Zurich, Switzerland

Arriving in Zurich, I met up with my couch surfers Christine and Jens, they were very friendly people and we got along great! They even let me use their washer and dryer. I was surprised to find that they had a dryer, it was the first I had seen in Europe. But upon opening it, I noticed that they used it for storage of extra toiled paper. People just air dry their clothes, which I have become more of a fan of. For dinner we had a wonderful Swiss dish where by cheese is melted in small personal “frying pans” and then drizzled over potatoes, tomatoes and other mouth watering foods. It was ridiculously delicious. Real Swiss cheese is the BEST!

These are the spatula/frying pans used to melt the cheese on the potatoes

Which created this delicious meal

We decided that I would see the majority of Zurich in the morning, then see Lucern and then accompany them to Sedrun, a small town in the Alps for National Day festivities. Christine and Jens were biking towards Sedrun while I explored.

First stop was Zurich.

Zurich is a beautiful city, which I had the pleasure of visiting on August 1^st, National Day, very similar to the 4^th of July, in the USA. Situated on a lake, it has a river flowing through the heart of the city. Along the banks you find magnificent buildings, clock towers, and bridges. Walking through the old streets made of cobble stone, I couldn’t help but smile. Everyone seemed very happy, everything was clean, organized, just how I like. I got to see a church with the largest clock face in Europe!

I took a boat tour of the city. The bus ticket is good for use on the boat as well, which takes you up the river and into the lake a ways. I was able to get a nice vantage point of the city. It was so relaxing that I may have even fallen asleep when we were out on the middle of the lake. J However, as we got closer to town I certainly couldn’t rest anymore due to the chiming of the bells on all of the clock towers. The amount of bell noise was astounding, and being in the middle of it all was even more intense!

After hopping out of the boat I raced to the train station to catch the next train to Lucern. Since it was National Day I bought a special bread that is sold only on August 1st. It comes with a little Swiss flag sticking out of the top, it is a delicious bread!

Happy to have my bread!

Hamburg, Germany

Arriving at Hamburg in the morning we strolled around town doing what we do in every town, running through it to see as much of it we can see. Since we liked the boat tour of Copenhagen so much we decided to go on one in Hamburg. The only one that was available during the time of day we wanted to go was a tour in German. We got on and found that it was pretty fun, but not as pretty as the one in Denmark. So I ended up dozing off a bit.

Since we were in Hamburg, we of course needed to get a hamburger! It was very good, one of the better ones Ive had. We had it along with sauerkraut and fries.

Beer Bike, people sit on bar stools and pedal while they drink and the car gs while one sober person steers it

 

Carmen has a friend who lives close to Hamburg that was kind enough to stop by the town and walk with us through a park and see some of the major sights. He was very friendly and easy to get along with. He even accompanied us to our couch surfers for the evening. Jullian was having his birthday gathering that night and we were among the guest list of his friends. We sat at their house involved with many separate conversations and playing games. At about 3.00am they asked if we wanted to see the Red Light district of Hamburg. Apparently it was very famous. When in Rome… or I guess Hamburg… we set out for the dirty part of town. It was still filled with people, police, trash, prostitutes and of course KFC. I remarked that it looked a lot like Las Vegas’s ugly little sister. There were bright lights everywhere and a lot of commotion. We walked back to their house and got some much needed sleep.

In the afternoon our hosts made us some amazing food. I forget what it was called but man it was good. It was a sort of pasta dish. After dining we headed out of their flat for the train station and then Munich, Germany.

Copenhagen, Denmark

The train ride to Denmark was very nice. The train was one of the nicest I had been on. I used the opportunity to sew my sock back together. I had worn a hole in the toe. Copenhagen is on an island and the train actally had to go on a ferry! I had no idea you could put a train on a boat. When the boat docked the train got off just as fast as it got on, and we continued down the track toward Copenhagen. When the train was on the boat all the passengers needed to go above to the deck of the ferry. We didnt know this and I had left Carmen on the train to sleep, once I found out about this little rule, I ran back on the train to find her missing and a few Germans escorting people off the train. Turning back around the the exit I got yelled at, HEY! AUS! As I was heading for the exit I got a little peaved by them yelling at me and kept walking away from them while they were yelling at me in German. I had just woken up and wasnt about to head down toward the yelling. Once they saw I was in fact getting off, the smiled at me and realized they were jerk pants.

Copenhagen was beautiful! The city was filled with brightly colored buildings along the waterfront. We meanered through the city streets trying to find a place to eat. We ran into a shop selling fairly cheap sandwiches, donner Kebap style. After food we headed toward the water and jumped on a boat doing tours through the channels. This was really cool! Seeing Copenhagen from the boat perspective was beautiful. We got to see the main sights of Copenhagen in about an hour including the famous Mermaid whos head apparently had been sawed off a few times.

This was on a bridge, as you can see someone put a binky in its mouth

That evening after seeing almost all of Copenhagen we decided that since our train didnt leave until 2 am we would catch a movie. We saw Public Enimies in a very nice theatre pictured above. The seats were assigned, very comfortable but it was so hot in the theatre, at one or two points in the movie we both fell asleep for a bit. The movie was very good. I really enjoyed watching it.

We went back to the train station and waited for our train back to Hamburg, Germany.

Its all Greek to me…

On my last day in Turkey I went from Izmir to Selcuk, to Ephesus, which was a beautiful ancient city, it was very nice…

I arrived on the island of Chios where I met a friendly American traveling around, we had a nice cheap dinner together, of course it was amazing Greek Slouvaki. I bought a ferry ticket to Athens and later that evening , after spending about 3 or 4 hours on the island I left. I bought a cheap ticket which doesnt really mean you have a seat. I bought a deck seat. Which are plastic chairs outside in the crisp Agean windy air, or I had the option of finding a hallway or unoccupied couch in a somewhat smoky hallway inside the ship to sleep on, which I was lucky enough to find one of these. However, the couch was too short and I woke up several times with a stiff neck or cramped legs and feet. I think the floor would have been better. So, after a terrible night of “rest” I arrived in the port of Athens at about 7:3o AM. From there I took a metro to the city center and hiked up to the Acroplolis to see the Parthenon and of course many other great sights. The experience was really cool, seeing and touching marble that had been constructed into something so beautiful so many centuries ago, it really was quite an experience seeing them.

Me on the ferry to Athens

I explored the city all day, finding things from centuries past, while I was on my way to Ancient Agora I stopped by a cafe and asked the guy if they had dolmathes, he said sure I can make you some. They were delicious. Although according to my couch surfer in Athens, he probably just got them from a can, which is okay because they were still fantastic! Unfortunately my couch surfer in Athens had to work late and was not able to meet me early, so I spent all day with my pack on looking at the monuments. I ran into an American who was speaking at a convention for nuclear physicists and we had a nice walk and talk and he showed me to the arena where the first olympics were held, it was beautiful and made of marble.

At one of the places I visited there was a museum inside the area you paid to get into. I pulled a Larry Schnell and walked in the exit of the museum, I realized later that you had to pay extra to get in. The museum was great!

The next day I went to the Acroplolis Museum, which was brand new. I went on the first day it was open to the general public. I got there fairly early too which was nice. The best thing about the museum was that it cost only 1 Euro to get in, because they were running a special promotion period for one year. The museum was amazing! Brand new, perfect everything it was great! They had 3 floors of stuff to see, and the first floor has a glass bottom, and you are walking over an archeological dig site, so there are ancient ruins below you and gorgeous marble statues inside the museum. They were everywhere. Oh, a quick note to all women who may potentially go to this museum… the second and third floors are glass as well and you see the first and second floors below you in some parts, so do yourself a favor and do not wear a skirt.

After visiting the museum I hopped on a bus to Trikala in the Meteora region of Greece. This area is where the monastaries are high atop the cliffs. It is a beautiful area. My couch surfer in Trikala works for a telecommunications company and is on call and was planning to go with me to hike around the monastaries, but he was called into work while we were driving up there. This was okay because he dropped me off and I hiked around fo a while. The monastaries were closed, but I got a lot of great pictures of them from the outside along the cliffs. I was expecting Mike (the Couch Surfer) to call me soon, but being that he works with computers and things of this nature, they can tend to be a bit time consuming, so no call. It was fine so I just kept walking. I could have stayed in the nice town by the mountains, but I decided to just keep walking. I figured that okay, it will be less farther he has to drive. About 3 towns and 11 miles later he called me and he found me walking along the road. He couldn’t believe how far I walked. After he picked me up, I was of course exhausted, and starving. We went back to his place for a quick shower and then headed out for dinner. He took me to a great cafe, where he of course took care of the ordering. We were two people sitting at two tables pushed together and 6 chairs, both tables were filled with food! It was amazing! It was one of the best meals I have had. It was great because there were so many differnt foods in front of me, and none of them were “mine” or “his” they were ours and so it was great, just great Im salavating just thinking about it .

The next morning he took me back up to the monastaries early enough so I could actually go in before they closed. They were beautiful. I went to Great Meteoria, it was amazing how they were able to build such a beautiful building on the top of a cliff. The inside had a few museums and displays, it was really cool. I think I pulled another Larry Schnell here, and got in for free. I saw no sign to pay, but when I went to another monastery they asked 2 euro to get in, unfortuantely it was not worth 2 euro.  I continued to walk around the area until Mike picked me up again from the top of one of the mountains. I decided to go with him to his next job. Like I said he is on call for a telecom company. He is a “maintenance guy” doing all sorts of things at the base stations at the top of mountains. So, we started driving to the middle of nowhere, and he even let me drive his car for a while, I certainly miss driving, nice car too. We started up a dirt and gravel road and kept going up until we were on the top of a mountain. Once we got to the base station there were a few wild dogs up at the top, 2 were fairly cute, and the other 2 not so much, once inside the gated area he said “hey go look over there in the corner” there was a dead cow rotting against the fence. It had likely fallen down part of the bank and broke its leg, after being unable to move for several days it likely died of starvation, the skin and “meat” surrounding its head was gone, and all that was left was the skull. It was pretty nasty looking.

I learned a bit more about telecommunications, which was really cool because it applied to what I studied at UNR, and I got to help him work on telecom equiptment on a mountain in Greece while the dead cow rotted away. The stench from the cow was terrible, the entire top of the mountain smelled terrible. Unfortunately the air conditioning vent in the equiptment room was taking in the awful smell and there was no escaping how awful it smelled. The dogs were busy tearing apart the cow, which opened up new pockets of abhorring stench. While working with computer equiptment in a tiny smelly room, obviously something is going to go wrong with the electronics and it did, forcing us to stay longer in the smelly room. Once we were done, we ran out of there and got in the car, while the dogs chased us down the mountain. Because the dogs were A.  Stray and B. eating a smelly cow they brought the stench with them. We were yelling at the dogs and driving fast down the dirt road hoping we could evade them and the stench but no such luck, at least for a while, when Mike got out and chased them with a squirt gun.

On the way down the mountain he called and ordered food at a small cafe he knew of in a small village. The food was ready when we arrived, and again we had fablious Greek food, a lot of food. It was amazing, the meat (beef was actually sheep and cow in a patty, among other things, the lamb chops were very fresh. Amazing food! The Greek salad is amazing too, very simple, but unlike the Greek salads served at resturants in America, I would say the closest thing to them is the one my mom makes . (and I aint just sayin that cuz shes my mom).

Falling asleep on the car ride home we got back well past midnight and I slept for a good 10 hours that night. Woke up had some Spanikopeta, and ran out the door and caught the train for Thessalonaki where I am now staying with another couch surfer. It is pouring rain and I just got back from seeing a play with his cousin and her friends. I couldn’t understand any of it, and like I said, “its all Greek to me”…

PS: my host is playing miserlou on his guitar right now…

Istanbul, Turkey

I arrived in Turkey with a refreshed perspective on things. Driving from the airport in a bus I noticed how clean and green Istanbul was. I was very amazed at how pretty it all looked and how perfectly maintained the flowers were. Being next to the coast Istanbul has views of many ships in the harbor it is simply stunning at the first sight. Driving through the city you see new architecture mixed in with ancient relecs from the past. For instance, we drove under an aqueduct looking bridge dating back from who knows when, next we drove through the remnants of an old castle.

Immediately Istanbul reminded me of a mix of Portland, Oregon and the coast with a bit of European and Asian culture, with a spalsh Middle Eastern culture. Istanbul offers a unique environment that any traveller can enjoy.

On my second day in Istanbul I took the ferry boat to see Blue Mosque and Aya Sophia, both of which are fantastic mosques. I also saw the famous grand bazzar with its maze like cavernous passages that the average customer can easily find themselves lost in while a friendly Turkish salesman tries to convince you that you need to buy a rug. Throughout the day I wandered by gorgeous gardens and beautiful other places built many years ago that either are monuments, castles, or tombs.

(walking through the streets to the dock)

(view of the mosques from the ferry boat)

(inside Aya Sophia)

(Aya Sophia)

(Blue Mosque)

(Blue Mosque)

(Inside the Grand Bazzar)

The next day in Istanbul I took a trip to two islands near istanbul. They had rocky beaches and had many nice cafes along the waterfront, they were both very charming places for someone to relax after a full day of touring around.

I climed to the top of one of the hills on this island to a monastary.The panoramic views were well worth the hike up the hill.

There were many tourists on this island, many of them rented bikes or took horse drawn carrages up to the top of the hill to see the church. I, being cheap went for the less glamorous route and stormed up the hills obviously drenched with sweat, but nonetheless accomplished for getting to see such a wonderful view.

On the ferry ride back I met a group of people about my age who were very friendly and were great to have a conversation with about the activities going on in Istanbul. They had been on the islands for a picnic and even gave me a bit of Turkish bread, cake and tea, it was all quite delishious. Later that evening my couch surfer took me to a resturant called Mercana, where we ate on the rooftop overlooking part of Istanbul.

The next day for my birthday we spent hiking up a hill toward the Black Sea to a castle and ate a picnic lunch and marveled at the castle ruins, and of course the beautiful views of the waterways.

Of course looking as good as the water did…

I jumped in…

(swimming in the Bosphorous)

The next day I walked around the bridges that connect Europe and Asia, the Bosphorous separates the European and Asian parts of Istanbul.

Finally I took a bus from Istanbul the night of the 15th to Goreme. In Capadocia. The area known quite well for its tufa towers and strange caves.

Along the night bus ride I met a nice man by the name of Allih, he was 72 and didnt speak any English, we had a great time trying to talk to each other and talk about our families. People are genuinely nice and friendly in Turkey. It is a great place to be!