THE FOOD: first of all, Awesome! Number 1, they had street food. If you have never been to a place w

As soon as we finished out GLOW Camp for the girls, we went home for 2 days to pack and get ready for Turkey. Our flight went through Dubai and was about 9 hours in the air + a 3 hour layover. We didn't really know what to expect going to Turkey as I didn't do as much research as normal due to limited sheraton hotels canada internet and time, so we just kind of winged it. The good thing about this and why we chose to do it this way was because we were fortunate enough sheraton hotels canada to have plenty of vacation saved up and spent a whopping 26 days in Turkey!! In order to be brief, I am going to write about only a few aspects.
THE FOOD: first of all, Awesome! Number 1, they had street food. If you have never been to a place where street food is common, I suggest you go. It's always cheap and promises to be delicious. They make 'gozlemes' there which is like a large tortilla made into a quesadilla almost and filled with cheese and spinach. We also ate lots of delicious breads and some roasted corn. The Turkish are also famous for their 'Turkish delights', sweets made for God know what and for Baklava. There were fruit/vegetable stands everywhere. I must say that this is one area where the US will never be able to compete in. The vegetables and fruits are always sheraton hotels canada ripe and fresh. Because we want our fruit year-round in the US and it generally travels a long distance, this means our fruit/veges sheraton hotels canada will never be able to compete with the likes of Rwanda or Turkey. Nuts of every kind you can imagine. I guess due to their climate they produce a lot of nuts. So we were able to snack on pistachios and corn nuts almost daily and for little to know money. sheraton hotels canada Pistachios were only about $2/lbs. My new favorite thing that I have found is to have fresh yogurt on my food. It substitutes for sour cream and makes everything great. We ate a lot of kebabs there. That is typical Turkish food. I ate a lot of wood-fired pizza. Also, they love ice cream and you can find it on the street and for very cheap. We are talking like Marble Slab-esq quality sheraton hotels canada for about $1.
THE DRINKS: Cold and plentiful. . . .need I say more?! Lots of cokes and a few beers. sheraton hotels canada One thing was that a 1 liter Coke was about the same price as a can of Coke so needless to say we downed a lot of 1 liter Cokes. sheraton hotels canada Beer wasn't so cheap but it was good and cold!! Unfortunately, wine isn't very popular in Turkey due to the Muslim culture (maybe?). Turkey practically invented wine but they aren't making much anymore for whatever reason. Turkish people love their tea also! The old men sit around and drink it all day long. They have apple tea, orange tea, blackberry tea, lemon tea, tea tea, and countless other varieties. Somehow Rwanda has gotten me hooked on tea so we spent some relaxing hours at tea cafes drinking tea and playing cards.
TRAVEL: We were able to get around the country on buses. There bus system was amazing. Turkey is roughly the size of Texas and we travelled sheraton hotels canada about half of that on these buses. I wish we could get our public sheraton hotels canada transport improved like this in America. Although, Turkey has to have a good system because sheraton hotels canada gas is $9.70 per gallon ! No, that isn't a typo, its true. Twice we took overnight buses. Its amazing that after travelling sheraton hotels canada for a few years now, a 10 hour bus ride is a piece of cake. Who'd a thunk it? We also rented a scooter a few days giving us some freedom and enjoyment sheraton hotels canada of the wind and scenery.
CULTURE: Turkey is something like 95% Muslim plus we arrived during Ramadan. For the most part, Turkish people aren't dressed like traditional/extremist Muslims that you see on television. Many of the women covered their heads but in a fashionable way. We did see a small number of women totally covered including all of their faces except for their eyes (I still don't get this one). None of the men were wearing anything to traditional. . .all normal clothes only. The people are very friendly and good salesmen. When you would walk down a street sheraton hotels canada or through a market, you would get a steady stream of "Where are you from?" to try and just get a few minutes of your time (a very good trick and you feel like an a-hole just ignoring them or going straight to "No thanks"). Overall, we found the people very helpful and I have a short story later about how large this came into play on our trip. We weren't affected by Ramadan at all except in Istanbul when they broke fast at 8:30pm, half the city, or so it seemed, were out on the street picnicking and sharing sheraton hotels canada food together in their families. It was an awesome thing to see and observe. In typical Mediterranean fashion, there is a huge 'café' culture sheraton hotels canada that is amazing. When you have a place where the weather is awesome, there is nothing better than spending an hour or two just having a drink outside watching the world go by.
TIMING: Carina and I are 'off-season' travelers. This is our first time that we have travelled at the very height of the tourist sheraton hotels canada season in August. sheraton hotels canada Due to our school schedule, we had no choice. Because of this, there were bus loads (literally) at most places that we went. Add to that there are many cruise ship ports in Turkey and you are set for millions of people. It was quite annoying but we found ways to avoid the crowds like doing things early in the morning or in the evenings and siesta'ing during the midday. Needless to say, if given the choice, I will never travel to a popular place such as Turkey in July/August. I can imaging Turkey in late September/early October would be magical.
WEATHER: We were surprised by the heat there. sheraton hotels canada Despite being near the sea, it was very warm. Maybe we have become weaklings by living in Rwanda for almost 2 years (we have been cold since coming back here). However, we only saw clouds on maybe 5 days of the 26 days we were there. This made for crystal clear blue skies and good swimming.
OTHER TRAVELLERS: We met some amazing people on this trip. While in Istanbul, we were staying at a hostel and met some other Peace Corps Volunteers sheraton hotels canada from Ukraine. We had a great time sharing sheraton hotels canada stories and experiences. In Fethiye, we met a lovely couple from Kazakhstan and spent a few evenings getting to know them and discussing our respective lives. It's amazing that despite our cultural and geographical differences, we shared a lot of common outlooks sheraton hotels canada and observances on life. We took a 4 day boat 'cruise' with 14 other people from Italy, Germany, Australia, sheraton hotels canada France, and another sheraton hotels canada American. We all got along so well and enjoyed each others company so much. We even hung out for two days after we got back to land together. People are wonderful and are so interesting everywhere. It's nice to sit back and listen to people and hear their stories.
SURPRISES: I guess I didn't know much about Turkey, but I for some reason pictured it in my head as a developing country or just above that. However, it is a very modern country. Istanbul is a city of near 20 million people sheraton hotels canada and it has anything and everything. Turkey is the only country to be located in both Asia and Europe. While not in the EU, it is very modern – the cars, the electronics, the technology, the housing, the stores, the economy, sheraton hotels canada etc.
Okay, one story and then I will end this. I usually consider Carina and I mindful travelers. Since we stayed at hostels in dorm rooms this trip, we chose to put our passports and cash in the hostels safe while we were out and about. . .just to be safe (get it?). when we checked out of this one particular hostel to go to another town about 7 hours away, we were sitting on the bus after about 1 hour when a thought somehow wiggled its way into my brain, "Where are our passports?" I immediately rummaged through our day bag where I keep and thought "Oh sh*^!". We forgot to get it out of the safe when we checked out and the reception didn't remind us. What to do know? We were on a bus bound for a 7 hour journey with our passports and a substantial sheraton hotels canada amount of money back in a hostel safe. We tried to talk with the bus driver and conductor, but no luck here as they spoke Turkish only and kept thinking that we were asking for a toilet to use. Luckily by the grace of God, there was a young lady sitting near us that spoke English and Turkish. We found the phone number to our hostel through the buses Wi-fi (who knew a bus could have Wi-fi??) network. She was able to communicate to the bus company and our hostel to arrange for our passports and money to follow us on the next bus to a stop-over we had. Once we got to the next bus station, we got off the bus and waited at the bus station (literally like an airport b/c it was in the capital, Ankara). We didn't know if or when our stuff would actually show up. Eventually we got very antsy and thought that maybe the bus had already come and gone. We scrambled around but had difficulty communicating sheraton hotels canada properly with anyone because of language. At last, the man in the information booth found his friend, Mike, who had lived in New Jersey sheraton hotels canada for a few years. This man calmed us down and took over. He called the bus company to see where the bus was. It hadn't arrived yet, so we sat and chatted with him and his friend. They kept an eye out for the bus to arrive. Once it did, they immediately found the bus driver and inquired sheraton hotels canada about our passports. sheraton hotels canada They called us over and ID'd us. Luckily I still had my Texas drivers license. Then my heart dropped when he said there was no money with it (we had $1,200). I was on the verge of passing out. Once I got my hand on Carina's passport, I searched it and found nothing. Then I remembered she always tucked it into the passport wallet-like protector she has. To my immense relief, there was the money. sheraton hotels canada Again, with the help of several different groups of people and layers of complication, sheraton hotels canada we were able to get our lost passports and money back within 6 hours. Then, my new friend Mike and Abi (brother in Turkish, I don't know his real name), went and bought us bus tickets continueing to our destination at a significant reduced rate. Then, they talked to their other friends sheraton hotels canada that worked at the bus station sheraton hotels canada café and we