Hotel Izmir Palas

... they've found at Efes. Authentic, but the museum doesn't want them - they have too many already. Good price.

Water pipes are 1/2 price - just for you! And include free carrying case and tobacco.

Every restaurateur calls to you in the street while you pass by, and all of the menus are in English.

Walk up to a ruin and you're mobbed by people trying to sell you guides and postcards.

"Tip Boxes" are ...

... Had breakfast at the hotel which consisted of hard boiled egg, tomato, cucumber, cheeses, an entire loaf of bread (move over France), sweet spreads, and olives (green ones and wrinkly black ones). Delicious (this was on the day when I could still eat)!

Then we went out for a little walk and got Brian a haircut - finally! Over 5 months and things were getting a little scraggly. But this wasn't just a haircut. it was a Turkish haircut. It ...

... police - it felt a bit excessive to have so many police officers equipped with full riot gear, how much trouble do they think me and Lisa can cause?! Leanne then came on and scored the second, with Tash coming on for the last 10 minutes and saw Unitt head home the final goal. (Players did get subbed off for the three subs, by the way, Hope hasn't found a loophole in the rules that lets her just put more players on the field. Buet, Jess and Jody were the three that came off.) As the ...

... as being like a bumpy car ride, I however was reminded why I don't like rollercoasters. The (rather large) bloke who easily filled the whole of the seat next to me snored most of the way. Loudly. And then listened to Turkish music on his iPod for the rest of the way. Loudly. We managed to grab about 2 hours of sleep during the 3 hours of flight time. At some point during the latter part of the flight Lisa heard the captain (in his broken English, which was ...

... It hopefully translated to, "take me to the international airport." Everyone seemed to nod when I showed it to them, assuring me it did say something. However when they ushered me off the bus at some tiny station at four am, I was seriously doubting its content. I saw some small bus a few parking spots over and the driver motioned for me to come. He read my note and nodded, as i climbed aboard. 20 minutes later he was yelling at me in ...

I was i intending to abandon going to Atilla's Getaway at Selchuck infavour of a more central pension at Kuladassi. but at the last moment i decided to return to the chillout plan. So I caught the bus back to Celchek and was dropped off near the bus station. The pension has an arrangement with a ticket seller at the bus station to call them and pick people up. So once the right ticket seller was located it was fairly painless.

... ran the place - we taught hime some NZ sayings (like see ya) and he taught us a slang (and much easier) way to say thank you in Turkish. He also showed us his rock collection, which Tina at least was pretty interested in. Sirince is known for its fruit wines, so Tina tried a couple of samples - but they were very much like straight blackberry nip, so we haven't bought any! Arrived back at the hotel in late afternoon, so went for a walk though the main part of Selcuk ...

... this trip I had an impression that Turkish coffee was going to be amazing. Our guidebook said that the coffee here tastes like mud. I would say that it tastes more like someone scooped a cup of that fine brown sand you find at the edge of a riverbed. (silt) Not very good at all! On our way back to the hotel it was a little dark and we noticed a bunch of kids ahead of us (all we could see was what looked like shadows because it was so dark). As ...

... ancient city called Kanlıdivane and was debating whether to visit. I also wanted to visit the nearby sites of Kizkalesi and Cennet Cennehem (Heaven & Hell) but I was tired. I got chatting with Halil as I drank tea. His parents ran the cafe. I told him of my plans and he offered to give me a tour on his motorbike. I hung around for the rest of the day chatting with a steady stream of locals who dropped in for a game of cards, drinking tea and sleeping on an old mattress laid in ...

... grapes. We continue up through the town's narrow streets and pass: · Melon stand with yellow striped melons piled high · Horse drawing a cart loaded with something in plastic bags · Meat hanging in a window And then we are at the site of the Church of St John the Theologian. Four massive pillars built of reused stone materials and brick are all the physical evidence that remains of the Byzantine basilica. The rectangular church did have ...