Well it’s been a long time since my last email… mainly because haven’t had all that much to write home about! It’s been a good 2 years since I left the Sunshine Coast to broaden my horizons, and I’m sure half of you have forgotten all about me by now! But needless to say I miss you all and will hopefully be seeing you soon.
But had a busy few weeks… spend the month of May with my housemates mending my broken heart, quite a few drunken antics such as ending up in Brighton on the way to the Shepherds Bush Walkie, and a wild weekend down in Newquay (In Cornwall) playing hard with the best housemates I could ask for…
But the past week I spent basking in the sunshine in the glorious country of Turkey! (Are you all jealous yet?)
Landed in Istanbul tired and feeling less than pleasant (having gone straight from the pub to the airport at 3am – bad move, and as I can see Ma shaking her head now will stop talking about this) but was ready for lots of adventures!
Met up with my tour group who are all fantastic people... except for Eeyup.. our thoroughly incompetent tour guide- Thank heavens for Lonely Planet! But at least he provided us with many hours of entertainment.
Saw some amazing sights, Blue Mosque, Hagia Sophia, Shihash Café’s, and a particularly delightful kebab in Istanbul. Topkapi palace was a very dull two hours, but did provide amazing views of the Bosphorous (The body of water connecting Europe and Asia). Basically all Istanbul was missing was a giant saying saying “YOU ARE NOW LEAVING EUROPE” “WELCOME TO ASIA”
Day 3 found us on the long bus ride to Galipoli, which was an incredibly moving experience. I was astounded to see how small the beach actually was, and it baffled me how thousands of troups (and Aussie tourists on Anzac day) fitted there. You can still walk through the trenches, and at one point the stretch separating the Turkish & ANZAC front was less than 2 metres. It really brought home what a senseless waste of life it all was.Day 4 saw us going to Troy (one of the most boring sights we visited) but we did get to climb up into the Replica wooden horse... which anybody who knows me, will know that I enjoyed immensely. Pergamum however was my favourite ruins.. there were no tourists there and was quite well preserved
The ancient city of Ephesus was next on the agenda. One of the 7 Ancient Wonders of the World, it is now overflowing with old American & German tourists waddling over the marble rocks. This was our tour guides favourite place and he gave us lots of accurate information about it, for example. This is the first board game in the world (with a sign on it saying repainted 1956) and “Everybody in Ephesus was gay and the women didn’t wash” Good times. Here though what was interesting was the carved image of Nike - Goddess of Victory. In the image is very clearly the Nike "swoosh" - so not just a modern day marketing invention after all.
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Pamukkale, the calcium pools on the side of the mountain were AMAZING. Having wanted to have swim in these for a long time, I was disappointed when Eeyup said we couldn’t swim in them, only to find when we got there every man , his dog and their beach balls swimming, wading and splashing in the stunning landscape. Not to be deterred I hitched up my skirt and jumped in. It was amazing and the water was really weird feeling.
Cappdocia is an amazing region, and the old volcanoes have shaped the landscape with fairy chimneys, and hidden houses all through the mountain. It was so much fun climbing through them, but after 2 days of looking at basically the same thing it did get a bit much. And in retrospect, they all look like giant penises.
A Traditional Turkish bath was something I had been looking forward to, and was not disappointed. It was amazing being scrubbed down by a big fat Turkish man in a room so steamy you couldn’t see in front of your.. then the foam massage, then the shampoo/head massage… WOW. I want a Turkish bath every day!
Belly dancing night was interesting. There was unlimited wine and therefore I don’t remember all that much, apart from challenging a Spanish lady to a dance off and then apparently I was running up and down the bus. Interesting.
Turkey is an amazing country, but I was shocked to see so many malnourished animals being used at tourist attractions. At one service station there was a zoo that had monkey’s, gazelles, a Zebra and a wolf in the tiniest, dirtiest cages with no water and no food. It made me feel sick to my stomach.
And my tour members and I have decided that putting massage chairs in service stations is a brilliant idea, and we should go into business.
And I don’t want to eat Doritos, kebabs or buffet for a very long time.
Overall opinion - Possibly my favourite country in all of Europe, apart from Croatia.
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