Turkey

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Yes yes some of you have been asking if this travel blog does still exist

We arrived in Turkey, at Cesme port greeted by their giant red flag which became a common site in this patriotic country. We made our way to kusadasi to meet up with our hop on hop off bus. It was nice to have someone else doing the planning and enjoy a holiday, doing a lot of little cultural things with our tour which we wouldn't have known about. Starting with the leather fashion show with zoolander wannabees strutting their stuff, impressive hand made ceramic demonstration and turkish carpet weaving (1 carpet can take up to 20 years to complete, our travel blog is even quicker than that ; ).

Next stop was the picturesque lakeside town of Koycegiz. We had a organised boat party out to the mudbaths where we soon got down and dirty floating around in the mud and rinsing off in the stinky, hot sulphur pools. The next morning everyone on the bus was best mates as we drove out to Saklikent Gorge, Turkey’s longest and deepest canyon, it’s literally a mountain split down the middle by an earthquake. We had lunch at an awesome riverside restaurant on low platforms that extended out over the icey river before getting on some tubes and floating further downstream. Dinner was also cool as we went to the local fish market where you get to choose your fish, take it to one of the surrounding restaurants and pay them very little to cook it and serve it back to you.

We made our way down the Mediterranean coast stopping in the +40 heat for a swim in the turquoise waters of Kaputas Beach, then spent a few days in Olympos home to the world famous tree houses. Our rustic treehouse was slapped together with planks of wood and only had half a door, you would never get away with that in South Africa. Olympos is the laid back hippie village of Turkey, where you chill on the beach all day and laze around on cushions smoking hubbly bubbly by night. While we were there we went kayaking along the coast through a couple caves, and managed to talk Caroline into rock jumping, only because it was impossible to get back once you were at the top. We also visited the natural wonder of the eternal flames of Chimaera, which were not so wonderful after a sweaty 30min hike up a hill in the middle of the night.

We stopped overnight at lake egirdir a peaceful little place, where Greg FINALLY got a shave, turkish style and cut throat. When he was done neither of us recognised him. Later there was more 'pampering' at the turkish baths, which consists of being exfoliated with sandpaper removing more layers of epidermos than we knew we had, then being initimately washed and massaged by a big hairy turkish stranger with big boobs, thats an added bonus.

On the way to Cappadocia we followed the ancient silk trade route visiting the Sultanhani Caravanserai. Later we arrived in the crazy architectual landscape of cappadocia with its fairy chimneys and caves. These natural rock turrets have been hollowed out and made into homes...we spent the night in our own little cave, when we eventually found it after a traditional turkish night where we felt as dizzy as the whirling dervishes.

Last stop Istanbul and the impressive mosques. We had a couple days to take in Topkapi Palace, the Blue Mosque, Aya Sofia, Underground Cistern, a ferry ride along the Bosphorus and bargaining at the Grand Bazaar. We also had to say goodbye to some of our friends from the bus with one last hubbly bubbly on the roof terrace of our hostel.

Tesekkula & Gule Gule
(Thankyou & Goodbye)

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Comments

[Zita]

Awesome!
Wow-Turkey looks amazing! And it looks like you guys are still having a fabulous time ;-) Congrats on your 2-year anniversary-what a way to celebrate it! Take care. Love Zi xx