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Posts tagged ‘Turkey’

Oct 9

Europe comes to an end

We’ve now been away a total of 201 days, 177 days have been spent in Europe,

We’ve been from London to Turkey
(not New York to Rio, like Peter Allen ☺).

We’ve covered 14 countries; some we just passed through, others we explored in detail.

England / France / Italy / Serbia / Croatia / Bulgaria / Turkey / Greece / Montenegro / Slovenia / Austria / Switzerland / Germany / Spain

A few of the highights:

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Driven over 20,000km, no parking tickets or speeding fines (we know of). No car accidents – just 1 flat tyre.

Nothing lost, nothing broken and the worst illness was a stomach bug for a few days.

Cheapest accommodation: €15 a night on Leros
Most expensive: €160 a night in Paris

CPI (Coffee Price Index): most expensive €4.50 in Venice, the cheapest €0.50 in Berane, Montenegro

WCP (Wine Consumption Price): most expensive was £9 for a glass of champagne in London, the Cheapest in France (of course), €4 a bottle.

Best meal:  Hard to say, we’ve had so many; from eating a home cooked meal with the family in Guzelyurt, to fine dining at Le Gabriel in Bordeaux, enjoying the local Fête’s in France or simply cooking with fresh ingredients from the markets. I don’t think we’ve had a bad meal.

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We’ve met some wonderful people along the way. The added pleasure and delight, has been those friends and family who joined us; whether it be for a dinner, a weekend or a few weeks: Ross and Kate, Katrina, Helen and Rod, Bruce, Penny, Dale, Leeanne, Elisa and Ian, our Niece Claire and my sister Jane.

As well as visiting and enjoying the generous hospitality of the Ryan’s in Switzerland, Andrea and Margit (her Mum) in Austria, and the Brown’s in London.

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So far, the Callander capers have been amazing.

Best of all, we are still talking to each other…..most of the time!!

We still like each other!

We still like each other!

May 16

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Ferry Crossing to Rhodes

Don has been suffering from gastro the last two days, I will spare you the details.  Being sick is foreign to Don.  In the 10+ years I have known him, he has never been sick.  I know he must be feeling pretty bad because he allows me to give him panadol and imodium* (he went through a lot of imodium).  Don is assigned the back seat of the car on the way to Marmaris, where we get the ferry to Rhodes.  Of course he won’t take any advice, like eating plain food.  After consuming a chicken kebab for lunch in Marmaris, he proceeds to throw it up a couple of hours later (he can tell you where)!  Katrina and I confer and decide to ‘plug’ him up with more imodium and maxolon** just to be sure he makes the ferry trip without further disgrace.

We are the only passangers with a car boarding the ferry to Rhodes.  As we are leaving Turkey, we need to clear customs and exit the country. The French number plates and Australian passports create some confusion.  The car is in my name, Don and Katrina are directed to follow the rest of the foot passengers and I am ushered into a small office at the port.

Crammed into a little office is me and several official looking men. There is little english, but from the tone of the conversation, hand guestures and frequent checking and rechecking of my documents, I can deduce that they are not all that sure what to do.  Each takes turns on the one computer entering details. I am a little tentative when they enter the car rego details.  This is a telling moment, for I assume if we have any driving infringements they may pop-up on the system to ensure payment before departure.  After a few tentative minutes, my papers are processed without incident and the customs officer escorts me to the car for final clearance.   He asks me to open the car, looks at our luggage and for a brief moment I think he considers that his job requires him to inspect the contents.  He sighs and smiles, says “OK”, stamps my passport and opens the gate to the dock.

We are still 15-20 min out of Rhodes when the crew member who guided me onto the ferry comes up and calls out “owner of the vehicle below.” Well, I immediately think the worst has happened; sh#*t, did I forget to leave the car in gear or put the handbreak on?  I bolt downstairs and to my relief he simply want us ready to disembark the car as soon as the gang plank is down.  We jump in and wait.  It’s a little unnerving driving off a ferry that is still securing its lines and bouncing around on the engine backwash, but on his signal we lead off, the rest of the passengers in tow.

Now we need to enter Greece.  When we approach customs and explain we have a car, I can see the same look of perplexity on the Greek custom officers face, as I did back in Turkey.  We are asked to wait. Most of the passengers on the ferry have EU passports and are quickly ushered through; then its our turn.  Maybe because the Greeks are a little laid back, or maybe because it’s Friday afternoon, but after a rudimentary look over the car and stamping of our passports, the terminal gates are opened and we have arrived in Rhodes.

Footnote: * Imodium is for treating diarrhoea ** Maxolon treats nausea and stops you throwing up.

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May 14

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Kusadasi & Fethiye

We based ourselves in Kusadasi for two nights, as it’s a 45min drive to Ephesus, which we will do early tomorrow morning.  We didn’t know much about the town and even though we arrived about 9pm, we had decided to ‘wing-it’ for accommodation.  Plucking a recommendation from the Eyewitness Travel – Turkey, (love these books, but they need to get themselves online), we programmed the gps with the address.  We would at least check it out and consider our options.   The Grand Onder turned out to be just right (coincidentally, we discover it is where Debbie Rogers also stayed the previous year).  Don went in and did his negotiations, coming back with two rooms for 2 nights + breakfast, for a grand total of Aus $200.  They gave us rooms overlooking the port and pool and there was plenty of parking out front for the car.  Having a car has its benefits, but trying to park it every night can be painful and sometimes expensive (Kellie Penrose & I found that out many years ago when we got our car impounded in Barcelona – another story for another time)!

It had been a long day driving from Demre (never going back) to Aphrodisias, Pamukkale and back to the coast, so we were looking forward to a good dinner.  We walked along the port and didn’t get far before we discover a steak restaurant.  Steak; when was the last time we had a good steak?  It was a unanimous decision, three steaks and a bottle of red (of course).  And they proved to be great steaks that hit the spot.

We visit Ephesus the next morning (see blog May 10).  Arriving early was worthwhile, we probably had the first hour free of tourist buses.  After that they arrived in droves and you feel like you could be in bustling peak hour in downtown New York, rather than an ancient city!  Note: I do get to play with poetic license!

After coffee back in Kusadasi, we are checking out the tourist shops, only to fall prey to a shoe shop!  Katrina and I both end up with two pairs of shoes. Of course we didn’t really need the shoes, but the fun was in the bargaining.   My shoes started out at TL220 for two pairs, after much negotiation, my final offer of TL100 ($50) was accepted, but only after I walked out of the shop and the salesman chased me!  I have no doubt that they still made a good margin on our ‘designer’ shoes.

The rest of our time was spent relaxing by the pool and taking a sunset cruise.  It was nice to see the port from the bay and it was a spectacular sunset, but 1 hour was plenty.

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The next morning we headed off to Fethiye. We decided to split our 3hr drive with a beach stop on the way.  Our route took us past Akyaka, which had a nice beach and we spend a couple of hours relaxing and enjoying the turquoise waters.  The water is crystal clear and the colour incredible – and you float with ease from the high salt content.

Fethiye is our last stop in Turkey and we will have 4 nights to relax in this seaside town.  Katrina has selected our accommodation this time and she is pensive as we approach.  We don’t want to have another Demre experience!  Clearly, Demre is going to haunt me for a while!  She has nothing to fear.  We have a two bedroom, 2 bathroom (bonus) apartment in a small complex apartments built around a shared pool.  The beach is at the end of the road, where we also find a beach club that provides sun lounges and umbrellas and we take advantage of these we are told they are “free today”!

Throughout Turkey the quality of wine (we are talking red wine), has drawn varied responses (mainly from me), that have included: “oh, that tastes like metho”; “You can’t be serious – they can’t call this wine”, “drinkable, but don’t buy it again.” We did stumble across a drinkable drop at times and Villa Delucca became a staple purchase at the supermarket.  As the weather warmed up we ventured to try some roses and white wine, then back to rose (forget white).  The price of wine in restaurants can be exorbitant, but one of our favourite places in Fethiya had a dry rose for TL35 bottle (do the maths yourselves: divide by 2 = Aus $).  Given we normally paid at least double this anywhere else, we are not sure if they had made a mistake or perhaps it was a loss leader on getting customers. It worked, because we stopped there two nights out of four.  The WCP (wine consumption price) had come down considerably.

The cheapest dinner we had the entire time in Turkey was also in Fethiye.  We walk past a Kebab house with a juicy looking chicken cooking on the rotisserie (apologies to all the vegetarians).  The cafe/fastfood joint is offering a meal deal of Chicken kebab, chips and drink for TL3.50 (……yes, it was $1.75 each for dinner), and no, we didn’t get food poisoning either!

Olu Deniz is a postcard perfect beach and is a ‘must visit’ if you are in the area and is about 20km from Fethiye. I have also read about a smaller beach called Gremiler, which we decided to checkout on the way.

Without a car or boat you would struggle to find, or get to, Gremiler. It’s a secluded cove with a couple of taverns offering beach chairs and lunch.  We are possibly taken advantage of here because we agreed to free chairs with umbrella if we had lunch at the taverna.  The beach looked too nice to pass up.  Lunch, was fresh fish and salad etc, which was lovely, but was well overpriced at TL40 each.  Lesson: confirm the price first!  We wouldn’t have passed it up anyway, Gremiler was a gorgeous little spot to stop.

Olu Deniz, however, is everything they say it is.  The one advantage we have is the time of year of our visit.  In the peak season, apparently you can’t move on the beach.  There is hardly anyone when we visit.  The sandy peninsula is sheltered by the headland opposite which has created a lagoon on one side and sheltered beach on the other.  The colour of the water takes on a new level of turquoise and it one of the most beautiful beaches we have been to so far.

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May 10

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Turkey – Ancient Cities

Ok this is going to be a quick summary of the three key ancient ruins we visit:

APHRODISIAS : Recommended by Rob & Cal Fisher (big thanks), this spot is often missed by tourists who flock to the better know Pammukale-Hierapolis and Ephesus.  But, Aphrodisias is remarkable.  Named after the Greek goddess of love, the city was built in Hellenistic and Roman times (2nd century BC).  You can wander through marble paved streets (they must have needed sun glasses, as the glare from all the marble would have been blinding). The stadium is one of the best preserved in Europe, seating 30,000 people. We seem to have the city to ourselves and spend a couple of hours being transported back to ancient times. The on-site museum also houses an incredible collection of recovered sarcophagus’, marble statues and other ancient artifacts.

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PAMMUKALE & HIERAPOLIS :  Deriving from springs in a cliff almost 200 m high overlooking the plain, calcite-laden waters have created at Pammukale (Cotton Palace) an unreal landscape, made up of mineral forests, petrified waterfalls and a series of terraced basins. At the end of the 2nd century B.C. the dynasty of the Attalids, the kings of Pergamon, established the thermal spa of Hierapolis. The ruins of the baths, temples and other Greek monuments can be seen at the site. http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/485

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EPHESUS : Is renowned as being the best preserved ancient city in the Mediterranean.  Ephesus was one of 12 important cities of the classical Greek period.  First established in the 10th century BC by the Ionian Greeks (wish I had done ancient history), it eventually came under Roman rule in 129 BC.  Rumor has it that the Gospel of John may have been written here. The most well known image of Ephesus is the Library of Celsus, built in 125 AD with his own personal funds.  The facade has been reconstructed with original pieces and provides a perspective on the scale and grandeur of the time.  The detail invested into the design by the romans is superb throughout everything we have seen. Today, we would probably call such buildings ostentatious. I wonder what will have survived from our generation and been reconstructed for historical significance in the year 4014?

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May 9

Ucagiz

Ucagiz, is a tiny little fishing village from which you can take boat trips and kayak around the islands and visit the sunken city.  I have booked a house nearby….so I thought!

We discover the property “Your Own Paradise”  is not in Ucagiz, but in Demre and its stretching the truth to call it anything else. The owner has taken poetic license with its location and description; 100 metres from the sea turns out to be a rocky outcrop, the picture of the sun lounges on a beach is several km’s away!! In general the house is OK from a functional point of view, it does have wonderful ocean views from most rooms and a great rooftop terrace. The neighbours who met us and let us in were very friendly and helpful. They ensured we had torches and candles for when the power went out!  Apparently a regular occurrence. The hot water also runs out, we had cold showers on the second day.

The worst thing is the smell, it drove us to leave after 2 days (instead of a leisurely four). Supposedly the rain makes the toilets smell (it was raining). It was worse downstairs, but seemed to seep through the place and it was musty and damp. So much so we all started to feel ill. When I contacted the owner to inform her, I had no reply, but clearly there was no argument on these issues because when we paid the neighbour for our 2 nights he was aware of the change in plans.  The best feature of this house was the washing machine, which we used non stop for the two days; we more than recovered the cost of the accommodation in savings on laundry costs.

In the end it all turned out for the best, as it was cold and wet. Not beach or kayaking weather.  This made us rethink our plans on where to fill in the next two nights.  Since the weather forecast was not looking good, we decided to change direction and head back inland to, Aphrodisias, Pammukale and onto Ephesus. It would be a 750km trip but would prove well worth it.  The original plan was to visit these sites when we returned from Greek Island hopping.  The advantage of doing it now meant: a) Katrina got to see these sites and, b) we now didn’t need to come back to Turkey.  The later meant rethinking the car: if we didn’t come back to Turkey and we could ferry the car across to Greece somewhere we would save some time retracing our way out of Turkey.

Regardless of the weather, we spent the days exploring the coastline between Ucagiz and Kas.  In better weather I am sure we would have enjoyed these seaside locations and maybe we will come back and do that kayak trip, one day.

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