Day 12-"I feel like I am exfoliating with bird poop"

That is a quote from Hannah.
Last night we left Istanbul around 8:30 pm and traveled for 12 hours before reaching Selcuk (pronounced Selchuck). Before even hitting a hotel we hopped on another bus for a day trip to Pamukkale. This is a natural wonder that I suggest you google. Beautiful formations from thousands of years of calcium/mineral buildup caused by the hot springs that run through it. We went into a tomb in Hierapolis before reaching the top of the hillside that Pamukkale sits on. We walked down (you have to do it barefoot) the calcium deposits, which are smooth for the most part. We chose to go as far down as we could and ended up laying in the running water, then exfoliating our whole bodies with this fine powdery mineral before rinsing it off in a hot spring bath. Not a bad afternoon. The only downside was that the bus ride there and back were 3.5 hours each. I would still say it was worth it, though. We got to our hotel in Kusadesi (pronounced Kushadesa) around 8:30 pm tonight. So, with the exception of our mineral bath, we traveled for 24 hours. yikes.
Tomorrow we get up bright and early and the tour company picks us up at our hotel at 7:45 sharp for our ferry to Samos (Greek island 2 hours off the coast of turkey). We will spend the day there (10:30am-4pm) then board another ferry to Mykonos. We will spend 2 nights there before boarding our third ferry to Athens. From Athens, we take the train to Patras (a port city) and take our final ferry to Ancona, Italy.

Day 6- I don't usually shine my flip-flops

We woke up around 8, had breakfast and were out of the house by 9. We took the metro and a bus to our first destination. We went to a palace and gardens of the sultan and then to the sinking palace and the grand bazaar later that night. We took the bus back to Taksim and hung out there again before heading home on the metro.

(sorry so short- out of time. pictures coming soon!)
check out Hannah's blog at hannahlaneadventure.blogspot.com for some pictures :) Love and miss you all!

Day 5- Recovery and the Bosphorus

I woke up at Marissa's house around 1pm and we didn't get to Asli's until 4pm. The girls were tired and so was I so we had some feta and jam and headed out to Ortakoy. We went down through the marketplace and caught the ferryboat just before it left. For only 3.5 YTL, we took a cruise on the Bosphorus (thin strip of sea between the Black and Marmara/Aegean). It was really beautiful and peaceful and we got to see Asli's grandfather's old house right on the water.
Then we walked around the marketplace and I bought myself some painted copper earrings. We decided eventually to sit down and have some Turkish coffee (which I'm growing to like). We then went back to Asli's house and ate corn and vegetable soup courtesy of Belgin before heading to bed.