Day 9 Selcuk: We visited the farmers market in town yesterday and it is a highlight. The sights and sounds are wild. We buy a huge watermelon for US$2, and lug it around for an hour. Robin feeds 2 lost kittens mini hot dogs she bought in the supermarket, and gets some milk from a shop owner. No, you can't take them home with us. We meet a Belgian lady who runs a carpet shop, but also makes mini carpets for doll houses. Finally, a carpet we can afford!! But each one takes her 3 days, so maybe it is still [View Full Entry]

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Day 8, Efesus: Today is the day we hit the site. We walk over from town, a pleasant stroll. A parking lot hawker tries to get us to take his bus to the upper entrance, with the line “this makes it a better tour”, but “with only one small stop at a gift shop on the way”. We stand politely until he goes after his next victims, and then we bolt for the lower entrance. By this time we have learned that although there are lots of genuinely friendly people in Turkey, you always have to be aware of the “hidden [View Full Entry]

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Day 7: Return to Selcuk: Joe was here is November 1990, 19 years ago! The city has really grown since then. Our hotel does not have the promised pool, but we notice the hotel next door does have one. We are pre-paid, so we can’t switch lodging, so we have lunch at Hotel “A” and make friends with the owners, who allow us to use their pool! Good news! But first…time to check out Selcuk. We rent a scooter (quite a shift from Joe’s 1100cc sportbike back home) and ride out to Pamacuk (the beach), and then head up to the [View Full Entry]

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Day 6, Cappadoccia: We rent our mountain bikes from Osman and Mad-Kadir, two fun loving Turkish guys. Before we head out we have the mandatory teas, and then we hit the climb to Eskeshir before it gets too hot. It’s a nice climb, and we get a few shouts of encouragement as we get close to the castle. The castle is OK, a little rough. We stop and see the green Willys wagon on the way down, ‘cuz Joe has a similar old Jeep back home. Then we head out to the Rose Valley, which is best seen by Mtn. Bike! [View Full Entry]

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Day 5, Cappadoccia: We take an organized tour of the underground city, valley, and cliff dwellings. Robin buys her first (and only) real souvenir on the way out of Goreme, a black tablecloth. The underground city is a real challenge for those scared of confined spaces (no names mentioned). You realize how tough life was in those days, and how fearful defenseless people can be. But it is a memorable experience. There are some nice young Korean guys in our group, one of which has a really banged up arm, the other with a nasty limp. They had rented a scooter [View Full Entry]

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Day 4: The 12 hour overnight bus ride wasn’t so bad. Poor Robin stumbled out of the bus in her sleep at a 5 minute stop in who knows where, and found a toilet. The Kent bus seems to only stop at the most awful bus stations. We arrive Goreme semi-awake, and find our hotel. The owner is really great, always willing to sit and chat, and suggest things to do. We get breakfast, and head to the open air museum. We meet a lot of other tourists, Russian, Dutch, Canadian, and Korean. Afterwards we take a hike in the Zimi [View Full Entry]

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Day 3: Time to dive into the Grand Bizarre! The front part is pretty sterile, a Turkish version of a local mall, but the outer fringes are more “genuine”. Robin makes the mistake of saying something other than NO to a carpet sales guy, and we get caught in a tornado of carpet shops, salesman, private viewing rooms, and end up with “John”. Robin explains we are not going to buy a carpet, so he plays the psychological card. BTW, did I mention Robin is a psychologist? The duel is interesting, and I keep mumbling “you are heading down a slippery [View Full Entry]

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Day 2: We re-arrange our entire trip this morning, eliminating Konya, and adding Efesus! This takes about 1 hour at a very helpful travel agent in Sultanahmet, but it all works out. We cancel our Meram train ride that took me hours to book, and sign up for TWO overnight bus rides, 12 hours each! That ought to be fun. The manager of the travel agent complains about people who come in and point to the blue mosque, the only mosque in the world with 6 minarets, and ask “Is that the Blue Mosque?”. We head up to the Grand Bizarre, [View Full Entry]

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Day 1: We arrive Istanbul, and take a train and tram into the city center from the airport. We wonder around in circles trying to find our hotel using s collection of maps and Joe’s Turkish, and eventually realize that the tram dropped us off much much closer to the hotel than we had expected. Bags away, and we see Big Blue and Big Red. We get dinner down near the Serkisi train station, and see the Whirling Dervishes at the train station that night. The lack of sleep causes Joe’s head to tip similar to that of the Dervishes, but [View Full Entry]

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