Geocaching on Büyükada

My big brother Kyle came all the way from California to visit me! How lucky I am? We skype and email semi-regularly, but we hadn’t seen each other in person since Christmas of 2013! After a very happy reunion at the airport and a feast of delicious Turkish food, we started planning his itinerary.

Kyle wanted to visit somewhere with nature during his time in Istanbul.  I’m madly in love with this city, but (excluding a handful of great parks) it’s lacking in the flora department.  I was reminded of my magical day on Heybeliada and I thought that the Princes Islands would be our best bet.

The Steele kids in Istanbul

 I decided on the aptly named Büyükada, literally “big island” in English.  The island is only about two square miles (5.4 km²), but it’s the largest of the nine Princes Islands.   The Byzantines set up shop in the 6th century, back when the island was called Prinkipos.  A convent on the island was the place of exile for Byzantine empresses ranging from the 8th to 11th centuries.  Exiled Soviet revolutionary Leon Trotsky lived on the island from 1929 - 1933.  Today, it has a year round population of 7,320, with as many as 20,000 in the summer months.

One of the many stunning houses on the island

I explained to Kyle that Büyükada is free of cars and is primarily a holiday destination.

“So it’s pretty much Mackinac Island, right?”

“Pretty much.  Except it has monasteries instead of fudge.”

“Cool.  Let’s go.”

So the morning after Valentine’s Day, we took the relaxing hour-and-a-half ferry ride to Büyükada.

Did you honestly think I would do a post without street cats?

Geocaching is one of my brother’s favorite hobbies.  According to my darling Wikipedia, “geocaching is an outdoor recreational activity, in which participants use a GPS receiver or mobile device to hide and seek containers, called "caches", anywhere in the world.”  

According to my sweet brother, geocaching is “treasure hunting for grown-ups”.

Near the first cache!

I had Geocached with Kyle once before in northern Michigan...in three feet of snow.  I was not amused.  But I decided to give it another try.  Plus we were going to the Princes Islands, my favorite place in Istanbul.  They’re just so lovely.

Ah ha!

Non-geocachers who see you Geocaching are called muggles.  Anything that uses Harry Potter terminology is alright by me.  Besides, my worst nightmare is being labeled a mere muggle.

“A typical cache is a small waterproof container containing a logbook (with a pen or pencil). The geocacher enters the date they found it and signs it with their code name. After signing the log, the cache must be placed back exactly where the person found it. Larger containers may contain items for trading, usually toys or trinkets of little financial value, although sometimes they are sentimental.”

Between caches, we talked about life and our childhood.  I told him trivia about the island and he told me stories about geocaching.  Mostly we laughed a lot.

Island cats going NUTS after a person casually threw a kilo of raw meat into the street.

My brother and I have always been close.  Our mom says it’s because he went to boarding school around the time that most siblings start plotting dark ways to overthrow each other.  

Barely tolerating the outdoors circa 1990

It wasn’t 100% perfect, of course.  There was the time when I was twelve and Kyle was fifteen that he illegally took the car out for a joyride around the neighborhood when our parents weren’t home.  Instead of covering for my lovely big brother, I got the family video camera and walked around the house filming the empty rooms, saying, “Where is my brother?  Is he in the kitchen?  No.  Is he in the living room? No.”  

When I heard the garage opening, I ran to the door to catch him in the act.  I envisioned Kyle begging me on bended knee, “Have mercy, Laurel.  I’ll do anything.  Just don’t show Mom and Dad.”  Instead, when he saw what I was doing, that jerk smiled and waved!  You can hear me on the video laughing maniacally and saying, “He is so busted” over and over again.  When I showed my parents the heartbreaking but irrefutable evidence, they chuckled and complimented my comedic narration.  Not what I was going for.

Cats, horses, and chickens were just kicking it all over the island.

Don’t get it twisted, though.  My brother wasn’t the perfect angel. When Kyle and I were really young we shared a bedroom.  He has since confessed that he made sure that I always slept near the window, so when the monsters inevitably came, they would eat me while he made a quick escape.  Also, when he was eight, he deliberately gouged out my Barney doll’s eyes with his Swiss Army knife.  I have a very clear memory of him wearing his cub scout uniform and presenting me my recently mutilated toy.  

Monsters and purple dinosaurs aside, I really have the perfect brother.

Wishes for sale. 1 lira a piece!

At the foot of the hill to the monastery we bought water, a roll of cookies, and a couple of wishes. After seeing a never ending torrent of rose-toting lovey-dovey couples the night before, we both went for the “aşk” charms.  He opened the cookies as we started our ascent.

“Just so you know there’s a really great restaurant at the top of the hill where we’ll have lunch”, I told him.

“Okay.”

“I’m just saying you shouldn’t eat all of those cookies, because it might spoil your appetite.”

“You sound exactly like Mom.”

“Shut up”, I said as I brushed some crumbs off his jacket.

“See!  Just like Mom!”

“Whatever.  Let’s get going, Bubba*.”

I ended up having to finish my brother's fries for him, so guess who was right?

*My nickname for him.  Origin unknown.

Looking good, abim!

You can see Heybeliada (right) and some of the smallest Princes Islands  (left) in the background

A panoramic view from the top of the island at the amazing restaurant

Shade

We stopped inside the charming Saint George monastery at the top of the hill. It really is exquisite, if you get the opportunity to go.  There's a strict no camera rule, but I'm pretty reckless so I took this quick picture.  I got some hardcore judgement from my sibling.

It was getting pretty chilly, when we started looking for the last cache.  The coordinates led us to a secluded area, far from the path.

"I don't think this is a good idea.  We shouldn't be back here", I whined.

"It's fine.  Come on", my brother said with one eye on his phone and the other on the rocks.

It took us a while to find, but it was totally worth it.

We did it!

One of the trinkets in the geocache 

My brother's special tag that he brought all the way from sunny California.
We got the bird thing at an antique store near my house.

After we put the box back and carefully covered it with some rocks, we started heading back to the pier.  We played 20 questions as we made our descent  Answers included: menemen, creepy guy online, wristwatch, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, Mehmet II, and horse droppings.  The last one was inspired by the inescapable scent on Büyükada, one of the island’s only faults.

"Man, I'm pretty tired", Bubba said.

"Well, that just means we'll sleep really well tonight".

"Dammit, Laurel. You are Mom!"

"Well, I'm right."

The day was perfect. My brother and I got to go on an adventure together and share our respective nerdom with each other. We made it back to Istanbul in one piece and, as I predicted, slept extremely well.

A very special thanks to the talented Kate Alber who used her super design skills to create the new blog layout and graphics.  In addition to doing freelance graphic design, working a full-time job, and co-running a clothing line, she has her own blog called “Making it Vegan”.  Check it out. It's omnivore approved!