Mykonos, Samos, Ephesus, Troy, Gallipoli

Tuesday 7/31

Arrived in Mykonos around 245pm. My intention was to get a boat over to Delos and see the lions there. I was so close I was sure that there would be boats but I was wrong. My plan was foiled. I walked with my suitcase all the way around the quay to the other side to see about a place and everyone along the way said forget it so I did. Figured I’d be doing damage to Jackie’s luggage, so I walked back to a place where I could leave the luggage and went to the little town beach for a swim. Want to talk paranoia? Walking out on the pebbly beach and going into the water knowing passport, cash and ferry ticket and basically everything important is sitting on the tiny little beach while hundreds of people are walking by was unsettling. Al and Ann Hunter would be aghast. I had put my bright orange shirt on top of the backpack so I could see it from out in the water without my glasses (cuz I didn’t want to lost the glasses in the ocean). I was noticing how clear the water was, though. I could see my feet and then I stepped on something that gave me a sliver and I was going to go in and check it out when I couldn’t see the orange shirt. Panic! Then I noticed it blew off onto the sand but the pack wsa still there. Jeez. Got out and was trying to get the sliver out (impossible0 and I noticed all of the green and clear glass in the pebbly sand. Bummer! Turned me way off cuz that could ruin my trip. I’ll be needing my feet. Found some place to eat a little and have a beer,

Long story short that was the last interesting thing I did in Mykonos. Went back to the café where I left my bag and tried to get on the net with my laptop. No way. Downloaded some email on my ipod and eventually got on the 9pm bus to the other port where I waited for 5 hours (aaaaghh) for the ferry. Got through moist of Hunger Games and was a little jittery from 1130pm to 130am when I was all by myself, defenseless, with all of my stuff clearly visible. Could’ve been rolled easily. To the credit of the Greek people, nothing happened. 

Got on the boat and went to my sleeper cabin. Looks like I have a roommate who's not there yet. he gets in an hour later and makes a bunch of strange noises. I try to stay asleep. He gets up like an hour later and makes more strange clinking noises. Whatever. He leaves. Then the steward bangs on the door and says it's time to wake up if I'm getting out at Lesvos. But I'm not. Anyway, not much sleep going on in the old sleeper. 

Wednesday August 1

Arrived in Samos and realize that the ship to Kusadasi leaves in an hour and I race over to the other side of the quay in Samos and grab a ticket. Also able to book a tour to Ephesus and get a hotel idea (Atilla's in Seljuk, run by Australian guys with a pool - sounds good enough). 

Ephesus was great to see but I was kinda tired and it was blazing sun and copious tourists by the time I got there. Tour guide was ok I guess. Ran into the normal problem with tours - spent a lot of time jawing about irrelevant stuff and then stopped for lunch at some authentic Greek food place (food actually pretty good but way overpriced and then we stopped at some hokey leather place, where they gave us a "demonstration" - simply a bad runway show of these people wearing leather coats. You wouldn't believe how impressed some of these shopaholic tourists were. They actually bought some of this junk for hundreds of dollars. I went back to the bus. Two people wanted to get out of the bus early. looks like the driver gave them my luggage by mistake. They figured out the error before I did and I got my stuff back. I'll be more careful next time. 

Atilla's turned out to be a pretty cool place. Dinner was included and it was good. I played in a "killer pool" tournament and got 4th out of 22. not bad. Had one awesome shot to stay alive and then blew an easy one on the next round for the loss. Typical.

They gave me a lift to the bus station next morning and I made my way up to Cannakale for the tour to see the Gallipoli battle sites from the First World War and of course Troy. 

Thursday August 2

Troy was great to see. Just being there was the best part. And seeing the general location and geography makes me a better teacher of the Iliad I think. The guy who dig it up (Schliemann) pretty much just drove a bulldozer though it while looking for the gold (which he found and transported back to museums in Germany, which were then stolen by the Rooskies when they invaded Germany in 1945 (should've been us)). Anyway, they ain't giving it back anytime soon.

 After the Troy tour it was lunch and a tour to Gallipoli with (of course) a bunch of Australians. They are always very friendly and fun to be around. They are always curious why an American would want to see it but once i give em my history teacher spiel, they accept me pretty well. It really was a great experience to see Gallipoli and i had the best tour guide so far. A history grad student from the local university, his English was great and I learned a lot. The tombstones were very poignant as they usually had sad inscriptions from family members of these kids that died so far away. and then on the way back he played that "And the band Played Waltzing Matilda" song about Gallipoli. Moving.

Back just in time for a 6 hour bus ride to Istanbul. More later! Picture below from the bus up the Dardanelles (which I remember learning about from old Frank Corwin in high school myself)