Turkey Tour Day 13 & 14: Canakkule: Troy and Gallipoli & Istanbul

Day 13:

Today we had an early wake up and hit the road for a 6-hour bus ride to Canakkule. As bus rides go, this one was as uneventful as they get.

Which is good.

We were dropped off at the side of the road on the outskirts of Canukkale and jumped into a smaller van with all our luggage and taken to a restaurant just outside of the Ancient City of Troy.

Despite the long drive, there wasn’t much hunger in us, which might have been attributed to the hot weather. It was 37 degrees.

After lunch we drove a short way to the Ancient city of Troy. Yes, the same Troy as the movie.

Ancient Troy is interesting in that there has been about 9 versions of the city built and rebuilt over the years. 

The base of one of the structures at Troy

The first version of Troy is believed to have been built around the 4th millennium BC and was a busy commercial city around 1700BC. A combination of natural disasters and invasions are the reasons as to why Troy has been rebuilt many times, including the most famous being the siege of Troy with the Trojan horse.

They believe that they have only excavated 15% of the city but most of what remains are just the base of walls and entrances.

There is the entrance to the palace that is well preserved, made of marble and can ride two horses abreast which is mentioned in Homer’s Iliad giving truth to some of what he said.

The road to the palace

The story of Helen and Paris is believed to be a myth but it seems that at least part of what Homer said in the Iliad was in truth. They even have a replica Trojan Horse at the site but we couldn't go inside it as they were doing restorations to it.

After Troy we drove about 30 minutes into Canukkale and to our hotel. We checked in and went to a dive shop we saw around the corner to investigate the diving available for when we return next year.

The dive operators did not speak English very well and we are not quite certain but they might have offered us a job. I doubt it, but it was a little weird. I guess it is one of those lost in translation things.

Canukkale is a pretty cool place. The city itself is big and is a university town so it is full of younger people. It is situated along the western part of Turkey and is the main port that heads to Gallipoli.

Along the waterfront is a whole bunch of restaurants and statues, also has the Trojan horse used in the Brad Pitt movie ‘Troy’ which was pretty cool and a lot better than the one we couldn’t approach at the site of Troy.

We had dinner at one of the local restaurants called Hangover, which is probably the closest I will ever get to having a hangover. It was a nice place and the food was good so there is nothing to complain about there.

It didn’t have traditional Turkish food, a welcome relief to be honest. I felt like I needed something a little different in the diet.

I ended up having the tortellini and it was good.

We then went to bed as we have to get up early to get to Gallipoli before heading back to Istanbul.

Day 14:

Another early rise from bed and we were off to Gallipoli, the Australian Mecca and reason we get a public holiday.
We took a boat across the sea to where Gallipoli is and even on the boat you're treated to the importance of Gallipoli, even for the Turkish.
It's funny how I've never really considered it from the "enemies" side, the Turkish were simply defending their own land from what were, essentially, invaders. We would do the same if anyone tried to invade Australia.

Approaching Gallipoli from Canakkule

Once we finished on the boat, we drove to our first stop which was ANZAC cove, the place where the ANZACs, incorrectly, landed in 1915 and were slaughtered. ANZAC Cove is quiet, all you can hear is  the sounds of the waves lapping on the beach, and peaceful. The screams of the dying, the bullets silenced for almost 100 years but you can feel it. You can easily put yourself in their shoes, look from the shore to the hills and wonder, how they hell did they have any chance?
They didn't. The Turkish had the higher ground and even with the inferior numbers, they still had the advantage. 
ANZAC Cove has 10 plagues with tells the history of the ANZACs from beginning to end, interesting to read. After the cove we walked along the shore to one of the ANZAC cemeteries. There are a lot less graves than I thought would be there, but they are only the graves of people whose names are known. 

ANZAC Cove

The site is well maintained, and some of the headstones look brand new.
After the ANZAC cove cemetery, we went to the Lone Pine Cemetery, another site of the ANZACs. Lone Pine was a battle during World War I in which both the ANZACs and the Turks won and lost the site. Later the site was commemorated for the 5000 ANZACs who lost their lives there. Lone Pine gets its name from the site where, initially there were several pine trees on the site but they were cut down, except one and the ANZACs named it Lone Pine.

Lone Pine Memorial

The next site we visited was a cemetery for the Turkish who died at Gallipoli, some of those died were as young as 10 years old. They handed guns to anyone who was able, a lot of whom perished during the war. This site is smaller then any of the ANZAC cemeteries, but no less important.
The final place we went to was the site of the battle of Chunuk Bair, basically the most important part of the Gallipoli battle. Chunuk Bair is the highest point in Gallipoli and whoever would control it would pretty much control the battle. The Turks held the spot for most of battle and today the site of a memorial to the New Zealand ANZACs, as well as a giant statue for Mustafa Kemel Ataturk, the General who was commander of the Turkish Army (also Turkey's first president, founder of the Republic of Turkey and pretty much their hero).

Once we had finished at Gallipoli, we drove 6 hours back to Istanbul where we checked in to our hotel. We met everyone at Aya Sofia at 7 for our final dinner. We went to a place call Palatium Cafe & Bar, which had really nice food but the best part of it is that it is built over an old city from 327BC. It was really cool and a little creepy being down there. The site isn't completely excavated and it looks like there is a lot to go before it is fully uncovered.

It was pretty spooky down there.

After dinner we went to another place for dessert and pomegranate tea. It was also where we pretty much said our final goodbyes to everyone as we were all leaving at different times. Some to go home, some to go to different places.

And us, who are going to another hotel. Istanbul for another 4 days.

Our tour was awesome though. It was great to meet new people from all over the world. They were really a great bunch of people, as was our tour guide who was fantastic and easy going. Her enthusiasm was nothing I've come across in any tour leader before. We were truly grateful to have someone who was so knowledgeable about her country.

Turkey Tour Day 11 &12: Selcuk

After a brief layover in Pamukkale, we took yet another bus to Selcuk, a 3 hour journey in which we almost we vapourised by a wayward truck. Luckily it only took out the mirror.

One brand new mirror and chocolate milk later we were on our way and arrived in Selcuk just after 1pm.

Selcuk is probably the second biggest town we've been in on this tour next to Istanbul. It pales in comparison to Istanbul in terms of size and people but it is still a fairly large place. We checked into our hotel named Hotel Canberra, allaying any homesickness we might have felt.

Immediately we left to take a bus to Sirince, a small town in the mountains about 15 minutes away from where we stayed. Sirince is a quaint little town built in the 15th Century but abandoned until freed Greek slaves settled there and named it Cirkince, which means "Ugly" to deter any visitors from coming.

The town named was changed in 1926 to Sirince by the Mayor of Izmir.

Sirince is also one of two places in the world that was supposed to be able to survive the Mayan Apocalypse in 2012.

I liked the town, it had a very old school feel to it with cobbled streets and old fashioned buildings with the red clay roof tiles. You can also see the Greek influence in not only the buildings but the people as well. 

We had lunch there (Danni and I had a mince gozleme and then a chocolate gozleme for dessert) and then explored the town. There wasn't much really to explore, there are a lot of markets selling the usual stuff they do everywhere else in Turkey and a church or house, not sure which, of the Virgin Mary after she moved to Ephesus after the death of Jesus.

The church/house was basically a large room but devoid of anything interesting and people had left their own marks on it (ie. graffiti). 

We returned back to our hotel and relaxed for about an hour before meeting again and walking to dinner at a nearby restaurant. After having an awesome lamb shish kebab, and Danni had a Moussaka Casserole, we returned to the hotel and had some much needed sleep.

The next day we awoke and had breakfast before meeting up with a couple of others in the lobby. The morning and most of the afternoon was free so we decided to walk down to the Basilica of St John. The Basilica was constructed in the 6th century and hold the tomb of John the Apostle, who was Jesus's favourite disciple/ass-kisser. 

The ground where St John is buried is amazingly well preserved, but the rest of the basilica is practically in ruins with only few of the buildings partially standing. Still, it is amazing to walk around. The place is pretty big and you can easily spend an hour in there exploring the site. 

There is a lot of ancient greek written on the pillars that are still standing and one of the entrances is mostly in tact. 

Near the basilica is an old fort but people are not allowed to visit it or enter which is a shame, it looks pretty cool and it is huge.

St John Basilica

After the basilica we walked down the road to what is known as the recycled Mosque. It is a mosque that has been built using recycled materials from the basilica and the nearby Temple of Artemis.

It was surprisingly big but nothing special. 

The inside of it was nice as well and it had some tablets with old arabic written on it.

Next we got to visit one of the Ancient Wonders of the World, the Temple of Artemis. Today it isn't really a temple but more of a giant pillar and some other ruins that has been flooded and is occupied by a lot of tortoises. However it is one impressive pillar.

It was built by the Greeks in 550BC though destroyed by a flood. It was rebuilt again before being permanently destroyed by Herostratus, a arsonist/ego-driver nut job who wanted to become famous. Which he succeeded in doing, even though he was executed and was told to have his name stricken from all records.

Of course there is also that one guy who defies Kings and recorded what happened and thus we know his name.

Like I said, the column is huge and the rest of the site is just a few ruins here and there plus the indent of where the building was. Water sits in most of the indentations and there are heaps of little tortoises there.

I find it surprising that this Ancient Wonder of the World is free to enter and hardly advertised.

Worked for us though since there wasn't anyone else there.

The remains of the Temple of Artemis

Once we had finished at the Temple of Artemis, we had lunch at a nearby cafe and returned to our hotel where Danni and I had another nap.

Gee you'd think we were on holidays.

At 4pm we met everyone in the lobby and headed to Ephesus.

Ephesus was amazing. It is a former Greek and Roman settlement of about 250,000 people that built in the first century until it was destroyed by an earthquake in 614AD.

There is still a fair bit remaining, although nothing fully intact and a lot of bits and pieces just laying around however they are still excavating the site and probably will be for a long time to come. They think they have only uncovered 15% of the site.

The small theatre

There is a lot of references to the old greek gods, including a tablet to the Nike, the goddess of Victory. The Heracles/Hercules Nemean gate, a reference to one of the his trials where he slay the Nemean Lion.

They have a few of the main sites though that have been pretty well preserved. One of them being the Odeon, a small 1500 seat theatre that was used for plays and concerts. It was believe this theatre had a roof as well. There is also the Great Theatre, a 25000 seat stadia that was used for theatre, plays, concerts, as well as political and philosophical discussions but gladiator duels. Nearby they found over 100 graves for the gladiators where they learned of their behaviours, including their diets (they were vegetarians) and life expectancy (they lived until the age of 23 - 33 normally).

The Temple of Hadrian

Both theatres were incredible, but the great theatre was awesome. You can see into where the animals were kept, and the tunnels for the gladiators to enter. The back of the stage is partially intact and beyond is a pretty darn good view.

Also worth the visit was the Library of Celsus. The front has been reconstructed after it was discovered but it was initially built in 125BC in honour of Tiberius Polemaeanus, who was a Govenor in the Roman Empire, and paid for by Celsus out of his own money.

Celsus is buried under the Library. The tomb is still there but can't really make it out. The front of the library is huge though. It is 2-storeys high with 4 statues sitting in the reliefs at the entrance. The design was made with the pillars thicker at the bottom and taper at the top to make it look bigger than what it really is.

The library held over 12,000 scrolls but were destroyed by the earthquake.

The entrance to the Library of Celsus

We also visited the Latrines, the public toilets which still has the toilet seats in tact, made from marble. Sometimes, when it was cold, the rich people would send their slaves in to sit on the seats to warm it up. You also had to pay to use it but the middle of the latrine was reserved for entertainment...yes, they had people perform in the toilets.

There were also two temples at the site. The temple of Hadrion, and the temple of Domitian. The temple of Hadrian is dedicated to Hadrian, one of the five good emperors (basically one of five consecutive emperors - Nerva, Trajan, Hadrian, Antoninus Pius and Marcus Aurelius)

The temple has a depiction of Medusa at the front entrance for protection and Androklos shooting a boar, Dionysus, Athena, Apollo and the Amazons.

There is also a depiction of a person on the front that is thought to be of a young boy Hadrian was deeply in love with (eww).

The temple of Domitian is the largest temple on the site of Ephesus. Domitian was an emperor from 81- 96 and nearby is the Fountain/Tomb of Pollio which was dedicated to Sextillius Pollio who built the aqueducts in the city.

The Great Theatre

We spent a good amount of time in Ephesus, it was simply one of the more fascinating places I've been too. It was similar to the ruins on Pamukkale but much larger and naturally much larger with a long history.

I could have spent a lot longer there if I could but unfortunately we had to leave and returned to our hotel. We had dinner at the hotel and went to bed.

Tomorrow we have to get up early to head to Canukkale.

Turkey Tour Day 10: Pamukkale

I'll skip the boring details of how we got to Pamukkale from Dalyan. In a nut shell we left at 10am on a very hot bus and didn't arrive until 3pm.

Long bus trip, but over and done with. Yay.

Now onto the better stuff.

After checking into the hotel we met an hour later in the lobby with the rest of the group and walked to the White Cliffs of Pamukkale. The white cliffs, known as travertine are formed by calcium carbonate that is deposited by the 17 hot springs in the area and then hardens to make the cliffs.
Doesn't sound all the special but once you see them, you'll be amazed. The "cliffs" are like a snow field, they are so white and the water is constantly running down the cliffs into the pools below.

Like a snow field

We walked up the cliffs, most of it you have to walk up barefoot. But the water is nice and cool, especially on a day that was so hot. The hot springs water temperature ranges from 35 to 100 degrees but the water flow is contained and controlled by man so it doesn't flow continuously creating a slushy, slippery rock face that is pretty dangerous to walk on.
You're not really meant to swim in the various pools located on the cliff face but it isn't heavily mandated, though we didn't do it anyway. But they look like natural baths, it is quite incredible.

Once we reached the top of the cliffs, we hit the ancient site of Hierapolis which is situation atop the cliffs. This site is easily my favourite place in Turkey so far.

All those ruins

Hierapolis has existed since around 2BC and the natural springs were used as baths for the citizens as well as a healing place for the sick.
The city was given to Rome after the death of Attalus III in 133 BC and was under Roman rule until 17AD when an earthquake pretty much destroyed the entire city.
While decimated by the earthquake and undiscovered until 1887, the site is amazing.
A lot of is a necropolis with hundreds of sarcophagi scattered around the area. Some of it is still intact, though long empty due to excavation.
We also saw the remains of the entrance gate, and what was a toilet block back in those days. Many of the columns still standing upright and ancient greek inscribed in the stone.
It was all so fascinating. But the best part of it was the Theatre.

Similar in a way to the one we saw in Petra, the Theatre is a bit of a walk uphill but still in amazing condition.
Like most theatres from Roman times, the stage was set below the seats. The stage and backdrop are still in magnificent condition, as are the seats. Unfortunately people cannot get to the stage as it is cordoned off but it was still awesome to see.
Other still standing sites include the Temple of Apollo, who was the main God they worshipped, although the temple is mostly in ruins with only the entrance arch still standing and the Nymphaeum, a shrine dedicated to the water nymphs.
There is also the Roman Baths which the outer shell has been converted into a museum for the area but that was closed so we were not able to get inside unfortunately.

The Nymphaeum.

Night fell quickly, and although I didn't really want to leave, we had to head back down the white cliffs barefoot and get some dinner.

All in all, a good day, even though it was a short one in Pamukkale.

Turkey Tour Day 8 & 9 - Dalyan: This is your Captain Speaking

We awoke from a night on the boat refreshed and went for an invigorating swim. The water was a touch chilly but like I said, invigorating.
Breakfast was served, another traditional turkish breakfast. Can't complain, it's very good. Especially the bananas they cooked.
The captain took us to another spot where we enjoyed another swim in shallower waters. The temperature was interesting because there were a lot of hot and cold pockets and you'd often find yourself comfortably warm and then moving a couple of meters you'd be freezing.
Sadly, no sea turtles here either.

Unfortunately it was time to go and we travelled a short distance to a new dock where we were picked up and driven 3 hours to Dalyan with a brief stop for a kebab at a roadside restaurant that was oddly expensive compared to other places.

We arrived at Dalyan at 3pm and checked into our hotel. This hotel is pretty nice, also good to have air con as it is another hot day today. We met with the group at 5 and explored the small village.
Dalyan is a pretty popular place with a fair few tourists, a lot of those british. It reminds me of Thailand in the sense that there are a lot of bars and sports pubs with multiple TVs advertising the soccer or cricket. But it is nice.
There is a river that runs beside it, nice and full, which apparently is full of crabs. On the other side of that river is a mountain with designs carved into them. They kind of look like the entrance to the Treasury at Petra. These are apparently tombs.
Dalyan is small, and it doesn't take long to walk around it. There are a few dive places too, which is enticing us to come back next year and do a couple of dives. The sites seem pretty nice but unfortunately we don't have time to do it while we are here.

After the walking tour we stopped at a few places where the others wanted to have some drinks and then had dinner at a self-service restaurant. It was quite nice and pretty cheap for a touristy area. We returned to our hotel after that and had a much deserved shower and hit the hay.


The next day we awoke and had the usual Turkish breakfast and headed to the market to get some food for the days events.
We walked to our boat and boarded. The first thing we saw was the tombs in the mountains I mentioned before. The story that goes with this is that King Miletos had a son, Cuanos, was in love with his twin sister, Bybles. He is exiled by the King and the sister cried and her tears created the river we were floating on.

Sounds legit.

Anyway, the tombs are supposed to house old kings who are buried upright so it is easier to get to heaven along with their treasures but they have long since been looted, thus foiling my plans for the evening.

The incest tombs

We meandered down the various canals of the river, separated by reeds, before stopping by a boat who have dead crabs on a string and use it to entice the river/sea turtles to surface. I found it slightly cruel to do such a thing, and I am pretty sure one of the sea turtles was missing a front limb but they did also managed to catch the crabs so it wasn't a complete loss for them.
Also I do love turtles so it was cool getting to see them surface, though it was difficult to get a good picture with everyone crowding around and the reflection of the sun off the water.
This boat also captured live crabs and you could order them to eat, so we put in our order and would have it delivered to us later in the day but in the mean time we continued down river and docked at the mouth where it runs into the ocean.
This beach was atypical of any other beach I've seen in Turkey in that it had sand. Yes sand on a beach, sounds crazy but it's true!
We went for a nice swim, caught sight of some more turtles but failed to capture any on my GoPro as they were once again too far away and I couldn't catch up.

At least I got a halfway decent photo of one

Beginning to know how the Coyote felt.

After an hour and a half at the beach we returned to the boat and received our crabs. Danni had a grilled crab and I have a boiled one (while also sharing).

Fresh crab is the bomb. They are still a massive pain in the ass to get the meat out of, but it is worth it. For $5 it is most definitely worth the hassle.

Delicious.

The next stop was a 40 minute boat ride to a free mud bath and natural sulphur spring. I did not partake in slopping mud all over me as I had enough of that at the Dead Sea and really don't want to take another 3 days getting it all out again but I did hop in the spring.
It was nice. The water ran from little holes in the mountain and formed a natural bath. It stunk like yesterdays eggs but it was nice to relax in, and it is apparently good for you.
When everyone had had their fun playing in the mud we returned to the boat and headed to the lake. So yes, the river is joined at one end by a lake and another end by the ocean. Quite interesting.
And the turtles swim up the river to the lake as well.

Quite fascinating.

Returning to our original starting point we bade farewell to the captain (oh, which for about 2 minutes, it was me since I got to drive the boat).
Feeling a bit exhausted and sun drenched we returned to our room and relaxed a little before having a bite to eat and calling it a night.

el Capitano

Turkey Tour Day 7 - Overnight Boat

Ahh the day I've been waiting for since we signed up for this trip. Naturally the sore throat had abated just in time and I was suffering a mere blocked nose. A nose so-blocked it may as well have been concreted closed for all the air that got through.
Luckily for me I have a life partner who is a nurse and she saw fit to completely ignore my needs and put those of people who had a busted ankle from a few days ago in front.

Women...

Anywho, the day had come and we awoke to another hot day. I got a decent amount of sleep. I feel like I am always playing catch up lately.
Those damn buses and their lack of comfortable sleeping positions.

I had a shower and we had breakfast, another traditional turkish breakfast including a giant fried egg. Tasty indeed. I had another shower, got dressed and did absolutely nothing while Danni played on the laptop. At some point I fell asleep.
I was awoken to the pounding of a gorilla on the door, well it sounded like it. Then I was told not to fall asleep while Danni went to the shop to get us a drink for our drive to the docks. Taking this advice under advisement, I promptly feel asleep for another 15 minutes.
Eventually I woke up and got the bags out and into the van. The van took us along the windy roads of Cirali and into Kekova.
Kekova is the home of Santa Claus, Saint Nicholas.
Saint Nicholas was known for his generosity and "miracles" in the town. He was born into a wealthy family and would leave gold coins in the shoes of people who left them outside. Another story is he would drop bags of coins down the chimney of a man who had three daughters but was too poor to have a dowry for them, so he could not marry them off and they would become prostitutes. Nicholas would do this every year for three years and the father was able to marry of his daughters and provide the dowry.
This, plus Coca Cola in the 1960s, invented the idea of the current Santa Claus in the red suit and jumping down chimneys and flying reindeer we have today.

We browsed around the town, they have a statue of St. Nicholas, before we boarded our wooden boat and began our trip around the Mediterranean Sea.

Jealous yet?

Boy was it amazing. The water was flat and clear, the surrounding mountains were panoramic and it was simply peaceful. We swam with the sea turtles (well I did, no one else got near them), the water was so warm. I went exploring amongst the rocks, seeing all manner of different, smaller fish. We were taken to different locations and allowed to swim, unfortunately, no other sea turtles were present in these areas.
After the swim we drove past the sunken "city" which was basically a bunch of stones of a former village that was washed away by the water. It was fascinating to see, though I am not sure how they lived since most of it was on the side of a hill. I guess smart decisions weren't something they were known for back then since they built on the side of a hill and had their village washed away.

A man's home is his castle 

We went past an old castle on a hill, on it's own island, while mostly in ruins, the outer wall still remained and it still dominated the hill and the (liveable) houses beneath it. The houses are interesting in that no one else is allowed to build there anymore so it is pretty much it for as long as the Turkish Government says so. We stopped at this island for fresh, home-made, ice cream and it was delicious.
I had peach and banana, it was so creamy and so fruity.

There's a great ice-cream shop on this island

Afterwards we rode along the sea until night fell and we had fresh, grilled fish for dinner. Also tasty, before we settled in for the night on the top deck of our boat with a foam mattress, a blanket and nothing but the stars and the moon.

It was a great nights sleep.

The moon...if you've never seen it before

Turkey Tour Day 6 - Cirali & Olympos

I really hate these overnight buses. It is practically impossible to get any decent amount of sleep what with the uncomfortableness of the seats, people not closing the curtains and the when you finally do get some shut eye, the bus driver decides that's the best time to stop for a toilet break and turn all the lights back on.

This, on top of getting yet another cold, didn't make for a pleasant beginning.

But what can I do? It is what it is and it's the last overnight bus ride.

Cirali is beautiful. It is situated in the mountainous regions of southwest region of Turkey but also boasts a secluded beach that you wouldn't think were possible considering the surrounding area.
We first stopped for breakfast and had a traditional Turkish breakfast which includes bread, olives, tomatoes, fried egg, cheese etc. I downed a fair bit of honey tea to try to drive my cold away. The restaurant we ate at had its own natural water run off and we got to drink fresh water and yes, it tastes like mineral water.
After breakfast we gratefully arrived at our modest hotel and had a much needed shower before we headed to the beach.
The beach is very nice, although there is no sand but small rocks which is a massive pain in the ass to walk over, especially when it is 37 degrees and they are boiled. But, troopers that we are, persevered and swam in the warm water. Unfortunately the marine life is bare there and saw only a few little fish.

View from the top of Olympos

Feeling the effects of the past 12 hours, we headed back to the hotel and had a much needed nap and then hanging around the hotel, playing with their new puppy and table tennis before we headed to Olympos. Not to be confused with the one in Greece, this Olympos was home to a temple to Hephaestus, the God of Blacksmiths and Volcanos, but also the Chimaera (it is also know as Mount Chimaera).
We had to walk a kilometer up a rocky/unstable path (that some of us didn't make) to reach the Chimaera vents and the former temple.

One of the many vents on the top of the hill

The vents are pretty cool, they are natural forming flames coming up from the rocks. The ancient greeks believed it to be a Chimera, a fire-breathing monster with the head of a lion, a body of a goat and a serpents tail, that was buried seven levels deep the mountain by Bellerophon, who was believed the be the greatest hero and slayer of monsters.
It's pretty amazing the see the fire coming up from the rocks like that, almost like a permanent campfire, and we actually tinkered with the idea of bringing marshmallows.
While I liked the fire rocks, I found the former building/temple more interesting. I found a stone with ancient greek writing on it and also paintings from byzantine people who lived in it after the greeks did. The structure is mostly in ruins but you can make out parts of it and it's fun to imagine what it was like living there back in those times.

My ancient greek is a little rusty but I am pretty sure it reads: Tupac lives

After the trip to Olympos, we had dinner at a local restaurant and then headed to bed.

It's definitely a fixer-upper

Turkey Tour Days 3 to 5 - Cappadocia

The bus ride isn't fun at all. It's really hard to get a decent nights sleep and every time you fall asleep, it would be time for the a toilet break and bus would stop and the lights would come on. And for some reason, the places where the buses stop are crowded and noisy, even at 3am.
They also make you pay for the bathroom, though I managed to sneak in twice without paying. Yeah, yeah it might seem stingy or wrong but the state of those toilets...they didn't deserve a cent.

Anyway, we managed to arrived in Goreme, the little town we are staying in for the next couple of days in the Cappadocia region.
Luckily enough we were able to drop our bags off and check in. We immediately met with the rest of the group and explored a little part of the town.
Goreme is really nice, the weather is nice, probably a maximum of 30 - 32 and the village has an old fashioned feel to it. We stopped at a local establishment for breakfast.
I had a egg, tomato, onion and green pepper dish called Menemen. It is all mixed together like scrambled eggs with those ingredients. It was incredible.
I didn't think I would like it, but boy was I wrong. It seems simple to make, might have to give it a go at home one day.

Completely exhausted at this stage, we went back to our room and I crashed for 3 hours. I woke up still feeling like I'd gone 12 rounds with Mike Tyson but had to drag myself out of bed to make it to the Turkish Bath.
Now Turkish baths are worth the money (and they're not expensive). The process is different to anything I've done before.
First you get changed into little more than a loincloth and thongs (footwear, not underwear!) before you go and have a quick cool shower and then jump into a 70 degree sauna for 15 minutes.

Yes, that's right. 70 degrees.

We were struggling in there.

Thankfully the guy got us out and we had another quick shower to wash the sweat off and then we lay on a table and these guys (yeah yeah sounds gay) rub something like an exfoliating glove over your body (which comes out black...eww).
Then comes to bubble massage (yeah, it's not sounding any less gay right?) where they, somehow, create these tiny bubbles in what looks like a pillow case and drop them all over your body before the massage.
The guy I had was pretty good until he did this weird thing with my thigh which ended up giving me the same affect as having my nut flicked, and ladies, as a guy, getting your nut flicked rates up there with pedophiles and Justin Bieber of the most hated things ever. Once the massage was complete we were drenched with cold water and then we got to jump in the jacuzzi. Pretty sure we sat in there for about 30 minutes.
The water was lukewarm but after the rest of the Turkish Bath, it is nice to relax and you feel freaking awesome afterwards. And your skin feels smooth and soft.

Once the bath was over we returned to the hotel to get changed into something cleaner and rest for a little before we headed a short way to have dinner with a local Goreme family.
The family lived in a pretty old house, but I guess it was nice for what it was. It was made of stone and it kept the house cool on a warm day. It also keeps it warm on cold days as well.
It also had a nice view of the mountains.

The food was delicious though. We were treated to a wheat soup, salads, cheese gozleme (kind of like a cheese crepe) and bread for dessert and then a mince and eggplant main and baklava for dessert.
All in all it was a nice meal and it was fun talking with the family, even with the language barrier.

We returned back to the hotel after and got some much needed sleep.

Day 2 saw us head to the Open Air Museum where we got to explore the rock-cut churches of Cappadocia. As much as I have seen churches during the past month, these were amazing. They were cut out of stone, like a lot of Cappadocia, and still relatively well preserved for something existing since the 2nd century. Inside them are depictions of scenes of the bible (Jesus birth, last meal, etc) and also still have some skeletons on display in the tombs.
We were not allowed to take photos inside (not sure why) but the history of the area is that a large Christian group had converged in the area around the 2nd century and, like they all seemed to do back then, they built churches and nunneries and living quarters.
All in all, it was worth visiting the open air museum as it was pretty interesting.

After the museum we headed to another bunch of homes built in caves, these ones not as well preserved as the ones in the open air museum and these were not churches either. Due to rain and wing, these buildings were quickly eroded as the stone is actually formed from lava from a volcanic explosion centuries ago.
The best thing about this place was the ability to climb on top of the mountains and explore above all the homes. There were some amazing views of the valley.

Next we drove to Avanos, which is pretty much the pottery capital of the world. A lot of earthenware pottery is made in Avanos and they have a large number of pottery people (not sure of the official name of these people). We were able to visit one and got a demonstration of how they make their pottery. Bringing back memories of primary school, the artist made a bowl and a jug out of clay. The whole process usually takes about 25 days to finish. They create the pottery, let it sit for something like 3 weeks in a controlled room (even the slightest air movement can bend or change the shape of clay) before they take it to an outdoor fire place where they fire it to a precise temperature for something like 7 hours before it is all good and ready. Even the slightest degree change and can ruin their artwork.

We were shown around his shop and all his work. It's pretty impressive, but not really my thing.

Once we were done in Avanos we were taken to the Kaymalki Underground City. This "city" is literally underground and pretty much a rabbit warren for people who were probably no taller than rabbits. Now I am not the tallest guy in the world but even I had to crouch to fit in. They pretty much lived underground all their life, probably receiving the award for worlds palest people. The citizens were Christians and lived in a time when they were persecuted so they would move underground to avoid it. They pretty much had all they needed down there, even gathering the water from the underground lake that sits below the city, even today.

The living room. Even had a space cut out for the TV

The city contain mostly storage rooms, kitchens, a church (of course) and cellars. There were giant slabs for doors that lead from above ground to the tunnels, used to escape anyone wanting to harm them and natural ventilation for air (and smelly farts).
We travelled through the tunnels in an uncomfortable crouch, most of us bumping our heads at one point. I had to feel bad for Nick, our Swedish friend who is about 6'3 in height. With the amount of crouching he did he is now probably 6'1.

We left the claustrophobia city and headed to Uchisar castle. A castle built into the rock and the highest point of Cappadocia. We climbed to the top of the castle for the stunning views of Cappadocia. Truly worth the climb.

Pretty alright view eh?

Day 3 was a relaxing day. We had the opportunity to try horse riding or a sunset walk but we were still exhausted and decided it was worth just relaxing at the hotel for today. Try to catch up on some rest.

We checked out of the hotel at midday but didn't leave Cappadocia until 11pm, in between we did have dinner at a nice restaurant.
It was time to catch another overnight bus.

And the worlds fattest camel

Turkey Tour Day 1 & 2 - Gooble Gooble, We're in Turkiye.

Ahh the fresh smell of Europe. First time ever for me. Even if it is part-Asia, part-Europe. I'm still claiming it as another continent I have visited (although we are going there next year).
Danni has been here before, her bragging stops now. We're even.

Turkey is a far cry from what we've been living though the past 2-and-a-bit weeks. Not to say the Middle East was bad but I didn't see a blade of green grass or a cloud during our time there. Hitting Istanbul, it's all there.
Clouds, grass, the weather is cooler, it even looks like it could rain.

Istanbul is pretty cool though. We spent our first day there exploring the surrounding area and walking to the shopping centre that was about 3-4 km away (next Olympics I am going to destroy any Kenyan who dares compete against me with all this walking I am doing).
The mall was like any other mall, even similar to Australia. Yet cheaper, which is always good. I was looking for a singlet since I decided it would be awesome to leave them at home when you're visiting places that are in summer all the time. And for some reason, singlets do not exist in Turkey. No idea why, but I could not find one anywhere in the mall.
But it was a good way to waste a few hours and we headed back and browsed some shops and eventually found a singlet...which is actually used as underwear but I wore it proudly. Like Superman does.

We hung around the hotel for a bit, lost Danni's prescription sunglasses somewhere between the Mall and the hotel room. Turned the room upside down trying to find them but no luck whatsoever.
Disappointing but what can you do?

This day was technically the first day of our tour, but really it was just meeting the group we were touring with and the tour leader. Our tour leader, Isil (pronounced Michelle without the M) is nice and very energetic, which is refreshing. She is also incredibly knowledgable about Turkey, which is also handy.

The group is a wide variety of nationalities, a welcome change from just having Aussies and Americans. Though the Aussies outnumber the rest (5 of us), we also have people from America, New Zealand, England, Sweden, Belgium and Japan (who lives in Canada).
After the meet and greet we went for a little walk to a local restaurant where we had dinner and got talking to the others before heading back to our hotel for much needed sleep.

The Blue Mosque from afar

Day 2 of our tour began with breakfast and a tram ride to the Hippodrome, a place where the Ben Hur's of the ancient world did their chariot races. Most of it is gone now, or paved over. The original track is 4 meters below what we stood on and they had something like a 60,000 seat stadia for people to watch and cheer on the chariots. However there are still remnants of the Byzantine days with the half broken Serpent Column, installed to celebrate the Greek victory over the Persians, and the Obelisk of Thutmose III. An Egyptian statue brought over by Theodosius the Great. The statue is in wonderful condition and the Egyptian hieroglyphics haven't faded at all.

The Obelisk of Thutmose III

Nearby was the Blue Mosque. One of the many Mosque's in Istanbul but this one is most famous for the insides being blue. Due to the incredible number of people waiting in line (a bunch of cruise boats arrived) we did not go in. Same with Aya Sofya, located across the courtyard from the Blue Mosque, it is a Mosque with a lot of history. It initially began as a Greek Orthodox church and then turned into a Mosque in 1453 when the Ottomans took over and then became a museum in 1935.
We could have gone in later in the day, but we decided we have 4 days in Istanbul after the tour we can visit it then.

The Serpent pillar

After the mosques we walked to Suleymaniye Mosque (yes, another one). Built in 1550 by the genius architect of Mimar Sinan, it is a mix of Islamic and Byzantine architecture and has 6 minarets made of gold.
Inside it looks like a normal mosque, quiet and comfortable and the main area is huge. The impressive part of the design is that the acoustics are so impressive that the Imam doesn't need to use a microphone for everyone in the room to hear.

All them acoustics.

We stopped for lunch, we had a local dish of rice and salad and a bean soup (which I didn't eat) and then we headed for the Bazaars.
The Bazaars are incredible. The smells of the spices, the crowds, the merchants trying to sell their wares. It was insanely busy as well, the people were crammed in together, pushing past one another trying to get what they want.
That's one thing about Turkey, they don't mind pushing inline when they're in a store.

Once we were finished in the Bazaar we had free time to ourselves. It was a chance to visit the Mosques that we missed but we decided to explore a little more on the way back to our hotel. Being my first foray into Europe, I was fascinated by it all. It's so different to any city I've been in before and Istanbul is so busy.
We basically followed the tram track all the way home, stopping in for some shopping (2-for-1 shorts for the win) and had some dinner (kebabs) before we hoped on the bus for a 12 hour overnight ride to Cappadocia.

Final thoughts on Jordan

Our last days in Jordan wasn't very eventful. We (sadly) left Aqaba on a bus that takes 4 hours, of which we had to argue we bought two tickets because apparently buying the tickets online and then ringing to confirm really isn't enough of an effort to show you want two tickets.
But in the end we got them.

The bus was pretty cool. It was air-con'd, had a TV although all it showed was some dude in Egypt talking in Arabic about something to do with whatever the hell is going on over there that saw our trip cancelled (yes, still pissed about that) so I just read my book, and Danni played Solitaire.

We arrived in Amman and had to speak to a few taxi drivers to get them to take us to this magical place called a hotel. To some, it was like we were asking them to take us to Narnia, and another guy would not take us because we didn't need him to take us to the airport the next day.

Finally we got a taxi driver who was willing to take us, and after 400 circles around the same streets we finally found this hotel. Boy, what a dump that place was.

No air-con (automatic 1-star rating for me), no hot water...heck we were lucky to get water at some point and a window that didn't close which was totally awesome when it was air-raid time, especially when they do their midnight one. The only saving grace for that place was it was near a pretty nice kebab shop.

Anyway, we really didn't do much in Amman, we were there for not even 24-hours before we went to the airport and waited 5 hours in a refreshingly cool (ie air-con'd) Queen Alia Airport.

Oh and the flight was delayed to Istanbul.

But back to my thoughts on Jordan. I didn't do this with Dubai or Israel because I didn't really think of it until now but I thought I would try to sum up the places we are going.

Amazing, isn't it. The Treasury is pretty cool too.

Jordan is an interesting country. It is dirty as hell, also hot as hell. Hell they may as well call it Hell. Ok, not really on the last part. It is a pretty cool country and the people are nice. I think that is the most important thing. They make you feel welcome, well most of them, and they are polite and will try to help. This was evident as soon as we got to Madaba.
It feels so long ago we were there but it was only a week-and-a-bit ago when we were. It's a small place but it is central to a lot of the cool things we saw. The food was incredible though.
Petra was probably my second favourite place in Jordan. The walk to the Monastery, while tough, was worth it to see it. As well as the Treasury. They were both worth the entrance fee and putting up with a dickhead hotel manager.
Wadi Rum was interesting. It was interesting to see how the Bedouin live their lives out in the desert and sleeping under the stars was something everyone should do if they get a chance. Sand or not. It's worth it.

You also get some pretty neat sunsets

Aqaba was my favourite. Any place that has diving is going to be high on my list but the Red Sea is a divers' dream. The beach sucked, it wasn't really sand but rocky particles but the water and underneath. OhMehGewd!!!
Best place I have dived in my not-so-long diving life.
And Amman, well Amman was kind of similar to Palestine and Israel. The buildings all look the same and they are bunched together and the traffic is insane. I have no idea what kind of driver education they do there but I am pretty sure lesson 1 is:

"This is a horn. Use it. Use it constantly. If you haven't used it for any longer than 5 seconds, you have failed. Incessant honking is the lifeblood of any Jordanian driver. Use it, press it, caress it. It is a cause greater than any Taliban-lead suicide bombing."

Yes, they honk a lot. It is annoying.

Simply awesome.