Blogs from Aegean, Turkey, Middle East - page 8

Sabbath, 14 May – MS Myra, Bodrum We woke up in a leisurely fashion, had breakfast, and checked out about 11am. Unfortunately rain had moved in so we shared an umbrella as we trundled down to the waterfront on a reconnaissance mission to find our boat. We found the boat, had a look on board at our cabin and what luggage space we’d have and then found a place for lunch. It was most yummy because I had a veggie casserole for 12TL ($6) and it was not tomato or cucumber! It was full of carrots, peas, corn, tomatoes, eggplant, mushrooms and cheese. Talk about cheap and wholesome. However, I have to state for the record that I HATE tipping. I don’t understand why companies, hotels and restaurants can’t simply raise their prices 10% and then ... read more

Friday 6 May – Istanbul to Gallipoli Turkish drivers are absolute tossers! Indicating is non-existent and lanes and directional travel are optional. Merging is about cutting in at the last minute with only 30cm of vacant space. They don’t wait for you to let them in and they don’t let you in unless metal is about to clash. Even trucks pull out with no warning. People overtake on blind corners, reverse down motorways in the emergency lane and if they have time to turn around and face the direction of traffic, they’ll do that and then drive back down the emergency lane to the exit they missed. If we ever felt ripped off, it was today. We were approaching a police radar and I looked at our GPS and said to Dwayne “You’re good. We’re only ... read more

Wednesday - Bodrum: Not the early birds today. Casual breakfast and then into the launch/tender ashore in Turkey. We walked through town to the castle built in the 16thcentury by the Knights of St John and abandoned when Rhodes fell. It is a lovely castle, brought back by the town very diligently. It has many rooms and a fortified harbor. But the most interest part of the castle is the Underwater Archeological Museum. Several wrecks – one from the Minoan era with glass on board and one from the Roman era with many amphora – are highlighted with actual scenes from the finds and recreations of the location itself. Very well done and interesting. After completing the walk through the museum – and avoiding the mess left by the peacocks (dirty but lovely birds) – we ... read more

Our train pulled into Selçuk station just over 3 hours after leaving Denizli. We then walked across the tracks (after the train left!) and made our way to our hotel which was about 1km away. As we walked through the door we were met by the very friendly owner of our hotel and his puppy Lokum (Turkish delight). We checked in and got his recommendation on what we should do with our time in Selçuk before heading up to our room to relax for a bit. That evening we had dinner at the restaurant recommended by our hotel; we ordered some lentil soup to start as well as a mixed grill (various different kebabs and a token bit of salad) for Scott and a fried aubergine stuffed with onions, tomato and rice for me. My dinner ... read more

Tourist visas in Turkey are good for 90 days which would normally seem like a long time unless you rent an apartment in a spot that you love and then those 90 days just whizz on by. By the time we left Canakkale; the Dardanelle wind had taken on a wintry bite and early morning walks required thick jackets and woolen caps. In Turkey, a visitor doesn't just 'move on' when they feel like it. At least not a courteous visitor. Our last week in Canakkale was filled with goodbye dinners and farewell breakfasts and tear-soaked, boat rocking, Grizzly-bear clinches that none of us wanted to be the first to end lest our ardor be questioned. This autumn we supplemented last year's list of Turkish friends with yet another long roster of tongue-twisting names and I'm ... read more