Halic Park Hotel Ayvalik

... that followed I was tryıng to get the goat back on ıts leadto the place where ıt should be the other goat kept tryıng to mount ıt and me and then ıt kept eatıng all the flowers ıt was too funny ın the end luckıly the man came back and they had a comedy half hour tryıng to get them back ın there own sheds.

Ian was talkıng to the men ın the bar from the nıght ...

... are great.

We then went for some food ın thıs local place next door and for our fırst swım ın the sea at the nıght tıme we popped over to the bar agaın and met one of the locals hıs name ıs londıs and he has fıve chıldren all over the world and he asked Ian how many kıds he had and when he saıd none apart from my angel dan dan the man laughed and told hım wıth actıons that he had ...

... out the walk was a mere training exercise for what was to come the following day as we staggered seven kilometres up a mountain to see the Acropolis sounding even worse than the battered Renault 12s that asthmatically spluttered past us. Even the cab drivers at the top applauded us when we arrived and told us how impressive a climb that was.

Note to Tania, next year on my birthday can we just go to the beach please????

After another multi-vehicle trip involving a minibus, ferry, minibus, ferry, bus and finally another minibus we arrived in Ayvalik - a lovely harbour town backed by old Greek stone houses built into the steep hills.

This time the climb to find a room was worth it as we tracked down a lovely guesthouse right at the top of a narrow alley with fabulous views down to the mosque and waterfront. Many an hour was spent on the roof terrace over the ...

... me you will never find that kind of event in Turkey. I think belly dancing is a lot better. Yes I am gettıng old! The boat trip ended at 630 pm. After the boat trip I went for a walk through the town. I ended up seeing everything there was to see so I decided to leave the next day. I will head off to Selchuk so I could see the famous ruins in nearby Ephesus. In the evening I went to grab a bite to eat. One thing I hate about Turkey is that they dont put prices on anything. I went ...

... I found of interest to me was at a plumbing fixture store, the apparent child's bathroom commode in the form of a kangaroo. I don't know if there is in Turkish an alliterative encouragement as to me the seemingly obvious English, "Poop in the pouch." (Maybe that's why LP snubbed the place). The next day (after spotting the pillow) I elected to try a mini-bus west to the town of Dursunbey, a couple of hours due west of Balıkesir. From there I just made the assumption ...

... saw the Red Basilica - a church which, in it's day would have been the size of a cathedral - it started life as an Egyptian cult temple in the 2nd century AD, and was converted into a magnificent Basilica with marble lined interior soon after. It is now in ruins, except for one tower which is used as a mosque, but gives a real sense of space & magnificence still. We then had a delicious pide lunch in a working men's café and tried to find the ...

... imagine but also clothing and house items of every sort...just about everything one would need for life.... I'm finding myself taking lots of pictures...at first I'm a little hesitant, not wanting to intrude into people's space...but when people start posing and trying to get themselves in the picture, I realize that they really like to have their photos taken...I get lots of smiles...I even get a free hunk of cheese from the cheese man and a ...

... 305;re tıme. pps I also took an amazıng turkısh bath wehere you lıe on a hot stone and old pregnant lıke turkısh lady rubs you down. Fırst, you sweat a lot on the stone, then she scrubs off all of yor skın wth thıs loofah thıng, then soaps you up and washes your haır. Youire lookıngup at thıs awesome carved ceılıng the whole tıme...(K - my skın *was* pretty soft afterwards...)

... the night and they still got me. Had breakfast in my hosts kitchen this morning. Usual Turkish fare of bread, olives, cheese, tomatoes, cucumber and hard boiled egg. The jam was exceptionally good ...home made sour cherry. When I eat a Turkish breakfast I don't feel the need to eat again for the rest of the day. There are few foods that I have never aquired a taste for but these include olives and cheese. In Turkey I have discovered that I actually do ...