Queens Boulevard to Cairo Airport

The past week was a whirlwind of action - driving from DC to NYC with my bengal cat Glue in tow, catching up with friends in the city, and packing for my year away in Cairo.

New York was gloriously hot. I stayed at my parents in Forest Hills, Queens. Brooklyn has its fair share of organic coffee shops and artsy hipster joints, but nothing beats the mix-up that is Queens. FH is fairly affluent, with private garden streets and a couple of fancy stores, but you can always find more interesting places too. Like the gritty diner on Austin Street. Or the amazing bakery run by a Gujarati family from Uganda (best arugulas ever).

I collapsed on Saturday night, and spent Sunday night at an unexpected birthday tribute to MJ at Habana Outpost with their special corn and six point Brooklyn brewed beer. Yum.

Sunday morning I got lost on the way to the vet to get kitty's travel docs. I went to the Vinegar Hill Vet Group, possibly the best practice I've ever been to with a pet. The vet (Sara Neuman) was amazing, really gentle, thorough, and extremely helpful. Not to mention hilarious. The techs did a star job on my almost-feral baby, and rather than being stressed out, as is usually the case at the vet's office, both Glue and I were pretty relaxed. The vet is USDA accredited, and great for anyone leaving with a pet from JFK. After a 1 hour drive (that should have taken 15 minutes) the next day, I finally located the USDA office. $35 and 1 minute later, the health certificate was endorsed and I was all set to go. Glue got a little liquid xanax for the plane ride and for the most part was quiet under the seat in front of me. I was relieved to not have to subject him to the stress of travelling cargo, and it was much nicer - and also cheaper - to have him with me.

I flew Delta to Cairo, and all I can say is: BUDGET.
The JFK terminals were under construction, there were hardly any ground staff, and no one knew where to direct any of the passengers. The check-in staff were grumpy and the Delta terminal was pretty grim looking, with almost no facilities. The flight was understaffed and there wasn't enough food or overhead cabins for luggage. There were about 10+ babies on the flight, all concentrated near me, all screaming for 8 out of 10 hours of the flight. One of the flight attendants was particularly sassy, and had far too many unwanted snarky comments (disguised as a jovial manner). One of the snack services was DIY - you had to get up and go to the galley to get what you wanted, which led to massive jams near the loo. The only advantage was their pet policy, otherwise I would have stayed away. A far cry from the polished service of Virgin, BA, or even Turkish Airlines (a pleasant surprise, by the way, with excellent airplane food).

Wine tasting in Bozcaada/Tenedos

Today's mission was to attend a wine tasting on Bozcaada. It only took an hour to get there on the ferry from Canakkale (20TL, once a day, 9am departure, 9pm return. The other option is to take a 45 minute bus to Geyikli, where there are ferries almost every hour and a round trip costs 4TL) but on arrival we discovered that the wine tastings were mostly held at the vineyards out of town. Rather than rent a scooter (50 TL for 12 hours, available at the Polente cafe - you can also rent bikes at the harbour) we headed to the public beach at Ayazma. The beach was crowded, but the water was crystal clear and gorgeous - and absolutely freezing! The island has its own varieties of grapes, and a fair amount of wineries, which is why we decided to visit. Since we couldn't get to the vineyards, we basically went from one bar/restaurant to another trying products from each winery. We tried the Cabernet Sauvignon Special Reserve from Camlibag, which tasted like a kick in the face with a biker boot, and a Kuntra wine that was also far too young and fresh. The Talay Cabernet Sauvignon was full of wet leather, and none of the wines we tasted left anything behind once swallowed. I'm hoping for better things from the Corvus Karga 2008 (Vasilaki and Cavus grapes) that we picked up. Overall I'd say Cunda Island is a better place to visit; things are expensive in Bozcaada and it isn't as pretty, but on the flip side, you can dive and do all kinds of windsports. The highlight of my day was our delicious breakfast with the apparently-famous-in-Turkey island jams (tomato and grape) and cheeses and that a kind fruit seller gave us free grapes after a little banter. We only had time for a day trip, otherwise I'd have stayed at the 9 Oda boutique hotel. This excellent website has all the information you could need about the island.

pictures coming soon


Update: The Corvus Karga 2008 was worth the 4 hours we spent tasting bad wines. It's an excellent, refreshing mineral-y white with citrus flavours and a hint of vanilla. Super smooth; P describes it as taking a shower with citrus herbal essences shampoo, without the sting in the eyes.

Canakkale

After taking the 9am ferry from Lesvos to Ayvalik we had a satisfying Ayvalik tost at the bus station and started asking around about buses to various cities on the way to Istanbul. The earliest bus available was to Canakkale, so that's where we went. The 3 hour ride turned into a 5 hour one, but we were dropped off in the main square just in front of the ferry terminal. The heavy tourist traffic from down under means that there is plenty of decent accommodation around the centre. You might want to book a hotel way in advance if you're coming around ANZAC day though. We checked out most of the hotels in town, and almost all were in the 100-120 TL range with a few for 70-80 (for a double room), and after looking at a couple of rooms eventually settled on Hotel Helen Park, which had the cleanest and prettiest rooms. Hotel Temizay, Hotel Helen, Hotel Anafartalar (someone should tell them this name is a total stitch-up), and the Boutique hotel in the side street across from Anafartalar are also safe bets. For a budget place, the ANZAC hostel on the main street is alright but doesn't have ensuite bathrooms (40 TL for a double, less for a bed in a shared room).

Canakkale seems, on the whole, a chill and livable place, but it's not much to look at. The city was the site of a bloody battle in 1915 between the England/France and the Ottoman Empire for control of Constantinople (now Istanbul). It's an historically rich area for military and ancient history buffs, with all the archaeological and battlefield sites nearby and the giant guns and cannons displayed around the city.

After a brief once-over of the restaurants and bars in harbour area - where, incidentally, the giant horse used in the movie Troy is displayed - we walked through the whole city to find the archaeological museum. It's mildly interesting, small and unimpressive, but still, seeing the ancient ruins discovered in the area makes you ruminate on the nature of time. It's worth a quick visit, if only to get a sense of the layout of the city on the way there. We tasted the famous and absolutely delicious "Peynirli Helvasi" or cheese halva (which doesn't really taste like cheese) that is unique to the region and of course ate the best Turkish food ever, Lahmacun. It's kind of like a thin Turkish pizza, covered with tomato sauce, chillies, and ground up meat and served with lettuce, parsley, lemon wedges, and tomatoes. Always cheap and always delicious!

Lahmacun!


Peynir Helvasi


By the canal


Canakkale by night


Trojan Horse from 'Troy'


Statue of Emperor Hadrian at Arkeoloji Muzesi

For tomorrow, we've decided to avoid that tourist traps of Gallipoli and Troy and head to Bozcaada, Turkey's second largest Aegean Island and one of the larger producers of Turkish wine. For those who do want to go to Troy or Gallipoli, there are frequent buses and minibuses from the otogar, or you can take a tour from one of the many agencies near the ferry terminal.

Watermelon Daiquiris and Johnny Cash

Today we rented a scooter and headed to Gavathas beach, which was almost completely empty. It felt a bit like Cunda Island - wild and natural, no one in sight if you know where to go. Lesvos' beaches have clear water, but almost all of them are pebbled, which is quite annoying, but still doesn't detract from its charm. On the way back we ate at the Lucky Horseshoe (we were put off by the name but convinced by the chalkboard menu) where I tasted some of the best fish I've had North of the Andamans.

Molyvos town was super quiet during the day (all shops close between 2 and 5pm) but was buzzing by 8pm. Surprisingly though, it wasn't grating, as it can be in some vacation spots. Everyone was dressed beautifully and and the vibe was more 'relax and live it up' rather than 'stag weekend binge'. It seemed like a quieter version of the glitzy South of France, without the price tag. We indulged in 4 Eu watermelon daiquiris at a bar overlooking the harbour and listened to covers of Johnny Cash. Total win. I really didn't want to leave, but for the fact that we have a flight out of Istanbul in a couple of days.



Gavatha Beach

Molivos town

Interesting fact - Lesvos was ruled by Turks for centuries after the Byzantines until it was "liberated" by the Greeks in 1912. After an unspectacular but amusing night in the de facto capital city of Mytilini, we took a morning bus to Molyvos (also called Mythimna), a resort-y town on the North coast of the island. The 2 hour journey allowed us to take in some spectacular views of the scenery - olive groves, charred mountainside, grassy knolls, impressive rock formations. We'd tried to book a place to stay, but all the guesthouse websites we found only had reservation/inquiry places, which isn't really helpful if you want to know nightly rates. Nevertheless, we sent off a few emails, and since we failed to receive any responses we had no choice but to wing it. On arrival though, our bus was greeted by a lady from the local tourism office, who ushered us into her airconditioned office, called around, and arranged accommodation for everyone. 10 points to Molivos just for that! Our spartan but clean room had a tiny kitchen and a balcony with a sea and castle view (double whammy!). We were really excited to watch the sun set over the sea with a bottle of wine and a gentle breeze... but as soon as we'd unpacked a nice Minnesotan couple from our bus ride came up to ask us if we would please switch rooms with them. Apparently it was the girlfriend's birthday and she was in tears over the fact that we had managed to snag the last room with a balcony in town. Of course we switched rooms, had a pleasant lunch with them, then saw them later on at the beach strumming a ukulele (really?). P notes that he would give them much more credit if the birthday was not actually real. He's still not convinced.


The view from our balcony


Figs drying in the sun

On to Greece

After a long day wandering around and nearly getting sunstroke we took the 6 pm ferry from Ayvalik to Mytilini. As always, we'd planned on finding a place for the night on arrival, but by the time we arrived all of the hotels and pensions appeared to be full. Unwilling to shell out 100 Euros for one night, we looked around for 'rooms to rent' signs and pensions. We asked around in shops and quizzed random passers by, but no one seemed to know anything and despite exploring the whole town, we only saw a few places, all of which were fully booked for the night. After 2 hours of walking around with heavy bags we finally found a place that had a free room. Instead of looking any further, we gave up and settled on the Porto Lesvos 2, which smelled like stale bread and cigarettes and looked like it hadn't been redecorated since Nixon was in office. Our spirits were still up from managing to find a place without cracking under pressure and the weight of our luggage, so we went out for a couple of drinks. Mytilini seems like it gets its fair share of tourists, though most are probably just passing through to other, better parts of the island. The harbour was beautiful at night, and everyone looked super chic, making us feel pretty glamorous.

The (Stolen) Ruins of Bergama/Pergamon

Today we had a little adventure getting from Ayvalik to Bergama. After sorting out our ferry tickets to Lesvos we hopped on the Ayvalik-Dikilli-Bergama local bus (6.5 TL), which deposited us at the Bergama Otogar after 1.5 hours. On the way we saw endless sunflower fields, pine forests, and advertisements for thermal springs. At the otogar we were swamped by taxi drivers immediately, all of them offering to take us around the Bergama ruins for about 50-60 TL. There seemed to be no other options, and the ruins were too far to walk to, but luckily the station restaurant attendant pointed us in the direction of free dolmus services to Bergama center. There's a helpful and actually useful (so many aren't) tourism information booth right off the main square, where we got a map and headed off to explore.

There are three main ruin sites - the Red Temple, Asklepion (or the hospital complex - 15TL) and Akropol (the Acropolis complex - 20TL), in addition to the Bergama Museum. Since we have a low ruins/museum tolerance and a low budget, we opted for the Acropolis complex and decided to walk there - despite the warning that this was the only site that we needed a taxi to get to. Bergama is meh. There's not much to see, aside from a functional 16th century Turkish bathhouse. After a middling food experience at Bergama Sofrasi, which still appeared to be one of the best options available, we picked up some sesame halva and ramadan sweets at the excellent Salepcioglu Helvalari just up the road from the baths. Then we began the long walk up the hill to the Akropol, following the signs on the carpet-shop road. The first monument appeared within minutes, leading us to believe our map was to scale. Map fail! Another kilometre in the expletive-inducing heat resulted in a reckless icecream purchase and a desperate plea for directions. "The acropolis is a 2 hour walk from here! It's a one hour walk from here! You can't possibly walk there!" Finally, at the invitation of a kindly gentleman sitting beside his shop, we took a break in the shade. He promised to stop his friends and get us a ride. By this point I'd consumed copious amounts of water and was dying for the loo, and another old lady that had joined us (out of curiosity, naturally) generously allowed me to use the bathroom in her house and offered us cold water. I was secretly hoping for a tractor lift, but it didn't work out as planned and we ended up in a taxi. For those who want an even more scenic route, there is also cable car type thing that goes from the bottom of the hill to the ruins, but this was out of commission today. The best part about the acropolis site was that it was nearly empty. This could be because it was a Monday, or because of Ramadan, or because we were there in the midday heat, but it gave us a great view - the surrounding countryside on one side, and a huge reservoir on the other. The German pilfering of Turkish archaeological goodies (which are mostly in the Pergamon Museum in Berlin) has left the site pretty bare, but it was still impressive. When we were just about done three bus loads of Polish tourists poured in, so we left post haste. The heat hadn't abated at all and we ran out of shady road space so we tried to hitch hike back into town. Eventually a family from Malatya picked us up, gave us sultanas, and took us all the way back to the main street. Turkish hospitality to the rescue once again!

Tintype images on Cunda Island

This morning we took a dolmus (shared taxi, 2 TL per person) from Ayvalik Main Square to Cunda Island. The fish restaurants at the harbour have lines of olive oil bottles, the regional speciality, and freshly caught fish on display. We chose to eat at a restaurant further inland, but be warned that you should negotiate prices beforehand to avoid being hit by an excessively large bill. The unbearable midday heat led us to set out on a search for the best beach, and after walking past a shipyard, olive groves and grassy plains with farm animals we found a tiny plantation of beach umbrellas and decided to take a dip. Unfortunately the water was shallow, with some treacherous rocks underfoot, so we only swam for a few minutes to cool down. We subsequently found out that it was a private beach, with a swimming pool and a 20 TL cover charge to get in, but if you act fabulous (or swim and sneak away, as we did), it's unlikely that anyone will hassle you. Disappointingly, we didn't see any fishing cats, but a few locals confirmed that the rumour was true, and that they had seen cats catching eels and small fish.

Cunda Island is beautiful, with dry grassy fields that look like they came straight out of cowboy tintype photographs. The beaches aren't all that, but the raw beauty more than makes up for the painfully saline water. Further inland are some crumbling churches and Ottoman houses, all of which have been inspected and catalogued by the Turkish government. The cobbled footpaths and slowly decaying stone houses on the approach to the top of the hill make you feel like you're in an old black and white film, and once at the top you get a 360 degree view of the island and the bluer than blue Aegean water. Turks have intensifiers for all colours, (for example, mavi is blue, but masmavi is extremely blue) and the view here makes the reason for that obvious.

The local cuisine is mainly fish and vegetables cooked with herbs and olive oil, apparently prepared in a way that is unique to the region. After peeking into a couple of places, we ate at the excellent Ayna, a bright, charming slow-food restaurant. We shared the Balik Sahanaki - Cubed Mediterranean white fish cooked with vegetables and tomato sauce. I haven't eaten fish in a while, so it was a lovely surprise.

Istanbul to Ayvalik

We packed up our whole flat into our snail-bags yesterday, dropped off our suitcase at a friend's place and set off for Yenikapi to take a ferry to Bandirma. Sadly our spur-of-the-moment "plans" didn't quite work out as the 12:30 ferry was full. Instead of opting for the 8 hour bus to Ayvalik we decided to wait for the 6:30 ferry and catch a movie while we waited. Given my penchant for big-budget action films and the fact that "Salt" was out with Turkish subtitles, this worked out perfectly.

The ferry to Bandirma took about 2 hours. Sadly, we didn't take any pictures as our energy was focused on getting non-sleazy accommodation for the night. We did walk around a bit later on after getting a pile of fasulye (beans) and pilav (rice). Surprisingly, Bandirma's center is quite well planned, with a large square and Ataturk statue (of course!) and a lit up bridge linking two parts of the harbour that provided a pretty cool vantage point for the sea as well as the city. There's not much to see in the city, but that's exactly what was nice about being there. That it was just a normal place.

After an uneventful night we took the bus to Ayvalik, sleeping most of the 4 hours. The countryside looked more and more arid, but absolutely gorgeous - stretches of nothing but olive groves on one side, a smattering of buildings and the sea on the other.

As always, we managed to find a delightful guesthouse in the center of old Ayvalik, surrounded by crumbling Ottoman era houses. We finally found what was eluding us in Istanbul - the opportunity to swim. It was awful to be surrounded by water and yet not be able to take a dip in the scorching weather. The beaches of Sarimsakli are only a 15 minute (gorgeous) bus ride away from Ayvalik.

So far, so good. There aren't even any bugs here. Tomorrow we head to Alibey/Cunda Island, where there are apparently fishing cats. We will report on this soon.

Eyup and Santralistanbul

If I had more time in Istanbul, I'd repeatedly visit SantralIstanbul museum and the Energy Museum on the campus of Istanbul Bilgi University in Eyup. The Energy Museum is basically a disused power plant (and I do love derelict factories) and the parking lot has breathtaking views of surrounding Eyup and the Golden Horn. We were able to catch the tail end of one of the free jazz performances from the Istanbul Jazz Festival, while P's frisbee team played nearby. Eyup is one of the more interesting areas in Istanbul, packed with colourful hillside houses, a beautiful cemetery, one of Istanbul's 2 cable car transport systems, and a bizarre carnival park. You can take the ferry from Uskudar or get there by bus/Bilgi's free shuttles from Taksim.

Eat: Tamirane, a converted warehouse, has delicious (though pricey) cocktails and a well thought out menu. Has the added bonus of live music.

Galata and Around

The area behind the Galata Kulesi is one of my favourite parts of Istanbul. Right next to the tower there are, of course, a fair amount of souvenir/trinket shops and tourist restaurants, one of which is the excellent Kiva Han, which serves specialties from the South East like tomato sweets and walnut fig compote. Getting away from the souvenir tack is easy enough, though. The newly-installed but ancient-seeming cobbled street leading away from Galata to the famous Dogan apartments has been transforming quite quickly, and is now home to a photography school and various independent Turkish designers. The buildings are old and gorgeous, and aside from all the well dressed and in-the-know Istanbullu, you're definitely aware that something creative and amazing is happening in this place. The end of the street is full of ceramic studios and antique shops. Though I'm not a huge fan of jewelry, Aida Pekin's workshop on the corner of Serdar Ekrem Cikmaz has the most whimsical collection inspired by Istanbul. There are little necklaces moulded into ships, stray cats, and the Istanbul skyline. Next doors ceramic showpieces are designed in house - we were lucky enough to get a peek at the process. The neighborhood behind Galata on the hillside that leads down to Tophane is a buzzing residential area with a few grocery stores and kiraathanes, coffee/tea houses traditionally frequented only by men with Turk kasis (Turkish bellies!). We found some delicious bal kaymak here - a type of creamy yoghurt with honey. Yum! Apparently there is a really old and famous kaymakci in Besiktas, but unfortunately we haven't managed to find him yet.

Sultanahmet and Pazarlik

Most tourists in Istanbul don't venture much further than Sultanahmet, which is a shame because all of Istanbul is breathtaking, and Sultanahmet is hardly representative of Turkey . In the two months I've been in this beautiful city I've only made it out there twice, once for train tickets to Europe at Sirkeci and once to show P's family around. We went to the Blue Mosque and the Yeni Camii (the New Mosque in Eminonu, which isn't new at all) and waited while the fam visited the Hagia Sofia since we didn't want to drop 20TL again.


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Then we went to Misir Carsisi (The Egyptian Market or Spice Market) to check out the smells and the leeches - there are a few shops outside Misir Carsisi advertising them as the cure for all ills.



After a short apple tea break we went to Kapali Carsi (the Grand Bazaar and the world's largest covered mall) to bargain for tea cups and other exciting goods.

Kapitan Andreeevo

A couple of weeks ago we ventured across the border. The Turkish authorities reduced the time for Polish passports from 90 to 30 days, so we have to leave and re-enter every month. We took a two hour bus from Istanbul to Edirne, then crossed the border to Bulgaria at Kapikule/Kapitan Andrevo. Like any immigration experience, this one was time-consuming and tiring, but worsened by the fact that we had to endure the searing heat at 2 am. Worse, the Bulgarian border control "office" was swarming with flying roach-ants. That, coupled with the unbelievable stench on our bus, made for a pretty awful 8 hours. Budget travel, I can't wait to forsake you! Nevertheless, our time on both sides of the border was fairly enjoyable.

Things Edirne has:

Amazing old mosques, delicious lokum, a fun main street, kokorec (a supposedly tasty, haggis-like, turkish specialty that I do not have the guts to try), and other yummy-looking street food. And super friendly people!







Things Plovdiv has:

Budget ruins, a pretty old town, old ladies with blue hair, scandalously dressed helmet-haired women, and a penchant for body-builders (both male and female)






Apparently a friend of a friend in Plovdiv (the turkish "mis" tense would be so handy here) discovered ruins while excavating for the foundation of a house and decided not to declare the find to the government. Also, one can attend concerts in a roman amphitheatre... on the regular. Oh, and did I mention that Bulgarians shake their heads from side to side to say yes, and nod yes, up and down, to say no? VERY CONFUSING. Oh, Bulgaria, I don't think we'll be back anytime soon....