Thoughts about Istanbul, Turkey

I'm in a town (Selcuk) close to Ephesus right now after being in Istanbul for a little less than a week. It's such a relief being out of that city; not to say it doesn't have it's strong points, but constant pestering from everyone gets on your nerves after a while.

The sights are phenomenal, the food is amazing, but the people are driven by tourism... which for me kills the atmosphere. Touts are everywhere... all you have to do is look in a direction, and someone owns that spot. You look at a kebab stand, restaurant, juice stand, etc... and they start yelling at you to come eat, drink, etc... at their place. Some of them rush over to hassle you... and it's always the same little bit of English... "Where are you from my friend?" And even if you reply, you always get a "ah" response and that's it. I would be proud if I knew that much English too, but you have to imagine how annoying it is for someone to hear that phrase repeated all day. I started playing a game where I try to say a different place every time I was asked, but it started getting difficult :)

I haven't had too much luck with restaurants too... I haven't been able to find a single place with "set" menus, or a place where I don't have to whip out my negotiation tactics to order a mixed meze (appetizer) plate. Don't get me wrong... the food I've had is 1st class... from the bakeries (least amount of hassle), kebab shops, to the nicer "white tablecloth" (as they call them here) restaurants. But the hassle takes much of the enjoyment out of it. Plus the prices (at least compared to the Balkans) are extremely high.

It sucks that a place with such rich history, sights, and mix of people has to be so difficult... I hope it changes :) Then again... maybe it's just me... and I was hanging in the wrong parts of town... can the blue mosque be moved?

Now that I'm in "rural" Turkey, things are very different. It's quite more relaxed here... food is still great, without the pressure. Way less people pester you, and when they do, they feel much more genuine. And less people speak "English"... which right now seems like a very good thing to me. I'll get bored of it soon enough.

Sorry for the rant. Tomorrow, I'm off to see one of the 7 wonders... Ephesus.

Base jumping...

If people think that my Paragliding is crazy, check out these insane guys.

POTD 4

Kishinev, Moldova was a nice break in my travels... a quiet town with a relaxed Western European feel, but still a touch of Eastern Europe. This was on one of the quiet back streets. You can see where it was taken by clicking on the photo above and then on "map" next to "Taken in Chisinau, Chisinau" on the right of the photo. Or click here for a map with more of my photos from around there.

Istanbul, Turkey

So I'm in Istanbul, and it's definitely a different feel over here (than Eastern Europe)... Bazaars everywhere, haggling is the norm, food is amazing. Not to say that Eastern Europe doesn't have it's culinary highlights, but Turkey is where it's at. I'm getting myself mentally prepped for gaining the Turkish 15.

Bye bye Eastern Europe

So I've spent a couple of days in Veliko Tarnovo, Bulgaria, and that's my last stop in Eastern Europe. Almost 4 months and 21 countries... it's been an experience... that I hope to write more about soon.

Now a 14 hour train ride to "Asia", that is, the border of Asia and Europe: Istanbul, Turkey.

I've posted more photos here. And many are geotagged thanks to gpstagr.

Quick Updates from Ohrid, Macedonia - my 20th Country on this trip

I'm again pressed for Internet time, so I'll summarize where I've been.

From Split, Croatia, I headed down to Dubrovnik, then to Kotor, Montenegro. Then down to Shkoder, Albania and Tirana, Albania for a couple of days. From there I traveled inland to Ohrid, Macedonia where I'm right now.

Tomorrow, I'll head to Skopje for a day and then to Bulgaria for a few days, and then out of Eastern Europe, and over to Turkey.

Here's a quick run down of the countries I've been to so far:
1 Russia
2 Estonia
3 Latvia
4 Lithuania
5 Germany
6 Czech Rep.
7 Poland
8 Ukraine
9 Moldova
10 Romania
11 Hungary
12 Slovakia
13 Austria
14 Slovenia
15 Croatia
16 Serbia
17 Bosnia
(Back to Croatia)
18 Montenegro
19 Albania
20 Macedonia

First Salsa/Mambo On2 workshop in Split, Croatia

So with lots of help from Toni, Tea, and the local media, including a radio ad, we managed to pull in almost 50 people for this on2 workshop. Tea managed to get us a conference room in Le Meridien with a very nice wooden parquet dance floor. The workshop was about 3 hours, and we covered Cha Cha and On2 Salsa shines and partner work. I think it was overall very successful, but if I could change one thing, it would be to split it into two workshops... basic beginner and intermediate. It's very difficult teaching a class that has everyone from absolute beginners (that have never danced) to advanced dancers (including teachers). The dancers of Split are quite a friendly bunch, and the scene is developing very quickly... I wouldn't be surprised if Split will soon host a big salsa congress.

Salsa On2 workshop in Split, Croatia

I'll be teaching a salsa On2 workshop in Split, Croatia this Sunday (Nov. 11, 2007) starting at 5pm. If you are interested in coming, e-mail me.

POTD 3

I stayed in pretty dodgy hotel in Odessa, Ukraine... but the view (the numerous times I was woken up) was quite nice.

Caves and House with Chimeras in Kiev, Ukraine

I didn't particularly like Kiev, Ukraine, but there were a couple of thing I did like: the cave monastery at Pechersk Lavra and the House with Chimeras.

Since the monasteries in Kiev are real (place of worship), I couldn't take any photos there, plus I think it would be very difficult to capture them with stills. (At least I would need my "real" camera - wide angle plus good low light ability).

It took me a long time to actually find the caves... there are many museums in that area and as I have noted before, almost no one speaks English. So when I did finally stumble upon the caves, I only found an exit... and being tired, I went against my conscious and entered. I quickly found out that they have remained as they were when they were constructed: half a kilometer of underground passage-ways with no lights. (you are supposed to buy candles at the entrance and use them to see your way around). Luckily, I was prepared with my tiny $1 flashlight I bought in some flea market in Russia. So wondering around, the caves are filled with tombs, and other Russian orthodox "things"... and somewhere in the "center" of the caves was a "large" room in which an actual service was taking place. A couple of dozen people where praying, and everything was being illuminated by the candles they were holding... quite a sight. Finding my way out was a whole other challenge... with claustrophobia setting in at points... but alas... sunlight was finally found.

The other sight I found really interesting in Kiev was the "House with Chimeras".


It was designed by the architect Gorodetskiy in 1902 and is one of the most interesting "artistic" buildings I have ever seen. There are so many details to it... click on the photo and then on "All Sizes" above the photo to see more resolution, (click on "Original" to see even more) or view my other photos of the building with different angles and closer details. Elephants, frogs, snakes, goats... this building has everything! For more info about the house visit Kiev's tourist info site

Rollercoaster travel week

As I've written before, traveling sometimes is filled with ups and downs. Sometimes they are so close together and intertwined that it's hard to pick them apart.

I traveled in Slovenia with two lovely travelers: Kim and Nolan. We took a day trip to Bled, Slovenia, rented a row boat and ate and drank on the lake while enjoying the amazing fall scenery. (Photos will be posted in the future). Then I headed to Zagreb with Kim, where I didn't click as much with the travelers (although she did). I still enjoyed the city, although it rained too much. I took a train over to Belgrade, Serbia... a train that was supposed to be 6 hours, that lasted more than nine... as one guy on the train said, "This is travel in the Balkans."

Belgrade is a really nice city... not exactly pretty, but it reminds me of New York a little bit: Fast paced and great food. Actually, the food is not specific to the city; Serbia seems to have really good food in general: lots of excellent meat dishes! Last night I had an amazing Roasted Lamb dish; and a salad with real olives (I love olives), not the tasteless California olives I've been getting everywhere. I also had really nice company of some locals, including a very nice local film director. The salsa scene here is alive and kicking, but I've only seen Cuban style... I haven't seen a single person dancing on1 or on2... I probably went to the wrong club. I also did a day trip to Novi Sad in the north... cute town with a cute Citadel.

But travel has been a little rough (at least mentally) since my mom was sick for a couple of days... and although she is better now, it was a big scare for me. (Love you mom)

Today I'm off to Sarajevo, Bosnia... hopefully on an on-schedule bus. (8 hours... no problem!)

I posted more photos, including:

The street where my grandma lived in Warsaw.

The cemetery in L'viv, Ukraine where many of the graves have sculptures or busts of the deceased.

And some of my own modern art.

Ljubljana to Bled to Zagreb to Belgrade

So plans changed (as always), and I don't have much available Internet time to write about it. So I'll just summarize where I've been and my current plan.

I ended up only taking a day trip to Bled, Slovenia (which was gorgeous), and then headed to Zagreb, Croatia. Spent a couple of days there and today arrived in Belgrade, Serbia. I'm probably going to do a little circuit in the central former Yugoslav states and then head back to the Croatian coast. (maybe?)