Travel Plans

So it begins.  Sherisse and Randall are about to set off on their first really epic adventure.  We will try to post any interesting tidbits and vignette as we go.  It should be a fun ride.

Sunday July 13

• Early morning flight to Toronto with a short lay over.
• An overnight flight to Istanbul, Turkey arriving in the morning.

Monday July 14th to Thursday July 17th

• Touring the wonders of Istanbul, former capital of the Eastern Roman Empire, home of the Eastern Orthodox church and capital city of the Ottoman Turks.
• Visiting the Hagia Sophia, the Blue Mosque, the old city ruins and the famous old market.  Hope to experience the Turkish Hamamm (bath).  Also hope our skin is not totally scrubbed off.
• Randall tastes as many different olives as he can.  Sherisse thinks about trying olives and gets ill.

Thursday July 17th to Sunday July 20th

• Overnight bus to Gorem in Cappadocia the night of the 17th
• Exploring the underground cave cities of the early Christians who fled the Roman persecution into the deserts of Cappadocia.
• Sherisse decides she doesn’t need to climb every hill they see while hiking with Randall who is badly sunburnt.

Sunday July 20th to Wed July 23rd

• Travel to Ephesus.  Sunday overnight bus to Pamukkale
• Monday,  bath in the hotsprings on the cliffs of marble white Pamukkale
• Tuesday, travel to Selkuc the city outside of ancient Ephesus.
• Wednesday tour the best preserved Roman city in the Mediterranean.  Maybe we’ll stand where good old apostle Paul once preached.
• Sherisse is embarrassed that Randall climbed a stone column and tried to mimic apostle Paul preaching to the Ephesians.

Thursday July 24th to Sunday July 27th

• Thursday, travel to the southern coastal town of Fethyie where our hotel is near a beautiful Mediterranean beach!
• Friday, probably find a cruise around the bays of southern Turkey’s ancient coastline.  Hopefully hiking some ruins, swimming with the fish and chilling on the deck.
• Saturday, find the beginning of the Lycian Way, an ancient Roman highway traveling through cities abandoned centuries ago by both the Lycians and Romans.
• Sunday, more hiking on the Lycian way.  We hope to find a coliseum in the desert, a triumphal arch, an ancient aqueduct, a tranquil little market in a seaside village nearby and end with some time on the longest beach in Turkey.
• Sherisse and Randall decide they love cruising the Mediterranean coastline and decide one day to buy a boat and become yachties cruising the Mediterranean coast.

Monday July 29 to Wednesday July 30th

• Monday, travel by ferry from Fethyie into Greece!  We land on the famous island of Rhodes, powerful Mediterranean shipping port, home of the Colossus of Rhodes, one of the ancient wonders, and visited by biblical characters.
• Tuesday and Wednesday, tour the old city and find some of the amazing beaches.
• Missing the last bus back to Fethyie where there hotel and worldly belongings reside, Randall and Sherisse wonder about hiking back into town to find a room to sleep in; however, at the last moment a friendly cabbie offers them a ‘deal’ on a ride all the way back to the city which burns their food budget for the rest of the trip.

Thursday July 31st to Saturday Aug 2

• Thursday, morning flight from Rhodes to Athens
• Friday and Saturday, tour the Acropolis, birthplace of western democracy, find the temple of Zeus, visit an Orthodox Christian museum, as well as numerous other Greek, Roman and Christian landmarks.
• Sherisse starts her collections of selfies which she will use to restructure her ancient civilizations course for her grade 8’s

Sunday Aug 3rd to Monday Aug 4th

• Sunday, Bus to Delphi
• Monday, find the oracle of Delphi who had a significant impact on the direction of ancient Greek history. 
• Sherisse makes an oracle like prediction of the future that Randall will climb some ridiculously unsafe rocks in Meteora, two days hence, and she is not going to be happy with him.
• Tuesday Aug 5th to Friday Aug 8th
• Northern Greece

Tuesday, Bus to Meteora

• Wednesday, climbing the craggy rock pinnacles adorned with lost monasteries of the ancient monks.
• Sherisse is seduced by the call to a life of seclusion and meditation and Randall has to talk fast to persuade her to leave and continue on their journey.
• Thursday, bus to Thessaloniki, maybe a whirlwind one evening view of the sights, maybe just a collapse into bed in the hotel.
• Friday, morning flight back to Istanbul

Friday Aug 8th to Monday Aug 11th

• The conclusion of our massive Grecco-Turkish extravaganza in which we have circumnavigated the Aegean Sea.
• Visiting any last ruins and catching the last rays of salty Turkish sea side sun on a beach and one last visit to the massive markets of chaos.
• While the discussion throughout the trip has been about how Sherisse cannot buy another exotic drum to bring home because we have no room to carry it, it is actually Randall who packs their bags full of mugs, key chains, artwork and exotic memorabilia.
• Monday, flight home to Canada

Monday Aug 11th to Friday Aug 15th

• Four days with the family in Southern Ontario
• Tuesday and Wednesday, Randall introduces Sherisse to his teenaged home, exploring the beaches, Sandhills and Thiessen farmsteads of Port Rowan.
• Thursday, Big Thiessen party at Albert’s place in Waterloo.
• Randall goes out to shoot stuff with Uncle Bill while Sherisse is not thrilled by her husband’s use of firearms.  She does however discover a love for the freshwater beaches of Long Point, Port Rowan and the beauty of Southern Ontario.
• Friday, last early morning flight of the trip.  The Spensts arrive home exhausted from five weeks of other worldly wonder.