Sat June 28th - Ankara, Turkey to Sofia, Bulgaria

Today is Hammam (Turkish Bath) Day! What an interesting tradition! Amy has been to a Turkish bath before but this was Vince and Dave's first time. Pretty proud of them both...you know having a big hairy Turkish man that does not speak English scrub, soap, massage, and man-handle you is a bit intimidating. ;-)

A hammam building is like a huge hot sauna. This particular one in Ankara is over 400 years old and was ALL marble inside...just beautiful. There are different sections for men and women. You prepare in a changing room by undressing down to your undies, towel, and flip flops. When you enter the sauna part you are given a little bowl you use to scoop water from these sink-basins (again, marble) that you can fill up with hot or cold water. You scoop and splash yourself to soften your skin. The next step is the scrub. They use this mitt that is a cross between fine grain sandpaper and a Brillo pad to scrub you all over except your privates. The dead skin all comes off (seeing yours or other's dead skin is kinda gross). A quick rinse then a soapy massage where your masseuse really works out any tight spots. Then you return to your basin and finish up your regular bath routine (rinse, shampoo, etc). I noticed some of the ladies goofing off and having a water fight. Pretty interesting experience. All for 40 Turkish lira (less than $20). You feel soft and very clean when done. Dave really liked it and we decided we would check to see if there is a Turkish bath around Seattle.

After a huge breakfast at Elif's (complete with a candle on baklava to celebrate Amy's upcoming birthday) they took us to a location where we could pick up an airport shuttle. A quick ride to the airport and soon we were saying goodbye to Vince (his flight left earlier than ours). Traveling with Vince was pretty cool. We travel at a slower pace than he was used to (get up later, less activities,etc) but I think it was good pace for a group. Vince, I'm glad you made it to turkey...you make a fine traveling companion. See you back in Seattle soon!

Turkish Airlines had a 2 hour delay from our layover in Istanbul to Sofia. And they lost Amy's bag. It had most our toiletries, Amy's clothes, and all our souvenirs (doh).

So here we are again to Sofia, Bulgaria. It just worked out (lowest price airfare) that we would spend a full day here chilling out before heading back to Seattle. Hotel room in Arte Hotel was tiny but cute. Staff was super friendly and helpful.