Back to Reality...and a Flat Stanley Flashback!

It's been over a week since my last post and when I first started doing this, I said I was going to make a point of posting at least a couple of times a week. Well, school and its workload have reared their demanding heads at me so this hasn't happened this week! BUT, I thought I should write an update so that it doesn't look like I've fallen off the face of the planet!

Monday - I'm back at school after a fantastic weekend in Amsterdam with my mom and my aunt. I'm also into my second week of teaching a Grade 10 class which I'm doing in the absence of my Head of Department. It's different. I have never taught "big" kids so it's challenging for me to use a different skill set, personality and behaviour management techniques with them; it'll take some getting used to! They're currently teaching the lessons though and I'm meant to assess them with MYP Criteria C & D which is also a whole new ballgame for me to wrap my head around as well. I also had a lesson observation from my principal (which didn't go as well as I'd hoped...it never does in these situations! :P) and I go on teaching my normal scheduled classes. It's also my mom's and aunt's last night in Germany so I get home from school as soon as I can to spend their last hours here with them.

Tuesday - I don't go to school and my mom and aunt head off to Canada. It's a bittersweet goodbye as I wish I could hold on to my mom for just one more day but unfortunately, I can't. It also happens to be the first sick day I take off from school so I wish she could be home to nurse me back to myself again, but that's not how fate has played its cards.

Wednesday - I'm back at school again and have to say, the weather's been pretty spectacular and I'm absolutely loving that I get to be outside with my PE classes! I have a meeting with my principal to go over the observation I had on Monday and I learn that I didn't do as badly as I had thought...which is usually the case! Does anyone not work themselves up for these sort of things? Or psych themselves up during the observation itself? I'd rather have a camera on me the whole time (it happened in Korea!) instead of knowing that someone's sitting and watching. We had our monthly Junior School staff meeting until 5pm where we discussed the Kath Murdoch workshop we had before the Spring Break. During the meeting, we're told to come up with an action plan with our team (my team being the single subject teachers - IT, Library, Art, Music and me as the PE rep) that will put to use inquiry strategies that we learned from Kath while she was here. We discuss this in detail and decide that the best way to move through the inquiry cycle in our subjects, would be to take ownership, kick-off, guide and wrap-up an entire unit of inquiry in our subject area and have the homeroom teachers feed into us, instead of the other way around; this is how PYP should work, right!? We leave our meeting feeling empowered and excited to make a change and to raise the status of our subjects (I'll keep you posted!) and head home to an awkwardly empty apartment.

Thursday - It's a long day of teaching but I get to be outside again...and I am one day less pale! After school, I coach my middle school girls soccer team in practice until 6 and then I head over to watch the Junior School Choir and Drama Performance until 8. I get home, sit down, read a bit of a book I bought called "Coaching Girls' Soccer Successfully" and then I go to bed.

Friday - It's been a while since I've had a Friday at school and it's a pretty laid-back day for me. I taught my classes, we had a department meeting, I organized myself for next week...OH, and we had the most amazing lunch of the year - the Parent Appreciation Lunch! The parents all made some delicious food and served it to us, as they do once a year, and it was just fabulous. Amazing. Delicious. Awesome. It's the best day to be at school...well, at least for lunch! I also practised my basketball skills with the intern in our department and I kicked his butt at a game of 21; I scored a 3 pointer on my first attempt which will likely never happen again in my life. I decided after the teacher-student basketball game that I would work on my skills (especially shooting) because I do enjoy basketball after having hated it growing up thanks to a mean coach I had in middle school. After school, I meet a couple of colleagues at the lake for a drink, realize there's only 40 days of school left and thus, 40 days left with some amazing people that I work with who are moving on. Time flies...

Saturday - I get up, get some morning shopping done and then head up to school to coach my first soccer game of the season. We lose the game 0-7 and I leave feeling pretty deflated but motivated to make the girls work hard in the next week...and optimistic that our game on Monday won't be as bad a result! We play in a German league where the German teams practice throughout the winter; we do not as there are other sports going on in the gyms so there's no space available for practices. I come home, have an overdue long chat with my fiance and then meet up with some colleagues to celebrate the birthday of one of them. I also sit and itch at my legs and start to think I may have tick bites - there is a downside of being outside in the spring grass! Damnit!

Sunday - I am working on a photo album book for my mom and aunt with photos from our trip. This was originally meant to be a Mother's Day present for my mom but I figured that my aunt would appreciate it too as she forgot her camera somewhere...probably the airport. Great! I've invested a solid five hours on the project so far (I'm using Comic Life which I love) so I'll post the final product when I finish it! Comic Life is a great application to use for newsletters or anything, really! I did a really neat Flat Stanley project for one of my best friend's at home using Comic Life and she (and her students) loved it. I've attached it as individual .jpeg files for your viewing pleasure...it's projects like these that keep me connected to (or missing!) life as a classroom teacher. I also baked a carrot cake for my department which I'll attempt to ride to school with in the morning, while making a pit stop at the doctor to check out my nasty 2-week old bug bites that are not going away!

I hope you all had a fabulous weekend! :)

Greece Monkeys...

Well, I actually didn't see any monkeys in Greece and I'm pretty sure (but not 100%) that monkeys do not reside in Greece. BUT, I was in need of a clever title, I overused "Grease(Greece)ball" when I was younger. Anyways, this post is about the Greek leg of our Spring holiday trip. It was fantastic!

I had been to Athens before to chaperone a sports trip back in February BUT it was nice to be back somewhere familiar and to recognize the sights - mainly the sun! Upon arrival, we grabbed a late lunch around the corner from our hotel which was 200m from the Acropolis Metro Station - perfect! We spent the remainder of our first day enjoying some down time in our room and even ordered Greek pizza in for dinner. This also allowed me some time to edit my many photos from my trip so far.

On Day 2 in Greece, we did a disappointing bus sight seeing tour and then walked around the Acropolis Museum and of course, the Acropolis itself. The bus stopped at only the Panathenaeic Stadium and the Parliament building for 10 minutes each. Obviously, this didn't allow enough time to go into the stadium itself which is kind of a big part of the city's more modern history (compared to the really old stuff) and role in the Olympics; I guess being a PE teacher and lover of sports, it was important for me. Regardless, I'd been there and inside before and my mother and aunt couldn't care less if they had the chance to go inside. The Acropolis Museum was interesting and it was neat to see some of the original ruins from the Acropolis and Ancient Greece but I much more enjoyed the sight of the (not very original) Acropolis, seated up on top of a hill with panoramic views of the city below. I also hate to say this for fear of being shot by ancient historians and archaeologists, but I was much more impressed with the ruins, temples and remnants of the ancient world that I saw in Turkey. Eeeeee! After our 'guided' tour, we roamed over to Placa to eat some lunch and check out the many souvenir shops and flea market in the area. We thought we'd seen enough of Greece so at this point, I also emailed the travel agency through which we booked our trip, and asked if we could extend our stay in Santorini by an extra day, instead of spending an extra day in Athens before heading back to Germany. The rest of the day was spent anxiously awaiting a reply...and getting our stomachs ready for what would (hopefully) be our last feast in Athens.

Arch of Hadrian near the Temple of Zeus (which closes at 3pm F.Y.I. so I didn't get to explore this area)...further proof that I should be learning more about this Hadrian guy! - April 2013

The Parthenon (under construction) with an old piece of column - April 2013

A photo I took near Placa with Camera+ with the "Clarity" enhancement - February 2013

I'm currently reading a Bill Bryson book titled, "Neither Here nor There", where he recounts (with good humour) his ventures around Europe twenty years after visiting with his wife in the 70s. That being said, the book is about twenty years old now (first edition came out in 1991) so I found that a lot of what he was saying was different from experiences I've had around Europe today; I hope he'll come back to Europe and write another sequel to compare his insights of today to his experiences twenty and forty years ago. There was one paragraph that jumped off the page at me and I was in complete agreement with it:

Is there anything, apart from a really good chocolate cream pie and receiving a large unexpected check in the mail, to beat finding yourself at large in a foreign city on a fair spring evening, loafing along unfamiliar streets in the long shadows of a lazy sunset, pausing to gaze in shop windows or at some church or lovely square or tranquil stretch of quayside, hesitating at street corners to decide whether that cheerful and homey restaurant you will remember fondly for years is likely to lie down this street or that one? I just love it. I could spend my life arriving each evening in a new city. (p. 106)

I know I mentioned that I was excited to go back to Athens because it was familiar, but after a short time, I was itching to get back out into the unknown and explore somewhere new; this would be Santorini. My brother had been all around Europe while he worked on a cruise ship and Santorini was his favourite place and having just seen photos, I was pumped to get there. We were greeted at the airport and taken to our hotel, which looked amazing in the photos with its numerous pools. Well, the hotel did look pretty great but the pools were unheated and extremely cold and it was an incredibly windy and chilly day when we arrived! BUT, I still fell in love with the island!

I wanted to rent a 4-wheeler but I was advised to get a car instead because the weather wasn't looking too promising. So, we did. And when it arrived (5 minutes after we called) we headed off for lunch at a Mexican restaurant up the road...I was craving it! The food was great, the view spectacular and the service was commendable from a lovely American couple who had been on "The Rock" (not to be confused with Newfoundland) for 17 years. Afterwards, we took their advice and drove up to the highest point on the island for a view of what was below...except it was foggy and not so visible!

View from the highest point in Santorini; Perissa Beach area is below. - April 2013

After that, we drove down to see a beach and that made for some fantastic photographs but not so great beachin' opportunities! The waves were huge and and water levels were high from all of the wind and one fisherman was starting to get concerned about the water level around his boat. I put my feet in the water and it was still warmer than the water at home in the summer...at this point, I made it a mission to get in the Aegean Sea before leaving. After this, we winded our way back up the hill (lost of windy roads which I loved driving on!) to our hotel after a pit stop at a convenience store and settled in for some chilling out before our sunset dinner reservation at Kastro in Oia, the idyllic place in Santorini where the majority of the photos you'll see have been taken. Unfortunately, we didn't see a sunset and we froze our butts off in anticipation but the food was delicious (although it got cold very quickly)! I would definitely recommend this restaurant though as the servers stuck around, also freezing, to serve us and when we left (being the only ones eating there), they closed up shop...they didn't rush us out at all and I know this place would be jam packed during the summer months!

Angry seas on a windy day at Monolithos Beach! - April 2013

A concerned fisherman examines the rising water levels. - April 2013

Not cold at all! @Kastro, Oia - April 2013

My favourite photo (and not an original panoramic to take) with the bright and dark side of the island in view and the closest thing to the sunset on this particularly cold, windy eve! - April 2013

Just like in Turkey, the cats are plentiful! Meow! - April 2013

The next morning, it was rainy and windy again so we went for another drive down to the other end of the island to Perissa Beach area. There were more tourists in this area on a yucky day but the best part was seeing one dog running down the beach with a whole loaf of bread in its mouth and two dogs following behind. After spending some time exploring all the roads on the island, we returned the car and then spent the latter part of the afternoon exploring our resort/hotel and its immediate area.

Guess who's not the best at sharing... - April 2013

The following day, I got up, had breakfast then did the highly acclaimed Fira - Oia hike. On +TripAdvisor, it was suggested to allow 3.5 hours to get the hike done so I departed the hotel with that expectation. The hike was amazing and I loved it; it was easily the best decision I had made on holidays after the hot air balloon ride! I did it alone and loved putting in headphones, singing to music at the top of my lungs and admiring the amazing views all around me! I passed only two other couples on route and one man who yelled at me from above, commented that I was listening to music and said, "Have a good day, baby." as I increased my pace alongside the hilltop trail! When I reached Oia, after stopping for photos and taking my time down a couple of rocky pathways, it had only been 2 hours and 20 minutes since my departure. At this point, I figured that perhaps the 3.5 hours was to go to Oia and then back to Fira (almost 24k with some biggish hills) but then I realized, that couldn't be it and headed to the bus anyways. Because of my quick time, my mom and aunt were not in the room so I got to enjoy the pools at the resort afterall...well, my legs and butt did as I sat in the sun (yes, finally, sun in Santorini!) and cooled my legs. It was pure bliss.

Fira - Oia Hike AMAZINGNESS! - April 2013

The sea meets the sky! - April 2013

From pretty high up here...you can see a variety of colours from the volcanic rock and soil deposits on this hike! - April 2013

Bliss - April 2013

Later in the day, we got the car again, headed back to Perissa Beach for a delicious cocktail that we promised a bar lady we'd come for and then back up to Oia for attempt #2 with the sunset...and it was SUCCESS! It wasn't the most brilliant sunset I'd seen, but it was a sunset and it's what many, many people from around the world travel to Santorini to see. We had a nice meal at Blue Sky restaurant before heading back to our hotel around 9pm. The next day (our extra day that we were scheduled thanks to the amazing Kemal @Mediterra Holidays who hooked us up), we still had the car and we went to find the last roads that we hadn't travelled on the island and I went for a quick swim in the Aegean Sea! We visited Kamari Beach, which looked badly beaten from the winter, and I considered it the best beach on the island from all that I had seen. I did not get to go to the Red Beach because I wasn't sure how to and I knew my mom and aunt wouldn't be game, but I've also heard it was fantastic. We then explored Fira for our remaining hours in Santorini, I had the best gyros I've ever had (I'll add the name later when I remember!) and then we (sadly) caught our flight back to Athens at 8pm that night.

Sunset success in Santorini! - April 2013

Oia, Santorini - April 2013

Santorini was magical and I loved it. I can see why so many people love going there and rave about it as its architectural feats in designing and building homes and businesses on the sides of cliffs is pretty marvelous all on its own...then you have the fact that it's a volcano, it's in the middle of a beautiful ocean with incredible temperatures and all that other jazz to boot! I was bummed not to be able to enjoy the pools and beaches more, but then decided it was a better time of year to visit Santorini than in the summer because I'm sure the island is just completely overrun and mad with visitors. Driving wouldn't have been nearly as fun in those conditions either!

So, gather your lover (it's pretty romantic), your friends, or your mom and aunt OR even just your lonesome, and get over to visit the Greek for some delicious food and breathtaking sights! I'll definitely be back to explore more of these island gems! :)

Turkey Round-Up!

First of all, look what I found!

Boom! House of the Virgin Mary - April 2013

...The elusive black toilet brush! Mad props to the House of the Virgin Mary for having this fixture in their newly renovated bathrooms!

Since my last post, we wrapped up our time in Turkey with exploring the areas around Kusadasi, including the home of one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, Ephesus; the Basilica of St. John and the House of the Virgin Mary. We started our tour with the Basilica of St. John which was the closest site to the original standing of the Temple of Artemis (now a swamp) which was one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. Now, all that's left, is a single column which I wasn't even sure about when I was there. The Basilica of St. John reportedly marks the burial place of John the Apostle - one of Jesus' twelve apostles. Though the basilica has changed a lot throughout the centuries, I thought the neatest part was the baptistery...and of course the friendly cats that were around waiting for a pat on the head!

The baptistery at the Basilica of St. John - April 2013

This cat was trying to get some human loving by walking around the map and nudging all the people around it! - April 2013

Straight ahead and off to the left (out of this photo) is the apparent location of the Temple of Artemis which was one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. - April 2013

Next up, we drove to the top of a big hill to visit the House of the Virgin Mary. It was said to be the place that she spent the last years of her life and is now a shrine dedicated to her. Regardless of your religious beliefs, it's hard not to have that 'what if?' feeling in your heart and to not feel a little bit moved by what you're seeing/learning - people devote their entire lives and generations to beliefs in religion like this and seeing something like this would be a major life event for them. I also have many family and friends who are strong believers in Christianity so I always think of them when I visit places like this. There is a natural spring here and because if its location, it's thought to be holy water so I made sure to bottle some for my mom to take home to a few of these people. Like in Jerusalem, there's also a holy wall (but not on the same level as the wailing wall, of course) where people stick notes, touch it and say prayers. I regret not taking photos of the view around us though because we were very high up and it would have been spectacular...I just missed it!

This is it! The House of Mary the Virgin - April 2013

Notes, prayers and messages of well wishes - April 2013

Our last major stop of the day (and of our Turkey tour) was to Ephesus. This was my next highest anticipation after Cappadocia and I wasn't as blown away as I thought I'd be; I enjoyed Aphrodisias much more! But, Ephesus has a LOT of history. It's been around since the 1st century BC and it was one of the largest cities in the Mediterranean region. Its location has changed four times though, as it was destroyed by man and nature throughout the centuries, and we visited the location of the fourth and final version of Turkish Efes. The most impressive remaining structures that I saw were the library (the most famous photo from Ephesus that you'll see now), the huge theater and the Temple of Hadrian which had some pretty awesome detail in its stonework. Side note: Hadrian is a pretty downplayed fella throughout history but he has an awful lot of dedications around the Greco-Roman Empire...I've made it a mission to learn more about him and his conquests! Also, a big part of Ephesus is its roman baths which were huge!

The Library of Celsus dating back to 125 AD (well, reconstructed from 125 AD) held about 12,000 scrolls back in its hay day! Our guide was rushing us a bit and I didn't get back here to take some really great close-up pictures, which is a bummer. - April 2013

Cats chillin' like villains...well, just chillin'. Behind them, you can see some old school toilets that were part of the Roman Baths in Ephesus IV. - April 2013

Temple of Hadrian...this photo doesn't really do all the details justice. - April 2013

This was neat. They're original markings in the stone and when explained to us, it translated to heading in the direction of the foot print to find love...or at least some lovin'! This way to the brothel! - April 2013

I couldn't not do this in at least one of my photos! At the Ephesus IV Theater - April 2013

This theater is one of the three largest remaining theaters in the ancient world with a seating capacity of 24,000. - April 2013

After seeing all the sites, we jumped on a bus to go get lunch...at a carpet shop. Surprisingly, it was one of the best lunches we had on our trip and following lunch, we were of course treated to a viewing of carpets. We also learned how to get silk from the silk worm's cocoons (for those who spend upwards of $9,000 US on a small silk carpet) which was pretty interesting and we saw the carpet makers doing their thing.

You probably can't see the strings of silk hanging from her hand, can you? - April 2013

At the end of the day, I got dropped off in the center of Kusadasi and proceeded to Starbucks for a sit down, chat and a Frappucino with some lovely people from our tour. The sun was up with the temperatures and it was the perfect ending to our Turkish adventures! I loved everything about Turkey (except some of the food which I only liked and the surprise 45Euro entry visa upon arrival) and would love to go back for a visit one day. I also hope more people will get the chance to visit this vast country full of history and culture! Thanks for everything, Turkey! :)

Why are toilet brushes white? And some Turkish Delights...

What's up with that? Seriously, why are they more commonly white than a darker colour? Every time I travel, I always notice how not white the white toilet brushes are…I don’t care how clean the bathroom is, with that thing hanging about, it’s just nasty! Because of this, I’ve made it a point of owning a black toilet brush. 

I am currently in Kusadasi, Turkey. Spring break at MIS began on Friday, March 29th and my mother and aunt came from Nova Scotia to visit and explore some new places with me for the holidays. We flew from Munich to Istanbul and then stayed two nights in the continental border city - seeing the sights and exploring the culture. This is my first time in Turkey, my mom's first time in Asia and my aunt's first time outside of North America - needless to say, it's been a new and unique experience for all of us. Because I was travelling with my two inexperienced companions, I arranged everything with a tour company - Mediterra Holidays - to ensure a thoughtless process for me (and to omit any blame if problems arise :P). This also creates a different kind of travel experience for me as I might book one or two tours here and there but I always arrange my own hotels and transportation.

So, Turkey is a beautiful country and I've enjoyed everything we've seen so far. In Istanbul, we visited the Blue Mosque, Hagia Sofia, Topkapi Palace, the Grand Bazaar, a luxury carpet shop and Rustern Pasha Mosque (a community mosque as opposed to the above mentioned imperial mosques) on our first day. On the second day, we did a Bosphorous River Cruise and checked out the Spice Market before catching a flight to Kayseri in the evening. We stayed at a fantastic boutique hotel right in the Old Town and it was 5-7 minutes walking distance from the major sites in the city - this made for some fantastic night shot opportunities, which I am a big fan of. I also tried Turkish ice cream (twice in one day, mmm!) for the first time but the Turkish kebabs I was anticipating (durum doners, donairs, kebabs) are still better in Itaewon, Korea than anywhere else I've had them so that was a bit of a let down!
 

 Awesome lights at a shop inside of the Grand Bazaar - March 30, 2013

 Rainbow fountains with a view of the Blue Mosque at night - March 30, 2013

 So many men and boys (not many women if any) getting their fish on off of one of the bridges connecting the Old City to the New City on the European side of Istanbul - March 30, 2013

Upon arrival in Kayseri, we made our way to Cappadocia, which is an area famous for caves and its unique (and impressive) rock formations. Here, we stayed in an actual cave suite for two nights and explored all of the main attractions in the area: the Goreme Open-Air Museum, Kaymakli Underground City, Devrent Valley, Pasabagi Valley, Pidgeon Valley and we also visited a ceramic and pottery workshop. I was meant to go hot air ballooning the first day but it was cancelled because of the wind but luckily, this happened the second day and it was AMAZING! The sund didn't come up so the photos weren't as colourful and vibrant as what you see when you Google: "hot air ballooning Cappadocia" but it was still incredible...and my first time on a hot air balloon. It wasn't scary (and I am a bit afraid of heights) and our driver (I guess that's what you'd call him) was just awesome; as we came in for our landing, we were asking if we needed to get into landing position (on our knees in the basket, holding the handle straps inside) and as he shook his head 'no', he landed us perfectly on a truck bed for easy transport of the basket out of the area. I'm pretty sure this guy should be listed on Google as "most talented hot air balloon driver ever". Another great thing about this leg of our trip was renting a 4-wheeler (quad, ATV) and cruising around the valleys of the caves...I even got my mom to come along to see what we hoped would be an awesome sunset but the clouds ruined this for us. I was still impressed that she came along though.

Cappadocia Cave Suites in Göreme...a fantastic place to stay! - March 31, 2013

Evil eyes hanging from a tree to deter evil and bad luck in Cappadocia - April 1, 2013

Most amazing piece of hand-painted ceramics I'll never be able to afford! Firca Ceramics and Pottery, Avanos - April 1, 2013

Hot air balloons in flight, Cappadocia - April 2, 2013

View from 5500feet up...pure awesome! - April 2, 2013

After the hot air balloon awesomeness, it was time to commence a 12-hour bus ride to Pamukkale. The landscape of Turkey is pretty awesome, especially at this time of the year. The plains stretched on for miles with bright green grass, colourful blossoms on trees and mountains reaching high in the sky as well. My favourite part of driving through the countryside was seeing the shepherds with their flocks of sheep here, there and everywhere – it reminded me of driving through Tibet, which was an amazing experience as well. Along our travels, we stopped in Konya to see the Mausoleum of Melvana and the birthplace of Dervish. Konya and the places we stopped to see on this drive, were my least favourite bits of the trip so far, though. A big bonus today was the discovery of yogurt with honey and poppy seeds at one of our pit-stops…a definite must try!

We made it to our hotel at 9:30pm, wolfed down some food at the buffet (which was packed with tourists and the least enjoyable feast I have had yet) and then I got my swimsuit on and headed to the natural springs pool. It was fantastic.
 

Pamukkale (meaning ‘cotton castle’ because of its appearance) is famous for its hot springs and travertine terraces with pools that range in temperature from 35°C to 100°C the closer you get to the source of the water. Seeing this in person (and touching the water) was pretty darn cool…my only regret was not breaking out my swimsuit to chill in one of the pools, as there was no one enjoying them today! Pamukkale is also famous for being the location of the ancient Greco-Roman city, Heiropolis, so there are also lots of cool ruins to explore on your visit here; this was how we spent the morning of the fifth day of our Turkish Adventure. In the afternoon, we drove down south to see another ancient city, Aphrodisias, which is named after the Greek goddess of love, Aphrodite. This city was also neat and interesting and the best part was how quiet and tourist-free it was! Upon arrival near the site, we enjoyed a delicious lunch (our best yet!) and then proceeded to the bus parking lot for the ancient city. There, tractors awaited us with hitched carriages to transport us down to the site of the ruins – these guys were great with their smiles, service, suits and ties! After this, we were treated to a leather fashion show (oh yes!) which was kind of ridiculous and kind of successful at the same time because I left the place with a leather jacket that I love (and couldn’t afford)! Now, I’m in my hotel in Kuşadası listening to the snoring of my companions along with loud music and cheering from the club down the road. Kuşadası on the coast and we have a great seaview from our room that I’m looking forward to seeing in the daylight. We will explore Ephesus (another ancient city) tomorrow and then we depart for Athens, Greece on Friday.

Well played, Hieropolis! Way up on a mountain, on some amazing hot springs with a view of the valley below and mountains (you can't see cause of the haze) surrounding you in the distance! - April 3, 2013

The water flowing here was probably about 40degrees Celcius...and the pools are quiet slippery but pretty awesome in their own natural right! - April 3, 2013

The amphitheater in Hieropolis under construction - April 3, 2013

Our cute lunch time entertainment - this bird was even getting its groove on! - April 3, 2013

Our tour crew in our awesome tractor hauled chariot - April 3, 2013

Ignore how awesome (and original, not sure what this is)  I look and see how HUGE this amphitheater is! Aphrodisias - April 3, 2013

Temple of Aphrodite, Aphrodisias - April 3, 2013

So after all of that, should you come to Turkey? YES! I think it’s magnificent. When you think of the ancient Greek and Romans, all of those gods and goddesses, all of those famous movie-based battles throughout history, mythology, Mesopotamia and the beginning of civilization, you may not think of Turkey as being the setting for these things. Well, my friends, that’s so wrong. Although Rome, Athens and the rest of Greece certainly tell a tale of years and years ago, I feel that Turkey tells a forgotten story – with its ruins, not so overcrowded monuments and museums as well as the beautiful, natural landscape to boot. It’s also relatively cheaper to do things here (like eat) compared to Europe and the Euro. Another thing that I really love about Turkey is seeing how well loved cats and dogs are. There are strays everywhere but they’re friendly and healthy which is just heart-warming to see as an animal lover…which I am despite having just bought a (n awesome) new leather coat.