Spring Break Trip 2011 - Turkey

Pictures: 4 wheeling in Cappadocia, Hagia Sophia (once a Christian Church then turned into Mosque) not a museum - FASCINATING, Outside Blue Mosque, down under in the Basilica Sistern, Balloons taking off while we were.

So much to tell, but how to keep it short and sweet? Well, I guess if it is too long, you can just skip it! :) I will just do random notes and thoughts.

High point: would be the hot air balloon ride but see low point below. So, I would have to say our ATV tour or sitting inside the Hagia Sophia or the Blue Mosque.

Low point: the day and night I spent in a Turkish Hospital

We left for Turkey on the Friday morning before Easter. We found it a bit strange that we would be in a Muslim country on Easter Sunday, but we still talked about it as a family and remembered Jesus and what He gave up for us and how we try to incorporate his teachings in our lives. Eric and I actually relished the additional religious exposure for the kids (and us) as we think it is an important part in growing in your own faith.

Anyway... we got to Istanbul with time to see plenty on Friday. We also had Saturday and Sunday for touring around. We hit all the wondeful famous spots in Istanbul; the beautiful Blue Mosque, the Basilica Sistern, the Spice Market, the Grand Bazaar, the Hagia Sophia and much more... plus ate our way along every street.

There are mosques EVERYWHERE as they (the Islams) have a call to prayer 5x per day. Interesting is that they have a literal 'call' to prayer through HUGE speakers on every Mosque that echo through the entire city. Try to picture this - 5 times per day a loud arabic speaking voice chanting about 6 lines. It is odd, beautiful, unusual, fascinating all wrapped up in one. One got 'used' to it - but have to admit by the last day I was kinda like "enough of the loudspeaker thing" no disrespect intended.

We also took a cruise up the Bosphorus River which connects the Sea of Maramar and the Black Sea... and did a stop off in a small town on the Asian side of Istanbul. We all thought it was fun to be on Two Continents in one day! It was nice to see the beauty from the water also.

The major sights are beautiful, the history fascinating and the people extremely friendly. But the rest of the buildings are not nice looking, there are TONS of people in that city and it is definitely quite poor. This is just my observation. Plus: things are CHEAP!! We could eat and shop so much less than in Vienna - that was fun.

The Grand Bazaar is this GIGANTIC shopping area where you can haggle to your hearts content. We spent a few hours in it, but decided to hold off on purchases until we returned back to Istanbul to avoid additional lugguage on our trip to Cappadokia. This turned out to be a mistake: to be explained later...

On Monday afternoon/evening I came down with a fever and bad body aches but powered through with some Tylenol and Tuesday morning we flew out to Cappadocia, Turkey. This is a region in Central Turkey with lots of rock formations (from volcanos), chimey fairy rocks, cave formations etc... It is gorgeous, different, aweinspiring.
We took a 2 hour ATV/4 wheeler tour that first afternoon. We all had a blast and we let the kids sit in front of us and drive most of it. No one wanted to ride with me because I was slow and a worry wart. Everyone wanted to ride with Daddy, so they kept having to switch off and be with me sometimes. Too funny. It was a really fun way to see quite a few areas and famous formations.

I was feeling pretty bad by dinner time again so went to bed. Besides my fever and aches at this point, I had NO appetite whatsoever - and verging on naseau.

Early (5am!) we had to be up on Wednesday for the much anticipated Hot Air Balloon Ride! I planned this months ago and have been looking forward to it. I was still pretty sick in the am and had also added another symptom....what would you not want to have to do every 5 minutes while 1,000 feet up in a balloon. Well, by the grace of God I was able to take that 1 hour ride. I did have to sit down every 10 minutes or so because I was so sick and weak I could barely stand. I was still able to enjoy the beauty, but admitedly the experience wasn't as great as I hoped it would be. I am still thrilled we were able to do this as a family and I hope our kids remember it for the rest of their lives.

By 9am I was back in bed and didn't get out until the next morning when we headed to the hospital. I got so bad it was apparent I needed to go. Good thing I did as I had blood in my you know what and a bad case of Amoebic Dysentary. IV Fluids, IV antibiotics and lots of other stuff I don't know as no one spoke English. (very scary experience but they were so nice) I was there about 24 hours and then we flew out to Istanbul. I was still fairly sick so Eric and the kids did the shopping at the Grand Bazaar. I am so sorry I missed it, but I was just too weak and needed to be close to a bathroom.

Saturday we flew back to Vienna. I have never been so happy to see my own bed and own toilet in all my life! :) By Monday I was feeling a ton betteer and as of today, Tuesady, I would say I am back to 85%.

Side Note:
My friend just arrived back from visiting her family in Pakistan, not far from where Osama bin Laden was killed. She got out just in time before airport delays etc... and I was able to ask her all sorts of muslim/islam questions I had after visiting Turkey. It sure is fun to ask her these questions and have these conversations. I am growing so much in this regard.

Hope Spring has Sprung where you are!