Turkey is Hot!

Pamukkale, Turkey

BODRUM, TURKEY (August 19-23)

We left Santorini by ferry last Friday at 12:20 am and headed to the town of Bodrum via Kos, another Greek Island, where we arrived at 5:30 am. Bleary eyed and tired, we enjoyed a beautiful sunrise and exchanged travel stories and tips with a group of Australians who were also headed to Bodrum. Next, we boarded the 9:00 am ferry from Kos and were off to our 8th country, Turkey.

In more ways than one, Turkey is hot. Hot because of the 100 degree temps and hot because everyone is traveling here; as well they should! Turkey is friendly, inexpensive (sometimes), beautiful and rich in culture and history. Bodrum, our first stop, is a quaint and somewhat modernized port town located in the south western part of the country where the Aegean and Mediterranean Seas meet.

Once through customs (which took us a little while- Ad had to run to the nearest ATM to get some ‘Lira’ to pay for our visas), we headed to look for food and a place to lay our heads for the night. During our lunch, we heard a man chanting over a loud speaker and asked our waiter what it was. He explained that it was the religious tradition of “Amom”, when the priest or pastor calls his people to prayer five times a day from the minaret, or bell tower. At first, it felt too much like an religious extremist group, yet after a few conversations with locals and acquiring a better understanding, we have more respect for the very rich and misunderstood tradition and began to use it as a reminder to be thankful to God for all that we have.

A side note, Greece and Turkey are very similar yet their main cultural differences are their language and religion. In Greece they speak Greek, Turkey they speak Turkish yet their religions are different: Greek Orthodox Christianity versus Islam, one of the fastest growing religions. The other strong cultural similarities (food, how they look, architecture, etc) relate to their history as one country ruled by Greece before the rise of the Ottoman Empire in which they were split in two.

Our first evening in Bodrum, we headed to a restaurant for Turkish food. We feasted on eggplant mixed with fresh tomatoes and herbs, sardines with chili sauce, yogurt mixed with onions and garlic salt, and fresh sea bass; it was delicious! We headed home early to catch up on sleep and just as we were getting ready for bed, we noticed another little creature joining us in our room – an unwelcomed cockroach, eewwwhhh!

While in Bodrum, we enjoyed a traditional Turkish bath. A Turkish bath consists of a sauna, scrub, soap and then an oil massage (in your ‘swimming costume’). You begin with a sauna designed to help open your pores and eliminate toxins. Next, you lay face down on a circular marble table for a full-body rub- down, then a full-body scrub to get rid of the dead skin, finally, the pouring of refreshing cool water over your shoulders and legs. Next, they gently pour handmade olive oil soap over your body, it feels amazing! Once finished with the bath you end with a 20-minute relaxing oil massage. Ad and I very much enjoyed this Turkish experience.

On Monday, we headed out for a boat tour that took us around to 5 different bays in Bodrum. It was here that we met a really nice Dutch couple, Anna and Kim. Anna and Kim are from a small town (around 6,000) in Holland called Olst located close to the German border. They were enjoying day #4 of a two-week vacation in Bodrum.

We had a lot of fun drinking some beers, jumping off the boat (and off 35 foot rocks) into the beautiful blue water and dancing on the top deck, and we loved the conversation with our new friends. Anna is a nurse who met Kim while working together at the same hospital, a rehabilitation hospital that helps young kids with mental illness. Kim is a nurse and also specializes in training professionals on how to deal with individuals with aggression and who have mental imbalances.

As we were leaving the boat for the day, we met another nice couple, Ece (Turkish) and Vedran (Bosnian), recently engaged and living in Australia. We struck up a conversation regarding our trip and their possibility of relocating to the US, then decided that we should all head out for dinner together. Thanks to Ece (pronounced “A-jay”), she took the reins and ordered up an amazing Turkish feast for all of us to enjoy. After a wonderful dinner and evening, we exchanged hugs and contact information then said our goodbyes.

PAMUKKALE (August 23)

On Tuesday morning, we woke up at 5:45 am to catch our 6:30 am bus to Pamukkale. As we waited for over 30 minutes for our bus (the bus that was to take us to the tour bus), we called the travel agent who booked our trip and told her that no one had arrived. Less than 10 minutes later, a gentleman picked us up and we were on our way. For the next hour and a half, we cruised in a small-passenger van at roughly 80 miles an hour up hills, around corners, and passing cars and trucks to make our way to the tour bus that was originally supposed to take us to Pamukkale. As it turns out, our van picking us up in the morning mistakenly picked up the wrong passengers and our driver had to chase the tour bus down so we could make the transfer. Once we arrived, our driver explained to us that his driving was like a “rocket” in order to catch up with the others.

Pamukkale, or Cotton Castle, is a little town and host to an amazing natural site that is unique to the world. Underground thermal springs loaded with calcium carbonate salts creates stalactites and white water basins filled with warm pools of water rich with minerals. The terraced mineral spas have been used since Roman times for their therapeutic powers to help with such ailments as arthritis and other circulatory issues.

SELCUK (August 23-25)

We enjoyed our time at the very unique and natural site of Pumakkale, and then caught an afternoon bus to Selcuk (pronounced “Sel-chuk”), a small town nearby the ancient ruins of Ephesus. Selcuk is close to the coast and less than 20 kilometers from Kusadsi. We checked into our hotel which we found to be…comfortable and pleasing with a very kind owner. Directly across the street was the town square where we had another great Turkish dinner. What we liked most about this town were the extremely friendly people always saying, ‘hello’ and ‘have a good evening’ as we walked by.

The next morning (Tuesday) we ventured out on foot (despite the 90+ degrees) to see the ancient ruins of Ephesus, roughly 3K from the town of Selcuk. Ephesus was once a port town and commercial center of the ancient world created in the third century BC, and a site dedicated to the goddess Artemis. Included in the ruins is an enormous ancient temple that included a theater, gymnasium, baths and Library of Celsus.

Located up on the hill above Ephesus is the home of the Virgin Mary. Tradition has it that after the death of Christ, the Virgin Mary was brought to Ephesus where she is said to have spent her last days in a small house built for her high up on the hill.

After our tour, we headed back to Selcuk for rest of the afternoon where we had a nice dinner, then sat with our new friends (Marco, Ali, and Aydan) and talked about life in both America and Turkey. It was very nice relaxing and enjoying great conversation and learning more about the Turkish culture. We hope our new friends will come to Colorado for a visit.

We are missing our friends, family and our lil’ Duker girl, Elke!

Love to you all,

C and A