A Saturday in Milan

The weather has continued to be nice here in Milan and I took the opportunity to head over to one of the local Saturday markets to start my shopping this past weekend. Caitlin had been raving about her market finds and this week I decided to tag along with her.

The weekend markets here can often replace your entire grocery store trip. The markets have multiple fruit and vegetable stands, meat and cheese stands, vendors selling eggs, and others selling household goods.

But I've not always loved the markets I've experienced before. I have frequently felt like I wasn't getting the best of the available produce, as many items I purchased were overly ripe or bruised. At these markets, you generally don't pick out your own produce. You wait in a line, tell the vendor what you want and they select it and bag it for you. Touching things with your own hands, is well, a big faux pas in Italy. I think the trick to this is being a regular customer, one that the vendor recognizes from week to week and one that they want to keep coming to their stand.

This market is located on Via Tabacchi near Bocconi.

I bought a bunch of vegetables and fruit to enjoy this week and also bought some flowers to add some spring colors to my apartment.

In my vase from my trip to Cinque Terre back in 2012. 

this week's haul

Later in the day, a few of us met near the Duomo to head out to a Craft Brew Fest that we had heard about happening this weekend.

It was quite a trek to he beer festival, but I'm so glad we went. It was great and definitely a better experience than the wine festival I attended a few weeks back. First, the cost to get in is only 8 euro and this includes the glass and the wine bag to hold your glass. Then you buy tokens by the euro to sample the beers. Each token gives you a 10 cL sample of the beer of your choice. This allows you to try a lot of beers without committing to a full size glass of one. I bought 10 euro worth of tokens and this was plenty for me. You could also use the tokens for the food stand, held in a room off to the side.

the tokens for sampling the beer!

Haven't you always wanted to hang your glass of beer around your neck?

a cinnamon double ale we sampled

Some of the logos and slogans from the event.

Harris and Jesye ready to sample!

For those who want to go next year: To get to the beer festival, you need to take either the 12 or 27 tram to Via Mecenate. The 12 stops a little short and you can walk the rest or you can take the 27 and get pretty close. Both trams have a stop on Via Mazzini near the Duomo where you can pick up either one.

Stramilano 2014

Sunday was this year's annual Stramilano, a 5K, 10K, and half marathon event. Last year I signed up for the race, but on the morning of the race I opened the window and felt the cold, rainy, windy weather and decided to stay in my pajamas.

Jenna and me- don't ya just love the bibs? 

There was similar poor forecast for the event again this year and I waited until the morning of to decide if I would participate. Thankfully, it wasn't raining Sunday morning and I was able to meet up with Jenna for a pre-race breakfast.

breakfast of champions...since we were only walking...no problem!

On our way to the Duomo there was a heavy, and thankfully, quick, rain shower that required us to hide under a doorway for a minute and then we were able to keep moving.

Look at these little cuties! Everyone participating from school met up before the different races.
These little munchkins belong to a couple of the ladies I work with.

The start of the race was really anticlimactic, since there was no official 5K start.
They just sent everyone off when you walked that way. 

After that, the rain held off and even cleared up a little.

An idea NOT to try- rollerblading the Stra when you can't rollerblade.
This lady was a DISASTER. And that's putting it nicely.

The end of the race is at the arena in Parco Sempione which is a bit of a bad situation as the entrances and exits are narrow and required everyone to funnel in and merge together. It took forever to get out of the arena, but I wanted to get my medal for finishing!

walking into the arena

the bag, shirt, and tiny medal!

I was off to head home at this point, but the half marathon had just started so crossing the road was impossible. I did get the chance to see our friend Ali as she passed by and then crossed over to the 5K mark of the half. I figured it would be a bit before anyone arrived, but was clearly wrong when the lead men, from Kenya and Ethiopia, whizzed by in under 15 minutes (at the 5K mark!!). Unbelievable!

Holy cow, they're fast!

Uno, Due, Cheese!

Saturday I headed off to Genova with Joanna, who works at Bilingual European School. We wanted to go to the aquarium and wander around the town for a bit.

Can you see our feet? 

Genova was only a hour and a half by train and TrenItalia is running a Saturday special right now where some tickets are available two for the price of one. Our train trip was a great deal!

Genova's harbor

We arrived in Genova (you may know it better as Genoa in English) and walked to the aquarium, which was nearby. It's a little expensive per person at €24, but it was still nice to check it out. It is the largest aquarium in Italy and among the largest in Europe. They have several large tanks for manatees, sharks, dolphins and seals. When you arrive they have a queue for the picture that they try to sell you at the end of your trip, and funnily enough, the lead-up to the picture taking is "uno, due, cheese!" Thankfully, we avoided this part of the adventure, but I thought the catch phrase was worth remembering. I enjoyed the rana pomodoro the most (tomato frog) simply because of its name. Witnessing dolphins mating was also a first time experience for me.

Some of the marine life

rana pomodoro

After the aquarium, we were in need of lunch. I had a mental list of things I wanted to eat while in Genova that included Genovese focaccia, pesto and gelato. On a blog I found the names of a couple restaurants and I had one in mind when we went in search of lunch. We ate at Sa Pesta and it was a gem. We waited in line to get a seat and were the only non-Italians there. I did all the ordering in Italian and almost ordered us a plate full of fried anchovies, but even though my broken Italian got me into that mess, it also got me out of it. We tried a plate of various local specialities, including farinata, a flat tortilla like food made with chickpeas. Then we had trofie con pesto. Pesto is a big deal in Genova and is the place to have some and trofie is simply one of a million pasta shapes here.

Later we had some delicious gelato and wandered about the city before catching out train back to Milan.

Chosen flavors for the day? Cinnamon and pistacchio! YUM!

I'm keeping all my pictures in my Flickr account, so feel free to look around there. 

Now, a little added bonus for this post. 

I've been working to learn Italian since before arriving in Italy. Sometimes I work pretty hard at it and other times I've been a bit of a slacker, but I want to learn and enjoy when I can actually navigate entire situations in Italian. My language skills are still not great, but they're coming along. I'm a long way from being conversational and am a much better writer because I have the time to think about what I need to say. 

I wrote about my day in Italian for my Italian teacher, Bruna, on my way back from Genova. It was a rough draft and today I edited it with a little help from Google Translate filling in a couple blanks. Then during my Italian lesson, Bruna edited my draft. So, here goes...for all my Italian readers out there. (Please forgive the lack of properly accented words and letters!)

Sabato mattina mi sono svegliata alle 4. Lo so, sono una gallina, come Bruna mi dice. Mi sono alzata alle 6 e ho fatto una doccia e mi sono vestita. Ho mangiato i cereali per la colazione e sono partita per Milano Centrale. Ho incontrato la mia amica Joanna e siamo andate a Genova.

Prima, siamo andate all'acquario. Ho visto i lamantini, gli squali, i delfini, le foche, e tanti pesci. Il mio favorito era la rana pomodoro per il suo nome. 

Dopo l'acquario abbiamo mangiato a Sa Pesta. Abbiamo provato il piatto misto di farinata, torta di riso, torta di cipolle e altro. Avevamo anche le trofie con il pesto Genovese. Tutto era buonissimo, ma il pesto era un po' insipido. 

Poi siamo andate a provare il miglior gelato di Genova. Avevo gelato con cannella e pistacchio. E molto morbido e delizioso. Siamo andate a piedi e ci siamo sedute vicino al porto. Ho comprato anche due pezzi di focaccia- un tipo era Genovese e l'oltra era di Recco. E fatto con formaggio. 

Abbiamo preso il treno per Milano. E stata una bella giornata nonostante il sole andava e veniva.

Three Days in Istanbul

After our time in Kapadokya, Angela and I flew back to Istanbul to see what the big city had to offer.

We had booked a hotel directly across the Blue Mosque for our stay, Alzer Hotel. It had great rates and was centrally located to hit all the tourist spots.

view of the Blue Mosque from the Aya Sofya

The first morning we crossed the square and went to the Blue Mosque and then to the Aya Sofya. The Blue Mosque, completed in 1616,  earned that nickname for the blue tiles that line the interior walls. To visit the mosque women must wear head coverings and modest clothing. Many young girls in tight leggings and skinny jeans were given wraps to wear to cover themselves.

inside the Blue Mosque

old meets new...

can you see the blue?

The Aya Sofya, or Hagia Sofia, was built as a Greek Orthodox church in 537 and was later converted to a mosque. It is now a museum. Part of the museum was going under renovation, but there was still plenty to see. The mosaics on the second level were really interesting and probably some of my favorites.

love the chandeliers

After our historical morning, we ventured over to the Grand Bazaar, bracing ourselves for the continued barrage of unique, humorous, offensive, or annoying comments from the various men trying to sell their wares. I had big plans of buying a lamp and rug, and ended up leaving with neither this time around. Living in Europe allows me to say, "There's always next time!"

lamp, anyone?

We were trying to catch a picture of the tea "to-go" all the time!

The second day I woke a bit grumpy about the less than amazing food we'd had on day 1. I had such high expectations that I was completely let down by Trip Advisor and the restaurants we ate at. We decided that after our time at the Topkapi Palace we were completing abandoning the touristy areas.

The Topkapi Palace was really interesting, especially the harem portion, where you're able to see some of the living quarters. This palace was the primary home for Ottoman sultans for over 400 years beginning in the mid to late 1400s. The harem had lots of beautiful tiles covering the walls in various designs.

Europe, Asia, Europe, Asia...look across the water at the different continents

inside the harem

tiles, tiles, and more tiles

Next, we were off to cross the Galata Bridge and spent quite a bit of time enjoying the fisherman attempting to find today's catch. We walked up towards the Galata Tower and stumbled upon a little pottery shop with handmade bowls. It's generally a good sign when you peer through the window and see the woman in the shop working on a piece. We carried our new purchases up to the tower, then down the main shopping street of Istiklal Caddesi and over to Taksim Square.

That night we had made reservations for a Whirling Dervish Ceremony and dinner at a nearby restaurant. The Whirling Dervish ceremony started off a bit boring at first, as there was no whirling for a good 35 minutes. However, one the five dervishes started the spinning bits it was quite enthralling to watch them spin continuously. I have no idea how they do it, but it was obvious that there was definite technique involved. They also keep their hands above their heads while they spin...I was impressed.

Dinner again...left us a little unsatisfied...but definitely full. You can read about that here.

The final morning in Istanbul we took a food and market tour with Context Travel. It was so much fun, especially the spice shop. We were able to taste spices and, of course, buy them! I. Bought. A. Lot. We tasted a bunch of different things, including a dessert that was made with chicken, cold mussels with rice and spices, pickles (some pickled in lemon juice and some in vinegar), and some weird and crazy candied fruits and vegetables. I tried to be a good sport and try just about everything.

tea!

"reading" the remains of the Turkish coffee

Boza- not my favorite dessert ever.

We spent the rest of the day shopping and scouring the bazaar for the best kebab and food we had in Istanbul. It was soooooooo good.

This is one place in Istanbul I will recommend!

It was a fun week, but I was craving Italian food. Go figure!

Kapadokya, Days 2 and 3

Our first day in central Turkey was so amazing I knew that the next few days would have a hard time keeping pace. We decided on a day tour that included hiking and a trip to a nearby underground city. Going on group tours is not something I'm a fan of, but in this area, without a rental car, it seemed really necessary to see the sites we wanted to visit.

feral dogs and cats...everywhere

First, it's probably appropriate to tell you a little about this region of Turkey. Cappadocia (English) or Kapadokya (Turkish) means "land of the beautiful horses". This region was formed by volcanic activity millions of years ago. The Cappadocia Exclusive website says, "The formation of this strange landscape started during the third geological period, when three volcanoes located on the edges of this region began erupting frequently. The deposits of volcanoes ash, lava and basalt laid the foundations for today's landscape. Earthquakes and ongoing effects of erosion have contributed to form the valleys and the "fairy chimneys" that can be seen today."

The surface rock is very soft and this allowed people to easily carve into the rock, which they did. They built homes and churches and entire underground cities to serve as hiding places to protect against invasion.

The tour started with a hike in the nearby Rose Valley, named for the color of the rocks in the area. The guide pointed out a handful of other colors that were visible due to the minerals in the rock. A true science lesson in action. You can also see the layers of rock as they formed and various color formations as evidence of different explosions and periods of time.

see the pink?

We then walked into a small town with a large cave dwelling still standing. There were tourists climbing all over the structure, but our tour guide advised against it, stating that it was no longer safe. In true Zimmer fashion, I kept my feet firmly on the solid ground.

We stopped by a place where all the fairy chimneys are well preserved.

After lunch we headed to the underground city of Kaymakli. It is the widest underground city and has four levels in depth that you are able to visit. I loved this place. This is the place to take kids. There are tiny tunnels to climb through and interesting passageways. As an adult, traversing the pathways wasn't the easiest, but it was definitely cool!

They carved these huge boulders to push in front of the tunnels in the event of attack.

For dinner that night we had a traditional pottery kebab and a dish comprised of okra. My sister will get a kick out of this...that I was responsible for selecting the okra dish as the one we would order. The pottery kebab has to be ordered at least three hours in advance and when served is cracked open at the table with a small hammer and then poured out on to the plate.

cracking the pot

the okra...it was...okay

For our third day in Goreme, we did absolutely nothing, and I loved it! We just decided that we had seen enough fairy chimneys and that we would take the day off. It was vacation after all!

No translation required, right? 

As a bonus to this post-- 10 points to the person who can name
this guy, who spent the day with us on our tour...
Hint needed? He's Oscar nominated.

Next up- Istanbul!

Again, you can see all my pictures from this trip (and others) on my Flickr page.