Ataturk and lokum

So we caught an early morning bus to Ankara. We'd heard it wasn't worth a whole lot of time so we planned to get there early afternoon and leave on the evening bus. That should have been enough time to see the main sights of Ankara: the mausoleum of  Ataturk being the biggest one and a couple of museums nearby. Ankara is more modern history than the rest of  Turkey. It wasn't much before Ataturk came along but he put a lot if work into it so they have a lot of stuff about him. It would have been enough time if we'd thought to look up how to get there before we left. Instead we stared at the metro map until we spotted something that said museum then assumed we could get directions from there. But the further inland we got in Turkey the fewer people spoke english and when we asked for directions to the museum we didn't understand the answer. So we wandered Ankara. Found a pretty park to eat lunch in, followed some signs to not a museum, found a could be a museum but couldn't find the entrance. Sat in the shade for a bit trying to find some free wifi to figure out where we were and how to get to the mausoleum (which was the thing we were most interested in) and managed on my phone to find out where we were and on Catie's laptop where the Mausoleum was before the internet disappeared. But we couldn't figure out how to match them up and get from here to there. So we spent a few hours wandering around Ankara, seeing the city if not the sights, then headed back to the otogar for our bus to Safranbolu.
We had decided before we left NZ to go to Safranbolu because it is something like number 2 on the lonely planet top places to see in Turkey. But oddly when we were talking to other backpackers about it most of them hadn't even heard of it. But the turkish people we talked to said it was great and told us to skip Ankara and spend more time in Safranbolu. Good advice. Safranbolu was beautiful. It's this town that had been basically preserved from ottoman times. Cobbled streets and shuttered windows and little alleys. And the middle of this old town is sort of like a permanent market with little shops of hand made goods and cafes. Wooden boxes and mirrors and decorations, metal tea sets and vases, ceramics, shoes, clothes. All through these little cobbled alleyways that don't have space for cars. And on every street there is at least one (but probably more) turkish delight shop. Safranbolu is famous for lokum (the turkish name for the delight) and it was pretty fantastic. We only wanted to get a little bit to try the different flavours but their idea of a little bit lasted us all day and onto the bus to Istanbul the next day. It is not really like the stuff they call turkish delight in other places. You can see the resemblance but mostly in the way that you can see how what you get in NZ is an attempt to make something like lokum but they don't really know how. We ate quite a bit of it. I kind of wish we had some left but since we ran out 3 days ago we wouldn't have any left by now even if we'd bought more.
So we spent the entire day just waking around the old city of Safranbolu, enjoying the sights and sounds and especially tastes. Then the next day we took the morning to meander a bit more before catching our last bus back to Istanbul. It took most of the day and we didn't get back to our hostel in Istanbul until after 9pm. The bus was full of children some of which were supremely annoying (if your child is being a brat take away their toy gun, don't just talk to them and then ignore the fact that they are still doing exactly the same thing) but others were completely adorable. Luckily the little girls who were practicing their english on us came after the little boy who was try to shoot us so we ended the trip feeling more endearing and less irritated.
The next day we got up early to hit the post office then went to the archaeology museum. It was pretty impressive. Living in NZ you don't really see a lot of the results of archaeology in person. Canterbury had the logie collection which was one of the best collections of classical artifacts in the whole continent, and fit into one not so large room. The Istanbul archaeology museum is just so close to everything. They have a neolithic section and a paleolithic section and an early orient section and a greek section and a roman section and a ceramics section. They need 3 whole buildings and then the less interesting stuff is left in rows outside because 3 buildings isn't enough. I won't gush too much more but as a classics major it was pretty fantastic.
But we didn't have all day so we didn't linger. We grabbed some traditional ice cream since we hadn't gotten around to trying any yet. It was odd. Almost chewy. But pretty tasty. Then we packed everything up and headed to the airport.
I won't bore you with the details. It was an average flight. Lots of waiting before, lots of waiting after. But we got to Casablanca and they let us into the country. Found our hostel and basically crashed. It was pretty late for us by that point.
This morning we walked down to the 3rd biggest mosque in the world and back through the streets of casablanca. Not the greatest tourist destination. Which is why we are now on the train to Marrakech. Which should be much nicer. I don't know when I will next have internet to post this but hopefully soon.

Goodbye Turkey

I know I haven't finished updating you all on 2nd latest events but it seems I won't be doing it today. Instead just a quick note before we leave free internet to say that we are leaving Turkey for Morocco today. Talk to you all again from there.

Not much of an update

Well I started writing a big update on the bus yesterday but it seems to have disappeared. I didn't get very far anyway. But Catie has put photos on facebook. The public link is https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.2337743050292.133853.1451350354&l=364a32f00b&type=1
I will try to write a proper post today or tomorrow. There is getting to be quite a lot to write.

Churches, fairies and brownies, oh my!

Hello again! I am writing this on the bus to Ankara so I don't know when I will be able to actually post it. The hostel we have booked for tonight didn't say that it had internet so I might have to wait until we get back to Istanbul. But probably we will hunt something up in Safranbolu if we have to. So last time I left you with the preview of a grand tour of Cappadocia to come. Well it was pretty awesome. It started at 9.30 and we didn't get back until after 6pm. And it was no where near enough time. The first stop was the Goreme panorama where you can see the entire valley. I think any grand vistas I see in the future will be ruined now. I will look at massive mountain ranges and just shrug and say "but it's not Cappadocia".
I won't even bother trying to describe it. I wouldn't know where to start.
After that we headed to Derinkuyu which is one of several underground cities in the area. Derinkuyu is the most touristy one so it is well lit. Some of them aren't lit at all and it would be pretty awesome to go to one of those but we just didn't have the time. We've been doing a bit of "when we're rich" planning in Goreme. I think we could probably spend a whole 2 weeks just in Cappadocia.
The underground city was pretty impressive. It was started in the 7th century BC by the Phrygians but was added to for a long time. The early christians used it as a hideout around the 2nd and 3rd centuries AD. It goes down about 85 metres. Some of the tunnels are so short that it might be easier to crawl. My backpack was often scraping on the ceiling, if I hadn't been wearing one I probably would have hit my head a lot more.
It was really good to have a tour guide there because there wasn't a lot of signage but we could have spent much more time there. We didn't get to see everything because we didn't have enough time.
The same was true of the next stop, Ilhara Valley. It's this smallish valley cut into a fairly flat landscape so it isn't all that visible from far away. Which would be why the early christians thought it would be an awesome place to hide from those pesky Romans. There are dozens of old churches cut into the valley walls. We only looked at 2 of them. And we had to stay on one side of the river. If you were doing it without the tour group you could easily spend all day there but it would be a bit of a mission getting there and back. As it was we got really irritated at this supremely slow couple. We walked 3.5 km through the valley (which was nice, green and shady unlike most of the area) at quite a slow pace but those people somehow managed to fall about 10 minutes behind everyone else. And since the restaurant for lunch was at the end of the walk we were pretty hungry and pretty impatient by then.
Lunch was decent, and reviving after quite a stair filled morning. Then we headed to the Selime Monastery. I don't remember any of the details about when it was from but it is basically a giant church complex inside of a hill. There's a chapel part and a school part and a kitchen and lots of great views. You have to be somewhat intrepid to get to parts but it is totally worth it. We went pretty much everywhere. Including the part with almost no light coming in. We were told we only had 10 minutes to explore on our own but after waiting so long for the slow people at other places (they also managed to get lost after coming out of Derinkuyu) and our general experience of turkish time (they tend to say a certain amount and it end up a fair bit more) we decided to take our time. When the guide told us to gather we looked at one more thing and on the way down we detoured to a different part, secure in the knowledge that the slow people would take that much longer coming down.
We were all a little tired by that point after crawling through tunnels (which included a lot of stairs) then marching through a valley (which included a fair number of stairs) and clambering over a monastery (which had some stairs and more footholds that may or may not count as stairs and a few slopes that could have used more stairs). So many of the people slept on the next leg of the drive. But they all woke up for pigeon valley. Which (oddly, considering the name) has a whole lot of pigeon houses where they used to keep pigeons back in the day when they were useful for communication and painting.
But that was just a short stop before heading to the final part of the tour. The part where they try to sell you stuff by taking you to an onyx factory. But (thanks to those incredibly slow people) we were given the choice of heading to the factory or just heading home. We were unanimous and headed back to Goreme.
We were fairly exhausted by then so after a stop for water (and cherry chocolate brownies) we settled in for a quiet evening.
The next day we had a plan. Which failed pretty much straight away. We intended to get up early (set an alarm and everything) and get to the Goreme open air museum by about 8.30. So at about 10 we actually got up meaning that we got to the museum at the same time as a few dozen tour groups. At one point we were found ourselves stuck in a small courtyard with at least 50 people (no I'm not exaggerating) with a small tunnel in and a small tunnel out (both completely blocked by people). But we did see some cool things. Again, lots of old churches cut into the cliffs and fairy chimneys. There were some that had quite detailed frescoes with recognizable bible scenes and others that were just decorated with geometric patterns in red ochre. Outside of the museum is a massive one with amazing frescoes but where they have chipped off you can see ochre patterns underneath. Which makes me wonder how they decide which date to put on the signs. They said 11th century on that one but is that when it started or when it finished?
That afternoon we just wandered around Goreme looking at shops and watching the antics of a possibly mentally challenged cat. We had planned to go on a horse trek but it was threatening to rain and the idea of horse riding in the rain was not appealing to us.
And that was our last day in Cappadocia. The next morning we got up at 6 am to watch the balloons (dawn hot air balloon rides is a thing, an expensive thing) and catch a 7am bus to Ankara. Where I started writing this. But didn't finish writing it. It has taken me about 2 days to write this whole thing which means there's now 2 more days to write about. But you can wait a while longer for that. I'll give you a sneak peak. It involves more cats, more brownies and a whole lot of lokum.

Things to add to your to do list

I feel like I just wrote a massive post but I know that with the full day we have planned tomorrow I will not want to write about all of it at once. So you get another update already.
Yesterday we headed to Pamukkale. It's about a 3 hour bus ride from Selcuk and it left at 9.30. We had heard that it was really cool and to take togs along because there were pools to swim in but we were not prepared for what it actually is. Mostly we were far too over prepared. We took water and snacks and a changed of clothes for when we got wet and walking shoes because it looked like a bit of a walk and jandals because it's a wet place. When you go (which you should because it's amazing) take as little as possible. Togs and light weight clothes over top that you don't mind getting damp and money to get in. And of course sun block. But that's all you need. Everything else just gets in the way.
Pamukkale is a slope with a hot spring at the top which deposits calcite down a big slope. At the top are the ruins of the Roman city of Heiropolis including the bath which you can pay extra to swim in. To get there on foot from the town you walk up the hill, take off your shoes and walk up the slope that the water is pouring down. There are pools along the way which get warmer (and more crowded) the higher you get. Words and pictures don't really do it justice so you should just come see it for yourself.
Turns out I was getting a cold at the time so by the time we climbed to the top in the hottest part of the day I was exhausted and had to sit in the shade for half an hour while Catie looked around the ruins. I did a bit of exploring later but mostly had to jump between bits of shade. We didn't end up going into the antique bath because we were there at the busiest time and it would have been too crowded to be worth paying for.
After we had our fill of the ruins we meandered back down the watery hill to the town. We caught a shuttle to the nearby city of Denizli (where our night bus to Goreme was leaving from) with plans to use the extra time to stock up on groceries. We had been told there was a supermarket in the otogar but it turns out it had been closed for probably months.
So we waited and then got on a bus and came to this magical land of Cappadocia. Goreme is the town we are staying in within the region. Most of the hostels have cave rooms available but we (by which I mean I) left it too late to get the cave room. But it's lovely anyway. The town is built around (and in) these rock formations that they call fairy chimneys. We transferred all of or photos to Catie's laptop this evening so keep an eye out on her facebook page or blog for the images. They're kind of hard to describe but once you see pictures you will understand why they call them fairy chimneys. Also why there are phallic jokes about them. If you can't wait or don't have access to Catie's stuff then just google Cappadocia fairy chimneys and I'm sure you'll see what I mean. Goreme is a lovely little town and it's fairly central to most of the sights in Cappadocia. This afternoon we walked for almost 4 hours walking to a tiny place called Çavusin which has two old churches built into the rocks as well as a bunch of old dwellings. We only went to one of the churches (despite the size of the town we still managed to get lost and by the time we found the first church we were ready to head back) but we chose the better preserved one which you have to pay for. Might be the best 8 lira I've spent so far. The church itself is really amazing with very detailed frescoes on the walls. We thought we should have been able to recognize more of them but I guess we fail at biblical imagery. We just stared at the ceiling and walls for I don't even know how long. The guard sneakily looked around and let us take a photo each even though it's not allowed so you might get to see them eventually. We also climbed up into a tunnelly bit where we got some good views of the area and spotted some fairy chimneys behind the church that we could walk to. So we did. All in all it was a pretty fantastic afternoon and I think Cappadocia is probably my favourite part of Turkey so far. And we've hardly seen any of it so far. Tomorrow we do an epic tour of all the things that are too far away to do on our own including the underground city and the valley where there are lots of monasteries from when the early christians needed somewhere to hide.
Now don't you want to come see it for yourself?

Lunch time in Goreme

This is what I'm looking at right now while I sit in the shade and munch a fresh crisp apple.

Ancient history and modern history

So first off I have changed the settings and you should be able to comment now without having to sign up for anything.
Today we are in Selçuk, having a relaxed day off after much running around for the last week. It's beautiful here. A little too hot for me at times but we are making good use of the swimming pool.
I believe when I left you last we were planning on heading to Troy and Gallipoli. We did manage to fit both into one day but not without some stress and effort. We knew that it was really difficult to do Gallipoli on your own so we had booked a tour which started at 12.30 which meant we had to be on the 12.00 ferry back from Çanakkale so we started early thinking if we took the 8 am ferry in the morning we could get to Troy by 9 or 9.30 and have a couple of hours to explore before heading back to town. But it turns out the first bus didn't leave until 9.30 and stops a few times along the way so we didn't get there until 10.15 and since the buses leave on the hour that gave us only 45 minutes to see the whole thing. So we powered through the site taking as many pictures as we could so we would be able to linger over them later. It was pretty amazing being there. There is so much history to the place. Not just how long it was inhabited for and how much happened there but also the story of Schliemann and how he found it. It's one of the first archaeological sites ever excavated.
But we couldn't linger. We went out to find the bus but it wasn't there. It was running quite late. So we accosted some people in the car park until we found someone heading back to Canakkale and asked for a lift. They didn't speak a word of English so it made for an interesting trip but we made it onto the 12 o'clock ferry. Which didn't leave until quarter past so we were still late but luckily things tend to leave late here so it was fine.
The Gallipoli tour was really good. The guide had a lot of knowledge (and liked to talk a lot) and some of the places were very moving. I had difficulty fitting together the knowledge that so many terrible things happened there and that so many people died where I was standing with the amazingly beautiful landscape. It really looks like paradise, but for nine months it was completely horrifying.
The tour took us to each of the landing sites and then up the hill to the main memorials. The last one at Chanuk bair was interesting after all of these somber graveyards. It's the main New Zealand memorial but to the Turks it's the place where Ataturk defeated the invading forces and nearly died but his pocket watch saved his life. So there is a big memorial to the kiwis right next to a giant statue of Ataturk.
After getting back from the tour we waited around for a few hours and then caught a night bus to Selcuk. It got in at about 7am and luckily the hostel let us check in straight away and gave us breakfast. Then we headed up the hill to Ephesus.
Ephesus is pretty amazing. It just goes on forever. I think we could have spent all day there if I hadn't been melting. It was very hot and there isn't a lot of shade. Any time we did find shade I had to sit for 10 minutes to cool down slightly but even in the shade it was still too hot for me. Which was a pity because there is so much to see there. As it was I managed to make it through about 3 hours before I had to admit defeat and head to the exit.
Since then we have been doing a whole lot of nothing. Swimming, sitting in the sun (or in my case the shade) and generally relaxing. This afternoon at some point we will check out the temple of Artemis but that probably won't take very long since a large portion of it is at the British museum. Tomorrow we head to Pamukkale and then on to Cappadocia.