Travel Magnets - 2022 Fall Travels Edition

Seventy-Five.  That is the number of travel magnets we purchased on our travels through Israel, Turkey, Egypt, and Ethiopia.  It was a long trip with many things to see but that number still feels a bit excessive, even for me.  There are also some accidental duplicates (i.e. two magnets commemorating the same place) but that really doesn't account for the number.  There were just so many places to commemorate.

The magnets are a mix of generic and unique.  I always prefer the handmade one over the generic photo magnet but handmade ones can be hard to find. Here are a few of my favorite ones:

Jars similar to the ones the dead sea scrolls were found in.

A hand painted picture of a Gulet.

I hated my camel ride but I like this camel magnet.

The face of an Ethiopian woman.

The Travel Magnet folder now has six hundred and seven magnets.  We are once again running out of space to display them all.  I will have to add more metal panels to the pantry hall walls to display them all.

I've always had trouble photographing the 3-D magnets.  The flat ones can be scanned on our flatbed scanner.  The 3-D ones always had issues with weird shadows.  I fixed it this time by purchasing a cheap ring light.  The one I bought is a piece of sh!t but it works for me.

You can see all our magnets in the Travel Magnets tab at the top of the blog.

2022 Fall Travels, Part Two - Turkey - Izmir, Ephesus, And Bodrum

We left Cappadocia, a hard act to follow, and flew to Izmir on the Aegean Sea coast.  We were picked up at the airport and dropped off at our hotel In Izmir.  This day was a travel day which is always tiring.  After arriving at our hotel the Wife and I took a short walk to the sea wall to see the Aegean.

Prayers left at the home of Mary.

The next day our guide (the third guide in Turkey ... all three were great) picked us up and we drove to Ephesus.  Our first stop was one of the houses where it is believed Mary lived after Jesus' crucifixion. 

The library of Celsus in Ephesus.

We then walked through the remains of the city of Ephesus.  It was a hot day and it sucked the energy out of all of us but the history and architecture was very interesting and we found water and ice cream along the way.  On the way out we passed through some shops where we bought more magnets, souvenirs, and the Wife bought a couple dresses.

We were supposed to go to a vineyard but, since we were tired and not wine drinkers, we skipped it.  Instead we went to a modern shopping center so the Wife could buy some blue shoes to go with one of her new dresses.

The sunset from our restaurant.

That evening we went to Adabeyi, a restaurant near the waterfront located in a building designed by Eiffel (of Eiffel tower fame).  The Wife wore her new dress and shoes and looked magnificent.  The rest of us looked pretty shabby next to her.

The restaurant on the lake.

The next day we drove south towards Bodrum.  We stopped at a restaurant on the coast of a lake for brunch.  Unfortunately we hadn't known we were stopping for brunch and had all had breakfast before we left Izmir so we really didn't want to eat any more.  I think our guide and driver were a bit disappointed.

The Bodrum Castle.

In Bodrum we stopped at an amphitheater (our ... I've lost count ... third amphitheater?) before going to the Bodrum Castle, location of the Bodrum Museum Of Underwater Archaeology.  You could probably spend all day exploring the exhibits in the castle but we are not museum people and our tour mates weren't either so we zipped through at a fairly quick pace.

Our last stop of the day were the windmills on the hill overlooking the city.  The mills used to grind flour in the 1700s and 1800s.  Their location gave you a nice view of the city and Aegean waters.

The sunsets on the Aegean coast were always spectacular ... this one is from our hotel.

We checked into our hotel and ate a late lunch/early dinner at the bar on the beach.  We later walked down the beach looking for shopping (which we never found).  The path we took followed the coast and we had a great view of the setting sun.  We got back to our room after dark.

Our gulet.

The next day we took a gulet and cruised the Turquoise Coast.  The gulet stopped at four different spots along the coast where we jumped off the boat into the water.  I swam around the boat and had a good swim at a couple of the stops.  We ate lunch on the boat and, when we weren't eating or swimming, relaxed on the lounge cushions on the deck.  I would have to say this was the most relaxing day on the Turkish portion of our travels and possibly the entire forty-four days of our fall travels.

The turquoise coast.

The next day we flew back to Istanbul.  We had a free afternoon before we went out for our goodbye dinner.  We were picked up by this giggly girl with a purple fake fur coat.  She took us to a rooftop restaurant where, for the last time in Turkey, we were over fed.

Our last day in Turkey was spent sitting in the lounge/bar waiting for our airport pickup.  It turned out to be the purple fur coat girl from the night before.  Things went smoothly at the airport.

Turkey was a much more relaxing trip.  Unlike Israel, the pace was more leisurely.  Part of that was due to the long lunches and dinners that gave everyone some time to rest and recuperate.  All our guides were delightful and knowledgeable.  I had a good time in Turkey but I was now tired of Roman history.  It was time for a change.

We left Turkey behind us and flew to our next destination: Cairo, Egypt.

Photos can be found in my Turkey 2022-09 Google Photos album.

2022 Fall Travels, Part Two - Turkey - Cappadocia (Kapadokya)

 While Istanbul is a fascinatingly city full of history, the Cappadocia region of Turkey was my favorite part of Turkey.  We left Istanbul and flew to Kayseri.  There we met our wonderful local guide.

Fairy Chimneys.

Our first stop was the Pasabag and Devrent valleys.  Here we saw our first Fairy Chimneys - large rock and tuff cone formations.  Tuff is relatively easy to carve and some of the cones and fairy chimneys had homes carved in them.

We stopped at a restaurant in an historic house and, once again, were over fed.  While travelling in Turkey, eating is just as important as seeing the amazing sights.

A church carved into the rock.

In the afternoon we visited the Goreme Open-Air museum.  Here we toured cave churches with incredible painted walls.  Unfortunately photography was not allowed in the churches.  The churches are nearly one thousands years old.  Unfortunately it was both hot and crowded the afternoon we were there and it took longer to see things.

One of the views from our hotel.

We checked into our very cool hotel, the Argos, where the rooms are carved into the cliff walls.  The restaurant offered beautiful vistas overlooking a canyon.

The sunrise and a balloon or two.

The second day in Cappadocia was an early one.  We got up before the sunrise and took a short drive to where we would be taking an hot air balloon ride.  The Wife and I had already ridden a balloon in Kenya so we knew what to expect.  Our tour mates had never done it and were a bit nervous about the whole thing.  They had nothing to worry about and had a great time.

Balloons everywhere!

When we did our Kenya balloon trip there were two balloons.  As we slowly rose over the landscape you could see dozens of balloons everywhere.  Our pilot said there were one hundred and fifty balloons scheduled to be aloft this morning.  It was amazing.  The view of the fairy chimneys from above was cool and we came amazingly close to a few missing them by only a foot or two.

The balloons added to the amazing landscape.

Along with the incredible landscape there were people, mostly women, having photoshoots with the balloons in the background.  You could also see a few couples getting their engagement pictures taken as well.  Several balloons, including ours, buzzed the photoshoots to give them a chance for a thrilling shot.

Our pilot landed on the trail just like this one did.

When it was time to land (our Kenyan balloon landing had been … interesting) we saw trucks pulling trailers.  I'd seen the baskets being transported on those trailers during our drive to the launch site.  I figured we would land on a field and a group of handlers would wrestle it onto the trailer.  Nope.  Our pilot put the basket done onto the trailer.  The truck driver then slowly drove to an area that was safe to deflate the balloon.  At one point, while the truck was still moving, the driver stepped out, grabbed some dead grass, and tossed it in the air to gauge the wind before getting back into the moving truck.  I think he'd done this before.

Our host's home.

After returning to our hotel for breakfast we went to visit a family in their carved house.  We were offered apple tea which, to my surprise since I am not fond of tea, I found to be delicious.  We asked questions about their home and the rugs on the floor (we'd been to a rug factory earlier).  Some of the rugs were quite old, passed down generation to generation.  There was an abandoned church in the top of the house and the owner let us look at it.  He knew it was something special and was doing his best to preserve the paintings there.

The tile I bought.

We visited a pottery factory which has some truly beautiful pieces - works of art really.  We saw a demonstration by a skilled potter and we had a chance to peruse their store.  I was the only one who bought anything - a red and turquois painted tile of a dervish.

Next we visited and the Kaymakli underground city.  Early Christians carved these cities to avoid the Romans.  This particular city was eight levels deep though only four levels are excavated and open to the public.  It was interesting but I came out with an aching back and a sore head … some of the corridors were a bit cramped.

We ate another huge meal at a family owned restaurant where everyone in the family was either a chef or training to be one.  The food was amazing (I know … I'm using 'amazing' way too much but it was.).

One of the longer corridors in
the underground city.

We were really tired at this point (most lunches were not only very long but also late) and we debated asking our guide to skip the next couple of things.  We decided to trust our guide and, sure enough, it was worth it.

Our first after lunch stop was a coffee shop located high up the side of a valley with beautiful views of the carved buildings.  There was shade, refreshments, and ice cream.  It was completely relaxing and we had a nice time talking about what we'd seen so far in Turkey.  The second stop was the workshop of a local artisan.  What she does is hard to explain but basically paint is floated on a thickened water bath.  Paper, canvas, or cloth is then carefully laid on the surface where it picks up the paint.  The effect is unique, beautiful, and interesting.  We bought several things from her including a paining of Mary on a old Iranian text … also hard to explain.

The Dervishes.
(Picture taken by the Wife.)

Our last stop in Cappadocia was at a dance ceremony of the Mevlevis … what most people think of as the Whirling Dervish.  The ceremony is a lot more serious than I expected.  It is a serious religious ceremony where everything has a deeper meaning.  Very interesting.  While photography was not permitted during the ceremony, they did permit photography at the end which caught me by surprise so my pictures of the dancing are limited.

The next day we would be leaving the wonderful Cappadocia region and heading to the Aegean Sea coast.

Photos can be found in my Turkey 2022-09 Google Photos album.

2022 Fall Travels, Part Two - Turkey - Istanbul

 We left Israel behind and flew to Istanbul, Turkey (Their official name is now Türkiye. To avoid confusion I will stick with the old name of Turkey).  We arrived late afternoon , were picked up, and dropped off at our hotel overlooking the Bosporus.  We had two full days on our own before our tour started.  We'd asked the BM and MoH for ideas of what to do as they'd been to Turkey a few years ago.  The Wife came up with two places.  The first, a church, was closed (it is being converted into a Mosque which is a whole can o' worms).  The other was the Great Palace Mosaics museum.

A tiger mosaic at the Great Palace Mosaics museum.

On our first free day we took a taxi to the mosaics museum.  It was raining when we left the hotel but the rained turned to drizzle and then stopped all together soon after arriving at the museum. The museum is located near the Arasta Bazaar, the Blue Mosque and Hagia Sophia.  We explored the mosaics museum.  It is small but interesting.

After learning about the mosaics we perused the shops in the bazaar and started our magnet and souvenir purchases.  I asked a man about some candy they were selling.  The person who picked us up at the airport had given a box of it as a welcome gift.  It was Turkish Delight.  I'd heard of Turkish delight before but I'd never actually seen it before.  There are many varieties and I did partake during the two weeks we were in Turkey.  We bought our first cool souvenir: a porcelain dervish (yes, it survived the next five weeks without damage).

The Hagia Sophia as seen from the Sultan Ahmet park.

The Blue Mosque and the Hagia Sophia were both on our tour itinerary so we took some exterior pictures only.  We sat on a bench in Sultan Ahmet Park and people watched.  We heard the call to prayer while we sat there - the Blue Mosque and Hagia Sophia took turns chanting back and forth.  It was a nice relaxing way to start in Istanbul.  We walked to a nearby taxi stand and went back to our hotel.

The view of the Bosporus from our hotel room.

The next day I wanted to just relax, rest up for the tour, and go through my Israel pictures.  The Wife went to a Hammam and was pampered like a Turkish Princess.

We were met by our Istanbul guide (each region of Turkey we went to had a different guide) and a couple from Georgia who would be our tour mates.  We headed back to where we'd been a couple days before and toured the Blue Mosque (currently being renovated so parts of the interior are hidden behind scaffolding).  Next we crossed the park and went into the Hagia Sophia.  Both places were magnificent and full of history.

The interior of the Hagia Sophia.

It was lunch time and we went to a local restaurant serving food from Turkey and Crete.  The served us too much food.  This would start a trend.  The Turkish people, and our guides, wanted us to feast at nearly every meal and I don't think we had any meal shorter than two hours long. It was all so good but way too much.

We visited one of the underground cisterns which were all lit up and looked amazing.  I dropped my camera lens cap in the water and had to wait for someone to fish it out for me ... kind of embarrassing. 

The Basilica Cistern was made using recycled columns.

We ended the day with a relaxing cruise on the Bosporus where we could see all the palaces built along the water.

Armor at the Topkapi Palace museum.

Our second tour day in Istanbul we explored the Topkapi Palace, home of the Ottoman Sultans.  The palace is now a museum with several displays of Ottoman history.

Next we went to the Grand Bazaar to do some shopping.  It was busy, crowded, loud, and a bit overwhelming and we left there empty handed.  The group walked from there through the narrow streets of Istanbul to the Egyptian Spice Bazaar.  By the time we got there we were all tired and we didn't spend very much time there.  I did buy some Turkish Delight there.

The next day we would leave Istanbul and begin exploring the amazing land of Cappadocia.

Photos can be found in my Turkey 2022-09 Google Photos album.

Turkey Travel Photos

We are over half way through our Turkey tour so I probably should post a link to the pictures I've uploaded so far.  As of this post we have been to Istanbul and the Cappadocia region.  We are currently in Izmir and I will add photos as our adventures continue.

Hot air balloons over Cappadocia from ... A hot air balloon. 

You can find the pictures in my Turkey 2022-09 Google Photos album. 

Our Next Travels Abroad ... It's A Long One

Next month, and half of the one after that, we will venture outside America for the first time since December 2019.  We will be hitting several things on our bucket list while visiting two continents.

Our travels will start in Israel, move on to Turkey and Egypt, before ending in Ethiopia.  This will be our longest trip - forty-five days - nearly two weeks longer than our previous record.  The travels begin with a fifteen hours worth of flights from Omaha to Tel Aviv, Israel via Chicago and Frankfurt.

• The first part of our travels will be seven days in Israel.  During our stay here we will be visiting: Tel Aviv, Sea of Galilee, Tiberias, Capernaum, the Golan Heights, the Jordan Valley, Jerusalem, Mount Zion, The Tower of David, Bethlehem, the Dead Sea (our second visit here - the last time from the Jordan side of the sea), and Masada.
• The second part of our travels will be thirteen days in Turkey.  Our first couple days here will be free for us as we get here a couple days before the start of our tour.  After the second day we will be visiting: Istanbul, Topkapi Palace, Cappadocia (including a hot air balloon ride), Izmir, Ephesus, Bodrum, and a ride on a gulet on the Aegean Sea.
• The third part of our travels takes us from the Asian continent to Africa starting with nine days in Egypt.  In Egypt we will visit: Cairo, the pyramids and the sphinx, the Egyptian Museum, a four day Nile cruise with stops at the Karnak Temple, the Valley of the Kings, the Aswan Dam, and Abu Simbel.
• The fourth and final part of our travels will be thirteen days in Ethiopia.  In Ethiopia we will visit:  Addis Ababa, Harar, Lalibela, Arba Minch, a boat safari, visits with the Konso, Karo, Hamer, and several other tribes.

This trip is a combination of four tours given by our favorite tour company, Anderson & Roberts.  We have done fifteen of their tours, nineteen with this next trip.  They hit all the best spots and the groups are always small (often less than eight people).  It's nice to just sit back and not have to worry about how to get there and where to stay but it can be expensive.  This will very likely be our last tour-centric trip.   After this one we will do more of the legwork and cut out the middleman to reduce costs.