Turkey
Overall, Turkey was quite beautiful. The ruins and archeological sites don't compare with Egypt, but the country itself was so much nicer. I would definitely like to come back and spend more time in Istanbul. I feel like I didn't get to see enough of the cities themselves. We saw all of the sights, but I would have liked more time to really get a feel for the country; I feel that we were too rushed and a week just wasn't enough.
Days 1 & 2: Istanbul
As I mentioned in the last post, I was terribly sick the day I travelled to Istanbul. I woke up my first morning there and discovered that I was still sick. I spent most of the morning fighting a losing battle. I guess I was looking pretty pathetic because the hostel staff kept coming and checking on me and they let me check out a few hours late. So around 1pm, when I had finally composed myself enough to move, I packed up and took a taxi over to the hotel where I was meeting my tour.
The hotel was a bit odd....my room was on the roof. To get to it, I had to get the elevator to the top floor, take a staircase to the roof and then walk across a roof top deck. The other weird thing (and this seems to have been the case for most of the hotels in Turkey) is that they don't like it when you bring outside food or drink into the hotel. Later, when I met the group, a few of us got yelled at for having bottles of water....it was only after the guide explained to us why that we understood; they don't like it because they want you to buy stuff out of their mini-bar....which is more expensive. Annoying, but there was an easy fix to that at least; hide your water/drink in your bag as you come in.
I met my tour group for dinner and introduction. There are 40 of us, so its a big group. Strangely, its 95% females and mostly Aussies. I get along well with my roommate (Naomi who is from Melbourne) and a few other girls who also happen to be from Melbourne. Most people in the group are pretty nice though and its easy to chat with anyone. There is one exception to that; a girl from Canberra who may be the most objectionable person I've ever met. I will be the first to admit that Im a cynic, but literally every word out of this girls mouth is rude, negative or complaining. She attached herself to the girls and i on the first night and dinner (through Tatum's misfortune of having to share a room with her) and it took a few days of my avoiding her before she stopped appearing out of the blue.
There are a couple of other oddballs as well. First, there is a larger guy who follows the guide around like a boy scout and has a million questions about everything. He also has something wrong with his left index finger; it looks like a big toe. It's really creepy. Then there is a really sweet Japanese girl who brought nothing but high heels for shoes and the girl from Florida who seems to think that because it is hot where she is from, she should wear jeans in the 40 degree heat. That makes no sense to me; just because I'm used to the rain in Vancouver doesn't mean that I don't need an umbrella while traveling.
So anyway, the next morning I was feeling well enough to go see the sights with the group. We went to the Spice market first, which was not that impressive; similar to many of the markets I visited in Egypt, except for cleaner, less people, and more organized. The touts are not as bad as in Egypt either, but they use some of the same tricks, "hello pretty lady- where you from?". In the spice market, as I was walking with the girls we kept getting "hello spice girls." The first time it was funny, the 8th it was annoying.
After that we went to visit the blue mosque. It's not as architecturally as impressive as Aya Sofia (which is across the street and 700 years older) but it is much prettier from the outside. We went in an looked around; it's called the blue mosque because of the blue tiles inside. After lunch we went to the grand bizarre which was pretty much just a bigger version of the spice market. We had the option to go in Aya Sofia as well, but I wasn't feeling up to it so I just wondered outside and took some pictures.
We did a boat trip next on the body of water that separates the European side of Istanbul from the Asian side (it's the only city in the world built on two continents). It was really nice as we got to see lots of different sections of the city. It really made me wish that I had more time in Istanbul. There were some really nice waterfront areas with shops and cafes which I would have liked to explore. Damn sickness.
On the boat the stewards were really funny. It was a private boat for our tour. Rather than come around and ask us if we wanted tea or fresh orange juice, they made an abundance of both upfront and then came around trying to sell it repeatedly. They couldn't and started getting agitated. We were calling one of the guys a Turkish Mr. Bean; he kept popping up every 5 minutes mumbling under his breath, trying to sell us something. You'd think they would learn.
For dinner we went to a "traditional" Turkish show. What it should have been called was "waste of money tourist show." With the exception of one belly dancer (who was quite incredible), all the acts were pretty Mickey mouse club. The food was also not very good (my vegetarian dinner was rice and fries - not sure how that is traditional) so I wasn't too impressed. Good thing I was still too sick to be interested in eating too much.
Day 3: Gallipoli and Canakkale
On this day, we loaded onto the bus and began our trip down the coast. We drove all morning to get to the town of Gallipoli for lunch. I managed to stomach half of some sort of strange feta, pastry and noodle dish. I think part of the appetite problem may be that I just don't like turkish food that much.
After lunch we visited the battlefields of Gallipoli, which, I knew very little about. The Aussies knew all about it though. Basically, in the first world war (Turkey was fighting with the Germans) England wanted to destroy a number of cannons set up along the Turkish coast in a narrow straight of water, which prevented the english ships from passing into the Aegean sea (which was the only way to get to Russia). So the Aussies and Kiwis and Brits came ashore on 25 April 1915, on the other side of the paninsula, 5km from the cannons. Problem was, the terrain was a hilly mess and it turned into a bit of a suicide mission. At the end 130,000 were killed; the Turks lost more men, but won the battle. There were a number of war cemeteries which we visited but it was the scenery that was the most impressive....it was stunning. Turquoise waters and lush landscape; I wanted to swim.
Our hotel was in the middle of no where, but had a pool and was on the beach, so we went for a swim there, had dinner at the hotel and some people went down to the beach for drinks.
Day 4: Troy, Pergamum and Izmir
First stop in the morning was Troy, which is historically important, but not very impressive today. It was pretty much just piles of old bricks. The city of Troy was rebuilt 9 times, so there were remains from the 9 different Troy's....although really the differences were negligible. There was a bit of a wall from the 6th Troy (Homer's Troy from "the Odyssey"), but otherwise nothing really to see. In a tourism ploy, the Turks have built a huge wooden horse which can be climbed into; sadly it was probably the best part of the stop.
Next we stopped at Pergamum, which was actually quite cool. We visited what was the hospital. This particular hospital had the first psychological department and it was really interesting. There is a tunnel that was still in tack (which lead to the psychological ward) and the way it was designed, as you were walking through it, you could hear the calming sound of running water. There were also rooms where the patients were moved to after visiting the doctors which also had the sounds of running water in the background. Pretty impressive that 2000 years ago they figured out a water system of that manner. There was also an amphitheater which was still together/restored which is still used for annual physiological conferences.
Our hotel was in the city of Izmir, but in an area where there was nothing around (in terms of restaurants/shops/things to do). We had an organized dinner at the hotel and it was abysmal. Standard vegetarian fare of rice and fries and a few soggy veggies. Not happy; its the stupid tour that I'm on which is the problem. The hotels are not in good locations and then the meals are included and there are no options. Dinner just shows up and if it's meat, too bad. I've actually been very unimpressed with this tour. The country of turkey is beautiful and much easier than Egypt, but I haven't been impressed with the tour or the guide. At least it's only a few more days and the people are nice. Some people took a taxi down to the waterfront area for a drink, but I wasn't feeling great and was in a bad mood from the lack of food, so I passed on that.
Day 5: Pamukkale
We stopped first thing at a Turkish carpet workshop. I really did not want to make this stop, but it actually turned out to to be quite interesting. We were able to watch the ladies work; it was unbelievably intricate. They then put on a little show showing us all of the carpets. For the most part Im not a big fan of intricate carpets, but there were one or two black and white ones which were quite nice.
We then went to Pamukkale which is famous for it's thermal pools and limestone formations. There is one area where the limestone has formed snow white steps on the hillsides. We were a bit unlucky as the water flow in the pools is now regulated to preserve them, and on the day we were there, they were mostly dry. Still pretty cool though; the contrast between the dry landscape and the limestone was spectacular.
We stayed at a nice hotel with a cold pool and thermal pools. It was nice to have some time to lounge around and read and sun bathe. Most of the hotel was populated by Russians. They are so funny. They think its such luxury. They also LOVE the buffet....they eat like they've never seen food before. Too funny.
There was an alright buffet and I had an alright massage after dinner. It was cheap, but not Thailand cheap and it was all a bit strange. They put me in a room with someone else and the masseuses kept talking throughout. I had to ask them to be quiet (which they didn't understand so I had to pantomime zipping my mouth shut). They also massaged my breasts....which was interesting.
That's all for now. I'll post the last few Turkey days in my next post.
Cheers
Days 1 & 2: Istanbul
As I mentioned in the last post, I was terribly sick the day I travelled to Istanbul. I woke up my first morning there and discovered that I was still sick. I spent most of the morning fighting a losing battle. I guess I was looking pretty pathetic because the hostel staff kept coming and checking on me and they let me check out a few hours late. So around 1pm, when I had finally composed myself enough to move, I packed up and took a taxi over to the hotel where I was meeting my tour.
The hotel was a bit odd....my room was on the roof. To get to it, I had to get the elevator to the top floor, take a staircase to the roof and then walk across a roof top deck. The other weird thing (and this seems to have been the case for most of the hotels in Turkey) is that they don't like it when you bring outside food or drink into the hotel. Later, when I met the group, a few of us got yelled at for having bottles of water....it was only after the guide explained to us why that we understood; they don't like it because they want you to buy stuff out of their mini-bar....which is more expensive. Annoying, but there was an easy fix to that at least; hide your water/drink in your bag as you come in.
I met my tour group for dinner and introduction. There are 40 of us, so its a big group. Strangely, its 95% females and mostly Aussies. I get along well with my roommate (Naomi who is from Melbourne) and a few other girls who also happen to be from Melbourne. Most people in the group are pretty nice though and its easy to chat with anyone. There is one exception to that; a girl from Canberra who may be the most objectionable person I've ever met. I will be the first to admit that Im a cynic, but literally every word out of this girls mouth is rude, negative or complaining. She attached herself to the girls and i on the first night and dinner (through Tatum's misfortune of having to share a room with her) and it took a few days of my avoiding her before she stopped appearing out of the blue.
There are a couple of other oddballs as well. First, there is a larger guy who follows the guide around like a boy scout and has a million questions about everything. He also has something wrong with his left index finger; it looks like a big toe. It's really creepy. Then there is a really sweet Japanese girl who brought nothing but high heels for shoes and the girl from Florida who seems to think that because it is hot where she is from, she should wear jeans in the 40 degree heat. That makes no sense to me; just because I'm used to the rain in Vancouver doesn't mean that I don't need an umbrella while traveling.
So anyway, the next morning I was feeling well enough to go see the sights with the group. We went to the Spice market first, which was not that impressive; similar to many of the markets I visited in Egypt, except for cleaner, less people, and more organized. The touts are not as bad as in Egypt either, but they use some of the same tricks, "hello pretty lady- where you from?". In the spice market, as I was walking with the girls we kept getting "hello spice girls." The first time it was funny, the 8th it was annoying.
After that we went to visit the blue mosque. It's not as architecturally as impressive as Aya Sofia (which is across the street and 700 years older) but it is much prettier from the outside. We went in an looked around; it's called the blue mosque because of the blue tiles inside. After lunch we went to the grand bizarre which was pretty much just a bigger version of the spice market. We had the option to go in Aya Sofia as well, but I wasn't feeling up to it so I just wondered outside and took some pictures.
We did a boat trip next on the body of water that separates the European side of Istanbul from the Asian side (it's the only city in the world built on two continents). It was really nice as we got to see lots of different sections of the city. It really made me wish that I had more time in Istanbul. There were some really nice waterfront areas with shops and cafes which I would have liked to explore. Damn sickness.
On the boat the stewards were really funny. It was a private boat for our tour. Rather than come around and ask us if we wanted tea or fresh orange juice, they made an abundance of both upfront and then came around trying to sell it repeatedly. They couldn't and started getting agitated. We were calling one of the guys a Turkish Mr. Bean; he kept popping up every 5 minutes mumbling under his breath, trying to sell us something. You'd think they would learn.
For dinner we went to a "traditional" Turkish show. What it should have been called was "waste of money tourist show." With the exception of one belly dancer (who was quite incredible), all the acts were pretty Mickey mouse club. The food was also not very good (my vegetarian dinner was rice and fries - not sure how that is traditional) so I wasn't too impressed. Good thing I was still too sick to be interested in eating too much.
Day 3: Gallipoli and Canakkale
On this day, we loaded onto the bus and began our trip down the coast. We drove all morning to get to the town of Gallipoli for lunch. I managed to stomach half of some sort of strange feta, pastry and noodle dish. I think part of the appetite problem may be that I just don't like turkish food that much.
After lunch we visited the battlefields of Gallipoli, which, I knew very little about. The Aussies knew all about it though. Basically, in the first world war (Turkey was fighting with the Germans) England wanted to destroy a number of cannons set up along the Turkish coast in a narrow straight of water, which prevented the english ships from passing into the Aegean sea (which was the only way to get to Russia). So the Aussies and Kiwis and Brits came ashore on 25 April 1915, on the other side of the paninsula, 5km from the cannons. Problem was, the terrain was a hilly mess and it turned into a bit of a suicide mission. At the end 130,000 were killed; the Turks lost more men, but won the battle. There were a number of war cemeteries which we visited but it was the scenery that was the most impressive....it was stunning. Turquoise waters and lush landscape; I wanted to swim.
Our hotel was in the middle of no where, but had a pool and was on the beach, so we went for a swim there, had dinner at the hotel and some people went down to the beach for drinks.
Day 4: Troy, Pergamum and Izmir
First stop in the morning was Troy, which is historically important, but not very impressive today. It was pretty much just piles of old bricks. The city of Troy was rebuilt 9 times, so there were remains from the 9 different Troy's....although really the differences were negligible. There was a bit of a wall from the 6th Troy (Homer's Troy from "the Odyssey"), but otherwise nothing really to see. In a tourism ploy, the Turks have built a huge wooden horse which can be climbed into; sadly it was probably the best part of the stop.
Next we stopped at Pergamum, which was actually quite cool. We visited what was the hospital. This particular hospital had the first psychological department and it was really interesting. There is a tunnel that was still in tack (which lead to the psychological ward) and the way it was designed, as you were walking through it, you could hear the calming sound of running water. There were also rooms where the patients were moved to after visiting the doctors which also had the sounds of running water in the background. Pretty impressive that 2000 years ago they figured out a water system of that manner. There was also an amphitheater which was still together/restored which is still used for annual physiological conferences.
Our hotel was in the city of Izmir, but in an area where there was nothing around (in terms of restaurants/shops/things to do). We had an organized dinner at the hotel and it was abysmal. Standard vegetarian fare of rice and fries and a few soggy veggies. Not happy; its the stupid tour that I'm on which is the problem. The hotels are not in good locations and then the meals are included and there are no options. Dinner just shows up and if it's meat, too bad. I've actually been very unimpressed with this tour. The country of turkey is beautiful and much easier than Egypt, but I haven't been impressed with the tour or the guide. At least it's only a few more days and the people are nice. Some people took a taxi down to the waterfront area for a drink, but I wasn't feeling great and was in a bad mood from the lack of food, so I passed on that.
Day 5: Pamukkale
We stopped first thing at a Turkish carpet workshop. I really did not want to make this stop, but it actually turned out to to be quite interesting. We were able to watch the ladies work; it was unbelievably intricate. They then put on a little show showing us all of the carpets. For the most part Im not a big fan of intricate carpets, but there were one or two black and white ones which were quite nice.
We then went to Pamukkale which is famous for it's thermal pools and limestone formations. There is one area where the limestone has formed snow white steps on the hillsides. We were a bit unlucky as the water flow in the pools is now regulated to preserve them, and on the day we were there, they were mostly dry. Still pretty cool though; the contrast between the dry landscape and the limestone was spectacular.
We stayed at a nice hotel with a cold pool and thermal pools. It was nice to have some time to lounge around and read and sun bathe. Most of the hotel was populated by Russians. They are so funny. They think its such luxury. They also LOVE the buffet....they eat like they've never seen food before. Too funny.
There was an alright buffet and I had an alright massage after dinner. It was cheap, but not Thailand cheap and it was all a bit strange. They put me in a room with someone else and the masseuses kept talking throughout. I had to ask them to be quiet (which they didn't understand so I had to pantomime zipping my mouth shut). They also massaged my breasts....which was interesting.
That's all for now. I'll post the last few Turkey days in my next post.
Cheers
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