Well need I say it again, I think we have found our new most favourite country! We had a bit of a rough start for the first day or two as we found out the prices were higher than we expected. Gas was over $2.50 a litre and more expensive then even Norway, how the average Turkish person can afford to drive is beyond me, of course they don't have to worry about the price of alcohol because Muslims don't drink and 95% of the population is Muslim. Because of this fact, every town has at least one Mosque and every Mosque has a "calling to prayer" which is put over a loud speaker 5 times a day, the first one starting at about 5:30am, then around 9am, 1pm, 5pm, and lastly around 9pm. At first, it was a little hard to get used to(especially being woken up to it that early)but as time went on it wasn't so bad. As we got into the Turkish way of life everything settled in and we relaxed. We found we absolutely loved the Turkish people, they are so gentle, kind, and welcoming and truely can't do enough for you. I loved them a little more than Ken because I didn't have to deal with them on the road, the Turkish drive like mad men and more than once Ken had some choice words for them! First off I have to say one thing, Turkey is a big country and we didn't get to see half of it in the time we had. We visited the country for 3 week and we only saw a handful of what there is too see, I guess we will have to come back another time.
We crossed into Turkey in the north about 300km north of Istanbul. The first room we had was twice what we were paying in Bulgaria, which was o.k. but it caught us by surprise. The first night a guy in a small restaurant charged us 30tl($20) for a few mealballs with yogurt and some bread when he found out we were newbees, we refused to pay and he lowered his price to 20tl but unfortunately we still got a sour taste in our mouths from the whole experience. That was the only time this kind of thing happened and we soon forgave as we forgot. We headed straight into Istanbul for our first taste of Turkish culture. With an address for a hotel from the 'Lonely Planet' put in our GPS we headed into the city. Let me say here that our GPS has been flawless, it has every little track and trail in all of Europe in it and has been indispensable, however...it seems there were two street addresses the same in the Istanbul area and we ended up who know where but not where we were supposed to be and LOST. Panicking, we went to a gas station where one of the attendants took Ken to a store where to buy a map and then helped us figure out where we wanted to go and how to get there. When all was said and done it took us about 2 hours to go 30 km into the heart of the old city in Istanbul through standstill traffic in 32ish degrees, not fun on a motorbike. Fact is though, Istanbul is close to 20,000,000 people. We found a great hotel(not the one we originally wanted) just up the street from the Blue Mosque, what a great location! We visited many sights in Istanbul including the Blue Mosque, the Basilica Cistern, the Spice Market, and the Grand Bazaar, if you can't find what you are looking for in the bazaars and markets in Istanbul in doesn't exist. We tried as many of the local foods as we could and even tried smoking a water pipe one evening, I don't think I'll take it up on a regular basis but it was kind of cool. I have no idea how many miles we put on walking in that city but it was more than a few and I loved every step!
After Istanbul, we headed south and east once again taking little roads and seeing as much of the countryside as we could. We just happened to stumble on the ancient ruins of Hatusha, built in the 3000s BC it was the oldest ruins Ken and I have been to. They are still busy excavating here(a job you couldn't pay me enough to do)and they have a great museum located in a nearby town. We could have stayed here for a night or two but we felt we had to continue on with our plan to get to Cappadocia, the land of the fairy houses built into the hillsides and the underground cities. Once in Cappadocia we scouted out the campsite Kaya Camping, located about 2 km out of the town of Goreme, up out of the valley it had a great view, not to mention a crystal clear pool and a kitchen for our use. We met a bunch of trekkers from Germany traveling in a bus and trailer(I say "in" because they travelled, and slept in the bus/trailer). Each person had a cubicle that was big enough to sleep in, the bus was spacious and a great cook went along with them as they went from place to place trekking everyday. We also met a couple from Quebec( we thought we were the only Canadians traveling in Turkey) Pierre and Emily were just starting their trip on peddle bikes, planning to cycle the Mediterranean coast. Also, as we arrived we met a couple, Elinora and Jean from Paris, traveling on a BMW 1200, last but not least Bill from Athens joined us(riding a Honda Transalp) the seven of us hit it off and spent some time together hiking, eating and drinking, visiting an underground city, eating and drinking and exchanging travel stories. We arrived in Cappadocia planning to spend 2 nights and ended up staying 5, getting up early to watch the 50 or 60 balloons take off every morning is quite a sight and that is what happened there as many tourists took the opportunity to go up in the balloons in that magical setting. During our hikes we did see houses and churches built into the side of cliffs and hoodoos with mushroom tops that looked like fairy houses. It was during one of these visits to see the ancient cities that Ken got up close and personal with a camel, the camel tried to take a bite off Kens ear but lucky for Ken it didn't get a good hold. To us, that was a sign and the next day we headed out to Ihlara canyon where we walked up a nice green river valley, had dinner and camped with Mario from Holland and left first thing in the morning after a night with no sleep thanks to a couple of crazy dogs barking and chasing their tails all night.
It was a good thing we got up early to get on the road because the next day we had the most spectacular ride through the steep and rocky Toros Daglari mountains where we reached 1650 metres and the Akcali Daglari with 1690 metres. Both passes had amazing views of the valleys below, rocky cliffs and lots of little villages connected with twisty roads frequented by small motor bikes and sheep and goat herders. Coming down out of the mountains to sea level just in time to find a place for the night we found a campsite along a river where you could stay for free if you ate at their restaurant, that suited us fine as we had to eat anyway. The food was great and we met up with 4 guys who were eating and drinking too much and invited us to join them. Before we knew it we were learning to dance Turkish folk dances, yes, even Ken was up waving his arms and shaking his booty. This is something I noticed in Turkey, the men stick together, playing games, drinking tea or just walking arm in arm and the women who are usually at home working stay to themselves. I don't think I would make it in this society. Anyway, I wanted to sleep in the open air (like the Turks do) and Ken want to sleep in the tent that night...I won, so we slept on the Turkish rug and cushions. The next morning we found ourselves covered in mosquito(or flea, who knows) bites, not such a great idea!
Uh the Mediterranean Sea, it's a beautiful blue and warm! 83.6 degrees to be exact. We spent two days in Manavgat at a little family hotel, Hotel Grun, on the sea that was used to receiving only German vacationers, once again we had to fall back on our flawless German. The hotel stay included a Turkish breakfast each day which consisted of tomato, cucumber, olives, cheese, eggs, bread and of course Turkish tea(more about this later). From there, one afternoon we drove to Side to visit those ruins, very touristy but different because they are located in the middle of the tourist district and directly on the Sea. The family was very freindly and we found it easy to stay for an extra day.
Now let me explain a little about the culture of the Turkish tea. All the men sit together in the morning and drink tea and talk, it is offered to all guests during the day and it is a little rude to refuse it. We stopped for gas once and ended up staying for an hour, sharing their breakfast of eggs and bread with olives on the side and drinking tea. Just about every hotel we stopped in the evening at asked us join them in a tea. On the roads going over the mountain passes there are tea canisters set up all along, just in case you need a rest or a reason to stop. We stopped to look at a fruitstand one time and ended up staying and having tea...no one spoke English so we sat and looked at each other while we drank, we bought a couple of apples then went on our way. I loved it! The tea was good! It was served hot and strong in a small glass with anywhere from one to three sugar cubes. Some Turks choose to bite off a piece of sugar and suck the tea through it as they drink.
Back to the Mediterranean, we planned to stop at Olimpos but we found it a little too hippyish for us so we continued along until we reaches a small village called Adrasan. Now here was a place to stay for a while, mostly Turkish tourists, a beautiful beach at the foot of some steep mountains and a pension with another nice room with a view of the pool. We stayed one night...we had also heard of another little place called Kas, on the water...so many places! As it turned out we didn't really care for Kas too much because it was too touristy and the hotel owners were chasing us down trying to get us to stay at their place(we don't care for pushy). Pushy turned out to be a good thing though because we carried on and found Patara. More ruins on the beach, sand dunes and a little town that felt like home...for three days anyway. Saklilent Gorge was a mere 20km from Patara so one morning we rode to the gorge and hiked(with just a few other tourists, ha, ha) through the water in the gorge to a spot where we could go no further, a waterfall blocked our way and we didn't want to reck our camera. The gorge had sides up to 200 ft high and the water in the river came straight out of the rocks. One of the highlights of our stay in Patara was during a walk in the evening, before we went to bed, we heard the crashing soud of something running in the bush beside us. As our eyes followed the noice a wild boar ran out in front of us, just under the street light , then dissapeared down the bank into the bush again. The whole incident lasted maybe 10 seconds but we got a good look at the boar with big tusks, it must have weighed at least 100 kilos, really! There are some very cool things to see in Turkey. We had to get moving if we wanted to see more.
Pamukkale, what can I say? Ancients pools formed from thermal mineral springs. The minerals harden and form a cascade of white calcium buildup as they flow down to the valley. It is just too unbelievably beautiful, it can be seen from kms away. Pamukkale sits beside Hierapolis, yet another and our last ancient city. In the 3rd century a.d. people came to Hierapolis to bath in its healing waters. That reminds me, I never did get to go and enjoy a Turkish bath...I guess that is another reason to go back. I really can't find the words to describe Pamukkale so I think maybe you should google and see it for yourself. From Pamukkale it was one last stop along the Mediterarean Sea for a quick dip then north to Bulgaria.
I know this sounds stupid but "Winter is coming" and we still have six countries in six weeks to cover before we hope to go over the Alps into Austria. Hopefully the snow will hold off. All this I say as the temperatures are still hovering around 30 degrees, still good riding weather.
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