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!

How an 11 hour trip turned into a 20 hour trip.

Yesterday we packed up and left for Cappadocia!

We jumped on an evening bus (otobus) ready to have some real adventures.

The bus ride was scheduled to be 11 (on bir) hours (saat).

Luckily the buses are really nice with tvs (televizyonler), right?

2 hours in we stopped in the middle of the highway.  There was an accident.  An animal ran into the road and a car filled with people hit it, flipping three times.  I felt sick to my stomache and prayed to God that those people were okay...

I don't know how possible that would be though.  Especially since most Turks don't wear seatbelts...

We drove again passing a ton of mountains and I couldn't help but be amazed at how beautiful the scenery was.  I realized that Noah's ark was found about 200 miles from where I was at.  That made me remember that the whole World had been flooded.  It is really amazing to look up at a mountain that high and know that Noah and his family may have passed over it.  God really is amazing!

8 hours in.  Our bus broke down.

The wonderful employees apparently felt that it was none of out concern so they didn't share much information with any of the passengers...

until the 3rd time we broke down at a gas station.

We then broke down a 4th time in the middle of no where.  When I say no where, I mean it.

I should be taking photos of underground tunnels right now, instead I am photographing a broken Metro bus.

They told us they fixed it.

We broke down a 5th time at a rest stop... where we sat with no news for over an hour.

We are officially 4 hours late.

Damper... yes.

But Michael and I continued to have fun, kind of.

A lack of sleep tends to put everyone a little on edge. (speaking for myself)

"Cay! Cay!"

(Tea! Tea!)

The waiters walked around serving tea while we waited.  I sincerely felt bad for them having to deal with 40 cranky customers.

Finally we were able to load back on the bus and continue on our... adventure.

We finally made it, just 6 hours late.

We realized that people in the area apparently don't know what they are talking about because they said that the area we would be staying in would have nothing around for miles except bars.  They also said that there would be no way for us to get to any attractions.

Hmph.

Well that is quite the trip ruiner.

Good thing they were completely WRONG.

After our bus breaking down 5 times, a shuttle, and a domus (another type of bus) later

We finally made it to our desintation.

Unfortunetly, our spirits did not make it at the same time.

We were nearing 8 hours past our original arrival time, exhausted, hungry, and carrying some very heavy back packs.

There was not too much in the cards for the day anymore since most of the tourist attractions were nearing closing time.

I can say that the area we stayed in was honestly one of the most beautiful places EVER.

My pictures can't really capture the view.

Everywhere you turned there was something else interesting to look at.

The town was so cute and a ton of interesting shops to look in.

The only thing it lacked was some water to go swimming in.

I still have yet to go swimming... I NEED TO SWIM.

For the rest of the day we walked around exploring Urgup (the town we stayed in) and we ate some yummy food.  We were between mountains so we climbed to the top of the middle of them (very steep hill) luckily it was paved.

When we got to the top we walked down the road... even further (we walked a total of 2.5 miles to get there and back).

once near the top of the first road we saw, what I thought was, a bunch of sand.  Sand = water right?

We climbed the mountain of "sand" to find it was solid rock.

Once we got to the top, we realized that there were some very interesting stones further up the mountain... climb we did.

What did we find?  I'll let the photos explain.

Uc Guzeller (Three Beautifuls)

Mom, Pop, and Child

It is really...really high up.  If you look to my left at that road and down between those hills/mountains, that is where we walked from.  I was, quite literally, on top of the World.

Camel!!!

Me: "It's a camel!"

Michael: "No. It's fake."

Me: "No... I saw it move, why would they have a fake camel?"

Michael: "It's fake."

*Camel moves head*

Michael: "AH! Look it's a camel!"

Me: "Oofah!"

End of day 1 in Cappadocia/Urgup