Here's the Other Side...

Just when I started to feel like I was getting my bearings in Istanbul, off we go to the south along the Aegean and Mediterranean Seas. Our time in the south of Turkey could not be more different from our time in Istanbul. It's hotter and feels little more touristy because Kusadasi is a port town where cruise ships stop. Probably Istanbul has more tourists, but these places just feel like they have more. All the Turkish words I've been learning (okay, the 6 Turkish words) weren't needed a all in Kusadasi. Everyone spoke English and if you just asked for water in Turkish people would get really excited and praise your language skills. That felt pretty great to be told we were speaking Turkish well, but in reality we just looked good by comparison- no one else was even trying.

It felt nice to get out of the city and lay on the beach, ride some horses, relax on a boat, hike, ad kayak. I'm not the most urban person in the world, so being outdoors doing fun activities was right up my alley. I loved every minute of hiking through the canyon (Saklikent) and kayaking in the Mediterranean. The kayaking at first seemed difficult because I had never done it before and there were way more people in the group than we were used to, but truthfully we've been spoiled on this trip with no tourist groups and this was fine. Once we were out on the water, it didn't matter that there dozens of other tourists around- it was easy to break off a little from the group and just relish the fact that, yes, I am actually kayaking off the coast of Turkey on a beautiful day.

There are two constants I've experienced between Istanbul and our excursion to the south- I have that "Oh, wow, I'm really here" moment multiple times every day, and the people we meet are unfailingly generous and helpful. It's not hard to love your life when you're in Turkey.