The caves of Nerja

They say Gaudi's Familia Sagrada was inspired by the caves in Nerja, the largest in Europe. Tomorrow we'll find out. Now we are getting ready here on Bar Le Cueva, part of the El Capistrano "urbanismo" complex, highly populated by UK visitors. Note the Christmas lights running through our heads. Photo compliments of our new Welsh friends, Nigel and Angela.

Casas Blancas

The white washed hill towns of Costa del Sol are unforgettable. It is nearly impossible to take an anti-picturesque photo. Every angle, crooked alley, mosaic street and iron balcony covered with blooming pink and orange bougenville flowers is right out of a painting. I'd love to be the white exterior paint distributor here.

Gummi Planes

On our flight from Frankfurt to Barcelona we were served Gummi Planes. Did not inspired confidence or respect.

Hora Feliz

So Happy Hour is actually two and a half hours -for good reason: we stood in line for 30 minutes to get Tapas at Tapas 24 in Barcelona, having spent all day inhaling art all over the city. The Picasso Museum is five mansions, our hotel posts snippets about artists on their walls and there is always the ubiquitous Gaudi. What a feast for the eyes!!!

Arrival in Spain

After a 10 hour flight to Frankfurt, it's just a 2 hour hop to Barcelona. We are staying at the Denit - a haven of simplicity, edgy decor and friendliness right in the heart of the old quarter. We were welcomed with a bottle of wine, plate of jambon and assoirted meats (they remembered we'd stayed there before). Immediately upon arrival, I put a ring thru Chuck's nose and dragged him down to the cloisters by the cathedral, past a shop that sells more than 1000 hats, over to Las Ramblas to the Boccaria market, up through the crowds to get into Gaudi's Casa Batilo (it's open until 9:00) then back down to the alleys of the Gotic for tapas, wine and sadad made with duck confit, berries and "fruits of the forest.". I have a photo of Chuck eating a rather large bowl of baby eels (rather like a pile of short spaghetti). Off to see the Picasso Museum and find a comics store today.

It's a Wonderful Life circa 2012

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Contemporary Norman Conquest

After returning from Turkey, Chuck got to have his own pilgrimage - his version of Mecca is Stockbridge, MA - home of the Norman Rockwell Museum. However, the "Mountain came to Mohammed" on November 9. The"American Chronicles: The Art of Norman Rockwell" is at the Crocker Art Museum, Sacramento through Feb 3, 2013 and well worth seeing, seeing and seeing again. ALL of his Saturday Evening Post covers, self-portraits and many controversial works that did not meet the editorial guidelines of the then ultra-conservative art directors. Chuck has had the opportunity to do two SEP covers this year and it's definitely a different publication than Ben Franklin and Norman Rockwell created.

Bed, Roman Baths and Beyond

Before we left people raved about Turkish cuisine and our last lunch was the acropolis of Culinary arts. A family owned restaurant, far off the tourist path was nestled in a lush garden surrounded by an orchard of olives, pomegranates, oranges and vegetables. From the kitchen came a laughter that produced a groaning table of piping hot stews, mint and cucumber yogurts, three kinds of fried peppers, four eggplant, stuffed dolmas of cabbages or grape leaves, cheeses, fresh squeezed sherbet (orange and pomegranate) and home made dessert of semolina and pistachio. Of course, I bought her cookbook.
We fly out tomorrow as the sun rises on the Agean Ocean. We'll go to sleep tonight, wake up in Turkey, fly and then go to bed in California. What a marvelous, but confusing, magic carpet!!

Our lives in ruins

We arrived in Ephesus (Efes in Turkish -just like the ubiquitous beer) along with four 4,000 passenger cruise ships. We managed an early morning walk in amongst the ruins before the tourists were overwhelming. We'd been observing that everything (sights, people, food) here is a combination of hot, dry or old. In the case of this largest archeological site in the Mediterranean, we added the word WOW!!
And then the unexpected: millions of friendly, healthy cats. Linda was in heaven.

Turkey's Magical Hideaways

We were four nights on a 90 foot gullet cruising the Turquoise Coast: stopping at Cleopatra's Baths, hiking to a "ghost town" abandoned by the Turks in 1920 when they exchanged populations with Greece, swimming in the Mediterranean and trekking through nomads pastures or up river to see ancient burial sites. Fabulous fresh food, rough open water, bees and good company all round.

Turkey needs some Rybos

Here we are on the Turkish Riviera and only small motor craft, fishing boats, traditional gulets and fake pirate boats to be seen. (I didn't know that Barbarossa was Turkish).
I think anyone with a Rybovich would be a celebrity. We're getting on our little gulet tomorrow night. Expecting fish for breakfast, lunch and dinner for the next three days.

Mythology

As we head to Myra toward Ephesus along the "Turqouise Coast," the stories, heroic tales, Green and Roman myths are coming alive. Every one includes them in their daily life, if only to say "Take a left at Perseus and follow straight down to Apollo-if you hit reach the Mediterranean you've gone too far."
Speaking of fictional stories, we have yet to see, feel or be able to purchase a TURKISH TOWEL. According to our ever honest guide, they DO exist and are designed to last forever. So why wouldn't hotels have them? Not even the highly publicized Turkish Baths called Hamams. As a collector of photos of laundry, I have been on the look out for the last twelve days and have put them in the category of urban and rural myth.

Turkey's happy ending to loosing their marbles

Hercules is home!!
It turns out Boston Museum of Fine Arts (see earlier blog posts) mounted an exhibition of one of their major donor's collections - including the top half of Hercules. The folks at the Antalya Museum picked up on it and, since they had the rest of the torso, negotiated for a reunion of the parts. I'm happy to say Boston behaved well and this sculpture takes your breath away!

And then there is a HUGE hall filled with Nemsis ( or should it be Nemeses?). Once, again, breathtaking.

Turkish Homestay

Saturday night in a village in Turkey was memorable, comfortable and filled with friendship. We started by picking strawberries, watching sunset on the lake and then moved to a feast of fresh vegetables, beef, lamb, pilaf and baklava. Everyone brought gifts to for the hosts and we stumbled through conversations about everyday things - kids, homes, dress and family. It was clean and comfortable, but cold.
We left early in the morning to head over the Tarsus mountains to Antalya. We are now entering Greco-Roman history that dates back some 6,000 years. Don't hold me to historical accuracy.

Carpet-docia

After the pottery "Learn and Discover" (discover how to use your Visa and MasterCard) demonstration, we went to watch Whirling Dervishes perform in a Caravansary built in 1242. Mesmerizing!

Since they were meditating and in a propounding trancelike state -no photos. But the carpet weavers were more than happy to share there techniques and even let us try a knot or two.

Sent from my iPhone

Flying above the vineyards and

This is the perfect time to come to Turkey.The fall colors on this bleak and other worldly landscape are startling!
As we flew over the homes and ancient (11 and 12th Century) churches carved out of stone, we joined 80 other balloons to greet the sunrise -sort of a "balloon eclipse. From an altitude of 2-1000 feet, we were given a real geology lesson and agricultural overview. The topsy-turby green clumps are grape vines that will be harvested soon. Pumpkins are grown only for their seeds-the flesh is left in the fields to fertilize the soil. Modern Cappadocians also carve out and mark bird cotes in the rocks to attract the birds and collect the guano. In earlier times, they used the guano, straw, manure and natural dyes to create astonishing frescos in the churches. Sorry no photos and even these with my iPhone were risky -if I dropped it over the edge of the basket, no more blog.
As it turns out, we're off to a village home stay tomorrow. Blog pause for a few days. Internet isn't everywhere in Turkey, but colors, music, smells and friendly people certainly are.

Ready to be in a balloon

It's a little dark and taken with a legacy iphone but look to the right of the minaret and left of the huge rock you'll see me with my new hand made gloves ready for the hot air ballon ride tomorrow morning. We are staying in a cave hotel without TV, Internet or adequate lighting, but at least we are not hiding from marauding rebels on camels. We DO have a wake up call at 5:00 a.m.
Inshallah.

Waking up in Cappadocia

The Call to Prayer came at 6:32 followed by a sight from our balcony that took my breath away - sixty balloons ascending over the "Fairy Chimneys" of Cappadocia. Tomorrow we'll be in one of them! NOT with droopy crotch pants.

No coffee on the way to Cappadocia

Fact 1: Starbucks does Not have Turkish Coffee.
Fact 2: Turkish Coffee is from Brazil
Fact 4: Turks actually more commonly drink TEA (pronounced "chai") in little tulip shaped glass cups.

All thisoght have helped at four this morning when west to fly to CappDocia. This place is utterly other worldly, lunar at best. People have lived in these caves for centuries! We exited an underground city of 600-1000 people that was completely carved out of rock 15 feet under the earth. Great place for hiding -for months under various seiges and regimes. Tomorrow we go to visit the Fairy Chimneys and see yhe frescos in the cave churches of Görome -a World Heritage Site and have lunch with a Turkish family. Sort of "A Day in the Life." Our hotel is in a cave. (See the view from our balcony -third photo). Of course, right in front are ALL the SOS (same old stuff) vendors. Have resisted buying a carpet.