Buyukada island...

Today is May 2nd, it is now 5:29pm, i am sitting on the top deck of the ferry boat to take me from Buyukada to Kabatas in Istanbul.

After the very disappointing and unexciting 36 hours in Pamukkale, i was quite happy to get back to Istanbul for some more interesting and deeper cultural entertainment and discovery. Closer to culture and away from tourists.

From Dubai, i had connected with a couchsurfer in Istanbul and had planned to spend a few days at his place, on he famous Buyukada island, an hour off the shore of Istanbul. So before departing from Pamukkale, i made sure to confirm it all, and headed that way when the bus dropped me off at Taksim square at 7:30am.

After an hour on the open deck ferry, in he cold and the rain, i finally made it to the peaceful haven of Buyukada island. Incredibly peaceful and friendly. Almost surreal. Like a small port town they portray in the movies. Everyone is smiling. Flowers everywhere. No cars. Just bikes and horse carts with absolutely beautiful horses. And well...free horses grazing all over as well. All of this with an incredible view out to sea. Fantastic!

Gokce (35 yr old well traveled, fluent in English professional translator) picked me up at the docks, and off we walked to his place. This island is perfect for physical exercise and relaxation. Steep ups and downs all around, smooth paved roads for bikes and joggers, shade from the pine forests, and the sea to swim. What else do you need!? Oh, yes, plenty of places to eat delicious local food. ;-)

My plan was to spend a few days doing pretty much nothing else other than planing a bit my trip to Africa and to Spain, as well as catch up on emails, and rest. And this is exactly what I have done for the past two days. Gokce is an incredibly kind and  interesting host. Always willing to help or show me his culture. We ate out a couple of times so he could show me some local dishes. Absolutely yummmmmmy!!! Wow! Did I already mention how much I love Turkish food?! Lol

When i asked Gokce if there was any particular reason to explain the shape of Turkish tea cups, he came out with the best analogy: Turkish tea cups are like a woman's body. (Investigate and you will understand what he meant. Hahahaha!)

While biking around the island today, we rode by both a cemetery and a beautiful resort at the same time. Cemetery on the upper side of the road, and resort on the lower side of the road. The first thing that came to my mind as I was rising right in between the two was "rest in peace". And in a funny and weird way, the classical RIP applies to both places. It made me laugh when I shared my thought with Gokce. The first place I see where one can fully rest in peace, whether dead or alive. The resort had a lot less slots than the cemetery and surely costs a lot more per person per night. Hey hey hey! Am not trying to say that one option is better than the other here. Just looking at a peculiar and unique situation from much closer and with a humoristic angle.

The island is so gorgeous. Very old wooden kind of colonial houses, pine trees all over, enough cats for this island and all of Istanbul, and gorgeous horses very healthy looking, grazing just about everywhere. Peace and harmony are two words that would perfectly describe this island. Pffff...on the way to get to the island, and under the rain, I even saw several big dolphins swimming along with the ferry.

Anyhow, I had a fantastic couple of days with a great host now friend, and now off I go to the mainland to spend more time with Andres and see more of the Turkish culture. We are even going to cook for a social kitchen tomorrow to help the people in need. Would be fun and will certainly remind me of the days when Olivia and I used to do this in the winter before going to work on Friday mornings. The AED days...

Then hopefully I will connect with Ayse, Boomer's sister in-law who works for Greenpeace here in Taksim.

And then, off to Espana para hacer el Camino con mi Lollipop! :-)

Gokce, thank you, thank you, thank you!!!