Blogs from Ayvalik, Aegean, Turkey, Middle East - page 2

The trip from Foca to Ayvalic was mainly uneventful. Most of it on a very good, modern highway. We didn't find a wireless connection in Ayvalic although, to be honest, we didn't look too hard. Ayvalic is serious relaxation. Well, apart from the traffic which is terrifying. We finally found a place to park the car then a hotel where no English was spoken (very good for my Turkish and my confidence in using it). After settling in we walked to the causeway to Ali Bey Island then back which made most of the taxi and dolmus drivers think we were crazy. We just wanted to see that area which is where many of the cheaper properties are. We had ayran and shared an Ayvalic tost (a very mixed tostie with many nice things in it) ... read more

From Akcay it was a 50km, gently rolling ride to the town of Ayvalik, relatively quick but somewhat painful due to the level of traffic back on the big D550 highway. In Ayvalik we did a quick survey of in-town accomodations but then decided to head out to Alibey Island, a 10km ride across the harbor causeway from Ayvalik proper. After a pointless ride over the island's steep spine to the Lonely Planet's favorite Ada Camp yielded only expensive 100YTL bungalows (the punatively-priced 6YTL beers were really the deal-killers), we rode back to explore picturesque little Alibey town itself. Here we discovered the comfortable Pansiyon Osgun, 50YTL including - big plus - our own kitchen, and checked in for a couple of nights, once again privileged to have an entire guesthouse all to ourselves. The next ... read more

16/09/2007.We left Marmaris early to travel to Selçuk. It was a fantastic journey that took us ınto the mountains wıth great vıews of the fertile plains below. Along the way there were roadsıde stalls sellıng what looked lıke stuffed donkeys or goats, not sure what that was about!Selçuk is a great little town full of Stork nests and ruıns from Greek, Roman, Byzantýne and Ottoman tımes. Claıre's most pıcturesque place so far.Whilst there we visited the ancient Greek/Roman City of Ephesus (twice). Its a vast sıte whıch I have to admit I liked even more than Pompeii in Italy. It's a definate must see for any archeological fans (Colin!).During the nights there we were woken at about 2 am each mornıng by a lone and loud drummer which, we learned later was to wake people to ... read more

Now, I know that I only updated my blog a couple of days ago and not that all that much has happened but what the heck. OK, from having having a gale force head wind I rounded the corner at Edmerit and had a gale force tail wind. Normally I would consider this a boon and, ofcourse I much prefer a tail wind to a head wind any ol' day, but it still makes cycling on a dual carriageway kind of tough. Especially with the truck traffic that goes past and being caught up in their wind tunnels... But, I almost flew up the hills and probably would have been in Ayvalik by midday had I not had yet ANOTHER flat tyre. This really was bordering on the ridiculous. There I was yet again wheeling my ... read more

Ayvalik. An inseperable part of the Turkish national homeland(!). Signs all over point out that it was here that the first military resistance was formed against the advancing Greeks back in 1919. I daresay I'm a bit puzzled. By all indications this was as Greek a town as any in western Anatolia. I spent all day walking down the quiet narrow alleys, among unmistakably Greek houses, spotting the occasional unmistakable church. One sign on a shop read "Rum evleri tamir ve yikimi yapilir" (lit. "We fix and demolish Greek houses"). This is yet another town fallen victim to the forced population exchange between Greece and Turkey -- Greek speaking Turks sent east to Anatolia, and Turkish speaking Greeks shipped off to Greece. A true tragedy. Yashar Kemal has an excellent trilogy "Bir Ada Hikayesi" (lit. "An ... read more