Hotel Minay Kusadasi

... real people lived and carried out their daily lives. Even though thousands of year have gone by, parts of this great city are still here to look at today, and are not just piles of rubble. I found more intimate evidence of life as well. Bits of pipe from sewage systems poke through the earth. Wheel ruts from wagons have left deep ruts in the road. Carvings of games are etched in the marble road. \Remnants of ...

... and seeing some 'real' Turkey again.

We had a great time going through the museum and seeing some interesting sites. As well, the food's still amazing here and we've had the chance to sample many different dishes and even try some raki! However, the adventures of choosing food at a place where you cannot read the menu or speak with the waiter will need to wait a few more days.

... into town via the signs then straight
west towards the gradual setting sun to find the beach. It was my first look at the Aegean sea, which blankets the western coast of Turkey. I cruised up the beach and decided to park the
bike near a small concession stand. There I met Ramazan, who referred to himself as "Rambo." I drank a cold Efes beer (local brew) while he attempted to teach me how to play backgammon, even though his ...

Aug 12 Turkey

Turkey!! We made it. on our way to turkey i got up at around 3am and heard wind out on the patio. i got up and saw some very cool little lights on land, spaced out by several miles and it was very neat to see. we were almost at turkey. turkey wasn't as exotic as we had anticipated, but we had a great time. we were in the port of kusadasi. we departed the boat and met our minibus and tour guide, we'll call her ms. x because i cannot remember her name. x ...

... the carpet salesmen (whose name was "Ali Baba"....no kidding!!) use a relatively soft sales approach. Even the guy selling fake watches had a sign over his store proclaiming "Genuine Fake Watches"...who says there's no honesty in advertising!; · The baklava here is delicious, dare I say even better than what we had in Greece...we were told that baklava was actually invented in Turkey, not Greece...I'll stick with that version lest I appear on a ...

... a fish with the spear gun. Tonight we had a dinner of fish that the crew caught and fell asleep on the boat looking at the stars. Cool!!! INTERVIEW WITH OMAR Age 11, Istanbul, Turkey What is your name? Omar How old are you? 11 years old Who do you live with? My sister who is six and my parents Where do you live? In Istanbul near the airport Do you go to school? Yes, I am in 5th grade now. How do you get there? I ride the school ...

... on the 4th so we celebrated with a delightful Gyros lunch in the local equivalent of the chippie (it ain't elegant but the food is excellent and the portions challenging). In the evening we drank our last bottle of classy wine (Terra Alta 2000 Gran Reserva - a wine fit for the gods), various cheeses, our own Greek coffee and 7star Metaxa. A great end to a wonderful day. On Saturday 8th we finally left after an argument with the ...

... out portions with weights and scales. In the evenings, family members would stop by from the other floors in the house, to visit, have tea, dried fruit, nuts. Grandma came down and gave Mike a pair of wool socks she had whipped out. The cousins came down and we traded songs and games. One of the brothers gave me a dance lesson in the tradition of the north sea region. We were completely taken in and taken care of...it was a wonderful conclusion to our three weeks in Turkey.

... the base for visiting Gallipoli and the site for the ancient city of Troy. I skipped them both as I had no interest in Gallipoli (Australian history, bah) and Troy is apparently a waste of time as there is nothing to see. I really hit the wall at this point in the trip. I was utterly exhausted and could barely get up the energy to watch the USA vs. Italy in the world cup. The next morning I bussed out again (6 hours) to the lovely little town of Selcuk. If you`re into Greek ...

... only a comment here or there (this is very rare!!). They are much more aggressive in other areas. In the afternoon I took the bus to Sirince (pronounced similar to syringe). It's a very quaint little village in the hills about 8 km from Selcuk. They produce a lot of fruit wines there, which you can sample and purchase. I was not a big fan of the fruit wines, but it was a neat experience. All the town women set ...