(In advance, the formatting with the photos is super wonky. I got tired of trying to fix it. Sorry.)
(PS - you suck, Blogger. Go home.)
This weekend, I had the opportunity to travel around Turkey
a bit with the Exchange Student Network, so I did, and I’m so glad I did! Our
schedule was pretty packed, we didn’t get a whole lot of sleep, it was a little
unorganized, and we spent hours and hours on a bus, but it was such a wonderful
trip.
We left around 11pm on Thursday night and headed towards
Pamukkale – an area in Turkey known for its hot springs. We drove straight
through the night and after some restless bus sleep, we got there in the morning
Friday. I had been wanting to visit these hot springs ever since my
sister-in-law showed them to me, so I had big expectations. We entered the area
and started our tour along the hot springs and I was feeling pretty
disappointed at first. I had googled the area and had seen pictures of people
sitting in the springs like a hot tub, surrounded on all sides by gorgeous,
full hot springs. I was expecting deep hot springs, but as we walked along
them, none of them were filled with water and I was feeling cheated, thinking I
wouldn’t get the chance to even step foot in the famous Pamukkale hot springs.
It turns out that there are three main areas throughout the vast span of the
hot springs, and each day, they use pipes to move the water to different areas.
Though the large salt flats looked really incredible without water, I had been
looking forward to lounging in the water, so when our tour guide turned down
the path to a section that was filled with the warm water, I was so thrilled.
After the springs, we got to tour through some other great
sights in Hierapolis Pamukkale. We saw the beautiful antic pool as well as the
ruins of an incredible amphitheater. We had a lot of fun just running around in
the warm sun, taking in the ruins and climbing on them (is that disrespectful?).
We also visited the Kirmizi Su/Karahayit Village that had some smaller hot
springs and souvenir shops and actual chickens (I spent too much time
researching the plural form of “chicken”) crossing the road.
Our hotel was not even a 5-minute walk from the beach and
though it was small and a little run down, it was so wonderful to be by the
water with new friends and old friends. I just couldn’t help but feel so lucky.
My face had some sun from earlier, my feet were worn out from all the places
they had been, and I was surrounded by silly conversation.
On day two, we went on a tour through Ephesus, which
honestly was a little underwhelming. It could have been because we didn’t have
a great tour guide and were with a large group, but I felt like there wasn’t
enough to see to fill up our 2 hours (keep in mind, this is 2 hours
Turkish time, so it was probably closer
to 3 hours) there. I don’t feel like I learned a whole lot of the history of
Ephesus from our tour guide, and a whole lot of the time was spent just waiting
for the rest of our group to catch up so we could move on. As we got towards
the end of the trail through Ephesus, there was a lot more to see, though, and
the ruins were really beautiful.
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| Almost our whole group |
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The Library in Ephesus
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| "Wall of Wishes" |
|
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| Virgin Mary's House |
During day two, we also saw the Virgin Mary
house, and I drank holy water. I felt #blessed (sorry). That evening, we
stopped along the coast to grab food and shop for an hour and a half. Kevin and
I ended up grabbing a waffle, which is the most delicious treat and I’m
determined to bring it back to America. It’s a waffle (duh) that’s warm and
covered in any combination of yummy toppings (chocolate, peanut butter,
caramel, strawberries, bananas, kiwi, chocolate chips… just to name a few) and
then it’s folded taco-style. YUM. Anyways… We grabbed a waffle and we were right
near the water. We saw the sun set as men fished in front of us and we talked
about books and it was so, so good.
We also took a bus ride to the stunning
şirince village. This was arguably my
favorite part of the trip. The tiny village was filled with vendors selling
various spices, scarves, fake prada purses and wallets, soaps, wines, pottery,
and basically everything else you could possibly think of. It didn’t even feel like we were in Turkey
anymore. şirince felt very
exotic and unique. We stopped at a wine tasting and I tried pomegranate wine
(it was very sweet and delicious!). After walking all through the shops and
meeting a man who sold a ring to Brad Pitt in the film Troy (he was pretty nonchalant about it, but in a way where you
could tell he mentioned it to approximately everyone who ever came into
his shop), we got some ice cream and went to check out the view of the very
Tuscan-feeling village around us. We decided to climb one of the hills near the
village and we had the most amazing view. It was just breathtaking. We sat on
the grass, bathed in warm sunlight, and looked out onto the mountains and
valleys filled with rows of grape vines and red-roofed houses. It was so
lovely. We laughed about stupid things and I picked flowers while the boys
threw rocks and
kids rustled in the bushes behind us. Again, my words really
don’t do the scene any justice, but as if it wasn’t gorgeous enough, there were
horses near us and the weather could not have been more perfect. şirince is the kind of village I
pictured when I thought about traveling and studying abroad, it was just
incredible. Looking at the red-roofed homes from the hill, it almost felt a
little like what I imagine Italy might feel like, and it also felt like we went
back in time just a little bit. It was so picturesque and the ice cream cone in
my hand didn’t hurt, either. I could’ve stayed on that hill all day, I think.
On our last day, Izmir was rainy and
chilly, but a few of us still ventured to the beach after breakfast and before
we had to leave. I just marveled at the waves and decided right then and there
that I will live by water someday. There’s something so captivating about water
and waves. I could watch them roll in forever. We checked out of the hotel and
spent some time in the main part of Izmir city. It is a tourist town and we
were there during the off-season, so it didn’t quite feel like all it was
cracked up to be, but Ashton, Kevin and I still had a great time. We found a
restaurant called Baks and we managed to eat lunch for cheap (which is quite
the accomplishment for the swanky area we were in). It was really nice, we took
our time eating and drank Salep while it rained. Salep is a warm drink they
have in Turkey that’s sweet and thick and silky. It’s almost like a sweet,
warm, thicker version of milk that they sprinkle cinnamon on. Its closest
American comparison would probably be a Chai tea latte, but salep is much
sweeter. We had plenty of time, and Turks serve their drinks very hot, so
you’re forced to take your time letting it cool and sipping it and just being
with the people you’re with. We talked about our families, and the games we
played as kids, and the Beatles before starting the long bus ride back to
Istanbul.
It was really so fun to leave Istanbul
for a little bit and to see so many new, exciting things and adventure a bit.
But it was also really good to get back and to feel the familiarity of my small
radius in this city. To know the streets and sounds and restaurants, to feel
the wind wisp my hair away in soft circles around my face, to brush shoulders
as I pass people on the narrow sidewalks, and to hear cars honking their horns
at one another every few minutes. Walking to class today, I realized it’s going
to be so hard to leave this place; Istanbul has been different from how I
imagined it in almost every way possible, and there’s a lot of beauty in having
your expectations completely changed.
It was so comforting to be back in
Istanbul, and that caught me off guard. I miss all my people back home, of
course, but it feels a lot more like nostalgia than it does homesickness. Being
here is a lot like I feel about being at K-State – it’s not my childhood home,
but it is home, too. Now, I just have a third, equally lovely home in Istanbul.
And I’m more than ok with that.
The thing is, though, if I was there, not missing those things, then I'd just be missing out on the things here. I'd be missing out on seeing the gorgeous Bosphorus on my way to school. I'd be missing eating doner and kebaps and some of the best rice I've ever had. I'd be missing out on meeting some really phenomenal people and seeing places so beautiful that photos don't capture it all. Ashton's parents are here visiting this week, which has been super fun to see them, because even though they're not my family, they're a piece of home here in Istanbul. We got dinner with them Sunday night, and it was really fun to see Istanbul through their eyes. It was a nice reminder of the little progress we've made here and the ways in which we've adapted and found new normals here - the words we've learned, the foods we've tried, getting used to not knowing what we're ordering. It's so good to have them here and to get to experience this place in a new way.
