Black Friday in Grand Bazaar,Istanbul!!

Last day in Istanbul was meant for shopping. It happened to coincide with Black Friday in U.S. Except our shopping was at the Grand Bazaar in Istanbul, which is more than 400 hundred years old. We bought a couple of souvenirs and headed to our next hotel which was closer to the airport. The Parthenon in the Acropolis and the Acropolis museum were quite amazing and so rich in history. But one thing to note is Athens is bankrupt and there is not much money for anything there. There are no audio devices you can rent anywhere. The guides charge ridiculous amounts to explain their rich history and that is surely an area that has to improve. Throughout whole of Greece-No Audio Guides!!!! Turkey is very well suited for the tourist. You can rent audio guides almost anywhere which may not be the best, but can be a decent alternative to a human guide. We did not try the hop-on hop-off as accessibility to the centre of town in a vehicle in many of these cities is very limited. As we sit on our flight back, I am surely thankful we got to visit without too much drama(barring the lone incident on the Athens metro) and we were able to stay healthy throughout the trip. Sahana did get bored in Mykonos and Santorini ESP in late evenings when the town shuts down and there is no TV. Thanks to books downloaded on the iPad, we were able to survive this. We surely saved the best for last as Istanbul is a city of so many contrasts and it was beautiful to see the blend of cultures living there in peace!!!

A Turkish bath and a walk from Europe to Asia!!

Day 2 in Istanbul was a Turkish bath and spa day. Sanjeev was quite keen and so we went along to the only bath that allows families or couples. This bath is situated right behind the Sultan Ahmed mosque and was one that the Sultan frequented a few hundred years before. Once we all got changed into our swim gear, we lay down the hamam marble slabs for 15 min. This is basically a sauna. Then we had a masseur and masseuse who scrubbed our bodies with lots of foam. The most ironic thing of all was Sanjeev has a masseur who was from Bangladesh. It was slightly hilarious that a Turkish bath had to employ a Bangladeshi as their masseur. Anyhow, I won't say that it was a truly one-of-a-kind experience. Would I do it again?No. It was okay since it came recommended. Then we walked across the bridge to Asia. Sahana was thrilled at the chance to walk across continents!!! There were many shops and we bought some Turkish delights there. We lunched at a local Turkish restaurant that had okra curry and rice for me and Sahana and then we walked upto the Galata tower which was for many years the highest tower in Istanbul. It was built by Romans and we didn't have the energy to walk up 150-200 steps. We just took a couple of pics and headed to a 1.5 hr Bosphorous cruise. It turned out to be so beautiful, calming and relaxing and we even rented an audio device that explained all the points of interest along the way.

Over to the city of two continents- Istanbul!!!!

After 3 relaxed nights in Santorini, we were ready for Istanbul. I had heard of taxi cabs trying to cheat the visitors and sure enough, our taxi guy took us on a roundabout route to our hotel. These were small battles in the big scheme of things, so we just let it slide. We were pleasantly surprised when we arrived in our Hotel Amira. This hotel became the highlight of our entire trip to Europe. One of the receptionists sat with us during our afternoon tea and explained the entire city and our options for sightseeing. This orientation took about 30minutes and was very valuable info we got. The hotel itself was stellar in customer service. They suggested restaurants, made reservations and were most helpful. Despite my many travels, I have to say I have yet to stay in a hotel that treats its guests so specially. Though the hotel suggested a private tour guide, we found another company called Efendi travel that did a walking tour for much lesser money than what a private tour would've costed. It was the best decision and we started our first day of Istanbul in the Topakapi Palace. The Topokapi palace was the residence and the court of the Ottoman Turks. The general layout reminded me of the Red Fort in Delhi, but obviously with many variations. This palace was slightly bigger and was preserved better. The armory and treasury housed some brilliant artifacts including the Topkapi dagger, one of the biggest diamonds in the world called the Spoonmaker's diamond which is the size of 86 carats. Some of the swords of the Sultans with its sheath had such minute and decorating engravings and the ornate mace and daggers and bows and arrows were so immaculately preserved. Some of the jewelry and crowns and throne studded with emeralds, rubies and pearls are absolultely stunning. The kitchens used to feed about 4000 people a day and they have some receipts from the butcher for the entire year's bill that had some gross items like 22835 head of sheep, 57000 chickens and so and so. It also had a sample menu of the sultan and one noticed how many figs, apricots and almonds these kings used to consume. The religious artifact section of the Topkapi Palace has some very interesting head gear and clothes from Prophet Mohammed, including his footprints from Medina. The most interesting fact was that the Sultans had conquered Mecca, Medina and Jerusalem in the 1500s. When World War 1 broke out and the Brits were going to attack Mecca, all the artifacts that were holy to Mecca was transported to Istanbul by the Sultan. Hence they Were able to recover so many treasures and save them in such pristine shape. Then we visited the Basilica Cistern built by Romans to store water through means of pipes as this way came from mountains nearly 30km away. It remained unused during the Ottoman reign as the Turks preferred running water. Then we visited the Hippodrome and the German monument which signifies the good relations Turkey has had with the Germans. The Hippodrome itself is from Egypt and was brought here during the Roman rule. After a quick stop for lunch, we took in the magnificence of the Blue Mosque and the Hagia Sofia. I have to be honest, I didn't know why the Hagia Sofia was famous till I went in. Going there without a guide is useless, as we got to know things like the Church was originally built by Roman Emperor Justianus who was himself just a stable boy, but by stroke of luck, he became an emperor and his wife who was just a belly dancer, became the empress! Once the Turks conquered Constantinople as Istanbul was called, they decided to turn this Basilica into a mosque. So, they just hid the faces of Christian Gods or paintings with plaster , but in doing so, they have preserved them so well over the years. It is now a museum that houses the unique history of Istanbul with both Christian and Islamic depictions, all under one roof!

Hellenic Getaways- Santorini

Next morning- Day 9 of our trip, we decided to have an Indian lunch in Athens. Our flight to Santorini was in the early evening hours. So, we went to "The Indian chef" restuarant and Sanjeev and I had Palak Paneer and Dal and rice while Sahana had Dosa and sambar. Though I didn't particularly miss Indian food so far, it did taste heavenly. Food continues to be a disappointment in Greece. In the USA, orzo is a Greek restaurant staple. I never found it even in one restaurant in Greece. Most of the food was overpriced and had barely much taste or any gravy. Even the meats looked dry. The wine was equally disappointing. TheGreek salads were the only saving grace. The feta and the olive oil were mild and creamy. When we took a cab to our hotel in Santorini , one of the porters from the hotel we stayed in met us and took us nearly 200m downhill into our "cave" hotel. The rooms were very nice in Porto Fira suites, but we had to climb nearly 60 steps to get in or out of our room. We turned in for the night. When we awoke the next morning, the site in front of us almost caught my breath. The expanse of the Aegean extending to many miles and volcano island and the pristine white buildings on our cliff was a scene out of a postcard. The only thing was that it was super cold due to the wind chills. The breakfast was brought to our room, but it wasn't upto the standards. The coffee was often cold as they didn't even have flasks to bring it in. We stayed in the island of Fira and took a local bus to go visit Oia, the other side of the island. Oia is much smaller and when we went there,it was absolutely freezing. We became aware that this isn't the best time to visit this island. In Fira, there were lot of takeaway restaurants including some Chinese ones. Sanjeev was against eating is a Chinese restaurant in Greece, but I longed for some fried rice. That meal turned out to be the cheapest and best meal of our trip !!!!!!talk about irony!!! During the summer months, you could take a ferry to the volcano and swim in the hot springs there.

Hellenic Getaways- Robbed in Athens!! Meteora too!!

We then headed back to Athens to catch a train to Meteora. Meteora is about 5hrs from Athens and we preferred to go by train since we were traveling with an eight yr old. My daughter has traveled with me so far to China four years ago, India about 4 times, Australia and Canada once,and the first time now to Europe. Traveling with her is not that difficult at all. Main reason is she hates to sleep, so waking her up is absolutely easy and she never ever goes to sleep from 6am till midnight if we are on a train or flight. She eats pasta, pizza or rice anywhere and is absolutely fine if we don't feed her for few hours at a time!!! We changed trains from the airport route to the suburban train to get to Meteora. The metro was so crowded that we were losing sight of each other and our bags when we needed to get down. A bit of panic perhaps with all this confusion and someone was watching us...... While we climbed on the escalator, couple of people barged in between us. We had 4 bags between us and Sahana was walking in front of me and I had a backpack which contained all our documents and our camera and iPad. While I thought Sanjeev was right behind me on the escalator, I felt someone squeeze next behind to me. To my slight shock, Sanjeev was much further down from me and the people who were close to me were 2 young girls and another man standing right next to me and seemed to be talking on the phone on the escalator. Everything happened so fast, that before I knew what was happening, the guy on the cell phone asked me something in Greek, which I found odd. I just shook my head and waited for Sanjeev after I got off the escalator with Sahana holding my hand with the 2 bags. While we walked to the platform to get on the train to the suburban station, we suddenly noticed 2 zippers of the backpack I was holding was open. Sanjeev suddenly looked serious, and I had a bad feeling. Only the top 2 zippers were undone. Sanjeev said that he had kept our train tickets to Meteora in one of them. We looked and searched, our entire backpack and yes, the tickets were indeed gone!! We had bought them in advance and had availed a pretty big discount because of reserving early, but now, alas, those we gone. There were more precious items inside our backpack and even our passports, but since they were so far inside and the time on the escalator was only about 10 seconds, we were saved. One thing, we learnt later on is that those tickets were no value to the thieves unless they intended to travel to Meteora. There were no refunds in Greece for trains. They were obviously amateurs and just petty thieves who most likely threw away our tickets. When we tried to complain, while sympathetic, there was nothing the officials could do. Due to this incident, we had to buy new tickets which costed our extra 100Euros. Meteora houses monasteries built on cliffs in the 10-11the century. The stone cliffs on which these monasteries are built on gives an idea of the hard work and history of the Greek Orthodox church. We went on a Friday when only four of them were open. We first visited the grand Meteora monastery which is e biggest of them all. The climb was about 100 steps, but it was so worth the climb. The actual church itself was so splendid inside with relics and paintings dating back to hundreds of years. They have museums with scrolls nearly 1000 years old. Since photography is not permitted inside the museums or the sanctum sanctorum, it's hard to describe the grandeur of these amazing monasteries. We truly enjoyed the scenic beauty and the history of this place. To get here will take 5hrs minimum, either by road or train. Since we took the train, the Greek countryside with its mountains and small towns was very nice to see. At this time of the year, there were totally no tourists. We had to change trains in a small town called Paleofarsalos. Then it was a small commuter train to the small village of Kalambaka which was packed with locals geting back to their homes after a long day of work. But once you get here, it's truly magical and special. We first went to the Grand Meteora Monatery which is the biggest of them all. The museum in the monastery had scrolls, many sacred texts, wine chalices and other ornate utensils apart from the wine crushing machine dating back hundreds of years. They even had pots and pans with which they cooked and the creepiest was the attic that stored skulls of dead monks!!!eeeks!!! We then visited a nunnery where the female nun gave Sahana some special bookmarks. I guess the nuns were not used to too many kids visiting them. We then visitedone of the monasteries called the Holy Trinity monastery which was featured in the James Bond movie-"For your eyes only". The views on top of these cliffs are remarkable. Apart from these special monasteries, there is nothing too much here. I am thankful we decided to spend only one day here. The ride back seemed longer, and since we got robbed, we were a bit nervous we we landed in Athens at 1030 pm at night. We quickly took a cab and were soon in the comfort of our hotel.

Hellenic Getaway - lazy island of Mykonos!!

Day 2 We then took a plane to the island of Mykonos. The island of the famous windmills was truly tranquil and blissfully calm. It is the the most idyllic place where time stands absolutely still and there is nothing you can do to speed up it's time or it's people. The white and the turquoise blue houses at the backdrop of the Aegean Sea and small churches, painted red on their domes are just absolutely breathtaking. The narrow cobbled pedestrian only streets and the small boutique shops add so much character to this island. I was there in November 2014 when the weather was very pleasant and you needed a light jacket on. I could not enjoy the water because most beaches were closed and water was too cold. But I can imagine how good the water would be in summer. Summer also attracts so much of crowd in Mykonos, that locals seem more happy and relaxed after a hard few months catering to the tourists. If you are looking for action and things to do, don't go to Mykonos in winter. Also , there is a ferry that takes you to Delos, an island with lots of history and archaeological ruins. But, beware, in winter, the ferry will not go if it doesn't have enough passengers. We, unfortunately, couldn't go due to this. And lastly, of course, the windmills-they are one of the most photographed items in the world, but Greece is still recovering from enormous economic problems and it is barely maintained. They weren't even painted properly and some of the mills seemed to be needing some TLC. Food- much better than Athens. The Greek salad and seafood is quite fresh. The restaurants cook what they buy in the morning. So, the food was quite enjoyable. The wine was a disappointment throughout our stay in Athens and Mykonos. Plus- beautiful, serene island, with amazing views. 10 stars Food- 7 stars out of 10 (Greek food inUS seems better than in Greece!!!!!) Minus-No set timings w regard to ferries and last minute cancellations. Overall worth a visit for sure.

Hellenic getaway! A tribute to Goddess Athena!

Day 1- Athens!! I will associate Athens with the word plunder from now on. It's a lot like India in my opinion. For a kingdom that was under a democratic rule for eons, it showed so much promise and progress. But such prosperity comes with its level of peril. The visit to the Acropolis was such a moving experience for me. One, I was denied a visa into this country-the only country ever to do so. So, all the more, I wanted to come here. Second, the Parthenon atop the Acropolis was so majestic and imperial in its structure. You could not, but admire its sheer enormity. The construction of this was completed in 430 BC. That blows my mind that we are able to see this monument from thousands of years ago!!! It also shows just how minuscule you are in the world. Third, it made me very sad. Persians, Brits, and many more plundered this prosperous empire leaving it demolished and torn in its wake. Britains Lord Elgin as late as the 1800s took some of Greece's most precious artifacts which till today are showcased in London's museum. Such wondrous works of art has no one to protect it from such plunder. I sensed a bitterness and a desolate tone of our tour guide when she described the state of the Acropolis and the country's inability to fix it. In all this, a thought came to mind. It's about time England did good for all the plunder....time to return what rightfully belongs to each country. Return the cartyids back. Return the parthenons sculptures. For India, they sure can't bring back the lives lost during the Jalianwallah Bagh massacre, but they can surely return our artifacts and the KOHINOOR.