Vun, Two, Three Peanut Butter Sandwiches

A belated happy Christmas to all--and to all a good night! We finally found an open internet cafe; sorry it's been so long! We spent our holiday going to (the second half of) a service at the Roman Catholic Cathedral, wandering around a gothic Transylvanian village, then warming up in our hotel hot tub and sauna. Santa brought Michael a deck of East African birds playing cards, and I got an electronic Sudoku game.
But mostly we were missing you. We hope this is the last Christmas we will spend away from our families. Despite getting to watch Miracle on 34th Street and Fred Flintstone's inspired portrayal of Scrooge, Christmas at a hotel just doesn't cut it.
Needless to say we are quite excited for Sandy's promised Christmas when we return--with spritz and peanut blossom cookies! Whoo hoo! The gingerbread cookies here are delicious though...Unfortunately this internet cafe is closing and I don't have time to do justice to Romania. I hope these pictures will give you a taste of what we're seeing. More about Dracula later!

Welcome to Europe

You know you are no longer in a Muslim country when:

Your internal clock wakes you up at 6:00 am but there is no call to prayer.

None of the men have callouses on their foreheads.

Your Egg McMuffin isn't made with chicken sausage.

The menus have items such as Pork Knuckles.

There are "Juicy Ham and Honey" flavored Lays potato chips.

The useless city landmark changes from the mosque (because there is one on every corner) to the sex shop (because there is one on every corner).

You no longer overhear "Inshallah" (God willing) in every conversation.

There is good, cheap wine available in stores and restaurants.

The women have hair. (visibly)

People do not pay for public transport unless someone is enforcing it.

There is graffiti on the buildings.

There are more names available to men than Mohammed, Mahmoud, Abdul, Ahmet, and Mehmed.



Not too much to report from Bulgaria so far. When it's cloudy, it looks exactly like you would picture it (grey everywhere and 1950's style Soviet buildings), but it's beautiful when the sun comes out. We visited an amazing monestery near Sophia and went to a Polish folklore show. We're in Veliko Tarnovo for a couple days and then on to Bucharest!

Cathedral Downtown Sophia

Rila Monestery

Painted domes

On to Europe!

Turkey was great. Since Michael's last blog we got to see our first castle. It's on the Aegean Sea, and was built and used by the Knights of St. John. It now hosts an amazing museum full of milleniums old clay jars, glass, and other treasures that divers have found in shipwrecks off the coast.

After that we went inland to Pamukkale to see the Travertines--they're made from the high calcium content of natural warm underwater springs. From the village below it looks just like snow, and it's cold enough here now that it could be. But wandering around it you are awed by the glistening water and can feel the heat and see the steam rising from the countless terraced pools. It's stunning.

Naturally they've attreacted people to this area for a long time. The water supposedly has healing properties, and many people still come to bathe in it--especially in summer. The ruins of the Greek and Roman city of Heiropolis are here. The theater is still in great shape, and it has the biggest Necropolis we've seen.

After that we headed for Cappadocia. I don't think there is any place in the world you could compare it to. First of all, I don't think most people think of Turkey when they think about the early years of Christianity, but they should. Quite a few desciples came this way after Jesus's death, and there is even a church near Ephesus where the virgin Mary came with St. John and lived until she died. (Remember the Letters to the Ephesians?) Anyways. Cappadocia is pretty much where Monks got their start. St. Basil lived here. He and the other monks made monestaries into the soft volcanic rock here, so they could hide from the Romans before Constantine made Christianity legal. The local population also built their homes into the rock, and they made underground cities where they would retreat to for up to six months if they were under attack. The first Basilicas (St. Basil) were carved into the rocks here.They started calling these "Fairy Chimneys" during Abolition when locals secretly brewed Raki--anise brandy--in the mountains here.

We learned from a tour guide that a new prison was built in Cappadocia in the 1990s. After being open for one year, 38 prisoners escaped and 330 meters of underground tunnel were discovered.

The hotel room we stayed in was carved into one of these Fairy Chimneys. We had four nights by our roaring fire, two with our new Aussie friends, Gus and Mandy. We also enjoyed some beautiful hiking. Last night we took an overnight train out of Turkey. We're now in Sofia, Bulgaria and are thrilled to discover that after six months, we have finally found another country with good, cheap wine! I'm sure we'll post more details later.

A Turkish Bath

We have spent the last few days along the Agean coast visiting ruins and sampling more delicious Turkish food. The ruins are in various states of preservation and restoration and can sometimes really give us a feel for what life may have been like here in Greek and Roman times. The pictures tell the story better than I can, so I will include a few of the better ones.

Bus travel in Trukey is very luxurious

The truth is, I'm not going to be able write about ruins as enthusiastically as Kim did about Troy, so instead I'll write about my first (and probably last) experience in a "Hamam," or Turkish bath.

Theatre at the Asclepion (Pergamon)

The Acropolis at Pergamon

Everything I've read says that going to a Turkish bath is one of the quintessential experiences to have in Turkey. I liked the idea because it's not only a tourist thing--Turkish men and women use the hamams as well. Here's the play-by-play.

Temple of Hadrian at the Acropolis

A mosiac floor in Pergamon

As I entered the building into a large reception area with several men drinking tea and watching TV, a man gave me a thin red-and-white checkered cloth and led me to a small room to change. The room was about 6 feet by 3 feet with a bench and some hooks to hang my clothes on. After undressing and wrapping the cloth around my waist a man led me to the bathing area. First, I walked through "the cold room." A room with a few toilets and showers and not much else. Next, into the steam room. It's a big octagonal room with a high domed ceiling. The room was ringed with bathing stations and also contained a traditional sauna. Into the sauna I went to work up a good sweat before the real fun started.

Kim's interpratation of an ancient statue

Ephesus

A man knocked on the sauna door. He was wearing the same type of cloth as I was. He was a skinny guy about 60 years old, bald, with a chest full of grey hair. He led me over to one of the bathing stations. It's just a little marble cubilcle with a faucet and a bucket. I sat down, and he got to work. He splashed me with some water, rubbed some soap on me, put on this glove thing, I think it was covered in 80-grit sandpaper, and proceeded to remove about 4 millimeters of my epidermis! I did my best to not show any signs of the pain, but I'm sure my face betrayed me. After a thorough soaping/shampooing/scrubbing it was time for the relaxing massage. He led me to the big marble stone in the middle of the room--I say "led" because my eyesight was M.I.A after all that soap.

The floor in a Roman house (Ephesus)

Restoration work in progress

I laid down on the marble and endured another 15 minutes of pain. With his hands and another rough dishcloth he removed any stubborn remnants of dead skin and beat my muscles into numbed relaxation. I think I may have actually left a small imprint into that marble!

The library at Ephesus

Avenue and theatre at Ephesus

Another rinse and it was over. I got a towel and a cup of tea and was back to my changing room to decide if I actually enjoyed it. The jury is still out, but I'm glad to have done it, and I've never been cleaner!

Turkısh Deeeeelıght

There are tons of sweets shops here and the Baklava (we prefer the pastry wıth walnuts to pıstacıos) ıs delıcıous beyond words! Turkısh Delıghts are lıke gum drops but wıthout the sugar coatıng and İ love them too. The most common flavors are mınt rose yellow. I have not fıgured out what the yellow ıs but ıt ıs my favorıte. We have spent several days wanderıng around İstanbul and are lookıng forward to a few more before headıng to Bulgarıa ın a couple of weeks. It ıs so dıfferent here from everywhere else we have been. It ıs a lıttle overwhelmıng.The Aya Sofya and the Blue Mosque sıt facıng each other ın an old neıghborhood--the heart of İstanbul--Sultanahmet. The two gıant domed relıgıous structures are quıte sımılar archıtecturally (to me) and when you stand ın between them they are amazıng to see. The Aya Sofya was buılt by the Emperor Justınıan ın the 400s and accordıng to our guıdebook ıt was consıdered the "greatest church ın Chrıstendom" untıl ıt was turned ınto a mosque ın the 1400s. That ıs not hard to belıeve. Its domes are ıncredıbly hıgh. The marble walls are so colorful and the mosaıcs are ıntrıcately beautıful.Back ın Egypt ıt seems that when Chrıstıans and Muslıms came across anythıng "pagan" theır response was to deface them. Luckıly here the Muslıms just plastered over the old Chrıstıan mosaıcs and added theır own callıgraphy and decoratıons. So when Atatürk turned the Aya Sofya ınto a museum ın 1935 wıth a lıttle restoratıon work ıt ıs easy to see what the Church once looked lıke. The Blue Mosque was buılt to rıval the great church and ıt almost succeeded. It ıs ımpressıve even though they had to cheat and buıld four huge pıllars to keep up the domes.Between and below the relıgıous structures lıes the 1500 year old Basılıca Cıstern. It was lost to the cıty for a few hundred years but when locals told a scholar that they could mıraculously lower buckets ınto theır basements and brıng up water and sometımes fısh he dıscovered the cıstern ın the 1500s. They have cleared out the dead bodıes (no lıe) and restored the cıstern three tımes sınce then.We have left the cıty now. We spent the last two days ın a vıllage next to the ruıns at Troy. Thıs ıs THE Troy of the Trojan War! They even have the horse from the Brad Pıtt movıe!For me ıt was amazıng to walk among these ruıns and try to ımagıne that Achılles and Helen and the Acheans were all real people and there really was a Kıng Prıam! The legend says that Achılles chased Hector around the walls of Troy for nıne days before he kılled hım and we SAW THAT WALL! How cool ıs that?! Anyways...there ıs a lot more to see here along wıth plenty of good food and wıne. We are ın Bergama now. St. John saıd ın Revelatıons that the basılıca here--ıt was orıgınally a temple to Egyptıan gods--ıs one of the seven churches of the Apocalypse. He says ıt ıs the "throne of the devıl." So that should be ınterestıng! There ıs also ruıns of an acropolıs and the ancıent medıcal center where Galen taught us most of what we knew about the nervous and cırculatory systems untıl the 16th century. Plenty to keep us busy!

p.s. I stıll have not found the comma or apostrophe and tryıng to hıt the i ıs too much work for me. Sorry.