In two weeks’ time, really 12 days, I’ll no longer be
reporting live from Alanya, so I’d better get cracking. At the very least, I’ll post some of the many
(many) photos taken over the past month and a half, during my blog hiatus. In short – over the past 6 weeks, we’ve had a
lot of wonderful visits by family and done a lot of traveling throughout
Turkey.
My mom arrived November 5th and we spent the second week of her visit exploring Western coast of Turkey with the boys, while Bryan was on his long bus-trek up the same coast with the Georgetown students. Mom, Booker, Seamus and I spent a day in Antalya before flying to Izmir. From our Izmir home base, we explored Ephesus, Sirinçe and Bergama (Pergamon). Back home to Alanya for a few days, and then Mom and I set off, just the two of us, to spend 4 days Istanbul, where we were joined by my adventurous niece, Elizabeth. From there, I flew back to Alanya (a rare solo flight) just in time to receive Sean, Minou and Dexter for a Thanksgiving visit! We all managed to squeeze in visits to the Alara Castle and an old Seljuk bridge in the Taurus mountains on one day, and to the Mamure castle and the Roman city of Anemurium, outside the town of Anamur, a three-hour drive east from Alanya along the stunning and treacherous coastline. Four days later, Bryan the boys and I took a bus for a second visit to Antalya with our fellow Georgetown faculty family and good friends, the Bartleys. The following day, both families spent a day climbing in the Taurus Mountains to visit the misty mountaintop ruins of Termessos. Wow. There’s so much to tell.
And here we find ourselves tonight heading to the McGhee Center final dinner. Most everyone, students and faculty alike, will scatter in all directions tomorrow. It will be very hard to say good-bye to this crew. They’ve all added so much interest, hilarity and warmth to our lives here. While I hate to see them go, I’m glad to be staying on for a bit. I'm not quite prepared to fly off into the horizon just yet. As Seamus would say, we have one more chapter, and then the “epiloog” left in this story.
My mom arrived November 5th and we spent the second week of her visit exploring Western coast of Turkey with the boys, while Bryan was on his long bus-trek up the same coast with the Georgetown students. Mom, Booker, Seamus and I spent a day in Antalya before flying to Izmir. From our Izmir home base, we explored Ephesus, Sirinçe and Bergama (Pergamon). Back home to Alanya for a few days, and then Mom and I set off, just the two of us, to spend 4 days Istanbul, where we were joined by my adventurous niece, Elizabeth. From there, I flew back to Alanya (a rare solo flight) just in time to receive Sean, Minou and Dexter for a Thanksgiving visit! We all managed to squeeze in visits to the Alara Castle and an old Seljuk bridge in the Taurus mountains on one day, and to the Mamure castle and the Roman city of Anemurium, outside the town of Anamur, a three-hour drive east from Alanya along the stunning and treacherous coastline. Four days later, Bryan the boys and I took a bus for a second visit to Antalya with our fellow Georgetown faculty family and good friends, the Bartleys. The following day, both families spent a day climbing in the Taurus Mountains to visit the misty mountaintop ruins of Termessos. Wow. There’s so much to tell.
And here we find ourselves tonight heading to the McGhee Center final dinner. Most everyone, students and faculty alike, will scatter in all directions tomorrow. It will be very hard to say good-bye to this crew. They’ve all added so much interest, hilarity and warmth to our lives here. While I hate to see them go, I’m glad to be staying on for a bit. I'm not quite prepared to fly off into the horizon just yet. As Seamus would say, we have one more chapter, and then the “epiloog” left in this story.
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