Paradise Sámos

... in France during the NATO conference in April and these were obviously government security and secret service. Never one to be shy, I left my group and walked right up to a Kalashnikov carrying soldier in full battle gear and asked him what was going on? He gave me the once over and said what sounded like, 'That's the Italian president, Napolitano'. Wow! So I then went up to a secret service guy and asked him. Same answer. I asked which one it was and he pointed ...

... He spoke all through the tour about the extensive history of the place with pride and passion.<br><br>The ruins are buried under layers of earth and this process whereby a thriving community gets lost over centuries by being interred is a mystery to us really. The quality of the stonework at Ephesus mirrored that we had seen in Greece and the expertise of the stone workers astonished us. Also the extent of the complex with its way down to what used to be the Aegean Sea until ...

... R100GS and invited me for dinner, beer and even to meet the entire family including the farm with dogs and cows! A night in such friendly hospitable company was a real rare experience along my worldtrip.<br><br>Continuing up north I was heading straight to the place to visit Efes or Ephesus. One of those beautiful, wonderful, magnificent and mindblowing must-see sights, everybody to set foot on Turkish territory must have seen. It took not more ...

... to Ephisus and took them from the ruins. Still, what has been rebuilt is incredible. I think it would have been very interesting to live in that town during its day.<br>After the carpet demonstration, where we learned that it takes 2 girls 2 years to make an 8x10 carpet, we headed back to the ship for some lunch and a rest. Then we left the ship again and headed to a nearby beach where we rented some beach chairs and hung out for a few hours.

... similar to what I would see in California. It was discovered that the climate here is very similar to CA and this is why this specific area was well enjoyed by not only tourists but Turkish nationals as vacation areas. I just referred it as the the Hampton's of Turkey! While on our journey we came across some police check points who were interested in who was driving in the area...well we found out why really fast! Apparently the Turkish army was ...

...

Today we visited the ancient town of Ephesus. It is about 5 miles away from where we are staying in Selcuk. As I mentioned last night, we were able to purchase the services of a guide for the entire tour. The guide worked for many years at the US Air Force base in Izmir. He spoke very clear, easy to understand English. The fact that the other two gentlemen who shared our tour are currently serving in the US military in Ankara led to a quick and easy ...

... crowd overload caused by both its fame and the fact that Mediterranean cruise tours bus in here, or is it that we may be a bit "ruined" out at this point?   Screw it!  I am trying to type this on a Belgian keyboard and it sucks! haha  The first 5 letters on the keyboard are 'a-z-e-r-t!

... and Fethiye had been my first choice. The next day we met with Pauline at the hotel where we were staying. I was a little disappointed that she hadn't been prepped on what I was looking for, so we spent a little bit of time going over her property listings figuring out where she was going to take us. Before we got there, I had decided that I really wanted to get a place that was close to the water, but after talking to Pauline it sounded like she didn't really recommend places ...

... blocks away! Instantly, when I arrived in Selcuk, I had offers for accommodation. I followed one man back to his hotel where he set me up with a gorgeous private room with A/C and breakfast for 20TL (Turkish lira). 1 USD = 1.3TL, so I was paying about 14USD for a nice hotel! I couldn't complain and was more than happy to enjoy some luxury for such a cheap price. The local hostels, as I later priced them, were offering a dorm bed without A/C for 15TL, so I didn't ...