Gurgenci Apart Hotel Eskisehir

... Karawansery that has been built along the silk road. Karawanseries are the old middle age type of motels, when the silk road was the main trading road with many karawans of horses, camels and donkeys carrying back and forward the goods from that time. They are usually a days walk apart (30-40km) and offered a safe storage for the goods and the people.

This one is really big and offeres two sections. One for summer under ...

The final day before Damien's arrival was spent at weird little campsite on the sea of Marmara. We checked it out on foot and it just seemed to be scruffy little carpark, but when we tried to drive in, they tried to charge us 5 lira to get in. We only had 3, so they accepted that. An ice cream van pulled up next to us and ...

... a friend in Seattle and
handed the phone to Gail! Even after that exchange, we became
concerned when our food took about 30 minutes to prepare.

What arrived was a huge feast! We had salad, eggplant, a gigantic pan of
tomato bulgar wheat, and cold buttermilk (an acquired taste, we
think!). The three of us decided that it was just going to be our
big meal of the day! He was very friendly and we learned that he had
once been a caretaker in ...

... rather be ashes than dust! I would rather that my spark should burn out in a brilliant blaze than it should be stifled by dry-rot. I would rather be a superb meteor, every atom of me in magnificent glow, than a sleepy and permanent planet. The function of man is to live, not to exist. I shall not waste my days trying to prolong them. I shall use my time. "Jack London Credo" credited to Ernest J. Hopkins

... We were getting by on my broken Turkish and sharing Turkey travel stories until after dinner when he introduced me to Huseyin, his manager. They are fitting some oil transporting pipes in a factory just outside town. Later we visited a thermal spring and drank a beer by a man-made lake near the factory whilst another friend, Nuri, recounted a hilarious story involving a recent trip to Nallihan. Don't worry Nuri, your secret is safe with me ;)

Following a more or less "domestic" week in Ankara during the Kurban Bayram (with nothing more eventful than spending some 9 continuous hours one day in the kitchen, trying to get The Boy to finish a plate of food he'd prepared), I've hit the road again. This stop is Eskişehir (Old City), about three hours west northwest of Ankara. In Eskişehir I am lodging with a member of a travelers' social network of which I am a member.

This member, Tamir, by name, speaks ...

So, many of you may know that I am a member of the Koc University American football team. I play right Tackle and defensive lineman. I am only allowed to play in about 3/4 of the games because Turkeys leagues are divided up into two categories: professional and collegiate. The college league, as you can imagine, is made up of university students only, while the professional league is open to anyone. Any games ...

... city he met a young prophetess, who upon seeing the royal eagle atop the ox-cart, insisted that Gordius immediately offer sacrifice to Zeus, King of the Olympians. She beseeched Gordius to let her accompany him and together they rode past the gates into the city, but not before Gordius made the young woman promise to marry him following their sacrifice to Zeus.Meanwhile, the King of Phrygia had suddenly died with no discernible cause, and the local oracle had ...

People often ask me what I am doing in Turkey. All I can say is, "I read history of Anatolia." I travel around and visit sites of historical significance. And in Anatolia there are a lot of them in a history covering many more than 10,000 years.

So, as recorded in an earlier blog, I ventured out one day to the town of Söğüt, probably something in excess of 50 miles to the east of Bursa. At that time the fellow with whom I had hitchhiked told me of an upcoming festival ...

Comencem a esgotar aquesta plaent travessia del "nothing", la ımmersıo en el no-res, on comencen els quilometres. Quilometres d aigues planes, de blaus politonics, de lliure ıiterpretacio, amb prefaci de poblats nomades en esponjat ordre cartesia, que expliquen una terra gran i fonda. Van quedant lluny el mar i els homes que hi suquen els peus, i a una distancia de conte infantil els mons closos de les illes petitones que ens han ...