A country that never ceased to amaze us at how big it is! You think where your heading is only an hour or so away, 4-5 hours later you arrive! So in hindsight, spending 5 weeks there just wasn’t enough and we would love to go back and take our time, maybe 3 months. And the people, wow, so hospitable.. within our first few days of being there we met some locals, who brought us a cup of Turkish tea each, and then recommended a beautiful bay to stay in. So we went there the next day, and the family was there, so they gave us more tea, plus some freshly caught fish! The locals are also so kind to the stray dogs, sometimes even paying out fo them to be neutered or spayed.
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| The bay recommended to us by locals |
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| Hammock out right away in Turkey |
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| Breakfast with a cow! |
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Got the recording studio out!
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You may be aware already, but the cost of fuel in Turkey is so cheap, we were paying around €0.90 a litre, plus sometimes you’d even get a free cup of Çai (tea) with it! This helped balance out the cost of alcohol, which was the opposite and quite expensive.. well, about the same as the UK, which for us is expensive after being Abe to buy a bottle of wine for €1.20!
There were a couple of things we found quite funny in Turkey; one being that you just couldn’t buy limes.. which I know seems like a strange thing to notice, but when you’re craving mojitos, you notice these things!! The other was that we quite often saw people selling chickens on the side of the road, alive ones!
But now onto the amazing places we visited…
Cappadocia - you know, famous for the hundreds of hot air balloons flying over the houses built into caves, looking like Fairy Chimneys… well, we managed to go there when there was too much wind, so not even one hot air balloon in the sky! But we still enjoyed some beautiful hikes around the houses, the Fairy Chimneys, and a trip down Love Valley. We also went to Kaymakli, one of the many underground cities on one of the rainy days.
Pamukkale - the stunning natural thermal pools created by limescale,and then after walking to the top (which you have to do barefoot to help preserve it) there is an ancient Roman spa city from 190 B.C. with an awesome amphitheatre, still mostly in tact.
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| Making our way up which you have to do barefoot! |
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| Beautiful thermal pools |
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| Ampitheatre from 190 B.C. |
Istanbul - check out our separate post on Istanbul here
Alaçati - a quaint holiday town with cobbled streets, colourful doors and delicious coffee
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| Alaçati |
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Turkish coffee!
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Cirali - this we imagine would be packed in summer, and you can understand why. With a stunning beach and plenty of cute places to stay all along the bay. We treated ourselves to a glass of wine in a warm bar as it was too cold for the beach!
Sigacik - We just happened to stay the night parked up near this town when it had a Sunday market, with all the locals selling their homemade goods along the cobbled streets.
Marmaris - we only visited for an hour or so as it is a very touristy place, so great for a holiday but not so great for us in the van! Apparently world famous for Pine honey.
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| Nice view from Marmaris shoreline |
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| Marmaris cobbled streets |
Eternal flames - a truly amazing and magical place, we walked the 1km up to these eternal flames which have burned constantly for over 2500 years. No one know for sure what the gases are under the rocks causing it, but it no doubt contains methane. They are named after Chimaera, an Ancient Greek fire breathing mythological creature who is a lion at the front, goat in the middle and a dragon behind. She devoted most of the local towns and was therefore ordered to be slain by the King and ever since the fires have been burning.
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| A kitty cat enjoying the warmth of the eternal flames |
So overall, Turkey, one of our favourite places so far! So full of culture, natural beauty and lovely people. We enjoyed drinking lots of tea, and coffee, as well as feeding all the stray cats and dogs.
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| This cat popped into the van for some food and a cuddle! |
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| Pide - a lovely pizza like dish we enjoyed a lot as it was cheap and delicious. The top one is spinach and cheese and the bottom one is potato |
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