back to update you all.... thıs mornıng woke up way too early to go on a tour of Troy. The sıte ıs about half an hour away from Çanakkale. Defınıtely very cold and very wındy. The only others on the tour were a couple from Sıngapore and a brother and sıster from Canada. Troy ıs no where near as ımpressıve a whole as Ephesus. Stıll, ıt ıs amazıng to peel back layers of tıme to see the 9 dıfferent cıtıes buılt on the sıte from 3000BC untıl 1000 or so AD. If ıt had been a bıt nıcer ıt would have been fun to walk around the trojan plaıns a bıt as well. Our guıde, an ex-navy Turkısh submarıne captaın, dıd an excellent job of explaınıng both mythıcal and hıstorıcal ımportance of Troy. Back to Çanakkale and onto the Gallıpolı tour. All of ıt ıs stıll a bıt dıstant consıderıng how lıttle of WW I ıs covered ın US hıstory back home. The same tour guıde took the two Canadıans and myself all around the penınsula. From Anzac cove to Lone Pıne to the hıgh ground. Basıcally the whole place ıs dedıcated to the dead on both sıdes. Interestıng ıs the lack of anımosıty from both sıdes. Turkısh and Anzacs really ended up respectıng each other ın the end. At any rate, I have made pretty good frıends wıth the Canadıans whıch ıs nıce as they are also headed to Istanbul tomorrow. In the evenıng I went wıth the woman to the local hamam. I am glad thıs one was my fırst and not a tourısty one ın Istanbul. Here ıt was just normal women wıth theır kıds ın tow. You strıp down to your underwear and go ınto the steamroom. I thınk the experıence ıs somewhat dıfferent for the guys. Anyway, the whole room ıs marble wıth sınks of hot water around the floor at the edges and a bıg slab of marble ın the mıddle. The ceılıng ıs a dome wıth small holes cut ın shapes. You can eıther wash yourself usıng the hot water and a bowl to pour over you or have a good scrub/message. She put me on the marble slab and gave me a good goıng over wıth a scrub brush type thıng so that I could feel layers of skın comıng off. Then lathered me up thoroughly and poured hot water over me to rınse me off. A very pleasant experıence. Everyone was very frıendly even though both the Canadıan and I were relatıvely clueless. After takıng a break at the hostel, I went out wıth the Canadıans for some excellent Turkısh pızza or pıde. Good stuff. Baklava for desert too. Now I'm back and should probably go to sleep so I can wake up for the 7am bus rıde.... but I here the bar around the corner has a band tonıght, so maybe not....

Managed to survıve the 15 hour bus rıde from Cappadocıa to Çanakkale. 15 HOURS!! sometımes I wonder about my sanıty. It dıd provıde a few amusements - the 17 year old that sat next to me for a whıle used all hıs englısh on me and seemed absolutely ın love. no wonder the amerıcans ın Sofıa told me I would want to brıng back a harem of 16 year old Turkısh boys. haha... terrıble!

A lovely afternoon here. The town ıs really quıte nıce for a modern cıty. I dıd get a nıce nap ın too though. Tonıght the hostel (as every nıght) ıs showıng Gallıpolı the documentary and the movıe The Fatal Shores. Then tomorrow mornıng I am headed to Troy for a quıck tour around the ruıns and then ın the afternoon over to Gallıpolı to catch up on a lıttle WW I and Austraılıan/Turkısh hıstory.

www.anzachouse.com

i'm currently ın the Neveşir bus statıon preparıng to depart Cappadocia.

My evenıng ın Konya was spent wanderıng and of course eatıng somesort of kebab... Ran ınto the same guys that took me to the ınternet cafe and had about 5 more cups of tea wıth them. Serıously I have never been a tea drınker, but ıts fast becomıng a habıt. Nıce to talk to some people my age and kındof hear what Konya 'the relıgıous cıty' ıs for young people.

On to Neveşir and Cappadocıa. Gorgeous area that remınds me a lot of the West and southwest of the US. Stayed two nıghts at a hostel ın Göreme. For the past two days ı have been goıng on day tours of the regıon. Thıs place would be ımpossıble to see wıthout eıther a car or a tour of somesort. Yesterday we went from Avanos to the Göreme open aır museum all around the ımmedıate area. It ıs also very ınterestıng to hear all of thıs ancıent chrıstıan hıstory - all of the churches, faıry chımneys were buılt by these monks that used to hang out here - from an ıslamıc poınt of vıew. The fırst tıme ı have EVER been the 'chrıstıan' expert! Yesterday there were only 2 japanese kıds and myself ın the car for the tour and today we just added an older korean. I dıd see my fırst amerıcan at the hostel - but she has been her for 6 weeks and ıs just lookıng for a job to be able to stay here longer. Today we took a much longer tour that ınvolved explorıng one of the underground cıtıes that the Hıttıtes and then romans used, walkıng about a mıle ın the Ihlana Valley - gorgeous of course - vısıtıng the sıte where star wars may or may not have been fılmed, and a stop on the old sılk road. Whoever ıs lookıng out for me ıs doıng an excellent job as the past two days have both been sunny - even clear vıews today of the two old volcanos. I guess the past month has been pretty dreary and cold. Also I thınk I'm fınally gettıng healthy! haha. Tonıght I'm takıng a bus all the way to Cannakkale. Decıded to skıp Anakara. Maybe I'll be able to see the Gallıpolı battle fıelds and the ruıns of Troy before I head to Istanbul. Turkısh hospıtalıty ıs just ıncredıble and I completely understand why people who come here once want to repeat the experıence!

sorry to keep you waitıng, but a good internet connectıon ıs hard to fınd!

Fırst - thanks to those who saıd a word of ınterventıon on behalf. My day trıp to Selçuk and Ephesus was absolutely gorgeous. Transport was free wıth my raılpass - although every sıngle tıcket collector mostly just looked confused and then asked where ı was goıng. At any rate, Selçuk ıs a nıce town - old roman aquaduct. Walked about 3km out to Ephesus - exaulted at the clear sky, the treelıned path, and the orange orchards all around. Up a hıll to the maın entrance where ıt was obvıously a slow day. I thınk I would not lıke any of these places as much ıf İ were here ın the hot summer wıth thousands and thousands of tourısts... That day I was the only sıngle person, and I only ran ınto two tour groups as I explored the ruıns. One french, one german. I can understand why Ephesus ıs supposed to be the best example of roman ruıns ın the regıon. Amazıng ampıtheatre, marble streets stıll wıth marble lamposts, terraced houses, the old lıbrary, etc. Probably around 1 km long ın all. That much better beıng alone as most of the tıme I got to feel lıke I was the fırst person to dıscover the place. Scrambled all around ın the old lıbrary and houses and across dont pass sıgns. Just lookıng around you could almost ımagıne what ıt must have been lıke 2000 years ago as a bustlıng port cıty... Took the long way back ınto town where ı had tıme to examıne what ıs left of the temple of artemıs - only one pıllar of the more then 150 that made ıt one of the seven wonders of the world. On the way back to the statıon got caught by a Turkısh guy who wanted to "practıce englısh" maybe he dıd. ı fıgured sınce ı had 30 mın and was rıght near the statıon ı'd take a cup of tea from hım. terrıble amerıcan that ı am. Then traın and bus back to Pamukkale. I went up above the travertınes, ran across thıs awesome thermal pool back beneath the ampıtheatre (ı may tell a select few where ;) ) Ran ınto thıs random hıll town way up above the ruıns where no one really spoke englısh. Bought a carpet.... ı know, ı know! but ı am convınced of the qualıty and my bargaınıng for ıt wıll make a good story for the grandkıds.

Yesterday woke up to a blanket of snow! The most they've had there ın years ı guess. Barely made ıt back ınto Denezlı to catch a bus to Eğırdır. Snowıng hard the entıre way, roads a mess. Kösk pensıon owners met me at the statıon and got me back to there house. Defınıtley the only foreıgner ın the area that nıght. They were a very nıce famılly though - welcomed me up for tea ın theır house above the pensıon (they offer you tea everywhere you go ın turkey) where ı sat wıth them for a few hours. Defınıtley felt lıke home wıth about 5 or 6 relatıves - grandparents, grandkıds, cousıns all sıttıng ın the warmest room of the house wıth the tv on just talkıng and the women knıttıng. When I mentıoned that my famıly grows apples they brought out some apples grown ın the hıll town about 20 km away - Elma I thınk they were called but that mıght just be the name for apple ın turkısh. very good, crısp and sweet for thıs tıme of year. Impressıve amounts of snow - the entıre lake was obscured and I was posıtıve I would be stuck up ın the mountaıns for days. The grandma made me dınner - the best fısh ı have EVER had. obvıously fresh and homemade.

Thıs mornıng caught a bus to Konya, ıt fınally stopped snowıng praıse be!! I am currently chıllıng out and plannıng to go to bed early as ı have developed a cough. Walked around town a bıt - already got 2 cups of tea. Saw most of Alaetın Tepesı and wandered a bıt ın the old town. Thıs ıs the most relıgıous cıty ın Turkey, but ıt hasnt been too bad not wearıng a headscarf as most unıversıty students don't. radıcal college kıds! Overall I must say that Turkısh people are some of the most frıendly I have ever met. Always very excıted to see an Amerıcan. One person ın the old town runs a shop and says that haven't seen any amerıcans for 2 years. I admıt I have seen none sınce I left Sofıa. hopefully ın Istanbul! Tomorrow I'm off to Neşehır and Göreme. Don't know how easy ıt wıll be to contact everyone so hope for the best!

ı apologıze for any odd letters or punctuatıon marks ın the followıng updates as turkısh keyboards are somewhat dıfferent.
Fırst - fınıshıng my sofıa tale. defınıtely a cıty one could stay longer ın. I dıd meet mıguel and adam - the two amerıcans that had been at the art hostel sınce around chrıstmas. Sofıa ıs compact enough that you can see ıt all ın a day at most 2. so what do amerıcans do wıth freetıme? Well, they met teachıng englısh ın ıstanbul and let me know that sofıa ıs to sıngle males what turkey ıs to sıngle females. at any rate, ı let them show me a bıt of the nıghtlıfe. Beware of that Bulgarıan wıne! Not to mentıon the brandy that ıs basıcally rocket fuel. I dıd get to bed for a nıce rest before awakenıng to a cıty blanketed ın snow. Made my way to the traın statıon and on to plovdıv!

No problems gettıng there. Despıte the fact that I have decıded ı do better travelıng when ı have at least one other person that ı can guıde... After the 2.5 hr trıp ı was almost ımmedıately quası-kıdnapped by a very kınd old lady that had been ın my compatment on the way from Sofıa. the fact that only repeated "da, neı, and mercı" dıd not seem to hamper her enthusıasm for havıng captured an amerıcan tourıst. I had planned on just walkıng through the old town, nıce dınner, and back to the traın statıon. ınstead, ı was lead around by the hand, taken to some sort of general store where she bought me a lıttle musıc box thıng and wrote somethıng on the box ın bulgarıan o me, taken out to coffee where we had a nıce "chat" and taken back to her apartment where she lıved (near the old town) wıth 3 other old ladıes. stıll no englısh speakers ın sıght... they got a kıck out of the photos of my famıly and our "vılla." Showed me some of theır famıly photos too. fed me way too much, and then she walked me back to the statıon makıng sure ı got on exactly the rıght traın and ı thınk warnıng me agaınst turkısh people?? maybe askıng me to call? anyway, on the traın to ıstanbul - met some nıce french guys ın the compartment next to me. It was nıce that they let me vent ın englısh for a couple of mınutes. Turns out that Pıerre and Greg had the same plan as me - to get out of Istanbul fast. Our traın, scheduled to arrıve around 9am, hıt bad weather as we crossed to border and pulled ınto the statıon about 3pm.... you should really see the pıctures of ıstanbul and ankara the past couple of days. a mess! ın the worst weather ever, we crossed the bosphorous to the asıan traın statıon and caught an overnıght traın to pamakkule where ı am currently. Arrıved ın denzalı thıs mornıng, bus to pamakkule, we walked up and around the travertınes and ıncredıble roman ruıns. had them almost all to ourselves - probably due to weather all over turkey. http://www.meltemguesthouse.com/ ıs where ıim stayıng. we headed on an adventure to nearby kaklık caves. cold and wet we just returned and had a huge dınner. ın the mornıng ıim headed on a day trıp to selcuk and ephesus. back here ın the nıght and then a bus to egırdır. pray for sunny weather!!!!

status: alive, well, not at all stolen by gypsies...

At any rate I am using the convenient internet place across the street from the 'art hostel' that I am staying at in Sofia, Bulgaria. I rolled into town around 6:30am. First, however, Bucharest:
I had planned to perhaps stop by Sinaia on the way but there was not time so I had a few hours to wander around Brasov some more. pretty place for sure. Then a 2 or so hour train ride into Bucharest. The only other person in my compartment was some poor lady who kept trying to ask me if we were getting close to sofia. At some point I just started speaking spanish whenever anyone spoke to me in Romanian. It's actually close - Romanian is a romance language and very close to old school latin. At any rate, got to Bucharest around 1:30, and headed off toward the center of the historic quarter. Walked through some very gheto areas, lots of gypsy kids runnin all over the place. So wandering, wandering... almost 3 hrs later I realize that I dont really know where I am and that I shouldve been there by now. Well, long story short - I had pulled a complete 180. By the time I found an intersection I knew from the map, I was about 5 blocks from the train station. I then proceeded to walk the wrong way down that street. As a last resort, I walked into the next metro station, attempted to head in the correct direction to the historic quarter. No signs, announcements, I just got off when the most people did. Luckily - it worked. In the dilapidated historic quarter, there were all sorts of random street vendors. I just found somplace recommended in the guidebook and had some nice soup. I walked around to see some of the sights, treated myself to desert, and just as it started sprinkling I headed back toward the train station. words of the day "comfort food. On the way to the station, I ran into the Bostonian that went to Draculas castle with me. He had just arrived and was on his way to a hostel. I wished him good luck and got myself out of town. Had a sleeper car - all to myself! Pretty sweet service too. Of the billion people that had to see my passport, the customs guys were the best. The first one asked me where I had come from and when I said Brasov he got dreamy and said he loved it there. Then asked if I had any problems - drugs, guns... laughed and left. The other customs guy was funny - reading all of my passport outloud, judging me fit to continue into Bulgaria. Ah...
Somehow managed to make it to the hostel here around 7am - the streets are not exactly gridlike, and all the signs are in Cyrillic. I can't wait to see what a mess of things I make when in Turkey. I'm getting the hang of it now though. The 3 other people there were still asleep when I left about 10:30. I hit all the major sites, got my sleeper reservation from Plovdiv to Istanbul, and have spent the rest of my time wandering. An absolutely gorgeous day - to warm for my coat, windy, you can see the mountains all around.... Verdict = sofia is an infinitely nicer place then Bucharest!

I have an hour of free internet access at the hostel here in Brasov, so I thought I'd grace you all with another update. I hoped on a very full couchette last night - got into one of the very top bunks.. I must be getting the hang of it since I slept quite well. This morning the kind romanian couple left in the couchette gave me all sorts of advice about avoiding gypsies and not going out after dark. Turns out that they live in Brasov and they pointed out the way to all the necessary buses etc to get to the hostel. Crazy good times. At the hostel I met an English girl from Manchester and a guy from Boston. Became a millionare at the atm when I withdrew 1,000,000 lei. Once again convince people to go on an adventure with me - this time to Draculas castle. Definitely an adventure as it took almost more time to get there and back then look around the castle effectively. After managing to get back to the main square we ate at 'bella musica' - recommended in all of our guides. Deserving of it as well as a gorgeous meal, drink, and free extras (a shot of palinqa, plum brandy, served before the meal as well as some tortilla chips as it was a combo mexican, hungarian, romanian restaurant) and tip cost me less then $5. Verdict : if you're in Romania, you should definitely stop by this part of the country, it's blanketed in snow right now but not bitterly cold. You can look up around the town and see the Carpathians. Brasov might be the sixth largest city in Romania, but it would be lovely to spend some time here. Sleeping here tonight, a day in Bucharest, and on to Bulgaria!

So here is a quick update... After the last update, I wandered the heck out of Budapest, going all over central Pest and even up around Buda, getting some incredible views. I decided that my family must be distantly magyar, as their first christian king (St. Stephen) looks an awful lot like dad - even similar crowns ;) At any rate, got decidedly hungry and ate chinese before taking a quick stop by the operetta and hungarian puppet theatre. Went back to the hostel and chatted with the Holland girl that was in my dorm.

This morning, I slept in a bit before heading to the meeting point for an 'absolute walking tour' that was about 4-5 hrs all in all. Ended up just being 3 americans, 2 canadians, and 1 irish girl. I now know why January is the low season in Budapest. At any rate, we started off in hero's square with a fast and hard lesson on Hungarian and Magyar history from 896 till the present day. I'm going to know tons of random info by the time i get back... Walked around the city park, checked out the nearby baths... wish i had had time to go back to them but everything shutsdown early on weekends. Headed around the main sights (st stephens basilica, the orthodox synagogue, crazy amounts of architecture) in central pest before walking across the chain bridge and up to buda. It was great to finally know what i looked at last night. Ended up at Matthias church where I quasi led one american, one canadian, and the irish girls all to the labyrinth under the hill. It was originally formed from all the hot spring action, used during the war, and recently renovated. We got a kick out of it. Too bad so many side passages were roped off. Mom - you would've absolutely loved it - all about finding oneself in the labyrinth of prehistory and history. They even have a 'personal labyrinth' you can do at night, in the dark, by yourself, focusing on following a string. The canadian, Marina, and I rode black on the bus back into town. Other then that i've just been drying off, spending the last $5 in forints, and tasting unicum as recommended to all of us by our tour guide. It's some sort of herbal liquor you take as a shot. Tastes like medicine, so hopefully it'll keep me healthy! Well, I'm just wasting forints now... I should go back and get to Kelenti station.

I lied about that last part - we did not go see a puppet show. Took a nap, got up, ran over where the show was - found out it doesn't start till Jan 17th. Terrible. We did manage to get ourselves locked in the building, but luckily someone came along to let us out. so then there was a lot of wandering, avoiding a decision on dinner. then it was 11 and there was only one place open anyway. Anna and I ate, then headed to the marquis de sade - big ex-pat bar where everybody speaks english. Oddly, ran into the americans, George and ShawnT?. Of course it was necessary to test the old czech saying "the best beer is beer."
I drank my obligatory pilsner and budvar, then moved on to absinthe. only one dont worry! But I was taught how to use sugar and basically catch the whole thing on fire before drinking - it burns anyway I spose. That was at the second bar - a neat place down in a sort of catacombs. Everyone smoking pot and leaving buds all over the tables. Would've been infinitely better had the soundtrack not been all the hits of 1991.

After stumbling home to bed, I slept in till about 10 on Thursday. Rousted Anna and we stopped by the local market, where you could buy guns or bruised apples, before heading downtown and going on the tour of the old Jewish ghetto. As it was cold and raining off and on, the tour was nearly private - only 2 other people. After a nice warm cup of tea, we met George and Shawn for dinner. We had planned on attempting the opera, but it was sold out. Instead we went to see the Czech philharmonic in their concert hall playing a Dvorak concert. Not a bad second! If you want a visual, it was the concert hall they used in the movie Amodeus. After more wandering, I had Anna and Shawn drop me off at the train station. The only other person in my entire car turned out to be a Korean girl that had shared my dorm room at Sir Toby's. It wasn't exactly sound sleeping, but not too bad. Only had to show about 5 people my passport at different times: slovak, czech, and a couple of hungarians. Anyway, arrived here around 9am and checked in at the Red Bus II hostel. Not a bad place, only one other in my dorm -immediately set of wandering. I got all around the main parts of Pest and the castle district of Buda. I even had time to stop at the Gellert thermal baths to relax for a couple hours. Definitely an interesting cultural experience. I met two other americans (from Missouri, late 30's.) We found each other rather easily as Americans are some of the few who smile back. Hard to explain. At any rate, most of the other people in the womens thermal baths seemed in their 70's, rather rotund, and naked. As we were not those, we kindof gravitated towards each other. I admit it felt good, and I'm clean now. The wandering continued.... etc, etc. I'm going on a 4 hr walking tour tomorrow, then maybe to some other swimming pools before catching an 11pm train to Brasov, Romania. Time for me to get off the internet and get out doing things.

well, guess it's been a few days so i'll check in..
after my marathon of travel - had to have been a good 48 hrs of nonstop running around, trying to nap in buses, airplanes, and airports. I am now in prague and having quite a time! I enjoyed my 4 hours in Bath where the gals at the reception enjoyed my 'wonderful american accent.' haha. one kept telling stories about the 9 times she's been to america and how great it is compared to england. anyway, bus-ed it to stansted airport where i sat around for 7 hrs waiting for my flight. not bad as the whole place was filled with people doing the same thing - lots of the cheap flights leave from stansted so all the other students and poor people leave from there.
Arrived around 10:30am yesterday. Sat next to a czech woman on the flight who seemed amazed that I would travel by myself. Told me how she would never go to Romania... ah well. i like to live dangerously.
Had some minor difficulties finding the hostel. My fault of course - intracity transport has never been my strongpoint. But now I have a map, I'm oriented, and I have the bus/tram/metro system figured out more or less.
Made friends with a nice Austrailian girl in my dorm- Anna - woke her up when i came in as she was sleeping off the absinthe from the night before. i wanted to get out and do stuff, but it was raining, so I only managed to go to the grocery store and take a nap. Anna and I went out later and had a nice dinner, walked around, met a couple of americans also in our hostel and walked all 2 hrs back.
This morning we did the 4 hr walking tour of Prague, excellent. All the way from Wensealus square to the Prague Castle. Now I'm taking a break, catching up on sitting. Tonight we're headed for a puppet show. A local specialty... out for now!

I have attempted my goodbyes... The saga will begin Sunday.