Looking out over Cappadochia by the castle

      What a delight to visit Cappadochia and Goreme!  It felt like going back in time, what with the trip down to the underground city, the castle sprouting out of the earth, hot air balloons suspended in the distance, and then to Pigeon Valley, where again, so many cave-like dwellings just populate the place providing a shelter for the pigeons that swoop about.

In front of the castle

Coming into Goreme with a hot air balloon in the background.

       Goreme, there are dozens of these cave-like stone hotels that hug the hillside and seem as if they've been there forever.  Goreme is a lovely little tourist town where most of the people speak English, and there are many wonderful shops selling gorgeous rugs, mosaic lamps, handpainted pottery, beautiful jewelry, etc.  We enjoyed the shopping, great Turkish food, and the hamam, of course.  I don't know how I lived before without getting scrubbed and soaped down! There's almost nothing better!

Our group in the underground city. The rock we're on was a door for one of the tunnels.

The Whirling Dervishes in Goreme. Six of them spun with their eyes closed during the performance....just amazing and very beautiful. One hand up to receive God, the other pointed to the earth for grounding.

One of the trees laden with protection from the evil eye in Pigeon Valley.

Kneeling on the rug that I finally bought from the Sultan's rug shop in Goreme after two plus hours trying to decide!

View from the boat as we sailed in to Fethiye.  Gorgeous, isn't it??

        Hi all--Hard to believe that it's mid-November here in Southern Turkey where we are still enjoying the sun and about 70 degree days. It did pour down rain last weekend when we went to the Blues fest in Adana (which was thankfully inside at the Adana Hilton) but otherwise I haven't needed my purple rain boots yet! Nicole and I enjoyed great blues music, a 5 star hotel with a spa and hamam, and also hit up the huge outlet mall. (Such great bargains in Turkey!)
I played in the tennis tournament this past weekend at the club, and hosted a rooftop happy hour at our apartment on Saturday evening with a golden crescent moon shining and stars abounding. Such is the life here!

Posing with our tennis coach, Bedi after a grueling lesson.

Here are a few more pics from the cruise, and from the Halloween celebration that the English department organized as it is not something that is normally celebrated in Turkey.

Can you believe skiing on the Mediterranean?? It took a few tries, but I finally made it up!

At sunset in the bay our last night on the boat. 

In Fethiye with Sunny, our captain, at the end of the cruise. So hard to say goodbye!

Two of my 1st grade princesses all dressed up on Halloween!

My teaching partner in full cardboard-knight costume.

Well, it's not all fun and cruising here, and teaching continues to be challenging at times.  Yet, as Thanksgiving approaches, and foreign teachers plan to get together for an elaborate dinner, I feel that I have much to be thankful for!
Listening to the call to prayer as I walk across campus in the sunshine with my tulip cup of tea, I reflect on where I was a year ago and how far I've come. Hope to see you all in this beautiful, sacred place in the near future!

At Olympos ruins before the cruise with Nicole and Kerry

Our boat, the Babaveli that housed 22 of us including crew!

Our captain, Sunny, hard at work. He navigated and cooked for us!

         Well, I'm back from the Bayram holiday and what a fantastic holiday it was!! A group of us cruised from Olympos to Fethiye for several days....sunning, swimming, snorkeling and eating great food on the Mediterranean.  We visited several small towns....Kas, Kekova and Kalkan, saw ancient ruins, hiked in Butterfly Valley and enjoyed the hamam (Turkish Bath) in Fethiye. Here are a few pics to give you an idea of why this is called the Turquoise coast.

A typical Turkish meal on the boat

Hanging out with Nicole in the bay before a swim

In the lovely harbor town of Kalkan 

Fethiye, our final stop....lots of little restaurants and bars and a wonderful Turkish hamam where we were scrubbed and massaged

In the bay at Butterfly Valley where we jumped off the boat for a swim, and also went ashore to hike up the waterfall