Hello from Istanbul.  Than and I are resting after a
long day of Syrian Visa applications and museums. 
More on that later though.  

First off, what is it with this election?  What a
mess!  I mean please could someone figure this out so
Than and I don`t keep getting asked by foriegners "So,
who`s the new president"?  Actually, I think it`s
kinda funny.  Hopefully they will figure it out before
we return.

So since our last update Than and I have visited
Athens, spent 4 glorious days on the island of
Santorini, and after 2 days of travel have arrived in
Istanbul.

Our visit to Athens was for 3 days which was 2 days
longer than you really need.  Athens is big and
polluted and the tourist area is covered in these
horrid gift shops selling absolute crap.  So after
buying $100 in souvenirs... (just kidding)  

We spent the first day running around running errands
but getting nothing done.  At the internet cafe we met
Jessica.  Jessica is from Berkeley California and was
wrapping up her solo adventures around Europe.  So we
ate the Greek food and had a good time.  

Than went to the Acropolis and Parthenon the second
day while Jessica and I just hung out -- You know
these ruins are great but sometimes you just have to
take a break!  Althgough, I was impressed with how the
ruins are setup on a hill and lit up at night.  

Next we moved on to the Island of Santorini which we
were told was the best one to go see.  Although, we
haven't been to any other greek islands in the south I
would have to agree!  Santorini is part of a small
group of islands formed by an exploded volcano. 
Santorini is actually the crator rim with what`s left
of the center just off the shore.  The crator side of
the island is dramatic cliffs made of beautifully
colored ash.  And as you can guess, you can find red,
black, and white sand beaches around the island.

We met Alex the first night in Fira at a bar called
Tropical overlooking the volcano crator.  Alex spends
his summers in Santorini and winters in Aspen working
at a family jewelry store.  He was super nice to us
and even put us up for FREE in one of his new villas
he bought in the town of Oia right on the cliff!  It
was really beautiful.  We even found 3 postcards
featuring our place.  Kinda cool.

The first day we went to a black sand beach and
relaxed for most of the day.  At night we met up with
Alex and other locals for dinner at really cool family
run restuarants, ate great food, and had an awsome
time.  One night we ended up skinny dipping in one of
the local girls (Terri's) pool on the cliffs.

The second day we tried to go to the volcano day
celebration on island across the way, but we were too
late for the ferry.  So we drank with the locals in a
little bar at the base of the cliff and watched the
other locals greek dancing and getting totally wasted.
 Other than more of the same, we walked along the
cliffs between towns one day and went out dancing till
5 am one night.  The entire time the weather was near
perfect and we felt like we had found paradise.  It's
easy to see why some people just decide to stay.

After finally tearing ourselves away from the island
we took a ferry back to Athens and caught a 7 am train
immediately afterwards and arrived in Alexandropolis
at 7pm.  We stayed the night there waiting for the
train on to Istanbul the next day.  Had a great cheap
italian meal and probably the best service yet on the
trip (Note that restuarant service in Europe is vastly
different than the states).  And two nights ago we
arrived in Istanbul.

It`s interesting here because you can tell that you
are on the border of Europe and asia.  There are
Muslum minarets (Spires where they call the daily
prayers from) all over the city.  And when you hear
these prayers 5 times a day over the loudspeakers it's
pretty amazing.  They sound really beautiful if you
listen to them.  

So we've visited the two main mosques, several
museums, wandered through the HUGE Grand Bazaar, and
been accosted by damn near every turkish person in
sight trying to sell us a carpet.  "Hey, you American!
 Hey cowboy!  Come to my store and look at my
carpets!..."  Pretty nuts.  Oh yeah, so our hostel the
first morning had no water.  We got pissed and moved
immediately to a new hostel and are much happier now.

So today, we went to the Syrian consulate and have
applied for Syrian visas.  So with any luck, by friday
we will have our visas and will be able to travel
through Syria and Jordan making our way to Egypt.  We
will spend about 11 days in Turkey travelling along
the coast and to this amazing region called Capadocia
which you will no doubt hear more about later.  And
yes, we are very cautious about the middle east
situation and are talking with everyone we can to
ensure it is safe and always watching the news.

With any luck I will scan in some pictures I have from
Venice.  The scanner is broken here so I will try
elsewhere later.

We miss everyone and hope everyone will have a most
excellent Thanksgiving.  Wish we could eat some turkey
with you!

Cheers,

Chris and Than