Photos from Cappadocia, Urgup, and Goreme

Michael climbing through old doorways in Goreme

Daisys in a Canyon

My daily view in Urgup

Just chillin' in the Selime Cathedrale, NBD.

Goreme, Jesus on the cross

While climbing up the castle in Cappadocia...

Goreme - tall builing is the nunnery

Urgup, what a view!

Almost to the top of the castle in Cappadocia

Pigeon Valley - Cappadocia

Derinkuyu underground city, a church... a million stories undergroung (kidding of course)

It's a restaraunt... in the middle of a canyon... made out of comfty cushions... seriously.

Cathedrale... We climbed to the top of that lighter colored rock on the right.

The castle in Cappadocia is the mountain on the left.  Michael and I climbed to the very tippy top.  Yes. I was SCARED.

Carvings right down the street from where we stayed in Urgup... smelled like piss.

Carved caves and pigeon holes in a canyon

Three Beautifuls (translation) - Urgup



Sorry that they are so mixed up
Also note:  i barely editing (I KNOW, ME?!)  The sky was actually the colors you see in the photos, it was insane.
More later :)

All Aboard the Sarkoy Express

IF ONLY.  The so called "sarkoy express" doesn't exist, but if it did I would have been on it!

The trip to Sarkoy took a marvelous 11 hours.

At this point, I could become a professional packer and I can now easily find comfortable ways to sit on the bus that will allow me to sleep.  I'll tell you, it is not an easy feat.

Listening to T.Swift while dozing out... using Michaels stomach for a pillow.  Ah the life!

At the rest stop we ate "tost" (toast.. with cheese in the middle).  I then heard some English... naturally I'm drawn towards the speakers.  Greek bikers.  Harley bikers, no less (@Dad).  May I also add, cranky, hungry, bikers.  YIKES.  They were angry at the turkish servers for not understanding their english or greek.  I was getting ready to photograph a really epic fight when sweet Michael stepped in and helped translate that the bikers in fact wanted some water and cups of ice.  Fight worthy, indeed.

We jumped back on the bus to Canakkale and another bus to Sarkoy.  Then we walked a few blocks to the summer house.  By this point, I was tired, cranky, and ready to start a fight myself.  Michael and I went to the market and bought some food then we went home ate and we were all pretty ready to take a nap.  However, we ended up visiting his aunt and uncle to say hello.  May I just say their garden was absolutely adorable!  Garden full of veggies complete with fruit trees, a gazebo covered in vines and a beautiful golden retriever (Duff) to top it all off. 

Sorry about the dark picture, apparently it cannot be edited because I don't "own the photo" hmm.

Computers these days.

The next day, Michael and I went to the beach!  I cannot even begin to tell you how excited I was to jump in some cold water...  it was such a hot day that the water was like bath water.  STILL!  I got to go swimming!  Michael and I ran toward the sea to find out that the first 15 feet were a ton of rocks... OW!  I forgot my water shoes that first day, and thank god I had yet to buy my goggles...  explanation to come.

We swam for a good hour and a half and then went off shopping.  Clear water like this, I was in need of goggles and a snorkel.  Last December, I took a trip with my Nana and found out that I really love snorkeling!  I could spend forever out there checking out the under water life.

Back to present, we found affordable, decent quality snorkels and Michael got some water shoes, I was also in need of some heavy duty, waterproof sunblock.  Check, check, check!

The next day the travelling must have caught up to me because my butt was going no where except on the big orange floral swing with my kindle.  I was determined.

Boy. I'm attractive. Unfortunately its the only proof I've got.

Day four and we got out and went swimming again, this time with his cousin, aunt, uncle, mother and Emily.  We had a blast.  I used my snorkel and realized that you pretty much couldn't step anywhere without encountering a crab or hermit.  [insert shiver here] the day before I was out there without water shoes on!?  Never. Again.

Unfortunately, I broke my underwater camera in Mexico last winter.  Applause?  For me?

So no crab photos for you.

Michael and I stayed where we could touch the bottom, the waves were small, but we still wanted to be careful.  Snorkel we did, for almost three hours!  Then we sat on the beach and at corn on the cob.

Over the next few days we swam two more times.  The final time we went swimming we had plenty of fun.  Fish here are apparently not afraid of humans.  I was walking/swimming, literally, inside schools of fish.  They didn't seem to notice that I lacked gills.  Cute little green fish, they were fun.  I still had my worries about those crabs.  I saw a few larger then my fist and I'll tell you those were some dramatic moments.  I don't think I like crabs.  The hermit crabs I could deal with, but some of those little guys aren't so little.  Michael and I decided to go out a little deeper that day and see what was under water there.  I swear, I've learned my lesson!

I put my foot down to see how deep we were, when I touched the sand a sting ray came from literally a centimeter away from my foot.  Michael was feet away and he heard my scream underwater.  Thank God I WAS underwater when I screamed.  It hurt my own ears.  I'm sorry but sting rays were not on my list of must see under water creatures...  at least not when I'm stepping on them and they are probably really pissed off wanting some stinking sting ray revenge!

Breathing.

After my... encounter, I decided I didn't really want to swim anymore.

So I sat on the beach and made a rock castle.  It was not worth seeing, trust me, so I took no photo.  I did however make a really cute puppy.  Now that I took a photo of!

We then spent the remainder of our time at the beach taking photos.  Because we just cannot get any more cool.

Super-Katy

Just chillin' in the air.

"Pokemon Emily uses super punch...  it's very effective.  Pokemon Michael fainted."

As I get to this point on my week, I believe I will save the rest for a separate post.

Also, I wanted to let everyone know that apparently comments aren't working right now.  People keep trying to leave them, I never the notifications.  Try if you will but don't be shocked when I never see them.

Enjoy your day!

No longer a teenager, not yet an adult?

How Much Can I Cram Into One Post?

First of all, you should know that there will not be a post (or at least a long post) for at least the next 12 days.

I know, I know the world is ending.  ;)

Michael and I somehow got covered in the clay while we were making pots and flowers.  Thought I would share my detailed moustache!

The other day michael and I went shopping, because I am STILL in need of some clothes.

I came home with one tank top which I love.

I also know that a certain friend of mine, DK, loves orange and will most likely be permanently "borrowing" it from me once I get home!  :P

Love you Koko!

We walked a lot that day, it was excersize that was needed.

The following day, I was, again, not feeling good in the morning.  This heat + sinuses = Super painful

Happily, toward the afternoon the heat was less, so I decided that I was in much need of jogging!

I said I would be jogging everyday... that was before I felt the exhaustion and dizziness that the sinus pressure is causing me.

SO I am happy to AT LEAST say that I went jogging once!!

AND I went a whole mile in the 85 degree weather!

*bow*

Michael didn't like jogging very much...

we stopped at one of the many "work out" areas along the track...

apparently, moving your arms in tiny circles is an extreme work out.

I'm glad that I have been kick boxing and jogging many miles at home all this time, when all I needed to do was stand in place and move about 2 inches to each side in order to be fit.

I guess its hard to explain.  Easier?  The "work out equipment" fails at working anything out, except my brain.  I spent way too much time trying to figure out how to work each one and what I must be doing wrong since I felt no "burn".

OOF..

When we continues jogging I came across some adorable furry friends.

PRECIOUS.  The black one was following me so I HAD to stop.

I was carrying a water bottle with me so I poured a little on the track and apparently they were very thirsty.  They drank half my bottle!!

I ended up pouring a ton of water into a leaf contraption that I, so smartly ;), created and they went to town.

I felt so bad for them.  Apparently, it is kitten season. THEY ARE EVERYWHERE.

After I gave them water, I think I became their mommy.  A very unsuccessful game of following the leader began when I started jogging again.

Sad!

When Michael and I got home we were pooped.

I convinced him to play skip-bo with me and when Mo got home we taught him to play too.

Have you ever noticed that when you love a game, and you try to teach someone, you HAVE to make their experience fun, otherwise they will never want to play with you again?

I failed.

This is what happened to Mo his first time playing Skip-Bo.

9. 9. 9.. 9...9... 9.

Needless to say, he never wants to play again.

Speaking of 9's, July 9th happened to be my birthday.

20 years old

No longer a teenager, not yet legally an adult.

I'm not yet sure what I'm classified as.

Michael and I went first to his college, he had a meeting, and I met one of his friends.

Then we walked to Agora Mall and I went shopping.

More shirts.

I ate Sabarro!!  Is that how you spell it?

PIZZA!

It was delicious.

But I also helped myself to some of Michael's Popeye's chicken.

How could I resist!?

After the mall we went home where I was surprised by Emily returning home!

I went to change my clothes and when I came back Emily grabbed me and pushed me into the family room.  They set up a little party for me!  It was so cute!

Anne made me a homemade birthday cake, scone chocolate chip cookies, something made from grape leaves and rice, and a type of buscuit with cheese in it.  Emily also pointed out that she tried to decorate the living room for me.

:)

I love them!

I then spent the remainder of my night working on the puzzle I got from the mall.

PUZZLE!

I was/am so excited!

Currently, I am about... 1/8th of the way through the puzzle.  I said I wanted a hard one.  I overestimated my puzzle making skills.

Tomorrow, early in the morning, Michael, Emily, Anne and I are all leaving for the summer house!  I finally get to go swimming, yay!  But I also have a lack of internet connection.  Internet cafes, here I come!

Time for some fun in the sun!

<3

First week of July

We have been home from Cappadocia for about a week now.

Mission: go on adventures = slow go.

I have had terrible sinus pressure...pain.

We have gotten out a few times when it wasn't as hot.

HA!  Who am I kidding, it is always hot in Izmir!

I hear there is a drought at home...  we haven't had a drop of rain since I came here either.

I thought that I would be cooking a lot while I was here,

the problem is that most of the ingredients that I need, I have been unable to find them in stores...

Basil for one.  I love basil.

So the other day I had a major american junk food craving.

I needed pizza.

Last time I got pizza in Turkey, we got some from Dominos in Istanbul.

It.Was.Awful.

This time we again ordered Dominos, hoping that Izmir's restaurant would actually know how to peel an onion and not just throw the whole thing on the pizza.

Lucky me, the pizza was a success!!

It was delicious for an american dying for grease.

In the past week we have also managed to make our way the WHOLE 2 blocks to the fair area.

Hooray!

We went on the roller coaster, where they did NOT check seat belts or harnesses.  There was one tiny loop-de-loop on the ride so I was pretty concerned.

It was, without hesitation, the absolute WORST ride I have EVER been on.

You thought the Iron Wolf was bad?!  Try this ride that is over 15 years old and obviously has never had any maintenance testing done.

I thought my head was going to pop clear off my shoulders.

I'm just saying, I wouldn't be shocked if there have been several concussions.

Rant over, photo below.

After the painful ride, we decided to go on something more... calm.

We went in the fun house.  Let me just say, even after 5 years of haunt experience, I have never seen more... disgusting props.  Rooms were complete with naked women and molesting vampires... I won't continue.  Note: if you ever see a haunted house is Turkey (not likely, but still) do not go in.

We decided to save our last tickets... for later.  I wasn't really in the mood to go on more rides after that.

The following day, Michael and I went shopping at the bazaar.  I came home without any new clothes (sad face) but we did end up buying a toe nail clipper and some clay!

What great finds!

Yesterday, we began making marvelous creations out of the clay.  Michael worked hard on a decorative vase and I... worked on keeping the clay from sticking to my hands.

I did manage to make a little jar, or something, with a lid.  Also, a heart with a cicek (flower) on it for his mother, Anne.  She LOVES flowers.

That was my 4th of July!

Today I made dinner, chicken salad :)

Easy, delicious, and healthy. (no Cesar dressing in sight)

Michael and I then went on a date to see The Amazing Spiderman.

I give it 3.5/5 stars.  Not bad, I liked the actors, but Spiderman made me angry...  I kept saying "What a brat!  I want to smack him!"

Taxi home where we sat on the balcony, as always, and a HUGE moth flew in the house.  Adventures in trying to capture it with a dust pan....

pics later as I said.

Time for bed!

Goodnight!

Bellydancing in the Living room

Last post for June 2012!

Welcome July!

Recap of last night's events.

After the tour and exploring Urgup, Michael and I headed to the bus station, back to Metro.

There were three buses for Metro lined up.  Two really nice Mercedes and the last one was, of course, the one that broke down a million times.

Guess which bus we were told to get on.

Our seats were also broken and the tv's wouldn't turn on.

LUCKILY

We were transferred to another bus.

to add to this... luck of ours
The nice bus's tv's didn't work either.

Oof.

When we got back to Izmir I passed out and slept almost all day.

When I finally rose from the dead, Emily was waiting impatiently.

"I Cok Bored!"

Apparently this inspired Michael to teach me to belly dance.

There is a video too, but I'm not allowed to post it apparently.

We hung around the rest of the day putting cucumbers on my sunburn and playing Go Fish with Mo.

Perfect day back home in Izmir :)

Cappadocia - Day 2

Instead of wandering around again and walking, God only knows how many miles, we decided to take a tour.

We really didn't know much about it when we signed up... just that it would go to an underground city that I wanted to see.

First stop, a view of Goreme and the "fairy chimneys"

(Below)

Back on the bus and we drove to Derinkuyu, the deepest undergound city out of 36.

There were 11 floors total, only 10% of the city has been excavated, and each floor was built to be closed off from the inside.  It is believed that this was to keep people in for months to guard them from an enemies attack.

The entire city could comfortably fit 35,000-50,000 people.

On the first floor we found a kitchen (mutfak) and a wine press.  Throughout the city there are also oil presses, storage areas, chapels, and stables.  Derinkuyu is connected to several other cities underground.  Some of those cities were used by Christians to escape persecution.

The city dates back to 7th & 8th century in the Bronze age.

During the 10th century, it is believed that the city was expanded in order to hold more refugees for religious purposes.

(Below)

The oldest part of the undergroung city and closest to the surface.  The kitchen.

I'm underground!

After the adventures underground we jumped on the bus for 45 minutes and drove to Ihlara Valley.  I seem to be visiting a lot of places where there is a serious chance of me falling... far.  Especially with how clumsy I am.

On that note, this trip has really shown me just how much of a clutz I can be.

Katrina's list of accidents (so far):

Times Tripped...dramatically - 5

Times broken something - 3

Times slammed doors - 4

Times hit head on something hard - 9... +

Times bumped into someone - 2

Times tripping down stairs - 2

Times dropping food on myself - 3

Times knocking someone with my backback - 1

... more to come im sure.

Back on topic.

Ihlara Valley

This valley is made from volcanic rock.  The carvings along the Melendiz River were done by early Christians.  This canyon is 450 feet deep.  Throughout, there are more than 150 caves and churches.

One church that we visited was Agacalti Church.

(Below)

At the end of the long hike through the valley we stopped and ate lunch.

Chicken Kabobs and rice.

After lunch it was back on the bus again and we drove up the canyon and to Selime.

Selime was my favorite place that we visited in Cappadocia.

The Selime Cathedrale

Selime was built in the 19th century and was named for the sultan.

The rock formations are full of churchs and a school monastary.

Christian monks carved it out.

We climbed as high as we could go.  The section that was the highest had a winding staircase.  I ran up the narrow stair case and stopped abruptly since it dropped off, oh I don't know...  150 feet.  We inched across the little bit of stone left and were able to climb upstairs.  Terrifying is one way to word it... but climbing down was much worse.  I was so scared I yelled to Michael, "I am NEVER doing this again!"  An old gentleman from a crowd of people yelled back, "Yes, honey, you're probably right.  You'll never get a chance to do anything like this again."
Good point.

We went back to the bus for another hour of driving and ended up at Pigeon Valley, the same valley that we visited yesterday and we also went to a jewelry store where they carved some Onyx stone and gave it to me.

When we got back to Urgup we grabbed our bags and walked around town where I bought some interesting items.  Couldn't resist... I am a tourist after all.

Good bye Urgup!

Good bye Cappadocia!

Cappadocia - Day 1

After an exhausting day of traveling and site seeing
I still managed to wake up bright and early to eat (yemek) breakfast.

Good-Morning (Gunaydin) Urgup!

In Urgup

(Above)

Yesterday we were very tired of walking... but it was nothing compared to how much we walked today.  I'm pretty sure that this street sign stands for "legs breaking".

(below)

First stop in Cappadocia,

Goreme Open Air Museum

This 7 story rock was the nunnery and monastery in Goreme.

The bottom floor has a kitchen (mutfak) and dining hall

The many other floors included tunnels that led to several churches.  Many tunnels collapsed since.

Notice how tall it is.

(above)

Church entrance in Goreme

(above)

Carikli (Sandals) Church

(below)

The church is named for two footprints that are below the ascentation of Jesus.

The rumors are that they are Jesus's foot prints, but that is not accurate.

Carikli has two floors.  Throughout the church there are many scenes, 12 of them being stages in Jesus' life.

3 from His childhood, 2 in maturity, and 7 while suffering and ascending into heaven.

Fresco painting of the angel Gabriel

(Above)

In the center of the dome is Jesus.

Above him are angels.  Below him are the authors of the Bible; Matta, Lucas, John the baptist and Marcus.

(Above)

Written in one of the frescoes is "I am the light of the World, who follows me will not be left in the dark." - Jesus Christ

Other paintings include Virgin Mary and angels Michael and Uriel.

Table (Masa) and seating around it

(Above)

Walking through tunnels

(Above)

A view of Goreme

(Above)

After Goreme, we began walking when we ran into a pottery shop and stable with horses.  Horse back rides through Goreme?  Sounds great, but we decided we still had a list of things we wanted to see before the day ended.

We did stop and take a few photos, though.

(Below)

We then walked through modern day Goreme and took a bus to Uchisar.

More walking through that town till we came to the castle ruins.

This was the most populated area in Uchisar until it became dangerous and people started moving away.

(Below)

After our climb to the very top of the castle (that big rock mass in the picture above) we then carefully went back down and walked through the town and marketplace, took a road that we guessed would lead us to a bus, and began walking again.

On our walk we ran into the World's largest rooster... at least by our standards.

(Below)

In the middle of our walk we passed a large area where we later found out was called Pigeon Valley.

The valley had holes and doors and rooms carved out for pigeons!

Of course we ran into a ton of the birds too.

(Below)

We finally found a bus station...bench and sat.

The Dolmus came and we went back to Urgup for some dinner...

After all the walking I figured we deserved some junk food.

Snickers!!

Tomorrow is the last day in Urgup and still many more places to see before heading back to Izmir!