TURKISH DELIGHTS - Uphill all the way!
Our Turkey Odyssey started in Istanbul with Aya Sofia and the Blue Mosque, sampling the food and yes, no resistance to the many market stalls! A beautiful friendly city that
is divided by the Bosphorus into Europe and Asia. A river cruise showed the city off to it's advantage and gave us an opportunity to mix with the locals when we disembarked for lunch. A visit to the huge spice markets was a little daunting but we did eventually find our way out.
On our way to Canakkale we visited Gallipoli, which has a huge significance to us Australians. In fact it is a pilgrimage most of us would like to make at some time.The stories told relating to both the Turks and the Aussie's are quite incredible. Each side helped each other in the 1915 war even though we were enemies. They would throw food to each other and help the wounded on both sides. It was in fact pretty much a teenage war with both the Turks, Aussie's and New Zealanders being between 16 and 22. A few were older but the majority were hardly more than youths. This started our ANZAC Day which we celebrate on the 25th April every year and it grows stronger with time. After visiting Anzac Cove and the war graves we crossed the Dardanelles by ferry to Canakkale.
We explored the ancient city of Troy, but without a guide it wouldn't have been ideal. The local bus took us to Ayvalik where we stayed for two nights in a lovely old turkish house. The town was charming and a local couple sat and had tea with us and recommended a place for dinner. By sharing a taxi we were lucky enough to meet a lovely girl named Burcu Eke who is a television presenter and she joined us for dinner. It was a lovely evening with wonderful conversation and food along with some local music and dancing. After our turkish coffee, Burcu read our fortunes in our cups, very interesting!
Another local bus took us to Selcuk where we spent the night. On the way we explored Ephesus from the 11th Century.
The marble streets were once trodden on by Anthony and Cleopatra, pretty impressive. The library, shown here was magnificent as were the mosaics of the rich peoples villas.
Pamukkale was our next destination and for me, strangely enough, it was my highlight. Uphill again but we saw Hierapolis on the way which would have been a massive city. Then we reached the natural pools which were formed by a spring of high calcium bicarbonate on top of the mountain. It was the most fascinating thing I had ever seen and I loved walking through them although a tad slippery.
Fethiye and Oludeniz where there was a three kilometre long beach described as the Eden bestowed by God to the world. A local bus took us to Kayakoy where we started a 3 hour trek straight up I might add, scrambling up and down over rocks that wouldn't stay still! It took us to a view point overlooking the turquoise lagoon then down to the beach. We drove on to Kas then Ucagiz to board the boat for a couple of nights to cruise along the Turquoise Coast where there were sunken cities. This boat was a local boat where we slept on deck on mattresses pretty much all together. We stopped in lovely coves to spend the night and had the opportunity to explore nearby Simena Castle. The Captain and his wife provided the most delicious meals. Moving on to Cirali where we stayed a night and once again climbed a mountain to see Chimera where eternal flames burn in the rocks. More ruins to explore ( Phaselis). Antalya was the next town which had a small marina and an old castle set amidst a modern city.
Egirdir was one of my favourite places, we arrived by taking a local bus and when I talk about local buses they usually serve tea and soft drinks along with cake so it wasn't a hardship by a long chalk. Egirdir is the name of the lake and the town is situated on the shore. The freshwater lake has an area of 482 square kilometre's. While there we visited a little farming village, where else but on top of a mountain, and it was delightful. It was a 6 km walk back to Egidir but downhill all the way! Next the long awaited Cappodocia region and the town of Goreme for three nights. It was formed thousands of years ago as volcanic ash settled and hardened into a spectacular landscape. We go to the top of the trail (naturally) to walk through White Valley amongst fruit gardens and vineyards and arrive in Uchisar and in the afternoon walk in Pigeon Valley, although don't be fooled by "valley" it is mostly up before we get down!
It was in Goreme we had an original turkish bath. The procedure is to get undressed and wrapped in a sort of sarong to reach the bath area where you have a shower then get placed on a hot marble circular bench. Then you are taken to the marble basin area where you are scrubbed to an inch of your life and placed back on the hot marble. Here the ladies cover you with soapsuds and give you a massage, then you have another shower and get ready to go into the sauna with a face mask. Sitting in the sauna for as long as you are able to stand the heat, another shower then into a jacuzzi. You can go back into the sauna if you want. Once finished you wrap up again and go and relax with some apple tea. I loved the massage but not much else, I was in the minority though. The next morning we arose very early 
to have a hot air balloon ride over the amazing landscape. There must have been around 50 balloons in the air at one time. It was a surreal journey and one certainly worth doing. Love Valley or Viagra Valley was, I am sure one of God's more humourous creations with the help of nature over centuries. After the balloon flight we were on shanks pony again for an (uphill ) hike through the beautiful red valley. Where churches were carved in caves and burial sites in the sides of mountains. Amazing stuff. That night we enjoyed the hospitality of a turkish family who served an array of delicious food.
Just when we thought we couldn't be surprised or amazed anymore we visited one of the 36 underground cities which was distinctly impressive by it's sheer size. Something like 10 levels and could hold around 10,000 people. Our journey to Cappadocia came to an end and we head for Ankara, the capital of Turkey via the large salt lake to catch our evening overnight train back to Istanbul. The overnight compartment is a four bunk shared compartment but very comfortable. Back in Istanbul we visited the Grand Bazaar which was ok but not as good as the spice markets I thought. The building is original though. So a last supper at a lovely but maybe a bit pricey seafood restaurant and the last taste of raki sliding down my throat and my holiday adventure came to an end. All through the land the food was very good and the fish was excellent along with my favourite turkish pida. You had to run the gauntlet of restaurateurs enticing you into their eating places in Istanbul but that was half the fun!
Thanks are extended to Ergun our knowledgable and passionate local guide throughout the trip.