Backcountry Turkey

Barry:

And it really is the back country, we travelled through villages that you would not believe how Turkey thinks it is ready to enter the EU! Don't get me wrong, the country is very beautiful and the people are so friendly but the EU would spoil it beyond belief.

We went to the ruins at Ephesus, a one and a half kilometer walk through the most amzing Byzantine/Roman ruins. When we reached the end there was a large hose running, making a cascade of water about 8 feet hıgh; after standing under this for a few minutes I was soaked but when we had walked back the one and a half kilometers I was bone dry.

In Katahaya, the home of hot springs and travertines, there was even a hot spring bath in the hotel room, we made good use of it as the journeys between locations has been long and very hot. But tonight on the Black Sea coast in the town of Akcakoca there is a storm of epic proportions that we have been told will last tonight and the weather will be fine tomorrow.

Christine:

Barry's last comment about the storm was prophetic - the power just went off and I thought I'd have to finish this tomorrow!! But it came back on after a few minutes, so here I am!

For those of you actually following our progress, here's the update. We left Ayvalik and headed inland a bit to Bergama, on a lovely road through a national park. In Bergama, besides a lot of Turkish carpet shops, there was the ruins of Pergamon, a huge ancient city about the same time period as Ephesus. We wandered around the ruins there and then went to a weaver's co-op where we learned about making carpets and the different types. Of course, they wanted to sell us a carpet, but we decided that should wait until we actually have an income before we start buying things like that!! We went on to stay at a hotel on the road to Selçuk (I can't remember the name of the town, it was very forgettable!), which is the closest town to Ephesus. The next morning we went on to Ephesus and Barry has updated you on that. We will post some more photos when we have more time. But, suffice it to say, it was fabulous! I loved seeing where so many events in the Bible took place!

From there, we drove to Katahaya, which has hot springs, although its neighbour, Pamukkle, is more famous for them as it also has some ancient ruins there. Katahaya was so lovely because it wasn't as used to foreign tourists as Pamukkle, it's where the Turkish tourists come instead of Pamukkle. The people were lovely and so friendly and the town was quite pretty.

After that, we went to Kütahya, which has been known for its ceramics since Ottoman times. Its a lovely city and we found a great hotel right on the city center square. We arrived fairly early so it gave us some downtime to nap and chill. Sleep has been difficult at times with everyone being up a good part of the night due to Ramadan (the Muslims fast all day and eat after sundown and before sunup and the call to prayer rings out at least once every night, followed by some fellow with a big drum wakıng everyone up so they can make sure to eat before sunrıse!).

Today we went from Kütahya to Akcakoca on the Black Sea. We stopped at a market in an ancient town on the way and saw cabbages bigger than a man's head! We had supper at a wonderful seafood restaurant right on the water and watched the lightning on the water.

We are having a fantastic trip. Turkey is a wonderful country and we fully plan to come back someday to get to Capadoccıa and visit my friends in Ankara. The traffic is crazy, the country is curiously undeveloped in some ways, but so great in so many others.