite peaceful when we got back to the library. It's amazing when you have no one crowding your pictures. The only problem we ran into was that the Dolmus stopped running so we walked back which took about half an hour. Completely worth it.

Pergamum, Turkey

Row of arches under the acropolis.

Our neighbors in our hostel were nice enough to give us a ride up in their little rental car to the top of pergamum. Smallie gave Tallie a ride up in his scooter too. We started by walking through the library ruins which was a wedding gift from Mark Anthony to Cleopatra. Looked down at Bergama from the temple of Athena. Walking on the side we found ourselves in a row of arches, which doubled as support for the Trajan Temple and as storage rooms.

Temple of Trajan


I walked through the Arsenal and the King's palace but I didn't find them too impressive. I found a nice shady spot next to the temple of Trajan and watch/listen to the loud Italian tourists walk by.

Theater seating 10,000 people with a birds eye view of Bergama


After losing Wai, I walked the premises twice and just decided to hang out with Anna and Maisie on the steps of the giant theater. A bit dizzying at that height since it is perched ontop of the mountain looking down onto bergama. We found ourselves a fig tree at the bottom, which to that day I have never had fresh off the tree. I'm sorry, the closest to freshness is fig newtens because my brother loves those cookies. But damn those figs are tasty.

Bergama, Turkey

Sorry for the delay in postings, there's a good explanation which this post will partially explain. This post is all about the people we met to, from, and inside Bergama.

View from the rooftop of Athena Pension into the atrium.


To: We met these amazing girls studying classics at Glasgow University while we were finding our way to our hostel. We had to figure out together that the bus station was all in kahootz and lied to us about the local small buses called dolmush which are cheap mini bus rides. The taxi drivers denied that they existed. We asked a local and said it was on the way which led to the taxi driver yelling at the local for taking his business away. Anyway, It's been a pleasure for us to travel with Maisie and Anna because Wai and I can only spend so much time with each other. J/K I love Wai, but traveling with them for the past two weeks has been great. We kept on extending our travels together and convincing ourselves we should check out our next sight together. I'd have to say that their insight on the history of the ruins and classical sites are priceless compared to any guide.

Anna, "Smallie", Maisie, & Wai


Inside: The people in this town (excluding the taxi drivers) are so amazingly friendly. When we were lost in the hillside looking for a restaurant a local gave one of us a ride on his little scooter. When we asked for some baclava from a store the boy couldn't stop smiling and gave us a lot and added ice cream on top for cheap. When we asked someone where some good food was he called up his friends to find out the name of a place. But the best part was "Smallie" our hostel owner. I don't think I ever asked his real name. But we gave him that name since he named Maisie "Tallie". He owned this great restored Otoman home that had a small atrium in the center where we would eat breakfast, lounge, eat baclava. Oh and the breakfast he prepared was probably the best breakfast any hostel has ever made for us. He would buy us fresh bread that was warm to the touch, he would buy us fresh fruits, he had this amazing honey mixed with soft cream, cheese rolls, nutella, rose jam, yogurt, juice, apple tea, mmmmmmmmmmmm. He gave Maisie a scooter ride to the top of Pergamum because not all of us would fit into this other couple's rental car.

Entrance of Athena Pension


From: Read "To:".

Canakkale, Turkey

Standing at an old pier


The main reason we came to Canakkale was to do a day trip to Troy. We planned a half a morning to see the ruins, but as we found out at 8am the bus we planned to take didn't leave until late morning. So all we ended up seeing in Canakkale was the trojan horse recreated and donated by the movie troy. Yeah the one with Brad Pitt, which I hear is awful.

Istanbul, Turkey

One of the ceilings in the Harem area.

The last thing that we saved to do in Istanbul was to visit the Topkapi palace since our hotel was directly across from it. It's surrounded by a large park with these squaking green long tailed parot type birds inhabitating the trees. Mehmet II built this palace containing plenty of pavilions and courtyards. One of the quarters was the Harem section containing the sultan's wives and concubines. You would find intricate paterns painted on the ceiling, in the stained glass, on the tiles, door frames, pretty much everything.

Stained glass in the Harem area.

So i began to just capture all these paterns around the achitecture because they were so amazingly detailed. Well, that and the fact that there was no photography allowed inside the treasury area. As Wai would describe the Treasury; it was just decadant. Thousands of precious jewels, diamond encrusted chainmail, daggers with giant emeralds, thrones covered in gold and jewels. There was the "86-Carat Spoonmaker's Diamond" which is said to have been found in a rubbish heap in Istanbul and bought from a scrap metal merchant for three spoons.

Sulyman I's tugra.

This royal monogram was laced throughout the palace which i actually thought looked pretty cool. Wish my initials looked that spiffy.

Istanbul, Turkey

On the remaining wall of Yoro's Castel looking at the entrance of the Black Sea


We took the Bosphorous boat ride that dropped us off at Anadolu Kavağı for a few hours. We hiked to the top where the castle remains were and watched boats drift in and out of the Black Sea. Evey so often we would see a tanker float in, and like a check point a little boat from the dock would speed up next to it, follow it, and then go back to the dock.

Fresh Melon being sold by a men on a moving truck in Anadolu Kavağı.


Three men is all you need; One to drive the car, one to hand out the fresh melons, and one to cut you a slice of the fresh melon. Later we went to a restaurant in the Beyoğlu area of Istanbul and started to order meze dishes, which i believe are similar to tapas? We saw someone order some melon so we got a plate full of it. I don't think I've ever had melon this tasty and juicy before in my life. After ordering two orders of melon and ten other dishes we sat around digesting and then requested them to roll us down the hill to our hostel.

Meze options at the sofyali 9 restaurant in Beyoğlu area

Istanbul, Turkey

I've officially made it out of the middle east and into Istanbul up here in Turkey. I thought I left the heat in the middle east, but i'm still plagued by the weather. Today was a nice warm 85 degrees but with 79% humidity. But as I'm told if I want to travel through Asia, this is nothing. I guess living in San Diego has spoiled me with perfect weather.

Peering up through a chandelier inside the Haghia Sophia.

This place was incredibly huge. It is a former Orthodox patriarchal basilica, later a mosque and now a museum. You'll find a handful of mosaics showing Virgin Mother, Jesus, Saints, or emperors and empresses. Supposedly the mosque wouldn't allow faces to be shown on some paintings which were covered up with stars. There seems to be a few things that are in debate whether or not these things should be revealed by removing changes made by the mosque.

Inside the bottom of the Basilica Cistern.

When I read about the Basilica Cistern i assumed it was a boring hole in the ground where water was stored. But when I walked by the entrance we saw this long line going down a stair case, I was curious. We paid an entrance fee and found ourselves in this cavernous vault with rows of collums with water filling the base of this place. suspended above the water was a walk way for us to explore the back where we found Medusa's heads.

Front courtyard of the Blue Mosque.

What a way to end the day. After spending some time appreciating the architecture and artwork in the Blue Mosque, we walked out and realized Wai lost her Ray Bans. :(

Tel Aviv, Israel

Waves crashing on the sunset in Yerushalyim Beach


Having gone through Tel Aviv I would have to say it felt like New York with a beach , oh and toss in more humidity too. With no historical value here the guide book recommends shopping, going to the beach, and partying. So we hit up the beach for half a day first thing and watched the sunset. From the limited sampling of the food here I think Tel Aviv has the possibility to be on par with Los Angeles culinary. One thing I did love is that every corner you can find a gelato shop.

Bethlehem, Israel

Dove of peace strapped with a bulletproof vest by Banksy.


I made a day trip from Jerusalem to visit Bethlehem. Checked out the church where Jesus was born. But what really interested me was the divide between Isreal and Palestine territories. I walked around looking for art work by Banksy, a secrative grafitti artist who's become infamous for his work. This piece was posted close to the Isreal West Bank entrance on a store front.

Walking to the entrance of Isreal.


Wai and I walked along the West Bank Wall on the inside of Bethlehem for a while checking out different types of street art.

A slogan written on the West Bank Wall near the gate.