Istanbul

This was not our first visit to Istanbul, but we were dying to return, as it is on our list of the world's greatest cities. Our last visit was a 5 star company sponsored affair and this time we were camped in a car park alongside the sea of Marmaris, next to about 20 other camper vans. Ramazan was underway, so the adjacent park was full of picnicing locals,who eat at sunset, then stay up all night partying, so they can eat again before sunrise at about 5 am and then, I presume, go home to bed. Roaring up and down in the carpark, in your tricked out car(usually a crappy old Nissan or something, with plastic spoilers, a home paint job and very large distorting speakers)is also part of the entertainment, so once again our airline ear plugs came in handy. I must add that the handful of shady car guards own a scruffy selection of barking dogs and talk on cell phones all night. And also, along the shore,clever entrepeneurs sell tea and string up rows of balloons or tin cans that pundits can shoot at with pellet guns for just a few lire. We are enjoying our authentic travel experiences more than the free mini bars and poncy(Neil's word)company dinners.
We were lucky enough to go to a Ramazan dinner at a hotel;this is presumably how the wealthy Istanbullis do it. Starving, everyone rushes off to dinner as the sun is setting and the muezzins from competing mosques chant and reply across the whole of Istanbul.First,tea and cherry juice spiced with cinnamon and cloves was drunk,accompanied by energy rich dates and honey. Cold starters of olives,cheeses, stuffed vine leaves and salad were followed by lentil soup and then we had a choice of veal, chicken or lamb. Dessert was sweet and custardy, with more tea. The restaurant doesn't serve any alcohol until 11pm.
We did a Bosphorus boat trip and visited Hagia Sophia and Top Capi Palace and spent a few days wandering in the bazaars and shopping streets. We prefer the local shops to the touristy Grand Bazaar.
We found our favourite restaurant again, Omar's, with a fabulous view of both the Blue Mosque and Hagia Sophia.I think we went 3 times. We watched Rugby -SA vs Australia - at an English Pub, where the owner rounded up all the South Africans(6 of us)and gave us our own room to watch in so we could hear the commentary - Naas in Istanbul - instead of being drowned out by 3 simultaneous premier league soccer games.

Cappadocia

Cappadocia is the most amazing place. If you are only ever going to visit Turkey once, you must put it on your itinery,even if you just fly in for a few days. It is a unique and magical landscape,like something out of a Tolkien novel or a retro sci-fi movie.Due to differential erosion, pinnacles of sandstone rock,sometimes covered with a harder cap and up to 40m high are everywhere with a backdrop of rose coloured cliffs and sandstone mountains.
We stayed in Goreme, a lovely little tourist town, filled with hotels and tavernas built amongst or into the fairy chimneys and sandstone hills. We did day trips by motorbike and camper to visit all the surrounding areas. This is a wonderful area for hiking, too.
During Roman and Byzantine times, 4th to 11th century AD, reclusive Christians carved cities and churches out of the mountainsides and decorated these cavernous churches with beautiful Byzantine iconic art. When they were under attack from the Persians, they built entire cities underground, with air vents on the surface disguised as wells and giant circular stone doors that could be rolled across the entrances from the inside, so they could sit out the attack.
These days some of the fairy chimneys and carved hillside villages are hotels or restaurants.
We did a hot air balloon ride one morning, which was wonderful. Goreme is one of the cheapest and most interesting places in the world to try ballooning. The weather was calm on the morning we went, and on a busy day there are up to 60 balloons out.
One of the food specialities in the area is Pottery(Testi)Kebab. Chicken, lamb or vegetarian stew is cooked in a pottery amphora sealed with a cap of bread dough and placed in the fire. When served at the table, the jar is cracked open with a hammer and the stew poured onto your plate. Cappadocia is also a wine growing area, but the good ones are over 30 euro a bottle in a restaurant.

Eastern Mediterranean, Turkey

Although the coastal drive along the Turkish Med is as awesome as you will get anywhere in the world, the roads themselves are shocking and so are the other drivers! There are roadworks and potholes and stretches of winding mountain pass with no shoulder and no crash barriers - quite nerve wracking but Neil did a sterling job of getting us safely through.In Kale, we saw the ruins of Myra; more Lycian Tombs and a Roman Amphitheatre.
There is also a 7th century church here dedicated to St. Nicholas; who was born in Patras and died here in AD 343. He is the original saint who has now become Father Christmas or Santa Claus. It is hard to believe how the legend has evolved into a man who lives in North Pole and brings presents for children, when he came from the Eastern Med and it was well over 40 degrees celcius when we visited. For those who follow this blog, you may recall that this time last year we were in Finland at the Artic Circle, visiting Santa there!
If ever you are tempted to visit Atalya or Beldibi; don't - it's low cost resort tourism at it's worst! But the coastal drive is still stunning with yet more ruins and a few wonderful castles. The campsite and beach at Silifke was great; and then we had to make an unscheduled over night stop in Mersin to replace a leaking diesel pump on Homer.The people who helped us find the garage and all the staff there were very friendly and very helpful. In fact, Turkish people have been super friendly and helpful and eager to chat wherever we have been.

Western Mediterranean,Turkey

One of our favourite places along this coast is not actually on the coast! Dalyan is a great little tourist town set along a river.On the opposite river bank is Kaunos, with it's Lycian tombs carved out of the cliff face and dating back to around 400BC. To get to the beach you have to take a boat down the river a few miles to the sea. It is called Turtle Beach and is one of the last nesting habitats for Mediterranean Leatherback Turtles to lay their eggs. The only development on the whole beach are a few snack bars and toilets. A strip of beach about 10m wide and about 10 m from the waters edge is a no- go area for humans, so as not to disturb the eggs and the beach is closed at 6pm.
Dalyan has some great restaurants,cool bars and even one with a great live rock band. There is a noise curfew in town after midnight, so the band plays on behind closed doors and it's rather eerie to come out into the very silent yet not deserted streets. The campsite had a great riverside location with the backdrop of Kaunos.
We continued along the coast, checking out more ruins at Letoon, Xanthos and Patara.
Our next stop was Kas, and I have to say that if I had to pick a beach town in Turkey to hang out in for a week or two, this would probably be it. There are some nice pebbly beaches around, a pretty fishing harbour and beautiful turquoise blue sea. This is also a good place to pick up a Gulet and sail for a few days. We went diving and the conditions were perfect;warm water,distant visibility and no current, but sadly also no fish or coral or anything! Well, a few fish. And Kas is a premier dive destination in the Med! We have been spoilt with diving in Asia and Africa.

Bodrum,Turkey

It's a pretty peninsula, and the port town of Bodrum is really great despite the masses and masses of development everywhere. Luckily all the buildings are white and low rise,lessening the impact. Of course, we recommend arriving by yacht, to avoid all the traffic and chaos beyond the marina and the quaint old areas, and next time we visit, we hope that we can sail in too. Campsites are few and far between and we found the only one for miles around in the town of Gumbet, a short mini bus ride from Bodrum.It's a low budget package holiday destination and also very popular with local young Turks.The campsite was on the beach, fronted by a large, outdoor bar,decorated entirely in pink,and busy every afternoon because of the foam party!We found a couple of local places, but were somewhat put off by most of the restaurants, especially those along the beach, whose menus all included Turkish, Chinese, Italian and Mexican faire as well as the ever popular"All Day Full English Breakfast", BBQ and seafood.By midnight the whole town is throbbing to the sound of Turkish club music, which goes on until day break. We slept soundly with ear plugs and our fan blowing directly onto us all night.
We did a great day trip on a Gulet,sailing from bay to bay and lolling about on cushions on deck in the sun with free-flow beer and wine. Have you ever seen a boat- based ice-cream seller? Pretty cool!

South Aegean, Turkey

We spent a few nights in Selcuk,the main town near the ruins of Ephesus. We visited the ruins of the 6th century Church of St.John and a wonderful 14th century mosque.There is a very good Ephesus museum here too.We also visited the site of the extensive ruins at Ephesus, possibly the best preserved Roman city after Pompeii. There are many tourists off the cruise boats traipsing around, but it is still really amazing and the Celsus Library is very well preserved, as well as shops, temples, multi-storey houses like apartment blocks and a wonderful communal toilet area to name just a few. Many of the relics have been removed to the museum in town.
We then moved on to Kusadasi on the coast,with it's big bazaar and many shops and Irish pubs, catering to all the cruise boat tourists that turn up every day.We liked it never-the-less, but don't stay here if you're looking for a good beach,it is more of a tourist port and marina.
Our drive south took us via Lake Bafa and the town of Herakleia,ancient Latmos. The ruins of the temples and amphitheatre have not been restored, so you can clamber around the ruins on the hillsides.Herakleia is a poor farming town, and apart from a few cars and the fact that you can get wi-fi up there, if feels like you have stepped back in time to about 1950's rural Turkey.