We got back a week ago from the most amazing trip! Given our middle names, we have obviously always been interested in Greek mythology. Declan has become an amazing reader: recently devouring the Dune series, and diving headfirst into some ancient epic poems. He loved the Iliad, which inspired Mama & Dada to re-read it as well. Through this journey, it became clear that our next trip needed to be to Greece & Turkey. Mama set out on a journey to plan the most amazing trip ever and we finally set off for Athens at the beginning of April. We learned more on this trip than we ever would in school!
Our first day was spent on the Acropolis & the Acropolis museum. It was an utterly fantastic day! We had a private tour guide who couldn't believe that our middle names are Hercules & Nyx! We heard old and new versions of stories that we've heard before in our books, but this time they came to life! Stories of Zeus and Hercules, Hera and Aphrodite, Haephestus & Poseidon. We saw just how closely religion & the stories of the gods were tied to every day life in ancient Greece, and we couldn't believe just how much of this amazing history has been preserved. The Acropolis Museum is simply stunning - one of the best museums that we have ever seen. It is built on top of carefully excavated ancient ruins, and runs exactly parallel to the actual Parthenon, with views of it from all windows. We definitely developed a bit of a hatred for Elgin after seeing how much he destroyed & plundered off to England!
The Parthenon
On the Acropolis
View from our hotel rooftop
The walk to dinner...
Part of the Amphitheater on the Acropolis
The rest of our time in Athens was spent wandering the beautiful old city on our own - logging well over 10 miles per day. We ran in the ancient Panathenic Stadium, home of the 1st ever Olympic Games. We wandered the grass of the Ancient Agora, dreaming of how the concept of democracy started on that same soil eons ago. We saw the Tower of Wind in the Roman Agora, which told sailors on the Aegean & Mediterranean the whims of the weather. The Temple of Zeus, the National Gardens, Hadrian's Arch & the Temple of Haephestus continued to bring ancient history, both real and mythical, to life. Three amazing dinners on rooftops overlooking the Acropolis capped off our short stay, including one with an actual rainbow over the ruins - stunning!
Temple of Zeus
Panathenic Stadium - site of the first ever Olympic Games
We got to run the whole track at the stadium!
First place winners!
Temple of Haephestus
Roman Agora - Tower of the Wind!
Rooftop restaurant view of of the Acropolis -with a rainbow!
A short flight to Istanbul took us from the land of Sparta to the land of Troy, just like Odysseus (minus the plane, of course). We immediately stepped into a whole different world, and loved it. Just like Athens, Istanbul was steeped in layers and layers of history. Through tours of the Topkapi Palace, the Hagia Sophia, Blue mosque & others, we learned all about the Roman Empire, Byzantine times & finally the Ottoman Empire. The Topkapi palace was gorgeous with stunning tile work, insane marble baths, and ornate upholstery. It also housed some crazy relics (though the provenance is sketchy!): a bunch of Mohammad's beard hairs, the staff of Moses, the sword of David & many more. The mosques were of course gorgeous as well, and the fact that many were churches first was really interesting. A Bosphorous River tour was chilly but gorgeous - it was super cool that we were in Europe & Asia at the same time! Keevah particularly loved the Arasta Bazaar - the Grand Bazaar was stunningly huge & overwhelming. The Spice Bazaar smelled delicious - certainly better than our normal classrooms of stinky kids.
Topkapi Palace
Declan at the Harem chambers in Topkapi Palace
with the "Staff of Moses"
Beautiful tilework
Declan with religious relics
View of the Bosphorous
Spice Market
Night Walk in Istanbul
Hagia Sophia
Viking grafitti at Hagia Sophia
Hagia Sophia - former Christian Church - now Mosque!
Prety cool rug factory
On the Bosphorous
Insane to have one foot in Europe & one foot in Asia
Blue Mosque
Blue Mosque
Basilica Cistern
Upside down Medusa in Basilica Cistern- we didn't turn to stone!
Medusa: insanely cool projection!
Rustem Pasha Mosque
Classic Turkish ice cream
Evil-eyed Keevah
We look authentic, right?....
In an absolutely amazing twist of fate, Declans BFF Haines & his family were also in Istanbul at the same time. We were able to connect for a walk through Gulhane Park, along the Bosphorous, across the Golden Horn & to a lovely restaurant for dinner.
Haines & Declan at the Spice Bazaar
One of many Istanbul cats
Stephen, Haines, Declan & Kurt along the Bosphorous
Istanbul with the Barber family - a crazy cool coincidence
Teenage boys deep in conversation
After three days in Istanbul, we flew to Cappadocia - land famous for its geology including Fairy Chimneys created millennia ago by volcanic ash & sandstone at the bottom of since-evaporated lakes. Ancient people used to live in these Fairy Chimneys - and also dug deep underground to create underground cities & even wineries. We crawled on our knees at times (except Keevah!) to get through the "hallways" connecting different rooms in the underground cities. Cappadocia is also famous for hot air balloons. They launch ~250 balloons daily - leading to a spectacle that none of us has ever seen before. A stunning site at sunrise for sure! We rode horses through the Rose & Love Valleys too - Keevah loved it, but Declan isn't such a huge fan of bouncing up and down for 2 hours! Avanos, is a huge pottery town, and we got to try our hands at the clay spinning wheel. It's a lot harder than it looks!
K's standard pose by the Capadoccia fairy chimneys
Our rooftop hotel bar...many hot chocolates were consumed here!
Cats were everywhere! One even came to our hotel room!
Insanely, we also had dinner with Haines' family in Goreme
More super cool fairy chimneys
Insane views!
Inside a Fairy Chimney home
Inside a fairy chimney...
Parents in Uchisar - largest Fairy Chimney building/village
Camel rides - not endemic to Turkey, but still cool!
Inside an underground city...
Double order of adana kebabs
DH trying his hand at pottery..
K made a bowl!
Both of us with some really cool fairy chimneys
This one looks like a camel, right'???
In Kaymakli underground city
We had to crawl a lot!
An overlook in Capadoccia
Another underground city...
An underground church with an insane view
The whole family on the hotel rooftop
Mama made us do a professional photoshoot on our hot air balloon day. To be fair, the balloon ride was insanely cool, and the photos turned out great!
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We also rode horses - Capadoccia is known for its well trained horses, and we rode through the gorgeous Love, Red, & Inara Valleys
The food in Turkey was so delicious! We also got to go to Salt Bae's newest restaurant that literally opened when we were there: Nusr-Et Steakhouse. We got fed by the man himself who was there for this grand opening!
Our final stop was along the Turkish Turquoise Coast. We had a crew of three and a lovely gullet boat to ourselves. Since it was a bit early in the season, we had the entire coast pretty much to ourselves. The waters really are so incredibly turquoise! We swam (though a bit chilly!) and paddleboarded through 2500 year old Roman ruins, including the famous Cleopatra's bath. How cool to see these ancient ruins under water! We had some relaxing downtime on the bow of the ship - and we ALL started & finished Homer's Odyssey. It was so special to all be reading the same book at the same time, on the waters that Odysseus sailed!
Tlos ancient city on the way to Fethiye
Declan at Tlos
Reading Homer's Oydssey on our private boat
Boating through ancient Roman ruins on the Turquoise Coast: Cleopatra's Bath
Boating on the Mediterranean
Dada & Keevah at Cleopatra's Bath
Slightly chilly in April - but so worth it! It really is Turquoise!
Books & Cocktails on the boat.
The whole family read the Odyssey throughout the trip (and the Iliad prior to the trip). It was insanely special to sail the same waters that Odysseus sailed (though we were thankful for modern technology, including motors, that allowed us to avoid sirens, tempests, cyclops, and giants!)
After three days on the water, we flew home with Mama while Dada flew on to Zambia for work. We thankfully had a weekend to recover from the timezone change before starting back to school & work. Now we're back to normal, and both nearly finished with our projects for school called "in the footsteps of Odysseus".
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