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Photo 1
Blue Mosque at Dawn.Merhaba!
And so my travels took me to the gateway of both Europe and Asia. Turkey. A short trip of 2 weeks awaited whilst I patiently waited for Brendan to arrive in Istanbul airport from Australia. Amazingly we were both on time and safely found our way from the airport to our hostel in the northern suburb of Beyoğlu. Before the influence of women was upon us, we had just over 2 days to get a man’s eye view of the city. And so we did.
The first night we walked the main shopping strip of Beyoğlu - Siraselviler Caddesi, without buying anything, in fact we didn’t even go in to any of the shops. It was great! We settled into a small cafe near our hostel for a few quiet beers and some male bonding with the spruiker that encouraged us to visit his cafe. The next morning we somehow figured out the metro network and made our way to Ali Sami Yen Stadium, the home of Galatasaray FC and in recent times also the home of “our” Harry and “our” Lucas. We didn’t see the boys but we did manage to sneak in through a side gate
Photo 2
Galat Tower, Istanbul. and view the ground before being told (we think) to leave. The rest of our first days in Istanbul were basically walking coupled with more walking followed by some more walking. We didn’t really do anything other than some serious sightseeing. Our only real “event” was taking in the panoramic views of Istanbul from atop the Galat Tower.
Istanbul is quite amazing but not in your classic jaw dropping way. Yes, it is situated proudly on 3 sides of a waterway called the Bosphorus which divides Europe from Asia, but it is does not typify the word beautiful by any means. There are few trees, no beaches, no natural shorelines, but it still manages to captivate. Most prominent of all are the city’s many gigantic mosques. Hogging the skyline they simply dwarf all nearby buildings. They also drown out the sounds of the serious hustle and bustle of the city when prayer time is called. The adlib singing or screeching or whatever it is sounded more like someone was dying rather than a call to arms. It was quite unusual to me but I presume important to the locals.
Female influence was upon us as we had a
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View of Istanbul from atop Galat Tower. very early morning meeting with Brendan’s far far far better half Sally just in time for us all to head to the airport for a quick flight to the coast of the Aegean Sea. We flew into Izmir but opted to continue immediately onto Kusadasi buying a ticket aboard a bus operated by Kamil Koc - rather unfortunate hey! Kusudasi is a small port guarding the ancient Greek city of Ephesus, one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. This was one of the things I had most looked forward to seeing. And it was impressive. Whilst the city is now “only” ruins, the place has survived 1000’s of years including several attacks and earthquakes. I was most impressed by the Grand Theatre and the Roman Library of Celsus. Brendan on the other hand was most impressed by the shade provided over a very comfortable rock half way along our walk through the city. The photo I snapped (titled “Man Down”) of him sitting, waiting, exhausted under that special tree will stay with me for years. The big man hadn’t slept due to the arrival of Sal and it was 30C°+ degrees - he just couldn’t take it any
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On the Shore of the Bosphorous with Instanbul in the Background. more...he needed to rest.
Kusadasi in my opinion is nothing more than a tacky tourist town catering for the vast number of voyagers that arrive there via ocean liners. We therefore bussed our way south to a cool little harbour town named Fisheye. We really enjoyed this town. An easy 30 minute or so walk provided us with panoramic views of it’s beautiful harbour and of the town where every house has a solar water heater and satellite dish mounted to the roof. On the same walk we visited the remarkable 4,000BC Lycian tombs which oversee Fethiye carved into the rock faces of the sheer cliffs to the east. They are truly amazing however the upkeep left a lot to be desired. The tombs had graffiti and given that we didn’t have to pay to enter (the ticket booth was vacant and we simply strolled through the entry gate) it would seem that the government doesn’t see these historical figures as important as we do. It’s a real shame.
The harbour was a cool place to eat and drink which also means that there are the usual locals that want to sell you something...anything. One night a boy
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The Best Dressed Angler EVER! of no more than 12 was sitting with a bathroom scale. Presumably you could weigh yourself for a small fee. With all of the kebaps we had indulged in, we opted against a weigh-in and strolled on by. The boy then yelled out 85! We assumed he was guessing Brendan’s weight. Sal would have throttled the kid if it was her weight he was guessing!
Our next day took us to the nearby town of Oludeniz and a boat cruise which took us to the blue cave amongst other sites in the azure-blue lagoon. We soaked up the sun, swam in the ridiculously cold water and enjoyed jumping of the top deck of the boat. I do love to indulge in things that they would not allow me to do back home. We also managed to take in many of the local bottles of brew although not because the beer was cheap. In fact, we didn’t know what the cost was as the crew also didn’t know. They happily charged us on our way off the boat once their memories were miraculously restored. They didn’t cost too much but even to a fairly well seasoned traveller like myself, I
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Audio Speaker Courier...Ouch! was yet again “got” in yet another fun little tourist trap. Unbeknownst to us, an even better sting was waiting just around the corner for us but we had to go to the next town of Antalya.
Antalya is situated on the south western coast of Turkey on the Mediterranean Sea. The old town surrounding the harbour was very cute. Narrow one way streets hosting occasional two way traffic were the main fare providing access to tastefully restored shops, hotels and residential buildings. We liked Antalya even if all other tourists seemed to be German and we were first greeted by all spruikers in Deutsch. We ate and drank well for a few days. We even indulged in the world’s most expensive kebaps. Well at least Brendan did. You see we slipped into a cafe/restaurant for lunch one day seeking a guilt-free kebab (no guilt because we weren’t drunk, it wasn’t 3am and hey we were just doin’ what the locals do!). We sit, ask for a menu naturally, to which we are told they don’t have. Unusual? Yes. Tourist trap? Surely not...these people were lovely. We could trust them couldn’t we? Two chicken kebabs, one lamb kebab and
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Hagia Sofia Mosque. 3 of your best ambers thanks. So the food arrives as do the beers in small plastic cups. It was tremendous! The beer a little small but the kebabs were definitely better than yesterday’s. Brendo was salivating over his lamb kebab. So we finish up happy with ourselves until the bill comes. 81TL. Converted that’s about AUD$55! Yep Brendo’s kebab WAS good...and at AUD$20 it should most certainly have been! We had been stung again. Our argument fell on deaf ears although they did discount or little plastic cup beers saving us a couple of bucks. What a bunch of a*seholes! We left with the sour taste of lamb and chicken in our mouths.
Antalya was also the scene of our first Turkish hamam (bath) experience. Let me tell you that getting a naked soapy rub down by an overweight hairy Turkish man can be quite relaxing. However I can confirm that watching your best mate also get one is rather disturbing. At least our “masseur” didn’t wear a leopard pattern one piece like I believe Sal’s masseuse did.
Keeping with the pampering theme....a rainy afternoon had “forced” us indoors to a bar. Brendo had commented that he
Photo 8
Blue Mosque and Tulips! needed a shave. The comment wasn’t required...it was obvious. He asked our bar man where he would recommend. 5 minutes later the bar man returned and said that he needed to tidy up his very well maintained mullet and that Brendo should go with him. And so he did. Returning 30 minutes later a cleanly shaven Brendo told us that the bar man had actually taken him to the barber on the back of his own motorbike! The shave only cost something like $3 too. Classic.
We flew back to Istanbul to meet up with my far far far better half Christina and our friend Lisa who had joined us from Munich for some (more) Istanbul sightseeing. We visited the Blue Mosque (my favourite of all the mosques), Hagia Sofia and we took in a funny afternoon at the Grand Bazaar. The shop owners came out with some classic or you could say bazaar sayings and greetings:
• the common...“How can I help you spend your money?”
• the stupid...“Do you want to spend some money on your honey?”
• the downright annoying...“Yes. Hello. Excuse me. Excuse me. Yes. Hello.?”
• in reply to me
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Crouching Tiger...Tulip Photographer. saying that I don’t need carpet...“Would you like some carpet for your mother-in-law?”
• after some banter with one shop owner the next owner said...“Yes. Hello. Can I be next?”
• the correct call...“You Aussie?”
• and the absolute honest and best greeting...“How can I harass you?”
It was a fun, if not a tiring experience. Very colourful shops and even more colourful shop owners.
We parted with Brendan and Sally the next day for our trip to Gallipoli for ANZAC Day commemorations. We took a taxi, a ferry, a bus, we walked, took another ferry and then another taxi and some 7 or so almost seamless hours later were staking our claim on a prime patch of ripe green grass at ANZAC Cove in perfect sunny weather right near the stage. I said “almost seamless” as our last taxi ride was not quite that straight forward. We had arrived in Eceabat (a town about 8 or so kms from ANZAC Cove) with a plan to catch a shuttle. Shuttles don’t run during this time we are told. So after asking a fairly important looking woman from the Australian consulate if she might know of
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Grand Theatre at Ephesus. any way we might be able to get out to the site and receiving the answer that we couldn’t unless we were on an official tour (yeah right!), we began some discussions with a local taxi driver. He was at least 120kgs in weight but shorter than me, almost bald, as brown as a berry, his clothing was dirty, he was a chain smoker and his taxi was an absolute bucket of rust. 20 minutes later and many scribbles on our map we were close to sealing the deal for him to take us there AND collect us the following day. Keep in mind that this conversation was in Turkish, English and a bad display of charades and Pictionary. As luck would have it the deal was well and truly sealed when an Aussie guy with his Turkish girlfriend (bingo!) asked us if we need help and that they too needed to get out to ANZAC Cove. Not only did she negotiate all of the times and drop off and pick up points perfectly but it naturally cost us less too. Cool. His driving as you would expect was well below par given his body shape and his not-so-well oiled
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Grand Theatre at Ephesus. rocket. He was punctual though and made our trip to the Cove and true travelling experience.
And so to the commemorations. Entering the site is like approaching a live music festival. We were searched and scanned upon entering. There was a strip of food stalls (“chicken kebap, kebap, kebap!”). There were merchandising tents. There were two giant screens. There was stage lighting and huge audio speakers. It was a little weird but very well organised. I suppose if you want to go to Gallipoli to understand the conditions the troops were up against or to quietly observe the many war cemeteries and resting places then April 24-25 isn’t really the time to do it. The site was somewhat chaotic but there was a great friendly and patriotic vibe amongst the many travellers. Gallipoli is not an easy place to get to.
Events on the stage and the big screens kicked off at 8:30pm and there was something new to see every hour until the dawn service started at 5am. It was a long night with little sleep. It was cold but the weather couldn’t have been better. No rain. No wind. Perfectly eerie. Many of the documentaries, speeches
Photo 12
Celsus Library at Ephesus. and tributes were very moving. The national anthems were sung with great pride. But as always for me, “the Last Post” was most stirring. You could have heard a pin drop amongst the 12,000 or so present when the bugle played.
Travelling to Gallipoli for the dawn service ticked another box in my “must do” travelling list. It was a great experience.
A 6 or so bus ride returned us to Istanbul and later that night we caught up again with Brendan and Sally for one last night of fun before we all flew out to Munich, Germany for some European frivolity....but that’s some stories for next time.
Hoşçakal
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Jen
non-member comment
about time!
ok may have taken longer than usual but worth the wait, market shopping sounds the same as in Egypt! Blue Cave looks awesome, take it easy, I'll be waiting for the next update, please ensure it doesn't take as long to be posted this time :) jen xo