Oct 19-25, 2015
I've always found DST confusing and annoying, and being in Turkey during the time change this year made it even more confusing. Turkey, like Poland, was supposed to change the clocks back an hour on Sunday morning the day I flew back to Warsaw. However, they recently decided to delay the time change by two weeks, but didn't tell me or my phone about it. When I woke up on Sunday morning to go to the airport, my phone's "automatic" setting said 7:30 (wrongly), but Kevin's said 8:30. My phone, and probably the phones of many others, changed incorrectly. To make things more confusing, I received a message that my flight time moved from 12:30 to 1:30pm, but it wasn't a "delay". So really, I had no idea what time it was or when I should be at the airport. The only thing I can think is that since Poland changed the time, but Turkey didn't, we had to leave one hour later from Turkey, in order to land at the originally scheduled 2pm Warsaw time. It still hurts my head thinking about it. BBC said that they delayed the time change so voters could have more daylight during their elections next week. WHAT?
After 5 years in Poland, I finally got Kevin to come to Warsaw for a few days. And I only had to promise him two things: 1. that he could wear sweat pants the entire time in Poland, and 2. I'd spend a week in Turkey with him. That wasn't a hard decision.
I've always found DST confusing and annoying, and being in Turkey during the time change this year made it even more confusing. Turkey, like Poland, was supposed to change the clocks back an hour on Sunday morning the day I flew back to Warsaw. However, they recently decided to delay the time change by two weeks, but didn't tell me or my phone about it. When I woke up on Sunday morning to go to the airport, my phone's "automatic" setting said 7:30 (wrongly), but Kevin's said 8:30. My phone, and probably the phones of many others, changed incorrectly. To make things more confusing, I received a message that my flight time moved from 12:30 to 1:30pm, but it wasn't a "delay". So really, I had no idea what time it was or when I should be at the airport. The only thing I can think is that since Poland changed the time, but Turkey didn't, we had to leave one hour later from Turkey, in order to land at the originally scheduled 2pm Warsaw time. It still hurts my head thinking about it. BBC said that they delayed the time change so voters could have more daylight during their elections next week. WHAT?
After 5 years in Poland, I finally got Kevin to come to Warsaw for a few days. And I only had to promise him two things: 1. that he could wear sweat pants the entire time in Poland, and 2. I'd spend a week in Turkey with him. That wasn't a hard decision.
The last time I tried to get Kevin to come to Warsaw, he "forced" me to go to Italy instead. I say "forced" because that trip was super amazing and I'm glad we went there. You can read about the best pasta ever, Cinque Terre, and Venice.
This time, he actually came to Warsaw. After a chill weekend when he indeed did not change out of his sweat pants, I had to fulfill my end of the deal. The plan was to spend 6 days in Turkey; a couple days in Ephesus and Pamukkale, then a weekend in Istanbul. If you don't know what Ephesus and Pamukkale are, join the club. I had no idea at the time Kevin suggested them. Thank goodness for Google Images.
For food we obviously had a lot of kebab, lamb and ayran (not to be confused with Aryan). Stray cats and dogs wandered all over the cozy streets of the compact city. One cat even jumped on my chair while I ate and fell asleep on the space between my butt and the chair back. I'm sure he was glad I wasn't eating a bean and cheese burrito.
The weather in Istanbul wasn't amazing, as we spent a lot of the time walking, but looking for shelter at the same time. One of our stops was Shake Shack, which I didn't expect in Turkey, but it was a wonderful find. They even had a fried chicken sandwhich which is apparently not easy to get in NYC, with huge lines and limited availability. So save yourself time and just go to Istanbul! We ate one while on the way to dinner, because why not. If you ever go to Hamdi for dinner in Istanbul (on the Old Town side of the river), just remember that their appetizers look small when they show you the samples, but the actual dishes are much bigger...and it's especially hard to eat all of it after going to Shake Shack for an appetizer.
In order to get some help and to possibly meet up, I contacted every single Turkish person I know in the world (3 whole people). I told Kevin "don't worry, I have great friends there, they will show us around, take us to the best places, and they'll know what we can do in Ephesus and Pamukkale." Because, you know, it's a small country and it would be easy to meet them somewhere. Well, that plan didn't work as we didn't get to see any of them. Kevin thinks I have imaginary Turkish friends.
First we flew to Istanbul, but bought a separate ticket to immediately take us to Izmir. We had a 3 hour layover, which seemed necessary because of the silly "visa" process where you have to wait in line to pay $30 for a stamp. The flight from Istanbul to Izmir was around $25 round trip, even though we bought the tickets only the week before. It's almost a crime not to fly to Izmir when tickets are so cheap. From the airport we hired a car service to take us to Selcuk, a town next to the ancient city of Ephesus. The car service to Selcuk was $50, or the total prices of both of our flights!
We found an apartment on Airbnb in the center of Selcuk for a pretty good price, and the owner, Ali, was awesome. Airbnb isn't free like Couch Surfing, and you don't sleep on someone's couch (though some Airbnbs offer that!), but if you have the right host, you can still get some personal connection, which is a great part of CS. Ali was everything we could ask for. Ali was awesome because:
- The apartment was in the center of Selcuk and looks out over the ruins of the ancient fortress
- He gave us pastries every morning for breakfast
- He planned our visit to Ephesus, arranging a taxi and loaning us a guide book from his shop (he owns a shop just down the street from the apartment)
- He gave us directions when we needed help and was always available to assist
- His brother and nephew also have shops on the same street, and they treated us like friends every time we walked by
- He invited us to sit in front of his shop and drink tea (or beer) with him every morning and night
- Ali is single, so ladies, let me know if you want the intro.
With our host Ali
And if that wasn't enough, Ali's story became more impressive. One night when we were sitting in the dark on the shared balcony of the apartment building, a random dude in the shadows crept up and got something out of the closet. I didn't notice him coming into the room until he closed the closet door, so I jumped and squealed a bit, like a small animal. He was getting a jacket, and since he was moving slowly, and looked like he had done it before, I quickly decided that he wasn't a burglar or axe murderer. He also wasn't carrying an axe. And he said hello, so that means he was nice.
The next morning when we were leaving the apartment, the same guy was walking up the hill towards the apartment and saw us come outside. He asked if we wanted breakfast. He had something in his hand and offered it to us. At first we thought he was a random dude trying to sell us stuff, then I recognized him from the night before. Still no axe, so that was a good sign. Turns out this is the guy that was bringing breakfast to us every day, leaving it outside our door. We asked Ali about him and Ali said that this guy used to be homeless and somehow they got to know each other. Ali started letting him stay in the apartment building since he had space (he owns the whole building) and they don't like to see anyone sleeping on the streets. He didn't ask for anything in return, except that the guy doesn't bring any alcohol or drugs into the apartment, and that he would do some odd jobs for him once in a while. Anyway, that was 20 years ago. TWENTY. And the guy is still there, bringing Ali's guests breakfast in the morning. Basically Ali is a guardian to him, and the guy just goes about his business all day, staying out of trouble.
On the last night, I bought a few things from Ali's store, La Tulip. I spent more than I normally would on souvenirs (and things were more expensive than in Istanbul), but after a nice few days with Ali, it felt good to give money back to the local economy to help someone trying to make it in the world.
The next morning when we were leaving the apartment, the same guy was walking up the hill towards the apartment and saw us come outside. He asked if we wanted breakfast. He had something in his hand and offered it to us. At first we thought he was a random dude trying to sell us stuff, then I recognized him from the night before. Still no axe, so that was a good sign. Turns out this is the guy that was bringing breakfast to us every day, leaving it outside our door. We asked Ali about him and Ali said that this guy used to be homeless and somehow they got to know each other. Ali started letting him stay in the apartment building since he had space (he owns the whole building) and they don't like to see anyone sleeping on the streets. He didn't ask for anything in return, except that the guy doesn't bring any alcohol or drugs into the apartment, and that he would do some odd jobs for him once in a while. Anyway, that was 20 years ago. TWENTY. And the guy is still there, bringing Ali's guests breakfast in the morning. Basically Ali is a guardian to him, and the guy just goes about his business all day, staying out of trouble.
On the last night, I bought a few things from Ali's store, La Tulip. I spent more than I normally would on souvenirs (and things were more expensive than in Istanbul), but after a nice few days with Ali, it felt good to give money back to the local economy to help someone trying to make it in the world.
After a visit into the town of Ephesus (Efes), an ancient Greek city from the 10th century BC, just a short cab ride away, we visited some other sites around Selcuk: St. John's Basilica (6th c.) and Isabey Mosque (14th c.). But the climax (and biggest downer unfortunately) was the famed Temple of Artemis, one of the 7 Wonders of the Ancient World. It was literally a column and some foundational stones sitting in an open field. I've always wondered who created this list of "Wonders" that don't even exist anymore (except the Pyramids)...how could the creator of this list know how Wonderful they actually were. Maybe that's why they're called Wonders...because we wonder why they're on the list.
In Efes (Ephesus)
The Library in Efes
Old amphitheater
The World Famous Temple of Artemis
For food we obviously had a lot of kebab, lamb and ayran (not to be confused with Aryan). Stray cats and dogs wandered all over the cozy streets of the compact city. One cat even jumped on my chair while I ate and fell asleep on the space between my butt and the chair back. I'm sure he was glad I wasn't eating a bean and cheese burrito.
My sleepy cat friend
Lachmacun and pide
The weather was perfect - 75 degrees and sunny. People were super friendly, always asking where we were from. Of course, as usual, after we say "USA", they ask "But where are you FROMMMMM?" Oh, you meant where am I FROMMMMMM, not where I'm from? I started saying "China" and "Poland" just to make it easier.
The next item on the list was the 3 hour bus ride to Pamukkale, some hot springs which formed a bunch of white rock next to the ancient city of Hieropolis. The rocks were gorgeous but unfortunately the water has been drying up over the last few years. After a few hours exploring the area and eating, we headed back to Selcuk, and soon to Istanbul.
Tourist in Pamukkale
Overlooking the town
The weather in Istanbul wasn't amazing, as we spent a lot of the time walking, but looking for shelter at the same time. One of our stops was Shake Shack, which I didn't expect in Turkey, but it was a wonderful find. They even had a fried chicken sandwhich which is apparently not easy to get in NYC, with huge lines and limited availability. So save yourself time and just go to Istanbul! We ate one while on the way to dinner, because why not. If you ever go to Hamdi for dinner in Istanbul (on the Old Town side of the river), just remember that their appetizers look small when they show you the samples, but the actual dishes are much bigger...and it's especially hard to eat all of it after going to Shake Shack for an appetizer.
During our time in Istanbul, we wandered around Old Town and all the main tourist spots, overeating at a reckless pace, while trying to stay dry. On our last night, we had the most disappointing meal of the trip - not because the food was bad (it was pretty good), but because they seem like a big rip off. The place is called Konak, and it's located on one of the main walking streets. The menu lists prices for the various meats/skewers, so we thought we were paying this price for the meat. However, the price was for 100 grams (though the menu didn't say this). The waiter offered us options of 300, 400 or 500 grams, and since we figured 300 was the lowest, we took 300. But little did we know, this was triple the price in the menu. After we made a big hassle and complained, a manager gave us a discount, though we still paid more than we thought we would. One guy was nicely trying to help, but the others were pretty scandalous. Although this trickery ruined my meal, it couldn't ruin another great trip of history, culture and delicious food.
Hagia Sophia
Istanbul tourists
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