Vacation, Part 8: The Beach!

We were so excited about going to the beach! Elias had never been to a saltwater beach, but he has seen them on shows and he'd been talking about wanting to go to one. There were actually two beaches at Amasra on opposite sides of the peninsula, and we were fortunate that our hotel was on the less crowded one. (Come back tomorrow for shots of the other one!) Here's a view of our beach from out on the water.

We think this beach wasn't as crowded because it wasn't free, but we thought it was worth paying 15TL (appx $8) to rent the umbrella and chairs for the day. We brought a little bucket/shovel set, and Elias LOVED playing in the sand!

The same people who rented us the umbrella & chairs also had a menu we could order lunch from, and they delivered it to us right on the beach!

Then we hit the water! We had heard that the water of the Black Sea was very cold, but it was just cool. It was actually perfect for swimming in since the weather was so hot!

This is the first time Elias got in the water and the only time you'll see him with his feet touching the bottom. As much as he loved playing in the sand on the shore, he REFUSED to let his feet touch it in the water!

So I carried him out to the deeper water...

...and he floated in his floatie! Win!

It's always interesting in Turkey to see the great variety of people. At the beach, we saw ladies in bikinis, but we also saw fully-covered conservative ladies also enjoying their swims. As Justin mentioned previously, many Turks don't know how to swim, so we saw a large number of adults wearing floaties and water wings to stay safe! (Not pictured: The middle-aged man who was rescued while drowning and had to be taken to the hospital.)

We absolutely loved the beach and were so thankful for the opportunity to visit! Check back later for the final (finally!) installment of our vacation blogs where we take a boat tour around the peninsula and enjoy the famous fish dinner!

Vacation, Part 7: Amasra

Leaving Safranbolu, we took a bus 2 hours north to the Black Sea coast. We visited the town of Amasra, which a friend had recommended as having a great beach. She was right!!!

Our first view of the Black Sea out the bus window

Amasra is such a beautiful place! I've never seen anything like it! Justin said it reminded him a little of Venice.

The Black Sea coast is famous for its fishing, so we saw lots of these fishing boats in action

Amazing cliffs and rock formations right on the coast

 

View from our hotel room. We stayed at the Mızıka Pansiyon, and recommend it. Tell the owner we sent you!

The pictures don't do it justice - the water was so clear and blue!

Amasra is definitely a tourist town, though. Everything was quite expensive, and they kept much later hours than usual. Places didn't open until 10am, and we could hear people out partying on the street below us LONG after we went to bed! This is why we chose to only spend one day there instead of our whole vacation!

A tourist market, selling souvenirs and toys

Elias enjoying corn on the cob from a street vendor

Amasra is also full of amazing history. Just like we've seen in the rest of Turkey, the historical sites just blend right into daily life. The historic Amasra was an important port used by Phoenicians, Greeks (it's mentioned in the Iliad), Romans, and of course the Ottomans. The fortress ruins in the picture below date from the Byzantine era. Pedestrians and cars squeezing through fortress walls and cobblestone streets.

The fortress ruins in the above picture were built by the Byzantines and Genoese.

 

This is the museum's courtyard. The museum contains marble statues of Roman emperors and Ottoman artifacts.

People swimming and sunbathing off the ruins. The pictures don't do justice to the clear blue water.

Vacation, Part 6: Safranbolu Luna Park

Click to read Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5

The last thing we did in Safranbolu was visit a little carnival area. Many cities in Turkey have a public "Luna Park" like this one where you just pay per the ride you want (3 TL, or $1.60). There were rides & games, and Elias loved it!

We went in the early evening, about 4:30 or 5, and we were some of the only people there. Turks generally run on a much later schedule than we do. So Elias was able to enjoy having the rides and play area all to himself!

Elias loved this little train ride! In the video below, you can hear him blowing the whistle, it sounds like a siren.

There was a play area with slides, obstacle course, and ball pit. Those are always Elias' favorite!

His first time ever riding a carousel! He loved it! In this photo, he's saying "Giddyup, horsie!"

Then we went to a nearby park for a picnic dinner. Turkish parks often have adult exercise equipment alongside the children's play equipment, and you usually see kiddos enjoy playing on both. Elias really liked this particular machine with spinning seats; he was proud of figuring out how to climb on and off it by himself.

The weather in Safranbolu became increasingly hot as the days went on. We were eager to find a cold sea to swim in...

Vacation, Part 5: Safranbolu Pool

Click to read Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4

The weather was pretty hot and humid during our vacation in Safranbolu, so we were pleased to discover there was a public pool there because Elias has been begging to swim and we've missed having pool access. We've been leery of public pools in Turkey so far, but this one looked clean, spacious, and well-kept, and so we went for it! It was awesome! We didn't stay and incredibly long time the first afternoon we went because it got REALLY crowded (and people were jumping in fully-clothed)! So we went again the next morning as soon as it opened, and we had the whole pool to ourselves! We really enjoyed this nice, refreshing activity. We got to witness some kids taking swimming lessons as well. (Turks by and large don't learn to swim when they're young or may never learn [hence the large number of drownings on the nightly news...] and most adult pools are therefore not very deep.) The cost was 10TL/adult ($5.50), so not as cheap as U.S. public pools. Private pools of similar quality range from 15-35TL/adult ($8-20) for comparison.

There were three separate pools - an adult one in the back (about 5 feet deep), and kid one that was about 2 feet deep on the right, and then a small baby one that was very shallow. (You can see that one below.) Then there was a large canopy with seating for all the parents who weren't swimming. It was a really nice setup!

Elias LOVED the kid pool, it was just the right depth for him to have fun but not be scared of going under. He got to where he was brave enough to jump in from the side, which turned into his favorite thing to do here. See the video of him jumping in below. He's along the back with the blue ring around his waist.

Elias swimming with Mommy in the big pool the next morning - all to ourselves!

Elias splashing with Mommy in the kid pool.

There was also a playground in the same area as the pool, so after a swim, we stopped to swing for a few minutes. Doesn't get much better than that! Turkey does public parks better than any country we've lived in.

Celebrating My Birthday

This break from vacation blogging (Yes, there are still a lot more vacation photos coming!) is because I celebrated my birthday yesterday! It ended up being a really fun day, and I thought I'd share a bit about it here! Unfortunately, I don't have any photos, so you'll have to use your imaginations.

First of all, I've been needing a haircut for a while, but my language isn't good enough to where I can go by myself. Plus, I've been hearing horror stories about the difficulty of working with Turkish stylists, so I've been putting it off. Finally I asked a friend - Julie, who has been here longer than me - if she could help me go get a haircut! She lives in a far district of town that I have never been to, so it was kind of my like Joni's Day Out Adventure to go to Julie's district (Batikent, for those of you who might be familiar with Ankara. It takes about an hour for me to get to from my house - 30 minutes on a bus, then 30 more on the subway). She took me to her hairdresser who is located in Acity Outlet AVM (AVM is "Mall" in Turkish). For any locals who might be interested in going, it's called Şahika Kuaför on the bottom floor of the mall - ask for Mehmet. Seriously, it's worth the trip out to Batikent for this guy! He was so friendly and professional, and Julie just explained to him what I wanted and he did it. That might not sound exceptional to people who aren't in Turkey, but from what I've heard, that's pretty awesome for a stylist here.

The hairdresser's shop was different from any I had been to before. There were WAY more people working there than I'd ever seen before! You had the stylists, who were like the superstars of the place, and then a whole horde of people I'll call "minions" that were running around doing the dirty work, and it seemed like their jobs were to just anticipate exactly what the stylist wanted and do it without them asking. First, one of the minions shampooed my hair. Then Mehmet began the cut while chatting with Julie in Turkish. At one point, he dropped his comb, and instantly a minion swooped in with another comb - Mehmet never broke his stride. The minion washed the comb and brought it back, switching it out with the other one, and Mehmet just kept working like nothing had even happened.

So he finished the cut and began to blow dry my hair, and another minion came over with a round brush. They had this amazing system where the minion knew exactly where to hold the dryer, when to hand it to Mehmet, when to take it back again, what angle to hold it. It was hilarious! Then when my hair was styled, another minion appeared with a mirror so I could see the back. I loved the cut, and I was also thoroughly entertained by the show! All this for only 35 TL, which is just over $19. I wish I had thought to get a picture of my styled cut - it looked really cute!

Then Julie and I walked the mall for a little bit. I asked her to help me find some shoes, which I've been surprised to have such a hard time! Apparently I have bigger feet than any Turkish woman is allowed to have, so NO stores carry shoes my size! Julie and I didn't have any luck at the mall either, and she divulged to me that she has people bring her shoes from the States. Guess that's what I'll do!!!

Then Julie took me out to lunch for some Turkish food, which was delicious and we really enjoyed just chatting together. Then I caught the subway back into the town center where I had a language lesson scheduled at Starbucks. Usually my teacher comes to my house, but with my plans in the morning, I wasn't sure I could make it back home in time for my lessons, so she met me in town instead. I was glad to get to go to Starbucks - who would refuse a birthday Frappucino on a hot day?!

After a good lesson, I took the bus home to meet Justin and Elias. They had sweet birthday flowers and a homemade card waiting for me! Then the three of us taxied out to IKEA where we ate dinner in their cafeteria (Swedish meatballs - Yummo!) and did some shopping. IKEA has a free children's play area where you can leave your kid up to an hour while you shop, so Elias loves going out there, and we do too!

So it was a fun first birthday to celebrate in Turkey, and I'm thankful for loving friends and family to help me celebrate!

Vacation, Part 4: Behind-the-Scenes Tour

Click to read Part 1, Part 2, Part 3

The site of the amazing aqueduct that I posted about yesterday is only accessible by car, so we took a taxi there. And we turned out to be so fortunate with the taxi we got because the driver was so nice, and he just loved Justin and his ability to speak Turkish. (That actually was the trend in Safranbolu - it's not a huge tourist destination, so they don't see many foreigners anyway. But then to find a foreigner that spoke Turkish was like the best thing ever! Justin made a whole lot of new best friends that week!) So Justin rode up front with the driver and they chatted happily in Turkish while Elias and I just enjoyed the scenery in the back.

After our visit to Incekaya, the driver said, "You know, I really like you guys, and so if you want, I'd like to take you on a tour of some other beautiful places that most foreigners don't see. Would you like that?" Um, yeah! So he took off throughout the countryside, occasionally stopping at one place or another, pointing out this and that. (Note: He wasn't running the meter, he had just agreed upon a price to take us out to Incekaya, so this extra tour was not just a ploy to run up the meter!)

This was still at the Incekaya site. They're working on building a glass platform over the gorge so you can go out and then look down at the huge drop beneath your feet. We were sad it wasn't open yet!

The taxi driver pulled over at one spot and told Justin to climb under the guard rail and down a slope to get a good picture of the view. I had to capture the moment on my phone's camera.

He did get a good picture, though!

He also stopped at this beautiful footbridge, which Elias and I weren't brave enough to walk out on. So Justin and the driver just went out and took pictures.

View from the bridge

Looking down from the bridge

Looking down from the other side

 So that was fun and really special to get that tour from a local!

Vacation, Part 3: Incekaya Aqueduct

See Part 1 and Part 2 of the series.

Next we visited an ancient Byzantine aqueduct near the small village of Incekaya. In Turkish, it's called Incekaya Su Kemeri. We weren't sure exactly what to expect going out there, but we had heard it was a cool site, so we thought it worth a trip. And wow, was it! The aqueduct itself was beautiful and amazing.

That's Justin on top of the aqueduct. Elias and I chose to stay down on solid ground.

Elias wanted to be like Daddy, though, so we took his picture sitting in one of the arches.

Even cooler, though, was the gorge it spanned and the wooden walkway that took us ALLLLLLLLLL the way to the bottom!!!

Looking down from the top

Man, that was a lot of stairs! Elias was a trooper, though, and did them all by himself!

You can see the wooden walkway going along the left side.

Those cliffs were HIGH!

There is still water flowing through it, and it made a lovely brook all along the way down.

Then at the very bottom was this stunning waterfall in front of a cave. I felt like a picture didn't capture it, so here's a video of what the very base of the stairs looked like.

On the way back up, Justin hopped up into one of the cliffside caves for a picture.

Elias wanted to be like Daddy again, so they found a smaller cave to pose in.

This was an absolutely stunning setting, like nothing I've ever seen before! What beauty and magnificence! I'm so thankful we had the opportunity to visit it.