Egypt

Cairo, Aswan, Luxor, Sharm El Sheik

We arrived at our hotel in Giza which the kids love, it has a pool! Ani, our little fish, was anxious to try it out. The following day we went to the Citadel and to the Egyptian Museum where we saw many mummies, the treasures of King Tut, beautiful paintings created by the Romans in encaustic, as well as a variety of sculptures from the early and middle kingdom. Despite the humidity and heat we all got through the museum anxious to see the pyramids the next day.

Our first stop on our visit to the pyramids was the pyramid at Dashur where we climbed up a large flight of stairs and then once inside the pyramid we went down about 180 feet to the first chamber. Then we climbed a flight of stairs up to another chamber until we saw where the archeologists found the burial chamber. It was so strange to think of how deep into the pyramid we were and looking up at the ceiling you can see how perfectly the blocks aligned and made the top triangular shape of the pyramid. It smelled horribly inside like ammonia (there are no toilet facilities available nearby and one wonders why someone would use the pyramid) so it was difficult to stay there long. Upon our decent back towards the opening all of the lights went out and we were all left literally “in the dark”. A little scream from both Roan and Ani but we waited for Matt to come down the stairs with Sam and the flashlight so we could all find our way together. The darkness was DARK! And a little scary, but we all decided it was a very cool moment.

After all that we ventured to the pyramid at Sakkara, it is lined with original hieroglyphs. At one point we all noticed that as our vision adjusted the hieroglyphs lost their dimensional quality and looked like paintings on the wall. So strange to see real hieroglyphs in their context rather than in a museum, I had to keep pinching myself (so to speak).

Our day rounded off with a visit to the Coptic Christian church, this church was blessed by Jesus. It was where Mary, Joseph and baby Jesus hid from Herod. Beautiful paintings on the columns and carvings all around the church.

We left Cairo very early in the morning and flew to Aswan. We made arrangements to have a driver take us to Abu Simbel. If we would have thought about it, we should have flown straight to Abu Simbel and then to Aswan, instead we had a three hour drive to Abu Simbel, 2 hours to visit Abu Simbel and another 3 hour drive back. To get to Abu Simbel we drove through the Sahara Desert, where it had to be at least 100 degrees.

Abu Simbel is on the edge of Lake Nasser and on the border with Sudan. It is a temple to Ramses II that was saved from flooding before the High Dam was built in Aswan. Lake Nasser is the reserve water supply and creates hydroelectricity for the entire country of Egypt. It also keeps the crocodiles and hippos from venturing down into Egypt. The temple itself is enormous and was well worth the drive. The details in the sculptures and the hieroglyphs are well preserved, just incredible!

Our long day landed us on a boat that we took down the Nile towards Luxor. Each day consisted of stops at various temples: Kom Ombo, Edfu, Temple of Hatshetsup, Valley of the Kings, Temple at Luxor and Karnac Temple. Traveling down the Nile was a treat of its own, seeing fishermen in their small boats, egrets flying across the water, water buffalo grazing near the edges of the farm lands, children swimming, women washing clothes, the variety of crops and the rise of date palms across the valley.

From Luxor we left for the Saini Desert on the shores of the Red sea, and a short break. We got to do some exploring and skin diving in the Straits of Tehran, at the opening of the Gulf of Aqaba. Incredibly clear, warm water and lots of sea life. There were a lot of shipwrecks on the coral reefs in this narrow passage between Saudi Arabia and Egypt.

Next, we are off to Jordan.

Istanbul

Istanbul

Our apartment in Istanbul was in the Sultanahamet district, walking distance to the Hippodrome, the Blue Mosque and Hagias Sophia, Grand Bazaar, and just about any where else we wanted to go.

We came to this city without expectations and Istanbul has surprised us. It is so rich in history and culture with people visiting from all over the world. One can walk down the street hearing multiple languages spoken at one time by the locals and the tourists. The sounds of the calls to prayer are subtly different here than in Morocco, they are “sung” and between all of the mosque’s they seem to echo and vibrate in your ears and chest. The smells range from spices to firewood being burnt to cook kebabs, chestnuts or corncobs out on the streets.

Part of the fun staying here is that we were able to get some Americana “fixes”. We were surprised to find the El Torito, Chili’s, Pizza Hut and Dominos Pizza nearby. The kids were happy to get some familiar foods.

There are many museums to visit and one of Matt’s favorite museums was the Archeology Museum, and the Cistern. Monica liked seeing the Blue Mosque and the Hagia Sophia. Another treasure was the Mosaic Museum (thank you Marco for the recommendation) where remnants of the mosaics from Constantine’s palace were being pieced back together. We also enjoyed a ride up the Bosphorus to the beginning of the Black Sea.

Over the past week we have seen much that Istanbul has to offer, but are leaving feeling that there is still much to see and experience in this city that was once the divide between Europe and Asia, and now serves as the bridge from Europe to Asia. Next we leave for Egypt and say farewell to Todd, Mom and Dad. We had an amazing time with them over these past weeks and will miss them. Thank you for a wonderful experience!

Anatolia, Turkey, Asia Minor

Gulet: From Halicarnassus to Ephesus

We boarded our Gulet, the Artemesia in the seaside town of Bodrum. Artemesia is an 85-foot Gulet or sailing ship. The cast of characters for our trip through the Aegaen included the Captain, first and second mate, the Cook, and two excellent guides, an archeologist named Heinrich and Turkish guide named Osman. My Mother and Father, who had arranged and planned this leg of the journey (thanks Mom and Dad!) and youngest brother Todd, rounded out the group of explorers.

Halicarnassus

The present day city of Bodrum used to be, in ancient times, a city called Halicarnassus, and the location of one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. King Mausolus built the great funerary monument to himself here, the Mausoleum. All that remains today is the hole in the ground where it once stood, virtually all of the stone recycled into the crusade era fortifications built around the harbor on castle rock. Halicarnassus is also famous for being the birthplace of Herodotus, the great historian of ancient times, and the father of "history" as we know it. We visited the Maritine museum and had a guided tour of one of the best-preserved shipwrecks of ancient times by one of the divers who worked on the excavation. We spent the night onboard Artemesia, listening to the nightlife in Bodrum (which means that sleep was few and far between, but who could complain).

Myndos

We cruised up the Turkish coastline to the town of Myndos, a small beach and harbor town. In Myndos we got to explore an ancient city and harbor center, were there has been no excavation or archeology. It is fascinating to see what an archeological sight look like before any work has been done. Ani found the remains of a Rhodian Amphora sitting in the middle of a pasture, and indeed there seemed to be pottery shards and artifacts lying all over the place. This was such an amazing feeling knowing that we were truly “walking” on history and picking it up! (and putting it back where we found it of course)

Iasos

After Myndos we cruised to the small harbor of Iasos. From the boat we hiked up a nearby hill to visit the ruins of Iasos. The first view of Iasos is that of a fortress but once we started exploring the site we were able to see ruins left by the Greeks and Romans, even earlier civilizations, such as temples, a theater built in the hillside as well as beautiful, well-preserved, mosaics.

Labranda

After the ruins in Iasos we drove up into the mountains to the site of Labranda where we saw the oracular shrine to Zeus Labrandus, built by Mausolus. Set way up in the mountains we were able to see the varying landscape of Turkey: pine trees, olive trees, pomegranate trees, wild berries, grapes along with a variety of critters including large lizards and bees. Roan purchased honey from the locals, the honey was from bees that pollinated the tree blossoms mostly. Then we stopped at the Temple of Zeus at Euromos.

Miletus, and the temple to Apolo at Didyma

The theater at Miletus is awe-inspiring. This enormous structure could hold around 25 to 30 thousand peoples. The large “Vomitoriums” or exit hallways were cavernous, and it is said that the entire theater could be emptied in about 30 minutes. The structure is so large that much later in history, the crusaders built a castle on top of the theater. Equally as impressive is the temple to Apollo at Didyma. This structure could easily fit the Parthenon in Athens inside its courtyard. Both the city of Miletus and the city of Priene suffered a similar fate. They used to be across a large bay from one and other, on the Aegean Sea. This bay was also the mouth of the Meander River (from where we derive the term “Meander”) the entire bay was gradually silted in by the river, turning in to a large alluvial plane, very hard to sail a ship through!

Priene

Priene is a very well preserved Greek city on a hillside that used to overlook a large bay. The bay gradually silted in by the Meander River, causing this city to loose much of their populations and importance. We explored some very well preserved structures in Priene, and had a great picnic lunch in the ruins of a temple.

Ephesus, and the temple of Atriums at Ephesus

Ephesus is one of the best-preserved Greco-Roman cities in the world. Some of the highlights were the Library of Celsius, The hillside private residences, and of course the public toilets. The main processional street went through several large Agoras and past many fountain houses. There was a large theater, several bathhouses and Gymnasiums and stoas. The road eventually led to the temple of Atriums at Ephesus, one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. All that is left now is a single column and some of the foundation. Almost the entire temple was recycled into later structures, mostly the basilica of St. Paul.

We left the Artemisia, out trusty ship, early this morning. We said our goodbyes to our incredible caption and crew, and our two guides who made this leg of our journey one that none of us will ever forget. We feel that we have made some new friends, which we will have for a lifetime. Next, on to Istanbul…….

Cappadocia, Turkey

We left Venice by way of water taxi, one of the most direct ways to transfer from our hotel to the airport for a family of 5 and all of our luggage. There we began a series of flights that took us to Budapest,Hungary then to Istanbul,Turkey then to Kayseri and finally a drive on to Cappadocia, Turkey. We arrived after dark, but our guide was there to meet us. Our accommodations were amazing, we stayed in a hotel that was a converted family residence, almost all of which had originally been carved out of the mountains in a series of caves. The entire region in Cappadocia is, geologically, made from Tufa, a soft volcanic stone that is easy to carve. The geologic formations are unique, and the history of human occupation of the area goes back four and a half thousand years or more. The Hittites had a civilization here in ancient times, they started the practice of carving caves and dwellings in the stone which was then continued by the Byzantine Christians who hid from the Romans in these cave dwellings. The carvings are intense as they range from the simplest of dwellings to elaborate churches with frescoes depicting the stories of Jesus. After Constantine started the practice of religious freedom the Christians in the area were able to come out of hiding. In a shortened version of this elaborate history, the Ottoman Turks came into the area after that and the Christians fled. Many of the churches and dwellings were defaced and/or converted into pigeon keeps. We explored a few areas such as Imagination Valley, Fairy Chimneys, Monks Valley, and the Underground City. We took an amazing hike through Red Valley where we visited a church in a cave and then picked fresh apples and grapes from the orchards that grow in this area.

Another highlight of our trip to Cappadocia was our visit to a weaving center where the Turkish government is trying to keep the art of carpet making and weaving alive. The kids were able to see how silk worms were processed into silk. The kids also got to throw clay on a Hittite pottery wheel in a workshop in Navos. The family that operates this workshop is one of two families in Turkey allowed to make a certain type of high fire ceramic.

Best dessert of Turkey so far: Kunefe (look it up!)

We then flew to Bodrum, a coastal city on the Aegean Sea. Tomorrow we see the city of Bodrum and then join our Gulet and sail to Ephesus.