Turkey!

Merhaba from Turkey! Here I am in Sulçek, after havıng arrıved vıa an overnıght ferry from Greece thıs mornıng. Man, let me tell you, those over nıght ferrıes are anythıng but restful.

Anyway, we are at thıs really great back packıng hub just out of the famous ruıns of Ephesus (by the way, I am havıng a bıt of trouble negocıatıng wıth thıs cyrılıc keyboard, so I am sorry for any mıstakes). Turkey ıs great!!
Such a bıg country, so cheap and ınterestıng so far! We have latched on, as ıs our habıt, to some other travellers goıng ın our dırectıons. Two spanısh guys (Jon and Sebastıan) and one amerıcan (Marc). We are apprecıatıng travellıng wıth guys so far; it's ıncrebıle how much less people stare than when the both of us just travel alone.
I wısh we could stay longer. So far, our plan ıs to vısıt Ephesus and more of Sulçek, then go to Pamukkale for the amazıng pools, then on to Cappadocıa for the underground cıty and faıry chımneys, then Bursa, then Istanbul wıth perhaps a day trıp to the Prıncess ıslands or Edırne. I'm just besıde myself ın excıtement!!! It's promısıng to be spectacular... I wıll post pıctures as soon as I can.

Oh, and to update: after Santorını we went on to Naxos, whıch was just so beautıful and frıendly ın comparıson (and, of course, ın general).

PS: Beat, dıd you post the nude beaches comment? We were ın Mykonos for a day but we just too exhausted to bother bussıng half way accross the ısland to go to any of ıt's "famous"beaches.

Santorini

This'll be another quickie, as this keyboard is not the best (to say it polietly) and I want to take advantage of the sunshine.

So here I am in beautiful Santorini! We just arrived this morning, but people have already attempted to "roule" us, as the french would say. By comparison, Crete was super relaxed, friendly, and cheap. But I suppose that is to be expected; Santorini is quite the tourist attraction. We're still very excited to go visit the town and hit the beaches! Next is Naxos... ah, I've got to run, our hotel, which should come with free internet, just let me that I'm taking too long.

More updates later?

Athens!

Just a quick word (7 minutes left).

Here I am in Athens, Greece. It's an amazingly beautiful capital, what with monuments dotting the downtown area, and huge with a population of 5 million! My friend Heather and I have spent the last two days walking our little hearts out, and we are taking an over night ferry to Crete tonight.

We managed to books all of our ferries ahead of time! We even got a (seemingly) good deal on sleeping accomodations on some islands. Too good to be true? Probably. But right now we're pretty darn happy with our situation!

So far the trip has been lovely. Hopefully it'll warm up a little (it was 15 degrees here in Athens, and word at the hostel is that the islands are very windy).
I'll see how often I can update this; otherwise I've been trying to keep a little travel journal up to date.

Off I go

In twelve hours, I will be on a plane taking off to Athens.

I'm not quite sure what to make of this. This past week has been such a rush-- what with catching up on cleaning and sleep, moving various people in and out of their apartments, seeing my non-Montreal friends off to their respective homes for the summer, planning our trip...
My life is chaotic at the moment. My two person apartment, cramped full of three people's furniture, reflects this: our living room looks as though a hostile take-over has occured, with couches piled up haphazardly, bed frames jammed up in corners, a rocking chair balancing delicatly on a set of boxes.
It's been an amazing summer so far--the usual in Montreal, it would seem. Choc-full of surprise birthday parties, BBQs (with the obligatory marshmallow roasting), discovery of new coffee shops which had, until now, been hidden beneath the snow. It's been walks through parks, riotous nights out on the town, evenings of rooftops picking out cloud shapes, catching up with friends unseen for too long.
Last night I went to the Books concert with a bunch of my friends. It was a very interesting show, as most of the music is sound clips and synthetic noises. The band had prepared a series of video clips to be watched at the same time as the music: completly random snipits of family picnics, nature, or simply anything that caught their eye.

Now I'm looking critically over my backpack thinking Now, do I absolutely need soap?, attempting (poorly) to leave as much room as possible for the scores of Turquish Delights I count on bringing back with me.