Assos

Assos, sooo peace full. I am at Assos now. We got here from Selcuk after 6 hours driving. We left the hotel at 8 and drove to Pergamum first. It was a nice 3 hours driving. We drove through Izmir, then followed the Agean coast up through north to Bergama. It is a very nice small town. The old part which is the center of the town is beautiful. The alley roads, old Ottoman and Greek houses and you suddenly bump to a temple from 2nd century AD. We drove up to Acropolis and I gave them 1 hour to visit the site. I had a chance to catch up with some old friends, talked about the tourism and some politics of course. Talking politics without Raki is like to try to drive a car which has no petrol. So we talked about tourism again :) He is also a guide but he also has a carpet store with another friend. Bergama is famous for its carpets also. The history of these carpets goes back to 11th century. They are known by their strong geometric designs and dark blue colors. I would like to show my group some samples but they are not very interested.

Anyway, they came back 1 hour later and we continued to a restaurant which is 1 hour after Bergama on the way to Assos. It is a place just at the side of the road. (I feel like I should give the names of these places. Hmmmm ok). It is called Ekbir. They have very tasty doner sandwich and vegetable dishes and ostrich kebabs. If you are at the Aegean coasts of turkey you shouldn’t hastate to go to a restaurant serving vegetable dishes. I believe they all cook good. I had artichoke and stuffed wine leaves. All cooked by olive oil. Yuuumm. The group tried the doner sandwich and loved it. In ten years never got any complaints from the group about the restaurants. I think I know the best places :) Well my size tour leader must be followed if the case is meal, I believe.

After a good lunch we drove 2 more hours to Assos. And we are here now. We just had dinner. Some starters, salad, whiting and desert. Of course some Raki and eyes are at the horizon on the Aegean thinking about my fiancé while the bitter sips go down through the throat. Hmmmm. Yes, where were we? Assos. We stay at Kervansaray hotel here. I think it is the best hotel with the best manager. Very helpful person. Happy to see him after a long time.
We will start late tomorrow. Departure is 11 am. (Awesome. So I can play Total War till late). We will drive to Troy then Canakkale. Good, I missed Canakkale but I will talked about it tomorrow. 2 more nights then I will be in Istanbul.

Tip of the day: Don’t drink Raki before sunset.

Selcuk

The weather is good today. It rained a little bit so it is not very hot. After Ephesus I brought them back to the hotel. They weren't interested to go to Sirince (which is a village founded by Greeks. The Greeks they left with the population exchange in 1921-23 and now Turks live in this village). Maybe they are villaged out. Last week we spent a night at a village next to Beysehir Lake with a family and a couple of days ago I stopped at another village near a Lycian city called Pinara for lunch. But this one is different with their white Greek houses and fruit wines. Yes they do fruit wines here. Strawberry, apple, peach, mandarin, blackberry, etc... flavored fruit wines. And I believe the best Turkish pancakes with eggplant. The food is yumm at the village. A friend of mine has a place and even from Izmir people come to eat liver at his place. Ohhh come on. maybe you don't like liver but there are tons of people loves it. I like it too. I had the best one at his place. He is also famous with the different coffee and the cookies that he serves with the coffee. Nooo these are not the reason why he is a good friend of mine :) He is also a very nice person to talk to.

There are some more nice restaurant with a beautiful view of the village which serve yummy starters prepared by the local herbs and olive oil. The people at the Aegean eat all kinds of herbs and grass :) They boil them, roast them and put olive oil, lemon and spices and TAaa tAAaaaa the best and the healthiest starter. These starters go very good with Raki (a Turkish spirit with 45% alcohol)
Soooo yes my group don't know what they are missing. But I took half of them to a Turkish pizza restaurant in the town. He makes the best pizzas in Turkey. Soooo yumm. Of course they loved it. They might go again tonight.

6-7 of them were planning to go to the museum. It is one of the musts in Selcuk. It is only 5 TL and takes 1 hour to see everything. The Artemis Statue makes the museum very special. I think some of them went to see St. John Basilica which is also 5TL. But the mosque which is after the basilica is worth seeing. It is called Isabey Mosque from 14th century. It is an asymmetric building which is not usual for a temple. Also because they recycled the stones of Artemis Temple (which is one of the wonders of ancient world and nothing left to seeL) to build this mosque, there are some pagan reliefs on the walls. Interesting, right? They weren’t carved out by the people who built the mosque because they had the respect to the person who made that relief.

They are free tonight. They can survive. It is not that wild town here. I have to go also because I am invited to a dinner. Guess what they will cook: Salicornia. I told you that they cook all kind of grass here. I tell you how it is tomorrow. Also about the group too.

The tip of the day: Always check or ask the prices first before you go in to a restaurant.

Pamukkale (Hierapolis)

I am running a tour at the moment. A group of 10 people. Some from USA, some from AUS and a Kiwi couple. We are in the middle of the tour in Selcuk. After spending two nights on the boat (gulet) at Gocek Gulf nobody wanted to get on the bus again but I convinced them somehow (experience :)). Seven hours driving and visiting Pamukkale in the middle of the journey, at noon time. Loooong day.

So we started the drive at 9:30. We gave a stop at a small town on the Taurus Mountains called Kale. We experienced the massage chairs one by one. 1 Turkish Lira(TL) (1€=2.17TL 1$=1,57TL ) for 3 mins. Good value.When all the coins were finished we continued to Pamukkale. When we got there it was 1 ish so we had lunch first. There is not a really good restaurant in Pamukkale. When I travel abroad the first thing that I do is to check the restaurants. Food is very important to me as a traveller, so I always take my groups to the restaurants that serve local and yummy meals. But Pamukkale is a place where you just eat to ease your hunger feelings. I explained this to the group and went to a place where they serve open buffet. Actually not bad place for this kind of restaurant. So after the lunch up to Pamukkale. The HELL on earth. It was soooooooooo hot. We started from the theatre. Then the pool and the white terraces. And I gave free time so they coud go visit the Necropolis. I ran to a kiosk to buy an ice cream and water. The HELL on earth I tell you. A girl on my tour had sunstroke. She dind't enjoy the driving to Selcuk at all.

Pamukkale is a different place. Maybe one of the musts in Turkiye but soooo crowded and hot. The site is open for 24 hours. But the Thermal pool is open between 08:00 - 19:00. So the best time to visit the site is early in the morning (visit the site first see everything and the pool) or late afternoon (go to the site at 18:00, go swim first, then see the remains and watch the sunset). I believe it is one of the best places to watch the sunset also.

As I said Pamukkale is really different historical site then the others with its calsified white terraces, Roman ruins, Antique Kleopatra Thermal Pool (here you swim above the remains of a temple) and the largest ancient cemetery( The Necropolis). However a little bit pricey.
Entrance fee 20 TL
The Termal Pool 23 TL
The Museum 3 TL (There is a Roman Bath which is turned into a museum today and it is worth seeing.)

So we drove 3 more hours to Selcuk. We have 2 nights here. Everyone was tired so the best option for the dinner was the hotel's restaurant which is one of the best restaurants in Selcuk.

I woke them up at 7 this morning. They are at Ephesus now with a local guide. And I am in my room resting. They will be finished soon and then it is their free afternoon. I gave them all the options with the city map. I wonder what they will do. Of course I will let you know toooo :)


The tip of the day. Dont bring traveller cheques to Turkey (hard to change and they charge lots of comisions at the banks).

whirling like a dervish

My first words. I am a little bit excited.
I run tours in Turkey. since 1999. It has been long time but I still love it. And here I will share my experiences, the things happened and more...