Istanbul
The overnight-bus from Goreme to Istanbul was even more brutal than we could have imagined. Sheer hell. Not only did the driver insist on cranking the heat, but the bus broke down and we had to make a swap in the middle of the night. It was about two-degrees outside. And in the change-over bus, with a new driver, the heat was again turned up to eleven. No wonder everyone is always sick and coughing up all kinds of different colours in Turkey. Rapidly changing body temperatures screw you up. Still, at that point, we thought the pools of sweat that were pouring off us were going to be the...
Read MoreGallipoli
From Istanbul in the tourist area of Sultanahmat, Turkey, Lorna and I used a company called New Deal Travel Agency to book our tour of Gallipoli. They also arranged a stay at a nice budget hotel called Serenity Hotel (where you can also access the internet and fantastic breakfast from their sister hotel, the Sokullupasa) and a cheap airport transfer later on. At 6 a.m. a mini-bus rocked up with about twelve other Aussies and drove us for five hours to Anzac Cove in Gallipolli. The bus ride was long and uncomfortable, but if you’re an Australian you really need to make the visit. Anzac...
Read MoreGoreme
I write this article on a plane bound for Egypt after having spent 18 days in Turkey. Although I have a few more articles to write about this surprisingly magical country, I can tell you right now… Goreme is going to be hard to beat. As with most of Turkey, Lorna did most of the planning and I didn’t have a clue what to expect of Goreme. Basically we had just experienced the blissful tree-houses, ruins and Cirili Beach of Olympus and asked the management to organize a bus later that day to take us there. We were told the bus wouldn’t arrive until 5 p.m. but we’d be...
Read MoreOlympos
I’ve got to say, straight-up, that I would never have thought to visit Turkey if Lorna hadn’t suggested it. Even then, I said I wasn’t all-that interested but would go if she did all the research and planning. She did just that and I will forever be thankful to her for it. You see, Turkey is a weird and wonderful place and as Lorna said to me during our first week in this amazing country, “Every day here is a surprise!” From the moment we arrived in Kusadasi in Turkey from Greece, it was all-systems-go. I mentioned in an earlier Turkey post that I had instant...
Read MoreFethiye
Fethiye is a small town in the south of Turkey, on the Mediterranean coast. We arrived after a five-hour bus ride from Selcuk, to Aydin then Fethiye. The good buses in Turkey have comfy seats, TVs on the back of every seat and a dude serving you tea and coffee every hour. It’s like being on a plane but heaps better because you can look out at the scenery. Fethiye is a major tourist town as it’s the hub for a lot of cool tours and island cruises. Unfortunately this also means accommodation prices are high and you get a small, stuffy, run-down hotel room with stained carpet for your...
Read MorePummakale
Pummakale is nature’s answer to, “what would a water park look like, if it wasn’t made by man?” Dozens of calcium-rich pools called travertines have formed on various hillsides in the south-west of Turkey called the Denizli Provence. The travertines are said to have formed before the 2nd century B.C. due to left-over minerals from natural hot-springs in the area, which are also said to possess healing properties. An ancient Greek city called Hierapolis was constructed above the springs sometime during the early 3rd century B.C. so the locals...
Read MoreEphesus
After spending two and a half months in Italy and Greece, nothing could have prepared me for the culture-shock of Turkey. Here’s something to keep in mind if you’re planning on visiting Turkey after Greece . . . ferries travelling between the Greek Islands slow down dramatically in October and if you don’t get off the islands by Halloween, you’re done for. Doomed. Trapped, even. Lorna and I literally caught the last ferry from Samos in Greece to Kusadasi in Turkey on October 31st. We weren’t trying to walk the line, it was just that we found it...
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