Hello everyone, well we finally posted on Turkey! Yay for us! But for those of you that were wondering what the rest of Turkey held for us, let us give you a quick idea.
We first arrived in Istanbul, which for us was very different to anywhere we had been in Western Europe, but for Tori who h
as spent a month in Egypt, Jordan and Syria, it was like being back in Europe! You get asked by shop owners to come in and have a look inside their shop and in some of the more touristy areas they were even more cheeky, and have asked "How can I help you spend your money today?" But we really only found this in Istanbul, they were generally much less pushy and persistent in the rest of Turkey. On our first afternoon when we were wondering around outside the Blue Mosque, we were offered tea, apple tea and nescafe (western coffee) by a guy wondering a round with a tray. We declined, however, because we're stingy Australians. Shortly afterwards we were sitting down (just after declining to have our shoes polished - partly because we're stingy Australians, but more because we were wearing sandals) and we saw a guy scrabbling round in the bushes, he emerged with some cups of tea on a tray, the same guy who had offered us drinks earlier! Well, I suppose who needs a cafe when you can make perfectly good money with some tea bags and a hot water boiler in the bushes; He certainly seemed to be doing good business!!
Apart from watching tea makers in Istanbul we also visited the Topkapi Palace, Blue Mosque, Aya Sophia, both of which have just been visited by the pope, the Basillica cistern (where they used to store water under the city), we went on a boat ride on the Bosphorous (the bit of water that seperates Europe from Asia), we saw plenty of museums, Millions of carpet dealers and crazy but courteous taxi drivers that flash all traffic to let them know that they are crazy and need plenty of room (no need to mention us getting ripped off).
Topkapi Palace
Inside the Blue Mosque
The Basilica Cistern
We then met up with Tori in
Istanbul and headed down the Aegean Coast of Turkey. We visited
Troy and
Gallipoli, with a fantastic guide for the Gallipoli sites and then down to Selcuk via Bergama, the ancient city of Pergamum. At Selcuk we visited the ancient city of
Ephesus, and saw what remained of the
Temple of
Artemis (our first ancient wonder of the world, of which we were to see two more) and did a daytrip to the ancient cities of Priene,
Miletus and Didyma.
The walls of Troy
Anzac Cove
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Some trenches at Gallipoli
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Lone Pine - The Australian War Memorial at Gallipoli
The theatre at Pergamum
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The library at Pergamum
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The sun hiding behind some clouds manages to look quite spectacular!
The library at Ephesus
Ephesus
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What remains of the Temple of Artemis at Ephesus
At the ancient city of Priene
We then went inland to visit the travertine pools (calcium formations) at Pamukkale, where the ancient city of Hierapolis also is, and took a trip out to the ancient city of Aphrodisias. Then onto the resort town of
Bodrum where we visited the Mausoleum at
Halicarnassus (another one of the seven ancient wonders of the world) and relaxed for a few days on the beach - exactly what we needed!
Swiming in a man-made pool at Pamukkale, you're not allowed to swim in the natural ones anymore...
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Sunset over the travertine pools
The theatre at Hierapolis
The Tetrapylon at Aphrodisias
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The stadium at Aphrodisias
View of Bodrum
Not a bad place to do a bit of relaxing on the beach...
Sunset on the beach at Bodrum
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We then headed to Fethiye to begin our cruise (see our previous post for all the details on that!) When we were finally finished our cruise we relaxed (which is what we needed after THAT cruise!) in Olympos for a few days, from which we visited the flames at Chimera, the ancient city of Olympus and Myra. Then back to Fethiye to visit Saklikent Gorge and the Blue Lagoon (which we missed on our cruise – and wasn’t really all that blue, more green and slimy).
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Getting our toes wet exploring at Olympos
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Olympos
Rock tombs at Myra
The flames at Chimera. They is a gas leaking from inside the rock that naturally combusts in the air!!
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Jo and Jeremy wading through Saklikent Gorge
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Please keep to the right of the ancient sarcophagus!
_Then across to Rhodes on the ferry, and now we’re in Greece! In Rhodes we admired some massive storms, enjoyed wondering around the old town and admired the site where the Colossus of Rhodes supposedly stood (our final ancient wonder of the world - for this trip anyway.) We caught the boat to Crete where we visited the Palace of Knossos, which was quite a let down after all the other fantastic sites we had seen. The headed on to Athens on an overnight boat that was more comfortable than some of our beds had been! From Athens we went straight to Meteora, where rock pinnacles rise from the ground (or at least did many, many years ago) and there are monasteries from the 14th C onwards built on the top, how on earth they got up there beats me! We then head on to the ancient city of Delphi where in ancient times people used to come to visit the oracle, and then back on to Athens to visit the Parthenon. And finally it was time to go home!
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A quite alleyway in Rhodes
Where the Colossus of Rhodes is meant to have stood
Pinnacles at Meteora
Pinnacles at Meteora
A hermitage on the side of a pinnacle in Meteora
The ancient city of Delphi
There were alwayh heaps of dogs just lying around, completely unfazed about all the people rushing around them!
A narrow escape for Jeremy in Athens
The Parthenon
Phew! so all together we managed to visit the following ancient sites:
- Troy
- Pergamon
- Ephesus
- Temple of Artemis (Ancient wonder)
- Priene
- Miletius
- Dydima
- Hierapolis
- Aphrodisias
- The Mausoleum of Halikarnassos (Ancient Wonder)
- The ruins at Simena
- The Sunken City at Kekova
- Myra
- Olympos
- The Chimera of Olympos
- Lycian Tombs in Fethiye
- Fortified city of Rhodes
- Collossus of Rhodes (Ancient Wonder)
- The Palace of Knossos
- Delphi
- The Parthenon
And finally some handy hints from Jeremy:
Jeremy’s guide to touts!
- Whenever there is the possibility of money being exchanged between two parties a tout is born.
- They exist solely to bridge the gap between payer and payee.
- You never need to find a tout… a tout always finds you.
- A tout is always your best friend no matter what you are doing at the time or how many times you tell them to $&%@ off!
- Touts are a great source of free transport, especially if you have yet to decide where you are going to sleep, eat, or tend to bodily functions!
- Regale your friendly touts with tales of your past successes… a gob-smacked tout is a wary tout! And believe me you can gob-smack a tout!
- Touts are born without morals… feel free to use this to your advantage. Play one tout against another and if they aren’t anywhere near each other feel free to bend the truth about what the other tout has offered you. You know you’re getting close to home when the tout stops trying to offer you something better and just starts badmouthing what the other guy has offered!
- Never trust a tout as far as you can throw one.
- Touts often believe they are a primary source of public information. Such as which roads and train lines are closed today, extremely recent price increases to public transport and where you can find certain essential goods e.g. carpets. If a tout has given you any news that has managed to throw a spanner into your plans, never fear, your new friend will always know the best way to solve your problems and get you back on track! He’ll even lighten that extra weight in your wallet for you. Amazing!
- Beware of evil touts.
- Touts have magical pockets, somewhat akin to the Mary Poppins suitcase. They are an endless source of tickets to anything you may need in your present city as well as the surrounding cities, and sometimes even surrounding countries.
- The best thing about touts is that they are all related! So don’t be surprised when they tell you they have a brother or a cousin that can give you a very special price.
- Finally, always remember that no matter what price a tout gives you, a true and cheaper price does exist! It’s the current price minus his and three other touts commission!
Top 6 Great Things about Turkish Buses!
1. They are quite luxurious and custom made to accommodate for the tourist industry (no chickens!)
2. Due to the existence of dozens of different companies and then the hundreds of touts that literally spawn at the thought of people selling tickets, you can always haggle for your fare!
3. Buses will actually come to a complete stop for tourists getting off the bus. If you are a local be prepared to exit a moving vehicle!
4. Turkish buses actually have better service than an aeroplane! Often they have one if not two “flight” attendants who provide you with free water, tea, coffee and soft drink, not to mention free cake. If you get a really fancy bus you may even get more than one choice of cake!
5. You get free hand and face cologne to freshen you up during a long journey. Ahh smells like 100% artificial, industrial strength lemon additive!
6. Finally, All Turkish buses have neck braces on standby, just like the one they use on *insert generic medical drama here*, ready for that inevitable case of whiplash!
