A conversation Mom and Dad didn't have about their trip to Poland

In the early evening, just before dinner on the first night of their Mediterranean cruise, Cheryl and Fred Sakura reminisce about their recent trip to Poland to visit their oldest son, Tristan. This conversation is entirely true. Except for some of the parts that are false.

Dad and Mom at the Palace on the Water

Mom: I had so much fun on our week-long trip to see Tristan...Warsaw and Krakow were very nice places...I had high expectations after the way our dear son described it, but it was even better than I thought

Dad: Yea it was great. And very nice of him to give up his bed for us, even though he hurt his shoulder sleeping on the sofa.

Mom: He's such a nice boy. The perfect son really.

Dad: Did Tristan tell you to say that?

Mom: Of course not. I thought of it all by myself.

Dad: If it wasn't so far away, I'd like to visit Poland more often. And all of his friends in the US should visit too.  And SOON!!

Mom: I'm already thinking about going again next Spring

Dad: Let's just try to get more adjusted to the time change before we go.

Mom: Yea, you kept falling asleep in the middle of the day, like on the bus and in the movie theater...and waking up often in the middle of the night.

Dad: I think it was that darn red-eye flight from Seattle. I couldn't sleep on the flight and it just ruined me for the first few days.

Mom: But the red eye is the best option to get there. And Tristan was nice enough to take some time off work to meet us at the airport. It's a good thing he did because we couldn't pronounce the name of his street to tell the taxi.

Dad: Yea, it was nice of him. But I think he just wanted to make sure his suitcase of snacks arrived safe and sound. He really likes his Stacy's pita chips and Pace picante sauce.

Mom: And the Jif peanut butter, the curry, the stuff for s'mores...

Goodies that Mom and Dad brought Tristan

Dad: You really liked his apartment, right? And it was nice that he had wireless internet. I don't know why he complains so much about getting it set up. It seemed to work fine.

Mom: Yes, I love his apartment. And it's a good about the internet too, because without it, I don't know how we'd pull up city maps or book tours in Krakow on my fancy iPad.

Dad: Or update our Facebook statuses.

Mom: I wonder if Tristan was happy that we took so long to get ready in the morning that we normally didn't leave the apartment until after noon

Dad: Well, even though he went out late at night, he kept waking up early to get ready to go

Mom: Yea, I think he thought we wanted to get early starts to the days

Dad: Well, now he knows...we're retired! We don't do early starts. What are you laughing at?

Mom: I was just thinking about all the times I kept turning the toilet paper roll around so it rolls away from you instead of towards you, because I know how much it annoys him. I wonder if he found it.

Dad: That was you? I was going to do the same thing! I'm sure he found it, if you kept doing it over and over, he must have been turning it back around.

(Mom and dad give each other high-fives)

Mom: I love playing jokes on him. I also wrote "Mom" with my finger in the shower so he'll see it when the shower steams up.

Dad: So he'll think of "Mom" when he takes a shower? That's kinda weird.

Mom: ...Ok let's change the subject.

Dad: Yea, let's talk about my new camera. I was very happy to use it to take pictures all over the city

Mom: You took pictures of everything; the Old Town, the Hard Rock Cafe, the grocery store, butts, and even all our meals

Pictures in the Hard Rock Cafe

Pictures in the grocery store

Pictures in H&M

Picture of a butt

Dad: I know, it's awesome to take pictures of food...all the cool people do it. I mean, you've seen Tristan's mobile uploads on Facebook, right? They're awesome!

Mom: And his awesome jumping pictures. Remember my jumping picture at the Grand Canyon?

(Another high-five)

Mom jumping over the Grand Canyon in 2010

Dad: Anyway, we ate some nice meals so I wanted to capture them.

Mom and her food

Mom: You're right. I finally got to eat one of those tasty waffles everyone in Old Town was eating. And I really liked the pierogis, and you liked the golonka right?

Dad: Yes, the golokna was very nice...I still dream about that 1 kilo chunk of pork meat. By the way, it's "pierogi".

Mom: That's what I said

Dad: No, you said pierogis. Pierogi is already plural, so you don't need to add an "s" to it.

Mom: Oh, look at you Mr Polish speaker. You shouldn't talk. What did you call that restaurant we went to with Tristan's friends from work? Chel-awp-skee Jahd-low?

Dad: That's how it's spelled! "Chłopskie Jadło". I pronounced it exactly how it's spelled.

Mom: Exactly wrong, you mean. Speaking of dinner, Agata, Moni, and Kuba were very nice...he seems to be in good hands here.

Dad: Chellll-awwwwp-skeeee.....

Mom: Maybe if you could pronounce words correctly, the lady at Carrefour wouldn't have yelled at you

Dad: I didn't do anything at Carrefour! I think she thought I was stealing gum, but she only spoke Polish

Mom: Why would she think that? You must have been doing something suspicious

Dad: I don't know...maybe she was just jealous that I had teeth to be able to chew gum, and she didn't have any teeth.

Mom: That makes no sense. And don't be mean.

Dad: I'm not...but I can just understand the stress that Tristan went through when he first arrived. It can be intimidating.  At least he seems to be adjusted now.  I still can't get over that we couldn't dry our clean clothes in a dryer. 

Mom: Yea, and I'm very impressed that he can speak Polish to the waiters, taxi drivers and at the train station.

Dad: He's probably just making up random sounds so WE think it's Polish, even though it's just gibberish and nobody understands him. I mean, I can also say "czszywzczzczassszzzz" like he said.

Mom: No, you can't. But you're right.  We should have asked his friend Kasia to test his Polish in front of us

Dad: Speaking of Kasia, it was really nice of her to give us the tour of Old Town and of the Uprising Museum

Nun texting in Old Town

Mom: Yea, Kasia was great. At first I was hoping that Tristan could join us, but then it was nice to hang out with just her. I didn't miss Tristan at all.

Dad: Who's Tristan?

Mom: No idea. But we definitely learned a lot about what Poland went though during and after World War II.

Dad: I never knew about all that, and it's very inspiring that they wanted to rebuild the city after the total destruction.

Mom: Yea, we'll have to re-watch the movie "The Pianist" so see if we can connect some of the stories.

Dad: And going to Auschwitz was so intense and emotional.

Mom: Yea, I am glad that we went. And to Krakow and the salt mines.

Krakow

Dad: Oh, I loved licking the salty walls in the Salt Mine!

Mom: (shaking head)

Dad: What?

Mom: I told you not to do that.

Dad: But the other kids were doing it!

Mom: So you decided it would be a good idea to lick a salty wall that other kids just licked?

Dad: Uhhh, errrr. Yea?  My tongue reaches higher than theirs. 

Mom in the salt mines

Mom: Anyway, What else did you love about the trip, that's not going to make me sick to my stomach?

Dad: I'm really happy that we saw Wilanow Palace, Lazienki Park...and the fountain light show...that was really neat, even though I was falling asleep while standing up.

Chopin monument at Lazienki Park

Mom: Me too. And the film "Bengali Detective" at the Warsaw Film Festival was a fun experience.

Dad: Yea, we should do that kind of thing more often

Mom: And I just liked walking around the city and people watching.

Dad: Me too

Mom: I noticed that the girls here are much better looking than the guys. No wonder Tristan likes it...since he's so tall, funny and handsome.

Dad: Yes, very tall, funny, and handsome, just like me.  So he must get lots of chicks.

Mom: (silence)

Dad: (holding up his right hand) Am I right??? High-five???

Mom: (walking away) I think it's time for dinner now...

Tristan would like to thank his mom and dad for coming to visit, for bringing all the snacks and treats and for taking me out to eat every day...I felt like a kid again. Love you guys and I hope to see you soon!

Beer, tents, and lederhosen: 10 things I learned at Oktoberfest 2011

Exhausted, after a combined 16 days in Turkey and Tallinn, I landed around 9:30pm in Munich. I waited for my suitcase at baggage claim, looking forward to checking into the hotel and taking a nap. Mike and Patty were coming a bit later, but I had time to rest before they arrived.  Then, as is normal when I travel, something unfortunate happened.  My bag decided to spend the night in Copenhagen instead of coming to Munich. I hate that feeling when the last bag is picked up and the carousel stops moving.  And you are still standing there all alone like a loser.  You look around the half-empty claim area and anyone nearby looks at you and just knows..."sucks to be that guy".  I was really irritated and the first airport person I asked for help wouldn't help me (and spoke to me in that really annoying polite/condescending way that makes you mad, but you can't really be mad because they were polite). The next person was very helpful and told me that my bag would arrive in the morning. At this point, I didn't care, I just wanted to sleep. I didn't need my suitcase for that.

And thus began the weekend where I learned 10 things to make for a successful Oktoberfest:

1. Wear awesome clothes

Mike and Patty (US friends who live in London) arrived about an hour after I got to the Marriott Courtyard hotel in the city center. Since I didn't have other clothes, I decided to wash my clothes in the sink while I waited for them. When they arrived, we decided to go for a drink. I only had the 2XL plain white t-shirt that the airline gave me, so that's what I wore out. While everyone else in the city was wearing lederhosen and dirndls, I was in a semi-transparent white t-shirt that was 3 sizes too big. I looked awesome. 

It's like a dress

2. By awesome clothes, I meant lederhosen or dirndls

The next day, since I didn't have clothes, and since we wanted to buy lederhosen anyway, we set off to do some shopping. A couple hours (and 130 euros) later, we had outfits. Some places were charging up to 260 Euros for a complete outfit, but I was not ready to spend that much. I don't even spend that much on real clothes.  I went for a cheaper pair of leather pants and a pink shirt.  Patty had a pink dress, so we looked like twins.  She didn't mention our potential matching outfits before I bought it because she didn't want me to spend anymore time trying to decide what to get.  Usually the guy is the one saying "yea yea looks good" (without looking), to make the girl hurry up and buy stuff so he can go home to watch football. 

At this point, I realized that I didn't even need my suitcase because I was going to wear this same outfit all weekend anyway...

Heading out in our new outfits

3. Watch your step

Munich during Oktoberfest is much different than it was during the Christmas markets last year. There are people dressed in costumes everywhere, everyone is drunk, I saw 2 people projectile vomiting (one almost got hit by a train when he leaned over to let it out), and I stepped over countless puddles of who-knows-what (on sidewalks, train tracks, in elevators, etc). Even with all the drunkenness, it definitely felt friendlier and more civilized than Queen's Day in Amsterdam (that might be hard to believe based on this initial description). The Germans must be polite drunks (not like in the movie "Beerfest").

Outside the tents

4. Bring friends from around the world

After we were dressed, we walked the 20 minutes to the Oktoberfest tents to meet recently engaged cousin Karen and her fiance Daniel, who were visiting from Boston with Daniel's Harvard B-School class, and friends Jen and Jeff, who are from the US, but recently moved to Zurich with PwC. Afterwards, we met Francis (PwC friend who lives in London) who stayed with us, and after dinner, we met up with Seif (Egyptian friend who used to live in Warsaw) and a few of his friends (they all live in Germany now). We had a couple drinks at a youth hostel that has a cheap and casual bar near the Marriott.

On day 2, Kate (from my St Pete and Barcelona trips) met us there with her friend Anna. They had gotten in from Dusseldorf the night before and were well rested for this big day. They only did one day of Oktoberfest, so they planned to go big (and they did, lasting nearly 15 straight hours). Eerik and Asia (who used to live in Warsaw but now live in Munich) met us for a bit, and another friend Melissa (from Chicago) was in town with some of her work friends. Later that night we met up with EJ (who lives in Amsterdam now) and Debashis, an American friend who lives in Warsaw.  Is was great to see so many international friends in one place!

Francis and Anna wondering if Kate is going to share

5. Get to know your neighbors

We first stopped by Hippodrome, but it was packed. I didn't really know what to expect with these tents...there are people EVERYWHERE, the wooden tables packed elbow to elbow, waitresses running around carrying huge plates of food, or up to 10 1-liter steins of beer. The bands play cheerful music and everyone stands up to sing. And every once in a while some guy (or girl) will stand on the table and chug their liter. Or get booed if they tried and failed.

The atmosphere was a lot of fun, as everyone makes friends with everyone else, and it was even more crowded since it was the weekend. You definitely don't get much personal space.  And not everyone wears deodorant. 

How does she carry all those at once?

We met lots of old and new friends, including this old Italian guy who kept kissing me

If you do this, you get cheered

6. Stay out of the way

The thing that impressed me the most is that with so many drunk people, and with people coming and going constantly, and with all the food and drink orders, they keep it VERY organized. Even though it's packed, it doesn't seem packed. The walk ways are always clear, people are not lingering around, lines move quickly, and it seems like they are always in control. That's why we got yelled at by security many times on the first day. We were dumb Oktoberfest virgins standing in the way.  We stood there because it was clear and spacious...which apparently is because they don't let anyone stand there!  Makes sense.

Packed in Hippodrome

7. Get there early

On the Friday, we didn't have a table reservation (even though I started the process of trying to get one back in May), but we ended up finding seats in the Spaten tent at around 2pm. We only had it for a couple hours because the table was reserved after 4pm. That was fine, because at least we had enough time to eat and have a couple beers.

After a failed attempt to bribe someone to go into another tent to get seats, we did some bumper cars and walked around the amusement park (the bribe worked, as he took the money, but we didn't get seats). Instead of going back into the tents, we decided to go to Marienplatz and eat at Hofbrauhaus, a place that I went to with Mike, Pascale, and Lukasz last year. It's a great atmosphere with good food and big beers (almost like a year-round Oktoberfest).

The next day (Saturday), we got to the tents at 8am to get a good spot in the Lowenbrau tent. And 8am was almost too late! There were hundreds of people already in line, and we got one of the last tables with a 5pm reservation (meaning we could stay there til about 4:30). Chen was very aggressive in securing us the tables on both days, as there are hundreds of people fighting for each of them.

Daniel, Karen, Patty, Mike, Jeff, Jen, and me in Spaten

8. Hope the airline loses your suitcase

Because of my lost suitcase for 24 hours, the airline will reimburse me for all toiletries and underwear that I must buy. I got some deodorant and toothpaste and some hot new boxer briefs. Literally, it's really hot down there. They'll also reimburse for half of my clothes, so hopefully they feel like lederhosen is a necessary purchase. I mean, it's clothes I had to have!

9. Eat a lot of pretzels

It absorbs the beer. And this is the proper way to do it:

 The secret to Oktoberfest survival - eat lots of pretzels

10. Do some sightseeing

And by sightseeing, I mean "look up at the buildings as you walk from beer tent to beer tent". You might see something nice.

Oh yea, we did some sightseeing too (kinda)

It took me a few days to recover and re-hydrate myself. But it was definitely a fun trip and I would love to go back again next year!!  Who's coming with me???

"No steak for you" in Tallinn

I sat alone in the dark restaurant, filled with chatty tourists and waiters dressed in medieval garb. It had been about 10 minutes since I sat down on the wooden bench at my table decorated with a single candle by which to read my menu. After the waitress gave me "something to read" (i.e. the menu), she disappeared. I picked what I wanted (fat juicy steak), but she was taking so long to come back to me that I was nearly ready to walk out of the restaurant. Just as I pushed the bench out from under me, she reappeared and asked for my order. "Fat juicy steak - medium rare," I said. Then she asked me something I have never heard before: "did you bring your own weapons or do you need to borrow some?" I replied, confused: "Uhh, no...no weapons". She came back with a knife and fork.

Inside Olde Hansa restaurant

When my food arrived, I was in for another surprise. "You will eat the game plate - elk and deer. Because you can eat steak anywhere. This is Estonia." Really? Is it even legal to change my order like that? I was a little irritated (especially since she annoyed me by ignoring me when I first arrived), and although I wanted the steak, I was willing to give the Bullwinkle and Bambi plate a shot. And I was NOT disappointed. The meat was really tender and not gamey at all, and the side dishes were really good as well. So my anger towards her turned into gratitude for forcing me to eat something I didn't order. And I wasn't so mad when she gave me "something to read" (the bill).

I recommend the deer (top and bottom) and elk (middle)

For some reason I have always wanted to go to Tallinn. I don't know why, because I really knew nothing about it, but I just wanted to. Partly it was that I could go to Helsinki from there by Ferry, but also maybe because I really liked Riga (Latvia) and I thought they'd be similar.

I finally got the chance when there was a need to instruct a training for a week in Tallinn. Because of my trip to Istanbul the weekend before and my trip to Oktoberfest the weekend after, I wasn't able to add any days to the trip, so my co-worker Aga (from the Warsaw office as well) and I decided that we had to explore the city as much as we could after class.

We were very lucky that on the first afternoon, one of the girls in the class, Triinu, whom I knew from prior trainings, wanted to give us a tour of the Old Town. We gladly accepted, and we walked around the city, learned some nice things, and ate some good food. I keep saying this, but it's always nice to have a local show us the town.

Tallinn is famous for all the red roofs in Old Town

The wall surrounding the city

The city has a very medieval feel to it. It's very "castley", there are dragons on the Town Hall building, and people are dressed in clothes that make you feel like you're in a Robin Hood movie (these are the tourist attractions, not what the residents actually wear). Besides this medieval history, the city has a recent history quite similar to other countries in Eastern Europe - sometimes occupied by Germans, sometimes by Russians. Then it formally declared independence in 1991, after 51 years of German and Russian occupation (and 70+ years after it became a country for the first time)

Planning ahead for their 500th anniversary, in 2418

Town Hall in the main square at night

Even with this history, the feel of the city is definitely more German than Russian. After Russia formally took the city in WWII, a lot of the German influence stayed. The food is more German-ish, the buildings don't seem so "Russian", and it feels like a "warm" place, even though it borders Russia.

One interesting event in 1989 was a demonstration for more independence...a human chain of 2 million people was created across Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. When I picture this, I think of a giant game of Red Rover.

Independence Square

As for the food, it's a lot of meat and steaks (not just beef, obviously). One thing that impressed me about a restaurant called "Peppersack", in addition to the menu being in several languages, is that they also labelled items indicating if they were gluten or lactose free. I immediately loved it. Plus the waitress was cute and had a nice tattoo on her back. And the Germans at the next table gave me their guidebook when I told them I had no idea what to see in the city. And they had a 90s soft rock music soundtrack.

Pork and beans

Another of the class participants took us out for drinks and dinner another night, which was very nice of him. His name was Mart, and apparently he is known for being a partier in the office. We stayed pretty low-key, but afterwards, I met up with some local Couchsurfers, who came to the bar for a beer, then took me to another bar with them. I was getting tired, so I didn't stay long, but it was nice of them to meet me and keep me entertained. It's becoming a nice habit to reach out to Coushsurfers in every city I go to, to get some local insight on the cities, and just to have something interesting to do.

Some other interesting notes:
- Skype was born in Estonia

- Estonian language is similar to Finnish or Hungarian (it's smooth and melodic), but nothing like Latvian, which surprised me, since it's their next door neighbor

- People are really tall. I think I was the shortest person in my training by about a foot

- Although it's cheap compared to other countries on the Euro (taxi to the airport was only 8 Euros), not everything is cheap...souvenir magnets were 5-10 Euros! (normally I pay about $3). And that's why I didn't buy you one, sorry.

Overall, a very nice experience.  The people were very nice, the old town is very charming, and it definitely met my expectations.  It seemed easy to get around with only English...so if you ever have a chance to go, and to add on a trip to Helsinki, I definitely reommend it! (I didn't get a chance to go to Helsinki, but will next time).

On the 12th day of Turkey...

After a long weekend in Antalya, and a week of teaching a training next to the beach, catching up with old friends, making new ones, staying up too late, and enjoying the luxuries of an all-inclusive resort (a work-wise, it was really successful!), I was exhausted. But when I thought about it, I realized that my trip had just begun. I still had a weekend to explore Istanbul, then Tallinn, Estonia for a few days, followed by a 3 day weekend in Munich for Oktoberfest. I had no time to feel tired.

Me and my Russian friends, Katya and Alena in Antalya

My Turkish friend Ayca picked me up from the airport in Istanbul after work on Friday evening. Ayca and I worked together in San Jose, CA on the project that sent people from around the world to California for a year or two (or more). As always, it's great to have hosts in the cities/countries I visit, because it makes me feel like Anthony Bourdain when they take me to the best eateries and tell me about their culture and history. But Ayca took this one step further. Although she didn't provide a camera crew (darn), she was as generous as a host could be. For one thing, she paid for just about everything. I would TRY to pay, but when the people collecting money were reaching towards accepting my money/credit card, she'd say something sneaky in Turkish to them and they'd only take the money from her. I think she told them mine was drug money or that I stored it in my underwear or something.  She paid for meals, taxis, and even museum entrance fees. By the end of the weekend, except for the few dollars I spent on souvenirs, I had the same amount of cash I started with...and it really bothered me. Not only because I wanted to pay for HER, but because I hate having leftover cash after a trip! At the end of the trip, that became my argument..."I need to pay because I can't have any leftover money, or I will DIE!!!". She finally let me pay for our last dinner, so that was a small victory. And I didn't die.

Me and Ayca

The only meal Ayca let me pay for...Lahmacun (my favorite)

Another great thing about the weekend was that Ayca LOVES sports. She has season tickets for the local pro soccer team, and she particularly likes college football. And she has ESPN. I already love Istanbul. No big deal that games were not always live, but the fact that there was football on TV was the best surprise ever. On Sunday they even showed the UW-Nebraska game on replay. Of course, I didn't need to watch the end of that game since we lost, but it was still nice to watch the good parts. And an even better part is that during the replays, there are no commercials! So great!

Ok, so now let's get to the part where I actually saw the city of Istanbul. Hopefully you haven't forgotten that I was there.

Istanbul is one of the most interesting places I have been. It is a unique combination of old (very old) and new (very new), half of the city is in Asia and the other half in Europe. I landed in Europe, and because Ayca lives on the Asia side (separated by the Bosphorus Straight, which separates the Marmara and Black Sea, and TONS of traffic), we crossed back and forth several times over the weekend. The European side is the side that we all see pictures of, and the Asian side is more of the residential side. There are 13 million (or more) people in the city, third to Moscow and London, as far as Europe population goes.

People and water everywhere

Mosques everywhere

And when I say TONS of traffic, I really mean it. The cars barely move on the main streets. They are slow enough for people to stand in the middle of the streets all day selling things. There's not even a risk that the cars will be going fast enough to run them over (think Austin Powers and the steam roller that was going .0001 miles per hour). Even though cars aren't going fast, of course there is a bit of road rage and people swerving all over the place. And people will run across the street, Frogger style, anytime, anywhere. If you know me, and know how hard it is for me to stay awake as a passenger in a car, you will guess (correctly) that I slept in the car a lot (sorry Ayca!!). As I would try to stay engaged in conversation, I could feel my eyes get heavy, and I'd start answering with gibberish, before passing out completely.

I don't know what's more impressive - dodging moving buses, or balancing 1,000 preztels on your head

Visually, Istanbul is a beautiful place. Domed mosques and their accompanying towers decorate the colorful skyline of rolling hills, water, buildings and bridges. People are everywhere, walking, selling, sitting, fishing...it definitely seems like there are 13 million people on every street corner. There are certain views of the city that remind me of Seattle around Lake Union and Puget Sound...lots of water, homes all along the coast line, curvy hills, and of course, blue skies and a bright shiny sun.

It could be Lake Union

Of course Seattle doesn't have all the beautiful Mosques. It's interesting that Istanbul (Constantinople) has been the center of the Christian world during the Roman empire, but also the Muslim world. The churches were all turned to Mosques, and in Hagia Sophia they are still uncovering some of the old Christian paintings that are hidden under layers of Muslim paint. Also, most people are Muslim, but not everyone "looks" like it, according to how you probably picture Muslims to look.

Outside Hagia Sophia

Inside Hagia Sophia

In the 6th century Basilica Cistern

Medusa does a headstand while protecting the cistern (or maybe she's washing her hair)

We also ventured to the Spice Market, where I bought some chili powder from the only non-pushy vendor (see how the nice sales people can win?), and the Grand Bazaar, where I was so overwhelmed I could only manage the purchase of 2 magnets. These places were so big, so crowded, and there's sensory overload with everything you see. But definitely worth the visit.

Spice market

Inside the bazaar, there are at least 13 million people in every corridor

In general, the Turkish people are very friendly. I am afraid to say that they are more friendly than the people I am used to seeing in CEE. Strangers say hello, they smile, they ask where you're from (even if they are trying to sell you something, it's nice to get a smile, and even if they don't have a full mouth of teeth). In restaurants, the waiters smile, and aren't afraid to have a nice chat with you, or to joke around about the foreigner trying various foods without knowing what it is (me).

So let's talk about the food (something I could do for hours). In addition to the usual Turkish suspects, there are several foods that I loved: menaman (eggs in tomato sauce), burek (meat filled pastry), and simit (a pretzel thing...this one with cheese in the middle, which I could eat a million of). And we ate at a kofte (meatball) place that has been around since the Ottoman Empire.

Cheese-filled, and super soft, these Simit were amazing

Appetizer spread the first night

For dessert, I really liked something called irmik helva, which was like a solid cream of wheat, warm and sweet. And of course there was baklava...Ayca took me to a shop where we were going to have "a small snack"...and that "small snack" consisted of 7 pieces of baklava. EACH. Usually I can eat 2 pieces, max. But when in Rome...I had to go for it. Let's just say I was so hyper for the next hour, I was definitely not sleeping in the car.

Baklava to keep me awake and alert

The tea is also interesting here. It's always served in clear glass cups with no handle. And guys are running around the streets with trays of tea serving to anyone, anywhere. I've mentioned the coffee before, and how you can tell a fortune by looking at the pattern of the leftover "mud". My SF friend Frank happened to be in Istanbul at the same time, and we met for dinner the first night. We tried to tell each other's coffee fortunes, but it turned into more of "Ayca, you tell us, we only see brown mud". I don't know if they really believe these fortunes, or if it's a marketing trick to sell more coffee...either way, it definitely worked on me, because I am ordering Turkish coffee everywhere I go from now on.

Can you tell my fortune?

Me and Frank after dinner - yes, he's bending over to not look so much bigger than me

After spending just a couple days in Istanbul, I was able to get a feel of the city, but it was definitely not enough. Now I understand why people go to Istanbul many times in their lives. I will need to go back (and pay for Ayca's meals) to explore more of the city, and to see even more of Turkey in general. Plus, I found 4.5 lira in my backpack when I got home, and I need to spend it!!

My first taste of Turkey

When I think about Ancient Greek and Roman civilizations, I think that I need to go to Italy or Greece to see them. I never think that Turkey would have so many. In fact, I never think that Turkey was arguably the center of the world for many years (Istanbul/Constantinople being the capital of the Roman Empire), the Byzantine Empire and the Ottoman Empire all the way til after WWI. Troy, Ephesus (home of the Temple of Artemis, one of the 7 Wonders of the Ancient World), and Cappadocia are all cities I need to get to. Germans, Russians and Iranians are amongst the most common tourists there...there aren't too many Americans that get to experience this. Hopefully I can blog about those in the future.

I went to Turkey mainly for work...a week near Antalya in an all-inclusive beach resort for a training for the PwC guys from Russia, Ukraine, Georgia, Uzbekistan, Armenia, and Azerbaijan.  I definitely can't complain about this set up...

Of course, with a trip to Turkey, I had to make the most of it. I spent an extra few days around Antalya, and a weekend in Istanbul...the trip in total was 12 days. 

I stayed in a hostel in Antalya (Sabah Pansiyon) for a few days before the training, where I met some nice Germans and Indians, and spent some time with them at night. One the first day, a girl I met on couchsurfing, Ilkay, took me on a tour of the old town and to her favorite restaurants. But mostly I toured around on my own. I arranged two tours...one to Perge, Aspendos, Side, and Kursunlu Waterfalls, and another to Demre, Myra, and Kekova. The weather was in the 90s and it was humid. Everyone was sweating around me, so I didn't feel so bad pouring water on my head every hour or so. I even paid 10 lira ($6) to jump into the water for a few minutes.

Hadrian's Gate - the entrance into Antalya's old town (from the 2nd century)

Where I paid $6 to jump in the sea

We visited a few of the 60+ ancient Roman cities around Antalya. It's strange to see ancient sites every few miles when driving around...it almost looks like Disneyland after a while.

The Perge tour was all couples and me, each from a different country. It was sad when people asked 'are you alone?' The tour guide started out as a grumpy old man, but turned out to be very nice and informative. It goes to show how we (I) judge people on the first impression. Perge was a Roman city around 0 (yes, zero is a year), then became Greek after some time. The remains are mostly Roman, and they are restoring some of it. There is a large main street that used to be lined with shops, walls and watch towers, a stadium we weren't allowed to go into, fountains, baths, columns, the market, and a gymnasium where they athletically trained naked (hopefully not too many jumping jacks or rope climbs). Of course none of this exists now, but some of the detail is still visible in the columns and building "trim".

Using the tripod in Perge

View of the main road of Perge

Side (see-day) was the next stop, on the water. There is a stadium there, columns from Apollo's temple on the beach, a harbor and tons of souvenir shops. That's all the town is...plus it's more expensive than Antalya. But I got free samples of Turkish delight to tide me over til lunch.

Temple of Apollo in Side

The Aspendos theater is very much intact. They even held concerts in there until recently. I climbed around, then chickened out on a jumping picture because everyone was watching (I was standing on the stage), including a gladiator with a big sword. If the gladiator with the big sword wasn't watching, I think I'd have a nice jumping picture right now.

No jumping picture on the stage...

On the Demre tour, the tour guide spoke English for half, and then Romanian for the other half. I was impressed by this, but his numbers were a bit off. He held up 4 fingers when he said "20", said there were 17 of us, when there were 10, and said "20 years ago" was 1998. Interesting math...  But he was super nice...gave us candy, pins, and pieces of carob to chew on. And thanks to his candy, I had chocolate on my nose for half of the tour. When you're traveling alone, nobody stops to tell you when you have chocolate on your face.

The first stop on Day 2 was Kekova. We stopped in a small town, boarded a boat, and went out to Kekova and Symena islands. Kekova is an old city that is now mostly under water after an earthquake around the 1st century. Symena is still home to a few, but the island is mostly for tourists to visit the old city that sits on top (inside the city walls). We even got to jump in the water for a while...it was so refreshing, and the water/islands were beautiful.

Under the water you can see the old Kekova city wall

Symena, with the old city wall on top

Cruisin' around in the boat

Demre was the home of St. Nicholas, the inspiration for Santa Claus (3rd century). Even though most churches in Turkey were changed to Mosques when it became Muslim, his church did not. It's funny that we imagine Santa in the North Pole and in snow, when St. Nicholas may not have seen a single snowflake in his entire life.

We also visited some old tombs in the mountains in Myra, next to an old theater. These were from the 6th century BC-ish. I wonder how they chose who gets which tomb...and how they even climbed up there!

Lycian tombs in Myra

I kept falling asleep on the bus...and because I was the only single guy, somehow I got stuck in the middle seat in the back. The one where if the bus driver slammed on the brakes, I'd go flying down the aisle to the front. I kept falling asleep and waking up whenever my head would touch the shoulder of the guy next to me. Whoops. There were friendly guys from China, Malaysia, Switzerland and England, and an obnoxious American who lives just a few blocks from my San Fran apartment. I think some of the guys on the tour didn't even speak English. Weird, when it's an English tour.

One thing about Turkey that I didn't expect is that there really are kebabs on every corner. I thought this was a "Western" exaggeration, but really...there are kebabs everywhere. But I don't mind, because they were great. And in general, I was looking forward to every meal...such good food (although after a while my stomach wanted a break). There was also fresh OJ everywhere...and I was able to develop a strategy of negotiating a free OJ every time I bought a souvenir. One guy only offered me a half a cup, and when I walked away he said "OK, FULL CUP!". That's how you do it.   

Other treats were Ayran (yogurt drink), Kofte (meat balls), Iskander (sliced meat in a red sauce with pita, rice and yogurt), and of course Lahmacun (Turkish pizza). The raki with water (a licorice liquor) was nasty. They also had some rubber-ish ice cream that they toss around like pizza dough. I never tried it because I thought I would turn into that really bouncy stuff (what's that old movie? Flubber?)

Kebabs

Iskander

Other observations

- There are stray cats and dogs everywhere. They need Bob Barker to ask everyone to have their pets fixed (like he did on every episode of the Price is Right).

- They have a special way of telling fortunes based on the coffee "mud" after flipping the cup upside down.

- There were many more guy waitstaff than girls (especially in the bars)...I wonder if it has to do with the Muslim culture?

- Like in many countries I've been to, people are confused when I say I am American. They insist that I have an Asian face. Even the Asians say this.

- I saw 2 different guys wearing "Seattle - King County" t-shirts, who were definitely not American. I want to get one!

- For being a big tourist place, not many people speak fluent English. They get more Russians, so I think they learn Russian more (signs are even in Cyrillic in some places)

- It's strange after getting so used to seeing Polish people (mostly blonde, blue eyed), seeing darker skin in Turkey was a change.

- When it's crowded, there's a reason the seats in the sun are free...it's damn hot!

- Americans pay $20 for a visa in the airport after you land. It's super easy.

- They love their rugs and spices

Rugs

Spices

- A few years ago they cut 6 zeroes off the end of their currency. So 1,000,000 lira became 1 lira. I would love to carry millions in my pocket everywhere I go, kinda like I do now...right.

If you want to see more pictures, check them out on facebook!

Antalya - https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10100584635742188.2874357.10732812&l=50c007692c&type=1

Perge, Aspendos, Side, Kursunlu - https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10100585002616968.2874465.10732812&l=9180878c00&type=1

 

Demre, Myra, Kekova -

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10100589600732308.2874973.10732812&l=3ee540698f&type=1

 

The next post will be about my weekend in Istanbul!