Take me back to Turkey

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Well I have fallen in love with another country...Turkey: The people are amazing and friendly and the sites are mind blowing. And yes everyone its very late, but I am frantically trying to get the blog up to date so please bare with me.

So before I entice you to go by tickets to Turkey I will tell you about the mission getting there, once again we took the ferry route, so from Mykonos we took a 2 hour ferry to Paros and then had to wait 8 hours for our next ferry. We were still feeling a little hung over so literally found sun beds and crashed out on them until sunset. After sunset we then had a look around Paros and its was a great little Island. We walked by the riverbank were there are countless bars and resturants and had the most amazing ice cream....hand made chocolate ice cream with nutella, yummy. We then headed back to the port and caught our ferry at midnight and eventually arrived in Samos (still the Greek Islands) by this stage we were pretty tired and we were prepared to pay for a hotel room for a few hours. We arrived in Samos at about 6:30am and the travel agent that we bought the tickets off said the ferry to Kusadasi , Turkey was at 5pm, but we were in luck the day before we arrived they had begun another ferry service at 8am!! We were jumping around it was fab. So we got our ferry and arrived in Turkey at 10am.

At the port of Kusadasi I had to get my Turkish visa whilst Dean sat there pointing his finger saying haha. The port was pretty busy as a massive cruiseship had just docked and I mean massive! So we met our driver and headed straight to Selcuk. When we got to our hostel we couldn't check in so we chatted to the staff about our itinieary, well we had our whole plan of Turkey planned but when we got to our hostel we changed it completly and for the better the trip I planned sucked.

So the first day in Selcuk we chilled out around the hostel caught up with some sleep and organised our Turkey trip. The next morning we headed to Ephsus which are some ruins and then we spent the day looking around Selcuk area. I just have to say if I had a house, Turkey can be one dangerous place, the carpets are beautiful. It took all my stength not to buy anything. Mum you would have been in carpet heaven.

The next morning we were up early and off to Pamukkale (Cotton Castle) it was about a 4/5 hour bus ride and the buses in Tukey are great. They have waiter type en who gives you water, tea, coffee, sometimes juice, and snacks like cracker biscuits and cakes and they also stop every couple of hours for toilet breaks. So we got to Pamukkale and had a quick bite then headed straight to the calcuim pools. This place is incrediable, our eyes dropped as we walked up this white hill that has been transfromed from all the calcium in the soil. Its a bit hard to describe so like I say I will let the pictures do the talking. This site was something that Dean has wanted to see for years and years but he never knew the name of it until we got to our hostel. So as you head up the hill you take your shoes off and walk through a small calcium pool and then continue up where the water is running down the hill. It was a photographers dream!! We continued looking around the area and saw yes more ruins. We then went to the hot springs area but as we were only there for a short time, we decided to swim just in the calcium pools. So thats what we did, we stuck white mud on each other to exfoliate our skin (you get grubby when you travel) and just chilled out. Unfortunately we had to leave, so we grabbed our bags and jumped on a Dolmus (public bus) and headed to the bus station to go straight to Fethiye.

The bus ride was a about 6 hours so that night we got to the hostel and crashed out, the next moning we embaked on the gulet (sailing boat) for 2 nights and 3 days, normally its 3 nights and 4 days but we wanted to fit everything in. So the weather had turned a bit grey which we werent happy about but it turned fine later on the day so we could swim in the sea. We had our very own wood cabin with shower and all food was provided. It was one of the best things we did, we meet so many people on the gulet. Our first day and night we got to know each other. There were some Kiwis, Aussies, Americans and Turkish. We sailed from Fethiye and Demre stopping off at Kas to have a look around and also stopping to go for a swim. I spent a lot of the time on the deck sunbathing with the girls and finding out the latest knews in London (some people on the boat live in london), can you believe I wanted to know about Peter Andre & Katie haha!! So fo the next few days we bascically ate, drank, chatted, swam, sunbathed and did not a lot. One night a small boat picked us up and took us to a beach bar where we had a dance and a few drinks. We were sad when we had to say goodbye, everyone was so lovely.

So we got off at Demre and headed srtaight to Cappodacia, well not straight we caught a 3 hour bus ride to Antayla then had to wait for 3 hous to catch our overnight bus to Gerome, Cappadocia. We finally arrived at about 7am and went staight to the pension. We had a quick nap and got up to see the sites. Gerome is beautiful its a small village that is still touristy but still has that cute village fell. The village has these amazing pointy caves eveywhere where people used to live, now they are hotels but its still an amazing site to see. There are heaps of walking trails as well, but we didnt have time to do any. We headed to the Gerome Open air museum where you could go inside the caves which were all churches. We then walked around town and tried the local food. I had a pottery kebab which is bascically a stew in a pot then sealed with bread on the top and cooked in a wood fired oven. I was told later that one restaurant in Gerome made the best one and that you have to order it 3 hours ahead. Anyway the one I had was still really yummy, oh and I forgot to tell you to get the stew out you have to smash the pot!! Dean ate a lot of lentil soup and pide (Turkish pizza). Yummy

The next day we did a tour of South Cappodocia and went into an undergound city. The cities had everything from schools to a stable and of course a church, there is always a church. Some of the tunnels you had to walk through were so small even a hobbit like me had to crouch down, one lady had a freak out but she couldn't get out as the stairway was one way and so many other tourists were coming down. The roof of the 7th floor underground was wet to touch which made Dean a little uneasy. Our next destination was the Ilhara Valley, we did a 2 hour walk and that was only a small pat of the valley, but it was beautiful at the end we refueled and then contineued our journey to Pigeon Valley which is exactly that a Valley full of Pigeons. That was basically our time in Cappadocia, there was so much more to explore and once again not enough time. The next morning we had an early flight to Istanbul, on the way to the airport we saw all the hot air balloons in the air, it was an amazing view seeing them all, but there was a fatality a week before and I was kinda glad we didn't do it, plus there were at least 30+ balloons in the sky, balloon traffic can you believe it.

We arrived in Istanbul and hit the sites, we saw the Blue Mosque, Aya Sofya Mosque and then the Grand Bazzar and yes we go totally lost in the Grand Bazzar which I think its the norm, its so crazy and it extends outside. So after getting completley lost and walking up and down the main street at least 3 times we found a starbucks and had an ice cold frappe in the aircon!! We then headed back to our hostel for a little rest but came across Zanna and Mia who we met on the gulet, so we sat down at the pub and well ended up having countless beers and taking over the music at the bar, we then went out for a meal and drank more beer, at the end of the night we parted and promised to meet up one day in Aus. That night we had little sleep as the room we were in was about 100 degrees!! We couldnt wait to have cold showers in the morning.

The next day we headed to Gallipoli and what an amazing site, walking the ground that the Anzacs once fought valiantly......was amazing I cant actually describe it. We saw all the important sites: Anzac Cove, Brighton Beach, The Australian and New Zealand Memorial, the trenches (Anzacz and Turks) and the hill they attempted to climb when they landed. Absolutely incredible, will recommend it to anyone heading to Turkey. That night we tried our first Raki which is like Ouzo just with water, strange taste when its been watered down but ok to drink.

The next day we headed back to Istanbul for our final departure to Cairo Egypt.....

So everyone if your planning a trip think about Turkey, you will love it!

Congratulations to Carli and Bryce and Mandy and Ants on your engagements and Jo and Ev with the baby news. I think its the best news I have had since we have been on the road. I'll be back in November to take some beautiful engagement photos and of course newborn shots!! Cant wait!!!

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Photos

Turkish women cooking pancakes
A boat with a young guy and an old lady comes up to all the boats and trys to sell pancakes.

Cappodocia - Gerome
This place is amazing