August Vacay

Blog Post About August 2021 

It's funny to think about August right now when it's so cold outside, but I remember the evenings being something everyone looked forward to because the brutal sun would set, and instead of 110 degrees, we could enjoy 85 degree evenings.

August 5, 2021

Kylie had a break from school and went to California to see a friend she met overseas. 

We also missed her 19th birthday. Happy belated, birthday, Kylie!

August 31, 2021

Doug had planned a getaway for us as well, especially since he and Caleb had stayed in country in the heat all summer while we took advantage of the air conditioning in America. However, 72 hours before our flight, the country we were going to banned travelers from the country we are living in. 

Doug had to go into the airlines office and see which country we could go to that was not blocking our country. The man recommended a part of Turkey that we had never seen before, and seeing that was one of our only options, Doug and I began hunting online for a house in that area we could rent.

This is the view from our rental where we were 48 hours later!

August 17, 2021

Doug had already investigated things to do in the first country we were going to, so now we were in a new situation, but with the help of our rental car and the internet, he got busy making new plans, and then we voted.

We went to the grocery store, but also decided we would eat out for one breakfast, one or two lunches, and maybe two or three dinners.

This is me trying to get a picture of the sunset while my children think they are SO funny!

One of our dinners we opted for a sunset cruise. 

The captain of the boat cooked a wonderful dinner for us on his grill while we hung out, swam, and enjoyed the evening.

After dinner, the captain turned lights on under his boat so we could take a night swim. You can see Keira in the picture below (along with another boat in the distance).

The next day, we took a boat ride to another part of the coast to eat at this "Resturan." When we hiked to the top of the hill, the man who lives there had cooked fish for four of us and chicken for Keira. A friend we had made in the town we were staying in had called him and told him to expect us.

After lunch, we swam around the bay before taking another boat back to our marina.

The next day, Doug, Caleb, and I went scuba diving. Doug and I are certified, but it has been awhile. It was fun to take a beginning dive with Caleb. He was a natural.

Doug also booked us a kayaking tour in a town an hour away, which took us directly over some ancient ruins of a sunken city, allowed us some more swim time, and took us to another part of the coast where we climbed over 200 steps to see an ancient castle from the 4th century. This castle can only be reached by water. There are no roads that lead to it. 

Here we are at the top, looking back. 

Since I had gotten sunscreen in my eyes and they hurt, I kept my eyes closed a lot. I find this picture funny because with my eyes closed I couldn't tell where Doug was taking the picture, so I'm looking in a completely different direction from everyone else. 

I opted to stay out of the pictures after that.

It was a short vacation, but we squeezed a lot in. It was nice to be somewhere cooler for a while and also be near water where we could jump in and cool off.

We missed Kylie, we played a LOT of Settlers of Catan, we read, and Caleb even had an online class for school, but we are looking forward to the day when we can get away again.

Castle on a Hill

We went to the top of the original city during the first week of March 2020

with some friends. They hadn't been up there yet, and we always enjoy going 

for the history and the view. They took their two kids and we took Keira.

Only a few people live up there now while it is being restored, 

but people still visit up there every day, walking the streets and looking around

This is the first time I had visited this particular shop.  I've been to a couple of the museums and one of the rug shops, but I don't think this shop has ever been open.

It was crammed full of interesting items.

Some of the restored buildings.

An old mosque.

We also visited a small amphitheater

Before heading out the other end of the city.

The buildings and high walls of the original city shielded us from the sun, 

so we were pleased to walk out to this warm glow hitting us.

The old bazaar was just below us. I've shown you 

other pictures of it here when Karis' friend came to visit.

Some of my favorite parts of the bazaar are the crafts on these steps.  

They are so colorful!

You'll see them again when I post Kylie's graduation photos, 

because she took some of them down here in the old city.

Keira is always a popular attraction.  You can see the men behind her, 

looking at her, while she looks at me.

Some of the many carpets and bags for sale..

Pomegranate and pomegranate juice are some of my favorites, 

ESPECIALLY when someone else does the work of peeling the fruit for me!

The old city really is built higher than you think.  

Civilization built on top of civilization for a few thousands years 

resulted in where it is today.

And the new city is always bustling below.

 

March 4, 2020