I Wish It Had Been Three Months

It was a drastic change. Going from Muheza one week to Cambridge and then Istanbul. Everything so different and all in two weeks. Cambridge was spent unloading, remembering, packing (again) and realizing what warm cloths we had and didn’t have. We spent our nights at Susan Griffith’s house who is a dear friend of my Dad, but who we missed on our last trip to England because of a family issue. Is was nice to spend time there, the cold weather and all, where we could re group, and get ready for the next big adventure.
Our plane to Istanbul was an early 7:30 flight which meant going to heathrow the night before. We set up a bed of sleeping bags and mats enclosed by our four bike boxes. We were in the new Terminal 5 where sleeping in the airport is not liked so to say so the sleep was not comfortable and short. We check in and find that it was not till you where past security that they brought out the nice couches and chairs. What ever. We flew with BA and arrive in Istanbul Ataturk Airport a few hours later. There a man with a sign that said Mrs. Norgrove picked us up. We were driven to hotel Ararat (recommended by one of our friends. Expensive, but funky). It was located on the top to floors of a small building with a beautiful view of the blue mosque and hagai sofia. We would spend two nights at this place then move to a cheaper hotel/hostel ( the main reason we stayed here was because they had agreed to hold our bikes while we traveled in turkey). On day one in Istanbul we got some of the touristy things done. Blue Mosque, Istanbul Modern, Hagia Sofia and istnabul Archeology Museum. It was amazing to see two mosques so massive and beautiful, and to think we called our small mosque in muheza the “big mosque. On our first day we had an interesting experience when a carpet seller s father pulled us into his shop. His son, a fat bald man, showed us a near by cistern (he said that it wasn’t in any travel guide. It was) \, played some Turkish Music on his flute and offered us tea in his shop saying we would not have to look at carpets at all. We left 45 minutes later after being offered every carpet in the shop. It was hard to leave, not out of like of the carpets, but how low his prices were getting. After that dad was really thinking about getting a carpet, not necessary from him but from turkey.( Mom pulled us out before any purchases were made, Dad was very close)
We spent four nights in Istanbul before getting a lift tot the otogar (bus station) and catching a bus down the Gallipoli peninsula to Eceabat. Here we stayed two nights and saw both troy and the famous Gallipoli battle fields from world war two. Our hotel was crowded house hotel and it was defiantly crowed. There was a group of Young EU residents on a cultural exchange and every night they put on a little country presentation including information, food and dancing. The two countries that did their presentation while we were there was Solvakia and Malta. This got us really looking forward to our time in Solvakia and we even got a little taste of Solvakian smoked meat. MMMM.
It was very neat to see all the trenches and the famous ANZAC cove where the Aussies and Kiwi’s landed and helped the allies. We also got cool hats on the tour. Troy was just like the Simpson’s had shown it. The great Trojan horse and 9 different “citys of troy” (through the centuries) built off of each other.
After the two nights we caught another bus to Selcuk which was where you slept if you came to visit Ephesus. The bus was long but everything is good with Turkish Bus companies. Nescafe 3-1, a small cake and comfy chairs who would complain. On our way down to Selcuk I also got my GPS working with my great map of Turkey and had it scream at me because of the buses route decision compared to its. We finally arrived in Slecuk late at night and happened to be met by someone who ran a near by hotel (he wasn’t there to try and pick off helpless tourists but actually looking for someone who said they were coming and hadn’t yet). Anyway we gave us a good price and since we were tired and it was getting dark we decide to say yes and have a good sleep. It was that night that we had our best meal in Turkey. The Selcuk Koftesi served some of the greatest smoked aubergine, and meat dishes that we had on our entire trip through Turkey and all for a great price. We all slept beautifully that night with full tummies and visions of aubergines danced in our head. Ephesus was just some ruins and the first of a lot more to come. I still picked up on the magnitude of some of the creations and building. The ampatheatre still blows me away by its size and resemblance of a modern day concert hall. We walked through the ruins with an American couple that were staying at the same hotel. They were in Turkey fro the World Water Forum in Istanbul and were doing a little bit of traveling before going back to Istanbul. Before leaving Selcuk we had to have one more meal at our favorite restaurant and since it was closed for our second dinner we stayed till lunch on the third day and had another amazing meal again for very cheap. From there we caught another bus this time to Pamukale and another bunch of ruins Hieropolis and Afrodisias.
We arrived late at night and our direct bus wasn’t so “direct”. It had stopped in many places along the way and didn’t even get us to our final destination. We had to switch to a minivan to drive us the rest of the way. The minibus ended up taking us directly to a hotel that it had “connections” with. Thankfully they gave us a good rate after some bargaining so we didn’t have to move around in search of another hotel. The next day we hike up the calcium deposits in bare feet and walk around the spa town of Hieropolis. Because of human interference with the running water none of the calcium rich pools still are available for swimming and the one main made pool was 20 liras per person. Instead of swimming we walked, explored and walked some more before heading back down to out hotel. The rain picked up on our way down so our toes got quite cold and numb. We arranged a tour with out hotel so we could go to Afrodisias. We left eh next morning and the only thing of real importance from the ruins was the stadium that looked like an old time version of a massive track and field stadium, which they used for meetings, tournaments and concerts. Again we moved on by bus to Goreme in Capadocia.
Snow covers the fairy chimneys as we roll in by bus. Dad and I in our shorts stand out in the crowd of people getting off our bus. We quickly make our way t the hotel we had chose from the lonely planet. Again with a little bit of bargaining we get one of our funkiest rooms yet. We are in a cave on the side of a cliff of volcanic ash eroded away by wind and rain. From there we got tours to the an underground village, an amazing valley with churches craved into the rock and out looking down upon a valley full of these fairy chimney houses (fairy chimney is the name given to the parts of volcanic ash still standing because they are all have points that look like chimneys. The next day we went to The Goreme Open Air Museum with its many churches and houses again carved into the rock………then we got off the tourist track.
We caught yet another bus (this time an overnight one) to Gaziantep (the home of pistachios and baklava. We got I early and spent some time at the otogar before departing into the city. Using the LPG lame map we find a reasonably priced hotel where we all get a bed and have Family kwelada treatment #1 (actually it was #2 for Mom and Dad but Number 1 for Sy and I). This stuff had a weird fell but we had to do it to try and destroy our African scabies. When we try and get our cloths washed it is another story all together. He washes the cloths but by the time we return that night they are not dry and to officially destroy scabies from cloths they have to be ironed or hot air dried. He had an iron but was being a jerk about and charging us a lot of money. And when you think about it why would he care about our problem. We had already paid him, so we were stuck not him. We ended up have to dry the cloths in our room and borrowing an iron from another hotel and doing tit all in our room. In this town we went to a museum, but no ruins and did a lot more walking around this big city then visiting its landmarks. Two highlights of the town were the 1 lira doners which we still great and an atom juice. (A collection of nuts, honey, yogurt and mixed fruit which together created an amazing drink. From there we catch ANOTHER bus to Sanliurfa where we spend three nights. Here we visit the famous castle on the top of a hill where the king threw _________ over the cliff and the story goes he landed in a bed of roses placed by god and that saved his life (Comfy landing?????). There we met Redvon, an English speaking tour guide who help us with a lot of things and even took us on a tour the next up to Golbeki Tepe (a recently found archeology site) that was on his friends land dating back to 7000 bc . He also took Harran which had another set of cool traditional bee hive houses (humans actually lived here) and had a cup of tea together (at this point the Syrian border was a few kilometers away). Then we went back tired and ready to go on. SanliUrfa also had a massive football stadium but as Redvon put it the Kurds aren’t soccer fans.
Deeper into Kurdish Country we go first to Mardin for the afternoon and no nights (LPG said that there we very few hotels and all of them were very expensive) so we have a very nice lunch at a LPG recommended restaurant where, unlike else where in Turkey, all the cooks were women. The meal was expensive but a very special one on our list. That night we slept in Midyat at a 100Lira per night hotel where we spent three nights. We went to the old part of town and stole many elections flags from the night befores storm, and we weaved our way through the many small streets trying to get into one of the small churches. We went to Hasenkeyf , a town (including ancient ruins)at risk to demolishing if a new dam goes in up river on the Tigiris, and we caught another bus…..
…… to DiyarBakir. The walled city as the LPG puts it because of the 6 m wall that stands around the inner part of the town. This will be our last destination before flying back to Istanbul and heading out cycling. We do some bargaining and get a room fro 90 lira. Since this is such a low tourist area most of the hotels are for businessmen, so just a few hotels keeps the price up. Walking along the top of the wall is a Turkish Experience. No railings or bars keep you from the 6m drop to the ground. This got mom a little creped out, but nobody feel. In a search we also found more election flags of the pro Kurdish party and had three cups of tea with a group of heavy smokers and likely unemployed and politically fervent Kurdish separatists. Soon our time was over and we flew but to Istanbul on a cheap domestic flight costing us only 68 liras per person. We arrive two hours later and a high paced taxi ride (guy maxed out at 175 km/h and refused to stop in heavy traffic riding the shoulder instead with his hazards on). Our 2nd time in Istanbul is spent shopping, doing the last of the touristy things and preparing out selves for the next big adventure.
I would like to apologize for my lack of blog lately. With internet back after leaving Tanzania I starting connecting with friend on facebook and stopped updating my blog till now. (thanks Maria for reminding me) Another blog about cycling is soon to come.