Istanbul, Mykonos, Ephesus, Santorini

The past five days have been amazing! Two days in Istanbul, the next day in Mykonos, then at the ruins of Ephesus, and finally in Santorini. Read on..

Istanbul is the most unique place I’ve ever been. I recommend every single person to go there. Sailing in I saw these huge, beautiful mosques, and towering behind were massive skyscrapers. Walking around town were men and women racing past me in suits trying to catch the next ferry while chanting was coming from two different directions from two different mosques. It was like NYC meets the Middle East, in Europe. I had so much fun walking everywhere. They had a spice market with tons of colorful spices in bins, yummy Turkish delight, and tea leaves that had so many different smells. I walked around off the beaten path early in the morning and walked in this big mosque. I realized I was by myself and hung out there for a good hour, lying down and taking in the decorated ceilings. I ate dinner at this place that had this woman making really thin pitas, kinda like crepes, on this big round stone. And then they put spinach or cheese inside of them. All of the ingredients were so fresh, it tasted like heaven on earth.

There’s more that I did that I can’t even remember, and we’re going there again. Next time I’m devoting a couple of hours to get new cymbals. The drummer on the ship got cymbals for around $130 each, where in the states they’d be $300 each. It’s the same with suits too. You can buy a suit here with pants, shirt, and a tie for $100. And they tailor it for you. Turkey is where it’s at.

Mykonos was beautiful. They have the famous windmills. I climbed up a hill to watch the sunset and look over all the white houses with blue doors and roofs. I walked into this art gallery that had some cool jazz art. I start talking to the English guy who owns the place, and he starts talking about how he grew up with David Bowie and hangs out with him all the time. He’s done album covers for Sony and travels to music festivals around the world to showcase his art. He says he’s been interviewed on MTV a lot, and the guy did look familiar. It was just very random to meet this guy in a small town in Greece. We were lost at the time too and just wandered in. Then I ate 2 big gyros. Most of my paycheck has already been spent towards gyros.

The ruins of Ephesus, which apparently is one of the seven wonders of the ancient world, were really cool! You can tell out of all the crew who has been in the Mediterranean all summer, because they always tell you “yeah it’s cool to go see the ruins, but after a while they all start to look the same. It’s all stone.” I can kind of see what they mean, but Ephesus was different. First off, it’s huge and covers a lot of land. Second, a lot of the artwork is still in tact. We saw an area that still had mosaics on the ground where the rich people lived, along with artwork on the walls. Stones still had complete and in-tact sculptures of people and symbols. There was even these markings still in the stone pathway that told visiting sailors where the prostitutes were. Again, Turkey…

The next day was Santorini. WOWWW. That’s what I said the whole day. Little towns perched on top of cliffs. I walked by the edge of it for about 2 hours and saw all the beautiful white houses with more blue roofs. Ate some more gyros. Then drank a Mythos (Greek beer) at this café that had an amazing view of the entire island. It was amazing. Another place everyone should go to.

Oh, I also went to the Acropolis in Athens. Did I forget to mention that? :)