Islands that end in 'os'

Picking amongst the Greek Islands is incredibly difficult! There are just so many of them, each with their own charms, and a barrage of internet opinions on which are best and which are best avoided. We decided to mix it up in the hope of getting a taste of all of the different reasons why we daydream about the Greek Islands when we are doing housework.


Kos

Beautiful Kos has all of the elements one could reasonably desire of a Greek Island – white buildings with blue edging, warm hearted and hospitable locals, white beaches that stretch for miles into the distance, some interesting ruins, a nightlife and some historical interest as the lifelong home of Hippocrates, the father of western medicine. It also has approximately 1 tourist per square metre. Still, who are we to complain about tourists?


Beaches, and MEAT



Patmos

Patmos was probably the loveliest island that we visited, although it is better known for its significance to Christians as supposedly God spoke to John the Apostle through a fissure in a cave there. It must have been an incredibly traumatic experience for poor John as he wrote the Book of Revelations in that same cave based on God’s words.

The cave was ethereal and the architecture, art work and Christian relics at the nearby St John’s monastery were gorgeous. Also there were quaint little towns with windy cobbled streets where you could happily get lost for hours and beautiful quiet beaches, some of which even had sand (surprisingly this important element is absent from most Turkish and Greek beaches).


Picking a hotel from the 20 people lining the wharf can be a hit or miss exercise... this time it was a score!


Heading up to the monastery, unfortunately the photography was very restricted so you will just have to imagine what St John's cave looks like...




Syros

Syros is the administrative centre of the Cyclades and for this reason is one of the most populated Greek Islands but it’s not a popular tourist destination (unless a tourist manages to get arrested anywhere in the Cyclades in which case they get an all expenses paid trip...). We stopped for a day, of our own free will, to see what island life is like for bureaucratic Greeks. It was definitely quiet, but the buildings and alleyways were quite beautiful, being traditional in style with artistic graffiti and colourful plant life popping out of every nook. And the food was spectacularrr!

Kapadokya... ROCKS!!!

We eventually dragged ourselves away from the spellbinding Mediterranean so that we could experience Turkey’s most famous attraction of all – the unusual rock formations, valleys and cave cities of Kapadokya (aka Cappadocia).

We walked in caves:

Crouched and slithered in caves:


Climbed up and down to caves:


Raised the roof in caves:


We even slept in a cave, continuing a centuries old way of life:


The fairy chimneys were spectacular and reminded us of a certain male appendage:

(“fairy chimneys” is an excellent marketing spin)


Best of all were the sweeping valleys, which combined all of the elements mentioned above within a setting that was part desert, part moon, part forest and part miscellaneous:

 We didn't just hang out in caves and valleys... we were greeted with all these balloons on arrival in Goreme at about 6am.

On our way to the Goreme Open Air Museum... which (see below) turned out to be pretty lame and a total tourist trap.

We also spent some time in bars watching the All Blacks open their world cup campaign against Tonga at 10am. Good excuse to start drinking early...

The Blue Cruise

I’m not going to say too much about the Mediterranean leg of our trip because it was so much fun that I don't want to make anybody vomit with envy (gloat, gloat). Also this part of the trip was not overly culturally or historically interesting (which raises the awkward question ‘is that what made it so much fun?’. Hmmm.) Neither of us had visited the Mediterranean before and it completely captivated us – it is the most stunning body of water that I have ever seen or touched, being the bluest bluest blue, crystal clear and lukewarm with lots of tasty fish swimming about.

We started with Fethiye, a beautiful mini-Bodrum with a light sprinkling of ruins, a gorgeous gorge and a heavy sprinkling of dirty postcards that mostly featured copulating animals.



We loved the boat trip in Bodrum so much we had to do another...
We accidentally discovered this beautiful place when we jumped on what we thought was a local bus to the famous Saklikent Gorge, and ended up on a 3 hour forced tour of the local area... we had a bit of a grumpy Dan on the day, but it wasn't so bad in hindsight.

When we finally made it to the gorge, the first obstacle was a freezing cold river crossing. Making it halfway across, I turned to find Soph had gone back to look for an easier way across... after much waving and gesturing she eventually realised and with some help made it back to me, my legs having just gone numb. She then celebrated her victorious crossing by signing the wall in mud, as is the custom in the gorge.



From Fethiye we took a blissful four day cruise heading east along Turkey’s southern coast. Our key responsibilities were swimming, eating freshly caught fish, swimming, playing backgammon, swimming, sleeping under the stars, swimming and visiting picturesque villages that are accessible only by sea due to the mountainous terrain behind.


Soph missed one responsibiliy... jumping off rocks, the hardest part being the climb up on the jagged slope.


Jumping montage!

Business as usual on the boat.

We stopped into a few ports, this little hidden beach was so picturesque... the swimming experience somewhat diminished by the patches of icy water coming out of springs under the rocks.

And who should we meet but two lovely resource consent planners from Gisborne - I was overjoyed!


We finished up with a few nights in a tree hut in the tiny coastal village of Olympus, which is currently at the top of my list of ‘Places where I would want to live if I had been born in the times before modern technology’ due to its incredibly luxurious natural environment. There are eternal flames to save on stick rubbing, fruit trees galore to save on farming and a beautiful warm Mediterranean beach to save on cold bathing... perfection!



Our cute treehouse, I was imagining the treehouse I had in my apple tree as a kid but it was still pretty novel.

The eternal flames, created by methane gas seeping from fissures in the rocks.

Blog of Ephesians

Our next stop was Selçuk, mostly because it encompasses the ancient city of Ephesus.

Ephesus has an illustrious history – the earliest known inhabitants were there in 6500BC, it was the second largest city in the Roman empire (second only to Rome herself) and it has been ruled over by such renowned historical figures as Alexander the Great and Cleopatra’s Antony.  It was also an important early centre of Christianity and was honoured with guest appearances by some of Christianity's greats - John the Apostle spent much of his life there, St Paul managed to get himself exiled after just a few short years and the Virgin Mary herself moved to Ephesus after the death of Jesus and spent the remainder of her days there (Note: she may no longer have been a virgin at that stage).

What all of this amounts to today is some incredible ruins, and the awe inspiring sensation that comes from walking where so many people who have changed the world have walked before you.

The church where the Council of Ephesus debated whether Mary had any genetic input into Jesus' divinity, in order to determine whether she deserved the title 'Mother of God'.  They eventually decided that she did merit the title since Jesus was 100% divine as well as 100% human, and she has been referred to as Mother of God ever since.

Some sweet sarcophagi, and a really strong guy...

The amphitheatre where Saint Paul delivered his famous speech warning against the worship of graven idols, to a crowd of silversmiths whose livelihoods depended on the making and selling of graven idols... as you can imagine it didn't go down well.

This road was totally epic, it connected the port with the amphitheatre and was just, well, epic.

The library, with the four muses and hundreds of tourists


And everyones favourite attraction at Ephesus... the public toilets! Very cosy... people speculate that there could have been wooden dividers, but I'm not convinced.

Nothing rhymes with Pammukale

Hello, hello

The third stop in our Turkish odyssey had white terraces of the pink and white terraces kind, but with the notable differences of being above sea level and there being no pink ones. Also, there were Roman ruins.

We had been cruelly misinformed that the terraces were only able to be viewed from a distance, so enroute we paid 25 lira each to bathe in a beautiful man-made pool which had the same mineral water within and ancient Roman ruins scattered around the floor. To my delight the mineral waters turned out to be magical and repaired my bleach-shredded hair to the extent that I can pass for semi-normal once more! Hoorah!  


Three lovely ladies amongst the roman ruins, unfortunately we were too busy bathing in the pools to get photos of us bathing in the pools... suffice it to say that they were awesome.


We tore ourselves away, rounded a corner made from ancient library and beheld the terraces just as the sun started to set: they were absolutely stunning and accessible to tourists! I think that it would definitely be worth dredging up the Kiwi ones and getting out the super glue...

The texture was amazingly cool, at times the slope looked quite precarious but not once were we even close to slipping...