Friday, September 5, 2008

Pics part two

Here ya go....just the highlights again. Finally I found a good internet cafe with a decent internet speed. They're few and far between believe it or not. Please excuse any spelling or grammatical errors....I can't be bothered to fix them up!!

Me hiking the Samaria Gorge in Crete, Greece. It was 18k=approx 11miles. Yeah, I was hurting for a few days after that! Happy 31st birthday! In Paleohora, Crete. I got up early and did yoga on a beach chair and meditated. Birthday cake! I was really sick of Greek food...all of the menus were the same and there's just a ton of heavy food. The bakeries were out of this world though. Paul and I tried to rent another scooter for the day, but that didn't work out so well...we had to drive it back and keep stopping so it wouldn't overheat. Paul, the brave soul, tried snails. Blech. He got through about six (more than i could ever even think about) and then ate the rest of my dinner that I couldn't finish. I went swimming in a rocky area and fucked up my feet pretty badly. Sharp rocks!! My feet healed up in a few days though. These are the two worst cuts. Our favorite restaurant. We ate here every day in Paleohora. Paul and I went our separate ways....he was off to Istanbul, and I joined two girls I had met at a hostel in Santorini. I met them in Stalida, Crete....nothing to report there. It was terribly touristy. My least favorite spot thus far. This is the only worthwhile pic...me relaxing on a hammock chair. I had planned to arrange a trip to Italy while I was in Stalida, but decided to join the girls to Eastern Europe instead....starting with Istanbul. I was quite ready to get out of Greece and see something new. We took an overnight ferry from Crete to Athens, then a 22 hour bus to Istanbul.
As you know, Paul was in Istanbul and we landed up meeting up again. We like traveling so much together that he was sweet enough to hang around Istanbul a few more days to wait for me so I could join him to Romania. A little smoke from the hookahThe view from atop the hostel. Me in front of the Blue Mosque. I took a ferry down the Bosphorus which opens up to the Black Sea.I'm all shiny clean after my first Turkish Bath. First you sit in a sauna. Then they bring you to lay on a slab of marble (nude) and they exfoliate you, then scrub you down and massage you with tons of soapy suds. Then rinse, dry, tea....and poof! Good as new. More mosquesThe Grand BazaarHonestly, I wasn't as impressed with the Grand Bazaar as I had hoped. After a short while all the stalls started to look the same.....Turkish people are lovely. They all want to chat with you and know where you are from. They're really helpful, too. Istanbul was a bit more expensive than I had expected as well.
After a 22 hour train ride from Istanbul I'm in Bucharest, Romania.
So far from what I've seen of Bucharest....well, we won't be staying long. It's not very beautiful and there are tons of stray dogs roaming around....100,000 in fact. You can always hear them barking and cats fighting....and men yelling loudly in the streets outside the hostel. There are people walking around huffing chemicals from bags. We're headed off to the historical section now...hoping to see something redeaming. Next we'll be off to the Transylvania area to spend some time in the Carpathian Mountains.
Love to you all!!








1 comment:

UrbanHippieMama said...

I'm just getting my computer working again... So happy to see pictures! It all looks so amazing, and I especially love the description of the Turkish bath... sounds really heavenly.
love to you. xo