Living the good life in Amman

Once we got to Amman, we really started living the good life. We were there for 3 nights, with Sarah's brother Peter flying over for the latter 2 nights. The 3 of us would then travel together for a week.
Luckily for us, our good friend Mo has an apartment in Amman that is associated with his family's business. Mo and his family and colleagues treated us amazingly. We had a driver for our entire 7 days in Jordan. Ahmed - he was the man. Ahmed loved to take us "arounding" throughout Amman and the rest of the country, and was quick to offer us his insights, even though he accidentally dumped a cup of coffee on Sarah at one point. We loved Ahmed, and are very grateful that he was there for us.
And then there was Yatti - one of the greatest things the country of Jordan has to offer, even though she's Indonesian and not Jordanian. Yatti lived in the apartment, and cooked and cleaned for us. I've never seen so much food. I'd sit down on the couch after a light snack of chicken, rice, lamb, paella, spagetti, salad, pita, and yogurt to find a fresh poundcake, tons of fruit, candy bars, and cheese. Tea and coffee was always around.
We really lived in luxury those three days in Amman - a billion thanks to Mo and his family for taking care of us.

Bosra

Return of the Blog

So, the blog died for about a week, for a variety of reasons. 1) Too much fun, not enough time. We constantly run around, and when we're finally back to our spot for the night, we're typically dead tired. Plus, the internet is not always working, etc. 2) For about 6 days, I had a serious bout with Suleyman's Revenge. No details required, but lets just say I wasn't as spry as usual. All better now, though, so time for some updates. Plus, we had camera issues, which caused some delays. Those, also, have been fixed.

Our last day in Syria, we hired a driver to drive us to Amman, Jordan. We stopped at the ancient city of Bosra, which has some spectacular Roman ruins, including one of the biggest Roman theater's around. It was wild.
On the way to Bosra, we definately had some, "whoa, we're in Syria" moments. We drove past multiple army training facilities. Tanks cruising by, Syrian army dudes yelling at each other. We definately saw some live drills. So - to whoever has infiltrated the blog - I know all about those Syrian tankers half way between Suweida and Damascus...
We then drove across the border at Deraa (where Lawrence of Arabia was arrested), and went to Jerash, another Roman site about 40 KM north of Amman. The overland border crossing between Syria and Jordan is something I'll never forget. Absolute and complete chaos.
1 big, stinky room. Tons of sweaty Jordanian men yelling and screaming. Zero concept of a line. Over 100 hundred degrees. Flies everywhere. The bathrooms - worst I've seen in my life. A total and utter mess, a zoo. Disgusting, the entire border crosssing was complete nonsense. Somehow, after about 1 hour, we made it through. Women in burkas passed out with children, flies all over everyone, sweaty Jordanian guys fighting and spitting and yelling. Glad we surived.
After that fiasco, we got to Jerash, which was amazing. There is a huge hippodrome that still has chariot races, which we, unfortunately due to the border fiasco, missed. Tons of huge Roman columns. A very impressive site. We arrived in Amman around 4pm. What an oasis Amman is...

and more Damascus

Syrian wedding in our hotel lobby. This was the "march to the elevator."

Syrian boys, Sarah, and piles of candy

more tea and nargila

fresh blackberry juice

More Damascus

Chapel of Ananias, who met Paul on Straight Street, in the center of Old City Damascus. Paul was blind when he met Ananias, and Ananias baptised Paul, who could then see.

The Roman Arch on Straight Street

Inside the Umayyad Mosque. Inside, there were tons of groups praying. Many of the men and women were crying loudly and emotionally. It was an incredible sight.

Sarah in her robe at Umayyad Mosque. The grey cape definately makes you look like an outsider. Inside, Sarah felt uncomfortable, as she was treated pourly by the women in the mosque. The men had no problem with me. It was an interesting cultural moment. The mosque is divided into a mens and womens section.

Syrian baclava mounds

Damascus

Tea and Nargile at Al-Nofara, a famous Syrian coffee shop

The Umayyad Mosque

Al-Hakawati - a famous Syrian story teller who tells ancient tales in Arabic inside Al-Nofara. The tale this night was the ancient Arabic tale of the muni bond salesmen and the teacher, lost in the middle east.

The Umayyad Mosque

A new friend at the biggest souk in Damascus, Al-Hamidiyeh

So many memorable moments in Damascus, and they started the minute we got there. We walked off the plane from Istanbul, and as we walked in the airport, there were literally 100 men and women in complete Muslim dress, lying and sitting on the floor. It really was an eye opener. Syria is the Middle Eastern main course to Turkey's appetizer.

We stayed at a nice hotel in downtown Damascus, which was about a 15 minute walk to the Old City. The Old City is where we spent all of our time, besides the hotel pool, and we could have wandered their for hours. Very old souks, the Umayyad Mosque (where John the Baptist's head is apparently in one of the sarcophaguses, fruit and juice stands, coffee and narghile (houka), etc. We ate 2 very delishious and incredibly cheap meals. Syria is dirt cheap. No alcohol around at all. You can find it at some places, but most places are Muslim run, and thus don't serve alcohol. I love looking at the "Cocktail Menu" at the restuarants and deciding between Strawberry Juice and Pineapple Juice.

Whirling Dervishes, good bye Turkey, hello Syria

Our last night in Turkey, we went and saw the Whirling Dervishes, which is a religious dance done by Sufis. A core of their belief system is that by revovling, they become closer to God. It was a fascinating ceremony, in a beautiful building that was over 600 years old. Unfortunately, pictures were forbidden, but the music and dancing (all men) was pretty fascinating. Much more interesting than my sister's old ballet recitals.
We woke up the next morning, and flew to Damascus. Much more to come on our 2 days in Syria later, but Damascus is beautiful and charming. The people could not have been nicer. The old city, surrounded by old Roman Walls, is great, and we spent hours roaming the old souks and checking out Mosques, churches, drinking coffee, smoking water pipe, eating fresh fruit, candy, kebabs, etc. Will post detailed stories and pics later. There were a bunch of moments where I had to step back and realize where we were, whether because of the impact of the religous history or the reminder of the current political situations.
A few years back, the Syrian government blocked facebook, alleging that the Israeli's had taken it over. Apparently, they also thought the blog was infiltrated, because it was blocked during our stay there...hence the blog delay. We are now in Amman,, Jordan but I'll post all the details and trials and tribulations tonight/tomorrow.

Undergournd City, views, vino

A view from the top

Vino

Sarah in the caves

Claustrophobia

Cappadocia, day 2

So for our 2nd day in Cappadocia, we did a formal tour. We did a 4km hike in the Rose Valley, where we saw many caves, pigeon holes, and funky land/rock formations. We then went and saw some authentic pottery and then had lunch. After lunch, we went to a huge underground cave city and then a winery. The day ended with a jump in the pool, a nap and a blog. Dinner soon and then off to see the Whirling Dervishes tonight.

Sarah climbing into a cave

And More Cappadocia

Watching the World Cup at outside bar "Fat Boys" in Goreme

Dinner

Drinks before

More Cappadocia

Where else would you go for a beer in a town full of caves?

Cappadocia

A view from the Goreme Open Air Museum

A church and its art

View from our hotel

A minarete in Goreme

Goreme

After arriving in Ankara at 11pm, we were in a car to Goreme by 6:30 the next morning. We arrived at 10:30. Goreme (pronounced Gor-em-ay) is the signature town of the Cappadocia region of Turkey. Sarah's first comment was "Feels like we're in Star Wars." We are staying at the Kelebek Hostel, which is a beautiful spot on top of the hill, on the edge of town. Our room is an old cave with a huge arched cieling. Very unique. When we got to town, we walked about 3km to the Open Air Museum, which had a bunch of old cave dwellings and churches. We then went on a 3 hour hike up one of the valleys, where we saw tons of crazy rock formations, watermelon farms, and no people. The views are stunning. It's kind of like being on what I would imagine as a mixture of Arizona and the moon.

Cappadocia is one of the oldest parts of the world that had been inhabitted constantly - approx 6000 years. The history behind the cave dwellings is that when Arabs swept through the region in the first 500 years after Christ, the local people (Christian), would hide out in the caves. Some of the churches have beautiful mosiacs - again - all of this is carved from stone.
St. George was a 5th century Cappadocian. He is also the Patron Saint of England. Why? Because during the Crusades, it was rumored that St. George was seen on his white horse helping fight the Muslim people. So St. George, who most likely had never heard of England and died 800+years before the Crusades, is England's Patron Saint.

More Selcuk

After Ephesus - we biked to the area of the 7 Sleepers - where apparently a bunch of people went to sleep for a couple hundred years and woke up with some crazy visions. The highlight of this stop was the road side peaches and watermelon we bought from a very friendly Turksih guy. Georgia peaches have nothing on Turksih peaches. Then, we went to the Temple of Artemis - one of the 7 ancient wonders of the world. All that is left is a column and some ruins, but it's incredible to imagine what it was like, and to be standing there.
Afterwards, we ate our first, and hopefully not last, Turksih pizzas. We then went to St. John's Basilica, where he was ultimately buried. The place was destroyed twice, once my Muslims and once by an earthquake during the Middle Ages, but his burial is still there.
Afterwards - back to the hotel for a swim, then off to the airport for a 9pm flight to Ankara, the capital of Turkey, where we planned to spend as little time as possible

Resting spot for St. John

The remains of the Temple of Artemis

Ephesus

We hopped on borrowed bikes from our hotel and road about 4km to Ephesus. This place was spectacular. A city that has origins dating back to 6000BC! So much has happened there- 2 visits from Cleopatra, the capital of Asia Minor, the place where St. Paul preached to the pagans about Christianity, and the location where St. John brought the Virgin Mary after the death of Jesus, to name a few things. So, yes, a slightly significant locale. Some of the ruins we saw were from the 4 - 6th centuries. However, it was a Roman colony in the 12 and 1300's, when it had a population of up to 120,000, so a lot of what we saw is from that era. If anyone remembers the computer game Civilization - well - this place may have inspired me to dust off the old games.
Sarah standing in front of the remains of the Church of the Virgin Mary

Me in the theater where Paul preached to the Pagans. When Paul was there (both Paul and John spent a lot of time in what is now Turkey in the 1st century), the theater sat about 800 people. Under Roman times - which is what is in this picture, it held 24,000.

The Selcuk Library

Selcuk

So, we finally left Istanbul at 4pm on Friday. We flew about 1 hour to Izmire, which is on the Mediterranean coast in western Tukrey, and is apparently where Homer was born, assuming he was indeed a real person. We drove about 1 hour south to Selcuk, where we checked into Hotel kalehan. The place was fantastic. A shame we only stayed their 1 night, but we did everything we wanted to do while we were there. On Friday, we just relaxed by the pool, with a view of the hotel and the Selcuk castle (see bleow). We ate dinner there, where they had bread, cheese, olives, and fruit that was all cultivated within about 2oo years of the hotel. Then ping pong and early to bed. Saturday was a big day.