am currently in Selcuk down the west coast of Turkey.
A couple of days ago i left istanbul with a bus going to Cannakale which is across the Dardanelles from the Gallipoli peninsula. Visit the beaches where the Anzacs etc landed in 1915 which was very moving. Visited some museums and got a strangely Turk-centric guide who seemed to take perverse pleasure in recounting the number of Allies killed by the Turks. Strange day. Headed back to the hotel to watch Peter Weirs Gallipoli with a young Mel Gibson. Entertaining but certainly tragic.
Also visited the ruins of Troy which are not far from Cannakale which again was very interesting. Apparently there were 9 different cities of Troy all built on top of each other over the years and the archaeologists have been digging down looking for Troy 1 which is 3200 years old. Very cool place with great views over the Hellespont (where Leander drowned trying to reach his lover Hero i think). Anyway, it felt like all the mythology i had been taught in Classical Studies had come to life.
Met a load of Australians and NZers at Gallipoli and 6 of us have continued down the coast to Selcuk. Visited the hot sulphur springs at Pamukkale which looked great on the postcard but were woeful upon inspection. They natural pools have all dried up because the spring flow has been redirected by the big hotels for their swimming pools. bah. Tomorrow we visited Ephesus and i am looking forward to that.
The hotel we are in at the moment is pretty good. it used to be a 2 star job a few years ago but has been converted to a backpacker place. its only 3.50pounds sterling a night with breakfast and en suite bathrooms. luxury. The manager is cool to as the place only has about 8 guests including us in the 4 story building. We had the bar to ourselves last night with free pool and cheapo bears and all the George Michael we could dance to. i didnt dance. Too coolç
Everything is going well. Have got more into the swing of travelling and not knowing where im staying or eating the next day. took a bit of getting used to but am managing ok im sure will all be glad to learn.
heading of to Fetiyh and Oludeniz tomorrow (check them out - the later looks like something out of Fantasy island!) then travelling round to Olympos which has tree houses instead of Hostels. i can pretend im an Ewok or something for a couple of days.
Sorry i havent posted any pictures to make you even more jealous but i cant find anywhere with a scanner. oh well you can use you imaginations. i did and look where it got me
22 votes 
This is a top pick!
