Hi! Welcome back, friends. You’re listening to episode number 300 of Practically Happy. This is part two of my adventures in Turkey and Greece this summer.

Segment: Life Lately

Thanks, if you noticed I was absent for a couple weeks, that was the first time in six years that I took an unscheduled break from the podcast. Part of that had to do with an actual break in my real life, which was my sweet daughter, who’s 10 years old, fell on the playground on her second week of school, and broke her leg.

She got a spiral fracture of her tibia just above her ankle, and we’ve spent the last 10 days getting familiar with crutches and wheelchair and a thigh high cast, totally non weight bearing on her right leg for the last 10 days and for the next 10 days, after which we’ll move into a shorter cast, which is also non weight bearing for another couple weeks, And then finally a walking boot.

The orthopedist said that she will be back to sports in the spring, but we had to cancel soccer and dance class and have had just an interesting time navigating the unexpected turn of events in our family. This is our first family. Broken bone. Neither my husband who, I just have to note, played professional rugby, played rugby from the time he was 15 or 16 all the way through until we got engaged, and went through high school, college, and professional rugby without a broken bone.

I was active my whole life. I had a stress, like a tiny stress crack in one of my foot bones that was broken. I don’t think totally counts as a break. It was like a hairline stress fracture when I was in high school. but no cast, nothing like that. We’ve had two active boys, no break, and then this playground fall.

That’s what I’ve been dealing with the last couple weeks in, our family and luckily my daughter is handling it all well. She has not been in too much pain, which is wonderful. She has really great friends and a good support system. So, people have been willing to help her instead of scootering around the neighborhood right now.

She is being wheeled around the neighborhood in her wheelchair. She’s had a few people dropped by really sweet kind of. Seated activity type things. She has a paint by numbers and has been doing some bracelet making and other things like that. We’ve moved her bed downstairs. we actually didn’t move her bed.

We set up a bed in the living room. So, she hasn’t gone upstairs in the last two weeks, and she is excited to see her room again. Someday her room is on the second level of our house, as much as it’s tricky and tough to have a kid who’s hurt. It’s been going as well as we could have expected. And we are excited to continue to help her progress and move through these next several weeks as she heals up.

I already started The Life Lately, but I’ll play the music and give you a couple lesser updates before I get to the episode.

Looking for a Job

Another Life Lately update happening over here is my ongoing pursuit of a job. This is something I’ve talked about a little bit here and there on the show. When I graduated with my masters of applied positive psychology over just over a year ago now, I decided that I was excited about something new career wise.

I’ve really loved being an entrepreneur, running a business for the last 12 years and have appreciated the many opportunities that have come along. I’ve had such a blast really just doing things that felt interesting and fun. It goes well with my Enneagram 7 adventure, try lots of different thing’s personality to have had a business like this, where I’ve gotten to host workshops, I’ve gotten to run retreats, I’ve done one on one coaching, I’ve written a book, I’ve written Over a thousand articles on my blog livefreecreative.co and this is episode number 300 in season six of this podcast. And that doesn’t count the whole season that I did of bonus episodes while I was in school that I called Happy Class. So, I’m somewhere in the 350s of episodes recorded for the show.

It’s just been so fun and so fulfilling and, I think going back to school unlocked for me an openness to something a little bit more stable and that involved more of a team effort. For the last little while, I’ve been looking for a full-time job that felt like a good fit for my skills, my experience, and the things that I like to do, and I am getting closer. to figuring out exactly what that is and what that looks like.

I’ll do a full episode at some point about that, but I’m excited for what feels like the beginning of puzzle pieces starting to fall into place. I’ve been in quite a bit of sort of career and more emotional than anything. I’ve been doing, going through the motions of a lot of the work that I’ve been doing for the last several years and also at the same time wondering what the next thing was going to look like for me, and I feel like pieces are starting to fall into place and that feels exciting.

Backyard Garden

And finally on the garden front, I love giving little garden updates. My garden brings me so much joy, and I planted a bunch of dahlias this year, the bulbs, in probably March or April. I didn’t see Any movement, no leaves, no sprout, nothing for another month or two. And then while I was gone for the summer, I’ve gone for six weeks, and I came back to little plants, like maybe ten inches tall.

Lots of leaves, no buds, no flowers. I’ve been watching them. And when I go out and water, I just eye them. Because, and same thing with the peonies, although I didn’t expect anything floral from the peonies on year one. I also planted peony bulbs, and There are a few leaves, but there’s not much more happening there.

But everything I read said that the dahlias would bloom this year. my first couple petals are starting to unfold on one of the dahlias. And I’m so curious about the process because it doesn’t look at all typical like I would expect. It almost looks like the bulb of the flower is just layers and layers of petals that as they peel away, one by one, they grow and turn their color, so I’ve got this little feathery bulb that has maybe two or three light pink long petals sticking out from it, and it looks like it’s going to continue unfolding in this way.

I’m watching with bated breath. We’re now mid-September. I wonder, I probably did something wrong. I probably could water them more regularly or fertilize or something, but I think there’s a chance I may come away from season one with at least one flower when, and if that does happen, I will definitely share on Instagram and.

I will rejoice. I can’t decide yet if I’ll leave it in the yard to just watch it or if I’ll cut it and bring it inside so I can enjoy it inside. We’ll see. Either way, garden season is turning down as the weather turns down. Things are ebbing and it’s almost time to start cleaning out the vegetable garden and things like that.

And it’s fun to have this little one little bulb hanging on, like it may make a little bit of magic in the next couple weeks. We shall see. Okay, that’s Life Lately. Let’s dive into these next couple days in Turkey and Greece.

Turkey Pt. 2

Day 3: Balat, Grand Bazaar, Cooking Class, Hammam

Music When I left you in episode 299, part one of Turkey, we had just spent a day touring all the historic sites in Sultanahmet, the downtown area of Istanbul.

The next day, we were still in Istanbul, and we started off heading over by bus from our hotel to a small neighborhood that’s gotten a lot of Instagram hype called Balat, B A L A T. This is an area that was originally, not originally, like way back, fairly recently populated. By a lot of Armenian families, it’s known as an Armenian neighborhood, and the houses and storefronts are painted all different, really beautiful, bright colors.

The architecture is really cool. It’s on a hill. it’s definitely on a hill, these houses. You must almost lean at a 45-degree angle to walk up the streets, these cobblestone streets, and it’s because of some of the hype on Instagram of people taking pictures and seeing all these cute little sections of this neighborhood, there popped up some fun little markets, cafes, and shops that I’ll add to the list.

To the charm of the area. So, I had seen a lot on Instagram and doing a lot of my prep for the trip. And although it wasn’t part of our official itinerary, most of the group decided that they wanted to go check it out. It was a really fun place to wander around and take pictures. We were there for about an hour, had a great little time checking things out.

Cooking Class 

And then we headed back to. The hotel met up with everyone else and went back downtown to Sultanahmet area to do our cooking class. Now, I love a cooking class. This is something that I do almost every time that I travel abroad with my sisters and my mom. We love finding, sometimes it’s a local class, sometimes it’s, with a cooking school.

This class was Unexpected. It was at a restaurant called the Deraliye Restaurant in Istanbul, which is a Michelin star awarded restaurant right in the center of town. And the chef came out and spent several hours with us teaching us some Ottoman Royal food. He introduced the menu as if we were living in the 16 or 1700s Ottoman Empire and we were in the castle or the palace.

These are the types of things that we would be fed. So, we learned how to make sour cherry and pistachio stuffed dolmas, like small grape leaf wrapped little Appetizers. We learned how to make an incredible cheese and puff pastry spiral that we finished by drizzling with honey. And then we made a steak and rice stuffed melon.

Roasted melon. I know it sounds bizarre, but these stuffed melons were made. stole the show. Every one of us was blown away by the combination of savory and sweet and a tiny touch of spice. It was so fun. It was really incredible. It was quite unexpected how high level this cooking class was. And we left with certificates from the course, feeling like we all had earned our sous chef from a Michelin star restaurant.

I really can’t. recommend this enough. If you’re in Istanbul, I would highly recommend checking out the cooking class at the Dereliye restaurant. Luckily, right nearby the restaurant is the Grand Bazaar, which is a place that we hadn’t yet been to and wanted to visit.

Grand Bazaar

The Grand Bazaar is one of the oldest covered markets in the world, and it covers about five acres.

It’s this massive indoor shopping mall, basically. So many of the shops feel similar. Istanbul is really known for its gold and silver jewelry. And so, there are many, gold and silver jewelry shops. Of course, Turkish rugs and textiles are really, handmade commodity from Turkey. Lots of those.

There were spice shops and there were some pottery shops, all sorts of interesting things, but. One thing that I noted that was a little bit surprising to me was how similar a lot of the shops felt. You could have taken like one full block of 20 different shops and replicated it over and over again.

It was quite a maze. I definitely felt like I was going to get lost. And we did, maybe a little bit, but we ended up finding some more of the group. We had about an hour and a half to wander. We split up into groups of three or four and wandered and shopped, and everyone found really cool things. the girls that I was with, and I stumbled into a rug shop, and the owner spoke great English, which was helpful.

He had some pictures on his wall of some well-known Government officials and people from the state’s pictures with him. So, it felt, I don’t know, like it added a little bit of clout. I’m sure that was the purpose, and we were able to learn a little bit about some rugs. And then also, for some reason, we just all went for it.

We each chose a rug. One of my friends chose to and we made it. We bargained in most of these markets. There is expected bargaining. So, you start negotiation and, come to a place where you feel comfortable with the price. And we were able to make like a multi deal bargain. So, the rugs that each of us got were around four by five or four by six.

My friend who got two hers might’ve been a little smaller, like a three by four. And they were all traditional Killam flat weave rugs. And., they ended up being around 250 each, which felt like a great deal, like felt like what you would spend on a rug at World Market that isn’t handmade, doesn’t have the history and story of being bought right in the center of the Grand Bazaar in Istanbul.

So, we felt good about it. And a few days later, I’ll tell you more, but in a few days, we went to an, Women’s weaving co-op in the center of Turkey, which is Anatolia, which is where a lot of these goods come from. They’re made in Anatolia and then shipped or driven to the Grand Bazaar to be sold in Istanbul in the center.

So, we were in more of the central area where they’re being made. And we, still felt like the rugs that we got and the price we paid were fair and fun, which is nice after, sometimes you’re on a trip and you buy things at the beginning of the trip, and then you see them over and over again, either better quality or more fair prices later.

But we felt really good about those purchases. After wandering at the Grand Bazaar, we walked over to the Cagalugu Hammam.

Cagalugu Hammam

I’m sure that name rolls off the tongue for some, but it doesn’t so much for me. This Is a traditional Turkish bathhouse in a building that has been used as a hammam for over a thousand years.

The beauty and history were unreal and unmatched. Now, maybe some of you listening will think it’s really weird that 14 women who most of us otherwise didn’t know each other than the couple days we had been on this trip went together into a women’s bathhouse stripped naked and were washed in a traditional way with warm water and her mom’s soap and a scrub and this bubble wash laid on these Beautiful marble tables for a massage all together in a group.

We were covered in clay and mud for a little body mud mask. And then we finished and ended in a steam room. I happen to love. Traditional Hammam. I love a Korean bathhouse. I love hot spring. I love a sauna. I love being naked. So, all these things combined in this group of women who were so beautiful and so open.

There’s a really intimate. Setting and it was a pretty intimate hour that we spent together. We each had our own bather. So, these there are Turkish women who are professional. Hammam bathers. And so, they’re carrying out the process. There was something for me that felt so connective, like people, women and men have been coming to this place Since before there was pipes and traditional plumbing and running water and spending some time sitting in quiet and with the sunlight coming through skylights overhead and being together and bathing and experiencing.

What felt like a ritual, and it was meaningful and beautiful. It was also very relaxing the weather in Istanbul in July is hot and humid. And so, we got a break from that. it seems funny that we got a break from it by being in an environment that was hot and humid in the sauna. That felt like it was supposed to be that way.

And the relief of being undressed and having cold water poured over us. again, highly recommend this particular bathhouse. There are hammams all over the city. This one is a little bit higher end. It’s a little bit more expensive. I think. The service that we got was around 70 euro for about an hour of service, and I would do it again and again.

Highly recommend the, the hammam. I’m going to, the show notes that accompany this episode are going to have basically a list of our itinerary with links to everything that we did and where we went. If you happen to find yourself in the area and want some recommendations, I am going to be providing that for you as part of the recap of my trip.

After a full day of the Balat neighborhood and the Grand Bazaar and the cooking class and the hammam, we broke up into small groups, went back to the hotel. Some people rested; some people stayed close to the hotel. A few of us went wandering the streets. We found some street food for dinner, finished the evening with ice cream.

Turkish ice cream is It’s made with goat’s milk and it’s a little bit tangy, it’s a little bit chewy and it’s amazing, highly recommend. And then we went back and packed up before we went to sleep because we caught an early morning flight the next day out to Cappadocia.

Day 4: Travel to Cappadocia, Wine Tasting

Now, I just have to say I’ve heard this pronounced Cappadocia, I’m not really sure.

Often when talking about this area, our guidecalled it Anatolia, rather than Cappadocia is a city, like a small town that’s made up of a couple different, neighborhoods and she calls the region Anatolia. So, I’m just going to maybe just call it Anatolia for now. We got on a flight. It’s a couple hour flight to the center of Turkey to this region.

And then we were on a bus for another maybe hour or so arrived at our hotel, which was called the Minya Cave Hotel. The striking and notable landmark of the region. This part of Anatolia is what are called fairy chimneys or big, tall rock pillars that the people for centuries have carved into caves for homes and for storage and for cities.

There are several hotels in the area that are carved into the stone and where we stayed had rooms that were actual cave rooms carved right into the limestone and then rooms that were built out from the caves as well. Really cool kind of boutique feeling hotel. There was a beautiful restaurant on site, a few different kind of garden areas, and we were just a block away from the center where we had some shops and cafes and things to enjoy.

Once we had landed and settled into the hotel, we just took a short drive up to an overlook that was really fun and beautiful Instagrammable. There were several different kinds of photo prop setups that we really appreciated. One was a big sort of metal awning bed thing that was covered in Turkish kilim rugs and pillows.

So, you could sit and lounge and take a picture with this. The background of these beautiful, white rock caves and city behind you, and we took advantage of that as a group. One thing that was striking about the area that we were in was that there’s a big kind of ancient fortress palace that is the biggest pillar in the area.

And you can actually climb through it and up it this first day. We just admired it. We could see it in the view. But later on in the trip, a couple days later, we actually went and scaled to the top of it, which was really fun after we had settled in. And there’s a cafe up at this viewpoint. So, we tried some different drinks. This was my first taste of Turkish coffee. And I think I’ve laughed about this because I think they did not do it well. Or maybe the cup that they served it in hadn’t been cleaned properly because it tasted like dish soap. It was not good. It’s not a fan.

Not going to recommend that, but everyone else, people were eating some snacks and food and had some drinks that were palatable and a nice kind of place to relax and chat under the shade of an awning with this beautiful view. And there was, lavender growing all along the hill behind us.

A little later on, we went over to a winery. There is one kind of central vineyard in the area. And this was the. The wine cave of that vineyard. those who drink alcohol had a small wine flight, tried a white and a rosé and a red. those who didn’t had this incredible fresh pressed grape juice and several of us bought bottles of it to just enjoy for later.

And there was a cute little gift shop where we got our first taste of some of the local tourist business. Souvenirs. I found a cute little leather hot air balloon that I’m going to use a key chain, but I’m going to use it as an ornament for my Christmas tree. Lots of fantastic, dried fruits and nuts, apricots and some dried prunes and a few different kinds of nuts and these great bottles of grape juice.

Just a chill day, settling in after traveling, getting to know the area and. That night we walked from the hotel in a few different small groups up to some cases that were just right along the main street and settled into one and enjoyed, some great local food and then had a good night’s sleep to prepare us for what was maybe the absolute pinnacle highlight of the whole trip, which was our early morning sunrise, hot air balloon ride over the Anatolia mountains.

Day 5: Hot Air Balloon Ride, Weaving and Ceramic Co-Ops

Now, we didn’t realize how lucky we were. We woke up, heard that it was time to go, we got on our little shuttle, drove over probably about 20 minutes from where our hotel was, and we were able to get out. As the sun is starting to rise, we are Surrounded in this massive sort of field by dozens of hot air balloons being lifted from the backs of trailers pulled by these darling, like vintage Land Rovers being laid out and unrolled and the baskets being, brought to the ground and watching with just this early morning awe as The balloons are laid out flat and then attached to the baskets and then slowly filled with air as they do bursts of heat from the gas powered lighters that are expanding these balloons and they’re slowly filling up and lifting up and then when the balloon is overhead, we’re all motioned to come get in, we climb into the baskets, Oh!

We’re maybe 10 ft by 5 ft and they were divided into small sections of the hot air balloon pilot and his copilot were in the center where he’s controlling the bursts of heat and flame coming from the engine and also he can Turn us clockwise or counterclockwise so he’s controlling both the speed with which we rise and then by turning down the heat That’s how the hot air balloon will fall because of gravity and then he can control our turn But it’s not like we’re actually steering.

We’re drifting with the wind beyond him. There are Sections where three to four people fit in each of these little sections. So, it’s divided into nine little pockets inside the area. And I was in a section with four in a corner. And so, we all climb in, and they fill up the hot air balloon.

So, we’re going I guess there with about 25 people, 25 to 30 people in the basket itself felt incredibly sturdy. It was this really thick woven, branches and then there were ropes that were woven through for our landing and we were just told, we’re going to do this flight and drift along.

And when it’s time to land, we’re going to tell you to hold onto the rope and to get down as far as you can into a crouch position. And you almost sit next to or on top of your neighbor. So, everyone’s as far down into the basket as they can be because we’re going to bump on the ground and kind of skid.

And so, he’s preparing us for this before we even take off. We do a practice run where he tells us all to crouch and everyone crouches. He says good job. And then we begin our takeoff. I am not a fan of heights. I have a little bit of a fear of heights. I don’t love looking over the edge of cliffs, I don’t love being in high rise buildings, and so I knew going into the hot air balloon ride that it was going to be a little bit uncomfortable for me, and yet I wanted the experience.

What I didn’t anticipate was the gentleness of the ride. When we took off, we were rising so slowly from the ground, it almost felt like we weren’t moving. It was amazing. I was watching as the people and cars and, trees on the ground got smaller and smaller so slowly that the sensation was like being a bubble or being a cloud.

There was nothing scary about this. fast rise. Like it was just so lovely and peaceful. And as I mentioned, it was the sunrise. And so, there’s just these warm pinks and oranges coming into the sky. We’re slowly rising. And I can look to the sky around me and see dozens up to hundreds of other balloons that are in different levels of their own takeoff, some up high already, some still filling up on the ground, and was just this wondrous beautiful moment, like a pause of real life to experience something that felt somewhat otherworldly.

Once we got up to a little bit more of a cruising altitude, we were truly drifting, like slowly moving, the grounds moving along below us. At one point we went over what felt like a little canyon, and remember this is, this, the central Turkey is desert, it’s dry, it’s whites and browns and pinks on the ground with small shrubs and these spires of limestone cliffs and pillars and fairy chimneys.

And we’re floating over this desert. Really incredible, unbelievable landscape and our pilot turns down the heat, so we sink down into the canyon and we’re like watching the walls of the canyon and all the different layers and stripes of colors go by in front of us. And then as we get closer to the other side, he turns the heat back up and we slowly rise with the canyon raw wall just.

feet away from the basket at one point maybe halfway through the ride He tells us that we’re going to go high, and he turns up the heat and we rise to over 3, 000 feet which feels high and again because the whole process was so gentle, I felt like I was bringing my center of gravity up with me and I was able to experience outside of myself this time

I’ve flown in small airplanes often because my father is a private pilot and he has some, small planes. So, I’ve been up high with this, window and just my dad and I up in the sky and felt that and I’ve never been afraid. In that scenario, but I’ve never been out in the open thousands of feet in the air, and I felt good.

It felt nice. it definitely felt less scary than looking over the edge of the Grand Canyon, for example. The hot air balloon ride drifted along for about an hour, and we took pictures and video, and I reminded myself to just put my phone away for a while, and also be present, and just see it, and breathe it, and experience it, and collect this moment into my heart so that I could revisit it later. And eventually we got down closer to the ground and the captain prepares us for landing and we crouch down as The basket just about hits the ground and right as we start bumping along a bunch of crew who we did not expect Hop onto one edge of the basket to counterweight it from falling over completely So we’re bouncing crouch and they’re hopped on the edge smiling Also working really hard to keep their weight, counterbalancing our weight as we come to a complete stop.

And then they hopped down and were able to, climb back out of the basket. They actually lifted it up and secured it onto a trailer before we climbed out so that it was, upright while we got out. Which makes sense instead of crawling over each other on the ground. And we had a toast to cheer as a beautiful flight.

The captain was really gracious and thanking his crew and their guides for a great landing and us for a great flight. And we all went back to the hotel a little bit starry eyed from such a phenomenal morning. When we got back to the hotel, it was breakfast time, and we were ready for breakfast. We’d been up about 4 in the morning to hop on the shuttle, about 5 to get in the hot air balloon for the sunrise.

We were back by about 7. 30 and able to have a great buffet breakfast. All of our breakfasts in Turkey were these massive feast buffets and so delicious. So, we had our breakfast and then we packed up for the day and started our historical tour of the area at a place called Gorham Open Air Museum.

Fairy Caves

This is an area of Anatolia of Cappadocia that has been inhabited for thousands of years starting with the Hittite people, and then through the Crusades, there were Christians fleeing persecution who inhabited caves that had already been carved out and inhabited by previous peoples.

But the Christians used them as churches and as homes. Particularly in this area, they painted on the ceilings and the walls to create these sacred spaces. Some of them have been painted. And then when the Muslim people later came in and inhabited, they scraped the faces off, which I had mentioned in the last episode that in the Hagia Sophia and some of the cool old ancient buildings that have been used by both Christians and Muslims through the years, that, Muslim tradition doesn’t allow for idols, and so there’s, the paintings and faces are either covered or removed.

So, in some of these old caves, these delicate, thousand-year-old paintings have been scraped off. Except for one, and there’s this one cave that is, I think, called the Dark Cave. It’s the only one that you pay an entrance separate from the entrance to the whole area to go into. And we paid the, I think, six euro to go in and see it.

And it apparently had been the chimney or the rock formation where this cave had been carved, had been uninhabited at some the pigeons were using it as their kind of home, and so the outside of the cave got completely covered by pigeons and pigeon poop. And the layers and layers of bird poop that, after a while it dries up and forms layers, and so it had covered the whole area and the entrances had been sealed.

So, this, in this way, this one church cave had been sealed. Incredibly well preserved and just in the last hundred years when it was opened and uncovered, the paintings are nearly perfect, which is really cool. So, you were able to go in and see these intricate paintings of Christ and the saints and different prophets.

Painted with, who knows what kind of ancient paint that they were using on the walls of this limestone cave that had been used as a sanctuary for Christians in a time of persecution. And it was. Really beautiful, felt very sacred. We weren’t supposed to take pictures. there’s books and you can look online and see pictures of the area.

Maybe I’ll include some links in the show notes. Really cool. worth the visit for sure. Of course, you exit through the gift shop, so at the end of our stay, exploring these different caves and taking pictures and just learning about the history of the area. We wandered through different market stalls.

I found a couple cool evil eye glass souvenirs, and I got some ice cream, of course. Actually, this is probably my favorite combination of ice cream of the trip. I got a mango, pistachio and coconut like layers and it was so good and then we gathered into the bus and our next stop was at a women’s co-op.

Weaving & Rug Co-op

It’s a weaving co-op where we learned so much It felt like a master class in traditional weaving and in rugs.

We learned about the difference between cotton and wool rugs, wool on wool, silk rugs, the different styles, there were women demonstrating and we were seeing in a real time the individual knots on a hand knotted rug that it can take up to. a couple years to complete a hand, a full size, like five by eight or six by 10 handmade rug.

And the reason why handmade rugs are so expensive, they’re forms of art. It was fascinating to not only see it, but then be able to experience them. We went into a room and We’re given, again, another kind of lesson and here’s an example of this type of rug and this type of rug and this type of color and this type of weave and we were encouraged to take off our shoes and walk on the different rugs and feel the difference in the layers and the types and the silk and the wool and the cotton and the plush and the shaggy rugs versus the flat weave rugs.

One thing that we learned that I thought was really interesting and fun to know is that Killam flat weave rugs cannot be made by machine. So, if you have a Killam flat weave that’s woven, on both sides, it had to have been done by hand. It’s not the high, it’s, it’s one of the lower sorts of forms of handmade rugs, but it’s, it can’t be replicated by machine.

So, we felt good, those of us who had bought, Handmade kilims in the market felt good, this was definitely a great product that we had supported. The other thing that we learned about kilims was that most of them are made by the patterns you can tell by the different tribal areas in which they’re made, and that the colors are mostly natural.

Pigments so they may start with one color of green. And then as they’re remaking a batch of the diet might be off slightly. So, the colors have variation, which I find beautiful. And I love that a little bit more tribal feel and tribal design that kind of global essence to some of my rugs. I love the ones that I picked up and some of the it.

Women in our group after we had this, a couple hours long learning period and demonstration and trying out the different rugs. We had an opportunity to go to different rooms and see different rugs that were available. This co-op has a government grant because it is supporting the women who are creating the rugs.

And so, they shipped for free for anyone who wanted that. yeah. My mom and I both found a couple things that we liked. I got a couple handmade pillows, and she found a cool vintage striped runner, some other women in our group picked up art pieces and small rugs for their homes, and it was a beautiful place to spend some time and to learn about the history and support, really support this kind of grassroots effort to move forward.

Pay fair wages to the women who are creating this beautiful art form. This was our artisan day after we left the co-op, we had a great lunch, and then we moved on to a potter’s studio, Turkish pottery, especially in this area. There’s something called the red river and the clay along the riverbanks is collected and used to make this traditional Turkish pottery.

Ceramic Co-op

And so, we were able to learn about the potting wheels and this, co-op that we went to had been, in the family for generations. We saw a demonstration of the pottery. We saw how it’s painted by hand. And then again, we’re able to shop and pick up different pieces. I got a couple small things.

I love usable souvenirs, things that I will use at home. So, although I did get a little tiny hand painted ceramic bird, which just felt so cute. Like the cutest little, shelf ornament. I also got a couple of little bowls that I already have pulled out. Like it’s one of them is the perfect size for a side salad at dinner for my family.

Dave and I are usually the major salad eaters. My kids have a little bit each. So, it’s this perfect medium sized, beautifully painted bowl and a couple of small ones for Olives or nuts or things like that. Again, super fun, beautiful pieces and fun to go to the heart of the source.

These are the types of things that you can buy at the Grand Bazaar. That it was fun to be at the source where they’re being made and see the process and be able to invest in those people and those families.

Day 6: Underground City, Castle

The following day was our last day in the region, and we started out slow, had a nice sleep-in morning, a beautiful buffet breakfast, and I led some yoga and meditation in the garden of the hotel.

Then we went over to an underground city. This is called Oskonak Underground City. It’s one of a couple underground cities in the area. As you can tell from all of the cave carvings into the different rocks in the area, the, this material, whatever, is going on with the type of rock, it’s soft enough to carve, but stable enough to live in.

And again, historically, there were lots of, I don’t know, there were lots of fights in the area, people being, being. Sought after and so this city is an example of a city where there is an opening that looks like a cave, but it is an underground city that the layers are built down and down This city goes down more than nine or ten levels down beneath the ground.

Tourists can go to about level 3 or 4. I went through level 1 and had to like, fight minor panic just on that first layer of underground city. Again, something about heights and then about caves, I’d like to just be on the regular earth, please. A lot of the group did go down to the second layer underground and said they were fine for the most part until there was this one slot that there was a small carving, a hallway carved. But when you got through the hallway, it was just a room. There wasn’t anywhere to go beyond that. So, there was a little bit of stoppage. Like people were trying to come in as others were trying to go out and the hallway would only accommodate one person at a time.

And so, there’s this feeling once you get stuck in that room that you are stuck, like someone must call out for people to stop coming in so that you can get back out. I might have died, so I’m glad that I didn’t get to that spot. I would have had to do a lot more. management of my mental state than I had to do just on level one.

I was able to go room by room. Level one traditionally had been a stables area was where the animals could be brought in and taken out easily. And so luckily, I was able to go through a few different rooms, get a feel for it, but then also quickly get my way back out. you So we enjoyed that and then went back to the hotel and had free time for the rest of the day.

Some people nap, some people went shopping, a group and I climbed to that, the top of that castle that I had mentioned that we saw in our view the first day. It’s called the Ur Tarhisar castle, and it’s this, big, huge, giant rock with Steps and ladders all around the outside of it, which is nice.

So, we, I did climb up quite high, but you’re on the outer edges of the cave the whole time. So, you can see the outside, you feel close to, the sunlight, which is nice. And when you get to the very top, there’s a beautiful 300. And 60-degree view of the area, which was so nice. A big Turkish flag on top, of course.

So great photo op. The other small kind of side trip that we did this day was to go to the Red River and we just walked over a footbridge and saw, people riding on boats and a bit of the area. We didn’t do anything other than walk across the bridge and see the river and take pictures of it, but it looked like there were.

Some different shops and definitely a boat ride is something that could have been interesting to do. A lot of local Turkish folks out in this area, enjoying their day off or, it seemed like a local centric tourist area, which was nice. And then we had a beautiful wind down evening. People went different places for dinner.

The restaurant that the group that I was with. enjoyed was really phenomenal. I’m going to, I don’t remember the name right now, but I’ll look it up and put it as a link in the show notes. Because if, again, if you’re ever there in the area, I’d highly recommend it. It was a really great menu, some interesting dishes, and we all really enjoyed it.

Day 6: Back to Istanbul for final stops

In the morning, we loaded back on a shuttle bus and kind of did our reverse travel. We had about an hour to the airport, got on a flight, had a couple hours back to Istanbul in our flight. And then everyone knew this was ours. last dash of the city of Istanbul. So, most of the group had an idea in mind of something that they wanted to go back to.

Usually, it was something that we had already seen, and people wanted a little bit more time to. So, one thing that we did was, as a group, was go to the Egyptian spice market. This is different than the Grand Bazaar. And it’s primarily made up of, although there were some jewelry shops and other things, it’s primarily made up of different spice shops.

And our guide took us to one where she had a relationship. We were able to sample a bunch of different things. I got some great fresh Turkish delight, which was fun. And a bunch of people got different spices. Saffron, for example, is something that’s pretty expensive globally. But, for some reason, maybe it’s grown in the region.

It’s a lot less expensive there. So, a lot of the group. got some saffron to bring home. We also found a stall that had hammam goods, so I got a hammam scrubbing mitt and some hammam soap, which I’m using in my shower at home now, and it takes me back to the area. It’s really fun. Another thing that a bunch of us did was go to a bakery next to the Galata Tower called Vivianica Vesky.

This Bakery serves all sorts of things, but it is Instagram famous for the San Sebastian cheesecake covered in chocolate ganache. Let me tell you, it is as indulgent as it sounds. I don’t even really like cheesecake and I would eat this again and again. San Sebastian cheesecake is a thick Basque cheesecake that has the texture almost of yogurt.

It is just really something. And that was a fun little side visit. a few of us also went back to the rug shop, the Botteh Rugs, which we had originally bought rugs at. And even after having been to the Grand Bazaar, Ben to the co-op in Cappadocia. Those who hadn’t yet found a rug that they liked that they wanted one, were able to find one at Botteh.

I actually found another little one that I liked that is a hand knotted rug. It’s a small, probably two by three, that I have in my room now. And so that was really fun. And then we had a final farewell dinner. We went to a restaurant called Merver Karaköy. It’s a rooftop restaurant, of a hotel. And the view was beautiful, the food was wonderful, and it was really touching to just sit down and reflect on the time that we had spent together, the exploring that we had done, and this incredible gift we had given ourselves of investing in the time and logistics and, work and money of travel to have such an incredible Memorable experience together, as bittersweet as it is saying goodbye to a group that it’s gotten so close.

Day 7: Group Goodbyes, Marbling Class, Ciyu Restaurant

We also felt so grateful for the chance to have been together to have experienced so many unique and interesting experiences together to have seen a new part of the world that many of us probably wouldn’t have gone to on our own. the trip finished with this really, beautiful. Wonderful, warm, grateful feeling as people in there in the morning, took off at different times.

We had lots of hugs and lots of goodbyes. And we’ve been lucky to have a WhatsApp group where we’ve still kept in touch as we traveled home and finished our adventure together. I said goodbye to the group in the morning on that final day, my mom and I stayed for one more day in Istanbul. And one of the things that we did that was really cool was find a traditional marbling class.

Turkish marbling is called Ebru and it’s cool. we were able to sign up for a class in a studio and it was just us and the artist and a translator. And we learned about the process of creating these. really intricate patterns, on a layer of thick, like thickened water, with different dyes and tools.

And we created some pieces that we really love and are proud of. And while we were wandering around, the shop was nearby the Galata Tower. And while we were wandering around, we also stumbled into an art shop by an artist who on Instagram is Istanbul Artist. I love Picking up a small piece of original art when I travel.

And this is a shop that, she was painting live while we’re sitting there. And the shop had all sorts of beautiful pieces. And my mom and I both picked up, tiny little pieces about. a couple inches wide to bring home and hang. Mine’s at the frame shop right now. So, I’m hoping to hear back soon to go pick it up and find a special place for it in my home.

The other thing that we did on this last day was go to a restaurant that is about an hour and a half. from where we were staying while still in Istanbul. So, if that gives you an idea of the size of Istanbul, we had to take, we walk down to a ferry, take a transport ferry across to the Asian side of Istanbul, and then walk another 15 to 20 minutes into kind of a market area to go to a restaurant called see you, which has been highlighted on.

I think it’s on Netflix. There’s a special about the chef who is more like, a food anthropologist and he’s mined different regions of Turkey and talked to the, the elders in the villages and towns to find out their traditional recipes and then brought them all together in this restaurant. It has a long extensive regional menu, and we were grateful when the server just said, do you want me to just choose for you and he chose about a dozen different dishes.

There were four of us sitting for lunch. And he brought them to us and explained what they were. And we just dove into all of these fascinating flavors and textures and styles of food that we really hadn’t experienced anywhere else along the trip. It was well worth the stop. And it’s a small place.

So, it would have been harder with a big group, the big whole group. But I was glad that we were able to stop in with our smaller group and experience. See you in Istanbul. Now in these last five minutes of the show, I’m just going to briefly tell you about the beautiful four days that my mom and I spent in Greece.

Two days in Hydra, Greece

After We left the group trip, we flew to Athens, and then got right on a ferry and went out to the island of Hydra, H Y D R A, Hydra, I guess in English, Hydra, it’s one of the Saronic Islands, it’s about an hour and 15 minutes by ferry from Athens, and it’s one of the smaller islands, lesser known, maybe lesser visited.

Someone that we talked to said, ah, that island’s too expensive, so we don’t go there, but we found it to be. It’s incredibly charming and so, beautiful. One thing that I love about Hydra is that there are no cars or motorized vehicles allowed on the island. It’s a smaller island and you get everywhere you go by foot.

Or by donkey. We didn’t ride a donkey. Our hotel that we stayed at was right off of the port and had a beautiful rooftop view of the ocean and of the port. We were able to stop in at a couple different swimming holes along the island. And the second day that we were there, we even took a little ferry over to a, a little bit more distant swimming area still along the, the coast.

It would have been about an hour walk, but we took about a 10-minute ride. Water taxi to get over. It’s called Beastie Beach when we got there We were able to set up shop on some provided beach chairs with beautiful umbrellas This is one thing that I love about the Greek islands that we visited both of them both Hydra and Ageana had many beaches that I guess families or people run the beach, they don’t own the beach, but they run the beach, which means that they set up beach chairs and umbrellas for you, and they also run the cafe.

We were some of the first boats to arrive, and so we set up our cafe. chose our beach chairs along one of the front rows near the water and set up shop. We laid in the sun, we had an umbrella, so our faces, I laid mostly in the sun with my face in the shade, sunscreen, of course. My mom stayed mostly in the shade.

We would go into the water to swim. The water is crystal clear and Caribbean blue. And when we were hungry, we’d wander over to the cafe and order, fruit bowl or a sandwich, a diet Coke or a smoothie. And we basically spent all of our time that day, swimming and reading and eating and napping.

I have learned over years of hosting retreats that I love having a couple days of downtime at the end of a retreat, just to transition back into. normal life. And this was a perfect place to do that. We spent all day on Beastie Beach, had a fantastic dinner that night on Hydra. Sometime middle of the next day, we took a ferry over to Aegina, which is a bigger island, not quite as nice.

Two Days in Aegina, Greece

I don’t know that I’d like highly to recommend the island itself, but I did love the fact that it was so the place that we stayed was a guest house that was on a cliff and had a private beach and pier to the ocean. And even if you just stayed at the guest house the whole time, you’d have a fantastic Trip we really loved the venue and then our actually our uber driver from the ferry to the guest house had told us About a little island off the coast of a Aegina called Moni.

He said it’s a private Island there aren’t any people that live there. It’s very small, but you can take a water taxi out he said there’s wild deer and peacocks that roam the island and again Chairs, umbrellas, cafe, food, drinks available. What is not to love about this? We took our little boat, set up on our chairs, and had just a repeat of the beautiful relaxing Greek island day that we had the day before, this time with wild deer and peacock roaming around, around us.

I can’t wait to return to the Greek islands. This is something that I am excited to do again, sometime soon. I would love to take Dave back. I truly fell in love. I think I was surprised a little bit by what a desert islands, each of these islands were. I don’t know why in my head, Europe isn’t desert, but certainly Greece is a desert.

It’s super dry. The islands were, beautiful and desert islands, which I love. I love the desert. And so, it was This unique kind of dry air, dusty road, olive trees and pistachio trees and pomegranates growing and crystal blue, clear water, incredible food and drinks and sunshine and relaxation and quality time with my mom, which was So special.

Fantastic Travels

I don’t know how often in my life. I’ve been able to travel alone with my mom. It hasn’t been often, and this was Special and wonderful to be able to spend some one-on-one time with her. to have her with the group of Travelers in Turkey everyone fell in love with her. My mom is a really cool funny kind generous woman and then to be with her for a few days on the beach relaxing together and swimming and eating and Chatting was also just a unique and special moment in my life.

So, I felt Really grateful for that. what a trip, what an incredible trip. We had smooth travels back home. I had a few days back in Salt Lake before Plum and I flew back to Richmond, had a couple more weeks before school started and the official end to the, calendar summer, was closed for our family and it was a good one.

I’ll tell you for all of the varying moving pieces that we navigated this summer, we had. A really great time, and felt connected to our families, to the world, to ourselves and to each other in a way that I really appreciate. And I hope you’ve enjoyed hearing more about it. Today, in the show notes, there will be an itinerary for the Christmas album.

for Turkey and I’ll do a separate one for the places that we enjoyed in Greece. So, you can check that out at livefreecreative. co look for episode number 300, happy 300th episode. And I will catch you again next week. I hope you’re having a wonderful slip slide into fall, and I’ll talk to you again soon.