Yeah, I'm guardedly looking forward to it. I mean, I get to see family (minus my favorite aunt who passed away last month) and see Ukraine (it's actually quite green and pretty) and travel with my American cousin and her husband, but the more I visit (I've gone seven times, but not since 2002), the more I realize that you really can't have fun in Ukraine. Sure, you can drink and sing and dance around among kin, but the rest of the nation is so not disposed towards enjoying themselves. That's why I'm heading down to Turkey afterward. It always makes the Ukrainian ordeal seem more pleasant than it actually was. The only thing I'm not looking forward to is arriving in Antalya. I'm totally not a fan of that city, although it does have a kickass museum. The rest of the city is not my speed. They try to play it up as the capitol of the so-called "Turkish Riviera," along with its attendant ostentation and snobbery. It just doesn't work for me. I prefer the wilds of the Lycian Peninsula to the immediate west. I'm definitely going to spend time at Olimpos, even though last visit it was infested with loud, drunken Australians. If it's that way again, there's always Ptarra. This was apparently Iliad character Sarpedon's hometown and it's just down the road from Xanthus. They've got a great beach and very nice people. Other than the beautiful town of Dalyan, I have no other places on my itinerary. Everything else is open to consideration. I might go to Cappadocia, I might head east to Antakya, heck, I might even go to Nemrut again. As long as I get to Istanbul in time for my flight out, everything will be dandy. This will be my fifth visit to Turkey. I've seen the touristy places (Troy, Ephesus, Pergamum, Bodrum, Oludeniz, Fethiye etc.), I've seen the less-touristy places (Afrodisias, Catal Hüyük, Hattusas, Perge, Aspendos, Kaiseri, Gordion, etc.), but does anybody have any suggestions? I'm totally fine hanging out on a beach the whole time, getting a killer tan and formulating bizarre topics for pop songs, but Turkey is a land of wonders and I want to see them all. Just one thing: I'm not interested in the Black Sea Coast and cities like Trabzon, Sinop and Samsun. They're a pain to get to and I've heard that they're not particularly interesting - plus, they have fairly rotten weather.
Anyhow, I'll curtail the blogging (such as it is) about a week prior so I can run around and buy stuff before I go, but otherwise, let the countdown begin.
5 comments:
Wow, hope you have a great time...maybe you can share some pictures from your trip?
Igor -
You'll have to put a "on hiatus" or similar announcement up or people will think your blog went dark.
On an unrelated note, I thought you might like to know the "lazy eye" graffiti guy has a sense of humor, at least.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/36812217%40N07/4463069282
I'm intending to post from Europe's capitol of backwardness, superstition and general weirdness. And then from Turkey, too.
I suggest you do what Rick Steves does in Turkey -- watch a bunch of oiled-up barely-pubescent boys wrestle each other, and then frolic with them in the surf.
You should maybe rent yourself a wife and kids first, though -- that always helps make it seem a bit less creepy. (Not a lot less creepy, but a bit.)
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