Munich and some Royal Castles

On our first full day in Munich (after going to Dachau), we did some exploring of the historical part of the city.  Once again, I used one of Rick Steves' walking tours.  His Munich city tour was awesome and informative.  Most of the buildings were destroyed during WWII, but were rebuilt to be exact replicas.  We saw a variety of churches (Munich and Bavaria holds the most Christian relics outside of the Vatican, who knew!), beer houses, royal compounds, and some other cool stuff.

Marienplatz building in the heart of historic Munich.  It's the only building that wasn't destroyed during WWII. 

Glockenspiel on the clock tower of the Marienplatz.

Mary's column in the square built to celebrate the end of the Swedish occupation 

Outside St. Peter's Church.  They use old tombstones on the outside of the building.

Inside St. Peter's church

People enjoying some beers under the chestnut trees at Viktualienmarkt 

A Jewish synagogue built as a memorial after the war 

The Asam church, a "show" church for people who were designing churches back in the day. 

The elaborate Asam church (it's all fake and for show)

Outside of St. Michael's church (one of the many Catholic churches in Munich),
located right on one of the first pedestrian walkways in Europe. 

Cool barrel-vaulted inside of the church.

The Frauenkirche, the Cathedral of Munich with it's twin onion domes (many churches in Bavaria have an onion dome).  This is where Pope Benedict served as a cardinal before moving to the Vatican.

The famous Hofbrauhaus beer hall.  We came back here many times for the awesome beer and food.

Max-Joseph Platz and Residenz, the Munich royal compound of Wittelsbach family

Residenz Treasury 

The shiny cobbles on Viscardigasse mark where rebels would walk to avoid
having to do the Heil Hitler prior to WWII 

The Hofgarten, behind the Residenz Museum. 

Enjoying some liter brews with dad at the Hofbrauhaus, delicious! 

Hearty and delicious Bavarian food

The next day we did a day tour to two of Mad King Ludwig's castles, Linderhof and Neuschwanstein.  King Ludwig is the most notorious of all the Vittelsbach monarchs.  He was extremely reclusive and had grand notions of recreating the Renaissance past.  He died an untimely death, maybe suicide, maybe murder?  No one really knows for sure.  But his palaces are incredible, ornate, and over the top.  The first stop was Linderhof Palace, where he spent most of his time.  No photos were allowed inside the castle.

Grounds of Linderhof 

Outside of Linderhof Palace 

Pretty neat little castle!

After our tour of Linderhof, we stopped in Obberamergau, the village that hosts the Passion play every ten years.  This play started centuries ago as a way to ward off the plague.  It worked, and now the city continues to do the play.  It's world famous and people come from all over the world to see it performed.

The Passion theater 

The houses and buildings in Oberammergau are famous for their paintings

More house paintings

Our final stop on the tour was the famous Neuschwanstein Castle.  This was King Ludwig's dream home, and actually was never completed during his lifetime.  He didn't live here for a very long time, but it lives on as one of the most famous castles in the world.  Walt Disney used it as the inspiration for the Sleeping Beauty castle.  Again, no photos were allowed in the castle, but we did get some pretty cool ones of the grounds.

View of the castle from a bridge.  Amazing!

Another view of the castle.  

Entrance to Neuschwanstein Palace 

Outside of the castle

A spectacular place to build a dream castle.

All in all, another great day in Bavaria.  We really enjoyed touring the castles and seeing the beautiful scenery.  We found a really cool place that evening to get our beers and food.  When we asked what kind of beer they had, the server mentioned two kinds and said that the wheat beer was crap!  Love that no-nonsense attitudes these Bavarian girls have.

Live entertainment at the restaurant 

Stroganoff and schnitzel for dinner.  Don't mind us overdoing it (every single night!).

Spring Break--Istanbul and Germany

From Tarsus, my parents and I spent a weekend in Istanbul before flying to Munich.  We stayed in Sultanahmet and once again I took them to the main sight-seeing spots.  On Friday night after we arrived, I took them to the main square to see the Hagia Sophia and Blue Mosque lit up at night.  I've seen it so many times over the past two years, but it will always be an incredible sight for me.

Sultan Ahmet mosque (Blue Mosque)

Hagia Sophia

On Saturday we took on Istanbul with an epic day of sightseeing.  First we went to the Hagia Sophia.  This was my fourth trip to the church.  If you are a resident in Turkey, you can get an awesome Muze card that allows you two free trips to most of the museums in the country and is good for one year.  The card cost me 30 TL and one trip to the Hagia Sophia is 25 TL so it's definitely worth getting.  I found a connection to Tarsus at the Hagia Sophia during this trip.  There is a massive door in one of the wings of the church that is from the old Roman temple in Tarsus.  The temple has been destroyed and all you can see of it now is the massive foundation.  Having just seen the foundations of the temple and then a few days later seeing the door at the world's first cathedral puts into perspective just how important that temple must have been.

Door from the Roman temple in Tarsus

A beautiful Greek mosaic

We also went to Topkapi Palace, the Blue Mosque, and the Basilica cisterns.  We rounded out the afternoon by going on a Bosphorus cruise, checking out the Egyptian spice market, and then finally enjoying a relaxing dinner at a traditional Ottoman-inspired restaurant.  

Fortress on the Bosphorus

Mom and Dad enjoying some drinks at the end of their epic sightseeing day

Enjoying our Ottoman dinner

The next day we flew to Munich to stay for the rest of the week.  While on the airplane, a pretty severe allergic reaction flared up and by the time I landed I was looking pretty frightening with red eyes and a swollen lip.  So unfortunately the first order of business in Munich was not exploring or enjoying a beer in a biergarten, but trying to find a pharmacy and then a doctor to get a prescription.  Once I got the right meds in me, things started calming down with my face but I had other symptoms flaring up throughout the rest of my time in Munich.  But we did still get around to all the places we wanted to go to.  Take note that there's not going to be many photos of me in Munich (just too scary :) ).  

We were supposed to go on a castle tour our first day but rescheduled just in case I had another allergy attack.  We took the train to Dachau to visit the concentration camp instead.  Dachau was the first concentration camp in Germany.  It was used as a sort of training facility for the Nazis, many of whom were sent on to Auschwitz and other larger camps.  The majority of the prisoners at Dachau were men; some journalists and activists who were outspoken against the Nazis, others priests and members of the clergy.  Today the camp is home to a museum that chronicles the history of the camp.  You can also walk around the barracks where high profile prisoners were kept, the bunks where the majority of prisoners stayed, as well as the memorial and a few churches that have been built on the site.  

Sign at the entrance gate that translates to "Work makes you free"

Barracks for the high profile prisoners

Sleeping area in the bunkers

Catholic church built as a memorial

Synagogue on site

Protestant church built on site 

Russian orthodox church

Dachau was an uncomfortable place to visit, yet I am really glad that I had the experience of visiting.  World War II has been a topic we have all learned about and seen in movies, books, documentaries, etc.  To be able to visit a place where some of the biggest human atrocities took place was a humbling and chilling experience.

Mom and Dad in Tarsus

The week before spring break, I was super lucky to be able to play hostess to my parents for a week long visit in Tarsus.  It was awesome having them stay with me for the week, and I was surprised by how well they entertained themselves around town while I was at school.  On their first day in Tarsus, I took them on a little historical tour of the city.  Seems like I lost my photos of that day, but I know they both have plenty that I can get from them later :)  Instead of having to work on Monday, we got a surprise day off due to municipal elections.  I rented a car in town and we drove out to Kizkalesi to check out some of the historical sites.  Thanks dad for doing an awesome job driving a manual shift around Turkey on your second day in the country!  

Our first spot was a small area known as Elaiussa Sebaste, an ancient harbor city.  It is a small spot that you can drive up to with only one parking spot, no entrance fees, and the present-day homes built right along side the ancient site.  

Mosaics on the floor of the Byzantine bascilica

A pretty theater with a view

Across from the street lie what remains of a Byzantine palace from the 5th century A.D.

Elaiusse Sebaste palace

The next stop was Corycus Castle, which faces Kizkalesi, the Maiden's castle.  This is the largest site in the area.  Situated right on the sea, it was a beautiful spot to hike around and get some cool photos with the sea in the background.

Outside castle walls and Kizkalesi 

Definitely the coolest part of the castle, the Roman sea gate formed the beginning of a street
from the port to the temple.

Roman sea gate

The Turkish guys at Corycus castle didn't have any information in English to give us, but did have French brochures.  As dad was flipping through the brochure, he came across a photo of some rock carvings that looked pretty cool.  The guys told us that it was close by (from what I could gauge from their Turkish and hand gestures).  So we decided to take a quick detour before lunch and check out Adamkaylar, the man rocks.  We drove about 6 km before we saw the sign for the site, then followed a gravel road another kilometer before we got to the site.  All we saw was the brown sign with a little description and a beekeeper (seriously!).  We weren't sure if we were supposed to walk right or left.  The beekeeper came over and motioned for us to go down the gorge.

The gorge we are supposed to walk down....!

So we start going down and find red arrows spray painted on rocks pointing in the direction to walk/try not to slip down into the gorge.  After a few minutes, the heights got to mom and she headed back up.  So it was just dad and I following a very poorly marked path down a gorge.  There was a time frame where we weren't sure we were going to find anything.  But this was no Dimberg's folly, we eventually found the "man rocks."  The Roman figurines were carved into the rock as a tribute to lost loved ones.  These are considered to be extremely rare in this part of the world, and are excellently preserved (probably because they are in a GORGE).  There are 13 figurines in all.  We were literally right under the carvings and therefore had awesome views.  It felt like something from National Geographic, having to climb down a gorge to find this awesome treasure of ancient Roman art, just hanging out in neature.  Oh, and some of these carvings are over 2,000 years old....crazy!

Man reclining on a couch

Soldiers holdings weapons

Thanks beekeeper for pointing us in the right direction!

After that epic hike, we were all starving and ready to eat some delicious fish.  My teaching partner had recommended a fish restaurant in Narlikuyu, a little cove just past Kizkalesi.  We were treated to some very tasty salads, grouper, snapper, shrimp, and fruit.

Picturesque Narlikuyu

Across the highway from Narlikuyu are the Heaven and Hell caves.  These caves have been considered somewhat mystical places for centuries, by pagans and Christians alike.  It has been used for religious purposes since 1,000 B.C. (estimated, according to my info at least!).  First we hiked down into the "heaven" cave.  At the entrance of the cave is a Byzantine church, built to represent Christianty's conquering of the pagans.

Heaven church

Another view of the heaven church

From the cave flows a river that was believed to be one of the entrances to the underworld, therefore called the "hell" cave.

Our last stop on our way back to Tarsus was Kanlidivane, once a pagan worship site for Zeus and later for Christianity.

Remains of one of the Byzantine churches

Chasm at Kanlidivane, believed to be a sacred place for the cult of Zeus.

We all got a little sun, but it was a great day exploring the area with mom and dad.  For the rest of the week, they shopped and explored Tarsus and made new friends, Gulcan, Alper, and their cute little girl Defne.

Dads and Defne (dad even let her play with his iphone!)

Moms and Defne.  We just love that little face!

On Friday, I had them come into my English classes so the 4th graders could ask them some questions.  This proved to be pretty entertaining, as the questions ranged all across the spectrum of possible topics.  It was fun to be able to introduce the students I have taught for the past two years to my parents.  They did a good job of asking questions and listening.  They particularly loved when dad showed a video of himself snowblowing the back porch, since they have never seen that much snow.  Too bad I missed taking a photo of dad with all the sporty boys sprawled out on the desk trying to watch the video on his iphone, but I did get a few cute ones!

Sharon and Al captivating the crowd :)