Saturday, May 3, 2014

On to Bodrum - Day 12 - Saturday

We left Sirince this morning heading to Bodrum (the left corner of Turkey.)
We stopped in 3 "ruined" towns along the way. 

Priene - A hillside Hellinistic town built in the 3rd century BC. Since it's not very busy you can pretty much tour however you like.

Mike always gets good seats at the theaters...


Next we went to Miletus... We got a little off track and ended up in swamp land.




The last place was Didim where we visited the Temple of Appollo - Second only to the Delphi Temple. It's crazy how many pieces are just laying around next to it.




The drive to Bodrum was a bit longer than expected but our hotel is great and we have a fab view

Exploration of Bodrum begins!!


















Friday, May 2, 2014

Hey look a Turkey in Turkey!!



Ephesus/Selcuk - Day 11 - Friday - Part 2

After Ephesus we headed to nearby Selcuk. There we saw more ruins...
A  Roman aqueduct (where Storks have made their nests) right in the middle of town.

Basilica of St. John (he wrote Revelations here) and the Fortress of Ayasuluk.



Back in Sirince relaxing and looking forward to a home cooked dinner!







Ephesus/Selcuk - Day 11 - Friday Part 1

We're back on track! 
Today we headed to Ephesus an ancient town that has been built on since 2000 BC or some kind of date I can't really get my head around. Most of what is standing today is from Roman or Byzantine times. 

This theater sat 25,000 people.




They're still uncovering it - They're only 18% done!

DC - I think you'd like being an archeologist - Very intricate and detailed work - And a puzzle all in one.








Izmir/Sirince - Day 10 Thursday

Now we start ou drive around the west coast of Turkey.

It was all going fine, planes were on time, bags in tow, car picked up and then...
30 minutes outside Izmir - A flat tire!

We pulled over at a "toll station" where people stop to pick up a fast teal or Easy Pass sticker in order to get on the toll road.

We called the Izmir rental office - No answer. 
Both numbers - No answer. 
Roadside assistance number on the key - gave us new numbers to try. No answer. 
Called the main office to try customer relations - No answer.
Called the Ankara office - They gave us the same numbers we already had. 
We called again - No answer. 
Roadside Assistance stopped picking up the phone.
We did this for two hours.
The guy who ran the sticker purchasing service insisted on giving us tea - It was the most delicious tea I've had so far in Turkey.
We called our hotel to get them to send a cab. 
At the same time Mike got a hold of a new number and found someone who could help. Mike wouldn't let him hang up.
He said he'd be to us in an hour and a half.

The sticker service guy graciously took the phone and explained where we were on many phone calls - He was fantastic (It felt weird taking his photo so I didn't).

An hour later Ali brought us a new car and were on our way again. 

We got to Sirince - And look how cute our place is...

Also lucky - Sirince is known for making wine - We had some!

It's a really cute hillside town.







 

Thursday, May 1, 2014

Goodbye Goreme!

This is what you're supposed to do in Cappadocia - Hot Air Balloon Ride! 
It was too windy yesterday which turned out well as we were feeling it was too much of a splurge.

Traveling - Izmir to Sirince - Thursday Day 10

Today we are on our way to Izmir/Sirince which means most time spent at the airport and catching up on journals. My journal is terrible - I blame this blog :)

Wednesday, April 30, 2014

Cappadocia - Goreme - Wednesday -Day 9

Today we took a guided tour of the area as well as toured more cave churches, houses and an underground city...


At the end of the day we hiked up to Sunset Point and rewarded ourselves with a beer and a view.














Tuesday, April 29, 2014

Cappadocia - Goreme - Day 8 - Part 2

We took the afternoon to explore the amazing Cappadocian countryside and landscape. We hiked around an area where people had lived and visited a museum of several cave churches some dating back to the 10th century.

Chris & Mike some of these landscapes remind us of hiking in Utah.








Best Rug Salesman

Mike Enjoys (another) Turkish Coffeee

Istanbul - Monday Day 7 Part 2

After lunch we walked around other areas outside the markets - Like Hanoi things seemed to be divided into areas - Plants, Kitchen stuff, etc...

And this is underwear street!

After we went go Suleyman the Magnificent's mosque (built by Sinan)

It also had some incredible views of the city

In the cemetery where Suleyman and his family are buried Mike had another kitty encounter...

Later we went to the Underground Cistern - A huge area that was used as a reservoir from the 6th century.

And some columns were put on top of these upside down and sideways Medusa heads

A great last day - Tomorrow we're up early and off to Cappadocia!