Rob and I spent 7 days in Ireland (April 22 - April 29), and also saw Krakow, Poland on the way back. We loved Ireland, and you will see whey when you look at the pictures below. To our surprise, we did not get rain while in Ireland. It was mostly sunny with some cloudy days. I even got sunburned! We used buses to get around Ireland, as they have a good bus system. We also rented bikes for two days of exploring the Dingle Peninsula.
Day 5: We took a morning bus from Doolin to Dingle, which is the biggest city on the Dingle peninsula. Dingle is a beautiful colorful town, located in the harbor. Once we found a place to stay, we walked around town, and on a green path around the harbor.
Day 6: We rented bikes in the morning and biked west of Dingle along the coast to a small village, Dunquin. It was so beautiful biking by the ocean! Gorgeous views of green grassy hills stretched for miles around, dotted with hundreds of sheep. We saw several ruins along the way, including ancient forts and beehive huts (residences made of stone without any cement). We also biked to a small sandy beach with clear blue water, too cold to swim. I have never seen so many sheep in my life. When we biked around the southwest corner of the peninsula, we got an amazing view of the Blasket Islands.
Day 7: We loved biking so much that we rented bikes again and off we went. We headed into the central part of the peninsula to see some ancient ruins. We saw the remains of the 5th century monastic settlement (Riasc), an amazing 8th century dry-stone oratory (Gallarus Oratory), where monks met for prayer. We also saw 12th century Kilmalkedar Church. (All featured in pictures below). Throughout the landscape we also saw ruins of ancient houses. The Dingle peninsula has the highest concentration of ancient ruins in all of Ireland. After seeing the ruins, we headed to the western coast to see the Blasket Islands again and some great beaches.
Dear family and friends, We have not updated our blog for a while, as we have been settling into life here and taking one day at a time. The biggest thing since last post is that we moved to a new appartment in early March, which has made a huge difference in our quality of life. This appartment is closer to downtown, where many of our friends live and city life happens (tons of coffee shops, restaurants, cultural events). It is also not too far to work, about 25 min. walking. We have really enjoyed living in this new appartment, this past month has been wonderful. The weather also has been getting warmer, and we had several sunny warm days, which we greatly enjoyed and went on some very good hikes. We are going to visit my parents and grandmother in Uzhgorod on April 15-17, as it is my grandmother's 80th birthday anniversary. Then, we'll come back to Lviv to catch a train to Poland on April 21st, and our flight to Cork, Ireland on April 22nd! Yes, we are going to visit Ireland!!! We are so excited! We will spend Easter in Cork and then head out to hike on the west coast of Ireland. We are flying back on April 29th into Poland (flights are cheaper from Poland than Ukraine). We'll spend several days in Krakow, Poland, as it is on our way back to Lviv. We are so looking forward to this trip, as pictures of Ireland look gorgeous. We will write about our trip and post pictures once we are back.
Rob and I took our first trip out of Ukraine last Thursday. We went to Istanbul, Turkey, for 3 full days. We arrived Thursday evening (January 13)and left Monday morning (January 17). It was an amazing trip and we highly recommend Istanbul to everyone who is reading this blog. This city of 15 million people is full of history, having been the capital of the Byzantine Empire for centuries, before conquered by the Ottoman Empire in the 1400's. To top it all of, I have a great friend, Firuza, from my first year in the US that lives in Istanbul now with her husband. We were able to spend Sunday afternoon with her and catch up on the last 10 years :) It was so great to see her again. There are pictures of us in the second video.
I will briefly describe what we did each day. The weather was in mid-50s, and it was sunny on Saturday. Our hotel was located very close to the Blue Mosque. We left our hotel at 9 a.m. and did not return until after 9 p.m. We were able to see all the main sites and also experience traditional turkish neighborhoods (where nobody spoke English). Day 1. We started out with seeing Blue Mosque and Hagia Sophia, located very close to each other, separated by a nice park with a fountain. Blue Mosque - a huge beautiful mosque built in 1600s by a sultan of the Ottoman Empire, it attempts to surpass the beauty of Hagia Sophia (the Christian church from the Byzantine Empire times). The building received its name because its interior has tens of thousands of blue tiles. The Blue Mosque has beautiful minarets, with seagulls flying above them continuously. I had to wear a scarf in it, and we both had to take our shoes off. Hagia Sophia - built by a Byzantine emperor in 500s AD. It was the greatest Christian church for about 1000 years, before the Ottomans conquered Constantinople in 1453 and converted it into a mosque. Architecturally, Muslims also added minarets and changed some of the interior. The dome that you'll see in the video is 30 meters in diameter and it appears that there are no pillars supporting it, as the pillars were hidded in interior walls. Hagia Sophia has been a museum since the 1930s. Walking into this church is absolutely breathtaking! We spent several hours there, using a head-phone tour. Close behind Hagia Sophia was the entrance to the Topkapi Palace, which was built by the sultan who conquered Constantinople in 1400s. Subsequent sultans lived in this palace till the 19th century, when they moved their residende to a European-style Dolmabahce Palace (see Day 3). Topkapi Palace is huge and covers a lot of territory; it also includes a harem, which was residential quaters for the sultan, his wives, concubines, children, mother, and others who lived in the palace. We spent hours walking around the palace, as it also included different museums. Next, we headed to the Grand Bazaar, which is under-roof and has all kinds of things (lamps, carpets, scarfs, etc). I bought myself a scarf here. And on to the Spice Bazaar, where spices, teas, nuts, and all kinds of goodies are sold. In the evening we had fresh fish sandwich for dinner, cooked on a boat (see pictures). Day 2 - Saturday We started out by seeing the Basilica Cisterns - underground water storage built in the 500s AD. The cisterns have an unearthly feel to them, as there are 336 tall columns arranged in rows, lit with light that reflects in the water. This was definitely one of our favorites in Istanbul. For centuries, the cisterns held water that was delivered from a reservoir near the Black sea via a 20 km long aquaduct. So, after that, we headed to the ruins of the aquaduct. The aquaduct was amazing, as one long wall survived the years. It was built in 300s AD. After lunch, Rob and I got on a ferry boat that the people of Istanbul use to commute from the European to the Asian side of the Bosphorus strait. In 15 min. we were on the other side. There was a much more local feel to this area, as merchants did not speak English. We had to figure out a way to buy our sweets and fresh strawberries! Yummi! We explored this area and headed back to the European side of the Bosphorus. Next, we headed to what's considered to be the modern heart of Istanbul - Taksim Square and its surroundings. The square has the Republic Monument, featuring revolutionary heros of 1920s who turned the Ottoman Empire into the Turkish Republic. Starting at the square is a very wide 3 km long street with shops, cafes, and restraurants on both sides. This is the "place to go" in Istanbul and, as you will see in the pictures, this street was filled with people. We walked down the street, had dinner, drank pomegranate juice, and found a Christian church in one of the side streets. So, we attended a Christian service in the Turkish language on Saturday evening! After the service, we spent some time at a cafe and walked to our hotel. It was a long walk, but the city looked so beautiful in the dark. The next day, we figured out how to use the tram system, as we were getting tired from all the walking. Day 3 - Sunday We spent several hours touring Dolmabahce Palace and its harem in the morning. This was the sultans' residence from 19th century until the end of the empire. It was then the first presidential palace of the new republic. This palace was built in the European Style and was very grand on the inside. Each room had a huge crystal chandelier, one of which weighs 2000 kg.!!! and is 3 m. tall!!! It was quite impressive. We were not allowed to take pictures inside the palace, but we took some of the outside. The harem included 4-5 appartments for sultan's wifes, although sultans did not officially marry concubines as a rule (there were exception). We met my friend, Firuza, and her husband for lunch and spent time with them until around 6 p.m. Firuza and I were best friends my first year in the US, when I lived in Richland Center, WI, and was a freshman at the univeristy there with the exchange program. Firuza is from Turkmenistan, but married Murat, who is from Istanbul. She has been living in Istanbul for 1 year now, and it was so wonderful to see her and catch up. We have not seen each other since 2001. Day 4 - Monday - we walked to Blue Mosque and Hagia Sophia before heading to the airport.
In addition to visiting these great historical and modern sites, we also had freshly squeezed pomegranate juice every day (4 pomegranates went into making each cup!!!) Yummi... And lots of sweets .... my favorites also included bahlava, dripping with honey, and Turkish delight (their type of candy).
Rob and I celebrated Christmas with our friends. On Friday night, we went to Christmas service in our church. After church we headed over to some friends' appartment to hang out and sing carols. It was a great group of people and included some of my co-workers. On Christmas day, Rob and I watched some Christmas movies and went over to cook dinner with our friends. We had a great time together and made a yummy dinner. One Christmas down, one more Christmas to go (Ukrainians celebrate Christmas on January 6-7). I am also celebrating holidays at work with my co-workers. The pictures in the beginning our from our work party for St. Nicholas' day (December 18). He brings presents to kids and adults here instead of Santa. I am also going to have another celebratory party at work this coming Thursday for New Year's and Christmas.
It is the holiday time! This year we get to have two Christmases. Ukrainians celebrate Christmas on January 6-7th, as it is Eastern Orthodox Church. So, Rob and I will celebrate western Christmas on the 24-25th with our American friends in Lviv. We will make some food together and hang out. As you can see from the video, Rob and I already bought a Christmas tree and decorated it (took us 5 min. to decorate it, see the video to see why). Then, on December 31st we will catch a morning train to Uzhgorod to visit my family for one week. We will spend New Year’s and Ukrainian Christmas with my family. While there, we will visit my extended family and some friends, as well as make several trips to the Russian banya (sauna) – see pictures from September posts of our trip there, it was fun.
We already had a Christmas party at our university last week, organized by our American friend (see some pics in the video). During the presentation, scripture was read in five languages, and then students did different presentation. Rob’s class sang “Jingle Bell Rock.” He taught them how to sing it! It was a fun time with some desserts afterwards. And today (December 19th) is St. Nicholas day in Ukraine. Over the night, St. Nicholas brought presents for kids, and adults also exchanged gifts. Today, to continue with the holiday season, we went to see the Nutcracker ballet today at the Opera House in Lviv.
