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