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Published: April 27th 2007
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TURKEY 27/04/07 to 04/05/07
Despite the fact of our mammoth ANZAC day, we continued the touristy sightseeing. First stop was the ruins at Perrgamon. The most notable fact about this place was back in the day, it housed the largest library which had over 10,000 scrolls, which were given to Cleopatra as a gift from Mark Antony. Apparently, the Egyptians were the only supplier of paper. They apparently became jealous of the fact the Perrgamon had the largest library, so stopped the supply. Parchment paper was then invented to overcome this. Another famous feature of Perrgamon was that it has the steepest amphitheatre which seats 10,000 people.
Turkey is also known for its leather. The tour stopped off at the leather factory and we were treated to a fashion show. We were then taken though to the store, and both Sarah and I were coaxed into buying a beautiful leather jacket each.
Kusadasi was the next port of call. This was a beach side town which is known for a bit of a party. Most of the tour busses stopped here, so the town and our resort was overrun with young Aussies and Kiwis up for a
party. An Anzac beach party had been organised for that night, but when we arrived, found that the Turkish men knew about it too. The party was heaps of fun however unfortunately the fun was spoiled with a fight between two Turks, and then the military rolled in. The guns they held were slightly off-putting and so the party ended. Nonetheless, we had heaps of fun and the party continued back at the resort until 5am.
So, tired and hung-over, the tour continued the next day and we went to the ruins at Ephesus. This is the best preserved classical city in the eastern Mediterranean and one of the best places in the world to get a feel for what life was like in Roman Times. There was also a giant camel outside for the tourists, take a look at the pic.
It was then a quick stop off at the Temple of Artimus. Artimus is the son of Venus, who is the goddess of fertility. Sarah purchased a little memento of the visit which is quite hilarious. Check out the picture of the little man with the giant “thing”.
By now, we had begun to know
Crazy night at Kusadasi
Vanessa, Julie, Sarah and Mark. These were friends from our Anzac Tour the people on our tour quite well and found a group of new friends. The group went out to dinner however Sarah and I (limited to funds) had the free dinner at the hotel and met them out afterwards. We all swore that there would be no more drinking due to the beach party the previous night. However in true spirit, there was 1 drink, then another, then another, free shots from the restaurant, free shots from a club, and so another hilarious night had begun. We ended up at an Irish pub which was in no way remotely Irish. The Turkish men at the club put on quite the show for us. They are actually really good dancers. They do this type of funky line dancing which is loads of fun to watch and, simple enough to join in. Words can’t really describe the night, but just check out the photos. Don’t know where the helmets or reflector jackets came from!
The next day, the Anzac tour ended. Sarah, Kelly and Julie still had 7 days to travel, there were 9 other Aussies travelling to the south west part of Turkey, so we decided to tag along with
Kirrily at the ruins at Ephesus
Kirrily was a friend we made on the Anzac Tour them. We caught a bus from Kusadasi to Fethiye, this trip took about 6 hours, and would have to say it was quite a comfortable ride. We had a bus hostess, fresh nibbles and tea and coffee throughout the journey. Even though our tour had ended, our guide ‘Crunchie’ had organised our next accommodation in a little town between Fethiye and Oludinez, through one of his many friends around the country. This made it nice and convenient for all of us once we had arrived. The hotel we stayed at had just finished being built and the ‘busy’ summer season had not begun yet, so we were their first guests and would have to say we got looked after very well. After seeing our first Turkish engagement party in the hotel, we made our way to ‘The Reef Bar’ where we consumed more free shots and a lot more beers. The next day we had a look around the town of Fethiye, which is on the harbour, and then had a swim in the Blue Lagoon in Oludinez. The day was ended with a relaxing Turkish Bath, This was pure pampering. We sat in a steam room pouring hot water
Sarah at the Temple of Artimus
All that was left of the Temple of Atrimus is what you see in this picture. over ourselves, then one by one, we were laid down and massages, exfoliated and completely covered in sudds, then taken for another 30 minute massage and face mask, all for the grand price of about $45.
So, the next day was filled with a bit of adventure when 7 of us decided to jump off a 7000 foot mountain and go paragliding. Oh My God!! It was so good. Sarah was not so quietly shitting herself, however we all had to give her credit as she pulled through like a trooper. Sarah’s guide happened to have a video camera and captured her entire trip down.
After our busy day of jumping off cliffs, we spent another night in the bar, drinking more copious amounts of alcohol. The Reef Bar was full of nostalgia, flags, t-shirts etc however, they lacked an important feature, the Aussie flag. Blair (one of our travel buddies) was kind enough to donate her Aussie flag and of course, we all had to sign it. If anyone ever goes to Turkey, check out the Reef bar at the Pine Hotel in Feythie. Proud little Aussies we all were.
After loads of fun in
Feythie, it was off to the Olympus Tree Houses. At the right time of year, this little town is packed with backpackers who stay in these little wooden cabins (tree houses) and party the night away and recover that the beach. Again, we were early for the tourist season, which was a blessing in disguise since we were all partied out and ready to relax. So we spent days by the beach and nights chilling out, then it was back to Istanbul.
Finally we had some time to check out the local sites of Istanbul, The Blue Mosque, Ayasofia (a religious mosque/museum), the Grand Bazaar and the Spice Bazaar.
The Blue Mosque and Ayasofia were both quite impressive, especially during prayer time when the entire town stops and prayer songs from each mosque are bellowed from the loudspeakers so the whole town can hear. It is quite amazing. The Grand Bazaar with over 4000 shops (Julie like this a lot), and the Spice Bazaar were definitely the highlights. These places were filled with clothes, bags, spices, dried fruits, confectionary and more!!! Check out the picture of the Turkish Viagra. It’s just dried figs stuffed with walnuts. Not exactly rocket
science.
On the final day, we said goodbye to Kelly who was travelling onto Greece. Then it was time to catch out flight back to London, not without drama though. In true Julie and Sarah style, we almost missed it. For some strange reason, we both thought that our arrival time was the departure time. So here we are, sitting in the taxi to the airport, when we realised our flight leaves in 1 hour, and it is a 30 minute ride to get there. If we missed it, we would have most probably had to stay another night in Istanbul and shell out more money for another flight. There were numerous prayers to God and we braced ourselves for the race to the plane. After pushing our way through Turkish security, customs, Sarah was pushed ahead and went to the correct gate 220. However, Julie didn’t exactly hear this and ran off to go to gate 200 (which didn’t even exist). After realising this mistake, she ran the marathon back to the correct gate, lucky to make the flight. It didn’t help that she was quite ill with the flu either. Again we missed out on Duty free
shopping…..not impressed, but glad to make the flight home!
So here we are back in London. Julie is madly looking for a job, and Sarah (the lucky devil) is off travelling some more with boyfriend Steve.
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