Florence, Italy

If you could measure the number of miles that we have walked around and around and around this city.... I think it might measure in triple digits. Well ok, that might be a slight exageration. But there has been so much to see, that my calf muscles now ache when I walk. Although Chris might argue that much of the sightseeing has been inside chic clothing stores. Italian fashion...... sigh.

Campanile di Giotto and Duomo

The second day we were here, we were surprised to find that there was a huge marathon running right through the middle of Florence. At the Duomo, one of the most famous sights here, we braved the crowds to try and get up into the Campanile di Giotto. This bell tower was built in the 14th century, although the colorful facade was added in the 19th cen. 414 steps later, up a gradually narrowing and slightly claustrophobic staircase crammed with tourists, we got a fantastic view of Florence. Terracotta rooftops cascaded in a jumble all around the Duomo for several miles, and the marathon runners below seemed to be just a speck. Oddly enough, a helicopter filming the race hovered around eye level, only a hundred or so feet away. Sadly, the Campanile and Bernelleschi's Dome - which we toured later - were covered with appaling graffiti. All along the staircases and the balconies on the roof, there were carvings and marker scrawlings of "te amos" and "was here." In some ways I can understand how older graffiti appears; perhaps the ethic of preservation was not as strong a few decades ago. But there is no excuse for graffiti within the past few years.

Naples, Italy

Never, ever, in my life, have I seen such completely insane traffic as I have in Naples. Beijing, Hong Kong, New York, San Francisco, even Athens and Istanbul.... those cities all have scary, crazy fast-paced traffic. But it pales in comparison to Naples... and we haven't even hit Rome yet.

The first indicator was probably when I stepped out of the Stazio Centrale bus station, and was nearly flattened by a Vespa type scooter. I looked around for a crosswalk, or sidewalk, but there didn't seem to be one. Hordes of pedestrians were plowing into the oncoming traffic, which they were assuming would stop. It was totally confusing- our guidebook said that if you make eye contact with a driver in Italy, it means you will stop. So we should cross the street without looking? We quickly learned to try and cross the street alongside a local, they seem rather fearless.
If you can find a safe place to stand at rush hour, the traffic scene is really quite amazing. Everyone is blaring the horn on their car, usually because some "Smart Car" - a tiny golf cart looking death trap- has shoved itself into three lanes of oncoming, bumper to bumper traffic, in order to turn the opposite way. Meanwhile, noisy scooters, like a cloud of bees, swarm around the mess, trying to move forward, and dodge the other cars, who have decided to get up onto the sidewalk and go around. Wow. I don't think there is anything in the world truly like Naples rush hour.

Unfortunately, the traffic spectacle has created quite a pollution problem here, despite Naples proximity to the coast. Our guidebook also says Naples is renowned for it's architecture; it seems though, that the tall buildings and narrow alleyways create a trap for the smog.

Luckily many of the historic sights are just outside of Naples, and we have been able to take in some daily fresh air. Yesterday we visited Herculaneaum and today we walked through Pompeii- both towns that were decimated by the 79 A.D. eruption of Mount Vesuvius. After digging through nearly 30 feet of ash and debris, archaeologists found some amazing ruins. In some places, detailed frescos, tile mosaics, and statues are still intact. Deep grooves from carriage wheels are worn into the stone roads, and in some places there is still ancient graffiti painted onto the walls.



Tomorrow we move on to Florence for a few days, then to Rome.

Athens: Sunny with a chance of.......Riot?

After finally catching a ferry from Bodrum, Turkey, we managed to get to the Greek island of Kos, and then on to another island, Kalymnos. A big tourist destination in the summer, Kalymnos is well known for it's fantastic sport climbing on tough limestone tufa. We spent a couple of days climbing (with great weather) and exploring the picturesque island. We were in for a long ferry crossing to Athens, and then on to Italy.

Yesterday evening though, as we sat down to a well deserved drink at Fatolitis Bar in Masouri, Kalymnos, our plans to sail to Athens suddenly seemed quite questionable. On the TV above us, there were scenes of mass protest and chaos. Protestors wearing motorcycle helmets were waving banners, and throwing all kinds of objects amid clouds of tear gas. Police, in full riot gear, were taking billy clubs to the protestors and trying to break up the violence. Fires seemed to have been set all along the roadsides, in what we later determined to be Athens.

"This," said the owner/bartender Sakis, "iz no good. Theez tomorrow ......is finished." He made a "finished" motion with his hands. Hmmmm, those protestors sure didn't look like they were going to just pack up and go home. "What's going on?" we asked. We had seen peaceful looking protests on TV for the past couple of days, but there was no internet connection in Masouri, let alone newspapers in English. We had to rely on our non-existent Greek, and Sakis limited English. "Theez," he said, "theez iz, you know, November 17." Yes, we knew it was Nov 17. "Theez iz....... you know, 1973......you know." Hmmmm, an anniversary of some type? We didn't really know, although I seemed to remember reading something about November in our guidebook. "Well, " said Chris optimistically, " we can go to the U.S. Embassy when we get there, if we need to." Somehow that didn't feel reassuring.

And for good reason. According to the Lonely Planet Greece guidebook, on Nov 17, 1973 Greek military tanks stormed a sit-in at Athens Polytechnic, killing at least 20 people. In recent years, Nov 17 has been the name of a "shadowy left-wing" "urban guerrilla group," which bombed the US Embassy in Athens in 1998. "Chris," I said warily, "I think we'll be going to your Embassy."

But, strangely enough, the bartender Sakis seems to be correct. The violence, for now, has "finished." As we rode through Athens this morning, via taxi, there didn't seem to be any signs of unrest. Just lots of people out with their kids, enjoying the sunny weekend. True, most of the violence seems to have centered around the residence of the Prime Minister, and the US Embassy- not Syntagma- where we are staying. But had we not seen the images on TV the night before, we would have never known there was a problem. There doesn't seem to be much coverage of the violence in the British or American media. This article from the LA Times was the best we could find http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/wire/sns-ap-greece-protest,1,3464754.story?coll=sns-ap-world-headlines&ctrack=1&cset=true

Stuck in Bodrum
Normally, being stuck in the coastal resort town of Bodrum, Turkey wouldn't be a bad deal. Unfortunately, though, the ferries are only runnıng a couple of times a week- sınce it is technically consıdered the winter season now. Getting to our next destınatıon, Kalymnos, may take some tıme. Turkey is great, but the more time we spend here.... the less time we have in other countries. The past few days, however, we have taken in some excellent sights.

Cappadocia
Some of you out there have perhaps been to Turkey, and some of you have even been to the wonderful regıon of Cappadocia, known for ıt's strange landscape. But have you ever had a half Dalmation, half Pointer dog named 'Spotty' be your tour guıde? Serıously, we're not kidding! We arrived ın Goreme, a small town in central Cappadocia, and decided to call the Kose Pansıon home for the next few days. The Kose ıs run by Dawn, an amıable Scottısh woman who came here over 25 years ago, and her husband. Spotty was left a few years ago by a couple of travellers, and has become quıte well known ın the town. We told Spotty we wanted to go to the Museum, and he bounded off happıly down the street. The Goreme Open Aır Museum ıs a fabulous collectıon of cave churches that contaın detaıled frescoes of relıgıous scenes from the 11-12th centurıes.
Although Spotty kept up wıth us for most of the day, he decıded that he'd had enough once we rented bıcycles and rode out of town. We found some more cave houses to explore ın Rose Valley, a short dıstance outsıde of Goreme. Crımson red geometrıc patterns covered the ancıent doorways, and the outlınes of the Maltese cross were stıll well evıdent.

For our second day ın Cappadocıa, we decıded to go on an organızed tour, so we could take ın a few more sıghts. The group was small, only seven of us, and our guıde was knowledgable, though a lıttle dıffıcult to understand. After explaınıng the local geology (basıcally, lots of volcanoes went boom and fılled the valley wıth tufa, whıch has sınce been eroded to form lots of towers and pınnacles, some wıth a cap of tougher basalt on top), we were taken to an enormous underground cıty. The fırst couple of storıes were carved out by the Hıttıtes and were only used to store food, but later cıvılızatıons dug deeper ınto the rock - ın some cases goıng 8 storıes down. These cıtıes were only used durıng tımes of conflıct, when they could retreat ınto the ground for up to 6 months at a tıme. The cıty we vısıted, Kaymaklı, was an ıncredıble maze of tunnels and rooms, some small, some large, wıth ımmense ventılatıon shafts leadıng down to the water table below. Huge round stones could be rolled across the entrances to keep enemıes out. There was even a wınery underground where they could press grapes and ferment the juıce.

After the underground cıty, we went for a walk through a beautıful nearby valley, had lunch, cruısed past a load more rock churches, monasterıes and houses, and got home ın tıme for dınner wıth Spotty.


Chrıs faılıng abysmally to make a pot.

He ended up makıng an ashtray wıth a hole ın the bottom.

Our clothes reek of the effervescent Turkish cigarette smoke, our colons are pleading for no more kebabs, and I don't think our brains have quite forgiven us for those glasses of Raki the other night. But despite coming to Istanbul at the wrong season, we have seen some very interesting sights and had a pretty good time.

Aya Sofia
We are staying in the old historic/tourist district of Istanbul - Sultanahmet - so the Aya Sofia [also called the Hagia Sophia] is just a couple of blocks away. A UNESCO World Heritage site, the Aya Sophia is breath-taking. As I stepped inside, I was amazed at how immense the interior is. There are no pews or benches, like some other places of worship, and the decor is not as bright and detailed as the adjacent Blue Mosque, but the ceiling must be several hundred feet high. While the Blue Mosque has huge pillars to hold up the domed ceiling, in Aya Sofia they are concealed, so the interior is a large open cavern. It's pretty mind-boggling when you stop to think that this was built around 500 A.D, and there is even graffiti carved into the railing from 9th century Vikings! Truly an amazing architectural feat. It was initially built as a church, and later converted to a mosque in the 15th century.

Interestingly enough, there are several stray dogs and cats that live around Aya Sofia and the Blue Mosque. They seem fairly well-fed and healthy, and some of the dogs have plastic tags in their ears. Perhaps they have been 'adopted' by the Blue Mosque, as it is still functioning as a mosque, and we can usually hear all the daily calls to prayer over the loudspeaker.

Grand Bazaar
Alas, after much big talk, it appears that we will not be coming home with a carpet - not from Istanbul anyway. Seeking out the oldest, most painstakingly handmade carpet was never a goal for us, but it seems to be for many tourists here. One stroll through the carpet sellers' aisle in the Grand Bazaar has made it glaringly clear how out of our league we are here. All the sellers had crisp suits and ties on, hair slicked back, and seemed to pop out of every doorway with rapid fire "Hello, lady, hello, one moment please" and "Hello, where are you from we will make a special price today."
But we did find something very neat, a purchase that was perhaps inspired by reading My Name is Red, by Orhan Palmuk, who was recently awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature. We found a miniaturist painting depicting Noah's Ark, on the back of a page from a religious text. The ocean is black, with sea turtles swimming near the Ark, and all of the other animals are immaculatly painted. The seller told us that his sister did a lot of the miniaturist paintings, and his brother did the calligraphy.

We have one more day in Istanbul, and then we will take an overnight train to the capital, Ankara - where it is snowing. Brrr.

BFreezıng and tıred ın İstanbul

Wıth a keyboard wıth an ı and a i.
It ıs more complex than you would thınk.İt ıs much harder to fınd the i on aTurkısh keyboard than one would thınk. So we got here okç 16-18 hours after we started, and ıt ıs raınıng quıte heavıly ın ınstanbul- but we have had a good tıme thus far at the Orıent hostel/ Sultanamet- wıth the bartender tellıng us he can make us a great deal on a carpet!!!!! Hmmm except that we don't lıve ın a very big place...... and it ıs still prettly expensive...