Venice, Italy

We decided to veer off our itinerary and spend two nights in Venice, Italy! Conveniently, there is a ferry from Venice to Croatia…which was our planned destination. Our hotel was built in the 1400’s and owned by a famous painter. It is right on the Grand Canal, in a quiet back alley. The window of our room is in the lower right hand corner.

Our basement room…a bit musty…but fitting for a house built in the 1400’s. We could hear the water lapping at the window sill.

Gondola’s everywhere! At 80 euro for 30 minutes you can see why! We chose to watch the beauty of them from afar!

The busy, busy Grand Canal. On the left you can see a “bus”. This was our mode of water transportation. We would grab a seat on the back “deck” and watch the world go by.

The houses are beautiful..lots of leaded glass and intricate iron work. Note the metal “braces”…they are put into the buildings for reinforcement. They are the ends to a long rod that runs the entire length of the building.

To me the most stunning part of Venice is all the little back alleys. The waterways with their small bridges and boats. We spent most of our time just wandering….usually lost! Venice is truly a maze. Even with a map you are doomed.

View of the Grand Canal at night from the famous Rialto bridge. Venice is extremely touristy. Our favorite moments were early in the morning or late at night…when all the people had left. This spot was crawling with people a few hours before.

Gargoyles! They are peeking out from everywhere….

St Marcos Square. We got up early and beat the crowds! Only pigeons to fight off.

I just like this picture….a winged lion in St Marcos Square. This is the ceremonial entrance to the city. Now on to Croatia!

Cappadocia, Turkey

We arrived in Cappadocia...after a bus/plane/taxi/hotel/taxi/bus.....it was that or the dreaded overnight bus..no thanks. We stayed in the Kismet Cave Hotel in Goreme. Our room was not an actual cave room...but we did get to peer into them. You can see the cave looming over the back of the property.

Beneath the honeycomb cliffs of Goreme, the locals live in fairy chimneys. The fairy chimneys were formed when erosion wiped out the lava covering the tuff (consolidated volcanic ash), leaving behind isolated pinnacles. They can reach up to 40m high, have conical shapes and are topped by caps of harder rock resting on pillars of softer rock. It makes for the most incredible landscape! I could barely walk through town without tripping on something because I kept looking up!
I'm pretty sure the Flintstones lived here....Fred? Barney?
Goreme Open-Air Museum was first an important Byzantine monastic settlement that housed some 20 monks, then a pilgrimage site from the 17th century. The fresco filled "Dark Church" was named due to that fact that it originally had very few windows. The lack of light preserved the frescoes vivid color. You had to pay extra to get into the Dark Church...and it was well worth every penny (or lira). We were the only ones in it! Blissful peace from the throngs of tourists outside.

Cappadocia is surrounded by valleys that you can hike in. Rose Valley, White Valley, Love Valley...all stunning.
At the end of the day we hiked up above Goreme. We drank a bottle of Cappadocian red wine while watching the sun set over the fairy chimneys. The hair raised on our arms when the call to prayer echoed across the valley. So eerie!

This is Pigeon Valley, filled with colorful dovecotes. The pigeon houses peppering cliffs and fairy chimneys where traditionally used to collect the bird's droppings for use as fertilizer. The valley is filled with flying pigeons.
The underground city of Derinkuyu. During the 6th and 7th centuries, when Persian and Arabic armies set off to vanquish the Christians, beacons were lit and the warning could travel from Jerusalem to Constantinople in hours. When the message reached Cappadocia, the Byzantine Christians would escape into secret tunnels leading to vast underground cities. This particular one was thought to hold 10,000 people and had over seven levels. We saw stables, churches, ventilation shafts, granaries, a blackened kitchen, and wine rooms. Not for the claustrophobic.

Ihlara Valley..a favorite retreat of Byzantine monks, who cut churches into the base of its towering cliffs. The entrance down has 360 steps. We walked along the river at the bottom.

The restaurants at the end of the gorge had river platforms that you could dine on and tables submerged in the water. Nothing like having a nice frog between your toes while sipping your soda.
Selime monastery has a vast kitchen with a soaring chimney, a church with a gallery around it, and stables with rock-carved feed troughs. It looked like something out of Star Wars!
The church, with intricately carved walls. There were once frescoes, but the smoke has long since blackened them.

Uchisar Castle...a tall volcanic rock outcrop riddled with tunnels and windows. We could see this in the distance above Goreme. Again...very Star Wars! Back to Istanbul for a few days of travel planning....then on to Venice!

Gulet Cruise, Turkey

We embarked on a three night “gulet” trip….sailing around the 12-islands. The ironic part is that our boat doesn’t really sail. It had a jib, and two masts without sails…so we motored around the islands. We each had our own cabin and small bathroom. The beds became more of a luggage rack as it was too hot to sleep downstairs!

A passing gulet…difficult to take a picture of your own boat! They are beautiful…and quite large. Ours slept twenty. It also had a large kitchen, eating area and lots of place to lounge.

The twelve islands in the distance. The weather was gorgeous and the waters were crystal clear.

Our bed each night! We would drag up our linens and pillows and fall asleep under the stars. Of course we would also wake up to the sun rising. Naps became an important part of each afternoon. Our second night we moored in a cove that was less than calm. The boat pitched back and forth all night…you had to stick a foot out to prevent yourself from rolling off the mat!

During the day we would explore different coves. We could swim, snorkel and hike. A group of us climbed up the mountain to this stunning view. Our boat was in the water below. A hot hike, but well worth it!

The food was incredible. On the barbeque for this particular night was meatballs (Dean says he could eat them every day for eternity) and chicken. We also had whole fish, prawns, and calamari (all in one meal). Lunches were always vegetarian…bean dishes, pasta, vegetables, salads….yum!

The entire gang. There were a bunch of 30-something girls (from Australia and the UK), a family from Holland, two couples from Australia, and a New Yorker. Great mix of people…we got along wonderfully! Swam together, played cards, read our books, and had long conversations.

Snorkeling….we explored every cove. Never really saw much…the water is very clear…but it looks like the surface of the moon! Usually found small fish, crabs, an occasional starfish, and some sea anemones.

Our last night. The sunsets were magical and enhanced by the beautiful ships sailing around us. We were lucky to make many new friends from around the world. On to the magical fairy chimneys and caves of Cappadocia!

Fethiye, Turkey

We arrived in Fethiye..and I learned a very important lesson. Never book your travels when you are sick! We book our travels literally the day before we leave for the next country. It is a long day of planning, reading and internet time. I had a difficult time finding a mid-range place to stay in Fethiye…and finally gave in…what could be wrong with Calis Beach only 5K away? Let’s see….the 20 minute (or longer) packed minibus ride with no air-con for starters. Then there is the fact that the beach is a combination of Ocean City and Seaside. It is a “narrow stretch of gravel beach lined with mass-produced hotels and British retirees” according to Lonely Planet. Oops…missed that quote.

The good news is that the sunset off the rooftop of the hotel was magnificent! This is a view of the islands we would soon be sailing around.

Tombs carved into the sheer rock façade in 350 BC.

We took a minibus out to the town of Kayakoy, an eerie town of 2000 stone houses. It was deserted by its mostly Ottoman-Greek inhabitants after WWI and the Turkish War of Independence. The League of Nations supervised an exchange of populations between Turkey and Greece. As there were more Ottoman Greeks than Greek Muslims, many of the Turkish towns were left unoccupied.

We wandered through a beautiful church with black-and-white pebble mosaic floors, and explored many of the houses.

We ended our explorations at the Levissi Garden, a 400 year old stone building that has been a horse stable and the home of the mayor. It is now a stunning wine house and restaurant. We asked for a tour of the impressive wine cellar which has over 400 Turkish wines. Even got in a little tasting.

Had lunch and a glass of wine on their patio, overlooking the stone houses on the hill. Now on to our gullet cruise….three nights under the stars!

Bodrum, Turkey

We arrived in Bodrum, a harbour town with the look of Greece....whitewashed houses and subtropical gardens. We followed a blue mosaic down a tiny alley to find the gate to Su Otel!
Our room had a poolside patio that we used for our typical travel picnic....wine (Turkish!), olives, cheese, hummus, simet, and fresh fruit.
The marina is full of multi-million dollar yachts and high end restaurants. We enjoyed a rooftop dinner and watched the sunset. This is a party town....our waiter told us of a bar called the Catamaran...you get on an actual Catamaran and it goes out into the harbour. A speedboat takes you back once you have finished dancing and drinking the night away!
The view from our dive boat as we left the harbour. The Castle of St Peter was erected in 1437 by the Knights Hospitaller. It has moats, water cisterns, towers and a dungeon. It currently contains the Museum of Underwater Archaeology.
Bodrum is known for "wreck" diving. On our second dive we were able to swim around this 1940's era plane. You could even swim through it! (Disclaimer- this is not our photo...Dean got it off the internet...we wish we had such a camera!)
The next morning we headed to the castle to view the museum. Turns out our dive master is a rather well know underwater archaeologist! He was involved in the excavation of the 14th century BC Uluburun, the oldest excavated shipwreck in the world.
A display of amphorae- the castle owns one of the largest collections in the world. Some our from the 14th century, and all were recovered from the waters of southwest Turkey.
View of Bodrum from the castle tower. You can see the whitewashed buildings, turquoise waters, and GIANT yachts. Now further down the coast to Fethiye!