L oceanica Beach Resort Burhaniye

... around humans. After a good 2-3 hours here we set off to walk down back into the city and two young locals stopped and offered us a lift back into the centre. We had lunch in a local place and asked the guy to give us a little of everything - beef stew, bean soup, stewed spinach and rice, fried rice, eggplant and lamb stew - which came with bread and salad - lovely!!!<br><br> <br> We walked ...

... nk&#305;ng &#305;t &#305;ts a l&#305;ttle t&#305;ny cup of really sweet apple tea that you add extra sugar to and &#305;ts such a rush but hurts your teeth.<br><br>When we went back to the hut I was do&#305;ng some pack&#305;ng up and next m&#305;nute not&#305;ced that the goat was popp&#305;ng &#305;ts head through our door probably look&#305;ng for &#305;ts goat coat wh&#305;ch &#305;s Ians bed cover now! It had escaped &#305;mag&#305;ne the ...

... are great. <br><br>We then went for some food &#305;n th&#305;s local place next door and for our f&#305;rst sw&#305;m &#305;n the sea at the n&#305;ght t&#305;me we popped over to the bar aga&#305;n and met one of the locals h&#305;s name &#305;s lond&#305;s and he has f&#305;ve ch&#305;ldren all over the world and he asked Ian how many k&#305;ds he had and when he sa&#305;d none apart from my angel dan dan the man laughed and told h&#305;m w&#305;th act&#305;ons that he had ...

Why are we leaving gorgeous Ayvalik, our stunning guesthouse and lovely friends to go and see ruins I wonder as Tania harries me off to the bus stop.<br><br>Two hours later and having checked into a hotel where the owner admits "I am Gobi" (yep really) we trek uphill solidly for the next hour and it's 35 degrees plus. Perhaps this should be called schlepping to Asclepion. <br><br>However, the place was genuinely stunning and it ...

... tiny store my attempts to hitchhike were refused by a succession of cars passing at something like 60 miles an hour. Well, I stepped out of the little store a few steps, took out my knife with scissors and cut off the top of the little hand-sized bag. I hadn't even touched one chip when a guy in a big black SUV pulled up to my left, out of a side road, and signaled to me to join him for a ride back to town. That's exactly it. Go figure . . . .

... the Pergamon Acropolis in the background. Now things got interesting. Coming back down into the village I . . . . Well, imagine the center of the village with streets in the shape of a capital H. Let's say I was walking up from the bottom of the right leg. At the intersection of the cross-bar stood a couple of people. I asked which way to Bergama, thinking it was to just keep going straight, up the right side of the H. But the fellow directed me along the cross-bar ...

... dude who spoke fluent german and pretty good english which he says he taught himself at home! so he got a bit of practise in with us and Kris offerred him some english reading material as he said its pretty hard to find in Bergama. He must have been keen as when we got back to the Pension several hours later he had already dropped in to pick it up, so Kris quickly got it out and left it for him and he was back again within and hour or so to pick it up. Now that's hungry for ...

... an idea of how it must have appeared in its heyday. The atmosphere of these ruins was decidedly less touristy and lonelier and we really enjoyed wandering around and exploring with the views stretching off for what seemed like forever. We managed to sneak in a while of sitting in the amphitheater all by ourselves, but unfortunately the ruins were closing which prevented us from witnessing what would have been an all-time sunset venue. We spent a day and a ...

... a simple kebab dinner in a local hostelry and hit the sack. On Tuesday we headed up to the main attraction, the Acropolis and sundry temples, theatres etc started by one of Alexander the Great's generals who was left in charge of a large wad of dosh by Alexander who was then promptly killed. The general decided to build stuff using A.t.G.'s gold. The Goths (the originals, not the morbidly dressed teenagers of the current incarnation) then started the downfall ...

Troy I'm afraid left much to the imagination. I mean sure, it is ruins we're talking about, but where I come from, ruins still stand, give you an impression of how it was in the past. Not the case with Troy. Getting there and away is something of a pain, despite the fact that it's only half an hour on the dolmus from Canakkale. Still. I couldn't NOT go as I'm after history here and... let's not forget I'm Greek, but if you're neither, you may wanna skip it...