After Emily's departure early on the 19th it felt like the end of an era, yet the beginning of a grand new one as well. At that point I was beginning to go a little crazy from spending so much time in a city... if there's one thing I've learned this year, it is that I am in no way a city person. To visit is nice, but in order to do almost anything I must pay and this wallet of mine ain't got much to give. That, and going outside never really feels like outside. I think I need to touch dirt in order to feel revitalized... perhaps if I just carried around a bag of dirt I would be okay.
I met up with my college friend, Maiya and after attempting to eat a meal of cheap foodstuffs from the grocery with a sea of cats scrambling around us to get at the delicacy that is 50 cent bologna, we joined the Istanbul couchsurfing community and stayed with Kadir and his flatmates near Istanbul university. It was a great experience as they were very hospitable and took us out for turkish coffee and gave us lentil soup and tasty bread (when traveling, you will no doubt win my heart if you give me food) and gave us a nice big comfy bed to sleep in. It was also great to finally get out of the hostel Emily and I had been living in for the majority of our stay. While it was a great place, it began to feel a bit too claustrophobic and I was craving some peace from the sort of chaotic involvement of constant new travelers and interesting experiences with the hostel staff... mainly the Turkish boy I dated for a short period of time who quickly decided we should be together forever.
After a simple flight on Aegean airlines (I highly recommend) for 40 bucks, we arrived in Greece and are currently staying with Pheobus, another generous couchsurfer who has eased away all my weariness from traveling using a humble abode, a pull-out couch, tasty home-cooked food, amazing music, a shower, and great company. There is also another couch-surfer here from Germany named Niels and for the time-being we are a tiny family of new-found friends and it feels good to relax into such a situation. Greece is warm and smells so sweet. I will return. Tomorrow morning, though, we leave for Milan.
Some highlights of the trip:
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| Emily and I selfying in Cappadocia, land of the fairy towers. |
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| Turkish delight is so freaking delightful. |
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| Eating street bread in Sultanahmet Sq. Behind me is the Blue Mosque. |
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| Echumenical Patriarchate, the vatican equivalent (kinda) to Greek Orthodoxy. |
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| Eyup. AKA Death Mountain. A large hill with 100s of graves. I felt so blessed to stumble upon it. |
-Watching nearly 100 balloons take off in Cappadocia early in the AM.
-Attending a liturgy at the Ecumenical Patriarchate and kissing the Patriarch's hand when accepting the blessed bread.
-Watching the sunset atop a mountain of graves in Eyup... the mecca of sorts in Turkey.
-Going muddin' in the countryside of Cappadocia on ATVs
-Being given tea and a map from a smart car on a snowy day when we were lost looking for the Hammam.
-The Hammam (Turkish bath).
-The numerous unplanned experiences provided by the people of Turkey.
-McDonalds in Turkey.
-Buying a half kilo of cat food and feeding the cats of Istanbul, and in doing so, learning that I was not the only one to care for the strays, in fact the entire city seems to care for them. I knew I liked the place!
-Wine tasting in Cappadocia
-Cappadocia
-The incredible hospitality we have been given so far, in Istanbul, Cappadocia, and Greece. It has truly been an amazing journey so far, of course with its ups and downs and it tuckers me out every day, but the universe keeps surprising in mostly positive ways and this was my main prayer at the beginning of the journey–to be thrown into the unexpected and come out feeling revitalized.
I have not felt full since my mother died, but this is helping to fill me up; I am starting to be able to find a path again, feeling the ground beneath my feet and trusting I will not fall through.
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