NEW YEAR, NEW START... AND WHAT WE DID FOR MY BIRTHDAY

Happy new year to friends and family across the globe!  Andrew and I celebrated the holidays and rang in the new year in Jakarta.  Someone had to hold down the fort at the office, and honestly, I’m quite happy to do it.  It’s usually a quiet time of year to get caught up on all the things that fall into the background when we’re so busy putting out fires the rest of the year.  We hosted friends for a “White Sumatran Elephant” party, had a fancy Christmas Eve brunch, enjoyed a happy hour (or two) and took in the fancy holiday decorations at some of the big Jakarta hotels, and watched the city put on a pretty great fireworks show to ring in the new year on the rooftop of our apartment building.  

Christmas decorations in our apartment building's lobby.

A Christmas gift to ourselves - a "gerobak", usually used as an outdoor food cart...

...but our new bar cart.

Checking out the decorations at the Grand Hyatt in Jakarta.

Christmas trees meet (indoor) palm trees.

Indonesians love to take selfies and have backdrops and vignettes set up just for that.  

More hotel Christmas decor - this time at the St. Regis.

A festive backdrop for a cheese plate.

New Year's Eve dinner with friends with traditional Indonesian fare at an old Dutch Colonial style restaurant.

Post-fireworks, Jakarta's air quality was the worst we've seen... and we've seen bad.

All together, we had a pretty swell holiday season here in Jakarta, and now that it’s over and everyone is back to work… we’re taking some time off!  This blog post is coming to you from… Melbourne, Australia (which I’d write about more in a future blog post).  But in the meantime, and per usual, first a catch-up for you from the past few months.

Quite honestly, I don’t even know where to start with this.  We had a LOT going on towards the end of last year, including two birthday celebrations – mine in October, and Andrew’s in November.  And we came up with some pretty memorable ways of celebrating both.  In order to avoid having this blog just become a giant photo dump, and because my birthday was first chronologically, this blog installment will be a recounting of What We Did for My Birthday.  What We Did for Andrew’s Birthday will follow in short order.

My birthday served as a handy excuse for a trip to Spain, via Turkey, to catch up with friends in both places and enjoy a most welcome change of scenery.  We started our trip with a few days in Madrid.  An absolutely FABULOUS city, replete with funky, fun coffee shops, street-side cafes with cheap – but good! – wine, and fantastic outdoor spaces made for exploring.  It was our first time in Spain, and Madrid made an excellent first impression.

A local coffee shop just down the street from our Airbnb was a first stop for a cafe con leche each day.

And street-side cafes were a good stop for a cheap vaso de vino each afternoon.

In between, strolling through Madrid's old cobblestone streets toward Plaza Mayor.

We loved the architecture!

We saw these doggie waiting areas all over!

Walking past Cibeles Palace on the way to the Prado Museum... though truth be told, we were so happy to be walking outside on sidewalks in clean air, we didn't actually go inside anything!

A festive tapas bar on Calle de la Cava Baja.  We spent a bit of time exploring this neighborhood and its tapas bars...

From there, it was on to the Costa Blanca town of Albir to visit with our friends Paul and Kim from Portland, who made the move to Spain about five years ago and now call Albir home.  We can’t blame them.  Walking distance to the beach and its seaside esplanade with shops, bars, restaurants… everything you could want!  And close to some great parks and golf courses and other seaside towns to provide endless entertainment.  Some of those other seaside towns were enchanting – Altea! Elche! – some, not so much – I’m looking at you, Benidorm.  Paul and Kim were the consummate hosts, and we can’t thank them enough for letting us sample their new world.

Reuniting with human and dog friends in Albir - Paul and Kim's dog Peaches.

The beachfront esplanade along the beach in Albir makes a lovely spot for a beachside stroll.

We joined Paul and Kim for a round of golf - a great way to take a walk through the woods.

On the trail up to a lighthouse and lookout point.

The lookout over Albir.

Day trip to the scenic town of Altea.

Altea is an old fishing town that is now a picture-perfect seaside Spanish town.

We had a great day exploring the narrow winding laneways through the town.

And another day trip to Benidorm - this is the only photo I took of what we dubbed Las Vegas on the Costa Blanca. 

Side trip to Elche, and a wine tasting/culinary extravaganza.

This canal ran through Elche and had walking trails on either side.  Clearly, they are ready for some rain.

We ended our tour de España with a swing through Valencia, and a visit with another Portland friend, Colleen, who is taking a work hiatus and is teaching English there for a few months.  We may have saved the best for last.  Valencia was completely charming – winding cobblestone streets, medieval towers, fabulous restaurants.  Spain definitely left us wanting more.  We will return!

Valencia's old gothic towers at the former city entrance, complete with cannon pockmarks.

The entry doors through the towers - with me for scale.

Fantastic graffiti on display.

Could Valencia BE any more scenic?

Mercado Central had something for everyone.

Inside Mercado Central with our friend Colleen.

We flew through Turkey to get to Spain, so we figured we should hang around for awhile on the way back.  Fortunately, another good friend Holly from our Foreign Service family is posted in Istanbul and opened up her home – and played tourist with us – for a few days.  So much history, and culture, and MORE delicious food.

Andrew and I went on a day tour to see the major sights in Istanbul on our first day there while our friend Holly was working.  It was a FULL day!  Istanbul has a lot of major sights!  Like... the Hagia Sophia. 

Inside the Hagia Sophia.  Originally built as a church, then converted to a mosque, then served as a musuem for over 80 years, until Turkish President Erdogan reverted it to a mosque just a few years ago.  Since mosques do not have depictions of human faces, the remaining Christian artwork of angels or other human forms are covered with drapes during prayer times.  

The Blue Mosque.

Proof we were at the Blue Mosque.

Beautiful stained glass windows and domes inside the Blue Mosque.

Stunning artwork inside the Blue Mosque.

The Hippodrome of Constantinople (or Istanbul).  

The underground Basilica Cisterns, complete with dramatic lighting,

No day tour of Istanbul would be complete without a stop at a rug shop.

The Grand Bazaar.  I was prepared to be swarmed by people, but it was actually not overly crowded and a fun experience.

Next up: A food tour of Istanbul with Holly.

The food tour was called "A Taste of Two Continents" because it started on the European side, involved a crossing of the Bosphorus, and then continued on the Asia side.  But, spoiler alert, the food is pretty similar on both sides of the river.

Strolling through Istanbul's historic city center.

Istanbul had no shortage of stray, but very well cared for, cats and dogs.  The cats all seemed well groomed.  And the dogs were HUGE... and could not be bothered.

A Turkish coffee caffeine fix comes with a Turkish delight.

Checking out the spice market.

Choices, choices!

Day 3, a tour of Topkapi Palace.  It is HUGE and we spent the better part of the day touring the site.

All smiles at Topkapi Palace.

Rooftop mezze happy hour.  The city puts on a spectacular show by day and night.

And lastly, a day cruise on the Bosphorus.

The mosques were VERY elaborate!

Sunset over the Bosphorus with a couple minarets.  It doesn't get much more Istanbul than that.

My birthday dinner included pre-dinner drinks at this historic hotel.  It felt like a step back in time.

Upon our return, lots of friends here in Jakarta were eager to know “what was the best part.”  It was a seemingly impossible question to answer.  We got to experience so many different sights, activities, and experiences.  I had no good answer for them.  But now that I’ve been settled back in Jakarta for a few months and have had time to let it all sink in, the answer is obvious.  Seeing our friends so happy and loving life in their new cities was the best birthday gift of all.