Blogs from Cesme, Aegean, Turkey, Middle East

Back in Çeşme, the immigration process was slightly swifter and facilities much better. We found our new hotel, a Boutique (Butik) hotel in the back streets of the main shopping street. The charming couple that run the hotel were very keen to teach us some Turkish and found the language translation apps very useful in welcoming their guests. We had dinner in the main area of town, and a quick wander around. The next day we took a taxi to the nearby village of Alaçatı. Alaçatı is a picturesque village (that now seems to exist solely for tourism) about 9km away from Çeşme. Think white-washed houses with vivid blue doors and window sills, blooming pink Bougainville flowers and ample opportunities to take that perfect photo. It was a lovely walk around town – a little busy ... read more

As the night fell in Istanbul and my time with my new sisterly friends came to an end (for now), a dark cloud filled the sky over my head and it started to rain. Not just any rain, the torrential sideways kind of rain that pelts at your heart and leaves you wind-burned, chilly and soaked from your inside out. The weather man may have called for a few showers, but his prediction was way off... Lightning and thunder filled my ears and sight. Hurricane winds mixed with the coldest rain imaginable consumed me. It was a nasty storm, producing rogue waves the size of an oil tanker crashing over my stable deck as I got swept away in the current. With each passing wave, I was drowning and slipping further and further from reality, or ... read more

July 13th: Local Tour of Turkey Meets Pedestrian Cruise Ship Forced poor Mengu to drive two hours from Cesme to Ephesus on the scenis route that runs along the coast. More picturesque views of a coast line that is as jagged as a broken window. Mengu tells us that the coastline is longer on this side because of the many inlets created by the making of the mountains here. HHI: Level 4 - heat is moderated by a fresh breeze from the Aegean Sea. Fantastic. Ran a moderated gauntlet of shopkeeper's into the ticket office for Ephesus, an ancient harbor city of about 200,000 people. Tara and Megu apeased us by traveling with us to see the site, a year to the day of thir first visit to this locale. The place was deceptively large and ... read more

Geo: 38.2825, 26.3746 GÜN 8 GÜNLERDEN ÇARŞAMBA: Sabah erkenden yola çıktık ...Bugün Hedefimiz kısmetse Alaçatı ..Bugün yaklaşık 60 mil yolumuz var..Havamız mükemmel Foça kayalıklarını aşıp Ege'ye tekrar açılınca deli mavi tekrar bizi karşıladı...Karaburun' a doğru apaz bir seyirle çok güzel akıyoruz.. Karaburun' a yaklaşırken karmaşık duygular zihnimi kurcalıyor...Karaburun deyince beş dakika duracaksın burası vakti zamanında ilk Utopyanın yazıldığı yer...İlk Türk Spartacus'u buralarda çekiliyor...Sizi biraz oralara götürmek istiyorum...Kitaplar şöyle buyuruyor olayı.... «Şeyh Bedreddinin tevellüdü 770 etrafında olmak lâzım geleceğini kuvvetle tahmin etmek mümkündür.» «Tahsilini Mısırda ikmâl etmiş o... read more

This one is going to be short - I lost the long one just typed! So last day in Turkey - the ferry to Greece tonight was cancelled due to strong winds. Found a random hotel, not bad room or price, and I think I'm the only guest here, so no problem hoarding the one computer. March (at least this year) apparently isn't quite the perfect time for Turkey. Istanbul rained 4 out of 5 days. Cappadocia was freezing. Ephesus was warmer, but quite unpredictable with sun and rain and wind. In any case, Turkey was a bit harder to travel, partly due to weather, partly due to some little logistic mishaps which I've detailed before but somehow autosaving didn't work. So retry heading to Chios tomorrow (hopefully). Will load pics when I can find a ... read more