Well, I guess I'll start from the beginning. We took an overnight boat from Greece to Lesvos. First we went to Assor, which had the most amazing view ever. Pictures cannot do this justice. During my 10 min to sketch the buildings I ended up just taking in the view... oops.
Fun fact about turkey.. all the ruins that we get to see, we can interact with. Unlike Greece, you can LITERALLY touch and climb on the columns and such. The interaction makes it so much more enjoyable!
The first hotel we stayed at was so sketchy. Turkey must have lots of energy laws and such, because all the hotel hallways are motion censored lights that barely light anything up. Also, for the lights in the rooms to work, your room key has to be inserted into a box thingy. Also, if you open a door, the AC shuts off. Lastly, toilet paper cannot go in the toilets, and has to be placed in a waste basket... which is rather annoying. The elevators in the hotels (though out europe) are all about the size for 2-3 people and have no door on the elevator. The doors are on the wall of each floor, and you push it open when it reaches your floor. So yeah... not your american hotel.
But back to the first hotel, it had a disco in the basement and we all went and just created a dance floor of all tech students. Fun times...
As for food in Turkey, almost everything we ate was buffet style, or you at least could see everything and then pick what you wanted to eat. I generally had a rice with a meat and potatoes dish.
(For the next few sights I will talk about, you may want to google them or look at my pics first.)
The next day we went to Pergamon and such.. It was very neat and the temple we saw was actually supported with tunnels underneath it. The hotel this night was much nicer and we all went for a swim, had a buffet dinner, and worked.
On Wednesday we went to Ephesos, which was annoying because it is a cruise line tourist site and it was packed. But we say some old ancient houses that were being reconstructed and they were amazing. the frescos were still in vivid colors and I enjoyed a glimpse of the everyday life back then. It was the most preserved setup of houses I have seen so far. Normally only a few pieces of stone remain.
We went to a few other sites, and most notably, the temple of Didymaion. This was in my opinion, the best ruins we have seen so far. The temple is so big!!! To give you an idea, the base piece of a column was taller than me! The structure was just so fascinating and different than anything else we've seen. The ruins in Turkey really are amazing and worth seeing. As for vacationing in Turkey... I would prefer Greece or Italy instead, but I had a great experience.
We also stayed at Club Hotel Arienna, which was the most amazing resort ever. The weekend included staying at the island of Kos, relaxing, and going out to the beach and around the town. I'm having tons of fun with everyone on the trip. The people make it so enjoyable.
Today I will be taking an overnight boat back to Greece. Keep in touch everyone!
And on that note, I get on Skype around 1-4 YOUR TIME almost everyday. So feel free to skype me (lauren.young81). Or feel free to comment on my blog. ANYONE CAN COMMENT, you DO NOT need an account! Bye everyonee :)
