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Venice to Turkey 22

Day 22, Istanbul, May 25

We sleep in to 8AM today. We eat in the coffee shop on the first floor and they hand us a free breakfast. We stroll the hundred yards to the Tower on top of the hill and buy tickets to enter. €30 each. Priced in Euros, but only Lira and CCs accepted, interesting. The line is about 50 yards long.

The views from the top are great! We can see the whole city almost. After walking around the complete tower, we go down and head for the river, a fairly steep downhill. We walk across the bridge and almost immediately find the Spice Market. Very interesting indoor market that takes up several acres. Out the back side of the Spice Market, we step into the Grand Bazaar, a market to rival Cairo’s Souk. We walk a half mile through the Souk before turning around and heading back. Unfortunately, for reasons unknown, I lost a group of photos of the markets.

We make it back to the river and take a ferry across for 7 Lira (about 20 cents) each. Then it is almost 2 PM (remember we slept in) and the waterfront is lined with restaurants. We find one and have a light lunch of eggplant and salad.

Now we make the trek back up the hill to the Tower and back to our hotel. We take a much loved nap and head back out to find dinner.

We walk around and the crowds are fierce. We realize that tomorrow is a holiday for fasting and people are eating to prepare for it. Thoughts come to mind of people back home finding out that they can’t buy gasoline the next day so they fill up today. Okay, I know it’s a bad analogy but you get the idea.

We find a street with really good Turkish food and we sit down. First I ask the waiter if they serve wine and we are informed the entire street is dry. Well, as the wine drinkers that we are, we get up and walk away.

We settle on a restaurant named, Guney, next to the restaurant where we ate last night. The food is very good and they serve good Turkish wine.

Back in our hotel, we have a less than adequate room (after the horrible room we started with yesterday) where the AC died and we can’t even get the fan to run. This replacement room also has no windows. So it will be another uncomfortable night.

But, being the travel troopers that we are, we will make do.

Venice to Turkey 21

Day 21, Gallipoli, May 24

Breakfast and on the bus at 7:30 AM. Ground is wet so it must have rained last night. My favorite kind of rain, at night that you never see!

Beshiktash soccer team in Istanbul is our driver’s favorite Team and he has a model bus on the dashboard. We are in the city of Canakkale (pronounced kaan-a-kaal-E).

Our bus drives onto a ferry that will take us to the Gallipoli Peninsula, an Intercontinental ride. We have been in Asia and we are going back to Europe. We first learned about Gallipoli on our RTW 2020 in Wellington, New Zealand. It was a WWI battle to control the entrance to the Black Sea. We will now learn the Turkish version. Some interesting shots from the ferry ride.

The cemetery of Anzac is very moving with the engraving on the stones. We also visit ‘Toren Alani’, a more rustic cemetery where the headstones are just rounded and not carved.

Chunkbair area with monuments is also moving. Found two more Phillips on memorials. Found several on the one before.

Ataturk’un Gozetleme Yeri is a famous overlook that gave sightings to attacking forces.

Canakkale Bridge is about 3 miles long. Longest suspension bridge in the world. Connects Europe to Asia. Named 1915 Çanakkale Bridge in memory of the victory of Gallipoli for $30 B.

We drive on through Gelibolu Guney and Malkara where we even spot what appears to be a bride and groom heading off on their honeymoon!

Lunch is again at a roadside cafe. We walk in to see workers preparing foods just inside the doors. We have eggplant and meat dishes along with some spinach stuffed bread. As we sit down with our food, a fairly strong thunderstorm hits and we watch torrential rain soak everything outside. But by the time lunch is over, the storm has abated.

Back on the bus, we travel the last two hours to Istanbul. As we enter the city, we drive under an ancient aqueduct. No more explorations for us today. We arrive in Istanbul around 4:30 PM and debark the bus with everyone else. This tour is over. Oz does make sure we all have rides to our chosen hotels on a smaller coach.

This coach takes us to our hotels pair by pair with our travel friends. Yes, many of them are now friends, some of whom we will stay in touch with via social media and some via WhatsApp!

The coach comes to a point and stops. We are told it is only 4-5 blocks to our hotels. But which way and where? Luckily, the bus guide says he will take us. There are eight of us, six to one hotel and Elee and I to another. At one point, Elee and I are told to “wait here”, and we do. The guide takes the six downhill to their hotel and Elee and I wait for him in a place where we question where we are.

But, true to his word, he comes back for us and helps us find our hotel. Good thing he does as it turns out our hotel is in the back of a coffee shop. We would have never found it on our own.

We tip him and check in to the hotel. We are shown to the room and are disappointed. The bed, for example, has about 6-8 inches on each side to get into the bed. This will not do. We complain and are given a different room that is much more spacious. No windows, no air conditioning, but we take it. TV doesn’t work, but oh well, we’ll tough it out.

We relax for a bit, upload photos to a computer and head out in search of dinner. It turns out we are in Old Town and near the top of the hill. We can see the Tower from the front of our hotel and it’s only 50-75 meters away! It’s the tower we saw when we were here 8 days ago and didn’t get a chance to visit.

We walk up to the tower and the narrow tiny streets are filled with shops and restaurants. We look around and find a restaurant that serves lamb and get seats in the streetside tables so we can people watch. We have roast lamb and wine and enjoy the ambiance.

After dinner, we walk around the streets and shops watching the light of day wane and the lights of the city come on. We hear a lot of commotion in one area and it turns out there is a protest going on!

We come across a five story restaurant that has rooftop seating and we go up. We are lucky enough to find there is a fantastic view of the Tower from where we sit. So a glass of wine later, we wander back down to our hotel.

See you all tomorrow!

Venice to Turkey 20

Day 20, Troy, May 23

Today we’re on the bus at 7:30 AM. We leave Izmir on our way to Troy. Only about 110 km or one and a half hours. The architecture in Izmir is modern. And like most cities in the world, it doesn’t escape graffitti!

We head into the countryside and suddenly a warning alert goes off in the bus. It turns out to be a driver alert that announces our driver needs a mandatory day off. Akmed cannot work 7 days in a row by Turkish law. We do have a second driver on board so all is well.

W arrive in Bergama, Asklepion around 9:30 AM. The weather is mostly cloudy. Temperature is 20C (68F). Parchment Paper was created here. Books were also first created here.

Architecture is 70s era. The farmland is rustic. We visit Pagamon (or Bergama) ruins and marvel at more ancient artifacts including a sacred fountain. Then we are on the bus for 2 hours to our lunch stop.

We stop at Yasa for lunch and I have a Turkish pizza. It is delicious! I also like to photograph police cars around the world as most of them are quite different. Even tunnels through the mountains have a uniqueness to them.

We are heading through the Canakkale (pronounced kaan-a-kaal-E) province of Turkiye (the official spelling of Turkey). About two hours after lunch, we arrive in Troy, about 30 km from the city of Canakkale. The city of Troy is very interesting. It’s not even close to the stories I heard as a child or in school. There are approximately eleven layers of Troy, seven plus layers of the city, having been built upon itself many times. There are several discovered Amphora vessels that presumably held wine at one time. Earthquakes and fires involved destroyed the city several times also. The movie is totally a Hollywood creation. The story of the horse is sketchy at best, even though they have a horse there for tourist purposes.

We walk quite a ways around the old city checking out the ruins. Some sensitive ruins have had a roof built over them during excavations. I photographed a lot of the signs for myself and others interested to read later. The roman numerals following the name Troy indicate the layer of the city it’s referring to.

Our guide, Oz, is well versed with everything Turkiye and educates us about everything we see. The history of Troy is fascinating. As you can see it is the season of red poppies.

Now we drive to our hotel, the Park Ytun Hotel.

Dinner tonight is okay, basically unremarkable.

Venice to Turkey 19

Day 19, Izmir, May 22

Breakfast today is so-so. For such a huge hotel, we’d have thought there would have been more ethnic food. Oh well, can’t ask for everything. We have a 3 hour drive this morning.

It’s a pleasant drive on a new road through farmlands and hills. We leave the limestone and travertine pools behind and travel through farmlands. A much appreciated restroom stop and we stretch our legs.

After three hours of driving, we arrive at the House of Mother Mary. This is, supposedly, the last known residence of Mary, who was put in the care of St John the Apostle, a friend of Jesus before he was crucified. Interesting that it is in Ephesus, Turkey.

I am told inside the house that I have to put my camera away so I have no photos inside. Bummer! There is a wishing wall outside and we stop for an interesting apple tea!

After, we go to a leather store and watch a ‘runway’ fashion show (a first for us). We actually buy new leather jackets! Hey, what’s a little money among friends? Then we check out interesting cloud formations and go to lunch and have a ‘just ok’ buffet.

Then we ride for a couple hours and arrive at the other side of Ephesus. You might remember we visited here 10-12 days ago on a tour off the cruise ship. So we visit again! I don’t take very many photos today as I did last time. We are curious about how this tour will compare to the last one, but it seems that tour guides are on the up and up. The information is the same. This lends credibility to the tour guides whom I commonly suspect make up interesting stories to keep the tourists coming.

Back on the bus we drive for over an hour to Izmir. A very large and modern city. We arrive at our hotel in light rain. Oz has arranged our dinner to a very specific meal. We are nervous that we don’t have any choice of food. But true to his word, the meal is delicious. It’s comprised of a Turkish soup and an entree of a sliceable meatball dish. Toss in a Turkish wine and all is good.

We become closer to some of the other guests with us and share contact info.

Venice to Turkey 18

Day 18, Pamukkale, May 21

We arise early and have breakfast and get on the bus by 6:30 AM. It’s a long drive today to Pamukkale (pronounced paam-oo-kaal-ey. Thank goodness for professional bus drivers. It’s raining and miserable for most of our morning ride. There are a few fun views out of the bus windows!

The weather clears and we stop at a unique mosque, Sultanhani Belediyesi, with living quarters that we can visit. The marble walls and carvings are immense and beautiful! Rug collections on display are everything from pristine to ragged and torn.

Several different rooms with signs describing them in English. Very helpful. Who knew that a ‘harem’ was a room in which to sleep and pray? Or that a ‘living room’ was a Council Chamber? ‘Bread’ is a scent? A ‘bath’ serves a Social Function? Very interesting philosophies!

A cafe outside the mosque depicts the ‘Fairy Castles’ sells potato chips that you recognize but read the packaging.

Back on the bus for another few hours. The weather is clearer and we pass through attractive countryside. We stop for lunch for one hour and get back on the road. The steps down to the restrooms are quite interesting.

An hour later we come to a stop again. This time it is for a crane on the road ahead removing the wreckage of a two truck crash. We are backed up for most of an hour and we get out of the bus and stretch our legs. We are near the front of the traffic and we watch the crane do its work. As we get underway again, we see that one of the accident vehicles caught fire and burned.

So I don’t know what time we were scheduled to arrive but we can add an hour to that. There is something magical about stormy skies where the sun shines through occasionally! We stop for the mandatory driver’s rest in Dinar for 45 minutes. We have 90 minutes left to ride. So we have been on the bus from 6:30 AM to 5:30 PM with only a few stops and one traffic delay. We will stay in Pamukkale tonight.

Goat farmers herd their flock along the roads. We drive through Karai and limestone deposits.

We next visit these thermal limestone and travertine pools in Hierapolis. They are fed by 35C (95F) mineral rich springs! It is about a half mile hike in to the pools. We even get to wade into them without our socks and shoes. The water is warm and we have to be careful for it is slippery.

Elee is feeling somewhat more adventurous and wants to wade into the deeper pools in the distance. I opt to get out and walk on the boardwalk above them. It starts to rain and Elee comes back out but not before getting soaked.

We try to take shelter under the trees above the boardwalk but we are not very successful. The rain lasts about a half hour and we are drenched by the time it stops.

The rain has lent a mystical aura to the sky and the light and our cameras love it! This is truly a miraculous place in the world! The rain stops and we walk the half mile to the bus, a few pounds heavier with water!

After visiting this UNESCO site, we drive a short distance to the Adampira Spa Hotel where we will spend the night. Dinner is a huge buffet with some very good food and, as always, fabulous soup!

We retire to our room and get chargers plugged in. Showers will happen tonight to save sleep time in the morning. After being up early the last two days, we will get to sleep in to the late hour of 6 AM!