Still Writing?

Ok. So, now I am officially back to reality...and super swamped in school related tasks already. But I will keep putting pictures up as I load them. For some reason my camera (ok, dave's too) died the other day, so i am awaiting a new one. When that comes I will put more up, mostly of Israel.

Therefore my blog is not done...yet. Maybe I will just keep it and change the name or something. Its a nice way to keep in touch with people.

Thanks for all of you who have checked my blog at some point. Hope it was interesting =)

Pictures

I have been updating my previous posts with pictures. In case anyone was wondering where these so-called pictures were =)

Home

It's nice to be home. I arrived home yesterday after a LONG day of travelling. Jet Lag is setting in (I woke up at 5am today) but I am trying to get back into a normal routine.

I will be posting pictures in the next few days so if you want to SEE some pics of what i did you can just keep checking this blog for a bit longer.

Thanks for all of you who followed me on my travels!

Nice places to live...

Final day in Turkey. I am happy to say that until this morning I have managed to stay healthy and not get sick (for those who don't know, I ALWAYS get sick on vacation, just ask my parents). Today i woke up with a headache and a sore throat. NOT cool. The plane ride tomorrow will be interesting.

Anyways...

Today I am going to see Topkapi palace despite feeling under the weather. It is the only place left on my list to see. It was quite a long list and so i feel very accomplished =)

Saw Dolmabache (spelling?) palace the other day. It was beautiful. The only downside was that it was a guided tour. This meant that my group was huge and I couldn't hear the guide anyways...so it seemed a bit useless. But it was a very decorated place, as most palaces are. I quite enjoyed it.

Tomorrow morning (local time) 8:30am depart for London. Then i have a 2 hr stop over before continuing to T.O. I arrive in Toronto at 3:30 local time, which for me that will feel like 10:30pm. It will be a struggle to stay awake...ugh Jet Lag.

later!

Boat Cruıse

I am back ın Istanbul now. Last nıght I went on a boat cruıse along the Bosphorus. It was probably one of my most memorable experıences from Istanbul. The cıty looked so nıce from the water. The Bosphorus actually splıts the cıty ınto the Asıan and European sıdes of the cıty. There are old fortresses that can be seen from the water that gıve evıdence to a tıme when the cıty was dıvıded between the Chrıstıan and Ottoman empıres.

One more thıng. It just started raınıng for the fırst tıme sınce ı have been here. It was pourıng all nıght. Apparently August gets a couple of days of heavy raın then the rest ıs quıte dry. People here are happy because ıt means that there won't be a shortage of water.

That ıs all for now. I have 3 more days here then ı am comıng back to Canada.

Quand la lune frappe les yeux...

Huge Bugs
I saw a huge bug yesterday while i was on the phone yesterday. I almost dropped the phone and bolted but there was a guy watching my reaction and i was trying to act brave. The thing was the size of a small mouse and it was running (rather quickly) towards me. I started stomping but he just kept coming. So as he neared my foot i kicked him pretty good...then he went running off. I would have stepped on him but he was so big! I thought that some of you who read this may find this story funny. The guy who was watching me was laughing. Crazy tourists =)

Dead Sea Scrolls
These were on display at the Israel Museum. I was so excited to see them! I know that this sort of thing would bore most people, but i find them incredibly interesting! I mean, before the dead sea scrolls were discovered the earliest evidence of the biblical books dated back to about 1000 CE/AD. The dead sea scrolls date back 2000 years and contain all the books in the biblical canon except for the book of Esther. The scrolls have given scholars a window into a period of political, social and religious tension, which was largely unknown before. Anyways, i wont give a paper on the significance on the scrolls...at least not now =)

HOT!
Wow. It is so hot! It is Shabbat today (Sabbath) so that means that pretty much everything is closed. Its rather quiet. The only things open are some tourist sites and taxis. But it is brutally hot so i will probably stay inside for most of the day. I have had a headache for the past day so i am taking it easy.

Shabbat
Last night I was invited by one of my professors (who lives in Jerusalem) to attend the Shabbat prayers at a Synagogue followed by a family shabbat dinner. I did my best to follow along during the prayers...but they were reading much quicker than me! Dinner afterwards was great! It was really nice of my prof. to let me into his home and meet his family. And the food was so good. Its nice to have a home cooked meal after having to eat out all the time.

One week to go
Down to my last week of travelling. I have two more days in Jerusalem (sat and sun) then i am back to Istanbul on monday morning. I still have a few more things to see in Instanbul (like Topkapi palace) then i leave for Toronto on friday at 8:30am local time. I arrive home at 3:30 friday afternoon then i will have to try to recover from the Jet La

So Hot
Did I mention it is SO hot! I don't even want to move!

Nazareth and Jerusalem

Tel-Aviv University

Nazareth

Nazareth. Very crowded.

Old City of Jerusalem.

Nazareth
Took the bus up to the city of Nazareth the other day. It was 2.5 hrs from Tel Aviv by Bus. That was quite an exprience. I asked the bus driver to drop me off near the historical sites...so he drops me off and i look around and i realize i have no idea where i am. Probably should have bought a map or something before i got there. So i just started wandering and eventually found my bearings (and a map). There were only a few places to see there. Mainly churches.

1. The Church of the Annunciation (Tradition claim that it was the site where the Angel Gabriel announceed to Mary about Jesus' birth)
2. The Church of St. Joseph's Carpentry (The traditional location for the workshop of Joseph)
3. Synagogue Church (where Jesus preached)
4. Mary's well

So i finished this tour in about 45min then went for some falafel...which was amazing...then spent 45min trying to figue out which bus i needed to get back to Tel Aviv. Eventually i ended up taking a taxi to another city then taking a sherut (spelling?)...basically its a shared taxi. So, that was my trip to Nazareth.

Jerusalem: The Old City
An amazing place. A clash of religions...and alot of tourists. I cannot believe how many people are speaking english here! I arrived yesterday afternoon and did some exploring of the old city. I went to the top of a hostel there and saw a beautiful aerial view of the city...it was breathtaking. Tomorrow i will explore the city some more and so i will write more about it later

Jerusalem: New City
I am staying in a hostel called the Jerusalem Hostel, which is about a 10min walk to the Jaffa Gate in the Old City. It is a very popular place, lots of people around. Today i did some exploring of the 'new city' (which is huge). I walked from 10-7pm. So, i am quite tired right now. Here is a sum of what i saw today.

• The German Quarter (filled with shops and cafes).
• The Monastery of the Cross (greek orthodox)
• Shrine of the Book (AMAZING! more on this later)
• Israel Museum
• Market place (crazy)
• Hebrew University

I have more to write but i am running out of time. I will give more details later!

Where am I?

The Beach in Tel-Aviv. The most beautiful beach I have ever been to.

The Old City of Jaffa.

Sunday Aug 19th 5am i woke up to go to the airport. It wouldn't have been so bad had i not gone to bed at 3:30! Anyways, my trip to Israel was beginning...so i was excited. The airport was a bit crazy, there was so much security. I think i stood in 8 lines before i was able to board the plane! However, the flight went well. I arrived at the Airport in Tel Aviv and got asked so many questions at security! I was so unprepared! Besides being interrogated at Passport control, it was a beautiful airport, very nice. And believe me, i know, because i walked around it for a while trying to find the bus then the train. I ended up taking the train into Tel Aviv. From the train station I took a taxi. After my last taxi experience i was a bit weary about taking one, but since i didn't have a clue as to where i was i thought it was best not to get lost on my first day =)

I am staying at the Hayarkon Hostel right beside the beach. I think that it is the most beautiful beach i have ever seen! Living in a hostel is a bit strange...but very cheap and there are many interesting people here. Yesterday i spend the afternoon at the beach then walked (yes walked) to the city of Jaffa. There is an old port there which was nice. For dinner i got shwarma...it was the best shwarma i have ever had! So good.

Today i am off to see the Nahum Goldman Museum of the Jewish Diaspora and Tel Aviv University. That is, if i can figure out the bus system!

Istanbul Solo

Oops! So, Dolma is not tukish style shwarma. It is actually called doner kebap. I sometimes mix them up.

Anyways...so I had a true Istanbul experience yesterday when I braved the city solo. Basically this meant that i walked ALOT, went to a museum, had some turkish food at a cafe, learned to take the tram car, and paid way too much for a cab ride. It's kinda frustrating when you just have to assume that people (aka: Taxi drivers) will take advantage of you if you are a tourist. I was so ticked! Besides that happening it was a good day.

Later in the evening we had dinner with Jess' grandparents. They were so friendly and welcoming! And their food was amazing! After dinner we went out to a very chic club called Angelique. It was nice, but my feet were so sore I sat for most of the night =)

Today we are going to one of the Islands around Istanbul to relax and lay on the beach. It's going to be great!

IZMIR

First off let me apologize for not writing yesterday like i said, the internet seems to only be working in the morning. I am currently back in Istanbul. Today I am planning to visit the archaeological museum and perhaps another site, maybe Topkipa palace.

Let me tell you about my trip to Izmir. First of all, i should mention that Izmir is not a very touristic place, there are about 2 things to see there, so we were not expecting much when we got there. The first place we went to was the Izmir clocktower and the marketplace. There were very few tourists there, it was more of a local market. We stopped for some turkish dolma (which is their version of shwarma), which was good. The second site that we went to was called 'elevator'. Izmir was built upon hills so this elevator was built to help people get up the hill. It was so steep! From the top of the elevator there was an incredible view of the city.

Afterwards we decided that we should find a hotel. My guidebook listed three so we drove around trying to find them. It turned out that these hotels were in one of the sketchy areas of town. It was very poor and everyone was starring at us in our car. It looked like images they show on TV of the middle east. It was a side of turkey that I had not seen before. So, we didn't stay in any of those hotels...and they weren't even that cheap ($60 a night)! We were actually a bit worried about getting out of the car.

Rather we drove to Konak Quay. This place was so beautiful. It is basically a street along the water which is filled with restaurants, stores and bars. We stayed in a hotel near there and it was really nice, and only a bit more expensive than the "cheap" ones. So we ended our evening sitting by the sea having a few drinks with our friend who lived there =)

That was my trip to Izmir.


Other interesting things about Turkey...

Call to Prayer
Every day, 5 times a day, 365 days a year there is the Muslim call to prayer. It lasts about 5 minutes and can be heard all over Turkey. No matter where you are you can hear it. The call is a prayer to Muhammad and tells Muslims that it is now the time for prayer. The times are rougly 5am, 10am, sometime around noon, 5pm and 7:30pm.

Street Dogs and Cats
There are an incredible amount of street dogs and cats which are all over the cities in Turkey. I have never seen anything like it before. Yesterday there were 7 cats just hanging around this one area. They are very skiny too. I thought i would mention it because we don't have anything quite like it in Canada.

Public Toilets
Here is a picture of us at Efes. We are sitting at the 2000 year old public washroom. It was actually very comfy! lol

Romeo, Romeo

Ancient ruines of Pergamon.

Random Sign at Efes (Ephesus).

Amazing ruines of Efes (Ephesus). Look closely at the bill in the picture.

Pıck-Up Lines

These are some of the best pıck-up lınes i have heard so far....

1. Are you from hollywood?
2. I lıke you, I love you...do you love me?
3. Hello Angel
4. What are you lookıng for? Are you lookıng for me?
5. Welcome to Earth...how was paradıse?

They are so funny! Most of these I heard when we were at the Grand Bazarr in Istanbul. It is basically a large covered marketplace where people sell turkish goods. It was so much fun. I was lookıng at a leather purse that cost 100 liras, but i wasn't going to spend that much on it and i really didn't like it that much. But the guy was so persistent...he offered me 75liras then 50! It was crazy. In the end I didn't buy it, but i was definetly tempted to!

EFES
Today we visited the ancient city of Efes (Ephesus). It ıs known for havıng the most ımpresıve ancıent ruıns ın all of turkey. It was ıncredıble to see! It took about 4 hours to see ıt all. We hıred a guıde who walked us through everythıng whıch was ıncredıbly useful. One of the neatest thıngs there was the Theater, whıch seats 25,000 people. It remaıns the largest theater ın the world and ıs stıll used today for concerts and festıvals. Around Efes we also saw the burıal place of Mary (called Maryama) and the burıal place of St. Luke as well as St. John's Basılıca where St. John ıs saıd to have been burıed.

Romeo, Romeo
One of the thıngs that ı have learned thus far about Turkısh people (or at least about the people that ı have been hangıng out wıth) ıs that Turkısh people lıke to party...alot. Whıle Toronto clubs close at 2:30, clubs here ın Turkey close when people leave...sometımes thıs ıs 6 or 7 ın the mornıng! The musıc ıs a bıt dıfferent aswell. We decıded to call ıt Orıental Western Musıc. Its western musıc (usually ın Englısh) but set to Turkısh beats and thus has an orıental flavor. The club we were at the other day called Shayna was playıng songs lıke Smooth Crımınal but as a dance song! However, they also have theır own turkısh songs. One of whıch ıs called Romeo. Thıs ıs a popular summer song here. We have been sıngıng ıt alot thıs week because ıt ıs so funny!

Fınal Note
Just wanted to apologıze for my dott-less İ s. The turkısh alphabet contaıns both an (i) as well as an (ı) and ı always hıt the wrong one. Other letters that are dıfferent are ğ, ü, ş, ö and ç.

That ıs all for now. Probably wıll not have tıme to wrıte tomorrow as we wıll be travellıng through Izmır. I wıll probably be back on Wednesday when ı am ın Istanbul. Bye for now!

Çesme

Eating Fresh Fish in Foca.

Shisha.

The Grand Bazar in Istanbul. Great place to shop!

One of the many beaches we visited in Cesme. This one was my favourite.

So much to wrıte. Sorry ıt has taken me a week to update thıs. Its been crazy. I havnt been able to access the ınternet very much. Thıs keyboard s a bıt different than ı am used to. so ı am sorry about my poor spellıng. ANyways...ı have seen lots of stuff ın the past week lıke the hagıa sophıa, blue mosque and the grand bazarr. The shoppıng ın Istanbul ıs amazıng...lots of ınterestıng thıngs to buy. Two day ago we flew from Istanbul to Ismır. Then we drove to Foça, a very cute beach town. Yesterday we came to Cesme, ıt ıs a hotspot for tourısts...and ıt ıs absolutely beautıful! We spent the whole day at the beach...so burnt!

Next tıme ı wrıte i wıll wrıte some funny pıck up lınes ıve heard so far...

Efes, Shoes and French Movies

My first night in Istanbul at a club called Reina.

Out for lunch.

The Cow Parade at Kanyon.

After going out to a Turkish club last night i slept VERY well. Actually, i slept 12 hours...woke up at 3pm. So needless to say the day started late. We went out to a markt for lunch, it was really good. I tried a turkish beer called Efes, it was very refreshing. Afterwards we went to a very expensive mall called "Kanyon"...saw a pair of shoes that were 1200 liras...about the same as Cdn dollars...yikes! Obviously, i did not buy much. Then we saw a french movie...with turkish subtitles. It was funny because i kept trying to read the subtitles out of habit only to realize that i could not! Overall, a great day. If its hot tomorrow we may head to the beach (unless i sleep too late!), who knows? There is so much to do in this city!

Day One

Finally i have arrived. I am at Jess' house in Istanbul right now about to go out to the market. Istanbul is a very packed city! The streets are very narrow and there are lots of people. Jess, Ceyda and Jess' dad picked me up at the airport which was nice.

I left last night at 9pm and arrived in London around 3am (i think). They served dinner and breakfast a few hours apart which was strange. Oh, and the plane food was so gross! After wandering around the airport in London, which seems more like a shopping mall than a terminal, i boarded for Istanbul. The flight was smooth, i slept alot.

I am quite brain fried right now, so this blog entry is very scattered and doesn't make alot of sense. I'm tired. Basically i just wanted to say that i got here safe and am looking forward to seeing lots in the next few weeks to come.

Popular Song

Ok, so I am still new to this Blog stuff but i wanted to put up a song that I love. It's by Idan Raichal, a very popular group in Israel. Since I could not figure out how to actually get the video on my blog i just posted the link.
Enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i0PWukxRV8U

Packing...shopping...lots to do.

9 days left...

Sorry if some of you were confused by my last post. I am NOT YET in turkey. Still in Toronto =)

I came to the realization today that i only have just over one week! Agh! I still have to go shopping, get US money, lots of laundry, see people and pack! It is going to be a crazy week! On top of getting ready, i have to finish up a project at work and am going to Montreal for my grandparents' 50th wedding anniversary (which will be amazing!) this weekend. Lots going on.


This is a picture of the Hagia Sophia. A very famous museum in Istanbul that used to be a basilica then later became a mosque. It looks so beautiful! I cannot wait to see it!

2 More Weeks

So, the countdown is on, I now have 14 days until I leave for Turkey. As of now, my Itinerary is to Fly to Istanbul via London on Friday August 3rd. From there I will be touring around Turkey for a couple weeks, then on the 22nd I fly to Tel Aviv to spend a few days (or more) in Israel. I fly back to Istanbul on the 27th, spend a few more days there then fly back to Toronto (via London) on the 31st of August.

So that is the plan thus far! This Blog stuff is kinda fun!

Western Wall, Jerusalem

This is the Western Wall in Jerusalem that I will be visiting during my trip.

What Is This Blog Stuff

Hi, this is N@'s boyfriend Dave.

I'm bringing Nathalie up to 2004 and creating a blog for her trip to Turkey so all her friends and loved family can see her travels to the Middle East and not be subject to awful daily e-mail updates.

Nathalie is laughing at me right now. It's okay, I'm used to it.

Once Nathalie gets the hang of this she'll be posting pictures and writing stories of adventures to Turkey, Isreal, maybe Greece, maybe Jordan, maybe who knows where.

Follow along, bookmark her travels, and enjoy.

Nathalie is still laughing at me.