After the usual excellent breakfast we took the minibus to Sirince. They run every half hour and it is not far - not far as the crows fly (and there are a whole lot of crows here) but it's a steep and winding road up a mountain. Sirince is pretty - and takes advantage of this. It's full of little stalls selling honey, fruit wine and olive oil soap. There are also a load of restaurants and pansiyonlar and we were addressed in nothing but French. It's famous for being pretty, Greek and producing wine. A lot of the houses have [View Full Entry]

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Today has been a blast of fun. Went riding, through Kusadasi and some smaller villages to the Millipark, (National Park). The ride there and back was pretty good, then we got to the park. A small winding paved road, with mountains on one side and the sea on the other, the whole area heavily forested with pines, oak, plane, fig, olive and various other trees, frequently with vines growing between them. It really was vastly beautiful. We stopped a couple of times so I could better take in the scenery, difficult when riding. One stop was near a small beach backed [View Full Entry]

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Today has been fantastic. We went out riding. There were some great roads, wide and winding through mountains, able to go fast enough to stay cool. I got stung by a wasp through my t-shirt, my leather was open, but that is no big deal. We managed to visit 4 ancient sites. Magnesia which we came to by chance, and the three planned for, Didim because of the fantastic Apollo oracle, Miletus because it is there and interesting, and Pirene to take in the stunning views and position, and the proper theatre. Needless to say we took lots of pictures. More [View Full Entry]

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Today there was excellent breakfast followed by a trip to the local weekly market. The market here is not all that large (compared to, say, Ayvalik) but we did find all one would reasonably expect. Seasonal vegetables, fruit, herbs, cheese, honey, clothes, houseware and spices. We bought paprika and pul biber. We picked up the rucksack and dropped off the spices before catching the minibus to Ephesus. The site was extremely crowded - we think a large cruise ship had docked in Kusadasi was taking people around, one give away being the crew members in naval whites. Many from the ship [View Full Entry]

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The day started with the apricot and the anti-apricot. I'm not going to explain this. Be puzzled. We saw a place for sale in Selcuk, a house in the old town, on the hill. It was rather run down to say the least, probably needs a new roof, new floorboards, new stairs, new windows and new doors. It was quite fascinating and certainly had potential, and some of the rooms were remarkably cool which is a benefit of stone walls and floors. At the right money I might have considered it, but the owner really wanted way too much especially since [View Full Entry]

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The best things to say about the ride today are 1. No mishaps 2. We made it to Selcuk We checked in at the Homeros, a really nice and friendly place on the hill. Had tea, ate gozleme (a sort of pancake). We are going to be here for a few days, some day trips planned, some on the bike and maybe some on the dolmus. We had a little wander around town, looked at some places. This is the area we are thinking of retiring to in a few years. We ended up at the old Artemis temple, it is [View Full Entry]

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I found a new road surface today, something to add to gravel, rock, and the rest. Tar. It is going to be fun trying to get the tar off the bike when I get home, For now I am not going to worry about it. For once we got to go riding without the luggage which is nice, the bike copes well with the luggage but it was good to leave it, and the windshield behind for a day. Most of the ride was fun, apart from the short bit of roadworks and tar, and the urban highway around Denizli. Urban [View Full Entry]

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After a rather good breakfast, bread, olives, melon, watermelon, cheese, omlette, washed down with lots of coffee, we spent all day wandering around the travertines, and the ruins of Heiropolis. I managed to not put sunblock an a bit of my legs with the inevitable result, a rather red patch which is a little sore. Oh well. Hilary managed to miss a bit as well, but it is all minor so nothing to worry about. We took the short way up, a path over the travertines which requires shoes to be removed. It is an easy enough walk and the stone [View Full Entry]

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It was a long and hot ride from Bergama to Pamukkale but all went pretty much to plan in that we did not get lost or have any sort of mishap. We took the inland route via Sahili, more direct and less highway. There were a couple of events of note, firstly roadworks, there was a short bit of unsurfaced road and gravel which returned to a reasonable surface after a few hundred yards, I thought great, through that, then.... Back to unsurfaced road, loose gravel and dust, it just stretched into the distance as far as the eye could see. [View Full Entry]

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After riding for the last 9 days it was nice to have a break and do tourist stuff. The tourist stuff being wandering around the ruins of Bergama. These are both extensive and impressive. We took many photographs. I was wondering why people go to visit these places. I'm pretty sure that I know why I do. I am interested in history. I am particularly interested in classical and pre-classical history. I like to wander round ruins and soak up the atmosphere, trying to imagine what it was like to live there, live through the events we know from history. I [View Full Entry]

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