Turkey

Turkish Phrases

Hello - merhaba

Good morning - gunaydin

Good night - iyi geceler

Please - lutfen

Thank you - tesekkur (pronunsiation - take, sugar, dream say those three words once fast and you just said thankyou in Turkish!)

Man - bay/ erkek

Woman - bayan/ kadin

Hi, this is a quick summary of what we've been doing in Turkey so far…

As soon as we got into Istanbul, we went straight to the local spice market. When we walked in our noses we're filled with wonderful, sweet, aromas! We walked through for a while and stopped at a small store, filed with tasty looking foods, teas, and spices. When we were done we had a bag filled with tea, honey, Turkish delights, and nuts.

We walked out of the spice market and got in the car. In the car, our guide explained to us that Istanbul, Turkey is split in two continents (Asia and Europe). We are spending most of our time, on the Asian side.

We drove for a few minutes and then we stopped, at the Grand Bazaar. A bazaar is a shopping area where, instead of just purchasing objects, you bargain for them. It's very easy! The only thing I don't like about it, is that the people trying to sell you things would jump at you, or scream at the top of there lungs some thing like "everything is free" (they're lying)! The reason this bazaar is special, is because it is the length of three football fields!

The next day, the first thing we did was go see an old obelisk, in the center of the city. The location of the obelisk is where, during Roman times, people would meet to discuss things (like a meeting). After that we went to a mosque. It was pretty much the same, as last time we went to a mosque. It had a large circular chandelier and it was a large room, where people go to pray. After the mosque we went to the cistern. The cistern was a large water storage room, for the Romans that could hold enough water, for three months! The reason that the Romans built the cistern is so that they would have enough water during times of war. In the storage room they had medusa carved upside down, as if she had drown to show that pagan gods were not in power any more. The room is so big that it takes 350 columns, to hold up the building! The rain would flow through and naturally filter to become drinking water. They shined colorful lights on the columns and it looked magnificent!

After this gorgeous sight, we went to the Topkapi palace and had lunch. The palace used to be the house of the Sultan - a ruler of Turkey. Since 1922 Turkey has switched from Sultans to Presidents. The palace was half as big as the Vatican (if you can imagine it). It was very decorative and has cool designs all over the walls. Inside we saw the following… the (real) hand of St. John the baptist, the footprint of Muhammad (the greatest spiritual leader of the Muslim religion) and the staff of Moses.

Next we went to the Hagia Sofia - a catholic church. Inside the church were fancy depictions of Jesus and Mary. All the words though were in Arabic, so I don't know what anything said.
Day four, we went to Cappadocia. Cappadocia is another village built completely out of stones. The only difference between these and Petra is these were Greek. Also, Petra was carved more efficiently than Capadocia. I can't really describe Capadocia, so try looking in the pictures section. Later we went to a small cave restaurant and ate lunch. At the restaurant, I discovered that I love Trout! That was all for the day.

The next day we went to an open park museum, called Goreme. It is more stone built houses, but these were more efficient than Cappadocia and we got to go inside of the buildings and structures. Some times there were even small passageways, that would lead to different areas and Ian and I would climb through them. To finish off that day, we went on an hour-long hike and on the way we saw that a small bizarrely shaped canyon, had somehow been formed (there were more Cappadocia like houses).

Day 6 and we headed to the underground city of Kaymakl. Kaymakl was carved by the Hittites (11th - 12th century B.C.) and extended by the Christians (7th - 10th century A.d.) as an area for protecting themselves, from enemies. It is eight stories deep but we were only allowed to go into seven. While we were inside, Ian and I started to walk into a small tunnel and the lights went out! There was no sunlight so it was pitch black in the cave! Ian screamed behind me and the lights came back on. Again, as Ian and I walked out the lights went out! This time Ian screamed louder! So when the lights came on again a lady walked out and up the cave looking terrorized. It was really cool being down in these little caves. As we drove home for the day, we stopped just to take photos of the fairy chimneys. Our guide told us that Monks and people of Greece used to live in the fairy chimneys to protect from (once more) enemies.

On day seven in Turkey, we went to a pottery store. At the store we watched a man use a kick wheel, to make a strange wine server. Then Ian and I made our own pieces. We both tried to make vases, but they came out weird. After the out of the ordinary vases were complete, my parents went into the shop and bought a few things for the house in Mexico, as Ian painted a dish. We had our pieces shipped to us and left to visit the Whirling Dervishes museum. A Whirling dervish, is not a small animal like my dad thought. A Whirling Dervish is a (whirling) spinning (Dervish) sage or spiritual leader. There were many tasks that had to be completed to become a Dervish, for example; a Dervish would have to take a small bucket and go beg for weeks to lose all selfish, pride. That is just one of the many tasks, that must be completed to become, a whirling Dervish. After the museum, we went to the Ali Pasa Konagi - an extremely largenatural river cave. Our guide and the boat owners started a generator for light in the cave and we set off to the cave. It was natural beauty (literally) and all you could hear in the cave were the swishing of the paddle and the water dropping from the ceiling.

On our way to the new hotel, we stopped at a camel hotel or Arksary. A camel hotel, was a location where (rich) people could take their camel and rest for the night. It had rooms for the camels and the masters plus, a large mosque for people to pray in.

We continued driving to our hotel and when we arrived there, we realized it was almost nothing like a hotel but better. It was a bed and breakfast hotel, with a hot tub, a pool, a sauna and an area where they kept all kinds of animals, such as alpacas, llamas, and mountain goats. While we stayed at the bed and breakfast, we went white water rafting on the Koprulu river. It was very fun and we got to splash other rafts, as we rode down the river. Most of the population of rafters were Russians. We played games, also, when we stopped at certain areas. I for one, love white water rafting and would do it again any time!

The next day we drove to Antalya and just hung out. Good-bye for now.

For the last few days we have stayed on a boat on the Mediterranean Sea. The type of boat was a Turkish gullet and it was a sail/motorboat. For most of the time though we used the motor because it took a long time to put up the sails and the boat was not exactly designed as a sailing boat. For the duration of the time on the boat, a personal chef fed us. He made great food such as grilled chicken, lamb chops, and sea bass (yum). On the boat there was a lot of stuff to do. Almost every day we would fish, snorkel and Kayak. Plus, we went on land to see sights. One time, when we went on land,we saw the town of Lycia,where Santa clause was born. Also we went to Kaya Koya - an exodus town where Greeks were removed from their homes and had to switch with the Turkish people after WWI. It was just a short hike up and a short hike down the mountain. One day we even went to the beach and Ian and I climbed up a small mountain so rocky that Ian couldn't finish it and we both came back with cuts and blood all over our feet! After each intense day though we would lay in our comfortable cabins and watch the series "24" on the computer. Visit our site again!

RS