Monday, May 23, 2005

All Greeced Out

I've been back for about a week - and I'm still getting over the wee jet lag. A 7 hour time difference really kicks a girl in the ass, let me tell you.

The trip was amazing, I had a blast. Greece is stunningly beautiful, Turkey is fascinating, Elisa and I had a great time together, we met some very cool people (shout out to the Contiki Crew!), and had many many good times. Greek and Turkish men are very aggressive, but similarly amusing; "oh look, it's Charlie's Angels!"; "I want to lick your shoes"; "Not to be too personal, but I'm not married"; and so forth.

Greek food is orgasmically delicious (saganaki + kebabs = so bad for you, but so fucking yummy), even though the food on the cruise ship was fairly horrendous.

The weather was spectacular. It was slightly grey and cloudy in the morning when we were in Istanbul, but after that it was hot and gorgeously sunny. I have a pretty impressive tan, faded to a nice golden brown after the lobster-girl redness of the sunburn. And it did rain for about 30 seconds on my last day in Athens before I left - but we chalked it up to Greece mourning my loss; "Greece is crying for Jo!".

And now it's picture time, boys and girls - just click the link for a view.

The Cruise
Istanbul
  • The Blue Mosque, famous for it's blue-tile lined interior.
  • The stained-glass windows inside the Blue Mosque.
  • A washing station outside of the Blue Mosque
  • Hagia Sofia, a 6th century Church constructed by Constantine and later on converted into a Mosque.
  • Inside Hagia Sofia.
  • A 3,540 foot suspension bridge - the only bridge in the world to connect two continents, Europe and Asia.
  • Elisa and I, behind us is a view of Istanbul and the Bosphorous (a straight separating the two continents).
Mykonos
Kusadasi

We unfortunately didn't get to see much of Kusadasi, mainly because we were only there for a few hours and we spent the entire time shopping in the Grand Bazaar.
Patmos
Rhodes

Crete
Santorini
Athens
I think the pictures speak for themselves at this point. I had such a fantastic trip, I'll never forget it. I will go back someday, Greece and Turkey are such beautiful countries that are so full of history. Until then:

YAMMAS! (A toast to your health).