Toasty in Turkey

Ali and I arrived on Wednesday evening after a long period of flying -- five flights for me and three for and Ali. We flew separate routes and met up in Munich for the last leg of the flight. I almost missed the Munich flight because my previous flight got off to a late start in Amsterdam. We landed just ten minutes before the Ankara flight was scheduled to take off at which point I and two fellow Ankara traveling companions were whisked off the airplane and deposited in the van of a good German who careened around the tarmac for fifteen minutes delivering us to passport control and then through secret passageways to our flight which was being held for our arrival. I think those might have been my fifteen minutes of fame because I felt like a real celebrity. It was great to see Ali on the plane.

Because we are carrying personal belongs for five months of travel and living abroad we decided to drive around turkey rather than drag our luggage on and off buses, trains and planes. So today we take off to Capadoccia in Anatolia to visit ancient underground cities.

So far we like the Turks although our communication is limited to grinning and awkward hand and body gestures. Lots of grinning. Ankara is a large, noisy, polluted city, but the areas that we have seen are clean and well maintained. And it’s toasty here – in the 90’s or so. But it’s quite pleasant in the morning and evenings.

Stay tuned for Turkey road tales.

My first blog...gosh!

Welcome to my first blog! I hope you'll find my posts informative, thought- provoking, and maybe even inspiring at times.

Ali and I have decided to spend three weeks in Turkey together before we launch into our respective gigs - his in Morocco and mine in Tanzania. Ali will be teaching English at Al Akhawayn University in the Atlas Mountains, but I don't know yet what I'll be doing in Tanzania. I expect it to be meaningful and fulfilling whatever it is. We take off on July 24th and look forward to visiting ancient underground cities in Anatolia, hanging out in a fishing village on the Mediterranean, and roaming the medieval streets of Istanbul.

I hope you enjoy poking around on my blog space. I found a lovely video for you to enjoy and added some interesting links too, and oh, yes, be sure to scroll to the bottom of the page to see my home in Moshi and my full itinerary.

Moshi, BTW, is at the base of the great Mount Kiliminjaro, the highest mountain in Africa. Anyone interested in joining me in late October for a climb?

cheers

Denise