And so, wıth stray cats and dogs in stride reminiscient of The İncredible Journey, I fınally conclude this Turkey leg of the trip with this blog entry. Admittedly it was not the intention to spend this long here but Turkey had a way of sucking you in. It really is an amazing place to visit. This might be a long blog so NOW is a good time to sneak to the kitchen and get a coffee.
Following on from the previous entry Fethiye was the next destination, with a first side trip out to Saklikent Gorge (I call it Succulent George just to confuse people). It turned out the bus was actually a tour for Turkish locals, so while not a single word could be understood, it was insanely cheap - something like nine bucks for the entire day.
First stop on the "Captain Insano" mountain express was a cave where Alexander the Great once stopped for a Macedonian power nap en route to greater conquests. During this time there was the opportunity for much incoherent banter with a few locals who wondered why the hell tourists would come on this bus.
Post freshwater trout lunch, the hike into the gorge began, and what an exciting adventure it was. The testicle shrinking thawed snow water combines with the clay-like rock and hordes of people to create one giant natural water slide park. Tourists press forth haphazardly under the mocking laughter of ex-Turkish army commando tour guides to see some amazing cave sights.
The next stop, and perhaps the best stop, was Oludeniz Beach. It really is very picturesque so by all means Google it. It is a shame that the good beaches here often cost money but when you have 70 million people wanting to use it I guess you gotta create some means of stopping it eroding in one day.
The final destination of the Turkıshiye escapade was Capadocia - land of strange rocks. For those of you scientifically minded apparently over a kazillion (yes, a kazillion) years some big rocks were blown out of a volcano and the ground eroded around them to create little spires with big rocks on top. The Hitites and early Christians fleeing persecution carved little huts out of these spires. The locals call them fairy chimneys - I call them Jawa huts ... where the sand people live.
Just be careful when exploring this place, flash floods can and do happen. Especially in places called the "Valley of Love". In addition, it is really easy to get lost and take the wrong valley. In which case you are doomed to backtrack a looooong way .... unless of course you meet a friendly farmer who is willing to show you the "quick" route. ie. straight over a sheer cliff. While the locals climb these places like mountain goats, I can assure you it is SO much scarier for naive tourists.
Remaining adventures were a little more sedate but just as interesting including an 8 story climb into the awesome Seline Monastery and an 8 story descent into the underground city of Derinkuyu. There are even rock huts nearby that supposedly may have been used as a filming location for the first Star Wars movie.
I will leave you now with some last minute tidbits of key learnings of Turkey for cultural benefit of world before I settle into a comfy chair and resume grape inhaling mode.
1. The call to prayer echoes through each town via megaphones on the mosques. The sound of the man singing not only stirs the devout from his slumber but many a humble canine wıth musıcal aspıratıons. The call to howl is a far better term and one of the most amusing street choirs we have ever heard.
2. Household gas is delivered here via a truck that looks just like an ice cream van. It even plays a little musical ditty! I felt like running after it like a little kid.
3. Iraq is only a few 100kms away!
4. Turkish flags can do anything - from cover broken car windows to hold bridges together.
5. Bush tucker here is second to none - nothing beats hiking and being able to pluck fresh grapes, olives and blackberries as you go. Damn you blackberry hand stains!
6. Janitors are by far the best source of information at bus and train stations. They work on tips and are prepared to throw themselves in front of moving vehicles for you.
7. The radio station slogan is a little hard line here - "Turk FM - controlling the speakers, dominating your life". Far out.
8. I am happy to find a country where the Chrysler Gallant lives on not just in memory.
9. In case you ever come here note that "special taxi" means "a donkey".
10. If you are a Turkish bus driver ANY time is a good time to overtake.
11. When building a brick home sometimes cow dung does just a good a job as mortar.
12. Choose your sausage carefully, raw intestine can only be a menu item away...
13. You can get your fortune told here by a man on the street who analyses the walking habits of his rabbits in your presence. I personally prefer my destiny to be dictated by some other technique then rabbits on heat wandering around dodging their own stool.
14. The national lotto on TV is LIVE. Which makes for awesome viewing when the ball spinning machine breaks down and some random bum with a cigarette in his mouth comes out and gives it a bit of a kick while the host sits in awkward silence.
15. Adam means "man" in Turkey. I am man, hear me roar.
Following on from the previous entry Fethiye was the next destination, with a first side trip out to Saklikent Gorge (I call it Succulent George just to confuse people). It turned out the bus was actually a tour for Turkish locals, so while not a single word could be understood, it was insanely cheap - something like nine bucks for the entire day.
First stop on the "Captain Insano" mountain express was a cave where Alexander the Great once stopped for a Macedonian power nap en route to greater conquests. During this time there was the opportunity for much incoherent banter with a few locals who wondered why the hell tourists would come on this bus.
Post freshwater trout lunch, the hike into the gorge began, and what an exciting adventure it was. The testicle shrinking thawed snow water combines with the clay-like rock and hordes of people to create one giant natural water slide park. Tourists press forth haphazardly under the mocking laughter of ex-Turkish army commando tour guides to see some amazing cave sights.
The next stop, and perhaps the best stop, was Oludeniz Beach. It really is very picturesque so by all means Google it. It is a shame that the good beaches here often cost money but when you have 70 million people wanting to use it I guess you gotta create some means of stopping it eroding in one day.
The final destination of the Turkıshiye escapade was Capadocia - land of strange rocks. For those of you scientifically minded apparently over a kazillion (yes, a kazillion) years some big rocks were blown out of a volcano and the ground eroded around them to create little spires with big rocks on top. The Hitites and early Christians fleeing persecution carved little huts out of these spires. The locals call them fairy chimneys - I call them Jawa huts ... where the sand people live.
Just be careful when exploring this place, flash floods can and do happen. Especially in places called the "Valley of Love". In addition, it is really easy to get lost and take the wrong valley. In which case you are doomed to backtrack a looooong way .... unless of course you meet a friendly farmer who is willing to show you the "quick" route. ie. straight over a sheer cliff. While the locals climb these places like mountain goats, I can assure you it is SO much scarier for naive tourists.
Remaining adventures were a little more sedate but just as interesting including an 8 story climb into the awesome Seline Monastery and an 8 story descent into the underground city of Derinkuyu. There are even rock huts nearby that supposedly may have been used as a filming location for the first Star Wars movie.
I will leave you now with some last minute tidbits of key learnings of Turkey for cultural benefit of world before I settle into a comfy chair and resume grape inhaling mode.
1. The call to prayer echoes through each town via megaphones on the mosques. The sound of the man singing not only stirs the devout from his slumber but many a humble canine wıth musıcal aspıratıons. The call to howl is a far better term and one of the most amusing street choirs we have ever heard.
2. Household gas is delivered here via a truck that looks just like an ice cream van. It even plays a little musical ditty! I felt like running after it like a little kid.
3. Iraq is only a few 100kms away!
4. Turkish flags can do anything - from cover broken car windows to hold bridges together.
5. Bush tucker here is second to none - nothing beats hiking and being able to pluck fresh grapes, olives and blackberries as you go. Damn you blackberry hand stains!
6. Janitors are by far the best source of information at bus and train stations. They work on tips and are prepared to throw themselves in front of moving vehicles for you.
7. The radio station slogan is a little hard line here - "Turk FM - controlling the speakers, dominating your life". Far out.
8. I am happy to find a country where the Chrysler Gallant lives on not just in memory.
9. In case you ever come here note that "special taxi" means "a donkey".
10. If you are a Turkish bus driver ANY time is a good time to overtake.
11. When building a brick home sometimes cow dung does just a good a job as mortar.
12. Choose your sausage carefully, raw intestine can only be a menu item away...
13. You can get your fortune told here by a man on the street who analyses the walking habits of his rabbits in your presence. I personally prefer my destiny to be dictated by some other technique then rabbits on heat wandering around dodging their own stool.
14. The national lotto on TV is LIVE. Which makes for awesome viewing when the ball spinning machine breaks down and some random bum with a cigarette in his mouth comes out and gives it a bit of a kick while the host sits in awkward silence.
15. Adam means "man" in Turkey. I am man, hear me roar.
2 comments:
Finally, NOW YOU'RE A MAN! A MAN MAN MAN! MAN-Y MAN-Y MAN- MAN-Y MAN-Y MAN! NOW YOU'RE A MAAAAAAN!
Wow, Turkey sounds absolutely freakin awesome. So very jealous. However, I would like to point out that location shooting for the planet of Tatooine was not done in Turkey, but rather Tatouine (ya see what they did there!), Tunisia.
I want to see some more pics of smoking the phat shisha, YEEAH BOOOOOOOOOY!!!
Ahhhh idiot wrangler. One cant help but wonder just how knowledgeable you would be without the one-click-away Google search.
To prove that point I had to use Google to check the correct spelling of the word knowledgeable!!
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