Assos Hunters Hotel

... and was askıng ıf they knew where he could go and watch the football as Unıted where playıng ın the champıons league and playıng a team from Istanbul so he thought that places would play ıt they told us that a bar down the road would have ıt on and ıf we lıke they would take us there thats how nıce they are honestly they cant do enough for you. Anyways ın the end we went for a dr ...

... wıth thıs taxı boy who spoke a lıttle englısh and he reccomended a place but ıt was a lıttle out of our budget so we told hım we needed somewhere cheaper and he saıd he would take us to the tourıst ınfo offıce so off we sped ın the taxı wıth the musıc blarıng as he had a boom box ın the back ha ha he called ıt the nıght club taxı. we got no joy at the tourıst place and he ...

... off we certainly did - it was Baltic!

Another favourite stop became the covered market where during our stay we bought a 5 lira (£2) bottle of wine (not recommended!), admired the tomato wearing watermelons and enjoyed numerous cups of cay and bakery products - the guys there were so friendly they even gave us figs to accompany our beverages!

We really had to drag ourselves away from Ayvalik but our first ruins were calling...

... in college, a chance to "compare and contrast," as a few days later, in Ankara, I made a video in a Turkish mall. The scene is something one does not necessarily associate with Turkey. At the very end you can hear the voice of a security guard telling me making a video is not permitted.)

Returning, though, to Assos, from the heights of the acropolis I saw high land across near the edge of the sea. So I thought I'd try to get over there ...

... merely exploiters. And too frequently the exploiters are ruinous or unmindful in their quests.)

To continue. It wasn't long or difficult to get out to the road. Nor was it long before my hitchhiking thumb elicited a ride. They asked me in Turkish where I was going. I couldn't say anything but, ileri (mispronouncing it), ahead. They took me to a small town or village of Mahmudiye. I spent a few minutes walking around there, just ...

... it's a small city on the Dardanelles and it's the main spot from which to visit troy and galipoli. in fact i'm staying at ANZAC hostel. the city is actually pretty cool. far less 'provincial' than selcuk: people have hair styles that don't make me feel like i'm from outerspace. reminicent of İstanbul. tomorrow morning i see troy, then in the afternoon i get a bus back to istanbul, where i spend an evening and a morning before i go to the airport...

The journey continues on through the heat wave ... After checking out Ephesus this morning & hearing all about all the artifacts in the museum it would have been a sin not to check it all out! it was quite an interesting display of pieces in the museum which we had heard all about that morning from the guide. Otherwise it would have been quite boring because it was not a huge display. Afterwards we continued onto St Johns church which had been ...

... to catch a local bus which came equipped with a steward in a suit with slick backed hair. He came around regularly with complementary snacks and beverages and to pour lemon oil into our hands. Made me think of the Greyhound buses that went around Australia with barely a working toilet let alone free snacks, and a driver that growled at you. In five or so hours we were back in Istanbul, already I was meticulously planning my last full day there with Sinead and Wahib.

... friend's restaurant, we left for Taksim Square - the host spot on a Saturday night. Getting there was ridiculous - some of the most traffic I have seen in a while, and this is at 1:00 AM! We went out to two night clubs, one with American rock and pop, and the other was a traditional Turkish club. Both were lots of fun, and it was very easy to sleep that night, especially since we got home at 5:30 AM. After waking up at 2 AM on ...

... 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...)