October 02, 2004

Turkey from Greece!

Hey - this is going to have to be another photo'less update because we are on a dial up connection and a rather shaky looking computer.

Jeanine and I met Lisa in Athens, and then we took a night ferry to the island Kos, just off the coast of Turkey. The ferry was super swank - wood floors, televisions, guys in blue suits etc... We got into Kos at 4am and luckily we were met by a nice lady offering us her two bedroom (plus kitchen) apartment for 25 euros a night. Sweet deal! It faced the ocean, had a balcony and was perfect for the first two nights.

Lisa in italics:

So, Kos was pretty wild... very touristy and oriented towards the british, dutch and scandanavian tourists. Lots of little shops selling a lot of junk and t-shirts with sexual slogans. The beach was really nice and we spent one day lounging there (alistair wore dark shades to most take advantage of the euro=beach phenomenon). That evening we cooked a nice spaghetti dinner with yummy olive tomato sauce which was a nice change from greasy paralympic village food. The next day we had big plans to catch the ferry to bodrum at 9am, but we kind of dropped the ball and slept through the alarm. So, instead we spent the first part of the day researching tickets to bodrum and eating and drinking iced coffee. The ferry to bodrum left at 4|30 and it reminded me a lot of a small BC Ferry. I supplied the announcements, of course... And now Jeanine will tell you about Bodrum, and it's charms. TAke it away Neaner!

SO YES, BODRUM...OUR INTRODUCTION TO TURKEY. WE GOT OUR VISAS AND WALKED THROUGH TOWN UNTIL WE EVENTUALLY (SORT OF BY ACCIDENT) FOUND AN EXCELLENT PENSION TO STAY IN. WE TREATED OURSELVES TO A VERY NICE DINNER OUT, AND A WONDER THROUGH THE SHOPS, WHICH INVOLVED ME BUYING A WATCH FROM A VERY NICE FELLOW (WHO LIKE MANY TURKISH SALESMAN CALLS EVERYONE "MY FRIEND") AND LISA EXAMINING ANY SHOE WE COULD FIND..EVENTUALLY WE WANDERED HOME AND CALLED IT A NIGHT. THIS MORNING WE WERE TREATED TO A WONDERFUL BREAKFAST AT THE PENSION (FRESH FRENCH BREAD, TOMATOES, FETA CHEESE, OLIVES, EGGS, AND COFFEE) AND THEN WANDERED THROUGH THE MUSEUM/CASTLE WHICH WAS THE HIGHLIGHT OF THE TOWN BEFORE CATCHING A BUS (WELL 3) AND ARRIVING IN THE TOWN OF SELCUK NEAR THE RUINS OF EPHESUS. I'LL LEAVE OFF HERE FOR NOW, BUT MORE TO COME ABOUT THIS.

It seems that in Selcuk we have finally escaped the tourists havens of the last few days. The beaches and the scenery were amazing (I wish I could upload photos, the blue aegean/med sea is awesome). It is nice to actually see a bit of 'Turkey' though. The minibuses, rebar, tractors and stuff are more what we expected than the british people wandering about with sunburnt arms and stuff...

Ok - I think that is good for now. We are going to see Ephesus tomorrow - hopefully we will find a computer with a good connection soon. Keep commenting - we think it's top notch!

Posted by Alistair Howard at October 2, 2004 10:33 AM

Comments

Posted by: Sandra at October 2, 2004 02:22 AM

Posted by: Sarah at October 5, 2004 08:01 AM