Just got back...

I'm finally on US soil once again! The trip was amazing, but as always, it feels great to be home and able to sleep in my own bed.

Sorry I only posted once while away...the internet was so slow there and I was also so busy having fun. (Correction on the last post: the rock formations are in Cappadocia, not Pamukkale. I must have been half asleep when I wrote that. Ha!)

I'm planning on giving a full account in the next few days. I kept a pretty detailed journal while away and I also have almost 2 GB worth of pics to sift through.

Here are some thoughts/things we did from where I left off last--

Wow, I'm not sure where to start.

Well, we stayed in Selcuk (Turkey) for 3 days and went to see the ruins of the ancient city of Ephesus and brillant calcium terraces in Pamukkale during those 3 days. We also toured a local ceramics shop/factory and I was lucky enough to try my hand at the wheel. All I have to say is it is much more difficult than it looks. Very fun and messy though.

Then on to Greece....first stop Samos, one of the North Aegean Greek isles. We were there for the day and hung out at a beautiful beach opposite the port side of the island. Then we took an evening ferry to Mykonos and stayed there 2 nights. Mykonos was very pretty. Everything was whitewashed, but it was very expensive and kind of overrun by big spender tourists. At that point and throughout the rest of the trip, we really felt spoiled by the cheap prices and hospitality we felt during our stay in Turkey. The Greeks were nice, don't get me wrong, but the Turks seemed to truly appreciate that we were there to visit their country.

After Mykonos we took a fast catamaran style ferry (Fast Cat 4) to Santorini for 3 nights. It was much more our speed. Not as pretentious as Mykonos and just had more character in our opinion. We stayed on Kamari beach (wanting to avoid the crowed port city of Fira).

We then took a high speed ferry (High speed 5) to Athens and did a whirlwind 1 afternoon tour of the Acropolis and the Plaka area of the city.

A few traveling thoughts:

I've never seen so many different ways to flush a toilet in my life. It was like playing guess how to flush every time.

Turks really like to have tea with visitors. Apple tea is good, but you get a little burned out after the 5th or 6th offer of complimentary tea.

Cats, cats, cats. They're everywhere! I like cats, but not when I'm trying to eat fish at an outdoor diner and 7 or 8 cats start circling around my chair. lol

Alright, that's all I have for now. I will try to post pics tomorrow. I have tons of great ones that will hopefully help tell the story a little more.