Yes, the rumors are true

Try and contain your excitement here... this blog is totally up to date, our pictures are uploaded, and we even threw in some labels on the pictures so you actually know what is going on. (For the more technically challenged, to get to the pictures simply click on the Flickr application to the right to go to our flickr page. Once there, click on 'sarah.haddow photostream' then you wıll see the all our albums called sets on the right hand side.) As for the blog progress, in the past two weeks we have shared and uploaded our stories from Interlaken, Vienna, Budapest, Athens, Santorini, Ios, Mykonos, Istanbul, and Cappadocia. Now pace yourselves on reading these because it is all the blog love you are going to be getting for a while. Over the next two months we will be adventuring to Egypt, Jordan, India, and China. So we don't know when our next internet/blog post creativity tıme wıll be. And for all of you who promised you would come visit us in So. East Asia, we will be arriving in Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam on Wednesday November 12th at precisely 6pm . So stop talking about it and just take that leap.
Anyway, a bıg thank you for reading the blog or at least pretending to. We hope you have enjoyed reading it as much as we have writing it. We have absolutely loved writing the posts, reading your comments, and just sharing a little piece of our adventure with you.

We miss you all... stay tuned!

Chimney Tops Everywhere

Our trek to Cappadocia, Turkey began with a lovely 10 hour night bus ride. As usual I slept the whole ride whıle Mary drifted in and out of sleep. We were greeted wıth views of amazing chimney style houses, rock formations, and incredible caves. There is not place like Cappadocia, that is for sure. The city looks like somethıng taken out of The Flintstones or Star Wars (part of the movie was actually filmed there). We jumped on a tour bus and were on our way to Göreme.

Cappadocia is made up of lots of little towns, the most popular beıng Goreme, Ürgüp, and Avanos. All the roads in the towns were quıte windy and surrounded by little gnome-like houses carved into the rocks. We stopped by The Göreme Museum which was a group of houses and churches carved into the mountain side. The Museum is known for its four churches containing impressive fresco's on the walls depicting Biblical scenes, like The Last Supper. Throughout the town you could see small holes carved into the mountiın side. These were created for pigeons as a home to fly into because they were an important bırd for the people in Cappadocia (yeah I don't understand it either). We visıted one area called Pigeon Valley, go figure.



On the tour we stopped to see varıous rock formations - the mushroom tops, chimney tops, churches, the castle, and little cave homes all the while taking in incredible views of the valley. After a quıck lunch (stuffed green peppers was our favorıte food in Turkey) we were off to Ürgüp. There we went to an Onyx makers shop where they showed us how to carve and polish onyx to be sold. We also learned about turquoise, whıch means Turkish stone. Mary and I cannot get enough of that turquoise jewelry. The lightest blue stone is from China, the darker stone-shaped rocks are from Arizona, the next darkest stone is from Iran and the Mıddle East, while the darkest of all the turquoise stones are from Turkey and often contaın small gold flecks. We both picked up a little something to add to our jewelry collection. Precious!

Back on the tour we saw the much anticipated Camel rock (Mary and I are both obsessed wıth camels). In addıtıon to the camels there were 'apparently' rock formations that looked like Napoleon's hat, two lovers embarrassing, a penguin, and two hands praying (I have no ıdea who thought that rock looked like hands). Anyway, we saw more awesome vıews, took a 20 iın hike up to the top of one cliff that looked out ınto the valley wıth a vıew that you could never get tired of looking at. Ürgüp has the most well known landmark in Cappadocia. It is a set of three mushroom tops known as the dad, mom, and son with the grandparent mushrooms in the background. This site is so well known that it is actually on the back of the Turkish Lıra 50 bill. Sweet!

We were then back on the road heading for Avanos, whıch is known for their pottery making. We stopped by a pottery shop where we watched the master potter create a sugar bowl (a test all master potters must go through). I got to try my hand at throwıng a pot, ehhh vase, eh umm a bowl is what it looked like in the end. Theır work was so beautiful and the detail of the designs on the pieces were so precise. The clay they work wıth is red clay that is taken from the Red River running through the town. We decided to make it just a day trip in Cappadocia and get back to Istanbul in order to finish updating this blog, label our pictures (see how much we love you) and wrap up other odds and ends housekeepıng wise. We had to finish getting ready because our next stop is EGYPT!!!!

Istanbul, Turkey

We were very excited to get to Istanbul, as we would be taking a break from hostel living and staying at a house with a family. My friend, Yasemin, is Turkish and her family lives in Istanbul so when I told her it would be one of our stops, she insisted that we stay at her father's house in the city. We could not turn down such a generous offer and were excited to be in a home again.


At the house we were able to re-group and do some housekeeping type things - we had full access to the internet so we were able to upload all of our photos and update the blog, do laundry, and have some authentic home-cooked Turkish meals. Yasemin's brother even arranged for us to have dinner at a nice Turkish restaurant on our first night which had incredible views of the Asian side of the city. Istanbul is actually the only city in the world that is part of 2 continents, Europe and Asia. The European side is more developed and where most of the action occurs while the Asian side is a bit more quiet and a lot less expensive. Lots of people live on the Asian side and commute via a 20 minute ferry to the European side everyday - think of the Europe side as Manhattan and the Asian side as Brooklyn.



On our first full day in the city we were able to meet up with Sarah's friend, Erin, from San Diego. She and her brother had been traveling throughout Turkey for a few weeks and suggested that we all meet in the most popular part of the city, Sultanahmed. This is where the famous Sultan Ahmet Camii, or Blue Mosque, and Hagia Sophia are located. The Blue Mosque was simply breath-taking. It was absolutely massive and we learned that it was completed in 1616 under the rule of Sultan Ahmed I. It has 6 minarets (the towers surrounding it) which actually caused a lot of controversy - at the time, the only other mosque in the world to have 6 minarets was the Ka'aba in Mecca and it was considered an insult to Mecca. As a peace offering, Sultan Ahmed I paid to have a seventh minaret built in Mecca and to this day Ka'aba is the only mosque in the world with 7 minarets.


The inside of the Blue Mosque was just as impressive as the outside - the walls and domes were covered in blue tiles, hence the Blue Mosque. I found it very interesting that there were no religious symbols or pictures on the walls or stained-glass windows, just beautiful floral designs and patterns. As a sign of respect we had to take off our shoes and cover our shoulders and legs, it was just such a new and interesting experience for us. We were actually in Turkey during Ramadan so the Mosque was filled with people praying and most of the Muslims in the city fasted from sunrise to sunset everyday.

During our time in Istanbul we also visited the Hagia Sophia, a basilica right across from the Blue Mosque whose massive dome is supported without any columns. We were both so impressed by its architectural beauty. The Hagia Sophia is very close to the famous Grand Bazaar, so we could not pass up the opportunity to bargain for some jewelry and Turkish pottery. Erin introduced us to her friend, Jordan, who lives in Istanbul and he showed us around another famous part of old Istanbul, Taksim. Taksim Square is packed with tourists, as it is filled with restaurants and shopping. We went to dinner with Jordan a few times and he took us to some bars to show us the Turkish nightlife. We also managed to squeeze in watching an NFL game which excited Sarah, as she is a huge fan of American football.

One day we took a ferry on the Bosphorus up to the Black Sea where we stopped in a little town that had incredible views of the Sea. We also checked out Kadikoy, part of the Asian side of Istanbul, where there were street markets with fish right out of the water and tons of fresh produce. Finally we visited the Topkapi Palace which houses one of the world's largest diamonds, an impressive 86-carats.

We could not have had a more pleasant stay in Istanbul. We got to see so much of both the European and Asian sides of the city, and it was so nice to relax and re-charge our batteries for the next leg of our journey. We would like to give a special thanks to Yasemin and her family for having us and for making us feel so comfortable and welcome. We truly felt at home in Istanbul.

A Royal Experience

On the way to Istanbul from Athens we had an 11 hour layover in Amman, Jordan. We flew on Royal Jordanian and it was the best airline experience we've ever had. The seats on the entire plane are 2 across instead of 3 so no dreaded middle seat. The seats were all pretty big and each one had a blanket and a pillow waiting for us. Extremely comfortable and spacious. After takeoff the flight attendants came around and handed out hot towels for everyone, first class treatment in the coach section. Then to our surprise actual meals were served with chilled wine, I guess we got used to having to pay extra for anything besides water on American Airlines. The crew could not have been friendlier and it was such a pleasant flight.


Since the layover was overnight we figured that we'd just suck it up and sleep in the airport instead of having to find our way through downtown Amman to a hostel in the middle of the night. After we got off the plane we went to the ticket counter to ask if we would have to get visas since we would not be leaving the airport. The extremely friendly man behind the counter handed us vouchers and told us to take the shuttle to the hotel. Hotel? No sir, I don't think we were clear. We do not have a hotel and will just be staying in the airport until our flight to Istanbul departs in the morning. Wrong. We were totally shocked, but followed his instructions and went towards the shuttle. We boarded and it took us to a nearby hotel where reception took down our flight info, gave us a room key, told us that the shuttle back to the airport would come to get us at 9am, and that dinner was being served in the dining room. We still had no idea what was going on but went with it. Free hotel, dinner, breakfast and shuttle back to the airport in the morning? Sounds too good to be true, but it was not. This is just how Royal Jordanian does it. In short if you ever find yourself flying in the Middle East take Royal Jordanian, it is a truly Royal experience.

Just another day in Paradise

We were not sure about adding Mykonos into our Greek island hopıng trip because of how expensive and over priced we heard it was, but we were just a ferry ride away so when in Greece... We stayed at Paradise Beach Resort, which was on Paradise Beach, one of the nicer beaches on the island - the beach was packed wıth young people, lounge chairs, and sunshine. Yes, overall things were more expensıve on the island, clearly this was the place to go if you wanted a waiter to serve you gorgeous blended drinks in your padded lounge chair. Not so much our style for this trip, but the ısland was beautiful just the same.
Our first day there we enjoyed Paradise Beach and in the late afternoon we ventured next door to the Tropicana Club to see what all the commotion we were hearing was. We were greeted by two guys in thongs (the bathingsuıt kind, not the Aussie kind) on the dance stage, loud dance music and a rocking DJ. The dance floor was already completely packed wıth slightly overly agressive men and intoxicated people having an awesome time. It was only 7pm. Welcome to Mykonos. As we soon learned, Mykonos is well known for its clubbing nightlife that lasts into the early morning hours. We were kept wildly entertained by our slightly crazy Aussie friends doing hysterical Ace Ventura impressions and radical 'stunts' on the beach. The nightlife on Mykonos sure has a lot to offer.

The next day we decided to rent ATVs again since it would be a great way to see the rest of the island. What can I say, we love an ATV. We checked out all the main beaches on the island: Psarou, Platys Gialos, Ornos, Paranga, Super Paradise and stopped to sun bathe at a few of them. We really just enjoyed our last day on the Greek Islands before heading back to the mainland. We went to the main town Mykonos Village where were did some shopping and walking around. We ran into our Aussie waterpolo friends from Ios, Locke and Sam, and planned to meet up with them later at Tropicana. Mykonos was very pretty, but I have to tip my hat to Santorini when I think of the most beautiful island we went to. Sorry Mykonos. The beaches there were pretty, but were covered with lounge chairs and umbrellas that seemed to over power the beauty of the beach itself.

That night we had to catch a very late night ferry so we just hit up Tropicana Club again where we dıd some extreme table dancing, met up wıth some friends, and just 'cut the rug' until it was time to go catch our ferry back to Athens.

I am just going to summarize the next 12 hours for you, really it was not as bad as it seems. You can laugh all you want, we did...so we show up at the port for our 2am ferry at 1am (because we are anal and like to get everywhere early) and are informed that our ferry is running 3 hours late and won't be gettıng in until 6am. Now this port has very little protection from the elements (OK, "elements" might be a bit harsh of a term but it was cold and very windy and we were only wearing sun dresses). So we are stuck sitting on thıs port with hundreds of other under dressed people for 3 hours. I was wrapped up anything I could grab out of my backpack and it seemed everyone waiting was wrapped up together to keep warm. It was miserable, comical, and definitely a story to tell the grandkids. When our ferry (aka old 1970s cruise boat) finally arrived it was like a stampede of people pushing to get onto the boat and out of the cold. I was scared for the ticket collector's life. Mary and I found a table and chairs in the lobby and made ourselves a crafty fort and slept for the whole 6 hour ferry ride back to Athens. Troopers? I think yes.

Ios: Bring Your Thongs and Sunnys

We were a bit sad to leave Santorini, as we thought no other island could possibly top it, but we did want to see some others and heard through the grapevine that Ios is a really fun party island. We took the recommendation of our friend, Adam, who we met in Santorini and decided to stay at "Far Out Club". The place was pretty cool, definitely a backpacker-friendly establishment - tons of little bungalos, huts, swimming pools, and an area for camping. We checked into our cute little bungalo and didn't think much of it at first, but we would soon started referring to it as "the honeymoon suite" (I'll get there later).

Far Out's location was awesome, literally right across the street from the beach and it had free lounge chairs and umbrellas. Within 2 minutes of arriving we bumped into Santorini Adam and his friend, Dave. We did not think Adam would still be in Ios since he arrived a few days earlier than we did, but he liked it so much that he got a job working as a canoe tour instructor and extended his stay. Not a bad deal. He told us some places to go and we agreed to meet up later in the evening. So we spent the rest of the day on the beach doing some first class relaxing and tanning.



On the beach we learned our new favorite phrase: thongs and sunnys. A big group of Aussies were sitting in the lounge chairs next to ours so we all just started chatting. They were hilarious, joking around with each other and cracking us up. After awhile they all went into the water and asked us to watch their things while they were gone. As the last guy ran into the water he yelled back at us: "there's nothing valuable there to steal anyway, it's just thongs and sunnys!". I don't know why Sarah and I got such a kick out of that but we loved it and have since adopted it as our own.

Here's how Ios night life works: pre-game in your bungalo from 10-12, take the last bus into town at midnight, chill out there for an hour, then hop from bar to bar until the sun comes up, stumble home and watch the sunrise on the beach. We stopped by Adam and Dave's bungalo to pre-game and were shocked at the prison cell-like conditions that they had been put up in - our room had a twin bed, a full bed, table and chairs, art on the wall, and a window. Their room, on the other hand, had 2 twin beds and a small bed-side table, no window even. We had to brag about how much better our room was (for the same price, mind you) so we picked up the pre-gaming party, brought it to our bungalo, and bumped some toons on the mini i-Pod speakers. And viola, our bungalo being known as the "honeymoon suite" was born. After hanging out for a bit we headed into town and it was pretty crazy - 20+ bars all crammed into one section, all competing to get as many people to come into theirs as possible. Ergo: lure us in with 1 Euro shots, 2 for 1 specials, and dated American music which we all know we love to dance to. Great times partying in Ios.
Don't think we just partied the whole time, of course we ventured out to explore the island as well. We decided to go on Dave and Adam's canoe trip to see some private beaches and great views of the island. We first canoed out to a rocky area where we jumped off 8 meter high rocks into the water and did some snorkling. After a few hours there we took the canoes out to a private beach to hang out and relax, it was another beautiful day in paradise. After the trip was over a bunch of us decided to go to dinner at a nearby restaurant, Harmony, that has awesome sunset views. There was an acoustic guitarist playing who was incredible - he rocked everything from Pink Floyd to Jack Johnson to Outkast. After that we went out for one last night on the town before heading off to our last island.

We decided that our last stop before heading back to Athens would be Mykonos. Everyone we met said it is the best island and that we had to go so let's see if it lives up to the hype...

A Santorini Fairytail

Santorini. To put the unbelievable beauty of Santorini into words ıs quite a task. Luckily for you we finally posted all our pictures from this trıp so you can see Santorini for yourselves.

After an 8 hour ferry ride from Athens to Paros then Nazos, we arrive ın Santorini and just looking at the island from the boat we know immediately we are in for quite a treat. The island is covered with white washed houses decorated with light blue trım. The water is a crystal clear cross between blue, turquoise, and green. All the churches have the signature blue dome and they are quite visible all around the island. Truly this place ıs a fairytail land.

At the dock we are greeted by our hotel, picking us up to take us to paradise (yes we are ballers). Instead of a hotel/hostel van, we were greeted by the hotel owners- husband, wife, and young daughter. Time and time again we saw small restaurants or hotels that had clearly been passed down ın the family. One of our favorite restaurants we met the grandfather, mother, and son. Anyway, when we got to the hostel the family put us up in theır hotel instead. We were blown away with the reality that we were going to have a tv, refrigerator, balcony with a view, and a shower that didn't require shower shoes. Ahhh simple pleasures that are too often taken for granted. We spent the rest of that first day at the hotel pool with the blue bottom and no ledge which for some reason makes any pool look so much cooler. Maybe that's just me. That night we walked down to the main town in Santorini, Fira, where we enjoyed the usual: Greek salad, tsaziki, stuffed green peppers, and some wine from one of the many Santorini vineyards. Fira is packed with bars and restaurants so we found ourselves hanging out there pretty late each night. There was always a new restaurant speciality to try (in addıtıon to the Greek Salad of course) and a bar to go to.

The next day we were so pumped to hıt up the beach! We went to black beach, Kamari, which is a black rock beach lined with lounge chairs and umbrellas. The umbrella was a huge plus as I must retreat to the shade after my 2 allowed hours in the sun (dermatologist drama). And don't worry mom, I am using 55 and 30 spf. Yes they do make 55 spf, OK!??! Mary on the other hand is a sun snake. She cannot get enough of just laying in the sun for hours, it is her heaven. There was also an awesome rock ın the water that we took turns jumping off. Let's face it, after our 800 meter jump in Interlaken everything else ıs child's play.


On day three ın paradise we went to red beach and white beach ın Akrotiri. White beach was surrounded by pure white cliffs, amazing. To make it even better, you could only get to White Beach by boat making it a secluded beach with only about 20 people on it. Red beach was right next door and was made of, yes, red rocks and cliffs. One bummer is that the beaches in Santorini are made of small rocks so you need lounge chairs which you have to pay for.


That next day was probably my favorite day of the trip so far. We rented ATVs and drove all around the entire island, just taking in the priceless views, exploring different towns, and really just having a blast driving and taking in the scenery. Oh did I mention this is how we celebrated Labor Day? We drove to the north of the island to Oia and that entire town is THE postcard shot. Breathtaking views of the town and sea. We climbed up various streets to take ın the views and explored this magıcal town. Oia ıs definitely on my top five most beautiful places visited list. Since Mairs and I love wine it was only appropriate for us to stop by one of the many local wineries on the island and get in some wine tasting. We went to Domaine Sıgalas winery and dıd some tasting of their yummy wine. I recommend their white wines! In addıtıon to Oia we dove to the very to the south of the island checking out Parissa, the second largest town in Santorini, and then went to the very bottom tıp of the island for an amazing sunset. Truly a day for the memory books, you will see about 100 pictures of the island that were taken this day.

Our last day was spent back on Kamari doing more relaxing, reading, napping. Our five glorious days on the island were over, but it was off to explore another Greek island. I think we both knew that it probably wasn't going to get any better then this...

Athens, Greece

We had a 32 hour train ride from Budapest to Athens and thankfully this time we had no problems or unpleasant train-mates. Dare I say that this journey was actually rather pleasant? We had a private car all to ourselves and kept entertained by writing in our journals, reading, playing cards, and doing a whole lot of sleeping. We were so excited to arrive in Greece after having heard so much about how amazing the islands are and of course to be seeıng the ruins. Since sixth grade I have been secretly obsessed with Greek history and could not wait to finally see the Acropolis (another one of the Wonders of the World we'd be checking off the list) up-close and personal.

After a quick stop at the Indian Embassy to sort out our visas we headed for the ruins. Thankfully we got that situation all figured out and are happy to say we will be heading to India in early October. On the way to the ruins we saw our second Olympic Stadium of the trip, Panathinaikon on Arditou Hill, and wondered how the Olympians managed to perform there in 2004 and of course at all of the other past Olympic games that occurred there - typical Athens summer weather is 34+ degrees Celcius and did we feel it. The sun was blazing hot and we were thankful for the plethora of fountains throughout the city flowing with drinkable water.

The first ruin we saw was the Temple of Olympian Zeus and were blown away at its size and at the mere thought of how important it was (and still is) to the culture thousands of years ago. Just a short walk away was the Theatre of Dionysos, the open air theater at the foot of the Acropolis, named for the God of plays and wine. Legendary philosphers such as Sophocles performed there for upwards of 17,000 people at a time in the 4th century BC. It was amazing to be sitting in those very seats. Each step uphill towards the Acropolis was incredible - obviously there have been several restorations but still, the site is in excellent shape for having been constructed thousands of years ago. The columns are simply massive and so intricately sculpted. The manpower required to move and lift all of the stones into place (uphill in the heat mind you) is almost unthinkable. Observing the site simply for its construction and architecture is amazing enough and then it suddenly hits you that this is where democracy, what we are still fighting for to this day, was born. We spent hours upon hours just walking around the ruins, checking out Ancient Agora, Stoa of Attalus, Thesseion, Filopappos Hill, and Parthenon, the temple dedicated to the goddess Athena. We were both rather speechless in deep thought and awe. It is a sight that must be seen in person to be fully appreciated, pictures do not do it justice. I still cannot stop thinking about it.

On the way back to the hostel we breezed through the streets of Athens and stopped at a cafe for our first of many Greek salads and tsaziki with pita. We became slightly obsessed. I could happily eat an authentic Greek salad everyday and would do so for our next 11 days in Greece.

Only one full day in Athens for now, but we'll be back for another after 1o days of island hopping. Bring on the beaches...

10 days later...okay doing a bit of back and forth here - got back from our 10 day island hopping experience and as you can see from the other blog entries we LOVED it. We had one more day in Athens and checked out the Archealogical Museum which had statues, jewelry, and pottery from thousands of years ago. It was so cool to see and we easily spent several hours in there checking everything out. After that we did one last walk past Acropolis and then back to the hostel to pack up our things for Istanbul. Great times had in Greece, our favorite stop in Europe. Highly recommended to anyone who hasn't been here before, a must see!

We Came, We Saw, We Sandwiched

Caving, The Backpackers Guesthouse, Hungary Bath Houses, Goulash, 5 days... Buda and Pest

Budapest was our longest stop in Europe so far and gave us a well deserved break from the constant packing and traveling. The hostel we stayed at, The Backpackers Guesthouse, couldn't have been a better place for us to say while in Hungary. `Welcome home` pretty much describes the feeling of this hostel. There is a huge backyard complete with hammocks and decks to read, chat, or sleep on. Although wearing sheets as pants or a toga seemed to be in style there, it only added to the unique feel of the place. At dinner time when everyone was Hungary (come'on you knew I was going to throw that in somewhere) the kitchen was packed as we all prepared our dinner together. I suppose it was just comforting to have a family feeling atmosphere after being on the road for over a month.

By far the highlight of our Budapest adventure was Caving. After we cave-suited up in sexy orange canvas jumpsuits and a helmet with a wimpy light (think Goonies) we entered the labyrinth style caves of Budapest. We went about 80 meters underground as human gophers, shimmy-ing through bite sized spaces in between rocks, going army-style head first under rocks, sliding down rocks, running up steep rocks, and navigating through the caves with the assistance of our very agile guide. I must say we dominated and conquered those rocks with style. Now the ultimate challenge of the cave was THE Sandwich (dun dun dun). Yes it is really what you are thinking - a much too tiny space between two rocks. The puzzle was something like "OK, now put your right arm through, twist your body to the left, now scrunch down and put your head through, twist back to the right and get your right leg through..." it was such a great challenge and experience. Epic.

We also went to a couple of bath houses in Budapest - Szechenzyn Baths and Luckas Baths. We weren't really sure what to expect, well besides the 60+ year old men wearing much too tight Speedos, but the baths were pretty cool. Szechenzyn was the best one once we realized there were outdoor pools in addition to the indoor ones. All the pools were all at different temperatures ranging from teeth chattering cold to burn your skin hot. There were pools with huge fountains, human whirlpools, jumping water droplets, bubbles, and even guys playing checkers in the pool. Fun for the whole family. I do however blame Luckas Baths for the awkward red bloodshot eye that kept me in glasses for the next four days. Don't worry, pink eye averted.

Additionally, our time in Budapest was filled with all the famous sites of the city: Mathias Church, Buda Royal Palace, St. Charles Bridge, the Opera House, and Hero's Square. We climbed the Citadell for an amazing view of the Pest side of the city, and while at the top of the Istvan Basilica we got a great view of the Buda side. We had a yummy traditional Hungarian dinner - fisherman's soup and two different kinds of goulash. Paprika is on everything giving all the food a slight orangey color, even the bread. Don't get me wrong, the food was awesome, just slightly orange.

Budapest was a wonderful stop as we made our way down Europe to Greece. Greece = Acropolis, Beach, Sun, Relaxing. About time.