My Big Fat Greek Vacation

And now the end of our trip. We made it through three countries in 2 months (Mongolia, Russia, and Turkey), and now for the last month we'll spend time in Greece. Back when we were planning our trip, Richard and I thought it might be a good idea to work on an olive farm on the island of Evia, north of Athens. Our flight from Turkey got into Athens at 6pm, however, so we then decided to spend one day exploring Athens before heading out to the farm. We stayed right next to the Agora, in the Phidias Hotel on a popular cafe street.

Our first night we explored the cafe street and some of the Plaka, the historic center of Athens. We ate at a tiny restaurant and discovered how cheap wine is! ½ liter of red wine for 3 euros! We ate moussaka and fish along with our wine. We continued to stroll along the lit-up streets and slowly made our way back to the hotel.

Welcome to Athens!

3 euro wine and moussaka

Hadrian's Gate at night. Hadrian built a shit load of stuff.

The next day we got up early to see the Acropolis before it got too touristy. Well, we later found out, that was not a problem. It's December now, so there were barely any tourists there. We saw the Odeon of Heracles, the Theater of Dionysus, the Parthenon (naturally), and the Propylaea (entrance gate). We found the Acropolis to be slightly interesting. It's been in Athens for as long as Athens has been around. Control of the city changed hands with the Persians and Ottomans. They both disregarded the Acropolis; the Ottomans blew it up when they used it for munitions storage. It wasn't until the 1880's and 1890's that the Germans began to excavate and partly restore the Acropolis. And it wasn't until the 80's or 90's when Greek teams began to plan massive restoration projects to build the monuments back up to what they used to look like.

After spending many days looking at ruins in Turkey, the Acropolis was actually not as breathtaking as it probably should have been. The ruins in Turkey began to be excavated in the 1920's, and they were all underground, so much better preserved than the Parthenon. Plus, by that time, people thought ancient ruins were interesting and efforts to excavate and restore were underway. So, for us, we found the ruins in Turkey to be much more interesting, at least to look at, than the ruins of the Acropolis. They were better preserved by being underground, and they didn't have years and years of exposure to the elements. The ruins in Turkey also weren't used as munitions dumps that blew up twice.

Odeon of Herakles, Temple of Dionysus, stairs to the Propylaea

After we saw the Acropolis, we went to look at Hadrian's Gate and the Temple of Olympian Zeus. The Temple reminded us of the Temple of Artemis in Turkey. The Artemis one was a wonder of the ancient world, but now there is just one column standing and a bunch of rocks lying around. The Temple of Zeus has 6 columns standing and a bunch of rocks lying about. We did enjoy this temple more, because the area around the columns is completely empty. From a distance it looks very majestic, and up close the columns are highlighted by the open space.

Emily making a face and me in front of the Temple of Olympian Zeus.

For lunch, we ate at a cafe outside (eating outside in December...Yes!!), where we again discovered the cheapness of Greek wine. After that, we made our way to Larissa Station, the train station, to see if we could buy tickets to get out to the farm for the next day. They said only day-of tickets, so we walked to another ruins site. The ticket you buy to see the Acropolis also includes the Zeus temple, Hadrian's Library (which we didn't see), the Agora (also didn't see), and the Kerameikos. The Kerameikos, we found out, was actually a large graveyard and burial place. Everything we walked on once was a grave. OOOoooooh! They had a small museum that contained artifacts from the tombs, like pottery, metal works, and coins. But by this time we were tired and tired of looking at ruins. So we went to a cafe near our hotel and relaxed until dinner.

Souvlaki and a Gyro

These guys were everywhere.

They had these cool relief sculpture copies in the subway.

Graffiti like this was everywhere

The Kerameikos

The street next to our hotel on the weekends turns into a flea market of sorts. People are there selling “antiques”, books, jewelry both hand-made and not, and other assorted goods. It was fun to see the things people were selling, and relaxing to walk along the street and do some window shopping. If there is one thing we learned from this trip, it's that traveling for more than 2 weeks is tiring and you relish the times when you can relax and enjoy not doing the touristy things.

For dinner, we ate at Kuzina, a restaurant that apparently was featured in the Michelin Guide. They had a set menu, which was phenomenal. Salad with special cheese from an island (tasted like a mix of feta and goat cheese), cheese and spinach dumplings with a pomegranate sauce, pork that had been marinated for half the day, and tagliatelle pasta with wild mushrooms and truffles. They served a very tasty chocolate mousse for dessert.

The next day, we headed out for Halkida and the olive farm.

Kelebek Hotel and Pension - Goreme,Cappadocia

We took an overnight bus, so we got into Goreme around 8AM. That is well in advance of a normal hotel check-in time. When we got to the Kelebek Hotel, they were serving breakfast. They let us store our luggage for a couple hours, have breakfast, and relax. They didn't even charge us for the breakfast (which may have been the best we had in Turkey) even though we weren't technically guests yet. That was very generous, and I am really grateful for their hospitality. Especially after a bus ride that included a minor car accident.

Regular Room

The regular rooms are all in varying degrees of closeness to the reception office. They are 50 Euro a night and offer a double bed, en suite bathroom, and breakfast. The price may sound high, but the rooms are very well-kept and the hotel services (free tea and coffee all day, breakfast, connections with travel agencies) make up for a slightly higher price. Our room was easily the warmest we had in all of Turkey. There were pipes connected to our radiator that ran through our room to other radiators. They were so warm that we were able to keep our heater off the entire time. The shower was a little small and it leaked, but neither one of us cared. The bathroom was toasty warm and stepping out of the shower in the morning was pleasant. In other words, you didn't freeze the second you stepped out. The regular rooms were as nice as any hotel we stayed in, and we would highly recommend them.

Junior Suite

This was one of our splurges in Cappadocia (95 Euro for the room). It is our honeymoon after all. The room is absolutely beautiful. Luckily, we decided to take the balloon ride early morning and then relax in our suite all day. It has a sitting room with a television and a working fireplace (which they supplied with wood), a king sized bed, and a jacuzzi. Plus, they left some Turkish Delight for us to munch on. After dinner we let Amanda and Dennis check out the suite, because they were thinking about getting one their last night in Cappadocia. After they left, we took a bath in the jacuzzi and then made a fire and sat around until we decided to go to bed. This room was one of the best we had all trip. It's right up there with the hotel we stayed at in Nizhny Novgorod.

Come Fly With Me

On our fourth day in Goreme, we decided to go on a balloon ride. Over the years going for a balloon ride has become the premier tourist activity in the Cappadocia region. Because of the demand, and the upkeep of the balloons, it is very expensive (110 Euro/person minimum). We weren't sure if we were willing to make that kind of monetary commitment, but we ultimately decided that it would be worth it. When we got to Cappadocia, the weather was clear and sunny. It was supposed to stay that way for the rest of the week. That helped make the decision easier. It ended up being one of the most fun things we did in Turkey, so it was definitely worth it.

Pre-takeoff

The canyons are very impressive from that high up.

We got up just before sun fully rose.

You get a unique view of the canyons, and some of the other balloons get quite close.

Like we said, THE thing to do. In the summer, there are at least 10 times this many in the air at the same time. Damn tourists!

Those are pigeon houses.

The sun is up and other balloons are finishing up their flights.

Deflating the balloon. Bring on the champagne!

Chim-Chimney

It was startling to wake up at 6am on the bus, look out our window, and see Mongolia. Wait, this wasn't Mongolia. After basking in the Mediterranean sun, we weren't really prepared for the landscape that was laid out before us. The brown and yellow rolling hills of Cappadocia (pronounced “Ka-pa-do-kia”) are set against snow-capped mountains that feature prominently in the background. The ground is covered with grasses and bushes that reminded us of the Mongolian landscape. But once we got on the shuttle bus and drove to the town of Goreme (“GO-rem-eh”), and realized we were on top of a mountain looking into valleys of white, pink, and yellow stone, we knew the similarities to Mongolia stopped and the amazing landscape of Cappadocia began.

Day 1

The Goreme Open Air Museum is one of the largest (and easiest to get to) site in the Cappadocia region. This is especially true if you are staying in Goreme (obviously). It is less than 2000 meters from most of the cave hotels. We decided to walk over there shortly after checking in. As with the rest of Turkey, the town is very quiet, because it is low season.

The weather during the day was pretty nice, so the walk was a pleasant one. Unlike Russia, there were signs clearly pointing out the way to the Open Air Museum. For an introduction to fairy chimneys, cave churches, and cave dwellings, the Open Air Museum is a great primer. You will see all of those in about an hour and a half. We discovered that there were better examples elsewhere, but they are a bit more spread out. If you only have a day or two in Cappadocia, the Open Air Museum is worth a visit. If you have a significant amount of time in the region, you could skip it for more interesting examples elsewhere.

Views of one of the many churches.

Inside paintings.

Believe it or not, this is a dining table. They sit on the outside and eat in the middle.

After we left the Open Air Museum, we got a hot chocolate at the museum shop and then headed into town for lunch. There were only a handful of restaurants open, so we chose one that advertised a set menu that included one of Cappadocia's signature dishes: stone kebap. They put a stew-like mixture of meat and vegetables inside of a clay pot and seal it tight. From the looks of things, they put the pot directly into the coals to cook it, and then they break it open when they serve it. That all makes for a fun little presentation during the meal.

After that, we just explored the surrounding area and made note of the things we wanted to do over the next few days.

Stewed goodness.

Day 2

On our second day in Goreme, we decided to book a tour. The hotel calls the tour “Undiscovered Cappadocia.” It is a departure from the normal tour routes people go on. We generally try to avoid tours, but Cappadocia is extremely spread out, and you would need to rent a car (we realized we should have done this) to see everything. The tour covers Mustafapasa (an old Greek town), the Sobessos church excavation site, Soganli Valley, and Derinkuyu underground city. Usually, people go to see a larger valley (that is apparently quite ugly this time of year), the place they filmed Star Wars (should have gone), and the underground city. The tour was in a word, boring.

I try not to mock tours too much, but this one was pretty terrible. Mustafapasa is really just a village. The houses and cave homes have all been abandoned and aren't kept up in the least. Anything that made them uniquely Greek has faded over the last 90 years. The Sobessos church excavation site is actually past Mustafapasa. The church has been mostly excavated, but they are rebuilding the outer wall and the front gates that used to cover the cave entrances. There was heavy construction going on, the air was dusty, and the way in wasn't what I would term safe. Soganli Valley was the first fun thing on the tour, and it came when our day was nearly half over. It was a one kilometer hike past two old cave churches. The cave churches weren't that exciting and we didn't get much time there, but the valley was very beautiful. You could see very distinct lines of mineral deposits in the rock formations.

The underground city made the rest of the tour bearable. It is a remarkable feat of engineering. The underground cities in Cappadocia were basically underground castles. They were used to store food, but they were also used during invasions. Cappadocia was right in the path of the Crusades. The inhabitants of the area could live in these underground cities for up to two months. They created a complicated network of tunnels, rooms, and air ducts to make the city liveable and defensible. We went about 75 meters bellow the surface when we explored the city. We also got to see the air ducts that kept fresh air flowing throughout the entire nine tier city. The air ducts are actually what allowed the cities to be rediscovered. People would find holes that looked like wells, but get no water. Being naturally curious, they would drop a rope down to explore and find entire rooms that hadn't been touched in centuries. The city we visited is the largest open to the public. There was one discovered last year that they think is much larger, but some of the tunnels were built so you could only crawl through them. So there is a question as to whether that city will ever be opened to the public.

So the verdict on the tour is don't do it. Get one of the public buses to the underground city and do it yourself. Make sure you read up on it ahead of time to know what you are looking at, but the rest of the tour is completely unnecessary.

The only interesting thing in the Greek village.

Frescoes with soot covering them and a well.

The remains of another bath house and a mosaic on the floor of an old Byzantine church.

Soganli Valley.

Rooms, tunnels, and hallways in the underground city.

All three of these pictures are of the air duct that ran all the way to the bottom of the city.

Messing around in the morgue.

Day 3

We set aside day three for hiking. We have been traveling for two months now, and through Mongolia and Russia were able to control ourselves food-wise. Well, in Russia, it was really the fact that you paid separately for every little thing that controlled us. In Turkey, the portions are generous, the bread is amazing, and the wine is pretty good. We gained a little weight in the Mediterranean, because that's what you do.

In light of that, we decided to hike two of the valleys. One is called Pigeon Valley. It is a short two mile jaunt through mostly flat land. There are some stone chimneys, tons of pigeon houses (more on that later), and very nice volcanic rock formations. The valley funnels toward the town Ucisar (Uchisar). It didn't take us very long to get to Ucisar where we got lunch.

There were a lot of these short tunnels through the rock formations.

This is a tea house that was completely abandoned.

Screwing around in the canyon.

As we walked toward the town center, pretty much everything was closed. Ucisar is much smaller than even Goreme, which isn't big to begin with. We settled on a restaurant called Lil'a. You could tell by looking in the window that the restaurant wasn't cheap, but it was pretty much the only option. We were glad we chose it. The prices were high for Turkey, but not too high in general. The food was excellent and their standard table wines were very good. We were good and only got one glass each.

Anatolian style beef wrap with veggies, soup, salad, and wine.

After lunch, we were off to Honey Valley. Honey Valley is a little more ambitions, because the valley is just over three miles long, but it lets you out another mile and a half or so from Goreme. We discovered that it is also difficult to find. We went to the onyx factory near the opening to the valley and walked down the road. We walked and walked, but didn't see a place to get into the valley. So we decided to get off the established path and see if we could find an entrance. We later discovered that we were looking off the wrong side of the path. We actually went completely around Honey Valley. Due to this mistake, we probably walked closer to four or five miles without even realizing it. We only figured out what happened when we were on our balloon ride the next day.

The outside of Honey Valley.

We still had fun though, and we were able to meet up with Amanda and Dennis again for dinner at a place called Alaturca. It is in Lonely Planet, so the food is a little more expensive than the standard price, but it is very good. The wine there is extremely cheap. Only 22 Turkish Lira (around $14) for the cheapest bottle. After dinner, we headed over to the mulled wine place again. Nothing beats a warm drink on a cold night.

Day 4

At 6:05AM we left for a balloon ride (see Come Fly With Me...). After we returned, we relaxed and moved into a suite at the Kelebek Hotel (see our review). Emily had a few job interviews with people via Skype. We decided to use the Turkish Bath (hammam) at the hotel after lunch.

The hammam is a two-room bath house. One of the rooms is a dry sauna. The other room is a room to relax in that has a warm stone sitting in the middle with water basins built into the walls on the outside. We were expecting a Korean-style bath house with hot and cold pools of water, but that's not what we got. We had free entry, so it was nice to sit in the sauna for a while, use the basins to bathe, and then just relax on the hot stone. If you weren't staying in a suite though, the price was 10 Euro. There is no way I would have paid that much for the experience we got. They also offer massages, but they bring the cost up quite a bit, so we didn't partake. The bath was still very beautifully decorated, even if it wasn't really worth the money.

After a whole day of doing basically nothing we met up with Dennis and Amanda again for dinner. We took the advice of the hotel and went to the Setin Restaurant next door. They serve Anatolian food and wine. I got lamb shank and Emily got stuffed squash blossoms. Both dishes were very good. Amanda and Dennis got Turkish ravioli and stuffed chicken respectively. They let us try some. The stuffed chicken was delicious. The ravioli was better than the version we had in Kas. Setin's version wasn't as thick.

After dinner, we went back to the suite, started a fire (yes there was a fireplace), took a bath, and went to bed. The perfect end to our Turkish adventure.