Three-for-one! Tues, 9/16/25

I don't know what I expected when I considered Turkey, but the more I see, the more impressed I am. Yet, we sure heard negative comments about me and Jimmy touring the country, all by people who haven't been here. Istanbul is a rambling city of 15-20 million people, dissected by the Bosphorus Straight and basically surrounded by water ... and it is a beautiful city.

Today our guide, Ulaş, had a full day planned for us; our heads would spin! First up was the famous Hagia Sophia, a magnificent Byzantine church that was built in 537 CE. After the fall of Constantinople in 1453, it served as a mosque (minarets were added soon after).  This place has so much history -- I won't go into it now because I'd be sitting here till cows walked through this hotel room.  Give Wiki a look and you'll see.  Hagia Sophia is still a mosque, but the upper floor is open as a museum.  It has major cultural and historical value, and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, as well as one of the Historic Civil Engineering Landmarks.

I lifted this pic off Wiki.  Hagia Sophia is massive.

The size and scope of Hagia Sophia challenged my point 'n shoot camera.  You're seeing the lower floor and the bright circles are lit chandeliers!

Here's another view, including the spectacular dome,

from my perch on the upper floor.

Long ago, the walls were plastered over (to cover up Christian icons), but there's talk that the interior may be closed for many years to remove the plaster and return the walls to their former glory ... it's fact that mosaics are hidden beneath the peeling plaster.

All women had to wear a head scarf.  Not sure if two or three cruise ships were in port, but it was beyond crowded with tour-guided large groups, etc.  I didn't like that part.  I took loads of photos, and someone took one of us, above!  I will try to keep this post down to a dull roar, mostly due to time constraints.  Trust me, seeing both outside and inside of Hagia Sophia was quite an experience.

A few steps away from Hagia Sophia is the Hippodrome (who knew?).  You think you're simply walking on a brick "road," but it turns out you're trampling all over history!  This Hippodrome was originally begun in the 3rd century CE, and was dramatically expanded by Emperor Constantine the Great when he made Constantinople his new imperial capital in the 4th century.  Over the centuries this lively square witnessed chariot races, triumphal parades, coronations, and diplomatic ceremonies, and more. After the Ottoman conquest in 1453, the square was used for festivals and gatherings, though the races ended.  Obelisk of Theodosius, above, one of two, defining features of the square.

The Hippodrome led us to the wondrous Blue Mosque, not far away.  This mosque was constructed between 1609 and 1617 during the rule of Ahmed I, which makes it 1,000+ years newer than Hagia Sophia, if I did my math right.  Here again we donned head scarfs, and we removed our shoes.  This place is -- I'm running out of adjectives.

Still crowded, yes, but a bit less.  The domes seem to meld gracefully into each other, like a free-falling cataract, which gives it such cachet, IMO. There are six iconic minarets, two under reconstruction as you see above.  We saw it lit up one night, and, WOW, is my final word.

This section is only for the faithful, off limits to us.

The carpet was soft (easy on the knees), and very pretty.

20,000 Iznik tiles line the high ceiling, featuring intricate floral patterns.  They called this part of the ceiling, "The Owl."  Do you see an owl?  Isn't this stunning?

The interior is lit by 260 windows, once adorned with 17th-century stained glass, now replaced with replicas.  Here are three.  Holy Toledo, the interior was breath-taking.

We didn't stay long before heading out into the sunshine again.  Still on foot, we found a spot for lunch and then, and then we walked back to our hotel.  After a short rest, our bus took us to one of Istanbul's more fascinating sites, at least to me and Jimmy.  Everyone had to pay a few extra bucks to get into the Basilica Cistern, but everyone wanted to see this, too.

Basilica cistern, built in the 6th century during the reign of Byzantine emperor Justinian I, is the largest of several hundred ancient cisterns in Istanbul.  Today it's kept with only a little water, but someone figured out how much water this cathedral-sized cistern held in its heyday:   2,800,000 cubic feet of water (way beyond my ken)!   It opened to the public as a museum in 1987.

Can you feature this being filled to the top with water?

It's HUGE!

Look how beautiful it is when the colored lights are turned on.

I wandered over the wooden walkways with my mouth agape, 

amazed that this cistern was even possible.

Nah, we weren't even finished for the day!  We wandered into the Grand Bazaar, but since we don't need anything, we turned around after seeing the same stuff in the shops, and headed to the bus (and then our hotel!).

A shower helped revive us!  We walked around the corner to Falyanos Fish Restaurant for dinner ...

... on the terrace, overlooking the water.  The 12 of us enjoyed a lovely meal, Ulaş taking our pic.

Well, that was our first full tour day in Istanbul.  I think every site except the bazaar and the restaurant are UNESCO World Heritage Sites, rightly so.  Wish you could have been here to see it in person with us, but this very abbreviated post will have to do.  We loved it all.  Hope you enjoyed it, too.

ATM ... plus! 10/21-10/22, 2023

Today (Saturday) we'd be challenged. After breakfast, our little bus took us over eight miles of a winding, rough limestone road, through citrus orchards and cornfields, to drop us off at the starting point for our exploration of Actun Tunichil Muknal Cave. No cameras or phones were allowed inside the cave, so I can't show you any pics, except those before entering the cave, and those of others who somehow got photos.

Suited up, ready to go:  Israel, Fred, Florence, Anita, Cait, Andy, Jill, Margaret, me, Karen, Jane, and Jimmy.  We had to don life jackets and hard hats with headlamps, sturdy shoes and sox.  We brought backpacks with dry clothes to change into after we emerged.

I'll quote our Road Scholar info page for today.  "This arduous, rewarding activity will begin with 45 minutes of hiking that includes river crossings (the first through chest-high water, pulling yourself along with a rope, as you see above) and wading in knee-high water.  Once at the cave entrance, we will swim through the opening and start a four-hour journey inside the cave.  This activity will require endurance, strength, agility and balance."  Photo by Suzy.

At the cave entrance.  Pic by Larry Waight

I can tell you that this was probably the most taxing activity I've ever done.  We had to swim and climb and clamber and squeeze and hoist ourselves over boulders through the cave labyrinth of interlocking chambers.  We had two certified ATM guides who assisted us; otherwise, we'd have been lost within the first two minutes!  As you would expect, the cave is pitch black.  On a scale of 1 to 10, this cave is about a 6 in terms of difficulty, due to the long hike and "some climbing."

Aside from all that, the cave itself was impressive with natural beauty; i.e., stalactites and stalagmites, columns, draperies and bacon.

"The volume of archaeological discoveries in the ATM is truly stunning. Over 1400 human artifacts have been discovered, all of them dating from 250 to 909 AD. The combination of pottery, tools, weapons, and vessels for water tell a tale of a broad and advanced society, and the scope of the discoveries make it one of the most worthwhile finds in archaeological history.  Many of the stories that can be gleaned from the ATM Cave are rather bleak in nature. It's believed that as part of their sacred rituals, the Mayas used the cave to conduct human sacrifices. Well-preserved human skeletons are just as prodigious in the cave as handmade artifacts are, but the most famous of these finds is the 'Crystal Maiden'."  (Above, Wikipedia)  It's now believed the remains are of a young/ish man.  We scrambled one last time into a nook to see the calcified skeleton.  And then ... and then, we made our way down and out of the cave.  (with only minor scrapes and bruises!)

* * * * *

We were so wiped out from our ATM adventure, as well as our many ruins-climbing of previous days, that all but two of us elected to do the "less strenuous" Caves Branch cave tubing adventure the next day (Sunday) rather than the hiking/rappelling at Black Hole.  Called Footprints Cave after calcified Mayan footprints were found deep within the cave, they were too far in for us to view.  We were looking forward to this different cave tour!  

Gathering together at Caves Branch,

just a hop-skip-jump from our Eco-lodge at Jaguar Creek.

Again with the helmets/headlights, life vests, and this time:  tubes.  From left, Jimmy, Margaret, me, Anita, Jane, Cait, Jill, Andy, Florence.

Ready to tube into (against the current!) the cave mouth.

Our two experienced cave guides assisted us as we tubed through the "refreshing" water.  Not cold, mind you, the water felt cool in the tropical heat.  We put aside the tubes a couple of times and set off on foot when the water became too shallow.  The cave floor was rocky and, of course, wet, and walking wasn't easy.  Not as much as yesterday, we still had to clamber over boulders and rocky formations.  I took my waterproof red camera.  We chased bats off their ceiling perches.

At one point, the guides picked up two wet sedimentary rocks, scraping one against the other, and "painted" our faces with red and black (mine was blue) lines.  Enjoyed this!  We were trying to look fierce in the pic, haha, above.

Several times we stopped to examine Mayan artifacts, as above.  It was kind of thrilling to be able to see and touch these items. 

Like the famous Waitomo (glow worm) Cave in New Zealand, Caves Branch has a gnat fungus.  Anita touched one of the gossamer strands, and a tiny "caterpillar" dropped down, surprising, even stunning, her.  She jumped back! 

The cave decorations made us ooh and aah.  Helmet lighting wasn't conducive to good pictures, sorry to say, but you get the idea.

Climbing up to this point, we could see this amazing large piece of pottery which was off-limits to us, but a guide (I think it was Hector) climbed up to take a photo for us to see.  On two sides near the top were markings that may be a signature.

And then there's this Mayan facial mask.  Eerie with a headlamp shining on it.  Fertility god?  Fertility chamber?  This was as far as we went inside the cave.  We made our way down to the water and our tubes, floating downstream for a bit with headlamps off (so dark, I didn't like that).  What an adventure we're having.

Believe it or not!

Lunchtime in the cave!

Our guides brought in lunch in their packs and set it up, complete with lit candelabra.  We made our own burritos and wolfed them down! Talk about different, talk about a cool, fun thing to do!

While we consumed those burritos, we waded in shallow water with the catfish.  We also spotted a cave crab and some kind of big cave spider (bleah), but that may have been in the ATM cave.  Whatever ...!

And finally, we floated on out into the sunshine to our exit point, with a walk to the bus and back to our lodge, a shower and dry clothes.  Man-oh-man, two days of caving.  Are we lucky or what?  We'd already packed our bags as we were again transferring to a new hotel on the coast.  Through the Maya Mountains to the peninsula and the Umaya Resort.  What a trip this has been so far!

What? No name? Wed, 5/5/21

All you have to do is look around, be open to what's out there, and be willing to get off the beaten path, and you'll discover all kinds of neat or quirky things.  For instance, we're more interested in cool experiences rather than staying at the same-old campgrounds right next to the freeway.  Harvest Hosts is perfect for finding unusual or remarkable places to stay.  We knew we'd be ready to quit driving for the day somewhere near Boerne and the Harvest Hosts site steered us to Cave Without a Name, out in the limestone-karst boonies of Boerne!  Texas hill country.

We parked on level ground near the lofty Cottonwood tree and were quite comfy.  Most HH sites offer no hookups, but with our solar and large water/holding tanks, we're okay without hookups.  After hours, we were the only people in the entire area and it was wonderfully quiet, ideal.  Wildlife, deer and fox, came close.  Our window over the bed was open half the night, till it grew too chilly (46° the next morning). I love sleeping like this.

Who's ever heard of this place?  What kind of name for a cave is Cave Without a Name?  No name a'tall!  It has been designated a National Natural Landmark, regardless of its no-name name.  Fortunately, we got set up in time for the 3 o'clock cave tour.

We entered the cave through a wire gate (no closed system here) and descended 138 steps on a spiral stairwell down the original sinkhole opening.  Jimmy in pink shirt, above, follows Andi, our guide.  One other couple joined our tour.

Sure enough, we looked up and could see daylight!  Zoomed in.

They've mapped three miles of this cave system, but we'd see only a part.  We saw a "scream" face in the above pic!

Stalagmites and stalactites, columns, cave bacon and cave popcorn,

flowstone, soda straws ... this cave had it all.

And BIG chambers!

I received lots of cave "kisses!"

Beautiful decorations, but they're using old lighting (which sucked, IMO), not having switched to LED lights.  We hope they do switch as they're better for the cave.

While there is glare in this photo, you really are seeing white, which indicates new (recent) growth.

The formations in this, the "Queen's Throne Room," were spectacular.

Some areas have pools of water.

Andi occasionally sees a cave cricket.

Looks prehistoric!

At the back of this photo is a dark, small/ish opening.  Experienced cavers can go into and through the caving system here; in fact, that's how they discovered and mapped the three underground miles.

Only one species of tiny bat occupies this cave:  A tri-colored bat.  Looking up on the ceiling, we spotted this one li'l fella today.  

The cave was found by the three kids above in 1938. They entered the sinkhole (with a lantern) and using a rope they found, they explored parts of the cave, by themselves, no grown-up. The youngest, a girl, was only ten at the time.  Wow.  No way would I have had the guts to do that!  I believe the girl is still alive, and in her 90's.

This was a good cave, not the best, not like Postjona Cave in Slovenia, which was superb.  We were happy to have taken the Cave Without a Name tour.

After our nearly-hour-long tour, we wandered around the grounds, finding trails, like the Sinkhole Trail that led us to three or four sinkholes (more potential cave entrances?) and this old rusted truck cab.  The temp was warm, not hot, and the walk was kinda fun.  Once dinner time was over, we relaxed and watched the wildlife.  As I said, being here was soothing to the soul.

 

We have one more HH site in mind for tomorrow night.  Then, it's pedal to the medal, Mable, let's head for the barn.  Time to go home.