Greece

After 5 weeks (and 9 cities) the final leg of our journey takes place in the small city of VOULA and Athens. 

The daily walk down the hill to get fresh bread and jump in the water was simply splendid!

The Acropolis...

Where’s Waldo & Hulya ???

We went to local farmers market and found fish and some strange greens (amaranth) then cooked them all up at home ! (Accompanied by Metaxa)

Beach cat

Natural mineral lake…..

 

...with fish than nibble on your hands, feet, and toes. 

My future self — if I stayed in Greece and kept eating EVERYTHING — because everything is delicious here!!!

ATHENS!!!

THE NATIONAL MUSEUM

CALAMARI  IN VOULA.

City cats beating the heat 🥵

Our last Mediterranean dinner with none other than the Greek wild child, Zachariah!

Bye bye Ancient Greece ….. 

 

And HELLO San Francisco !

After 26 hours or travel …. we made it back ✨✨✨✨✨

Istanbul: beautiful & brutal

We spent a fast paced 3 days touring around the old Byzantine empire and -after waking a collective 23 miles - we saw wonderful sights and also witnessed the harshness of modern life in a modern city of TWENTY MILLION people!!!

CIYA - possibly the BEST food in Istanbul. 

So many types of baklava !

 

Some humongous Hungarian swords!

....sun tanning with the graffiti?

Amazing cheese at the farmers markets.

 

Cats rule this city…..

In case you forgot my name...

Trying to find our bus to get home.

After a 2 hour bus ride and 42 bus stops.....we should have rented a micro-car instead!

(doesn't matter if it only seats one....the bus was torturous)

Outdoor art gallery tour, by the lovely HuhuCüm herself.

We’ll, we got three days of 42 Celsius weather…. (100+ degrees!)

And then we flew off to Greece!

Denizli

Waiting for our bus. It will be a long journey to visit Hulya's family.....

But i brought chocolate . . . . so i was prepared!

So many homes in this neighborhood of Denizli have peppers hanging out front. And I helped Grandma prepare Turkish Dolma (stuffed peppers & eggplants )

These meals were probably my favorite from this entire trip. So fresh. So delicious. And always. made with love and care.

We are cracking up as we were cracking almonds....

The bazaars are incredible and complex avenues and alleys of unimaginable variety. 

The copper shop! I got a lesson from the owner about chiseling stone artwork.

Oh the wonderful flavors of cheese and halva !

Again, the best memories are the ones we all shared around the dining table.

Also.... there was daily arts & crafts projects with Grandma ❤️❤️❤️