Since we missed the bus to Capadoccia, we decided to sleep in a bit and show Aili and Gisela the town (since they were in the conference the whole time. We took a local bus down to the city center and wandered around the clock tower before diving into the maze of streets looking for the old bazaar. Finally, we found it and split up to do some window shopping and stopping for tea on the picturesque second floor. That night Aili and I set out for a nice dinner for ...

Day two of the conference included more police escorts around town and a ferry across the bay to another more modern shopping district. I skipped out on the afternoon tour to watch Aili and Gisela's presentation which went over really well. The next day we woke up ready for the trip to Ephesus - the ancient city first founded in 300 B.C. Many of the ruins from the Roman era still exist (most dating from around 100 A.D.) but people have been living in this area si...

Today's our travel day to Izmir. We wanted to take the ferry across the Sea of Marmar then the bus to Izmir but apparently that only runs in the high season after May. The alternatives were a 10 hour bus ride or an hour flight for $20 more. So the flight it was! We planned an hour and a half for the cab ride to the airport since we have no idea about traffic, but on this Sunday morning it only took us 12 minutes (plus a few more when I thought the driver was aski...

Well, I'll have to admit not knowing much about Turkey... so the first thing I did was look at a map. I was suprised to learn that in addition to Greece and Bulgaria, Turkey boarders Syria, Iraq and Iran - quite the Homeland Security no-go list! It also shares boarders with Armenia and Georgia. Istanbul lies on the Bosphorus - the strait connecting the Black Sea to the Sea of Marmar which drains into the Mediteranian and the official dividing line between Europe ...