Turkey
Our first trip to Turkey wa sa long weekend to Istanbul and the city is well worth your attention. Previously known as Byzantium and Constantinople it sits on the meeeting point between Europe and Asia. Indeed the city is situated in both continents, sitting across the Bosphorous Strait which connects the Black Sea and the Sea of Marmara. It is the largest city in Europe and 5th largest in the world but don`t expect a European type city - this it is most definitely not. Here you can expect Arabic type markets and souks. I bought a splendid black leather jacket in one of them and apart from a failed zip I am still wearing it 30 years on. The national football stadium was close by our hotel and a major soccer game there surprised us by the fact that next day there was not a scrap of litter to be seen. We wanted to see the ancient Roman hippodrome and asked the taxi driver largely by miming! Unfortunately it became obvious after about 30 minutes that he thought we were asking for the modern racecourse !!! We gave up and headed for the Hagia Sophia . Initially it was a church, then changed to a mosque and currently it`s a museum. The coffee outside in a roadside cafe gazing up at the magnificent Blue Mosque before heading into the incredible Topkapi Palace which really needs days on it`s own.
Next into the covered market/souk with all the thousands of stalls packed with everything imaginable and very reminiscent of the souk in Marrakech. `Stuff` was purchased of course but the main difficulty we had was trying to buy sanitary towels by miming because of the language barrier. Refreshments by the roadside were cucumbers cut down from the top with a knife twice at right angles and then sprinkled with salt so they opened up like a flower. Although not a problem when we were there it is now important to beware of the mosquitoes as the tiger mosquito has arrived in the city carrying with it nasty diseases like zika, dengue and west Nile fever.
Many years on we returned to Turkey, this time it was from a cruise ship. We berthed in Kusadasi, boarded a coach for the twenty minute drive to Ephesus. The city is close to the Temple of Artemis, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. The site contains many monumental buildings including the Library of Celsus, and a huge amphitheatre capable of holding thousands of spectators. It`s a massive site and much has still to be excavated/researched so a full day is needed. It was scorchingly hot and Gill decided that rather than accompany me across rough terrain for 1-2 miles she would sit in the shade and take in the long distance views until we returned. Unfortunately . . . after about 30 minutes a guide came up to her and it turned out that the tour ended 2 miles away and that was where the coach was waiting!! However, a small van was procured to take her on a VERY hectic journey, avoiding donkeys and other road hazards to the meeting point. There she admired the genuine fake watches and other such tourist stalls. She was worried that I might panic at the end of the tour and called me on the mobile (I got dirty looks from others for having the damned thing on !) and all was resolved. Ephesus is stunning - put it on your bucket list. The floor mosaics, public toilets and Library of Celsus alone will repay you. Finally the coach back to the port where we slid away from the official tour (which was in the process of taking us to selected carpet and tourist junk shops that the guide collects a fee from) and wandered along the seafront until we found an excellent upstairs seafood restaurant overlooking the harbour and beer was acquired.
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