Italy Road Trip Finale - Roma!

After a couple days in the car around Italy, our final pit stop was in Roma! I think this was the city I was most excited about. To me, it was the epitome of why I love Europe. So much history around you, mixed in with the European lifestyle of cafes and lounging around public fountains and parks.

With all our other stops along the way, we really only had one full day and the night preceding it. I was worried we wouldn't fit in everything we wanted to see. Then, when I thought about it, I didn't even know where to start with sightseeing! What were the must sees? The Vatican (and therefore the Sistine Chapel). The Colosseum. And? With some of the pressure off, we got a map and highlighted the must sees.

And then we got to our walking. When you read that you can walk pretty much everywhere in the city, I laughed and thought, ya right. But really, you can walk almost anywhere in the city! Other than the Vatican which is a bit farther away than we cared to walk, we walked almost everywhere around the city.

Our first stop was the Vatican - and it is a city within itself (literally!). After some online research, we went in long pants and with a cardigan for me to cover my shoulders, as you are required to have 'respectful' dress within the Basilica and Sistine Chapel. My advice to others going - yes, they do make you cover your knees if you are in shorts (as a female), but I did see several women in dresses just above the knees with shoulders covered. Perhaps they were lenient because of the summer, but we did see people turned away. My motto on the whole thing - better safe than sorry!

We got their first thing in the morning and NO LINES!

First off was the St. Stephen's Basilica. It is huge, vaulted ceiling, with little rooms or worship areas along the whole length of it. We also went down to visit the tombs of the popes below the chapel itself and above to see the view from the top of the cupola. 335 steps didn't sound like so many before going up, but man, was it hot and the stairs were narrow and winding. It was worth it though for the great views from the top.

Inside the St. Stephen's Basilica

View from the top of the St. Stephen's cupola -
you can see the Vatican courtyard in front of us

Next up was the Vatican Museum. You could probably spend a whole day here if you knew what you were doing. But, as I've said before, museums aren't really my thing and this is like a museum on steroids. I don't know how many thousands of pieces are there, but there is something old and historical in every square inch of the place. After following the signs to various exhibits, we decided to finally give up and let ourselves be corralled towards the Sistine Chapel. Needless to say, along the way, you can still enjoy the art, paintings, tapestries and unique architecture, we just did it on a fast track kind of pace.

Inside the Vatican Museum - I was
more interested in the architecture
than all the art

After gazing a few minutes at the giant portraits in the Sistine Chapel, we were off again, this time headed to the Colosseum (of course after a change into shorts and some lunch). We bought the Roma Pass before seeing the sites, and it was worth it. After using our pass to skip the lines of tourists waiting for tickets, we wandered around the Colosseum. It was certainly multipurpose over the years. From what everything thinks of with Gladiator and fighting, to aquatic shows & circuses to stalls for animals and street vendors, it certainly has a unique history.

Once we had explored enough of the Colosseum, we wandered next door to the Roman forum. This is an area with tons of Roman ruins it, from the Temple of Saturn, to the Arc of Septimus Severus. Like the Vatican, it was a bit overwhelming and there is not much information on the site itself. So, we were content to force our tired legs to carry us through, admiring the ruins and take lots and lots of breaks to admire the views.

Colosseum - no animal fighting for us though

Colosseum from the outside - avoiding men selling
umbrellas, light-up objects and other knick knacks

We made a quick stop at the Parthenon to sit down, stare up at the ceiling and wonder what things were like back then, then ended our evening on the Spanish steps with, what else, wine and Italian food!

Not the Spanish steps, but the even MORE famous Trevi fountain

Quick History
- Is there such a thing as a quick history of Rome?
- Ancient Rome was thought to have more than 1M people at the height of its power.
- Founded in the 8th Century BC, Ancient Rome first first ruled by kings, then the senate as the Roman Republic and finally (and most famously), the Roman Emperors
- When Julius Cesar took Rome and appointed himself dictator, he helped Rome to become an empire. After he was murdered, Augustus became the first emperor

What to See
- Vatican - get there early and give yourself plenty of time to enjoy if you do like art. Be prepared to be herded like cattle along with the hundreds (or thousands?) of other visitors. There are two separate entrances to St. Stephen's basilica and the Vatican Museum.
- Colosseum - there is lots of information here for those who want to do self-guided tours. If not, purchase an additional ticket package and you are given more parts of the Colosseum to see on a guided tour.
- Roman Forum - this is definitely worth seeing, but don't do this and the Vatican & Colosseum in one day. I would also recommend getting a guided tour for this. There are poor signs and information, so often times you do not know what you are looking at.
- Piazzas - there are many many piazza (or plazas in English) around Rome. The most famous ones are Piazza Navona (with lots of street artists here), Piazza della Rotunda (in front of the Parthenon), Piazza di Spagna (or the Spanish Steps) and Piazza Fontana di Trevi (difficult translation to Trevi Fountain). While these were all great, I don't think you can go wrong at any piazza. There's usually restaurants, street vendors and lots and lots of people
Tip: if you plan on seeing the Colosseum and the Roman Forum, get the Roma pass. It pays for itself with those two attractions, you can skip all the lines and ride public transit for free. 

Italy Road Trip Continued - Montalcino

When you drive through Tuscany, there are so many small, quaint looking little towns along the way. Some are just a few houses on the side of the road, others are bigger towns set-up the edge of a hill. I wish I could claim to have stumbled upon this little gem of a town, Montalcino, all on my own, but luckily, a friend of a friend had given us the idea to stop in on our way to Rome.

We almost skipped. it. After a morning of walking around Siena a bit more, we were ready to get to Rome. But, our stomachs didn't want to wait until Rome to eat and as we know, wine goes great with lunch, so we figured, why not eat lunch in a wine town? So, with that in mind, we stopped in Montalcino on our way into Rome.

The city was a cute medieval town (do those two words even go together?) It had a fortress and lots of little winding streets lined with shops with fabulous culinary finds.We sampled amaro, grappa and my personal favorite - chocolate liqueur.

After a delicious lunch, we decided to check out one of the local wineries on our way in to Rome. Paul and I had been to Napa before, but I have to say that this doesn't even compare. In Napa, you have these giant vineyards and wineries that you stop in for a tour and tastings. They're great. I mean anywhere you can drink wine all day is great, right?

Vineyards and olive trees are everywhere

But there was just something special about these little vineyards in Montalcino.

The vineyard we stopped at was called La Fornace - it was run by a family. They have 11 acres for both grapes and olives and produce 18,000 bottles a year. While that is still a lot of wine, it seems like a whole different affair than what you see in Napa. We did our tasting in a special room in their home. We got to walk along the vineyard and try the grapes themselves. And we enjoyed hearing their story of how the farm all started. I loved it - and even better, I loved the wine. We made it home with a couple bottles to enjoy for later on!

Paul testing out the grapes. They will be harvested early
this year to the unseasonably hot summer

Grapes! They are used for the wine, then the leftover skins
from the wine making are used to make grappa

If you are interested in trying a wine from this region, the two main varieties produced are Montalcino Rosso and Montalcino Brunello. Our favorite was the Brnnello, but I think a wine tasting is in order for everyone to pick out their favorite.

2012 Trip #11 - Siena, Italy

When we planned our Italy getaway with our friends coming in town, we were ambitious. We decided on a road trip, stopping in Florence and Pisa, staying overnight and then hitting up Rome. In 3 days.

It seems that I not only forgot that there are only 24 hours in a day, but I also forgot that I hate car trips.

Once we arrive in Rome, pick up our rental car and make it out of the perilously cramped and teeny parking lot, this fact finally hits me. I realise that I do not, in fact, want to spend at extra 4 hours in the car that day to pose for a picture with the Leaning Tower. Florence? Eh, we will hit it up next time. All I could think about was getting out of the car and getting some Italian food into my stomach. At this point, the trip goes from action packed to relaxing and possibly lazy.

Best. Idea. EVER.

We arrived in Siena around lunchtime and checked in to the hotel. After an indulgent feast, we were ready to hit up the town. I really hadn't done much research before, and all I knew from a brief googling the night before was that we needed to check out the Duomo.

Luckily, the town is small and everything is in walking distance. After a 5 minute stroll to the Duomo, we promptly spent the next 3 hours (with a gelato break) investigating all the different parts of the cathedral.

First is the cathedral itself. The marble work inside is amazing, with multi-colored columns and intricate floor patterns. It is breathtaking, and leaves you wanting to tip toe around, not just to achieve respectful silence, but to avoid stepping and leaving a mark on the beautiful floors you are walking on.

What did I learn in Italian this week? Duomo is not actually
the name of this particular church. Duomo means
cathedral. So, we saw lots of Duomos on our trip.

Vaulted ceilings inside the cathedral

Intricate marbling on the floor

Next, is the Museum which includes access to the walls of the "new" church which they never quite finished. This offers panoramic views of the city and was worth the climb in the unusual and not exactly pleasant Italian summer heat.

Typical Italian countryside. I plan for my next (or first)
summer home to be here in Tuscany. 

After this, I was tired. Enter the first of many many gelato breaks on the trip.

Now we are re-energised and ready to go. On to the crypts! No, there are no dead bodies here, but it is interesting to see the old frescoes in here.

And last, but not least, is the baptistery. It reminds me of Istanbul's Chora Church with the ceilings depicting out stories from the Bible. The Duomo was smart enough to leave some mirrors around so that you don't have to crane your neck either to get a good look at the ceiling.

Beautiful tiled ceilings - each triangle tells
a different story

Baptismal Font - this is dedicated to
John the Baptist

After having conquered the only sight-seeing item we knew we had to see, we set out to roam the streets. We stopped in little art stores to find some local art, checked out pottery and finally ended up at dinner with more Italian food.

Siena was a perfect little Italian town to start our vacation in - just enough things to see, plenty of things to eat and lots of time to mosey around and relax.

Next stop - Montalcino.

2012 Trip #10 - Ölüdeniz, Turkey

This vacation paradise was actually brought to me by my dad. When we decided to move to Turkey, we gave him a book about Turkey so that he could read up on it and plan out a visit to come see us. One of the photos in the book was from Ölüdeniz and he insisted that we/he had to visit.

Unfortunately, he didn't get to make a stop there on their visit (although we did visit the beautiful pools at Pamukkale), but Paul and I were excited to go this past weekend so he could live vicariously through us and because I always love going to the beach.

The area is known for it's beautiful beaches and picturesque landscape. You have the blue beaches surrounded by the majestic mountains, giving you the best of both worlds to enjoy.  We didn't waste much time getting to the beach and went straight away to the water after we arrived at the hotel.  Ölüdeniz translates to "Dead Sea" and you can understand why as soon as you hit the water. It is so salty that you simply float - no need to paddle.

Our first true day, we didn't break a stride and continued with our explorations of the beaches surrounding Ölüdeniz. We checked out Camel's Beach, the nearby Springs (which contrary to our boat guides joke are NOT hot), St. Nick's Island and the famous Blue Lagoon.  The water is clear blue, and great for swimming, even if the beaches are a bit rocky for my taste. My favorite had to be St. Nick's island. Here you can see the remains of the monestary which was the original resting place of St. Nicholas (or who we now know as Santa Clause) - from where our boat anchored, we swam 5 minutes and were able to stand in the ruins of what was once the monastery and see old stones underwater as well.

The shoreline of St. Nicholas' island. You can see some of
monastery ruins on the hillside.

A view of the water and a couple of the "humps" that give
Camel beach it's name

One of the things that I had seen in books and been very interested in viewing was the Lycian tombs. After viewing the tomb at the British Museum in London, I was even more anxious to view them in their natural habitat. Luckily, in Fethiye, a neighboring town to Ölüdeniz, is the start of the Lycian Way. This was my chance to see these famous tombs! I was going to see them, gosh darn it, even if it meant waking up early which was not my vacation preference.

The first stop on our drive towards Fethiye was at Kayaköy, which I had not heard of before our drive. This town, established by Greek Christians in the 18th century, was abandoned at the start of the 20th century. It's eerie compared to ruins like Troy and Ephesus, because with houses scattered all over the hillside, it's almost as if the entire city is intact (with the exception of the roofs). 

The ghost houses at Kayaköy

After our pit stop in Kayaköy , we made it to the Amynthas Rock Tombs on the outskirts of Fethiye. This particular tomb dates back to the 4th century B.C and was made for Amynthas, son of Hemmapias. While there isn't much to see inside, its worth the 5 TL entrance fee to go into the "park" and climb up the steps to the tomb. Here is the only place you can get an idea of the true size of this memorial. 

Amynthas Rock Tombs - this was
definitely a photo op, not because
I needed to catch my breath...

 

Quick History:
- This area was originally part of the area controlled by Lycians in the 1200-500 BC period.  Lycia's regions are now modern day Antalya and Mugla in Southern Turkey on the Aegean coast.
- Later, Lycia was incorporated as a province into the Roman Empire. After that, it fell under Byzantine rule and down the line to modern day Turkey.
-Oludeniz is one of the most photographed beaches in the Mediterranean.
- Babadağ Mountain, which offers a great take off point for the many paragliders, was called Mount Cragus in ancient times.

What to See:
- The Rock Tombs in Fethiye. If you have more time, check out the larger tombs in Dalyan.
- Views from Above: this area is one of the most popular for paragliding and for good reason. Make sure you find a reputable company which a good safety record.
- Blue Lagoon: this famous beach is great for swimming and people watching. It's a short walk away from the main part of the city.
- Butterfly Valley: this is another famous beach, but a little bit more difficult to get to. You can either take a somewhat gruelling trek (from what I've heard) or reach it via boat.

Getting Around:

- If you fly into the Ölüdeniz/Fethiye area, you will be coming through the Dalaman Airport. It is about a 45 minute drive to Fethiye and 1 hr 15 minute drive to Ölüdeniz. You can take the city bus into Fethiye from here and then another bus into Ölüdeniz, or most hotels can set-up a private transfer for you in advance.

- To get between Ölüdeniz and Fethiye, there is a dolmus that comes every 10-30 minutes for 4TL. This drops you off at the city bus terminal.

London - Part 2

Our trip to London continued. With only 48 hours in London, we got more done than I thought we would (enough for 2 posts!) Sure, it was summer so we had sunlight in our favor, but we must have been hurrying around the city at super speed to get things in, even though it didn't feel like it. Maybe it was the efficient public transportation or maybe we were feeling energetic, but we made the most of our time in London.  Of course in London, there's always something to see, so we have more on our to-do list for the next trip.

On our second day in the city, we decided to first check out the Tower of London which we had only passed by the day before. Luckily, we got there right as the rain started, so it gave us an excuse to stay inside the tower longer.  You definitely don't need a reason though - there is plenty to keep you busy for at least a half day, probably even the whole day. In 2.5 hours, we got a tour from the Yeomen Warders, who oversee the tower, saw the Crown jewels (including a 300 carat diamond) and visited the armory. After that, we saw the queue for the tower with the exhibition on torture devices and decided to skip the line and make a break for it while it was sunny.

The Bloody Tower. And see, it can be sunny in London!

Supersistion is that the tower will fall if there aren't at least 6 ravens onsite.
So, they cheated a bit and have 8 with their wings clipped.
We saw them enjoying a nice rabbit meal. Better than my fingers.

Our next stop was the British Museum. I love this museum because a) its free (but you should still make a donation) and b) there are so many neat things there! Things that everyone knows about and should take the time to see.

The Great Court

First was the Enlightenment Room, which is like a library of my dreams. They also have a desk here where they bring out certain artifacts during the day which people can look at more closely and even touch! We got to touch an old flint knife, some dolphin teeth that were used for bartering in the S. Pacific and some cloth that was on a mummy! Yes, for real.

The shelves house everything from books to pottery
to before mentioned dolphin teeth.

Next we paid a visit to this guy: the moai of Easter Island. There's somewhere around 900 of these little men out there, including still on Easter Island. They are meant to honor ancestors who were deity.

It's hard to see these guys without thinking
of that Ben Stiller museum movie, right?

From there, we moved down the hallway to the Egyptian artifact and the Rosetta Stone. You know that stone that helped them to decipher hieroglyphics? It was actually found being used as a stone inside a building, where it had been repurposed.

From the picture, it looks like an
ordinary rock in a glass case.

Final stop was the Greek artifacts and ruin. It was the perfect way to end for us because there is a lot of things relating to modern day Turkey here, like some figures from what is now Bodrum's wonder of the ancient world (The Mausoleum of Halicarnassus) and the reconstructed Nereid Monument which is in modern day Antalya. It still amazes me the influence and importance Turkey has - yet another reason for everyone to come see the original sites here in Turkey.

This was found in what is now called the
Lycian Way in Turkey

We wrapped up the night at a pub with a bit of football watching (it was the Eurocup finals of course) and then off on our red eye flight back to Istanbul. Which was immediately followed up a nap. Words to the wise: red eye flights that are only 3 hours long only seem like a good idea.

2012 Trip #9 - London

As you can see from all my trip posts and lack of anything else, it has been a busy month for the Tarts in Turkey. In the last 6 weeks, we have had 3 sets of visitors and 5 different trips. It has kept us busy and the blog a bit lonely of posts.

Last week, I was in London for work.  After the fantastically hot weather in Turkey, I was a very happy girl to have a break from the heat. It also reminded me how nice it is to be able to communicate with someone in their language instead of hand gestures.  That is certainly something you take for granted if you have never lived overseas.

Paul joined me for the weekend - it was his first time to the UK and I was excited to share with him one of my favorite cities in Europe. With this also came a bit of expectation to be the expert. What's a certain building, how do you get here, what should we do today? You want to show someone whats best in the city and gloss over some of the less enjoyable parts.

Paul had one demand for sightseeing - the big hop on hop off tourbuses. While it is easy to get around via tube in London, on a sunny day, this is a fun and easy way to get exactly where you want to go. The weather was in our favor and we got an overview of the famous sites in London: Trafalgar Square, Buckingham Palace, Tower Bridge, Globe Theatre and more.

Hi - don't mind  us, we're just some friendly tourists!

While we did a lot of hopping on and off that day, we didn't go into too many things.

We saw the tail end of the changing of the guards at Buckingham Palace. Who knew they had a band? (Don't answer that, I'm pretty sure lots of you out there knew that).

Oh, hey there Queen! She just celebrated 60 years as Queen

The Beefeaters

We checked out my all-time favorite church, Westminster Abbey. It's amazing and creepy to walk around and on top of all those tombs. Plus, I love Poet's Corner with the best writers are lying beneath your feet. Like I said, creepy, but amazing.

 

No pictures inside, but luckily you can take pictures outside
which was useful during the 30 minute wait to get inside.

We got off at the London Tower for great views of the Tower Bridge and then hopped on a river cruise.

The Tower Bridge NOT the London Bridge.
The London Bridge is a lovely concrete thing down river.

Paul's only other request was to visit Greenwich. As in Greenwich Standard Time. I had never thought of this before, but said hey, that sounds like fun! So we grabbed the river boat for a ride up the Thames to Greenwich. There isn't actually all that much there. Some neighborhoods, a park which will be used for the horse, errr equestrian, events for the Olympics, and the observatory. Here at the observatory is where you can see the Meridian Line, the (imaginary) line that divides the world into the Eastern and Western hemisphere.

Yes, it was as unexciting as it seemed
(sorry Paul).

We took a cruise back to Westminster to enjoy the beautiful views along the Thames and get me a snack so that I could stop being what I have coined as hangry (hungry + angry = hangry) and quit acting like an annoyed diva. Ironically, I did in fact eat a snickers.

London Eye - favorite (unedited) picture of the trip.
It takes 45 minutes to go around and it doesn't actually stop.

Big Ben and Parliament - there are two parts to Parliament:
House of the Lords and House of the Commons.

To end the day, we visited a pub in Notting Hill for a pint of ale for Paul and a pint of cider for me. You gotta love a city where you can get cider on tap.

More to come soon on Day TWO of our London visit.

2012 Trip #8 - Cappadocia, Turkey

When Paul read to me from the guided horse tour brochure that Cappadocia meant "Land of the Beautiful Horses," I called BS on it. I mean, that had to be a marketing gimmick if I ever heard one, right?

I stand corrected - a few tour guides later and for correctly answering the question of 'what does Cappadocia mean' to win an onyx egg, I have been humbled.

This last weekend, Paul, his parents and I ventured to the land of the beautiful horses.

We stayed in Göreme which is a great starting out point to get around the region. I thought 2.5 days would be enough for exploring, but as our last day wound down, I found myself wishing for more time to explore even more.

 Our "cave" hotel. It really was built into a cave, but most of the times the rooms are built outside of the cave with only certain parts of the hotel inside

 View of the fairy chimneys from our room

 The best way I found to see the most of the city, and perhaps the most frightening, is a hot air balloon ride. If you are not scared of heights, no fears. Even if you are scared of heights (like me), have no fears! I felt fine (almost) the whole time and we had smooth sailing.  We did the one hour tour and floated along some of the valleys, although I wish we could have seen even more.

After a nap, because waking up at 4:30 am is always too early, we set out to explore more of the city. We strolled through Göreme up to the Göreme Open Air Museum. The museum is full of caves that were used a churches, kitchens, living areas and more during the Byzantine period. It is different from many churches you see with frescoes painted on plaster put up on the rocks and the earlier period paintings are sometimes just rudimentary red paintings.

Göreme Open Air Musem

Fresco inside the open air museum

On day 2, we decided to venture outside of Göreme and visited some areas to the south of the city.

First were the Underground Cities of Derinkuyu - the deepest underground city. We went down 8 stories, but there were even more which have since collapsed or are a part of the 90% of the city that aren't available to the public.  Personally, I don't know if I could live in a cave at all, much less for 3 months, so props to them.

People were tiny. Or Paul is large.

This tunnel was something like 4 km long and linked up to another underground city

Next, we trekked through the Ihlara Gorge and visited St. Daniel's Church there. When I say trekk, I mean we really hiked through by the river for 3-4 KM.

According to our guide, this is the second largest canyon after the Grand Canyon. According to our research, the Grand Canyon is the second largest canyon and this one does not rank. So, always trust your tour guide.

View from the inside of the St. Daniel's valley located in the gorge

Finally, we ended up at Selime Monastery. According to the guide, the producers of Star Wars wanted to film here, but weren't allowed. I have to say this is my favorite stop of the trip. We were given free reign (or as much as you can have in 25 minutes) to wander around the caves, climb up to rooms that are less frequented and snap away to my hearts desire.

Walking up to Selime Monastery

Church inside the Selime Monastery

On our last day, I wanted to explore the famous Love Valley with the famous fairy chimneys. We started up the steep hike over the hill to get down into the valley and received a ride on the back of the truck of some friendly locals.  After depositing us near a path, we thought we were lucky and happily trotted down the trail. Who knows how many wrong turns, streams, ropes and 2 hours later, we finally came out near where we were supposed to hike. While we missed the magnificent Love Valley, we certainly got our exercise in for the day and still enjoyed some majestic landscape.

 View from the top of the valley

Pretty view of the valley looking up - all those pushes were scratchy.

 Quick History:
- Cappadocia is actually a region, not a city, in central Turkey. It is famous for its unusual rock formations that were created in the region which was triangled between 3 volcanoes and eroded over time to form what they are today.
- It is thought that the earliest settlers founded what is now Kayseri around 2000 BC.
- The region has had quite a few changes in control - first the Hittites, Persians, Romans, Byzantines, Seljuks, and finally the Ottomans.
- There is a lot of Christian history in the area - first during the Roman period with Christians hiding from persecution in the caves, then during the Byzantine period. There are churches everywhere as evidence of this.

What to See:
- Hot Air Balloon Ride: hands down the best part of the trip. It can be pricey, but it is worth it to have a reputable operator. Usually your hotel can arrange this for you.
-  Göreme Open Air Museum: a short walk from the town of Göreme, this is a must see. The Apple Church, Buckle Church and Dark church were some of the best preserved churches. The extra entry for the Dark Church is worth it (no pictures though).
- Zemi (Love) Valley: walk through the fairy chimneys (this is what we tried to do but missed)
- Underground Cities: there are several different underground cities, but these are difficult to reach with public transportation, so look into a tour or car rental options.