Россия

"Russia"

I left Claudia and Istanbul to fly to Krasnodar - the city where Daria lives. We traveled through Italy together back in February and March and had gotten along really well so I was glad to be finishing my European tour with her.

We spent our first day touring Krasnodar and then in the afternoon we met with her two friends Julia and Kasusha and the four of us were driven by Daria's father's personal driver three hours to the beach. We stayed in a big and beautiful beach house there and spent our days wake boarding and water skiing. It was incredibly difficult especially because no one working there could speak English. We also swam with dolphins which was incredible; they are so soft, rubbery, and friendly; it is like they have a permanent smile on their faces.

We flew to St. Petersburg and were met by Vitaly, a Russian Ukranian man who was Daria's father's friend. He was so kind, took us to our hotel, and showed us around. Throughout our time in St. Petersburg, he and his son took us to all of the different sites, and had us over for dinner. We also had a personal guided tour of Pushkin and Peterhof were I experienced gorgeous palaces decorated in Russian baroque style.

We took the nicest night train to Moscow! I felt like a millionaire; there were two beds, water, candies, slippers, and tooth paste and a tooth brush. It was really incredible but we were so tired that we slept the whole time and didn't get to fully enjoy the lavish train ride.

Daria left me in Moscow to go to Mongolia so I met up with Anastasia (another friend from exchange). I stayed with her in her cozy apartment; there was me, Anastasia, her sister, and their friend all in a one room apartment. It was a lot of fun but very hot! Especially since it was the hottest summer Moscow has seen in over 100 years. Being outside one day in the Moscow smog felt like being one week in Roskilde Festival - very dirty! But grime and smog aside Moscow really was a beautiful city and was able to see so much there.

Travels through Turkey

Claudia and I took the ferry from Rodos Greece to Marmaris Turkey where I paid the hefty 45 euro visa fee to enter Turkey. I don't know why but Canadians must pay 45 euros while every other country pays only 15 euros, or maybe 20 maximum! But I managed to get in and was met by Orhan and his mother Ceyda. This was my first time couchsurfing with a family and I was wondering if it would be any different or strange staying with a mom. It was absolutely perfect - I felt like Ceyda adopted Claudia and I as her daughters and although she couldn't speak any English she was incredibly hospitable. At this point in time in my trip I was starting to get a little bit sick - it was just a cough, but she treated me with care only a mother could give! She ensured that I took cough syrup and vix vapour rub twice a day.

Ceyda's mother, Claudia, Orhan, me, and Ceyda enjoying a HUGE dinner

MaNga is a Turkish group who won the second place position in Eurovision this year, which although as a Canadian that means nothing to me, Eurovision is very popular in Europe. It is like Canadian (or American) Idol except the European countries compete against each other and they are unable to vote for their own country. Orhan happened to have three free maNga tickets and so he took Claudia and I to see them. Afterwards he and his friends showed us Bar Street - a street that never sleeps! It had dozens of clubs all blaring different songs and the street was full of (mainly British) tourists.

After Marmaris we caught a bus to Fethiye where we were met by Hasret - our next host. She lives with her parents and little sister. Her sister had a friend visiting and Hasret's aunt and cousin were also visiting so it was a very full house. Claudia and I slept on the balcony (by choice); Hasret had given us her room but it was just too hot to sleep inside.

We went on a one day boat tour that left from Ölüdeniz; it took us to Butterfly Valley, but unfortunately it was not butterfly season. It was still a beautiful place though with a nice waterfall. We had five stops on our boat tour; one of them was at Cold Water Cove which is rightly named for the freezing cold water.
After Fethiye we went to Olympos which is known for treehouses, the beach, and Roman ruins. It was off in the middle of no where; we took a bus which dropped us off at a small station. There we waited for another bus to take us 30 minutes to Olympos. It was very peaceful and beautiful there with so much history.
Cappadocia was next on our list and after a 10 hour bus we arrived. We stayed in Göreme and hiked through several of the valleys and natural rock formations. We also went on a hot air balloon tour at 6am in the morning. It was a once in a life-time site. There were dozens of hot air balloons littering the sky. It was beautiful amidst the fairy chimneys and valleys and the first light of sun.

Our own Turkish family to wave us off when we left Göreme

After three days of hiking around the valleys we took the night bus to Istanbul. Our host Kaan met us at the bus station. Unfortunately Claudia had eaten some bad lamb or something in Göreme so she wasn't feeling too well. I spent the day by myself in Istanbul exploring the city. I saw the Blue Mosque, Hagia Sophia, and the Grand Bazaar. For my last few days in Turkey I walked around the city, went on a boat tour down the Bosphorus with Kaan, and went over to the Asian side of Istanbul.