Sisus Cesme

... spoken words, we could not point, make hand gestures, or draw pictures in my handy-dandy-notebook. Somehow we made it through.

Earlier in the trip I was a little hesitant about talking with people when i couldn't speak the language, but no longer. People are people and I've found that basically everyone is good and willing to help out. Instead of avoiding situations, I barrel right in now. Getting further and further away from all that ...

... the dog to bark enough to alert someone inside. Turns out there are no coastal roads and we’ll have to backtrack to Cesme and try to find an old road that shadows the bike-banning highway.

But that something that can be worried about tomorrow. Now we’re being led through a property to have tea while listening to booming Turkish music and watching the sun glint off the waves.

... ready to be hacked apart?

Where does the main attraction in town cost $2 to view?

Where do huge dogs roam the street and chase you on your bike?

Where do you eat olives for breakfast?

Where can you talk to anyone on the street and they will help you with directions?

Where can you buy a kilo of freshly roasted pistachios for about $10?

Where do your write down your ...

... 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...

... to eat which served steak, and it was an expensive meal but one of the best steaks I've ever had. Chris said the same of hers. We had asked if they had any amaretto for Christine, but alas no. However, when we’d finished the meal the waiter brought out a couple of crème de menthe liquors on the house, so that just topped it off nicely.

http://www.umitevotel.co m

... more lil villages before coming back into Chios (its actually called Chora but everyone calls it Chios as it is the island capital). FINALLY some down time! I used this to catch up on the blogs and hang out with Shawn and walk along the streets near the water. This is a slow day as mom and aunt Helen are getting some legal schmegal stuff taken care of and we have some free time to ourselves. Tomorrow we are off to Ephesus in Turkey and then Friday back to Athens.

... 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 ...

... a very toothy grin. After the first look I tried to consciously ignore making eye contact with her.

Well, by the time we arrived at the Chios harbor we had become well enough acquainted. He had even lived a couple of years in Eugene, Oregon in a somewhat peripetetic life. And, as they had three hours to wait for their on-going ferry to Athens and then Italy, I suggested that we have a dinner together after I found lodging in a pension. And thus we did, Rita, Bob and I.

... we headed for the local bus area where we expected to catch a Dolmus (pronounced mini-bus) into town. However, the touts had other ideas and we caught a taxi, a small Skoda thing, into town. This wouldn't leave until the rather thuggish taxi supervisor decided it had enough people in it. In the end he seemed to think that 6 of us in a car designed for 5 was just about sufficient so, for 5 lira (£2) each we headed into town. Once there we went to the Bazaar which, unlike Istanbul ...

... in the morning, so YES.. I bought a swimsuit from him. He offered to take me to a nearby local restaurant for dinner after my swim... of course I AGREED. I'm only interested in the LOCAL stuff when I travel (hate touristy hotel food). Got to the beach, got in the waters and it felt so calm, so good.. waves of warm current mixing with cool waters caressing you.. I think I actually swam for 1 hour in the sea - and it actually caught the attention of ...