We spent the following day and a half in Selcuk alternately exploring and lounging by the pool. It was great to have the time to take things at such a leisurely pace.

In the morning we checked out the museum while it was uncrowded, and then wandered into town where Mark got the full Turkish barber experience complete with flaming-wand and face massage!

Later we climbed up the hill near our hotel to check out the ruins of the Basilica of St John and the Ayasuluk Fortress before enjoying an afternoon shandy or two by the pool.

On our way into town for dinner we finally ran into the shop owner Ali, whom our friends had recommended we meet. We introduced ourselves and then headed to our reservation at Wallabies Aqueduct Restaurant to see our friend Mehmet/Jeff and enjoy the inauguration of the upgraded fountain over another excellent dinner. Afterward we stopped in at Ali's shop for a drink and some very entertaining stories about his life and business.

We had planned to take the train from Selcuk to Izmir Airport, but Ali told us there would be a free shuttle bus for us since we were flying on Atlasjet. The shuttle is not advertised by the airline, and it apparently comes to an unmarked stop in town, 135 minutes before each flight.  While the train sounded more interesting, unfortunately the train schedule was poorly aligned with our flight time, so we decided to take the shuttle.  That gave us an extra couple of hours in town in the morning where we came across the Saturday market.

As it turned out, the shuttle was almost 20 minutes late because it was stuck in traffic so we began to seriously doubt its existence. We came within a hair's breadth of bailing on the "non-existent" free shuttle and jumping in what would have been a very expensive taxi. In the end, we made our flight to Istanbul with time to spare. :-)

July 23.  We just realized that the Turkish word for Ephesus is Efes, just like the ubiquitous Turkish beer. Coincidence? I think not.

We chose to walk to the site, which is no big deal. 30 – 40 minutes, but Mark wanted to enter from the Upper Gate so there was another 50 minute walk from the Lower Gate. It was hot, and we were offered rides from all sorts of horse carriage drivers. They wanted 40 lira – no thanks. In fact, I was glad for the exercise. On the way, we each got a lovely peach from a farmer's roadside stand – so delicious!

We finally made it to the Upper Gate and followed the Lonely Planet tour down. The site was PACKED as by this time it was about 11:00 and I was already hot and tired and we hadn’t even started yet!  A lot of the magic disappears for me when it’s crowded, but when you’re at a world class historical site, you gotta suck it up.

There were two highlights for me. One was the public latrines – okay, so I’m not sorry I didn’t live at that time. The second was the library – such a fantastic building. Oh, and the third was the amphitheater. It held 25,000 people – again, I felt tiny.  Mark liked the Memmius Monument where according to the sign, "at present there is no reconstruction at the site, but instead a Cubist modern architectural collage", Sometimes it's hard to tell the difference. :-)

After recharging a bit with a tamarind soda at the gift shop, we headed back to the hotel for a well-deserved dip in the pool. I figure we did about 12 km of walking – not much in my normal life, but not bad while on vacation!

In the evening we wandered about the shopping area before dinner looking for the elusive “Ali” that LEMA spoke of. Instead we found "Marco" outside one of the shops that sells the whole gamut of good-to-high quality souvenirs. He was a no-pressure, friendly guy and recommended we try Ejder restaurant for dinner. Turns out Bill Clinton has eaten there. It was good, and we devoured a mixed grill platter (the chicken was especially tasty) but didn’t linger. Instead we explored town for a while, checking out an evening market, stopping at a Turkish delight shop for a few sweets (yum!) and finally rested at a place for raki, backgammon, and apple tobacco water pipe. Mark had all the luck -- it seems he rolled nothing but doubles. I enjoyed the apple smoke so a good time was had by all.

July22. Mark woke early to book flights from Izmir to Istanbul ($80 each – so much better than a 9 hour bus ride!) Breakfast by the pool (!) and we headed off to the “Cotton Castle”.

I was rather disappointed with the place, truthfully. There are SO many tourists (I shouldn’t be surprised) and the beautiful pools I remember from Mark’s 1991 photos have pretty much dried up or disappeared. I suppose there’s a reason that this place is a popular tourist destination and I’m glad to have seen it, but I certainly would not go back. In fact, you just can’t go back. If it was a bummer for me I can only imagine how Mark must have felt.

The ruins of Hierapolis above the travertines are pretty great. But I’m getting to the point of “another ruin” like it’s “another cathedral” when in Europe. It’s just so hard to wrap my head around how old stuff is here. That said, these ruins, especially the Roman theatre, are very well reconstructed. 

We were done with the Cotton Castle and Hierapolis by 2pm so we returned to our hotel that was holding our bags, ordered a beer and hung out by (and in) the pool until it was time to go. Much better than waiting at a bus station!

This was the first day of our daytime fasting. We both feel that we’re getting a bit pudgy and worst of all, my clothes are getting tight which makes me grumpy. So, like the Muslims during Ramadan, we’re (kind of) fasting during daylight hours, or at least between breakfast and dinner. If they can do it, so can we. We’re not all that strict, and let me tell you, it makes dinner taste GREAT!

Our digs in Selcuk were at the Akay Hotel and at 200 lira per night ($100 CAD) felt like a blow out. Unfortunately the hotel was over-hyped in the guidebook, but once we vetoed the dark room in the bottom back corner and took the bright one on the top floor with a view over the garden and pool, we were happy.

After landing at the hotel we showered and headed out for dinner. Wallabee’s Aqueduct Hotel was beckoning! Mehmet, aka “Jeff” was charming and welcoming. We received an amuse bouche of tomato soup, and I had the octopus while Mark had grilled sea bream, a local fish. A salad, a bottle of white wine, and life is great. We had a spectacular table, or it would have been spectacular if the fountain was working. J The stork nests on the nearby Roman aqueduct, and the kittens were entertaining.

After dinner we decided to stop at Denis cafe for raki and backgammon. I got trounced, and can’t really remember the walk home...

In the morning there was still a bit of time to wander through the bazaar and shopping area where we saw our first golden soother, and the spankiest men’s fashions ever! I’m guessing the suits were wedding attire, but I’ve never ever seen ties like the ones I saw there! 

We stopped at a tiny shop for our first “tost” (delicious grilled cheese sandwich) and tea, wandered around some more, packed up, and hopped on the very crowded dolmus to the bus station. Turns out the 11:00 bus was full, so we were stuck at the station for 2 hours before beginning our 7 hour bus ride to Denizli. Thankfully we had books :-)

We stopped for a 30  minute break about 30 minutes outside of our terminus, Denizli (who makes these schedules?) but fortunately made our connecting dolmus to Pamukkale with 10 minutes to spare.

Our accommodations in Pamukkale were at the Melrose House hotel. Our room was great – air con, fridge, deluxe decoration, and a ROUND bed! Ha ha ha!! We arrived late, about 8:30 pm, dropped our bags, and headed into “town”. There’s not really much of a town, maybe 3 streets, but the first thing we did was check the bus schedule to get out. We weren’t about to make the same mistake as we did in Konya! 

We soon found ourselves at the base of the famous travertines (calcified rock formations) where we found a pretty little garden restaurant with live music, cold beer, and peanuts. A very enjoyable way to end the evening, to be sure. 

We broke up our bus ride to Konya with a short pit stop about 90 km out of town at a very well preserved caravanserai called Sultanhani. The road from Goreme to Konya is part of a well-traveled historic trading road (the Silk Road) and the Seljuks built a string of trading posts and rest stops called caraverserai in the 1200’s. It was a pretty awesome stop when I think about it – just like most things around here. Canada is just so young!

We pulled into Konya at about 3:30, and did the usual. Find our place, drop our packs and explore. Our hotel was a centrally-located, cheap, cheerful, and spotless place called Ulusan Otel. The best thing about it was Ali – who was super friendly! Plus, at 70 lira, it was a bargain!

We headed to the Mevlana Museum, home of the Whirling Dervishes. There are only ceremonies on Saturdays so we were out of luck for that, but the museum has a great exhibit. And, it was free for some unknown reason!

On the way there I got to experience a bit of "real" Turkey -- the Turkey that Mark remembers, with the carpet sellers being super friendly and inviting you up for tea. We managed to hold off Nazif the carpet seller, at least for the short term, but Mark had to swear a solemn promise that we would return that evening.

Despite being PACKED, the museum was interesting. The tomb of Rumi, the mystic philosopher and founder of the dervish order, is inside and is splendid and grand. There are also tombs of other notable dervishes, all of which have slightly smaller but just about as ornate sarcophagi. They are covered in a beautifully embroidered fabric and are topped with a tall felt “hat” with a turban at the base. The number of wraps of the turban indicates the importance of the individual.

We headed for the exterior rooms which housed “a day in the life of a dervish” exhibits. It’s a rough go, at least as tough as that of a monk, I think. There was a particularly good room which showed the dervish’s practice board (looks a lot like a large Bosu board, but square) and some dervish mannequins in full spin.

On our way back to our hotel, we stopped at a grocery store in search of beer to have in our room. None to be found unfortunately, but we did run into Nazif the carpet seller. He offered to buy us ice cream (which we declined for fear of feeling indebted to him) but since we promised to stop at his shop on the way home, we followed him over there.

He didn’t do any hard sell, and was a skillful salesman, but once he realized that we really meant it when we said we don’t actually like Turkish carpets enough to want to buy one, we moved from business to pleasure. We got to talking about other subjects, and as a trio, left the shop and headed for a very pleasant tea garden for tea. We talked about many things and were with him a couple of hours in total. He also invited us for dinner, which we politely declined. We took our leave, and ventured out to find our own dinner and soon after we called it a night. 

We spent the next four days based in Goreme exploring the region, mostly on foot. First stop, the Goreme Open Air Museum, a Unesco World Heritage Site and excellent introduction to Cappadocia’s faamous fairy chimneys, rock-cut churches, and underground dwellings.

Re-connected with LEMA (Lindsay, Edwina, Mona, and Adrienne) that first evening for dinner at their hotel in the nearby town of Uchisar.  We took the local bus (dolmus) there and had a fun time catching up and enjoying the views over the countryside from the restaurant patio. Beef cheek for me, lamb shank for Mark, and lots of local red wine – yum yum yum!! It does get chilly here in the evenings though, so the restaurant kindly provided blankets for us. On the way home we apparently missed the last bus, but within a minute a couple of friendly local lads offered us a ride and dropped us near our hotel. Did I mention people are friendly here?

Other highlights included:

- an early morning walk from the lookout above Goreme down through the Love Valley where we had a friendly canine companion for the entire time.

- a challenging afternoon hike down the White Valley from Uchisar. There was some bushwhacking early on which was definitely not to Mary's liking, but soon the trail improved and with it her mood.  Later we came upon a rustic open air shop and stopped for tea and some water. The owner, Yilmas, loved animals and had a bit of a menagerie including a very pregnant mare that literally wandered in.

- a morning hike up the Pigeon Valley and a climb to the top of Uchisar castle.  

- a morning hike down the Red, and Rose II Valleys past more rock-cut churches, cliff-side pigeon houses, Anatalyan vineyards, orchards, and stunning rock formations.

- and an afternoon hike that same day up the Rose I Valley to the lookout on the Red Hill, and a lucky hitch back to Goreme along with a young couple we'd met on the trail.

These were all interspersed with some proper R&R, dinners at both fine and simple restaurants, and a memorable trip out to the ancient underground city of Derinkuyu which we toured along with a Brazilian couple and their delightful daughter.

One of the tour offerings from the Kelebek was the “organic farm breakfast tour”. Right up our alley, and it was complimentary! The tour was led by Ali (the owner of the hotel) and about 17 of us set off in a large open wagon pulled by a tractor. We wound up the steep twisty streets and out across the hilltop plateau until we reached the top of some stairs carved into the hillside that led down to the fertile valley bottom.

Ali was a very good guide. He grew up in Goreme, and turned his family home into one of the first cave hotels. The farm that we were going to was his family farm. Along the way he told us stories of his childhood – how his older brothers used to have to haul the fruit from the farm by donkey to sell in the market town, and how he used to clean out the cliff-side pigeon houses that dot the area so that the farm could use the droppings as fertilizer. 

Once at the farm we were greeting by a table groaning with food. There was the usual: cheese, cucumbers, tomatoes, olives, honey, and jam. And fresh bread. And preserved baby eggplants that were soaked in a sweet cinnamon syrup.  Who knew eggplants can be sweet! There was of course tea, and wonderful scrambled eggs. All of this was prepared by a trio of the cutest little old Turkish babas ever!

Balloon ride day!  Needless to say we both slept poorly in fear of over sleeping. But we dragged our sorry butts out of bed, and headed to the Butterfly Balloon office for paperwork and a light breakfast.

Soon we were in our bus and on our way to the launching point. I was very quiet as in my mind I was composing the texts that I should send in case our balloon crashed. I decided against it as that would be bad luck, so just sucked it up.

Inflating the balloon seems to be quite a lengthy process. There are huge fans that point inside the balloon until it’s mostly filled, and then the pilot starts heating the air with the four burners that he controls with valves. Once the balloon is filled, we hop in. Four people per compartment, and the balloon held sixteen people plus the pilot. 

Very, very gently the balloon lifted. And no one could be more surprised than me when I wasn’t afraid. I think because everything moves so slowly, and it’s so gentle and quiet, I just wasn’t scared. Go figure. 

It may be one of the most beautiful things I’ve ever experienced. If you ever get to Cappadocia, this is not to be missed. We were especially lucky because the following two mornings there were no balloons flights as it was too windy. I can only imagine the scheduling nightmare, not to mention the disappointed people. 

July 15. We headed to Cappadocia by air today, but not until 5:00 pm. That gave us time to do the e-bike tour that we had seen advertised. The owner picked us up at 9:20 (in his Mercedes!) and we were off to get our fancy reflective vests, helmets, and e-bikes. If only I could use one of those things for the upcoming Victoria fondo! It was a pricey tour and fun, but I didn’t think it was great value. We started at Konyaalti beach at the western end of the city and went all the way to Lara beach at the eastern end (20km) with a break in the old town for excellent homemade lemonade and Dutch pannekoeks. The group was varied – a Dutch family of five, a couple in their sixties from Denmark who have a summer place in Turkey, and us. All in all, a good mix. The Danish guy came decked out in his red cycling shorts – I saw the telltale “m dot” (Ironman tattoo) on his calf. He’s recently done a couple of half-ironman races following the footsteps of his son, and told Mark that it’s not too late to start!

Back to the hotel just in time to catch a shuttle from the hotel guy and head to the airport. Sadly, no time to shower, but such is life. Smooth check-in and flight to Nevsehir, about 40 minutes from where we’re staying in Goreme. The Kelebek hotel arranged for airport pick up and we found our driver immediately upon exiting the airport. Very unlike our normal DIY mode of travel, but was smooth and painless and I might just get used to that!

Wow. Our room in the fairy chimney was tiny – only room for the bed. And we shared a separate bathroom with the other fairy chimney. But it was cozy and very cool. How many people can say they’ve slept in a fairy chimney? The hotel is a maze of hallways, and Ali Jr. showed us around. I can see why they do – it’s a bit of a rabbit warren. He also explained all of the great things there are to do in the area of course, where the open air museum is, balloon rides, places for dinner, their spa….it went on a bit long for me.

We showered, and on our way out for a bite we decided to check to see if there were any balloon cancellations for the following morning. It was a long shot, but it doesn’t hurt to try. As it happened, a Japanese woman was trying to cancel as we walked in. The guy behind the desk explained that you can’t cancel at 8:00 pm the night before the balloon ride because they can’t sell the seat. Bonus!! We let him know we would take her spot! She was happy, we were happy, and I think the hotel guy was happy because she was being a little obstinate. Hooray! Well sorta. I am afraid of heights after all.

Quick dinner and early to bed as we had to be in the lobby at 4:35 a.m. Ugh! 

July 14. Another perfect day starts with another delicious Turkish breakfast. I may never eat cereal again. We decided to spend a third night in Antalya because we liked it so much and we bought a cheap flight on line to Cappadocia – it cost 120 lira each, or about 60 CAD. That beats a nine hour bus ride any day!

Once we got ourselves going, we headed to a museum that encompassed both a Greek Orthodox Church and a traditional Ottoman house. The church had been lovingly restored and the upstairs held an exhibit of old portrait photos from the late Ottoman era, the 1800’s. Very interesting to see photos of the tinker, cobbler, porter, liver seller, tea seller, sponge seller, pottery seller, simit seller, meatball seller, etc….It seems most people sold things. In fact, there was a story about a snow seller! Apparently people would pack snow into a goat hair lined bag and bring it to the “city” to sell. A precursor to getting a bag of ice for your drink, I guess.

There were a couple of beautifully written letters framed at the entrance to the church. The fellow who bought the church and house did so as a 50^th birthday gift to his wife. They were to be restored and opened to the people of Antalya as a museum. The second letter was to his 7 year old daughter, explaining that this gift to her mother was also something that she would have to take care of. I wish we had taken photos of the letters as they were very heartfelt and lovingly crafted yet quite old fashioned in their formality even though they only dated from 1991.

After lunch and an exploration of the old covered bazaar, the heat started to get to us so we decided to return to the oasis of our garden to have a wee rest in the shade. The chaise lounges under the umbrella were a lovely place to listen to Mark read me some Turkish history stories from the guide book (and I just might have dropped off to sleep a little bit).

Soon it was time for the hamam! I was unsure of what I should wear (or not wear) so decided that since these people were never going to see me again, I’d be a nudenick. Mark and I had signed up for the full meal deal for 80 lira (about 40 CAD.) This included bath, scrub, bubble massage, relaxation time, and oil massage and would take about 75 minutes. We were shown to our change room to wrap up in a Turkish towel, and then were led to the “hot room”. We were the only two in there, and it was silent except for the regular echoing drip from one of the taps. We sat on a hot marble pedestal in the center of the room under the high domed ceiling and sweated for about 15 minutes. There were 3 alcoves off of the central marble slab area where you could pour water on yourself and lounge about, and between the alcoves there were two small doors that led to private bathing rooms.

Finally our masseuse (bather?) led us to one of those treatment rooms where we each lay on a marble bench. It was a very interesting feeling to be bathed by someone. The room was entirely marble so the water just got tossed on you and ran down to the floor. Mark and I each had a masseuse, and they were both men. My guy was very respectful and kept my towel covering my girlie bits. I kept my eyes closed the whole time because if I can’t see him…..right? There was a lot of scrubbing and I think my tan got two shades lighter. The bubble massage felt awesome – like silk rippling over my skin. Then we were rinsed off , wrapped in fresh towels and led to the relaxation area in the foyer for apple tea and some fruit. Finally we were led to a room with two massage tables and had about a 20 minute oil massage. I was completely blissed out!

We decided on a pub crawl for dinner. Didn’t manage much of a dinner, unless peanuts counts. But the beer at the Castle Bar was the coldest I’ve had since home. The frosty glass would have received high praise from Christian Boenigk! A couple of big beers, peanuts, and leftover glow from the hamam brought on a completely different glow. Let’s go find some nargile! That’s apple tobacco in a hookah pipe for those of you who don’t know. It was great fun! We found the locals “nargile café” that was alive with loads of Turks playing backgammon and a tile game that I’m unfamiliar with. It’s been a long time since I’ve played backgammon, but thanks to Mr. Google, we got a refresher on the rules and I beat Mark 2 out of 3 (with a bit of help from a nice Turkish man at the next table). The apple smoke was most interesting. Because of the water pipe, it doesn’t burn at all and is very smooth. And because of the apple flavouring, it has a very appealing aroma and taste. Great way to end a great day.

The next morning we enjoyed a very leisurely buffet breakfast in the garden courtyard of our hotel. We started at 8:00, but I think it was 10:00 by the time the food eaten, the photos were loaded, the blog posted, and the research done for the next stop (Cappadocia).

Once our “chores” were done, we explored the old city (Kaleici) including the steep vendor-lined street down to the old Roman harbour. So many people wanting to “help” us. New shirt? Boat tour to the waterfall? Nice towels? How about a carpet?... We came across a fancy restaurant overlooking the harbour that had been recommended by the Danish family we met the previous day so we made reservations for dinner.

From there we explored further around Kaleici and beyond before grabbing lunch at Can Can Pide. We shared a tasty kebab wrap and carried on exploring. I found a store that actually had decent quality clothing that was having an awesome sale, and ended up with a new skirt. This is a big deal when you pack as lightly as I have. There’s been a lot of hand washing of clothes, so a new article of clothing is fun!

Back to the room for a rest, and then off to the hamam. Sadly, there was no space at that time so we booked for the following day. Next on the agenda: fancy pants dinner at Club Arma. The food was excellent and the setting spectacular, but the service was a bit too stiff. Vanilla was head and shoulders above.

On the way back to the hotel Mark tried to convince me to have some apple tobacco smoke from a hookah, but I was too chicken… that night.