| Cold as H___ and I Want Heat !!! |  | 15 December ’04, Wednesday. We couldn’t find a campground last night, so we opted for a gas station. Now we have had some varying stays at gas stations and this one was another story. It was a story only because it was really cold outside and they said no to us using the electricity, even though I offered money to off set the cost. Well anyway, we absolutely froze before we got to bed. Now when we did get into bed, and it was early (8:30 of so), we went in fully dressed PLUS… I mean it was COLD !!! Sleeping was good, and we both got a good nights sleep, but getting out of bed this morning…well, that was tough. We got underway even before breakfast or, even washing our face. We wanted the heater on and we wanted it on NOW !!! We drove for about an hour and then stopped in the SUN !!!, washed up, made coffee, and had breakfast…all nice and warm. I forgot to mention, we had made it to the parking lot of the ruins of Troy (Truva). When we pulled in, there was a tour bus already there and unloaded. By the time we were just finishing up breakfast, the bus was loaded and pulling out…we were now the only ones there. This winter traveling and sightseeing has it’s pluses and minuses. The weather has continued to stay..bright sun in the morning to night, COLD to start the day and warming till you step out into the wind and then you recognize that the sun coming through the window has fooled you again…it is still COLD !! So we bundle up again like Eskimos.
Everything we have read about Troy has said that it is a very confusing site to go through. Well, they were right. It seems that there has been so many cities built on top of the other, that they kind of blend one into the other. Also there is no prominent rebuilt area that just stands out. The only prominent thing that stands is the Trojan Horse that an Italian architect thought the wooden horse might have looked like. This is the most photographed item on the site, and every shop for miles around is selling a 2” replica to as much as a 6’ wooden horse. The drawings from the site do have some merit to them, but even those are “educated guessing”. It is too bad that the governments of all the countries can’t pool together the finances to fully, or a close as possible, complete one of two of the most important ruins in each of these countries. What a marvelous thing that would be. Off to Greece or as close as we can get before it gets dark on us. Well, we got as close as 5km or about 1 mile and we pulled into another gas station for the night. This one had electricity for us so we can use our heater tonight….mmmmm.
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| December 17, 2004 04:57 AM
By Joel and Louise
Location: Turkey
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| Pergamum |  | | 14 December ’04, Tuesday. On the road this morning and heading north. We will visit Pergamum at Bergama and then head on. We will have a fairly long drive up to Izmir and then head up the coast about another 45 minutes to Bergama. The last time we were in Bergama, we were with Bonnie and Doug and we needed to find a bank-o-matic…no one had any money and it was dinner time. Well, we found the cash and we had our dinner. Today we have a little money left so we passed the machine and headed for the top of the hill. Pergamum is high on the hill overlooking the valley and Bergama. In the glory days of Pergamum, all the valley area’s now were the sea and sea ports. Pergamum was a large city of about 15,000 people immediately in the city area and many more spread out in the hills below. The site is laid out pretty well, but as far as the ruins… there is very little rebuilt. It does have a fairly large amount of columns standing and they have cross members on most of them. Other than that, you have some foundations, books, information boards, and your imagination. The weather today was sunny, windy and cold as heck up on top. The way were dressed, you would think we were looking at some ruins in the farthest north of Alaska instead of Turkey. The drive back down the hill and into Bergama was really interesting in it’s self. The streets and the roads were very narrow and as we approached the town the buildings came right up to the side of the van. The buildings are very old and give you the feel that there has been a community here for a long time. In fact Bergama (Pergamum) has continually been occupied since 3000 BC. That is a long time… As we pulled into town there is a large brick ruin right next to the road…The Red Basilica. In Revelations, St John he Divine wrote that this was one of the seven churches of the Apocalypse, singling it out as the throne of the devil. It has a hole in the podium in the center which allowed someone to hide and appear to speak through the large cult statue. This was originally a temple to the Egyptian gods in the 2 century AD. Tomorrow…on the road to Troy | |
| December 17, 2004 04:55 AM
By Joel and Louise
Location: Turkey
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| My Feet...I Can't Feel Them... |  | | 13 December ’04, Monday. 41 degrees, my feet are freezing, and I’ve got to find that heater fast ! That was first thing this morning and then it was fried eggs, toast, and coffee for breakfast. A quick wash up of the dishes, re-pack the van for travel and head off for our second visit to Ephesus. We visited Ephesus in October when Bonnie and Doug were here with us, but it had so much to see and offer, we decided that we had to make another visit while we were close. Kuºadasi is just 15 km away, so it was an easy morning ride. Just a little recap: Ephesus is among the best places in the world to get a feel for what life was like in Roman times. This time we started out where we finished and made an afternoon of it. As we passed the gymnasium of Vedius (2nd Century AD) we came upon “Harbour Street” which ran from the bay to the “Grand Theatre”. Last time we were here, Harbour Street was closed (this time someone had removed some of the tape) but today we wondered all the way to the end. The “Grandest Street” in Ephesus was all large marble slabs that were laid out to make this wide street very impressive to say the least. There were shops along the sides a nymphaeum (fountain and pool) and the triumphal columns that all added to make this a grand site for it’s visitors and merchants. When we made it to the end we found a path that we followed through some tall weeds and plants and then right in front of us we came across The Church of Mary (or the double church). It wasn’t one the list of places to visit as they had it kind of “out of bounds”, but we just happened to find it through the “back door”. This was the find of the day as far as I was concerned. It was wonderful. As you come through one of the entries, you are met with a large “Baptismal”…it is absolutely stunning. Then, we saw some of the first signs of “Christianity”, a cross. We have been in a lot of ruins in Turkey and have only seen but a few. This church definitely had some to show. As we wondered further into the ruins, we came across the “Baptism Pool”. It was set in a 6 or 8 sided room with a rectangular pool in the center. Steps led down into the water from each end. At each wall around the pool was a large cross carved into the slab marble walls. Louise mentioned that “this would be a wonderful church to have a wedding in”,just as it stands today, and it would. In our tracking through the undergrowth, we came across a young man who was hunting for mushrooms. He said that during the summer he worked at the Ephesus site as a digger for the researchers. He was telling us about his work and his young family with 2 children and how hard it was to keep food and clothes on their back during the winter, and that is why he was out hunting for mushrooms. He was showing us some special locations that we might normally miss and then we were saying our good-bye’s and he dug out this little sack. In the sack he shook out about 6 or 7 coins. “I find these coins when I dig, and the museums have so many of them, they don’t want to give us anything for them any more”….”I need the money for my kids, and I will make a offer to you…” Wellll, we bought some….you know, we had to help. After we left, we were heading down the road and Louise was reading out of one of our travel books, and she comes up with this; At Ephesus, you may be approached to buy “ancient coins”, which, despite their grimy appearance, are actually modern. Some genius discovered that when coins pass through the digestive tract of a sheep or cow, them emerge looking convincingly aged….WHAT ??? Why that dirty…WHAT DID WE PAY ???? I’m going back to find him !!! Well, we knew that someday, someone would get to us, and it might as well have been him…you know, he’s got these kid’s… | |
| December 17, 2004 04:51 AM
By Joel and Louise
Location: Turkey
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| It's Good To Be Back with |  | | 12 December ’04, Sunday. For the first night in “Bumble Bee” for a month, we both slept great !!! It was good to get back “home”. We stayed in bed until just before 9 and then we almost tossed a coin to see who was going to get up, start the heater and make coffee…I lost. The van is so small, it doesn’t take much for it to warm up (also to cool down as there isn’t much insulation to hold the heat in…). After a great cup or two of coffee and a warm breakfast we headed out to explore Kuºadasi. Kuºadasi is a town of about 50-60,000 and is right on the Aegean Sea. In the summer it is a huge cruise ship destination. A few real good ruins are not too far away, and the water front is all set up to handle the souvenirs and the beaches that they may be looking for. It is amazing how many 1960 Chevy Impalas here that are used for taxi services for them. Stretching out into the sea, but tied to the mainland by a causeway, is a well taken care of fortress that dates from the 16th century. There is a wonderful walk all around the grounds that is taken in by all the locals on a Sunday like this one…sunny, and a little cool (about 65 degrees). For us, we took most of the day with a long walk out to the island, then around the boardwalk, and through the “Bazaar” area where we sat and had a very nice lunch. Finishing, we headed back to the campground and off to the showers before they cool off too much. The best time for showering is about 3 in the afternoon as the sun has had a chance to warm the solar panels and stored enough of the water to keep it hot long enough to really enjoy a little pampering. | |
| December 17, 2004 04:49 AM
By Joel and Louise
Location: Turkey
|
| Goodbye Yalikavak |  | | 11 December ’04, Saturday. 10:10am and we were saying our “Good-bye’s” to our friends in Yalikavak. The last 30 days have really been a great addition to our journey and it wouldn’t have been the same if it weren’t for the people of Yalikavak and everyone else we have met in Turkey. I have said it once and I will say it again…”You’ve just got to take the time to visit Turkey if you haven’t yet been here !!! Of course there are always regrets, and ours is that we didn’t have a chance to visit the eastern end of Turkey… maybe some other time. Even though we have just left our friends, we have just finished one heck of a exciting day. The sun has been with us all day, but it has been cool and the wind has certainly made its appearance. I think it topped out about 65 and with the wind about 40 degrees. Other than that, we had a grand time. All the sites that we visited today, we were there by ourselves…no lines, no one standing in line of site for your picture taking, and no peddlers. We visited 4 sites and the total admission was 16 million Turkish lire ($11.00US). Our first stop happened just by chance…as we were heading down the highway towards Didyma, Louise just happened to see some Roman ruins along side of the road. Then she let out this “Hold it…Turn around !!!” Back in the woods there was a wonderful series of pillars standing high, and she wanted to see them. Euromos… The remains consist of 15 tall columns and some look like they were never completed. Most were fluted totally and others were partially or not at all. This was a temple that changed deities more than once. With the coming of the Greeks and then the Roman culture. The Romans worshiped the God of Zeus here. This was constructed by Mausolus in the periods of 376-353 BC. Mausolus was the King who moved the capitol to Bodrum and built the enormous white marble tomb for himself in Bodrum that we wrote about late last month. The remainder of the city is found further up and down the hill, but we opted not to explore any further as there apparently isn’t much left to see except a lot of ruins spread all through the olive trees now occupying the land. | |
| December 17, 2004 04:48 AM
By Joel and Louise
Location: Turkey
|
| Didyma |  | | Our second stop was Didyma. Didyma was the site of the stupendous temple to Apollo. Apollo has had a number of great temples dedicated to him, and we have had a chance to see at least 4 or 5 of them here in Turkey. This site was managed and lived in by the priests who specialized in oracular management. This temple was originally destroyed by the Persians in 494BC and then reconstructed by Alexander the Great. The temple porch held 120 huge columns with richly carved bases. Also there is a huge head of Medusa (she with the snake hairdo). There are two covered ramps that lead down into the court where the oracule sat and prophesied after drinking from the sacred spring…we can only speculate as to what the water contained to make the prophesies possible. Didyma is a very large site, but as the day goes along, we will see others that will make it look small in comparison. The enormous diameters of the columns, and the height of them was spectacular. You keep asking your self…”How Do They Do That ???”. The stone carvings of Medusa, the small details around the walls, the faces of cattle, and on and on…beautiful work even if it were done today with all the modern machinery and tools that we have available. I don’t know what I would do if I didn’t have a digital camera with me. If I had to make this journey with a “film camera”, I would either be broke and have to head home now or I just wouldn’t be able to take all the photos. I don’t know if you have any interest in the galleries, but I just keep filling the pages up. I feel I probably have too many pictures there, but I only keep about 1 or of 15 or 20 that I take. | |
| December 17, 2004 04:46 AM
By Joel and Louise
Location: Turkey
|
| Miletus |  | | Miletus (Milet)…the great theatre rises up to meet you as you approach. This is just the beginning of a grand city from the 7th century BC to the 7th century AD. This was a grand harbor city that unfortunately lost it’s harbor by it being filled up with silt, and the commerce dropped right off the cliff and dwindled to nothing. The theatre was originally a Hellenistic building, but the Romans reconstructed it extensively during the 1st century and it held about 15,000 people in the seats. As we walked out of the theatre, we saw ruins in every direction we looked. This was a huge city… The remains of the harbor, called Lion Bay after the stone statues of lions that guarded it. The Agaras, the vast Baths of Faustina, constructed for Emperor Marcus Aurelius’ wife. It was interesting, when we were visiting the Pergamum Museum in Berlin, we saw the “Northern Gateway to the Southern Agora” that was originally from this site. It was not only extremely beautiful, but is was so large it was another one of those questions…”How did they get it here ???). | |
| December 17, 2004 04:45 AM
By Joel and Louise
Location: Turkey
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| Priene |  | Priene…an important city from 300 BC. It was definitely smaller than Miletus (Milet) and it didn’t have the importance of Miletus either. The advantage to this was, the buildings did not vanish beneath the newer Roman ones. Of the buildings that remain, the 5 standing columns of the Temple of Athena, designed by Pythius of Halicarnassus. The Priene site sits high on a hill looking out over the flat plains which once were the back waters for Miletus and are now plowed fields of agriculture and the Aegean Sea far off in the distance. The Priene is interesting, but what will probably stick with me most, is the setting of the ruins beneath the steep Mt. Mykale and, the finely carved front row seats for VIP’s in the Grand Theatre. Who else in history sat right there in that very seat that I just sat in ???? By the way, it was still warm…
The day was a full one and it is getting to the hour that we had better start looking for our next “camp-site”. Ralph and Susan from Calgary has emailed us about a campground that they stayed in at Kuºadasi which was about 35 minutes away. It was about 3:30pm then, and the sun just doesn’t last too long this time of year. As we pulled into Kuºadasi, we were surprised as to it’s size. Finding that campground just could be a bigger challenge that I had wanted for the first day out. According to them and our book, it was about 1 km north of the marina, now to find the marina. We took a left…after about 20 minutes, we found we were wrong on that decision, so back to that same intersection and go right. As luck would have it, we did find a campground and just as it was getting dusk, we were able to plug in. After setting up we walked into town and went looking for something to eat. Today was a GREAT DAY, and it continued through dinner. We had a wonderful Turkish dinner and it didn’t cost us an arm and a leg either. The atmosphere was good, service wonderful and the food…wow…
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| December 17, 2004 04:44 AM
By Joel and Louise
Location: Turkey
|
| Wonderful Times in Yalikavak |  | | 7 December ’04, Tuesday. What started out as just another sunny day in Yalikavak, ended up with even more. We were out of bed by 8:30, had a great breakfast and walked down the stairs to see Emrah for a Turkish Shave. Now, I’ve mentioned getting a Turkish shave before, but every time I have one it makes the last one less memorable. For me, it is like….well, close anyway, maybe…well, not quite that good…but you’ve got to try one. One of the benefits of being in a small village is you get to meet a lot of people really quickly. If you haven’t met them, you still know them by reputation or rumor. Anyway, the other day when I was in to see Emrah for a haircut (shave) and a shave, I was introduced to Hakký (Hacurr). It just so happens that he gets a double shave (head and face) every third day, and there I was in the chair getting mine. Hakký is about 26-30 and is one of the lead crew members on a 75’ yacht here in Yalikavak. His boat is registered in Istanbul and is a beautiful craft sitting out here at the marina. Anyway, he invited us out for a tour after lunch. Louise, Emrah and I were on our way. Hakký was waiting for us at the gangplank and made us feel as if we were “the honored guests” about ready to leave for an extended cruise. We toured the boat from top to bottom, stern to bow…it was and is “BEAUTIFUL”. We were also entertained by an electronic grand piano while we enjoyed “Cay” ( (Chee) Turkish Tea) and a long talk. Then, we had to get back to the apartment, because Emrah was preparing a sit down dinner for Louise and me. This dinner was absolutely wonderful, and he had prepared it all on his own, under pressure of time and business demands (his shop was still open and he was “on call”). We ate until we were ready to burst and then Emrah and I had to leave for a soccer match in which Hakký was playing. This match was played on one of these soccer fields that is enclosed in a fence. It was a good time. The team Hakký plays with, was right on, and finished the game with a score of 9-0. Hakký scored 3 of the 9 goals. It was a good game, and the opposing team was better than the score showed. Tomorrow…more of the same…. | |
| December 09, 2004 02:54 AM
By Joel and Louise
Location: Turkey
|
| Fishing The Turkey Way... |  | | 3 December ’04. Friday. One of the problems that I am having now is the short days… It seems that we no sooner get out of bed and then, it is evening, dinner is done and it is almost time to surrender to the comfort of our bed again. I know this will get better as the days start to get longer, but right now…. Another problem that I am having, is getting behind this computer and keeping this web page up to date. Since we moved into the apartment our daily “adventures” have most often been no more than a nice long walk, a day fixing or re-upholstering the van, laundry, or just sitting by the sea and feeding the fish. Now there is nothing wrong with any of this, but it is much different than what we were and will be doing once we get back on the road of our journey. Yalikavak is not only a small resort village that is filled with people from all over the world during the “peak” season, it has a small fishing fleet as well. Each morning anywhere between 3 to 6 am you can hear the small diesel engines start up and head out around the rock jetty in front of our apartment. Wednesday, Louise and I were out for a walk around the boardwalk and feeding the fish from the piers, and we came across one of the fishermen sitting around a basket loading the fishing hooks that surrounded the basket with strips of squid. He was telling us that each line with hook was 3 meters long and 3 meters separation from the next hook. Overall, there were 500 hooks and bait in each basket and he has 4 baskets. He was baiting each hook the afternoon prior to the morning launch. Yesterday we just happened to be there when he came back in….he did really well. All up and down the boardwalk and the jetty, we see people of all ages with a fishing line wrapped around a spool, twirling the line in a large arch, and catapulting the hook and bait out into the water. The bait is just bread. The fish that they are after, are what we would call, “fingerlings”. They range from 2-3” long and are small. They are prepared whole (without cleaning ), dropped into flour, and pan fried. Each serving is about 12-18 fish, and they are really good. You must eat them head first !!! The fish “mongers”, sell most of the fish whole and again, they again are not “cleaned”. It is the responsibility of the buyer, to clean their own fish. We now have just 9 days left here. Soon, we will once again be on the road and not only seeing new and amazing sites, but we will be searching for that allusive winter campground. I’m looking forward to it… | |
| December 04, 2004 10:52 AM
By Joel and Louise
Location: Turkey
|
| Thanksgiving in Turkey |  | 28 November '04, Sunday. Well we survived Thanksgiving. Our hunt for food went well and we had a delicious dinner. The weather did not cooperate however. The high for the day was 46 and that is cold when there is no central heating. We have a small portable electric heater, but the rooms are separate and have very high ceilings, so we can only heat one room. So we moved everything into the bedroom. It’s a bit crowded but cozy. The kitchen is freezing so I put the oven on before I go in there. These apartments are for the summer tourists and usually are not rented in the winter. On Well! The weather yesterday was sunny and in the 50s but with a strong wind so it didn’t warm up much. Today is suppose to hit the 60s and rain. We are doing some laundry this morning and will hang it out and hope it gets dry before the rain comes. All in All we are enjoying our selves here.
Yesterday we went into Bodrum to see the mausoleum of King Mausolus (c. 376-353 BC). It is in ruins and a lot of it was pilfered to build St. Peters castle. It was considered to be one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. It is amazing to see the size of this thing and there were tombs here before the mausoleum was built. Then we went down to the harbor to see the remains of a shipyard. In 1770 the Ottoman fleet was destroyed by Russians and, had to be rebuilt at shipyards like this one. The shipyard was fortified with walls and towers to ward off pirates. It was a good day…
I have been doing a lot of reading, as there is a good supply of free books here and I am going to take advantage of them while I can.
We miss all the Christmas decorations and all the doings getting ready, but some how we will have to adjust.
Well, I am just getting back here and the day has turned out to be “wonderful” !!!
It must be over 70 right now and it is only 2pm. What a day for a nice walk. The laundry is now dried, folded and down. We found a “sidewalk market” (something like a garage sale) going on at the other end of the marina. There are times when it would be nice to have a shop back home so that we could buy some of the great finds. Then walking back we had a real good Turkish lunch. It is kind of a light chicken stew with rice on the side. We also met a couple from England who has just moved into their new home in Bodrum. They are very excited about their new adventure. They said that this is the “new Spain” as far a values and the purchasing power for them. Many “Brits” are buying here for sure.
The sun has heated the “solar shower” enough for it to be comfortable, so off I go.
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| November 28, 2004 07:36 AM
By Louise
Location: Turkey
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| Happy Thanksgiving... |  | Happy Thanksgiving to All,
Gosh we miss everyone. I am certainly more homesick since we are in one place. The weather is storming today, wind and rain and cool. Much like a Seattle Thanksgiving. We will go to the market and have a Thanksgiving Day hunt. I think we will look for some pumpkin (a big gray white one with bright orange inside). They also have some long flat green beans that are delicious. We will get some olives, they have the best we’ve eaten. The local honey is to die for. All the local farmers bring their produce to the market every Thursday. It is a sight to behold and very well attended by the locals and tourists. You can get almost every thing from food to clothes and household goods. We love to go each week. Then we will go to the butchers and get a big chicken to roast. Yesterday I baked a chocolate pudding cake and that will be dessert. We will rent a movie to watch while our dinner digests. So that’s how our day will go, now tell us about yours.
Yesterday Joel and I took the “Bumble Bee” into Bodrum to the Volkswagen dealer to see if we could get a new gasket for the muffler. He also wanted them to check our brakes. Well they couldn’t find the master cylinder, so the hunt was on. They looked from one end of the car to the other, no master cylinder. So they went online to see where it was. Well it wasn’t where it should be, but these guys never give up. In the meantime they fixed the radio and set the stations to the hippest ones in Bodrum. Finally they found the master cylinder under the dashboard and behind all the gauges. The brakes are fine. The horn was very wimpy, and in Turkey you need a loud horn, so we decided on a new one. Up on the hoist we went, but alas the new one wouldn’t work. So they set about fixing the old one. It “belts” it out now!! You have to keep in mind, the guys knew very little English. They all had great senses of humor and it was fun. Two hours and $13 US later, we were on our way. We had put some clothes in the washer before we left as the sun was shining but by the time we got back it looked like rain, so we did a Chinese laundry. Hung the clothes on out rack and put the heater on them. I don’t know if we told you, the weather here has turned cold and is in the 50’s. They are having snow throughout Turkey which is very unusual for this time of year. We hope it will be warmer in Greece.
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| November 25, 2004 09:17 AM
By Joel and Louise
Location: Turkey
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| Hollow Bricks ???? |  | | 24 November '04, Wednesday. This has been quite a day over all. We went out this morning for a long walk following the coastline. The weather was really very nice today, even though it was still a little windy. Nature is kind of like Seattle is during Spring, that is, the grasses are all green and starting to grow, and the flowers are coming into bloom again. We even came across a crew mowing and trimming a lawn. I know that the first time we were here, it was nice and green and there were flowers blooming, but this is more like the first part of Spring. There is a ton of new construction going on here building condo’s and new hotels. The construction is much different from that at home and even much different than we saw in Mexico. Unlike Mexico, it is almost all concrete “framing” and then the walls are filled in with a brick like product. These bricks are fired clay, about 4x4x8”, and are “honey coned” in structure (otherwise they have about 8 to10 hollow spaces in each brick). Then each side of the brick and framing is covered with a coat of cement or tiles to finish it off. The final results is very becoming. There is no heating system and not too many air conditioners. The hot water system is most always solar. We have solar hot water here and in this weather it is cold in the morning and if the sun is bright enough in the afternoon, it will warm up enough to give you a warm shower till about 6 pm. I don’t always get a shave in, so about every 3rd day I go in for a “Turkish shave” and massage for 4,mil lire ($2.20). Yesterday I was in the living room of our apartment and the light fixture fell out of the ceiling and hit me on the shoulder and then ricocheted onto the floor to break into a thousand pieces. My shoulder still smarts… Louise has just started sneezing and her head is all stuffed, so our guess is this is the start of the “cold season” for us as well. I marked my drinking bottle to try in avert the inevitable. Oh well, it’s just a cold….Louise has dipped into the files we have in “Bumble Bee” and came up with the journal from Bruce and Peg. Every time we re-read this journal we continue to find it very entertaining. I also want to introduce you to another journal (you might want to put this in your favorites) that we have found to be very good…it is the one that Ralph and Susan write. If you remember, they are the couple from just outside Calgary and we met them in Kas. You can find their site at www.cantravel.ca/keith/intro.htm | |
| November 24, 2004 04:56 AM
By Joel and Louise
Location: Turkey
|
| The Ruins of Labranda |  | | 21 November ’04, Sunday. After a harsh wind and rain storm last night, we awoke to beautiful blue sky and lots of sunshine. The wind was still blowing enough that the flags on the boats were standing straight out, but the sun was out…. There was another small problem this morning, we didn’t have any electricity. The landlord said it would be 2pm before it would be restored, so we decided that the day would be best used by going for a road trip. We gathered all the travel books and maps of Turkey and sought out a location that would fit the day. The decision was made and we headed off for Milas. The Baltali Kapi (Gate with an Axe) and a Roman tomb dating from the 2nd century AD called Gumuskesen. Reading the directions we headed out the 50km (30 miles) to Milas. Now, we are normally good at reading these directions, but in this case we couldn’t find anything but a very nice looking town. Making a second run at it we came across a sign pointing to Labranda. Labranda was a holy place where the worship of God was going on by the 6th century BC. The road up was really interesting in it’s self. We knew we were out in the country and traveling the roads less traveled as we were the only one around. The road was just wide enough for one car (Bumble Bee), as it wound it’s way up the mountain side. It switched from having a shear drop on one side to the other all the way up. The scenery was absolutely some of the best we have seen. Beautiful rock formations, Pine trees of all varieties, bee hives scattered everywhere (this is the season that the “Bee Keepers” are living in their pitched tents near their hives and today we saw them in action tending the bee’s), and one mountain looking onto another as far as you could see. I know that my ears plugged a number of times as we were going up. When we reached Labranda, there was only 2 others at the site. They were local men that had ridden their motorbike up. As we walked up onto the site, we were just blown away with the ruins and the site that they occupied. There was the great Temple of Zeus, the Gates to a horse racing track (Olympic Games were held here), and two men’s banqueting halls where one of them was in pretty good shape, the First Andron and Second Andron. We also came across an incredible 4th century Tomb that had 3 sarcophagus inside. Like the other day when we saw the tomb, there was a huge cut stone door laying in front of the opening. Labranda was abandoned around 1000AD and it is surprising just how good the site looks today. We could tell that winter was just around the corner as it was cold as heck up there. We spent about 2 hours wandering around and enjoying Labranda before we turned “Bumble Bee” around and headed for home. Today was another great day in our book of “Great Days on Our Journey”. | |
| November 22, 2004 09:12 AM
By Joel and Louise
Location: Turkey
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| The Burial Chamber ??? |  | | 19 November ’04, Friday. For the last couple of days, we have been to Bodrum twice and the bazaar market once. As far a Bodrum, we were looking for a time table and prices on the ferry from Bodrum to the island of Kos and then on to Rhodes. Well, it just isn’t going to work…. The ferry can handle only 3 cars at a time (and we could be one of those cars) but, we are too high to get on. Right now that only leaves us with one option that know of…drive around and inter Greece at the top and work our way down to Athens and then if time still permits, we will go onto the island of Crete. When this happens, it is good that we have wheels to make the change easier. One of the other reasons for going to Bodrum was to see if we could get new curtains made for “Bumble Bee” now that we have the seats looking great. We happened into a small shop that specializes in drapes and curtains and they just happened to have a perfect fabric in stock and could get right on to the job. In fact, they could have it done by 2pm the next day….well, that was another $120 million lira. So far with the seats, the curtains, and the carpet, we have spent re-doing the interior of “Bumble Bee”…right at $300,000,000 lira or $200 US dollars. We’re happy, so you can be too…. Then yesterday we finished the day off by going to the Thursday Market/Bazaar in Yalikavak. It is amazing the prices that we can get fresh fruit and vegetables for. Just about every thing we bought was 1 million lira ( 33 cents ). 4 baking potatoes, head of romaine, head of broccoli, 4 apples, and on…each group was 1 million. 2 loaves of fresh baked bread white or whole wheat…600 lira ( 18 cents +-). Fresh meat and fish are on the other hand kind of expensive…a nice cut of prime beef (similar to new york) are 15 million a kilo ($10 US). This one meat market we have been going to (Bonnie close your eyes during this segment) really does have some wonderful meats…beef, chicken, turkey, goat, and lamb. Then this morning we went for a real nice walk on the other side of the bay from Yalikavak. We look directly over there from our living room and deck and it has just been asking us to come visit. Well this morning we did. The whole area isn’t developed and the roadway dropped off to trails. These ran up the side of the highest hills and also followed around just off the shore. The little native flowers were blooming and it looks like a lot more to come. We were right next to one of the areas that burned the other day. Thank God it didn’t happen when it was windy, as what we saw, it only burned about 10 to 12 acres before burning it’s self out. We did find some interesting rock “flows”. One of the areas were there was a flow we found a “Burial Chamber” carved into it. The large rectangular rock that was used as the door was laid in front of the chamber (see picture above). This was one of 3 caves or chambers that we saw on today’s hike. After lunch we went in to get the curtains and they look great. I’ll get pictures on the web-site later. | |
| November 19, 2004 09:51 AM
By Joel and Louise
Location: Turkey
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| Can't Tell If It's Spring or Fall |  | 16 November ’04, Tuesday. A couple of unstable days and nights here (weather wise), and a couple of trips to Bodrum are the hightlites for us here in Yalikavak. The wind was quite strong and the rain came in buckets, but fortunately the heavy part was short lived. For the last 3 nights we have had some thunder and lightning in the distance over the sea, and that has been fun to watch. Louise and I have had a couple of long exploratory walks to see just what we have around us. About ¾ mile down the beach is a smaller community that has a large boat building/remodeling yard. It is amazing the size of most of the boats that we have around here. They are mostly wooden power sail boats called “Gullets”…really a beautiful craft. I would guess the average size at 60 to 70 feet and a beam of 12 to 14 feet. Our apartment is just in front of the smaller of the 2 marinas here at Yalikavak. I was just watching one of the “Gullets” make it’s way back after a day cruise out to some of the islands or possibly a lazy kick-back float out in open sea. I had mentioned that we had the seats re-upholstered in “Bumble Bee”. They came out beautifully, so now I am looking to have new curtains made. We found a lady that will do the sewing, but I’ve got to find the material. Thursday is market day here in Yalikavak, so we will keep our eyes alert. Last night we had a knock at the door while watching a movie (50 First Dates), and one of our neighbors was standing there with a large plate loaded with a beautiful dinner…what have I told you about the people of Turkey ??? It was wonderful !!!
Tomorrow…???
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| November 17, 2004 05:06 AM
By Joel and Louise
Location: Turkey
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| Yalikavak at Last...Our New Home (for a while) |  | 13 November ’04, Saturday. Thursday was basically a travel day as we had an early start out of our gas station and headed on to Bodrum. This was a drive over one mountain and then over another, down into one valley and then onto the next. We saw the Mediterranean and then the Aegean Sea’s from the far off mountains. The climb over a couple of the mountains was some of the steepest that we have had yet. On one of the climbs, we pulled into a turn off for breakfast and enjoyed the view that carried on forever below. Some of the switch-backs were so tight that you almost had to come to a complete stop in order to make the turn. This does a lot for maintaining your momentum.
At about 10:30 in the morning, we pulled into Bodrum. Now the challenge was to find a place to call our own for the next 30 days. If you have had the opportunity to follow our web pages, you will remember about 3 weeks ago, we were here and did some preliminary exploring for a place to spend a month or so this winter. Well, we went back to the place we thought we might like the best, but we couldn’t find anyone there. So, on we went, practically knocking on each and every door. As it was, we did find a place to stay, but it cost us quite a bit more than we first had found. What do you do?…well, we took it. It is larger, has a full sized refrigerator, clothes washer, oven, and is right on one of the marina’s in the middle of this little village and on the upper floor with a great view.
Yesterday (Friday), was kind of a catch-up day. We did laundry, shopped for groceries, unpacked the van, went for a long walk, and headed off to bed by 8:30pm. Today was some of the same, but in addition we went to Bodrum (about 12km away), and found someone who could re-upholster the van for us reasonably. Believe it or not, they had it all done in 4 hours and it looks great. Then back “home”, and barbeque hamburgers and get rid of the mosquitoes in the bedroom. They had a couple of brush fires across the water from us tonight that got quite large, but now it looks like they have been put out. Business for the local merchants is very slow now, but with Ramazon coming to a close on the 15th, they are expecting more people to come into town for the 3 days of celebration. I have a few more items that I would like to have done on “Bumble Bee” before we leave here on the 12th of December, but we will have to see if I get it accomplished. Tomorrow…???
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| November 15, 2004 02:16 AM
By Joel and Louise
Location: Turkey
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| Fethiye and a Beautiful Lagoon |  | | 10 November ’04, Wednesday. Well I’ve got a little catch-up to do… We went into Fethiye and found a mechanic that would jump right on the van and fix our little water problem. As it turned out, it was a little hose that was leaking right at one of the joints. Once it was found, it was easily fixed. The rain has continued off and on since the first day we arrived. We are definitely into the thunder, lightning, and heavy rain for awhile. First thing in the morning we do get a break from it, and that normally will hold most of the early afternoon, so we are able to get in some swimming time. The surface water is a little cool, but the lower water temp is incredibly warm. The lagoon that we are camping beside is fairly shallow and when the sun does come out, it warms the sand to keep the water temperature really wonderful. Yesterday (Tuesday) Ralph and I were in the water and all of a sudden a large octopus came right up to us. It had to be at least 3 feet long or more and was absolutely beautiful. Then for some reason, it slowly made it’s way right for Ralph. It got to within 3 feet before it started to back off, and then with a quick spurt it shot right past me and out of site. It left us both wanting more. Ralph and I had gotten into the water to do some snorkeling, so you know now what we then started searching for. Well, we weren’t so lucky in finding him again, but we did have fun trying. Speaking of fun, Susan had never been snorkeling, so with about 10 minutes of encouragement and about the same in showing her a couple of things, she was all over the bay seeing the bottom and the fish as she had never seen them before. Speaking of things that we had never seen the likes of before, first thing this morning, we went into Fethiye to see some of the best examples of Lycian burial chambers in mountainsides anywhere. These are the Tomb of Amyntas, an Ionic temple façade carved in the sheer rock face in 350BC. It was a steep climb up to visit the tombs, but it was really worth it. Now back to last night… the fellow who owns this campground goes out fishing from early morning to sometimes late night. Well, he brought back 2 nice sized Barracuda, so we bought them for last nights dinner. This was the first time any of us had ever tasted Barracuda and we loved it. It really was excellent !!! This morning we had to say good-bye to our campground at Oludeniz ((meaning, “Dead Sea”) it’s not void of life like it’s biblical namesake, rather it is a sheltered lagoon hidden from the sea)), and some very good new friends. Ralph and Susan had to head off in their direction and we in ours…we will keep in touch and I’m sure we will see each other again. Tonight we are camped in the parking lot of another “Gas Station”, this one in Marmaris. We will be here just over night and then on to Bodrum in the morning. Tomorrow….on the road again | |
| November 12, 2004 04:12 AM
By Joel and Louise
Location: Turkey
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| Trespassers, Who Us ???? |  | | 7 November ’04, Sunday. As we walked from the grocery store in Fethiye, we felt our first rain drops in quite sometime. That’s OK, as it really is quite dry here now and we are long past the rainy season for the area. We have been expecting it sooner than later. The only thing that we haven’t been expecting was the red light that all of a sudden started flashing at me from the dashboard. It showed that we were overheating…not good. We headed over to the gas station and checked our radiator water, and sure enough, we were low. Now as it started to pour down heavily, and was getting dark, we really were getting a little depressed. We had to find the campground also, and in the dark, it wasn’t going to be fun. We had been given directions at the grocery store, but we were quite a ways out and it was really raining heavy now… Flooding of the streets, cars in the ditch, trucks and buses slipping their wheels going up hill, and us over heating…I didn’t like it one bit. Yep, I might have been a little bitchy, I admit it, and guess who was close enough to receive it all…sorry honey… Well, we did finally get to the area and ran into Ralph and Susan again. They hadn’t been able to find a campground that was open yet, so together we went looking (looking hell, I couldn’t see through the rain). Finally, after getting in and out of the van a number of times, we are soaking wet and we decide that we are going to just park in one of these “closed campgrounds” as long as we can find a toilet we can use. As luck would have it, we did find such a place, and we were also able to hook up to electricity as well…what a find, although we were trespassing. Now, first thing this morning we were able to get out and see just exactly what we had found. Not too bad, but how can we improve on it??? As we were looking this whole thing over, a man seemed to come out of no where and just walked around us kind of checking us out. Pretty soon there were a few men across the street that you could just tell were talking about us, and then a car with a man and his wife pulled up. The first thing they did was go over to the electrical cord and pull it out of the wall. The lady then picked up my electrical cord and started to wind it up and walking away with it. Well, time to go into action…. Keep cool and “MAKE FRIENDS !!!”… I smiled, I spoke softly, and they couldn’t understand a word of what I had to say… But wait, they have someone else coming… He’s a big young man and maybe… Thank You Lord, he speaks some English. We were able to convey our dilemma. We weren’t looking to stick anyone for anything, but we just wanted to find a place to sleep during this rainstorm and beyond if possible. Well, we are here for a second night and maybe even more. Things are good except the rain comes and goes, and I still haven’t had a chance to look at the water problem in the van. Tomorrow…more of this | |
| November 12, 2004 04:10 AM
By Joel and Louise
Location: Turkey
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| The Ole Soft Sell Approach... |  | | 6 November ’04, Wednesday. On Tuesday we divided up the day by walking to the ancient Lycian Theatre, exploring additional Lycian rock tombs on the hills above the city of Kas, and the Antiphelllus Monument Tomb. These were very interesting ruins to see, but not the most exciting at all. The town of Kas is a very picturesque in it’s own regard. It is situated on the side of the mountain and extends all the way down to the sea. Being a older fishing village, you can still by your fish products right from the docks if that is what you are looking for. Today we are looking forward to visiting the weekly bazaar/market. This market is really one of the most “authentic” markets that we have been in. It definitely wasn’t set up for the “tourist”. Some people were selling their goods from an egg crate on the ground, while others were selling from the back of their truck or wagon. We were looking for some fresh fruit and produce, and we found some good buys. We spent about 2 hours walking all the booths and eating from the vendors samples, and then headed back to camp with all our purchases. It is nice to be camped so close that we can take an easy walk into town when we want. After getting back, we both jumped into our swimming suits and hit the water for a nice cooling down. It was just what the doctor ordered…oh so wonderful…. Ralph and Susan ask us over for a glass of wine and we were happy join them. They had some red wine from Greece that was very good. Later that night, Ralph and Susan asked us to join them for a walk into town and have dinner with them…it was their 35th wedding anniversary…great dinner, dining partners, and wonderful night under the stars. In the morning (Wednesday), we both pulled out and headed up the coast with the final destination of Fethiye and a stop over at Xanthos to see the ruins there. Xanthos was once the capitol and grandest city of Lycia. It has a large Roman Theatre with Lycian pillar tombs, a large Acropolis, many ground and cave tombs, a Basilaca with beautiful mosaic floors. This dates back from the early 5th Century BC and forward to approximately the 11th Century AD. As we walked into the site we were met by 2 young brothers. The oldest about 11 and his brother about 6. They came over to us (we were there with Ralph and Susan) and immediately said “Hi”, and then handed the ladies some sweet smelling twigs of wild oregano. Then a with a soft voice the oldest started to tell us and show us the ruins. His knowledge was really unbelievable, and his English was pretty good. We ask him how he knew so much about these ruins, and he said that he read all the tourist literature and books he could find, and he was learning his English at school and talking to the tourists that come by the site. Anyway, he continued to impress us at every turn and then when we had seen all the theatre, pools, water pumps, the river and the homes of the past, he said “that’s the end now, $5,000,000 lire each please”…. Oh yes, I forgot to tell you what the little brother was doing all this time…he had picked some beautiful yellow flowers for the gals and found another sweet smelling twig to give them as well…we loved the soft sell…but not for $5,000,000 lire each… Tomorrow…Fethiye | |
| November 12, 2004 04:08 AM
By Joel and Louise
Location: Turkey
|
| Beautiful Road Trip Along The Mediteranean |  | 4 November ’04, Thursday. After a little debate we both chose to move on this morning. Again, it was a tough decision, but we just have to find that perfect spot to call home for at least 30 to 45 days. When we drove down into Cirali a couple of days ago, I just knew that we would have to drive back out. Going out is almost straight up and full of very tight turns. We had to go into 1st gear for almost every turn for the 5 km back up to the main road. Well, we had a lot of fun and saw a lot of great sites in the 2 days that we were there, so going on just means we wont spend the whole day basking in the sun. Our route will take us through at least 3 mountainous areas, but the rest will be right down on the shoreline. We encountered quite a bit of road construction on the coastline, but in a way, that was just great as we were able to really enjoy the spectacular views. During the construction, some of the roadway was a little scary as it would take us within inches of the banks that would take you in for a swim at the quickest moment. At one point, we had to come to a halt for about 15 minutes while they pushed rocks down onto the road, and then cleaned them off to the side for one lane to get through. Most of the roadway was newly laid gravel over tar, and it was really quite slippery in the corners. I think that the top speed we were able to drive at was about 20-35 km. Very slow going… Once we broke through the construction and back into another mountain area, we saw off in the distance, some ruins where they had dug out their living and worshiping areas directly out of the vertical side of the mountain. There was no visible road to get closer, so all we could do was enjoy it from a far distance. It looked amazing… Where we just happened to park was along side a farmers field, and there was a young boy about 9-10 who saw us. He waved and yelled out “HELLO”, and then followed that with “GIVE ME MONEY !!” as he ran toward us… It was hard to say no, but you just can’t give for that reason. We then found ourselves entering the town where St. Nicholas (Santa Claus) was born. Unfortunately, there really wasn’t any reason to stop beyond his being born there, so we continued on. About 40 minutes later and we were heading down the hill in to our next location for a couple of days….Kas. Our campsite is within a quick walk into a wonderful ruin of a “Theatre”, and then on to the town its self. We are parked just above the water in a great little campsite. It is terraced campground, with every site having a view to the water. There is a small restaurant/bar and a couple of small docks tied together with a boardwalk. We met our neighbors tonight, Ralph and Susan who have brought their camper with them from Alberta Canada. They have been camping in their VW Campervan in Europe since last April as well. Their trip will last them for a year and it has been just like ours… FANTASTIC !!!
Tomorrow…Kas
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| November 12, 2004 04:06 AM
By Joel and Louise
Location: Turkey
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| Indiana Jones Re-visited... |  | | 3 November ’04, Wednesday. Yep, we heard… Yesterday we spent about 35 minutes on the road and found ourselves pitching camp in one of the smallest villages yet… Cirali. I doubt it very much if you can find it on your map. We are camped right in the middle of an orchard with a pension at the back. It is located right across the road from a long and wonderful beach. At one end of the beach is Olympos, an ancient Lycian city dating from the 2nd Century BC. The Olympians worshipped Valcan, the god of fire. Tonight, we walked up the mountain to Chimaera, where there are flames coming out of the mountain. There just happens to be some mysterious gases coming out of some cracks in the mountain which ignites as soon as it hits air. The whole area that flames came out of the ground covered about 20 square yards. We started our walk just before dark, and by the time we reached the flames, it was totally in darkness. Quite a site… Now back to Olympos…. Olympos sits on two mountain sides that are separated by a river. Both mountains boarder the Mediterranean Sea. As you walk down the beach from our campsite, you immediately see the ruins on the hills in front of you. As we walked around the first mountain side, we started to see more and more of the ruins. It gave us the feeling of “Indiana Jones”. The ruins were in heavy (and sometimes thick) trees and vines. As we started to explore, we were just blown away by what we found. It was really exciting. The Valcan empire didn’t last long, but the Romans were happy to come in and take over in the 1st Century BC until the 3rd Century AD it was ravished by pirate attacks. Olympos was finally abandoned in the 15th Century. As of today, this was the most fascinating site I have been to. Back to Chimaera… Mythology has it that Chimaera was the son of Typhon, himself the fierce and monstrous son of Gaia, the earth goddess. He was so frightening that Zeus set him on fire and buried him alive under Mt. Etna, thereby creating the volcano. Typhon’s offspring, the Chimaera was killed and buried here, where the flames are still visible today. Now in between visits to these two sites today, we spent a few hours just basking in the sun on the great beach here in Cirali. The water temperature is “perfect”, the sunshine is “perfect”, and we are “perfect…what else can I tell you…it was a “PERFECT DAY”… Tomorrow…maybe more beach time | |
| November 12, 2004 04:03 AM
By Joel and Louise
Location: Turkey
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| Who Ordered This Hike.... |  | | 1 November ’04, Monday. Here we are in Turkey, a day before election day for the President of The United States, and all we hear on the radio is election news. This would seem like we were back home listening, but lucky for us, it is all in Turkish and we can only understand the names of those running. I’m sure when it is all done, and the announcement has been made, we will know immediately who was chosen for the next 4 years. Today was another tough day at sea side. I did do some light washing of clothes and “Bumble Bee” while Lou gave herself a pedicure…I know, life is tough…. I think that I mentioned that we are having to move on tomorrow, as this campground is closing until next season. It is going to be a busy place for a few months as they are going to completely rebuild everything. It is going to be a “Destination Resort” for campers. They will be building new bungalows, a large swimming pool (next to sea side), fantastic landscaping, a large restaurant, and doubling the size of the campground it’s self. A big project to say the least. I was in “Bumble Bee” reading last night, and Louise was outside playing some games on her computer, when she received a visitor. The managers wife, Sibil, dropped by. What a lovely young lady. Unfortunately, while her husband is on a site for construction, she has to commute to visit him from Istanbul. Her English was wonderful, as she had a chance to live in England for a couple of years. We all enjoyed the evening. Yesterday Louise and I put our walking shoes on and went out to see a waterfall (wasserfal). We were able to walk from the camp. It took us about 3 ½ hours, in 80 degree weather. While we were in the shadows of the canyon, it was very nice, but in the sun….it got warm. It really was a great hike, and the waterfall was really quite beautiful. It wasn’t very large as waterfalls go, but otherwise quite beautiful as I mentioned. The day before we did somewhat of a dry run to find our way the next day, and we stopped into this wonderful little restaurant for a beer. It is called Ali’s Garten Restaurant. Ali’s father has a wonderful “Green Thumb”, her mother is a great cook, and Ali is just wonderful in being with her customers. The tables are all set into separate little areas that are surrounded and covered with plants, trees, and shrubs of all kinds. Those that produce fruit are fully laden with their crop….it is special. This afternoon we went into Kemer to go shopping at the farmers market and grab a little lunch. While having lunch, a couple from England sat next to us. Their story started out as an 18 month trip on their 33 foot sailboat…it’s lasted 7 years….yep, that’s how it starts for all of us. They will spend this winter here in Kemer. Tomorrow….moving day | |
| November 01, 2004 11:53 PM
By Joel and Louise
Location: Turkey
|
| Republic Day 1n Turkey |  | 29 October ’04, Friday. REPUBLIC DAY…29th Day of OCTOBER Today is a national holiday commemorating the proclamation of the republic by Ataturk in 1923… Big celebration all over the country, parades, speeches, parties, and lot’s of fireworks, big ones, all along the coastline last night from 9:30 to after 11…BIG FIREWORKS…
This campground and the campsite that we are occupying said to us this morning, “Sit Back and Enjoy The Day”. Sooo, we did !!! The sun was a little hot coming into the van while we were making up breakfast and doing the morning dishes, but after that…my oh my, what a beautiful day. It topped out at about 80 and got as low as 72 last night. Louise being the “Hunter of Shell’s” walked the beach from one side to the other. We’ve got some beautiful rocks, but only 2 shells the total walk. All were left behind (thank God for the van). I don’t know if I mentioned the little village that we are in, or not. It’s Goynuk, and is located just a few km east of Kemer right on the Mediterranean. Our walk took us up the beach so that we could see two of the large beach resorts here. We’re sure that they are associated with timesharing. They just have that “Timeshare” look. One was nice, and the other was really quite nice. Of course they have all the water features…jet ski’s, water banana’s, and all the rest of the toys.
After we got back from our walk, we both got into our swimming suits and took a swim in the Med. The water was “wonderful”, and they tell us it will stay the same at least through December. By that time we will be heading for Greece. Late afternoon, we decided to do some “spring cleaning” and get rid of some of the things that we brought, never warn, probably never will, and extra luggage. Then we settled down for a light dinner of pop-corn and a beer. Just as we were finishing up, the young man who we’ve become friends with here (Oskan) brought us a full plate of these very small fish that he had lightly battered and fried up. He also brought us a plate full of this wonderful flat bread that is fried on both sides and lightly filled with this wonderful cheese. I loved the whole thing, but with Lou’s touchy stomach, she only ate some of the bread.
Tomorrow….going into Kemer for groceries, internet, and …. | |
| October 30, 2004 02:52 AM
By Joel and Louise
Location: Turkey
|
| Finally, The Med |  | 28 October ’04, Thursday. Crickets are in full swing from a small stream about 40 yards to our left, the full moon rises out of the sea in front of us as we sit in our easy chairs under 4 large Pine trees. The surf is calm off of the Mediterranean with a slight breeze coming from our right. The temperature is hovering around 75 degrees and we are the only camper in town. Again, we seem to have the whole place to ourselves…well not quite, as there is a Turkish lady that lives here on the campground, and there is one other caravan that is here as well. After last night, we have found heaven. Last night started out OK, but as we started to settle into bed, a dog that we knew was next to us, started to bark and cry…ALL NIGHT LONG…. I really wanted to do something drastic, but… Anyway, somehow, we did get some sleep in between yelps and cries, but it was short.
I guess that if we are going to look for “Free Camping” in service stations, we are just going to have to put up with a little discomfort once in awhile. As it was, we did get some sleep and were out of there at 9am. Unfortunately, on top of all this, Louise has a case of the “Turkey Trots”…not good timing, but that type of thing never comes at the right time. Even tonight she is having a little difficultly. The road trip today took us on a route through some of the poorest parts of Turkey that we have seen yet. Life there was very simple to say the least. We have seen more of the “traditional dress” for the ladies in the last two days than we have seen for the whole trip. The head is covered with a printed shawl, the dress is dark and printed (in most cases), and is like “Sultan” or “Harem” pants…bloused at the legs and tight at the lower calf. Heavy socks are also part of the dress. One of the other sightings we have seen more and more of, is the small cart being pulled by a small horse or donkey. A lot of the time, we will see the whole family riding in the cart with some of the wood they have gathered for the day. With Winter coming soon, and with no central heating in any of the houses, wood and coal are the main stay for heat. Wood is by far the most used. Another note for the day…, the trucks. You would not believe the amount of trucks on the roads, and the heavy and over-sized vehicles are the norm. They stack these trucks so high and wide, that when they go down the road, they have a tough time keeping them in their lanes. And when they go through the smaller villages, it is full bore to the floor…Get the heck out of the way. When they go through the larger towns they take up so much of the lanes that it is tough to be beside them. Also, they blow the blackest diesel smoke you could imagine…EVERYWHERE.
Tomorrow…A new day to look forward too | |
| October 30, 2004 02:50 AM
By Joel and Lou1se
Location: Turkey
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| Flies Are Everywhere !!! |  | 27 October ’04, Wednesday. A little about yesterday…we had our last Dr’s appointment at 9:30am and then we were on our way heading East/South East. The day was TOTALLY filled with air pollution from Istanbul to far beyond Bersa. Our trip will take us from Istanbul, across the Bosphorus, around the Marara Sea coast, down to Bersa, then to heading toward Bosuyuk. Night was coming on fast, so we decided to pull into a gas station for gas. Once we were there and filled our tank, I ask them if they would mind if we had dinner and spent the night on their premises. “No problem, and welcome”, so we pulled up on this little knoll above the station. I started to get the site all set up as Louise started dinner. It didn’t take long before I heard from Louise….”THERE ARE FLIES EVERYWHERE !!!” By the time I got to the door and had a look, there were at least 50 or more all around her watching her cook. It didn’t bother me so much, but Lou, well let’s say it was driving her crazy. We did finally have our dinner without being bothered. For some reason, they only wanted inside so we ate outside…smart don’t you think??? After we ate, we franticly searched for our insect “KILLER” to take care of the little varmints. The outcome was, we slept through the night without one interruption.. This morning, we were underway by 9:30am and heading for our first destination…Aizanoi, which is just outside of Cavdarhisar. The scenery in really different. We have passed so many different colors of soil and rocks, trees that stand tall, but have all of a sudden started growing their own ground cover (it makes the trees look like they are “melting”). The Fall colors are definitely in full change…brilliant… We passed many “strip” mines, that were mining materials for porcelain. Porcelain is a product that dates back to 14th Century. Even some of the buildings we have seen today are covered with porcelain tiles from this area. We visited the “Temple of Zeus”, the theater, stadium, and the bathes. We also drove over a Roman built bridge that dates to the 2nd century BC. The Temple was dedicated to the worship of Zeus, or Jupiter, and to the Anatolian fertility goddess Cybele. A lot of damage was done by an earthquake in 1970, but what remains is absolutely wonderful. It didn’t take long to see the exterior of the Temple but, our host at the gate, opened the locked gate to Cybel’s burial chamber. It is a large room with a high dome ceiling and openings at the top of the walls to the outside. Cybel, (Kybel) was one of the earliest Anatolian goddesses. Sometime after 1000 BC, when Greek colonists began settling on the eastern shore of the Aegean, her cult was merged with that of Artemis, the lunar hunter goddess. In legend, Cybele is often paired with Attis, a handsome and highly desirable shepherd. Legend has it, Cybele is often paired with Attis, Attis falls in love with a nymph, and Cybele kills her rival in a jealous rage. Attis then goes mad and cuts off his testicles with a sharp rock and dies. I love these “Love Stories”… We have now made our way down past Usak and found another gas station to stay the night at Sivasti. The problem that has all of a sudden popped it’s head, is a barking dog right next to our van….anyone got a shoe???
Tomorrow…Onward toward Analya on the Med. | |
| October 30, 2004 02:46 AM
By Joel and Louise
Location: Turkey
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| Pull Off Your Sandals, And.... |  | 25 October ’04, Monday. Yesterday was one of those days that were just made for kicking back. I had a little more laundry to do in the morning, but after that, we both found our “easy chairs” and made the best of use out of them. We both have good books that we are enjoying, so mixed with the great weather, and wonderful campground, we seem to have it made. In the late afternoon, we walked across the street from the campground, pulled off our sandals, and walked the shoreline of the Black Sea. Now it was a beautifully warm day, but I probably wouldn’t have gone into the Sea to swim…well, I didn’t, but there were a few of those who’s blood is a lot thicker than mine who did. As it was, this walk was one of absolute beauty. I’m glad we put the Black Sea on the agenda. And this campground, it seems to be magical and the people that own and run it are the greatest, although our communication was done only by smiles, hand gestures and words, that only the speaker knew what was said. After our walk, we pulled out the barbeque and set ourselves up with a great early dinner of hamburger patties and the most delicious squash. We are doing it right. Speaking of doing it right….we initially had reservations about Turkey, as it was really hard to find anyone who had made the journey before us, and all we had was the travel books to deliver all of the “travel” information to us. Unfortunately, the travel books are out dated almost as soon as they hit the presses. If it wasn’t for the email that we got from Bonnie and Doug saying that this was were they wanted to meet us, we might not have made it. What a terrible mistake that would have been. We have now been in Turkey for over 3 weeks, and traveled quite a lot of the country. We have been in the largest city, and we have been in some of the smallest villages. We have even been in one of the largest “party towns” Turkey has to offer. We have flown in hot air balloons, we have been to 3 Seas, and 2 straights, and now, we have made the decision to stay in Turkey for at least another month or more. We will stay here until sometime in December, and then travel to Greece for Christmas and the New Year. Turkey has offered us the friendliest people, great hospitality, wonderful food, beautiful country sides to visit, unmatched history, good roads to travel on, and unfortunately the highest gas prices.
This afternoon we arrived back in Istanbul. We have a doctors appointment in the morning and then back on the road heading south/southeast. We dropped into Angels Home Hotel and saw everyone there again. It seems that we left our radio/cd player there last time. Hakan tried to email us, but Louise had given him the wrong address, but everything worked out. Thanks again Hakan, we thought we had lost it sometime after our stay with you, but getting it back was a wonderful surprise. Angel’s Home Hotel has been like a personal home to us from our 1st week in Turkey, and I guarantee that it wont end there…. www.hotelangelshome.com
Tomorrow….more good things
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| October 26, 2004 12:50 AM
By Joel and Louise
Location: Turkey
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| Hung-Out To Dry |  | 23 October ’04, Saturday. Sun is out bright, it is warm (70º), slight wind off the Black Sea, and it makes a perfect day to get some washing done and hung out to dry. So, that is exactly what we did. After getting it all hung up, we went looking for lunch and tonight’s dinner. Yesterday we looked down onto the harbor, so today we went down there to see what was happening. We have watched about 4 or 5 boats running back-n-forth across the beach area in front of our campground and wondering just what they were catching. Well, this afternoon, we found out. They are picking the tiniest little clams you could imagine. Bushel Bags full, all going to Japan and France, for the “Big Bucks”. These clams were smaller than the fingernail on my thumb. As we walked the marina, we had noticed from afar, a huge old tanker tied to the dock. Well, what it turned out to be, was a tanker that had sunk quite a long time ago. There were barnacles all over it, from bow to stern, from bottom to top of the bent masts. I would have guesses it was under for at least 25 years and probably much more. Now, I would guess it was about ready to go to the scrap metal shoppes. Leaving our tanker behind, we went looking for lunch. Just down the wharf, we found a little restaurant…gravel/dirt flooring, thatched roof, log railing surrounding the 8 tables inside. Sitting inside already, were people eating at 2 tables. Looking over what they were eating, we made our choice…”Just What They Are Having, But Only One Order Please”….Uh ha, Yep, You know it… I don’t know what it is about ordering our food in a restaurant, but if you only want one thing, everything goes..BAAMMM…NO COMPUTE !!! Well, it was good, but how the bill got that high, I’ll never understand. I think they definitely have 2 price sheets, one for the locals, and one for us. Oh well, we’ve got to support the economy one way or the other.
Tomorrow…Our last day and night in Þile
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| October 26, 2004 12:48 AM
By Joel and Louise
Location: Turkey
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| Check Out Those Cabbages... |  | 22 October ’04, Friday. Believe it or not, but we went to bed at 8:30pm and didn’t get up until just before 8am this morning. For some reason we were just pooped… Our campground was supposed to have hot water for showers (according to our receptionist), but that just isn’t the case. We have read and experienced the campgrounds that have solar hot water and so far only one has had anything close to warm for us to shower in. Oh well, SWSWSW (Some Will, Some Wont, So What)….next. This morning it was cereal, toast, and coffee and then off for a long walk into ªile. With high clouds overhead, we were just hoping that it wouldn’t want to rain on us. Our goal today is to just explore the town and find the grocery store, bakery, and internet café. On our way into town yesterday we did see three or four grocery stores, a couple of bakeries, and one internet café, so I guess our work was done before it started. It was interesting to see about 20-25 men on the streets of the town, compared to 1 woman. There has always been more men present in the restaurants, but on the streets, you have always seen a higher percentage of women than what we have seen here. As we got deeper into town we heard a band playing somewhere ahead. Curious, we went looking for the source. It happened to be at the school (equivalent of our high school). All the students and facility were out in front of the school listening to a Turkish Army Band from Istanbul. Everyone was thoroughly enjoying the music. Louise and I found a location close to the fence to see and listen, but that didn’t last long, as we were approached by one of the school facility members. He couldn’t speak any English (and of course, we couldn’t speak any Turkish, darn it…), but he invited us up were the rest of the facility was listening, and wouldn’t take “No Thanks” for an answer. So up we went. We did find ourselves with better seats… Next to me was a man (school security officer) that did speak English and we had a great conversation. This school assembly was great, as the students were really enjoying the band music and, enjoying the opportunity to be entertained by the “Army Band”. When it was all over, we were delighted to see the interaction of the students and the army men. The girls especially were taken with them being there. Excitement over, we said our “Good-Byes” and headed back down the street. Luck would have it, as we walked into a huge bazaar/market going on just around the corner. One of the most memorable items at the market was the cabbage…Not just a cabbage, but all the HUGE CABBAGES !!!! They were beyond huge really. We had to take pictures. We did our shopping and headed out for lunch and then the walk back to “Bumble Bee”. Another great day in our many days of this journey…
Tomorrow…A little depends on the weather, but…
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| October 26, 2004 12:45 AM
By Joel and Louise
Location: Turkey
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| Sile and the Black Sea |  | | 21 October ’04, Thursday. Well after a couple of days of “just do nothing”, and a couple of visits to the doctor, we said good-bye to our friends at “Angels Home Hotel”, and headed off to see the Black Sea coast. We had heard so much about the town of ªile, that we made that our destination. You don’t see the sea until you have just about driven all the way into town. This whole village is set on hills. You go up one and then down a little, just before you go up again. The skinny little main street through town is up and down as well as twisting back-n-forth. If you park, you’ve got to be almost right on top of the curb, as the streets are so narrow. The “tourists” are gone and the towns people are all about the street. It seems that when I’m the pedestrian, the cars have all the right-a-way, but when I’m the driver of a big car, the pedestrians could care less….it just isn’t fair. Well, we didn’t come here to play games with the towns people, so we had better find a campsite. We had no idea of were to look, or even if there really was one to be found. Lucky for us, we did stumble onto one. It is a small hotel/restaurant/campsite all in one. Fortunately for us, we are the only people here. I say fortunately, because I really don’t know how they could fit more than 2 campers in here anyway. The rooms look very nice and the large pool is absolutely beautiful. All the apron around the pool is a beautiful travertine. Again, it is a beauty. Across the street is the Black Sea and a nice beach. The first thing we did after arriving was to go over and walk the beach for awhile. Very Nice…. Tomorrow…a walk through ªile | |
| October 26, 2004 12:44 AM
By Joel and Louise
Location: Turkey
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| The Rohrer's Have Left Us.... | | 18 October ’04, Monday. I’ve got to tell you something about our drive into Istanbul last night…on the other hand, maybe I shouldn’t. Anyway, I was navigator and Doug was driving…it was about 6:30pm and getting dark just about 40 km outside of the “Big City”. Our maps, well, they need help for us tourists to fully read and understand them. I knew that the turn we wanted off the toll way, was the last one before the big bridge that would take us over to the Asia Minor side. As it got darker and darker, I became more anxious and sure as heck, I ordered the van off too soon…. Oh well (I said), I think we are not too far off the track (we should have gotten right back on the toll way again)…
What a night, and I’m sure that Bonnie and Doug won’t want to visit us again EVER…I’m sorry…honestly…please come back… As it was, Doug got out of the van to ask directions 2 or 3 times, and then we finally, for sure, saw where we were and we were able to make it to “Angel’s Home Hotel” once more. At breakfast we all sat discussing what we wanted to see “this last full day” before the Rohrers were to fly home. The majority wanted to visit the “Grand Bazaar”, so off we went….money in hand. That’s what last days in town are all about…spend, spend, spend. Bonnie, you did a good job, and we can’t wait to see the photos of the kids in their new outfits. This medieval 15th century shopping mall has some 4500 shoppes together with mosques, banks, police stations, restaurants and workshops. It is a great place to wonder around in and most likely, you will get lost. We found that shopping there was fun, picturesque, and fulfilling all at once. Yes, there were those that would try to get you into their shops, but it definitely wasn’t hassling. The bazaar is divided into several different areas specializing in carpets, jewelry, clothing, silverware and so on. We even stopped for tea. It was served on a table that was no more than 10 inches off the floor and our stools were about the same…I thought they were made for little people, but no, they were made for us to suffer on. Now I must admit, one thing that we haven’t neglected, is a good meal. We have had wonderful meals at each and every corner we have gone. The Turkish people, they have great food. You might have to watch the water once in awhile, but the food is wonderful. I know that one thing that we all have agreed, the people of Turkey have been the warmest, friendliest, and most delightful. Fortunately, Louise and I will be here for much more. Well, that time has come. We all climbed into “Bumble Bee” and headed off to the airport. It was time for Bon and Doug to head back home…Thanks for coming, we really enjoyed your visit a lot.
Tomorrow…See the Doctor
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| October 26, 2004 12:42 AM
By Joel and Louise
Location: Turkey
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| Sheets Crossways On The Bed ??? |  | 17 October ’04, Sunday. First I must tell you about our beds since we have been sleeping outside of “Bumble Bee”. All of our beds have been single beds that have been slid together…so far not a big deal… Now this is were I start having a small problem…the sheets are singles that are laid across the beds. Now we each have 2 sheets, one covering the top half and the other the bottom half. The big problem comes now…THEY DON’T STAY ON !!!! They end up all bunched up under you, and uncomfortable as heck. There also is no top sheet…you only have a “single” heavy comforter that will not stay in place…my toes are always out, or I’m out…no in between. Ok, that’s all out, now back to our leaving the hotel across from the beach and the village I didn’t know the name of… Our drive today was taking us along the Aegean Sea coast-line. We would pretty much follow it all the way up to Canakkale, were we would catch a ferry across the Dardanelles. Crossing the Dardanelles was interesting to say the least. First, the passage through the Dardanelles, to the Marmara Sea, the Straits of the Bosperus, and then into the Black Sea is one of the heaviest traveled by tanker ships anywhere in the world. Now this ferry must be able to slip it’s way across all the shipping channels of incoming and outgoing ships, in water that seems to be boiling….white caps were everywhere and the ferry seemed to find each and everyone of them to slip an slide on. It was a rough ride. Besides that, when they load the boat, they are loading it with small cars to HUGE TRUCKS, and they don’t have any rhyme or reason as to the loading pattern….we were hoping that it was balanced good enough for a safe passage….thank God it was. After our safe landing, we headed over to see Gallipoli Peninsula. Just 1.4 km wide at its narrowest point, the Strait of “Canakkale” Dardanelles, has always offered the best opportunity for armies to cross between Europe and Asia Minor. From King Xerxes of Prsia in 481 BC, Alexander the Great 150 years later, and on and on. During the 19th Century, England and France competed with Russia for influence over the declining Ottoman Empire. At the start of WWI, an all-out war was fought on this peninsula with heavy losses all around….The British..200,000 casualties, with 36,000 dead, French...47,000 casualties, 500,000 Ottoman troops became casualties with more than 55,000 dead. Take a look at the size of the Gallipoli Peninsula…it took us about 45 minutes to drive completely around the battle field…it just doesn’t seem possible that so many could have lost their lives or been one of the casualties here….why? To secure a passage way for who? Why don’t we make ALL the heads of government make a trip here before they can be sworn into office, and go through the memorial and museum.
Tomorrow….Back in Istanbul
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| October 26, 2004 12:41 AM
By Joel and Louise
Location: Turkey
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| Winter Quarters ??? |  | 16 October ’04, Saturday. First let me tell you about yesterday….No plans, no schedule, and we filled the day. Doug wanted another “Turkish Shave”, which he got, and while he was doing that I went over to the internet café to try up-loading pictures. Doug got his shave, and I went bust…not one up-load…the system was just too slow. Lunch was next and then we went to look at a “rental”. We thought that the Bodrum area might workout for our “winter quarters”, so what is available, we’ll soon see. We saw a nice little one bedroom unit right across from the beach. We both thought it would work fine if, this is the place we decide on…but we still have more thinking to do. Now, today... We checked out about 9:30am and headed off to see Ephesus (Efes). Colonists from Greece arrived around 1000BC, fleeing an invasion by the Dorians…the attraction…Ephesus. What we saw, is the best preserved classical city in the Mediterranean. St John is said to have come to Ephesus at the end of his life and to have written his Gospel on Ayasuluh Hill. Along with that, Ephesus made large sums of money from the pilgrims paying homage to the ancient Anatolian fertility goddess Cybele / Artemis The Fabulous (come to find out, he had a disease of some type to have such a large appendage). As we were driving to the Ephesus site, we came across at least 2 other sites of pre-Roman to Roman ruins. The whole countryside around here is scattered with them. Some are quite small, and others are so large that it takes at least 2 hours, with a guide, to see it all. We walked into the “Great Theatre” of Ephesus and could hardly believe the size. It would hold easily 25,000 people and entertainers. It is over 2000 years old and is still used for performances today. One of the performers recently, was “Sting”. It is said that during his concert, his music damaged the original stonework. This created a big controversy. On our tour, we walked the Sacred Way. We saw the Library of Celsus, Curetes Way, the Brothal, the terraced houses, the Gates of Hercules, and on and on… it was a wonderful afternoon, and the ruins, magnificent…Ephesus. Time was getting out of hand, so we bid farewell to Ephesus and continued our trip up the coast. We didn’t have any place in mind, but knew that evening was still going to come and we would have to find a place to bed down. Just outside of Bergama, Doug came up with our next “pension” for the night…I can’t remember what the name of the town or the pension was, but we didn’t find it. As it was, we did find a hotel across from the beach in a neighboring village for $20 each room. What a bargain…the only glitch, it was on the top floor (5th), and we were the only one’s staying there out of approx. 70 villas…why the “top” floor???? Oh well, a little more exercise just wont kill us (or will it???).
Tomorrow…Canakkale for the ferry, and then on to The Gallipoli National Historic Park.
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| October 26, 2004 12:38 AM
By Joel and Louise
Location: Turkey
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| The Village Market |  | 14 October ’04, Thursday. Cereal with bananas, coffee, toast, and the presidential debates….what more could you want???? I decided, after just so much of the debates, that it was “pool time” for me. About an hours exposure, and a “hey, we want to go into the market…”, I got my towel and headed up. The village market is a “big deal” here in Yalikavak. One of the first things we did was to have one of those flat bread sandwiches. Mine was filled with a meat mixture, Louise had her potato with cheese, and Bon had hers with cheese…Doug ?, he had half of everyone’s. As it was, the market was a success, as we came back to the condo with a ton of fruit and veggies….all the good stuff. Then, over to the “cloth market”, about 2 blocks away, just to see if we could find some real values that we just couldn’t do without. I bought a large flashlight, but that was all we really bargained for. Now back home and “the men” will prepare tonight’s meal. Doug wýll do the cookýng and I wýll do the pretty stuff....flowers, candles, and you know.... It will be great.
Tomorrow....another day in paradise | |
| October 15, 2004 02:47 AM
By Joel and Louise
Location: Turkey
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| Smooooth |  | 13 October ’04, Wednesday. For me it was “Hair Day”…I got a haircut this morning, actually a complete “Turkish” facial shave…. You might even say that after the artist finished, the top of my head and my face felt like a “new babies butt”. I’ve been lathered (and I mean “LATHERED” with thick, creamy lather), shaved with “The” razor twice, massaged deeply, from head to lower back, and splashed with “dang, that stings”, but smells good stuff. With Doug flashing away with the camera, and all the accolades from Lou and Bon, you would think I was a celib or something. We followed that up with a quick lunch and then a ride over to Bodrum. Now Yalikavak is a very small, quiet village, and Bodrum….well, from what we hear, it is a “hyper-resort”. We found it very well received by a ton of tourists, all wondering around the boardwalk, the bazaar, and the Castle of St Peters. The Castle of St Peters was built by the Knights Hospitaller in 1402. Then there was the boat harbour…all of us agreed, we have never seen so many large sailing vessels in one area, at one time, anywhere we’ve traveled. It was amazing. I couldn’t even guess as to how many there were, but their wasn’t one that wasn’t a beauty and under 50’ in length. Our walk through the bazaar wasn’t with out spending some money. Louise found a nice “knock-off” type of purse/backpack, and Doug, a leather jacket and 3 sweaters. I was looking for material for upholstering the van. I found the perfect “swatch”, so now I’ve got to find the 4 meters to do the job. A stop by the grocery store, off to dinner at our local Italian pizza palor, and then back here for a stage show at the resort. It turned out to be a “Ho-Hum” show…too bad.
Tomorrow….unknown | |
| October 15, 2004 02:42 AM
By Joel and Louise
Location: Turkey
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| "Club Flipper".... |  | 12 October ’04, Tuesday. Prior to seeing Club Flipper, we all wondered just what kind of “palace” we would be checking into. As we pulled up to the gate, we started to find out. Then at the reception desk, we found we were in for a wonderful experience….it was looking way above expectations, in fact, outright beautiful. Our room is on the second floor and overlooks the main pool and the Bay of Yakasi. This bay comes off the South Aegean Sea. Sea temp is somewhere near “warm”, pool temp, somewhere near “cool”, sun temp, somewhere near “really nice !!!”. This morning we had breakfast on the veranda, and then, after setting up an appointment for a massage, we headed into the village of Yaklikavak. Yaklikavak is really a wonderful seaside village. We walked the main part of town in just a few minutes, but we will be spending more time to really explore all the little businesses that abound up and down the boardwalk. The beauty is everywhere, good little restaurants to eat your heart out, and wonderful pieces of art tied to the dock. The boardwalk has at least 8 different boats that want to take you out for the day….all the luxury and excitement you can stand. Today was barber day for Bon and Doug, and tomorrow will be my day. Doug’s experience was the “Turkish Shave”…we now call him “Baby Face Douglas”…he says it was “the best” shave he has ever had. Now, it’s lunch on the boardwalk (the sea food casserole was incredible), a little internet time, and then back to Flipper’s and our massage. Bonnie, Doug, and I are going for the full meal deal and Louise has opted for the facial only. Well, the outcome is this…what a disappointment for all of us…it was a bust ! You live and learn, and we learned to ask them to explain what it is we will be experiencing exactly…step by step. Tonight we are settled into the leather easy chairs and couch, and relaxing with a good book ( in my case here on the computer for a little while longer). Maybe a little popcorn will make everyone look up.
Tomorrow…for me, ”The Shave” | |
| October 15, 2004 02:39 AM
By Joel and Louise
Location: Turkey
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| What, Me ???? |  | | 10/11 October ’04, Sunday / Monday. Up at 5am and on our way to the Kapadokya Balloons office. “Up, Up, Up and Away, In Your Hot Air Balloon…” by 7am. It was a perfect morning, for a perfect trip through Cappadocia and view all the “Fairy Chimneys and Cave Homes”. Our flight went high, and it went low. We were so low that our basket would brush the bushes and fly through the tree branches. We flew on up to 1,000 meters, and could look out over the entire area, the castles, caves, the volcano, and on, and on, and on. The ride was so smooth you could not feel any movement at all unless you looked directly down and you could see that you were in a slow glide across the sky. As far as moving up and down, you again couldn’t feel it, but you could see it if you watched the ground. Of course you would see people watching you, and all would wave, and in some cases, you could even have a conversation with them. We were up for just over 2 hours and then it was time to land. We were all given instructions to landing for the “just in case” scenario, but our landing was so good, that we landed on the trailer that was to take the basket back to the office…pretty good landing, I would say. Nooowww, the table is set, and the glasses are filled, and we have a “Hot Air Balloon Landing Party” complete with the “Bubbly”. Unfortunately, all this had to come to an end and we had to get on our way across country to Bodrum. It will take 2 days to get there, with one planned stop on the way. Our overnight is in the lakeside town of Egirdir. We found a nice little restaurant on an island just at the end of town. We dined at waters edge, and found that we could also stay the night in their pension…all was good. Just before 8am we were on our way to our next stop, Pamukkale. Our drive yesterday and today will range from all-out flat for as far as you can see to mountain driving, were you have to get down into 2nd gear (and just make it). Also along the way to Bodrum, I had a couple of other surprises…80km is the speed limit…yep, I got it…$83 million worth, and one pass. Quite an experience to be stopped by the Turkish Police. The 1st one ($83 Mil), was quite cool, the 2nd (pass, my 2nd pass since being on our journey), was “We Love Americans !!!” (thinking, OK, here it comes, $$$$), were do you go??? Bodrum, Have a wonderful time….go, go, go….we did…quickly… Pamukkale, is the host to the ruins of Hierapolis. The once grand city of pagan, Roman, Jewish and early Christian. The imposing “Theatre” (seating over 12,000 spectators), tombs and the crystal-clear Travertine pools that terraces down the hill. The water flowing through it all, is nice and warm…a good stop, a great lunch and conversation with Mustafa, at his restaurant / pension. Now, another 2 hours plus and we will be in Bodrum. Our stay is at “ Club Flipper” in Yakasi (12 km outside of Bodrum). We arrived at sundown…just in time…Tomorrow….Catch up time and relax | |
| October 12, 2004 05:10 AM
By Joel and Louise
Location: Turkey
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| Cappadocia or Kapadokya |  | | Friday 8 Oct. ‘04. Last night we arrived in the “Cappadocia” area. Cappadocia is an area and not a city, town, or village. It sits about 3 hours South of Ankara. It was even a vast province mentioned in the Bible. This is without a doubt, one of Turkey’s most visited tourist areas and I would say we got here just right. I guess a description that would fit would be, “a vast moonscape area”. In particular, the areas around Urgup and Goreme. It was all established by mineral laden volcanic soil, so it is a prime agricultural region. Fruit and wine grapes, wheat and raisins are most of the crops. What we were doing here was to visit the churches and chapels of Goreme, Zelve and the Open Air Museums in Soganli. Another high light of this journey, was to ride high on the Kapadokya Balloons. We hadn’t even found a room before we found Kapadokya Balloons and set up our ride (by the way, if you want to see just what we did, go to their web site at www.kapadokyaballons.com. This is just what we did about last November. We were hooked right then. Second in line, was to find a place to stay for 2 nights. Kallie, who with her husband, are the owners and the pilots of Kapadokya Balloons, suggested that we look into staying at a fairly new “Cave Hotel”…Elif Star Caves Pension (www.elifstar.com) . Of course, we quickly made our way over and met Jacky Mert and arranged for our accommodations. Later we had a chance to meet her daughter Elif (5 years old), and her husband Mustafa. This pension was really dugout of the volcanic rock formations that is found all over this area. The pension, was 4 stories high and had a large patio on the roof. Our room, was a nice sized bedroom, with built-ins dug out of the stone, and a good sized bathroom with shower. As you laid there in bed and looking at the ceiling, all of the pick marks and the un-even surface made a great picture. Oh yes, Jacky is a gourmet chef, and we ate well. After all this, we were looking for things to do, and Jacky gave us a thousand things that we could do tomorrow, so we retired early to make ourselves available for our first day’s adventure in “Kapadokya”. | |
| October 12, 2004 05:08 AM
By Joel and Louise
Location: Turkey
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| Fairy Chimneys and Churches |  | 9 October ’04, Saturday. After breakfast, we all jumped into “Bumble Bee” and went off to our 1st attraction….The Goreme Open Air Museum. This is a cluster of rock formations cutout for, Byzantine churches, chapels and monasteries. As we were just about to pay and enter, I was approached by a young Turkish man who identified himself as a “licensed guide’. I asked to see this “license” and how much did he want to guide all 4 of us through the museum. All of agreed this would be well worth the 15 million lira, so, Sinan was hired. His information and knowledge of this area was much more than any tour book would have provided. There were over 365 churches and a couple monasteries all dug-out here in these rock formation. They dated back to the 11th century. Unfortunately most of the caves have been “opened” because of the rock breaking away and exposing the interior. Putting that aside, the cave paintings, the lay-out, and the grave sites were all wonders themselves. A few of the paintings have been restored, and others vandalized. One thing of interest, was in the vandalizing of the paintings, the eyes, faces, and hands of all the subjects were scratched out. Our understanding of this, is the Muslim religion does not allow for any images, so scratching out the eyes erases the image. Those that were too high to reach, were left alone. We then “hired” Sinan to take us to see some of the “fairy chimneys” that we hadn’t seen yet. We soon found ourselves driving though a sandy, rutted lane, heading way off into the valley. Soon, Sinan stopped us in front of some of the most incredible “fairy chimneys” we had seen. What a great photo-op this was. Then, a ride across the plateau to a newly opened underground city. As you arrive, you wouldn’t know that there was any type of cave or caves below you, but upon entering a small tunnel you find yourself right in the middle of the “barn”. The first floor was set aside for the animals. There was feeding troughs, tie rings, and holes dug for cleaning. Then a smaller tunnel leads you down to the living areas. The cooking, wine making, sleeping, and dining areas were all tied together by additional and smaller yet tunnels. Some of these tunnels actually ended with a large round (wheel type) stone, that could be rolled into the tunnel passage to block any intruders that might find their way there. A couple of the tunnels would wind and twist while going down to the next floor and room. They were so small, while bent over, your back would be scrapping the top of the tunnel. While we didn’t feel real secure in being underground there, we all stepped forward. Another surprise came when we came back up, we found a tour bus unloading about 40 people to tour the same caves we were just leaving. Let me tell you, I wouldn’t want any more than the four of us down there at one time, let alone have 40 or more pressing together in any of the rooms or tunnels.
Tomorrow….Flying High !!!!
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| October 12, 2004 05:04 AM
By Joel and Louise
Location: Turkey
|
| Guess Who Is Having A Wedding.... |  | | 8 October ’04, Friday. We awoke to a heavy downpour of rain on our last morning in Istanbul. Driving in a town of over 20 million people, that doesn’t get that much heavy rain was a challenge. Traffic was a lot of the time at a complete standstill for minutes at a time. Water was over every curb, and cars and trucks were stalled everywhere. Finally, we reached the bridge that would carry us out of town and we were on our way. We were traveling into the center of the country, Ankara the capital, and then heading south to Cappadocia. This was going to be a day and a half of travel. We finally stopped just outside of Ankara in a town called Gobasi. Bon and Doug were to stay in a hotel and Louise and I in “Bumble Bee” and the hotel lot. After checking in, we jumped into the van and headed in to dinner. After dinner, we headed back to the hotel….well, we tried…, we couldn’t get back across the street to go “back”. So, we headed out in the wrong direction for 23km before we were able to turn around and finally back to the hotel. Almost 50km round trip…(am I doing something wrong ???). Anyway, morning comes, we have a bite to eat at the hotel, and we are on our way. Around 10:45am I have to stop for gas, and while I am working with the young man giving us gas, a car with 4 young men comes in and comes over to the van. One of them (Erhan) is speaking very good English, and everyone is having a good conversation. Finally, Erhan says he is getting married today. After all of us giving him our congratulations, he invites us to his wedding…he says it will have, “lot’s of dancing, singing, eating, and drinking for THREE DAYS….AND WE ARE INVITED !!!! It turns out, that we were the first tourists that he has ever seen in his town, and he wants us to share his day with him. Unfortunately, it just wasn’t possible, so we said our good-bye’s and again congratulations. As we headed further into town, we found Ehran standing in the middle of the road waving us to pull into a parking spot. “At least have a cup of tea with me”… we said we would love to, so we got out thinking we would walk into the restaurant next door…wrong….he walked us down the street about 3 blocks to his families home, sat us down, introduced us to ALL his family, and then proceeded to feed us a wonderful meal….no was not in his vocabulary. There is more to this story, but you will have to ask us about it. It was a wonderful experience for all of us…Thanks to Ehran and his family. Now, back on the road to Cappadocia. Tomorrow…Cappadocia | |
| October 09, 2004 08:46 AM
By Joel and Louise
Location: Turkey
|
| "Just Go Straight Ahead Until I Tell You To Stop..." | | 7 October ’04, Thursday. Well, I don’t really know how it happened, but I lost a day…
Wednesday, we took the morning and walked up the street to one of the bazaars and then spent the rest of the morning in a couple of museums. The museums we visited were really very good. They contained stone carvings and other smaller artifacts from as early as 500 BC. As I ran my hand over one of the stone carvings, my thoughts went to “who was it that touched and carved this stone that “I” am now touching ??? I wont go into a lot of detail now, but to tell you the makers of the temples, stone figures, and smaller artifacts, were all incredible artists, architects, and engineers. Leaving the museums, we went looking for lunch and then Doug and I headed out to pick up “Bumble Bee”. Thinking I know everything about getting around in Istanbul, now that I’ve been here a total of 4 days, we grabbed a cab and I said “just go that way until I tell you to stop…”. Well, after riding for ever and watching the “meter” going off the screen with $$, Doug tapped me on the shoulder and asked, “are you sure we are going the right way????” “Yep”… it wasn’t long and I knew that I was hopelessly lost, so I motioned to the cab driver to “make a U-Turn”…not an easy task, but with a turn off of one street and into a little village, going to, God knows were, we finally ended up heading the opposite direction. Finally after a while, I recognized something, so I halted the cab, and the two of us jumped out underneath a freeway overpass. You must know, Doug is now wondering why in the heck he “volunteered” to come with me… Anyway, I just wanted to get my bearings again with out the pressure of that “meter” clicking. When the next cab came by I hailed it as well and we were finally on our way to “Bumble Bee”. Now, when we pulled out of the driveway and started towards Istanbul and the ladies, I just knew we would have no problem getting back to Angel’s….dang, “what is that bridge?, we don’t cross any bridges…we’ve got to get all the way over to the right and get off…” Well, we got off in time and made it back to Angel’s and the ladies, but we were a little later than we had told them we would be. Oh well, …Tomorrow….leaving Istanbul and all of us heading to Cappadocia
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| October 09, 2004 08:45 AM
By Joel and Louise
Location: Turkey
|
| Enjoying Istanbul One Day At A Time |  | | 6 October ’04, Tuesday. Our accommodations at Angel’s is really great. After getting up and having a shower, we met on the roof terrace for breakfast. The view from the terrace is overlooking the Sea of Marmara, the Blue Mosque, and the Aya St. Sofia Mosque. Again, our host has made us feel very comfortable and has even given us a program of tours or things to see while we are here. This morning we decided to jump into a cab and head over to tour The Topkapi Palace grounds and the Harem Quarters. The women of the Harem had to be foreigners, as Islan generally forbade enslaving Muslims, Christians, or Jews. It seems that Sultan Murat III, had 112 children with the help of his Harem. Upon entering the Harem, the girls would be schooled in Islam and Turkish culture and language, the arts of make-up, dress, comportment, music, reading and writing, and dancing. Touring the Harem, was just short of amazing. There were over 300 rooms that were built into a hillside on 6 levels. Fortunately, we only were able to see a small quantity of these. We decided to take it a little easy today, as we have got over 2 weeks to go, and we all want to make it without burnout. So, we grabbed a cab and went back to the pension, and then out looking for dinner. While walking up one of the streets, Doug ran into a couple that were here from Seattle. A little conversation, and all 6 of us went out for dinner together. Tomorrow….More of Istanbul | |
| October 06, 2004 11:13 AM
By Joel and Louise
Location: Turkey
|
| We Are Going To Enjoy Turkey... |  | 4 October ’04, Monday. We have a busy day ahead, so we were up early this morning. Last night we both pulled down our small suitcases and re-packed into one. At just after 9am we were shutting the door to “Bumble Bee” and heading across the overpass on foot to find a cab to the airport. Bonnie and Doug are to arrive at 10:20 this morning, and after meeting with them, we will head off to our pension. Upon arriving at the airport our cab driver let us out at the entrance…it just seems to follow us…the wrong entrance. So we had to lug our suitcase and other bags up and over, down and around, and finally after a little haggling we made it to the “International Arrival” area. Going to the board that shows all the flights coming in, we were “surprised ???” to say the least, that their flight wasn’t shown. Now what is this all about? There was an information desk close by, so I went over to find out just what the problem was. No problem, it is just that the flight doesn’t arrive until 2:20…. Well now, here we are, all dressed for the party and no were to go…. So we settled in for a little quite time at the airport. Time did go by pretty fast, so it wasn’t long before we saw them walk through the security gates looking great. It is great to have them join us. After a few minutes of catching up we grabbed a cab and headed off to our pension…”Angel’s Home Hotel”. Not having been there before, although we had seen the web page, we were happy to see that all the information that we had prior was just as it is in reality. Our host is very helpful and our room is extremely nice. We are located in a location that is close to more than half of all the places we want to visit, so we will be able to walk instead of cabbing. You might guess, but the first thing we did was walk through one of the bazaars and then find a place for a nice quiet dinner.
Tomorrow….Enjoying Istanbul
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| October 05, 2004 10:28 PM
By Joel and Louise
Location: Turkey
|
| Finally A Journey Through Edirne... |  | | 3 October ’04, Sunday. Yesterday we finally got the oil changed… I don’t know why, but it like pulling teeth on my part to get it done. Now I can put my mind on something else. We followed the oil change with another day in Edirne sightseeing. This is really the first day we have taken just for this. We visited 2 of the largest Mosques in town and 2 of the old market areas as well. Then down the street a little, and we have in front of us some Byzantine and Roman ruins. In one spot of the excavations, we even saw 2 human bones sticking out of the dirt. Nothing can be dug out until there is positive identification put to each little artifact. They strain every shovel of dirt twice before discarding it to the side. We then went to find lunch as time had gotten away from us. As we were walking the streets, and looking for that right place to eat, Louise just had to find a potty place. Yesterday she had found this one location, so that is were we headed this time as well. As she walked out, she noticed these Moslem ladies sitting around a circle, on the ground. They were rolling out, filling, and baking flat bread. The fillings were either cheese, potato, or meat. It smelled so good, and they were such good sales people, we just had to try one…then three… They were fantastic. My favorite was the meat, and for Louise, it was potato. This pretty much filled our day, and we had to go and find another campground. We were not happy with our last one so we checked out. As we pulled into the gates of this new one, were met immediately by this pretty young lady. She didn’t have a lot of confidence in her English, so she called for her mother. Both were very charming and made our choice of locations very easy. They lent us a book Coffee Table book on Edirne, and gave us a visitors comment book to fill out when we left as well. We were told to park anywhere (we were the only one there). We had only just settled in and we had visitors…2 roosters and 4 hens. They were very curious birds, but definitely not timid of us. As we woke this morning, we were surprised that the roosters had been so quiet so late in the morning. We had gone into the showers and as I came back to the van, there was a nice fresh loaf of French bread waiting for us…compliments of the campground. Now, that was a first. We finished dressing, got the breakfast ready, and as we started to eat, the whole flock of chickens decided to join us. Another first…. What a campground !!! There was no doubt, this was one of the best, and number one for hospitality. Now to check out and head again to Istanbul. We were looking again for a different location from the last one. After a couple of U-Turns, around a business district, and a detour or two, we arrived. It is much better than the last here in Istanbul. Tomorrow morning, we take a suitcase, grab a cab and go to the airport to meet Bonnie and Doug, and leave “Bumble Bee” on her own for 12 or more days. This will seem strange…. The 4 of us will be checking into a pension here in Istanbul for a few days and then travel in a rented car down the western coast line of Turkey for a week or more. Say a little prayer for Bumble Bee’s safety as well as ours. Tomorrow…the airport and then the pension “Angel’s Home Hotel” | |
| October 04, 2004 10:01 PM
By Joel and Louise
Location: Turkey
|
| If It Is Cloth, It WILL BE Washed |  | | 1 October ’04, Friday. October 1st and we are still here and enjoying it even more… Today we finished washing. We washed just about everything that was made of cloth or synthetic fibers. It was exhausting but, we just feel soooo good having got it all done. Another goal for the day was to get the oil changed, so we headed in to town to get that done and see it we could get any up-loading done at the internet café. As it was, we did get all the text up-loaded and a few pictures, but the oil change still has to be done. It was just about 5 when we got back to the campground, so we had to start dinner and get all the dried laundry put away before dark. Night time is definitely coming earlier. I took a picture of our candle-lit dinner tonight. This afternoon we went to the grocery store for tonight’s dinner. We decided on a bift steak dinner. After the young lady took our selection out and weighed it, she then proceeded to pound the heck out of it. We were impressed, because we thought we were going to have to do it when we got back to the camper. On our first bite, we thought we probably should have beat it again…it was a little tough… Oh well, the flavor was sure good anyway. For lunch, we stopped by a little sidewalk café. I had these little barbequed lamb meatballs, and Louise had this white broth soup that had some stringy and chewy meat of some kind in it…she didn’t finish it and I can’t imagine why not…. When we got back to the campground from town, we found we were the only one here again. The “Water Truck” had left for Istanbul. It was kind of nice being here all alone….for a while anyway…2 campers (1 VW van) pulled in just at dark. They are both from The Netherlands also. Those from Holland, do travel…. | |
| October 04, 2004 09:57 PM
By Joel and Louise
Location: Turkey
|
| Is A Water Truck or What ??? |  | 30 September ’04, Thursday. One of us is celebrating their birthday, and it isn’t me….
Happy Birthday to you…. Louise is now .. I would tell you but, I would have to wash dishes for the rest of my life, and that just isn’t going to happen. Who would have guessed that we would be celebrating her birthday in Turkey or anywhere else but good ole Seattle when we celebrated it last year. What a change our lives have taken. You might think that we would be doing something exciting or challenging or….but no, we just pulled up stakes from Istanbul for a few days, and went back north to re-visit Edirne. Edirne is were we camped our first night in Turkey on the lot of the gas station northeast of town. We left Istanbul because we wanted a change of scenery and a fresh water shower. We must be nuts to travel backward over 200km to have a fresh water shower. As you know, Bonnie and Doug are arriving in Istanbul on Monday, and we just wanted to stay away until they arrived to save some of the “surprise of Istanbul” for us as well.
In celebrating Louise’s birthday, we washed clothes and then barbequed chicken, baked potatoes, and some very good dark beer for our celebration dinner. Oh yes, we ate by candle lite as well. Just as we were starting the barbeque, a large orange truck came into the campground. Up until then, we were the only one here. When we first saw this truck, we thought it was a water truck bringing in water for the campground. Then it did something strange for a “Water Truck”, it parked and a young couple got out and started to set up camp. As it turns out, this “Truck” is an Eastern German Officers Truck. It was all set up for the “Three Officers” to live in. Live is meant to live better than those less fortunate to be “Officers”. Now these two are travelers, Jasper and Monique Hendrick, will be on the road up to 3 years before their trip ends. They are from The Netherlands (Holland), and purchased this truck there. Some of their destinations are India, Iran, Pakistan and extensively in Turkey. In the picture of “Bumble Bee” sitting next to their camper you can see the difference in traveling conditions. Inside they have a full sized bed, full kitchen, full bath with shower, generator, lift for their motorcycle, 250 gallons of fresh water and water purification system. That is just for starters…Happy Travels
| |
| October 04, 2004 09:55 PM
By Joel and Louise
Location: Turkey
|
| Test Drive Istanbul | | 29 September ’04, Wednesday. We tried to get off to the bus stop, before it got too hot, but 10:30 am just didn’t do it… It was already in the high 70 to low 80’s, and the humidity was about 90%….let’s put it this way, HOT !!! To get to our bus, we have to cross 2 off-ramps that don’t have sidewalks or crosswalks, cars traveling at HIGH SPEED, and then under 2 overpasses (one with a man and his “home” sleeping under the overpass) and then up onto the other side to find 2 more streets to cross that fit the same description. And then, thread your way through some high-rise condo’s to the next street. Finally, you are there to catch bus #81. 1 million lira each and you are on your way into Istanbul. This is an amazing “mega-city”… it never goes to sleep, and it never ages…it is still thousands of years old. The book says, “Straddling the Bosphorus with a skyline studded with domes and minarets, Istanbul is one of the world’s great romantic cities”…it really is true. As soon as you mix with the people, shops, markets, sounds, smells, and all, you find all of it quite intoxicating and romantic. The history tracks back to the earliest times with the Byzantium then Constantinople, the capitol of the Roman Empire, the Ottoman Empire…and on…even to day, you feel it as a part of their culture and heritage. One of our goals was to find an internet café…we did. We were able to catch up on some emails (answering and sending). It is always great to hear from everyone…thanks. We also heard from Donna, and we now have our insurance problem solved…THANK YOU !!! We also wanted to see the other side of the Bosphorus, so we caught another bus to across the bridge and take us up into the middle of that side of Istanbul. We had a good day just trying out our luck on the busses of Istanbul and reading our maps. Now the big question…How do we get back??? Once we got back to the location of the first bus we took this morning, things finally went sour. As it was, we ended up taking a taxi back…remember the bus…1 million lira each??? The taxi…10 million each… Well, we are back, and we had a good time…what else is important???
Tomorrow….not sure yet | |
| October 01, 2004 04:30 AM
By Joel and Louise
Location: Turkey
|
| The Effects of 911 Even Here |  | 28 September ’04, Tuesday. Up bright in early, both of us all cleaned, pottied, and fed. I decided to wash “Bumble Bee” with the pre-used water from our sink, while Louise finished up the interior chores. Our stay with Sadam and his crew was uneventful, but very nice. For them to take us in, was above and beyond and with the great meal last night…great!!! We only had 20 million lira left, so I put it into the gas tank. It didn’t fill it, but I thought it would get us to Istanbul ok. Our route was down the “toll road” for about 240 km, and there was supposed to be plenty of “Mega Gas/Restaurant” areas on the way. After about the first 100 km I had noticed that: 1st, there were no off ramps and 2nd, were there used to be the famous “Mega Gas/Restaurant” areas, was now tall weeds….they had all closed after 9/11… It is amazing how much 9/11 has affected Turkey’s tourism, and the closed gas stations is only a small part. Fortunately, we had plenty of gas to get to Istanbul, so we weren’t in any danger of running out on this “toll road”. The amount of traffic on this road was also interesting…hardly nothing. We traveled many miles without seeing another car or truck going in our direction. Although, the closer we got to Istanbul (24-28 million people), the more cars and trucks we encountered. The terrain was kind of like riding into Yakima…rolling hills with farm lands and then, dried brush areas (but, no Mt. Rainier). Finally, our turn off came up so we could find our campground. The closer to Istanbul, the more traffic. Finally, it was kind of like driving in an “All Grown-Up’s Bumper Car” ride. Fortunately, no one actually bumped any bumpers, but the ride was thrilling. Within another 45 minutes we were pulling into our new campground. Lou and I both could hardly wait to hook up and head off to the showers. We grabbed the first 2 showers we found (right next to each other), and turned the water on high….COLD WATER SHOWERS…what is it about the soap not “sudsing”? Can this be…SALT WATER SHOWERS ??? You know after you’ve tasted the water (and you don’t want to taste it, because the Mamara Sea is the most likely spot the salt water is coming from, and it is polluted..), that in fact it is salt water. Second, after you’ve dried off, you fill sticky all over. Not the best of showers we have had… Then it comes to another chore that we just have to complete…washing of our clothes… Well, we knew there would be challenges on this journey, now we have encountered a couple and we will have to work our way through them. Again, 9/11 has become an issue here in this campground. This used to be a highly sought after campground. Now they have a large swimming pool, and wonderful looking restaurant, and campground that have all gone to hell in a basket. The campground is barely open…everything else is closed and covered with weeds and dust. Pretty nasty. The tourist just isn’t coming as they used too, and it is hurting the tourist economy drastically.
Enough politics…Tomorrow…let’s find an internet café (as they call them), and test out the bus system | |
| October 01, 2004 04:28 AM
By Joel and Louise
Location: Turkey
|
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