Lady You Dropped Something...It's My Heart!

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Hello good people! It's been a pretty crazy week since I left Istanbul. I'll try to summarize the highlights as best I can.

Our tour left Istanbul for the Gallipoli peninsula. We visited ANZAC cove, the site of the infamous WWI battle. The allied troops landed by mistake at night and encountered stiff resistance from the Turks, led by officer Mustafa Kemal, who, after defeating the allies, would be promoted to general, and then become the famous Ataturk, founder of the Turkey Republic. I was surprised by how small the cove actually was. I pictured thousands of troops crowding each other with their heavy, wet bags.

We visited the Australian and New Zealand memorials, as well as the Turkish memorial. It's easy to forget that the Turkish people visit this site too, and revere it just as much as the Anzacs. It was also cool to be traveling with a large group of Aussies and Kiwis and seeing how much it meant for them to travel there. A few even got choked up as they read the grave stones. The most interesting thing I saw was the human bones in the museum. I had never seen a human skull before, let alone one with a bullet still in the head. The other cool thing was that some of the original bunkers were intact (albeit not as big, as decades of sand have filled them).

After Gallipoli, we stayed in the city of Canakkale, where we met a rocker, long-haired tour guide who also doubled as regional ping pong champion. I'm going to skip past the next few days, as they were mostly uneventful. We stayed in the ultra-touristy resort town Kusadasi. Our hostel was located uphill from two bazaars so each time we walked up or down, we were met with a gauntlet of salesmen with every pitch imaginable: “Everything free today!” or “It's nearly free!” The best comments were the ones directed at girls: “Hey lady you dropped something...it's my heart!” There was even a “Genuine Fake Watches” store. The hostel was mostly empty, so I spent most of my time with two cool Aussies named Tilly and Dave, shopping, walking along the harbor, dodging the salesmen, and grabbing beers at a local cafe and watching people play backgammon and smoke shisha pipes.

One day, Dave and I went to the ancient city of Ephesus. After Rome and Athens, the site has some of the best preserved ancient ruins I've seen. There's the iconic two-storey library as well as the ancient, column-lined streets and the theater. Dave and I were surprised how much resonance the stage had; even reading our Lonely Planet book in a normal speaking voice would echo throughout the theater to the back.

Finally we made it to the Aegean Coast after a few minor detours. My only complaint about the tour is that they keep driving us to places so we can buy things: an onyx factory, leather shop (after a ridiculous fashion show), and the carpet weavers society for example. The carpet weavers at least had great demonstrations about how the rugs are made. I learned all the weaving techniques, how the cotton and silk is made and used, and how long it takes to make one, usually between three months for the smaller ones, and five years for the largest, highest quality ones. Some carpets could even change color depending how they're placed. It was fascinating to see how intricate the carpets are and the amount of skill and patience it takes to make one.

We stayed in Koycegiz that night, a small resort town on the Aegean, only this one was free of Western tourists. After sunset, I had a meal on the harbor. It was very quaint. There were old men biking along the quay, a newly married couple taking wedding photos, vendors walking up and down the harbor selling corn or oysters, the restaurant owner's dog chasing cats after sitting by my feet, waiting for food, and a group of men watching and shouting at the football game on TV.

Our next stop was Saklikent Gorge, a huge mountain split in two after an earthquake. We had lunch literally on the water; they built these wood platforms over the water, which, long story short, weren't the most waterproof. After a hearty lunch of kebabs and spaghetti, we went tubing through the river, which was painfully cold. About midway through the ride, we stopped at these mud pools and had a mud fight. It was one of the coolest things I've done so far.

That night we made it into Fethiye, another beautiful small town on the Aegean coast. Our group went to the local fish market, where you can buy your own fresh fish and then get a restaurant to cook it for real cheap. An Aussie and South African couple who are fish connoisseurs helped me pick mine. The only bad thing about the meal was that I tried Turkish coffee, which tasted like chunky motor oil. After the otherwise delicious meal, we bought some Turkish Delight from a young owner who was all but too eager to help the women tourists.

Then, as we walked back to out hostel, we could hear cars honking and people shouting. Soon, a parade of cars with people waving “EVET!” (Yes) flags sped past us; the referendum results just came in and the “Yes” side won. I don't think I've ever seen a Canadian be that enthusiastic about any election. There also was a big game on that night. Turkey was playing the United States for the FIBA basketball championship, so most Turks were watching the game. Unfortunately Turkey didn't win but they surprised everyone by making it that far.

The last few days I spent exploring the ghost town of Kayakoy, an old Greek town, abandoned after a population exchange with Greece about eighty years ago. Exploring the ghost town by myself was pretty eerie and there were virtually no tourists. It was just me, the crumbling walls and a few curious lizards, not to mention the occasional rooster crow or breeze. And then yesterday, Tilly and I went on a boat cruise around the twelve islands off Fethiye. I'm sure you don't want to hear about how hot it was or how the water was perfect, so I won't go into it haha.

Now for a few more observations about Turkey. I'm always amused by the Turk's sense of humor. For example, when buying an ice cream, the young vendor pretended to drop it when he gave it to me, but then would catch it at the last minute. Another time was when a group of us were at a restaurant and the waiter brought out a beef dish, when the person ordered chicken. The waiter looked confused and insisted that he ordered beef, only to laugh and say: “Just joking, here's your chicken!”

As for the scenery, it's pretty interesting. It's much more rough than I thought it would be, but rough in a good way. I frequently see families hitching a ride in the back of tractors, or shepherds herding their goats across the road. People in towns also seem to have random pet cows, chickens or turkeys (not to mention roosters which wake you up in the morning).

As for the next few days, I'll be staying in the hippy/frontier town of Olympos, before going to Cappadocia, with its iconic fairy chimneys and underground cities. Then I'm heading back to Istanbul and meeting up with Dylan and Randi in Salzburg. Adios!

Alex

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Comments

[Dave]

Living the dream
Hi Alex, nice to feature in your blog, sounds like the rest of your tour was great. Wish I had of had more time to stick around with the original gang. Back in London now, hope things are great with you. Keep living the dream buddy! Dave