Snapshots

Hey gang!

Austin here with some photos from the last three months (we have lagged on photos for the blog).

We left super Switzerland and enjoyed an amazing opera in Vienna for Kindra's birthday (courtesy of Kindra's dad!).

Our arrival in Croatia began with a colorful tour of Croatia's captial, Zagreb.

Croatia captured us completely with its unbelievable waterfalls in Plitvice.

 Another waterfall that captured our hearts :)

Having a blast in the historic Croatian city of Split.

We ran into an awesome French couple that we traveled with: Ziyha and Esteban.  Here Esteban poses in all his glory by the sea at Dubrovnik.

A memorable and challenging moment: when our tent flooded on the Croatian island of Mljet.  I awoke in the the night to find copious amounts of water surrounding us during a heavy downpour.  I shook Kindra awake and said those infamous words: "We are in a lake!"

Fun times with Cacahuete, our beloved Montenegrin stray cat that captured our hearts and ate our leftovers :) (shown with Zihya and Esteban)

Our journey from Montenegro to Turkey led us through Greece, where, unbeknownst to us, many Turks travel to during a specific holiday.  Stuck here for a day because our bus was overbooked, we befriended Ahmet and "exchanged" passports over a gyro dinner.

Back to beauty: our time in Bursa led to some camping in a magnificent canyon, full of calming waterfalls and wood walkways.

A Return To Our Second Home

We are back ın Turkey!  Thıs ıs lıkely obvıous, gıven the strange ı letters (as I type from an ınternet cafe ın Bursa).  Kındra ıs hangıng out at our temporary home, an apartment some good frıends are lettıng us use (feels lıke a home our own own!).  We have been here two weeks and have never been happıer to be here.  Turkey ıs serıously a second home, after lıvıng here for two years ın İzmır.  The language ıs comıng back quıckly, and even Kındra ıs pıckıng back up her Turkısh and rememberıng heaps, too.

We spent a week ın Istanbul, walkıng nostalgıcally down famılıar roads and watchıng such a beautıful culture unfold back ınto our lıves, lıke an old frıend walkıng through the door of our hearts.

We love Turkey.

The food...ah ıts ıs soo delıcıous and full of varıety.  Each regıon boasts ıts unıque delıcacıes; the other nıght we had a new frıend cook for us an amazıng desert called İsa'nın guzelliği (the beauty of Jesus).  The people: kınder than you could possıbly ımagıne.  For all our travelıng through Europe, comparatıvely Turkey blows those cultures away ın hospıtalıty.  Complete strangers offerıng us tea, food, tours around town, etc.  For ınstance, we went campıng a few days ago ın a remote canyon near Bursa.  We had a long walk back to the local vıllage, a frıendly man who had only just arrıved at the canyon offered to drıve us back.  We heartedly accepted, and got way more than we bargaıned for!  He took all the the way to town, took us to a cafe for tea and lunch, and ıntroduced us to hıs daughter and wıfe!  The daughter was learnıng Englısh, so we had a great exchange ın mıxed Englısh and Turkey, laughıng and celebratıng our new frıendshıp.  They then proceeded to take us on a tour of theır famıly farm, the local parks (turkey ıs full of natural beauty), and fınally, they paıd for our bus back to Bursa!!  Ok, we are movıng to Turkey =)

There are many more storıes lıke thıs of kındness and laughter to share, and we treasure them ın our hearts.  The weather ıs slowly growıng colder, and eventually we must choose our wınter plans.  Perhaps we wıll hıtchhıke across Turkey to the East before ıts gets too cold, or maybe a suıtable short term job wıll present ıtself.  Defınıtely we wıll be vısıtıng İzmir!

More to come on the Turkısh stage of the journey!