Strobl, lakes and the kiddos

It has been a while....

Life was terribly busy with finalizing my last exams and other things, too much to do and afterwards to tired and/or confused for blogging, but here we go again.

This very while ago we went to Strobl at the Wolfgangsee. It is a tiny little health resort in the same area as for example the famous Bad Ischl, but really much much smaller, with hardly any crowds, lovely for relaxing and still wanting to spend a day - okay, let´s make it half a day - in a small spa village with all that it takes. A park, a concert "hall", places to relax and look at the lake.... They also have a boat station here, so if you are in the area and make a tour around the Wolfgangsee I definately would recommend to hop off at Strobl for a few hours.

When we got there it was quite cloudy, sun was on and off, but it got better over the hours we explored the place (and had some great Surschnitzel-Semmeln from the local butcher).

The main square of Strobl. There might be loads of people in the high season, which is usually July and August, but when we were there end of May it was almost like a ghost-town. Wonderful!

The place for little concerts, as you like to hear them when in a typical Austrian spa. Although I have never seen such a tiny, tiny place. Anywhere, they got everything, and size does not matter, right?

The park. I must say it is definately nicer than the one in Bad Ischl, especially this year. Ischl has its famous Kurpark, but this year it looks as if a crazy organic farmer has attacked the place, just high grass and ferns and old flowers.... Maybe I am just too bloody boring and don´t have a clue about arts - but for me Strobl is the better choice this season.

And because the view is so wonderful and my Swiss White Shepherd is so gorgeous here again a photo with Indy posing in front of the Wolfgangsee.

On our way back to Mitterndorf we made a right at Obersee/Untersee, where we always had wanted to go before but never took the time to explore. But this time we did, and here is what we found.

Again: no people, just nature and the lake - the Hallstätter See this time - and a little restaurant where it is said to have lovely food. Unfortunately we were too full from our Surschnitzelsemmeln, but we definately want to go there some other time and enjoy some food and a good view of the lake.

The kiddos had a great deal of fun too! Dessa, enthusiastic as always, waddling in carefully and then hanging out without movement, cooling down with a "zzzzzzzz", Indy following his balli or stick or man or whatever you throw in, dashing into the water, making sounds like a river steamboat.

And Stefan swears it is the best place by the lake he has ever been.

It is definately one of them "come again" places......

Food and Farewell

Last but not least I would like to tell you a little bit about the great food that we had in wonderful Turkey.

We did not eat out a lot - we simply did not have the time. Our trips, the beach.... it all took too much time so we just could not afford to wander about Kemer or Antalya to try the beautiful food in all the restaurants there, even though we had very much wanted too. Most of the time we ate in one of the restaurants at the hotel - and what great meals we had! I really have to emphasize: Whatever we had - also the last zillion times we were in this country - it was of perfect quality, the freshest fruit and veggies possible, with lots of tasty spices and excellent ingredients. The Turkish take food very seriously - as one should - and they insist on freshness and good taste. And e.g. a Kebap, which is the typical Turkish to-go food in Europe, here is eaten on a plate, sitting down. When we told people that at home we just grab it as a bite and run off they just shook their heads. Well, fast food definately was no Turkish invention - and this is how it should be!

One night we went to the "barbeque" restaurant. So cool! You had your own little grill at your table, got what you wanted to put on it from the bar and you were all set! Oooh, it was a night with lots of red wine. I still get a headache thinking about it. But maybe it was because we teamed up with a German couple later on and ended at the disco at 3.00 a.m. in the morning...

Here you see our 5* chef at work. I really wonder if he does the barbequeuing because I expect him to do so, or if he really likes it. Hm?? Behind us there was this Russian couple, and she was bored all over, and he never had grilled a sausage in his life. She wanted to leave and he wanted to make a scientific experiment. During the time we had like lots of sausages and meat and grilled veggies they had one sausage. No wonder she was pissed off! lol

And lets not forget about the Asian Restaurant we went to another evening. the setting was beautiful, all right! The portions were tiny baby, but still nice tasting.

E.g. shrimp in sweet-sour sauce, my absolute favorite! Okay, the portions really were not that big, but there were lots of courses.

"Pide" is something you eat when you are out. They call it "the turkish pizza" and it comes with meat or with cheese or with a mixture of both.

The food in the main restaurants were perfect too. This is just a tiny bit of the breakfast selection. You got all kinds of American breakfast - potatoes, hot sausages, beans in tomato sauce -, all kinds of eggs and pancakes, everything you could ask for in Europa (dozens of jams, salads, cheese and sausages) - and don´t ask what you could get in the evening. It was hillarious!

Black cat from left to right, what the heck!! I do not believe in that kind of superstition, I love black cats! But still it was time to say good bye...

As you can see I was not too happy about it. I just loved my little place by the sea, the great food and all the places to go...

Bye-bye, lovely Turkiye, bye-bye, wonderful beaches and great sights! We had such a wonderful time, and we definately will be back! Güle güle - for now. We will treasure everything that we have seen and done in our hearts!

Rock-cut tombs and beautiful coastline

Once upon a time in Lycia.... The name of this area comes with flash-backs of ancient times, sunken cities, brave warriors and rich nobles living their life beneath the hot sun of the Turquoise coast...

The region of Lycia was already known to Ancient Egypt in the Late Bronze Age, the town of Myra being one of the most important cities in the area since Hellenism.

The same sun that had shone down on the Ancients shone down on us, when we visited the famous rock-cut tombs there. Such tombs are buriel chambers that are cut into living rock, usually alongside of a hill. It was a common form of burial for the wealthy in ancient times in several parts of the world (like in Egypt, e.g. in the Valley of Kings, Israel or Jordan).

The site is perfectly preserved by the Turkish government, work is still continuing, and when you get there, the only thing you can say at first is, "WOW!" I love to learn about ancient civillisations (for a while I was seriously considering to become an Archeologist, and no, it was not because of Indiana Jones), so I drew all I saw and learned at the spot in like a sponge.

The city of Myra is also well know for its amphitheatre, which is the largest in Lycia.

And if you want, you can always go up, up, up and even higher!

Here you see the beautifully preserved masks that guard the entry to the amphitheatre. Masks were used in ancient times to cover the faces of the actors, their stone-carved images showing the character of the figure (happy, furious, curious aso). And yes, here you also see Oli, our guide, again telling us everything we wanted to know and much, much more.

And now I will leave you with some stunning views of the coastline of Southern Turkey, which was the way we went back to Kemer after a long and exciting day. Enjoy!

Kerkova and Church of St. Nikolas

This morning the boat took us for a ride across the sea to the island of Kerkova.

The day started off a bit hazy, but it did not stop me from finding my place right at the bow of the ship. I love going up and down with the waves! (In fact I do not care for boating on lakes very much, but the sea is so exciting! I feel like Chris de Burgh here. "I wish I was sailing away...." Okay, sailing is a bit stressful, so I would need a motor as well. But then: all set to go! I am a simple woman with small wishes.)

Where was I... oh, yes. Kerkova is a little island close to the Southern shore of Turkey, and it is unhabited nowadays. People were living here in the 2nd century, but their town was distroyed by a massive earthquake. It was rebuilt though and flourished again during the Byzantine Empire period, but it was finally abandoned because of Arab incursions.

 

It was a bit eerie to see the age-old ruins on the island passing by on the boat - you almost could here the voices of people who had lived here many, many centuries ago whispering in the wind...

Today only goats live on the island, sharing their little place with the ghosts of long ago. I wonder what these goats see or hear every night.....

Going back we had lovely views of the coastal area. Since 1990 the Kerkova area is declared a specially protected area, so there is almost no tourism there, and mainly rich people come here to enjoy the peacefulness of the area in their weekend-homes.

Staying there was not that easy, it is a lot higher than it looks, and the swell was quite heavy. But it was fun, fun, fun!!!!!

After the boat ride it was time for Lunch. The food was nothing special, but the place where we had lunch was lovely.

Afterwards we visited the Church of St. Nikolas in Myra. Myra is called Demre today, and it is the very place where our well-known St. Nikolas, who is also mentioned in the Bible, was bishop from around 300 a.c. on. Of course his church, which has been enlarged and rebuilt and enlarged again, was a centre of worshipping over many, many centuries. Nikolas, who in his time, worked many miracles, also had been buried there in a tomb, people kept visiting him and praying to him, and the miracles continued. After 1800 his body was taken to Rome by the Italians, so he is not resting in his church anymore. But it continues to be a place of pilgrimage, especially for members of the coptic church. The Turkish government is trying severly to get St. Nikolas back home, but so far there has been no success.

Many old wall-paintings can be seen inside. They always show some important scene of the bible, so the people who at that time could not read understood what the Holy Book said. Our excellent tour-guide tried to tell us everything in an hour or so - I have to confess that obviously I was bad, because I cannot remember the story that is shown on this painting. The person in the middle is Jesus, but I guess you would have figured that out without me.

Here you have a view of the three ships the church is built of. The first ship was for the pagans, the second one for the christians preparing for mass, and the third one was for mass itself. Men and women were attending mass separatly in former times.

This is the place where the Holy man had rested until the 19th century. They say if you touch his tomb and wish for something it becomes true. (Our tour-guide added, that he had been wishing for a BMW for years, but had not gotten it so far. He was in high hopes though.)

Our tour was excellent, and if you ever go to the area I highly recommend to chose Öger-tours to visit the Church of St. Nikolas. Our tour-guide was fabulous, could answer each and every question, and we learned a lot! Ask if "Oli" can take you there - we will definately ask for him next time! (Hello, Sylvia and Sarah! We had such a good time, didn´t we!)

The Church of St. Nikolas is a highly spiritual place, you really should come and see it, even if you are not very interested in Catholicism. I think believe was maybe purer in these times, and even when I do not agree with what the Catholic Church has become over the centuries (and with how much blood and tears and suppression especially of women) I liked the place very much. It gave you this miraculous feeling that the people who are mentioned in the Bible actually excisted and are not simply myths.

Now off to some more great adventures....