I’ve pretty much been walking to the grocery store since I started traveling. ;) I probably did most of my international grocery shopping in New Zealand and Greece though. New Zealand was an easy country to carry around a food bag and actually cook in the evenings, while in Greece I was buying more snack items like Bake Rolls and Laughing Cow cheese. So I originally put this…
The beauty of being in a foreign country alone, is that it can be easier to kick a bad habit! Since it was all Greek to me anyway, I found myself using less filler words when trying to communicate. All the added words, such as “like” and “yeah” just add confusion. So while I still had to stop and think a bit, I managed to tone down my…
When plans to go hiking in Sakilent Gorge near Fethiye, Turkey didn’t work out, the son of the pension owner offered to take us on a bike ride to the beach. It sounded like an easy ride, but after zooming down the most massive winding hills with beautiful views of the Mediterranean the realization that we had to come back up this same road to get back started…
We headed to the coast yesterday to Selcuk — known for the ancient city of Ephesus. Our hotel has a pool! I’ve been dreaming about a pool since Istanbul. It’s been scorching hot! We spent several hours at a jewelry shop in town. Unfortuntely, I discovered that I have very expensive taste. Everything I picked out ended up being over $150! So I ended up playing with the…
After a very early breakfast, we taxied to the ferry port and took the ferry to Yalova and then took taxis to the bus station and eventually arrived in Bursa around lunch time. Bursa is known for their Silk Market and cotton towels/robes etc. The silk market is mainly just scarves. We did a quick walk through and then grabbed lunch across the street. Everyone tried lamb kebab…
So the free breakfast at my hotel is so much nicer than my hostel was. OK, the hostel had a rockin’ free breakfast of toast, hard-boiled egg, butter, honey, jam, fruit and tea. But hotels have treats like halvah! Now to recap last night’s conversation with N (my roomie)… we had a disturbing chat about Russia, Georgia (not in the US friends!), and the USSR. I wanted to…
I love my hostel! I spent most of yesterday chilling on the roof, reading and getting some housekeeping (ie. trip planning & computer stuff) done. Oh and I had Turkish pizza for lunch (called lahmacun?) and did a bit of window shopping around Sultanahmet. This morning I moved my bag over to the hotel that I’m meeting my group for the next two weeks. Then we caught the…
So I conveniently forgot to mention that I went to Starbucks yesterday. Yes m’am, I was needing a Chai Tea Latte after my hamam. It was kind of Western night all around. I spotted a Mexican restaurant yesterday (I should have a blog devoted solely to all the horrible Mexican restaurants I’ve been to around the world). Anyway, after meeting our new roomies and some randoms at the…
Last night we went to a hookah bar (they call it Nargilah here though) in the middle of the Sultanahmet district (ooh, and I had aubergine kabab for dinner — yums!). It was fun, but insanely touristy. This morning I checked out of the hotel and moved to my hostel behind the Blue Mosque and the Aya Sofia. There’s a rooftop terrace overlooking the Sea of Marmara —…
I spent my last Lev on snacks and baklava, changed into my comfiest outfit and headed to the train station to catch the overnight sleeper train to Istanbul. It’s kind of neat to be on the Orient Express to Constantinople. ;) Our train was, of course, late so we ended up leaving two hours later than expected. I fell right to sleep and was awakened shortly at the…
Bulgarians don’t do breakfast. I went into town and ordered a cappuccino (while eating muesli and yogurt from the market). I sat outside, writing in my journal and enjoying my coffee, while everyone else was smoking and drinking coffee. So very Coffee & Cigarettes. I’m wondering if Bulgaria has a higher smoking rate than other European countries. We traveled to Plovdiv yesterday, and our hotel is right in…
Hiking day! I’ve been itching to get outside since I was in Bucharest. Thankfully, Bansko has a lot of hiking opportunities since the mountain is used for skiing in the winter. We drove up to the last lodge area where the road ends and hiked for a few hours alongside the creek. Incredible views! It was so nice to be out in nature. I spent a little too…