Istanbul

To add to Sam's post about our fantastic stay in Istanbul, I thought I would record the visit with a little photo essay. By the way, hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving! The school where I'm taking the art classes held a grand dinner for everyone. Although we had to wait until 8pm to eat (very Italian), it was an absolutely delicious meal. Apparently an American-chef-turn-Italian-farmer lives amongst the people of Tuscania and was aching to cook a traditional holiday meal. Deliziosissimo!


We arrived in Istanbul after dark on Wednesday. Due to the plane ride Eli missed his nap that day so he was a bit cranky to say the least. We found a great little cafe for dinner, but since Eli had timed out before we even got there, we were weary and the meal was hurried. I'm sure Adrian was panicking about her decision to travel with a one year old in tow. So we decided to cut our losses and call in an early night. This picture, taken around the corner from our hotel, was our first impression of Istanbul.


The next morning we rushed off to the Ayasofia (what the Turks call it). Eli commemorated the occasion by sticking his finger up Sam's nose the minute we crossed the threshold. The building was amazing.





Later that afternoon we hit the Grand Bazaar. Adrian and I were quite the bargaining team. She came away with some great loot at rock bottom prices. The guy she robbed blind agreed to pose for a pic anyway. Sam and I picked up an awesome antique "miniature" of the whirling dervishes.

Dinner that night was at a great place where we had our own private room. They didn't serve alcohol but we sneaked in a flask of raki, the very potent national drink. Since we sat on the floor, Eli had a ball with the heaps and heaps of pillows around the table.



Sam and Eli hanging out on the roof deck after breakfast. Our hotel overlooked the Bosphorus, the Ayasofia and the Blue Mosque.



I was obsessed with the Harem at the Topkapi Palace. If anyone wants a brief history on Sultans, their mothers, their sex slaves, and their eunuch servants, I'm your girl.


Here we are at the Spice Bazaar. Adrian made some good friends here too and was a good guide through the miles and miles of spices to choose from.



While we were in the Bazaar, it began to rain so we took refuge in a bar on the bridge spanning the Golden Horn. We had a great view of old Istanbul and some comfy bean bag chairs to sit in. Though the pictures from our dinner that night didn't turn out very well, it's well worth a mention. We went to a restaurant at the fish market where we had to haggle for the price of our meals. We ate a salt encrusted sea bass. When I say encrusted, I mean encrusted - the fish was under 3 inches of salt. For the final presentation they lit the salt shell on fire and chiseled their way down to the fish to serve. It was delicious!

The next morning we were off to the Blue Mosque. It was impressive. It was the perfect opportunity for Adrian to sport her new muslim-chic look. Mahvelous dahling!



Later that day, a Roman Cistern. This was very cool. It was a former basilica. Three hundred Roman columns were created the structure for this huge ancient well - complete with mutated fish.

That afternoon we headed to the Asian shore and took in the local scene. Sam's third continent. The views of Old Istanbul were beautiful. That night, Sam volunteered to babysit while Adrian and I had a girls night out in Beyolou. Itstanbul 's nightlife is incredible. A great way to end the trip.

They defintely were giants...

Hey there. It's Sam again. I am sneaking in a post while Caroline is putting Eli to bed. Today is Tuesday, and we just got back from Istanbul two days ago. I still can't even come up with the words to describe how cool that place is. I'll do my best, and I'm sure my better third will chime in with her two Euro cents soon. For those of you not keeping track, two euro cents is now worth three hundred American dollars.

The flight to Istanbul was just over two hours, and we arrived at our hotel before dark. The hotel was located in Sultanhamet (just a block away from the Four Seasons in Istanbul) which basically seems to have been the center of the Byzantine and Ottoman empires. Within a three minute walk from our room we visited the Hagia Sofia, the Blue Mosque, an ancient cistern and the Topkapi Palace. All of these places were breathtaking. Check out the pics at the end of the post.

Other than the amazing monuments, the city had a lot to offer. First, Eli was like some sort of infant rock star over there. Perhaps it was his blond hair and blue eyes, but people literally stopped in their tracks when they saw him. Then they would come over and kiss him, pinch him, pick him up, and in one case even sing to him. I have never experienced anything like it. People we extremely friendly, and we loved all the attention as did Eli. This gave us a great in with any group of people, and in general Eli's popularity was an awesome part of the trip. Second, Istanbul is hip. There are all sorts of new, stylish cafes, boutiques and bars everywhere, and they are not the same cookie cutter stuff that you see elsewhere. The city has a very interesting blend of East and West, as you would expect, but the vibrancy and pulse was something that took us by surprise. We explored one particularly cool neighborhood a few times, and we only felt like we had just scratched the surface. In short, Istanbul, in our estimation, has every right to be considered one of the great cities of the world. We want to go back and see more of it, but alas, so much to do, so little time.

Some personal highlights: 1) we took the ferry across the Bosphorus to the Asian shore, and I set foot on my third continent as did Eli; 2) this was my first time in a mosque, and I felt the burden of face to face diplomacy as I tried to be sensitive to Muslim culture. In other words, despite my general moral turpitude and past history, I actively tried to avoid desecrating any holy sites; and 3) I managed to eat three doner kebaps in one day with only minimal intestinal dysfunction.

Here are some basic pics. Caroline will post soon with more info and more pics.

1) the Blue Mosque at night, 2) a mosaic in the Hagia Sofia, 3) inside the Hagia Sofia, 4) Eli and Dad inside the Harem's Quarters of the Topkapi Palace of the Sultans, and 5) the Basilica Cistern

When in Rome

We've had quite the November with visitors coming through. Adrian and the Savage three just parted ways in Istanbul on Sunday. The city was unbelievable! We all ended up being great travel partners as well. There's too much to show and tell for one blog post so I'll tell our travel tale in two parts: the western and eastern empires respectively.

First, a photo tour of the western capital...


We started touring immediately upon Adrian's arrival. She was a trooper having arrived after a red eye flight. Ostia Antica, an ancient Rome city comparable to Pompeii, is just minutes from the airport so we stopped there for a morning stroll. The site is less traveled than Pompeii so they let you climb all over the ruins and do as you will. This first pic is taken from the top of an ancient staircase that's still intact.


Those of you that know Eli know that he's quite the orator. He had a bit of stage fright on this occasion however. Here he is trying to escape center stage at the ancient theater.
Chillin' out in the Roman baths...
Saturday night we ended the day by eating some huge and glorious pizzas at a"pizza farm" or agritourismo in Viterbo.

The next day we drove into Rome to tour the Roman Forum and the Collosseum. Sam gave us a great tour and filled us in on the history of the Roman Republic and Empire - all in one afternoon.

We lunched in the Jewish Quarter at a restaurant that was touted as having the "most authentic" Roman-Jewish food in the city. Perhaps, but both pork and shellfish were spotted on the menu. The food was great though and we decided to sample a bit of the pork "when in Rome..." since Romans seem to have discovered a loophole to the rule. This was taken after lunch at a nearby temple... it's no longer in use.


The next day, Monday, Adrian ventured into Rome on her own since I had class. On Tuesday we went to Baniaia and the Villa Lante for the morning. Here are a few shots from our impromptu jaunt through the gardens.


Wednesday we set off for Istanbul...

Vino Country

The Arno

Fall colors in Tuscany

So, last weekend we had the first of our visitors. Lisa and Jeremy came for a visit all the way from Oaktown with their eight month old Zach (correction to the 9 mos I quoted prior to their visit). We had a nice relaxing time in Tuscany with a quick trip to Florence to boot. A good time was had by all even when the kiddies prevented us from doing too much sightseeing. We did see many a good view on our countryside drives though. We hit the height of the fall colors. Catching up with friends and the excellent food and wine we had were reason enough for the trip.
Unfortunately, our camera is quickly crapping out so our picture taking is getting less frequent. A new and improved one is on the way however, so we'll be back in full effect in no time.

Eli, Sam and Lisa hanging out in Piazza Santa Croce in Florence

A couple of the sunsets we witnessed in Tuscany

This was taken at the agriturismo where we stayed (agriturismi are working farms that also offer accommodations for tourists)

Jer and Zach chilling out at our place in Viterbo

the Middle Ages

pics: 1) the Savages at the agriturismo Fattoria Collepina, 2) the olive grove at the agriturismo, 3) the view of southern Umbria from the agriturismo with Amelia on the hilltop in the distance, 4) the view from inside the walls of Macchie, 5) Eli and Dad at the soccer game, and 6) Eli trying to drink from a hose.

Read the post below for the story behind the pics. Except for the hose one. That's just cute.










Today was the first of the two Faculty/Host Family vs. Student soccer matches that will happen this year, and in case you were wondering, we kicked their butts. The final score was something like 9 -2, and I even managed to put one past the keeper. It was a beautiful day, and we all had fun. The next match is in April, and it just might take me that long to recover. My back more or less went out in the warmups before the game, and in true weekend warrior fashion I ignored the pain, played on, and really screwed up my back. Hence the title of this post. Now I do have somewhat of an excuse, mind you. The bike I have been riding (including a 50k ride this morning before the game) has a stem that is 2cm longer than the stem on my bike at home. What that means for you non-cyclists reading this is that I am stretched out a bit further as I rest my hands on the handlebars. This is putting extra stress on my lower back. And in case you aren't reading between the lines, I am getting old it seems.

In other news, last weekend we went with another American teacher, Ashley from Houston who teaches math, to an agriturismo outside of Amelia on the way to Macchie. Check the location out on googlemaps (search for Amelia Umbria Italy). This is rural Italy. Last week was cold in general, and we were looking for a way to get out of the apartment and see some pretty countryside. We thought we might see some leaves changing, but the lack of rain seems to have affected to changing of the seasons. The agriturismo (basically an inn that is part of a farm of one sort or another) was one we found online, and we had called ahead to make a reservation. When we walked in the door, we saw that there was no table in the restaurant with less than 15 people . 3 or 4 of these giant tables were multi-generational family affairs, and one was a group of youngish graduate student types. Then there was our table of four. We settled in for a fantastic meal that included many products produced on the farm, including the wine, olives, and now that I think of it, just about everything we ate. The winner was a dish that Ashley ordered, a ricotta ravioli with a taleggio radicchio cream sauce. It was one of the best dishes we have tasted since we have been in Italy. The real excitement of the meal, however, came when Eli was playing with a bunch of kids from the big family tables I mentioned earlier. He was having a blast with them; that is until he fell over. This fall was particularly notable because he put out his arms to absorb the blow, but his arms fell on either side of the rim of a giant ceramic planter. The edge hit him squarely between the eyes, and he had a bump there for four days.

On the way back we drove to Macchie, more or less just to say we have been there. The town is one of the smallest we have seen. We drove up to the walled section which consists of about 10 or so medieval houses at the crest of a hill. The local gentry were seated outside as we drove by, and we were the recipients of a good, long stare. I think our drive-by may be the annual total of tourist activity for this remote town. On the way back to Viterbo we had to make a stop because we thought that Eli soiled his diaper. It turns out it was just a big fart.

Enjoy the pictures!