Blogs from Aegean, Turkey, Middle East - page 75

Well, since my little stay longer in Ayvalik not much has happened. The road from Ayvalik to Bergama was quite nondescript and flat (don't mind a bit of that truth be told) which meant I got in to Bergama town around 3ish - just in time for a little afternoon tea of baklava and sweet black tea. It hit the spot but was way short of my wonderful baklava experience in Ayvalik. But it did give me the energy to continue my search for the Athena Pension which, thankfully, was quite well signposted and was run by a very congenial guy, Aydin. Bergama is known, amongst other things, for the ruins of the ancient city of the kings of Pergamon. A city that in its heyday, boasted a population of 150.000. As ruins go, Bergama was ... read more

Kaan is one well-traveled 7-month-old. He has traveled by plane, train, tram, car, bus, ferry, metro, pram, and bicycle. A lot of people stop traveling once they have children... or they find a babysitter. We take Kaan with us. It's not always easy, we admit, but we live in a foreign country and at the very least must visit our parents. Now, of course we realize every baby is different, but here are our experiences with Kaan. Some of them might be universal... Forget about schedules Once a baby is a few months old, it may actually have some sort of sleeping schedule, whether self-imposed or parent-imposed. Kaan definitely did. Once he was around 6 months old, he would get really tired and cranky and want to sleep around 7pm. That doesn't mean he just closed ... read more

6/5 - 6/9 Our boat trip ended in the pretty coastal town of Fethiye. We got settled into a modest hotel- and explored the surrounding areas. The downtown area is picturesque with a port and several water front restaurants. There is a decent shopping district that offers fine Turkish goods...and still more carpets. There certainly seems to be no shortage of carpet salesman in Turkey. Our first full day we rented a scooter and took a 20min drive to the nearby town of Kaya aka "Ghost Town". This village was predominantly dominated by Greeks (represent) until WWI. After the Ottoman empire was defeated ~1915, Turkey and Greece had redefined borders and there was a population exchange, with many Greek people moving out of Turkey into the newly defined border of Greece. As a result this Greek ... read more

Today we arrıved back ın Selcuk where are luggage ıs beıng stored. I wıll say that ıf youre plannıng on takıng turkısh buses count on gettıng there after 10 stops, 5 car washes and two hours later than planned. The buses stop at these mega complexes contaınıng shops restaurants and washrooms. They remınd me of Las Vegas slıghtly as thıngs are really hoppıng at 3.30 ın the mornıng. Frıday ıs ladıes day at the local turkısh bath/hamam. Its quıte an experıence and would be recommended for anybody comıng to Turkey. You strıp down to your underwear and are gıven a robe. From there youre ushered ınto a domed stream room where you wash down and then lıe on a hot stone cırcle ın the mıddle of the hamam. You waıt your turn and then a lady ... read more

Ok... where did I leave off. We did a lovely cheapie tour in Santorini of the volcano Nea Kameni, a small island Thirassia, hot springs and Oia. I ended up doing a bit more hiking than expected on that tour. The volcano was pure uphill for about 45 minutes, Thira, Thirassia and Oia all have ports at the bottom of the hill. At Thirassia, the guide told us that it was only 150 steps to the top of the hill. What he failed to mention was that each step was between 0.5-3 metres long. If I hadn't run a half-marathon about a month ago, I would be weezing and gasping for breath each and every step of the way. The small town of Oia at the northern point of Santorini restored my preconceptions on the cuteness ... read more