Typical teachers overloading your brain till you cant rememeber a single thing they have said, so much information went in and out yesterday that I completely forgot our very special treat of visiting our tour guides home town, excited by the option to experience the local lifestyle! We stopped off on the side of the road on the way to examine the sheep's summer holiday houses and when we arrived into the tiny town we were met with smiles and waves from the "gossiping men". This was definately off the beaten track and not something you experience on your everyday tour. We found TJ's parents house and were once again greeted with such warmth and happiness.
The father of the household took us on a tour of thier humble home, their tiny bedroom and even smaller kitchen. We saw how they stored their perishable items in barrels half buried in the ground under the house, and TJ's mum's wedding box. We sat down for the most authentic of Turkish meals, all home made! We had goats cheese yoghurt, vine leaf packages, rice and chicken, not to mention the amazing rice pudding to top it off, our plates were bare! It was such a rewarding experience it makes me wish I could get off the beaten track more often and see the not so touristy side of things.
Our last educational tour was off to Ephesus and we were met with a young man fresh out of the Turkish military reserves and he certainly looked it! He took us to Virgin Mary's house where we had a sip of Holy Water and relished in the tranquility of the site. Then to the ancient ruins of Ephesus, as we realised that although the ruins looked tiny when we first got there but we soon realised that the site was massive! It was at Ephesus that we learned that Mr Big Bartlett was a truley a handsome boy! Our tour guide had taken a special liking to Mr Big Bartlett refering to him as handsome boy at every opportunity. It was if every time we turned around our tour guide was a close as innapropriate to Mr Big Bartlett (now known as Handsome Boy), staring lovingly into his eyes with every question directed straight at him with a longing look in anticipation and hope that his new found affection wouild inspire Handsome Boy to miracualsley come up with the right answer.
The whole infatuation was much to the amusement of all concerned (apart from Handsome Boy who was looking extremely concerned). We were reminded every 3 minutes that we were at "Ephesus III, remember Ephesus III, Ephesus I up there, here Ephesus III", if there was anything we took away from that whole day it was those words repeating over and over and over, I think I even heard them in my sleep! The site itself was truely amazing, the ruins, the reconstruction (although why anyone would want to do that in an Earthquake zone), and the memories were alot to take in.
More and more information was given to us and the more and more we began to tune out. A lot of the site is still buried and the uses of many of the rooms and buildings still remain unknown. The mystery of these places is definately worth the lengthy lessons and massive crowds. We found a hiding place in the glorious library but were soon found out, all of us sighed dreading hearing more! We were almost in histerics when our tour guide asked "Do you see Medusa, Medusa do you see?!" to which Handsome Boy replied "Yes! I see Medusa" to the response of our guide "That is not Medusa!" all in complete seriousness. By this stage we were ready to leave.
I think we ended up doing the slowly walk in the opposite direction and he may just follow, and we were finally free! Well free enough to jump back on the bus and head for the airport for our flight back to Istanbul. After more airport waiting and waiting and a ridiculus amount for a slice of pizza and we were back once more in the amazing Istanbul. An eventful bag snatch at the airport a missing cab driver, Turkish radio up as loud as it gets and we had arrived safe and sound. Slightly more out of the city centre we settled in for a quick bite to eat a cup of tea and a goodnight sleep! The Bartlett's were surviving well!
So now it comes to the point where I sadly write about our flight home! Buckling in to go back to London was not fun at all, knowing that we were leaving the sunshine and headed for drizzle rain and cold was just downright depressing! The boy Bartlett's sat together and Mrs Bartlett and I shared the middle seats. Handsome Boy was the first amusing act of the flight snorting in laughter at who knows what, then he took prize for second amusing act, it was at this stage that we learnt definately NOT to sit infront of him when there is a touch screen located on the back of your seat. Handsome Boy clearly didnt realise that there was a seat behind his television, and proceeded to use his finger to make sure the touch screen felt the wrath of the end of his finger. This I dare say would become anoying after a while, to add to the back of your seat being repeatedly tapped, Handsome Boy decided to have an arguement with his tray table that refused to go into the upright position, with some serious vigor it returned to its upright position, it was this point the man infront of Handsome Boy decided to turn around and give Handsome Boy a look that would shake the most certain of people, Handsome Boy however fluttered his eye lids and stammered ttthe ttray wwwoul nnt go uup, the man infront turned around and feeling bad for getting angry at this amazingly Handsome Boy put his seat into the upright position and stayed there for the remaining 5 hours of the flight. But the best was definately saved for last with Mrs Bartlett taking the third and final prize for amusing act of the flight. Let me set the scene:
You are on a plane, thousands of feet in the air, there are no spare seats the passengers are reading, sleeping, eating and doing other flight like things. Each person has their complimentary earphones on, flicking through the channels when suddenly...
Someone across the row starts laughing, just a quick snigger, you think nothing of it, and then there it is again, this time a little longer. You ignore it thinking that someone has had a fleeting moment of insanity and then laughter erupts from the row behind. You turn your head ever so slightly trying so very hard not to stare and find the laugher's companion bright red, clearly embarassed by the situation but still laughing along with first passenger who has now completely lost the plot. You cant help but to stiffle a giggle, the laughter is infectious and soon 3 rows are laughing all in time.
Needless to say that I was the companion now beet red and with sore sides! Funniest thing however is the fact that Mrs Bartlett had believed the whole time that everyone laughing were laughing with her becuase they just ALL happened to be watching the same show at the same spot just slightly delayed... I must say she definiately took the gold medal for that one :)
Other than that the flight was as usual, bit bumpy, again this was to my detriment but to the amusement of the Bartlett's. Arrived into Heathrow and couldnt help but feeling just slightly like we had arrived back home. The Turkish adventure was over, the sun was gone and it was straight back to work! Until the next time!
L&R
