Kharma Hotel Altinkum

I've always been proud of how infrequently I get sick and how resilient I am to food from other cultures. Traveled China and Ethiopia with little or no difficulty. But something is in my gut now and it's not happy! Moving hurts, and anything that I attempt to put inside is rejected immediately!

For 3 days now we've been laid up in this lovely hotel, where we've been stuffed full of tea until it leaks out our ears, trying to recover. The first ...

... miniscule version out of her purse. Very helpful, but still not what we needed.

We’re experienced world travelers now. What do we need a map for?

Setting off, upon arrival at the first junction there was a looming ‘no bicycles’ sign on the entrance to the highway. And none of the other directional signs showing names of towns matched anything on our maps. Which way would ...

... and the person you're talking with takes the paper to his friend down the road for interpretation so you can continue your conversation?

Where do you smell burning coal for properly cooked tea?

Where do museums note prize artifacts with labels like: 'male statue', 'coins', and have dates of 'Roman Period'

Where do they set fire to your nostrils and ears as a part of a routine haircut and ...

... my requested trip from turkish Cesme directly to italian Ancona (2,5 days) was suspended for unknown reason. So there was the other option to use a 3-stop-strategy to get to Italy.

First stop of my ferry journey was the little hop from turkish Cesme to Chios. And that means HELLO GREECE, HELLO EUROPE!!! Ok, it also means hello high prices...

Alacati, a very pretty little town with one main street, lots of eating places and very expensive hotels. We found a small place tucked away down a back street called Umit Otel after the owner. He was very nice and the place was very clean. You basically walk in through the garden gate into a paved semi covered area which is reception dining and chill-out area in the garden ...

... with amazing murals and icons. There is also a famous icon of the Virgin Mary (without child) here along with some really beautiful mosaics inside the Church. The church also houses an out building which houses several bones from victims of a massacre in which the deceased were either shot in the head and killed, had a sword jammed into their head and killed or impaled through their rear ends and left to die (perhaps the worst way to to as death was ...

... led to our having a dinner together--with his companion Italian Rita--in the time between their catching the Greek ferry to Pireaus.

However, upon entering the harbor at Chios as I saw the rocky hills behind the town I resolved the next day to try and climb to the top of them.








And this I did. The first picture of the "climbing" series is ...

... picture) asked me if I was American. He said that he was too; though he was living now for several years in southern Italy. He said, unpretentiously, that he lived in one of the old, stone beehive houses. I said that I had read of them. And thus our conversation was underway.

He was 70 years old, and was traveling with his Italian friend (“girlfriend”?); anyway, younger woman companion. And by the way, she had been--I think--giving me the eye ...

... busy when we got there. The coaches drop off their hordes at the top of the site and they all, dutifully, walk down the main avenues to be picked up at the bottom of the site. Thus all their walking is downhill. We did the opposite by walking up against the flow and then walked down taking in all of the less visited areas. Whilst the main areas of the site are seriously impressive, the peripheral areas are delightfully quiet, covered in wild flowers and have a ...

... and went out to watch the sunset before going to dinner with Colleena. I haven't seen any recycling in Greece. I would think being an EU country there'd be some sort of requirement for that. Took the morning bus to the ferry port and waited for the ferry to Naxos (nearby island). The ferry was late but it wasn't so bad as the ferry ride is only an hour. Didn't get into Naxos 'til 1:30pm so didn't have much time for a daytrip but this coincided well with a bus to the ...