Cruising the world

We woke early to get packed and ready for our departure from the EU into Turkey. It was difficult to say how long this border crossing would take so we wanted to prepare for every eventuality.  In many ways it was a shame to part ways with Bulgaria (as we literally only had a fleeting visit to the Black sea) but it was mixed feelings, as they really were not a nation geared up for camping.

The border crossing was huge, firstly there were two stops on the Bulgarian side before entering the Turkey side, which had at least three different check points. Everyone’s vehicle’s were being searched so we figured they would go to town on us. But after we opened the back doors and he saw there was no one else inside, he was happy. Officials were talking amongst themselves about us, all we could make out was “New Zealand” but we passed through customs and passport control with no problems at all.

Driving in Turkey was an experience. The motorways were of an ok standard however as soon as you were off these, it was a rough ride. We were aiming to stay at a campground in Edirne but our first and second campgrounds (found on our Garmin) did not exist so we stopped and got cash out, had some lunch (Burger King would you believe) and pondered what to do. Deciding to drive on to Istanbul (another 170kms) we experienced first hand the crazy driving antics. Driver’s seem to have no patience, as they honk their horns and flash their lights when they want to pass. We even came across a car stopped on the entrance to a motorway, completely blocking our way onto the motorway as he talked to someone on the side of the road! Although we did have some laughs, especially when we filled up with gas and the petrol attendants were leaning into the vehicle (almost right across me) talking with amazement that we had a right hand drive vehicle. And we got a toot and a wave from a motorcyclist (of unknown origin), which we waved back at. Third time lucky we found a campsite on the outskirts of Istanbul, 50km away. We pulled up and were introduced to Ismet, the caretaker who spoke little English but was really welcoming. We spent the evening catching up on washing and preparing for our time in Istanbul, including where to park Dusty while we do the two-week tour of Turkey.

We made the decision to park Dusty at Mo Campground so by lunchtime the next day we were all packed and driven by Ismet into town to catch a bus to Istanbul. What a mission that was. It took us 2.5 hours to get to Sultanahmet, the district home to Istanbul’s Old Town and the bus was packed. We were really grateful to have not driven into Istanbul with Dusty as the roads were jam packed and it was chaos for drivers trying to enter onto the motorway from  off ramps, even ambulances with their sirens blaring weren’t given priority! We stood for most of the 2 hour bus journey before being packed onto the tram to Sultanahmet. Tired and sweaty we tried three hostels before successfully finding a room at the Oriental Backpackers and checked in before spending time at the bar on the roof terrace admiring the view of the Bosphorus and sampling our first kebab-which was not great as it was dry and had chips inside it! Our hostel was very close to two major attractions, the Blue Mosque and the Hagia Sophia so we took a few photos from the outside before running into a volunteer (Hasan) who was promoting a free presentation on Islamic culture. We joined him for the presentation, which was really interesting and explained the history of the Blue Mosque, the Hippodrome area and included information on their prayer times and what is said at prayer. Afterwards we got chatting to Hasan and he agreed to show us through the inside of the Blue Mosque, even pointing out that the carpet is made from NZ wool! Afterwards we bought some freshly squeezed pomegranate juice, which was fairly tart (it was only afterwards that I realised pomegranates were out of season!). We ended the day having a tasty dinner of lamb in yoghurt sauce and lamb mince skewers with aubergine.

Our first hostel breakfast was not bad. Turks tend to eat cucumber, tomato, olives and cheese for breakfast so we were pleased to also see some cereal and watermelon available. I soon learnt their tea was super strong-you are meant to fill your cup half full with tea then top up with hot water so I was fairly awake after my first cup! We checked out of the hostel and headed straight to the Hagia Sofia, which was built in 532 AD originally as a eastern orthodox church and was then converted into a Mosque (painting over the mosaics and murals depicting Catholicism). Nowadays it is a museum and they celebrate its history having uncovered the mosaics and is an eclectic mixture of muslim and catholic symbols. It was absolutely stunning. After a kebab lunch we walked through the maze that is the Grand Bazaar before spending time at the Egyptian Spice Bazaar (Egyptian due to Istanbul being  part of the silk road). We loved the market as it was full of tasty treats. We bought up large on dried apricots; figs and Turkish delight before completing a river boat cruise up the Bosphorus past the Bosphorus bridge and back. We returned to collect our bags and checked into the Sultan Hostel (where the Fez tour started from). We managed to get a free upgrade to have our own bathroom, likely because he thought we were not coming as we arrived so late he probably gave our booked room away. We enjoyed a shish kebab for dinner.

Breakfast at the Sultan Hostel was very average. No fruit or yoghurt available so we literally ate plain bread. We decided to join a hop on hop off bus tour, which covered two routes-the Golden horn and the Imperial Peninsula, which crossed the Bosphorus Bridge into the Asian side of Istanbul/Turkey. Interestingly, Istanbul is the only city to sit on two continents, so it was a novelty to be crossing from Europe into Asia and back again. We also stopped at the Spice Bazaar for lunch and found a great Kofte shop, filling up on bread and salad before buying some more dried fruit. On the way back to the hostel a guy touting for us to dine at their restaurant stopped us and as we were talking a wedding car, with the groom driving and the bride in the passenger seat drove past only to be stopped by the tout. We wondered what was going on when the groom wound down the window and gave him an envelope (with one American dollar inside) before driving off. Turned out that this is what you do on your wedding day; it is good luck to give away money.

We arrived back at the hostel and joined the Fez Tour meeting, which was brief but gave us a chance to meet Adinan, our tour guide and meet 6 of the 11 kiwis joining our tour. Wendy, Russel, Sue and Phil in particular, who are around our parent’s age were from Tauranga and Waihi so we had a good old chat to them, discovering Phil grew up in Morrinsville too. We ended the day enjoying a meze dinner of rice in grape vine leaves, hummus, garlic and mint yoghurt, aubergine with tomato and pide (Turkish pizza shaped like a canoe).

A 7am start to the tour was delayed by 30 minutes, as three of the tour group were late, but we eventually got on the road, driving 5 hours on the European side of Turkey to the Gallipoli peninsular. After lunch we did a tour of the Battlefields, visiting various marked and unmarked gravesites for Turkish, Australia, British and New Zealand soldiers. Such a beautiful place for such a gruesome battle. We were shown where the ceremony’s are held each year, a visit to anzac cove, then worked our way up the hill to lone pine, Chunic Bar (where the New Zealand memorial is), the Turkish memorial, and close by a massive statue of Mustafa Kemel (the future Ataturk, who the Turks adore) . I noticed a name on the memorial list as G Dunlop from the Otago Battalion-I will have to do some research into whether this is an extended relative.  The youngest identified gravesite was for a 16 year old boy from Australia which some shows the young age of some of the soldiers. I was very impressed at how all the memorials were presented, the Turkish people (although they were the enemy at this time) continue to show great respect to ANZAC soldiers. We then drove to the ferry and made a 15 min crossing over the sea of Marama and arrived on the Asian side of Turkey (Anatolia) in a town called Cannakale. After a massive day we check in to our hotel and then quickly headed out for some dinner. We walked down to the Troy horse from the movie which looked really cool. We took a stroll down the water front to check out the local eateries for dinner. James headed back to the hotel after this to deal with his Turkey tummy which came on all of a sudden and I went and scored a kebab for 3 TL (£1).

We had an early start the next day as we headed to Troy first, then Pergamum, and finally to Kusadasi. Troy was slightly disappointing as it really is all about the legend of the wooden horse, which obviously no longer exists. The ruins itself were poorly excavated as it was discovered by a German archaeologist who was purely looking for treasure. But in saying that, when it is excavated it fills back up again with dirt  very quickly as it is in such a windy location so Turkey has given up funding it’s excavation. We enjoyed a tasty lamb shish before driving to Pergamum, an ancient Roman ruins on the hilltop. Being perched on the side of a cliff meant it was a wobbly cable car ride to the top, we literally swayed from side to side, even with a full load of people, very freaky. Pergamum had a well-preserved audium (which looks like an amphitheatre but is used for public meetings-the word audience comes from this word). James and a few others walked down to the bottom to test out the acoustics and he was amazed at how small we all looked at the top. We checked into our hotel in Kusadasi and had Adi inform us we had two free buffet dinners. He had even arranged a birthday cake for the two people’s whose birthday it was. Very impressive for a budget tour! After tea we had a few drinks with Averil, Daniel, Shannon and Jack before hitting the hay in our most fancy hotel of the tour-4 star.

In the soaring heat we toured the impressive ruins of Ephesus. It must have been 38 degrees. There was a massive audium/theatre (bigger than Pergamum) and the Celsus library (which seemed to be the biggest draw card of Ephesus and rightly so) and you could roughly make out the old city streets and buildings. We took a lot of awesome photos here. Ephesus was one of the most well preserved and stunning ruins we have seen yet. By obligation we stopped at a Turkish carpet store and although out of our budget to buy, we learnt a lot about the quality of carpet and watched them being made. We saw carpets made of silk, cotton, wool and a combination of these.

After a buffet lunch we visited Virgin Mary’s house. The story is that John the bible (aka the apostle) was asked by Jesus to look after Mother mary here. Not much info I know, but it was hot and we were knackered after our trip to Ephesus. We then drove to a Turkish delight store and got the chance to sample all the flavours from the very friendly but slightly odd salesman. James purchased some Turkish candyfloss that almost looked like wool clippings in colour and shape but tasted just like the pink floss we know.  We then headed to the ruins of Artemis temple. There wasn’t much to see except a few columns that still stood and we were knacked by this time anyway. We drove back to our hotel after this and headed straight to the pool for a swim, some beers, socialising with the group we were travelling with and some pool (table).

First stop the next day was a Tannary for a fashion show of leather goods. It was a little uncomfortable as there was a catwalk and James and I sat in the front row. It was really hard not to laugh as the models strutted their stuff in front of us so seriously. Two people from the tour were chosen to dress up like a sultan and his wife and also strut around which was pretty funny. After a buffet lunch we had a guided tour through Pammukale. We walked through the ancient ruins, past gladiator tombs and up to the audium/theatre, which again was massive and just as impressive as Ephesus. Beyond this was an area with hot water springs, pools and beyond this, a hillside of white calcium oxide formations in the shape of white terraces with clear blue pools. It was absolutely stunning and I am not sure the photos do it full justice. We could have stayed for much longer but we had a three-hour journey to Bodrum, our first beach stop. We arrived in time for a quick dip in the pool before having dinner and a fair few too many drinks with the new bunch of kiwis who had joined the tour-Cam, Roanna, Nina and Sarah, with Averil joining us also.

We slept most of the day away but salvaged by playing some darts and and a trip to Camel beach where James had fun doing back flips off the pier with a group from the tour while I lazed on a beach lounger. We had a group dinner at a local Chinese restaurant that evening.

We left Bodrum and stopped in a town called Akyaka where we caught a boat up the Azmak river (in Turkish this means horny), which was a cool 10 degrees. We all jumped off the boat to test the water and it was ok at first and then felt like a layer of freezing ice hit all your extremities and you got an instant ice cream headache. Crazy cold! We had a meat and cheese pancake and a fish sandwich for lunch before driving to Fethiye, another beachside town. We had a few drinks with dinner with some of the tour group and James lost a game of fingers (a game we hadn’t played since Dunedin!) and had to eat a whole chilli, which nearly killed him, it was so hot. Even the chef gave him an Ayran drink (a salted yoghurt drink) to ease the pain. We had a rough sleep in the hotel as we were staying right beside the kitchen, and as you do at 1am, someone started preparing breakfast, chopping cucumbers with force. Then the air conditioning unit broke and got stuck on freezing. Probably the worst sleep on our travels yet.

The next day we went boat cruising around the body of water called “12 islands” and this is was how we spent the whole day including stopping at five of the islands for swim stops. It took me a while to jump off the boat but eventually did. We even did a group photo with us all jumping off the boat, even if I jumped 10 seconds after everyone else-woops! James did some awesome staples off the boat too which I managed to film. That evening we checked into a new hotel and James, Averil, Daniel and I hung out with Adi and the Bus driver and had the best dinner for the entire trip, a lamb shish kebab with tasty charcoaled peppers, tomatoes and loads of salads and hummus.

We drove onto Saklikent gorge and arrived at this huge canyon with clear blue water where we spent 30 minutes tubing down the river, which I was rubbish at as I could not steer the thing to save myself. We were then driven to a mud pool where we all jumped in, covering ourselves with mud. James jumped in first, literally diving into the mud and covering his whole body, only realising after he needed someone to wipe his eyes so he could see! After some dodgy mud wrestling and some concerned looks on the girls faces that our bikini’s were falling down with the weight of the mud we washed off in the river before having lunch on the river front and joining Adi and some of the tour group for a canyon walk to a waterfall. It was beautiful and well worth the walk. We drove onto Kas, stopping just before at Turkey’s most photographed beach-Kapatas Beach for a swim. James and a few of the boys climbed the rock face to jump into the ocean and it was very chilled out swimming around on the stony beach, washing off the remnants of the mud pool! We had dinner and drinks that evening with the group.

The next day we bussed onto Olympos where we stayed in Kadir’s tree houses. It looked almost cartoon like how they houses were built, with rickety steps and balcony’s that I am sure Occupational Safety and Health would not pass. Inside we had the plush rooms, with air con and private bathrooms, not bad for a budget tour! We spent the afternoon playing volleyball. That night we caught a bus to and then walked up a hill to the Chimera flames, a naturally occurring flame that came out of the rock face in several spots.  We had fun putting out the flames with water and then waiting until the gas built up even to start the fire again. It was quite an unusual sight.

Breakfast was great, our first omelette in ages. Certainly beats olives and cucumber for breakfast! We had booked onto a sea kayak tour that took most of the day as we ended up having to drag the kayaks out to the sea on our own before having a poorly guided tour around the caves. We did stop for some snorkelling where we swam right into a cove. The water was very clear but no coral or many fish to be seen. We all arrived back exhausted and I had an early night while James stayed and played 500 with some of the group.

A 6.30am start was difficult but necessary as we made our way inland to Cappadocia, stopping at Turkey’s largest cave-22km long. We walked 1.5km in to see an impressive 35 metre drop and various lime formations before driving onto the region of Cappadocia. It was an impressive arrival to see all the strange rock formations and fairy chimneys, some even around our hotel. This was when James and I decided we should definitely join the group to go hot air ballooning. We managed to book through Adi for the next morning. That evening we managed to find a non alcoholic restaurant (which means the food is cheaper) and had a nice meal of shish kebab and a stew in a clay pot (which they seal with a bread dough and cook in a charcoal fire).

We woke at 5.30am ready for our hot air balloon flight but as we waited to be picked up, we all watched the sun rise in disappointment as we weren’t in the air for it. We had unknowingly been booked on the second flight of the morning, there for would miss the sunrise. We expressed our annoyance to the guy at the hot air balloon company and he only added fuel to the fire by saying there was no sunrise this morning. The whole group protested and we asked to go back to the hotel. Some people in the group were close to crying, as this is the number one thing to do in Turkey and apparently the best place in the world to hot air balloon. By breakfast we had managed to contact another company and book on a sunrise flight for the next morning.

We spent this day touring Cappadocia, seeing various rock formations, fairy chimneys, castles and the Kaymakli underground city, where the Christian had hidden from invading Muslims, and had carved out a maze of underground rooms and tunnels. It was a slightly claustrophobic experience but pretty cool too. We spent the evening at a Turkish culture dinner and show, where we watched whirling dervishes (where men dress in a white a-framed skirt like ensemble and dance in a trance like state, an ancient form of prayer), gypsy dancing and even belly dancing. It was dancing like we had never seen before so it was worth a look. The group ended the evening with a few drinks (including the feared Turkish Raki) and cutting some shapes of our own on the dance floor.

We were picked up for our balloon flight at 5am the next day and after some nervous toilet stops we were taken to our air balloon where it was being inflated with air and flame. It was one of many balloons being prepped and we watched a few take off before we all boarded (20 of us) and gently and smoothly rose off the ground. He explained he could control up and down and turn the basket but was unable to steer us and we would go where the wind blew. It was amazing to see the sunrise. He took us inches away from cliffs and trees and we flew to 2000 feet. One of the best experiences we have ever had. We landed with the help of the crew straight onto the back of a trailer and we all jumped out and celebrated life with some champagne and a certificate presentation. After a short sleep the girls in the group spent a few hours together in the Turkish bath. Quite a process; a mud mask, sauna, followed by lying on a hot slab of marble and getting washed down, scrubbed and washed with a bubble bath solution, rinsed again and then into a cold bath before finishing with an oil massage. It was impressive how smooth my skin felt afterwards and it was a neat experience.

That evening James had a Turkish shave and I could not believe what I was seeing it was such a lot of pampering for a male! For 10 lira(3 pounds), James got his hair trimmed, the hair on his ears burnt off, razor shaved followed by a mud mask and aftershave and cologne applied, hair styled, nose hairs trimmed and a back massage, fingers clicked and arms stretched. He drew the line at having his neck cracked.

Given it was the last night of the tour we had a group dinner and farewelled some of the group who were leaving on a night bus before polishing off a bottle of vodka with some of the guys, including Adi and the bus driver, Eshan.

The next day was an early start again. We left Capadoccia at 6am with a 10 hr drive to Istanbul ahead of us. We slept most of the way and the time flew by. As we hit Istanbul the traffic of course delayed us and we had our first accident (hitting a dog), which caused a bit of excitement, our bus driver Ehsan was visibly pissed off. We got back to the Sultan hotel in good time and farewelled Adi and Eshan, which was a bit sad. We got all showered up and meet the crew for some dinner and beers back at their hostel, which had a great terrace view of the Bosphorus at night.