Izmir, Turkey

Izmir (4000 years in the making!)

We spent our last few days in Turkey up the Western Coast in Turkeys third largest city; Izmir. 

This was soo good! 

The city that feels absolutely huge (with a population of 4m+) however, has a small inner city area where we spent our time hanging out and mentally preparing ourselves for the next few weeks ahead. Getting to our hostel was the hardest part of the trip. We had our tourist scam rader up on full alert after be-friending a local who followed us into a cafe and then proceeded to offer us a lift in his 'taxi'. Hahaha... we love a try'er! 

Truthfully, we didn't do much exploring in Izmir although there are a number of places worth visiting (such as the Kadifekale Castle or Izmir's clock tower) we decided to just relax together by the waterfront, smelling the salty waves, drinking coffee and eating Turkish food and then of course eating a little more before waddling back to our hostel.

Locals just relaxing at the waterfront

The weather was a tad cooler than down on the South coast but it didn't bother us much. 

Pretty much bird flu waiting to strike! 

We stayed at a small communal hostel not far from the water front which was packed with travellers like us.
Most of the day we meandered about the waterfront but on our last Sunday morning we joined some others from our hostel and explored (supposedly Turkey's oldest and largest) flea market. It was actually pretty boring and full of absolute junk, and the odd fruit and vege stand until we found the live animal section and there it was actually rather fascinating.  We wouldn't really recommend it at all. 

We have included a few shots below that we took in Izmir but this was certainly a few days of 'down time' for us :) Next up.... Madrid! 

Tot siens,

John and Kara 

Walking up and down the Izmir water front

Amazing baked potatoes. 

The making of Johns candy treat! 

Grapes for sale at the market

In Selçuk exploring Ephesus and Pammukale, Turkey

Ancient library of Celsus in Ephesus 

The bus network in Turkey is efficient, on time and quite comfortable. There are a number a big companies to choose from. We chose a company called Metro for our trip from Bodrum to Selçuk and it turned into very passionate ride. 

Passionate (long story short) because our driver was punched in the nose and then our bus attendant wheeled a carving knife at several passengers who were waiting to board but it seemed had too much baggage. 

Can I help you? 

You could say the shit then hit the fan and we sat watching the 'passion' of everyone in close vicinity unfold (even the random who somehow appeared holding the broken off leg of a table). It proceeded to get worse when our safe viewing spot from inside the bus was compromised as the attendant tried to hide from the unfolding drama in the bus and was followed.

We arrived into Selçuk as our driver was still spitting up blood and probably nursing a broken nose and only a bit behind schedule.

We made the small town of Selçuk our base for several nights as it is reasonably close to several ancient attractions. After a good night sleep and a delicious buffet Turkish breakfast we hired bikes and cycled the 3.5km to Ephesus, built in the 10th century BC, where we spent the morning exploring old Greek ruins. 

The temple of Hadrian 

We got there early and got a few photos without many people in them. But as the morning progressed and the cruise ship tourists came in bus after bus it became rather crowded - as expected from a major tourist attraction.

Playing in the columns

Old way to the market 'hi ho, hi ho'

The ancient theatre in Ephesus 

Roman decoration

Ancient columns 

In towards the small settlement

Ancient houses

Roman ruins

Steps in the ancient city

The ruins were a fantastic site. It's quite amazing to see how civilised the Greek community was back during the Roman period. The ancient city, now home to a healthy population of tame cats, had street lighting, sewage system and even air conditioning (to catch the sea breeze) in the houses. 

Please, you're in my sun

Head of a Roman Emperor

My favourite statue

Roman public lavatories 

Relaxing with ayran and goremeze

Everything was made out of white marble, including the roads, the stadium, the amphitheatre, the meeting "theatre", the beautiful library, the communal toilet where 50 people did their business facing each other, and even the brothel and surrounding homes. It's an amazing cite to behold and well worth a visit. We lost track of time and spent several hours exploring the excavated houses. 

Then we took our bikes to an area called the Seven Sleepers (mentioned in both the bible and Qu'ran) there really wasn't much to see but it had a great authentic restaurant where we saw older ladies making wood-fired cheese pancakes (goremeze). So we sat for a relaxing lunch and turkish coffee on the carpeted floor with colourful pillows under the trees with birds chirping away completing the atmosphere.

Cycling the back country

Then we decided to cycle the other "3km" to the Aegean sea which didn't look too far on the map. Turns out the map wasn't really to scale and the 3km was actually another 6km which, to the untrained muscles already suffering in the heat, can feel very long! 

Surprising the area reminded us of Adelaide. It was hot, very dry and large gum trees lined both sides of the road and the smell was very yummy! 

Playing on the cotton candy castle

The following day we took a bus to Pamukkale. Pamukkale is located in the middle of the Denzili province and boasts a small world heritage site city, famous for its ‘cotton candy’ rock formations.

The mineral rocks, although unique to Turkey, are similar to the famous pink and white terraces that were destroyed by volcanic eruption in New Zealand in 1886. 

Looking down the travertines

The terraces and travertines have been built up over centuries by flowing supersaturated carbonate minerals coming from within the local hot springs.

The volcanic area has been used as a thermal spa since the second century BC and on the plateau above the terraces sits the ancient Greco-Roman city of Hierapolis.

Just relaxing, spa side.

A foot bath all to himself

Relaxing in the pools

Landscape and view 

Although we had a nosy around the ancient city, we spent more time jumping into the naturally heated pools and rubbing the therapeutic clay over our skin. Ahh.. bliss. A very beautiful place to visit!

Enjoying the pools

Taking a dip in a travertine

Tot siens,

John and Kara

Bodrum, Mediterranean Coast, Turkey

After racing through the centre of Turkey in a matter of days, we took a late night flight down to the southern coast for a bit of relaxation. Choosing where to stay along the Mediterranean Coast was tough with so many options. 

Mediterranean beachfront at Bodrum 

At a recommendation we went to Bodrum, an international holiday hub, and because of this very long holiday that was occurring in Turkey it was a very popular location! Although Bodrum was busy (and can be quite expensive if you eat at any of the many restaurants surrounding the marina), it still has a laid back coastal town feel.  

Along the sunny and dry coast all of the buildings are painted white and the small cobble roads that weave between houses are lines of spider web running up the hillside. 
Large olive trees and luscious pomegranates grow wild and untamed in back gardens and bougainvillea of all colours fall from terraces.

Relaxing in the beautiful waters

Our priority in Bodrum was to relax and unwind. So we found a sailing cruise to take us on a day trip into the beautiful clear and calm turquoise waters of the Mediterranean. 

When looking for a cruise it helps to shop around a bit because there are so many options and different sized boats ranging from a 90-seater to more intimate and private options.  Each night the captains sit on board their boats, moored at the marina to negotiate rates of hire.

By the time we organised ourselves, the four and half day holiday was over and the town was surprisingly quiet. We were pleasantly surprised that the boat we booked was a small wooden sailboat catering for only 12 people (four double bedrooms) because of low numbers. 

We got on and took our places at the front. John then ran to the local supermarket for drinks (as these weren’t included on the boat) only to realise that it was much further away than anticipated. He would have missed the boat if it weren’t for Kara begging the captain to wait a little longer. Talk about an awkward start. 

Kara posing on our sailboat (John is in the water with the camera)

Another boat cruising the mediterranean

So off we went into the blue – our first stop aptly named Aquarium because of the clear water and ease of spotting the little fishes (we unfortunately didn’t see any fishes bigger than our hands). 
At each stop we spent about 30 to 45 minutes to soak up the area, enjoy a swim and dry off in the sun before heading to the next stop. It was absolutely blissful. 

Us at the front of the boat

Then we stopped at a cave area where there is a natural hot spring and the water gets to a nice 32 degrees. All the swimming built up quite a bit of an appetite so we were glad that our next stop was a lunch stop where we were provided with salad, bread and mouthwatering chicken and rice. 

This area also had a meteorite hole 60m deep where John jumped in from high above the cliffs. After our lunch stop we went to an island named Rabbit Island after all the rabbits it may have once had. We had one final stop before ending our day back at the marina where we ate some delicious beef kebabs.

In Bodrum, we also had the opportunity to experience a ‘turkish bath’. This overall conveyer belt style bathing experience was ‘interesting’. 

Exploring the marina

A Turkish bath (Hammam) area

It was here! Now I'm all clean!

Although we can’t show any pictures of the inside (we took this photo at another bath that was closed for the holiday) in essence what happens is that first you either put on your swimsuit or a small wrap towel (that doesn’t really cover anything). 

Lunch on the beach?

You then sit in a stinking hot sauna until your heart races and then move on to the cleaning room. There you then sit against warmed white marble tiles and watched as the young Turkish men (also wearing the small wrap towels) scrub down people with white exfoliating mitts and then douse them in a bucket of cold water. 

Next up, the bathers moved and lay spread eagled in the centre of the square room to be soaped up by more scantly dressed men. Then it was our turn. 

Bodrum Amphitheatre 

We can’t say that it was a particularly enjoyable experience – we felt a bit cold and exposed and were stared at quite a bit, so we won’t be doing it again in a hurry. However it’s interesting to experience something that Turkish people have been doing for centuries. Of course when it was all over...  we enjoyed lunch on the beach laughing at the hilarity of it all. 

Lastly, before heading North we made a quick de-tour to visit the quite deserted Bodrum Amphitheatre located high above the village. Heres a quick photo, but if times limited maybe give it a miss the attraction is quite run down and a large community of homeless people live in the vicinity.

Tot siens,
John and Kara

Goreme (and Ankara), Anatolia, Turkey

Goreme - Turkey

We have been 'on the road' for over two years now! Although it feels like it's gone quickly we still certainly wouldn't call ourselves professional travellers. Bring in Kara's bargain early morning airfare find ~ $20 from Istanbul to the Turkish capital Ankara. Surely that's a great deal? And then only a 4.5 hour bus from Ankara to Goreme! Sold. 

The difficulty with trip planning is that sometimes things don't work the way you want them to or the way you foresee them working. You find that the bargain early morning flight from Istanbul leaves from the 'far away airport' meaning you're up at 2.30am to walk 2 kilometers to the shuttle stand to take the one ridiculously timed shuttle to that 'far away' airport. To arrive 3 hours early for your flight and then to get to your destination and find that actually it's a public holiday and all the buses are full. 

Fast forward (we will rewind a little later) our bus eventually arrives in the pitch darkness into Goreme. Worried that 1. we won't be able to get tickets back to Ankara we quickly spend further time booking new tickets, then 2. that our hostel has probably given up our beds or shut for the evening and we're not really sure where it is. So we scatter around the deserted and silently quiet goreme at 11pm, find the hostel and thankfully we do still have beds waiting. What a relief and a long day. The beds are incomparably soft and warm. The alarm was set for 5am and it was quickly goodnight! 

The most stunning sunrise ever!

John enjoying the balloons at sunrise!

Our stop in Goreme was relatively short so we spent the full day dashing in between mountains and clambering over rocks.

By 7am we had already hiked 6kms chasing the hot air balloons across the semi-arid low plains of Anatolia and returned to our hostel for a local wood fire cooked feta cheese pancake, hot lentil soup and sweet tea.

After climbing up a steep cave and wiggling her way
 through a small entrance

Watching the balloons going up!

Aside from the gorgeous hot air balloon rides the attractions in Cappidocia are the unique geological features (historic caves) which erupted from volcanoes between 9-3 million years go, then formed unusual pillar-like columns.


During the Roman period people began to carve homes and rock churches into the soft pinnacles. Entire underground cities were built by early Christians as hiding places fully equiped with booby traps and stone rolling doors. Today ancient frescos can still be found in some of the remote and quite unaccessible church caves. 

A beautiful setting for a cave house! 

The rest of the gorgeous sunny day we spent hours hiking up and down the landscape and getting absurdly hot and lost.


However one of the advantageous of the area is that if you just get high enough you can see where you going! We managed to just catch the sunset over the 'rose red' mountainous valley before heading home.


For dinner we munched on roasted eggplant stuffed with spiced tomato and mince on the rooftop of our hostel as the Islamic prayers began for the evening and the moon shone brightly across the town.

Sunset over Goreme 

Hunting for the caves! 

Found one! 

It is worthy of a mention that Goreme (situated almost in the middle of Turkey) was particularly cold when we arrived, typical of the desert climates. It reached a low of 3 degrees in the early morning and it sure made us move a bit faster when we were out exploring.

Caves across the Goreme landscape 

The area certainty wouldn't have been easy to live in several centuries ago! 

Pottery tree

Rewind now back to our first paragraph (there we are in Ankara bus terminal). Although traveling can be boggling and a tad stressful if you're flexible and (patient) it all generally works out. As the story continues from Instanbul to Ankara we found ourselves in the most packed and crazy bus terminal we've ever been in.

We negotiated for what seemed like half an hour (but was probably closer to 5 or 6 minutes) and were extremely lucky to wiggle our way onto a 
4.30pm bus from Ankara to Goreme. So what do you do in a city with seven hours to kill, with no guide book or map? 

View from Ankara Kalesi (castle)

Well, climb that big mountain with the cool looking castle on top! So after a stop at the local 'merkezi' we stocked up on 1/2 kilo of baklava, 4 fresh figs, a tub of feta and 400grams of black and green olives. We climbed the mountain gorged on the mezes until we felt ill and walked back down onto our bus to Goreme! A day very well spent and we were fortunate enough to explore a city that we never expected we would!

Tot siens,

John and Kara 

A salt lake between Ankara and Goreme
(taken on the bus)