Heaven on the Mediterranean

Ok guys,

So the reason we haven’t been in touch is that we have been sunning ourselves on the deck of a boat out in the Mediterranean.  Are you jealous?! I thoughts so!!!!!

Now for the bad news! We have also had amazing seafood dinners at a place called Smiley’s Restaurant. We think the smiley lady serving us may have been called Smiley!!!!!

As well as all this horrible stuff we have been up to, we have also done some shopping (Toot now 1 million scarves, and I am sure more to come)!

So back to this boat business.  We left the hotel this morning and drove to a little village about 40 mins away and got on a local mans boat.  He took us around looking at an old sunken city (Roman period) and we spent a lot of the day swimming in the sea. His wife made us an amazing lunch and I was going to ask her to come home with us! This was then followed by a trip up a large hill to look at some more Roman period ruins. After this we went for more swims and some relaxing time doing nothing with maybe a little reading of books in between.

Once back from our horrible day it was time for a shower and a little housekeeping of washing clothes.  After this we decided to go for a stroll through Kas (pronounced Karsh), the village we are staying in. It is heaven on earth. We have amazing views of the sea from one of our two balconies, there is a pool, air conditioning and the room is quite spacious. Only complaint is that the shower doesn’t maintain a temperature of any type.

While strolling thorugh town, a few purchases were made and then it was time to return to the hotel to eat dinner (take away hot chips, I know not Turkish but VERY tired). Now there really is some bad news.  While eating a hot chip Gordo broke her tooth again.  Luckily no nerve involved by the feel of it but a fair hole left in a tooth. Will get it fixed when home.

Tomorrow brings another day and another hotel with sea views and another horrible seafood dinner.  We get to pick out our seafood at the markets, take it to the restaurant and they cook it the way we request.  We will let you know how this goes.

Love always Toot and Gordo Xx.

Mediterranean Sea...........here we come!!

Hi All,

This is your Captain Toot here in the pilot seat again.

Firstly this morning we visited Mevlana's mausoleum in Konya (who was the founder of the Whirling Dervishes) and had some time to look around the grounds of their beautiful rose gardens etc.

We had our first Paparazzi photo experience - well we were asked if these two old men could have photo's with us (again what is with these old men??)!!

We then jumped on the bus again to head south.  We went through the Taurus Mountain ranges which are the longest, highest and widest in all of Turkey. 

We stopped for lunch again at a road stop, I was clever this time and just went halves with Claire for some more delicious pida.  

After lunch we had a fruit stop and wait for it.................Bananas were selling for $1.15 per kg.  Yes you have read right!! $1.15 per kg!! And Claire says they're "bloody awesome"!!!  Jealous people?!  Sorry to say we won't be bringing any home - blame customs not us!

Our next stop was the Aspendos Theatre (near Antalya) which is a beautifully preserved theatre from the Roman period.  They still use it today and can hold up to 12,000 people.  They are holding a Jazz concert there next week one of the performers will be Macy Gray!

As soon as we got off the bus to explore the theatre, the almost 40 degree heat hit us!! Hello summer!

Thank goodness we're in a hotel with a/c - as it still feels at least 30 degrees at 9:30pm at night!  

We had a great dinner again tonight we headed out with the older couples and had lamb meatballs with rice and salad and a bowl of lentil soup.  The soup tonight wasn't as good as the other nights but you get that!

My gripe for the day - why do we have to pay to use toilet facilities!! Argh so annoying especially when there is NO toilet paper, water (and other stuff) all over the floor and it smells!! Really not happy?!?!! 

Gotten to know our group a bit more over the last couple of days and they all seem like nice people but of course you always have that one person who annoys everyone on the group - on our tour is a New Zealand woman who doesn't have manners, is always difficult and makes the group late.

Okay enough of me and the ranting - well for today anyway!!

A big thank you to all that comment on our blogs we really appreciate receiving them to know your having a read and enjoying them!!

To Louise thanks for the footy scores!! I think I'm going to do really bad in my footy tips while I'm away!!  And yes Louise I was woken this morning to Prayer music - our hotel was just across from the Mosque!! Oh well!  Also bad luck the Blues lost to the Magpies but sounds like a close game!!  Get em' next time!

Sorry that today was not so entertaining but the only thing entertaining today was the inside of my eyelids and a tow truck with a BMW full of people riding backwards on the tray top! Is that good enough for you? If not, too bad, that's all folks!

Speak to you all soon!!

Love always

Toot and Gordo xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

PS To all you government workers that we are keeping occupied during your "working" days (you know who you are) keep up the good work and give us a reduction in our taxes please!!!!

On the Silk Road

Hi All,

The last 24 hours have involved a tour of the Goreme open air museum, hiking through a lovely gorge, visiting the underground city, food, food and more food!

The Goreme open air museum is a small park which encases old cave churches, caves carved into the mountains of hardened volcano ash and the tales of centuries gone.  All around the village named Goreme we have been in for the last 3 nights, there are thousands of caves which have been hand dug into the mountains. See pic below:-

People used to live in these caves before modern times as in the summer they were cool and in winter they were warm.  They were easy to extend if needed due to the soft nature of the rock (see mum I am learning something).  If you would like to know more we will take questions at the end. Please leave for us if needed and we will try and answer.

After visiting the open air museum we had a meal consisting of Lentil soup (not as good as the first one we had) and my very first Turkish baklava in town in the "Silk Road Kebab House" and strolled from the village back to the hotel. Again another lovely summer evening but no fireworks this time.

This morning I woke to hearing noises outside just after sunrise and looked out the window to find the sky filled with hot air balloons doing scenic flights of the region.  After this I managed to go back to sleep and we left the hotel at 9:30 to head back on the road.

Our first stop today was an underground city where clostraphobia may be an issue.  Poor Toot didnt quite make it to the first level but Gordo took lots of pictures for her (what a great travel buddy)!!!!! The underground city was used by early Christians as a hiding place before they became an accepted religion.

After the underground city it was back on the road to a lovely little restaurant at the bottom of the Ihlara Gorge. We sat in small huts over the river and ate copious amounts of food again.  After lunch we went for a sizable hike through the gorge and back up to the top. From there it was on the road again.

Our next stop was at a hotel from around 1200 AD for merchants traveling on the silk road. It was set up so that they could pull in for the night, have a meal and store their merchandise safely. It was the largest of its kind.

Once again on the road as we finally made our way to the city of Konya! Toot liked the sunflowers in the fields on the side of the highway and said it reminds her of Tuscany where I think she will drag me one day (hopefully)!

Once we arrived in Konya (to a much nicer hotel than the last) we dumped our bags and headed out for dinner. Yes you got it, more food!!!! Our guide took us to the middle of the city and pointed us in the general direction of some local cuisines.  We seemed to misunderstand and ended up eating in the restaurant of a hotel.  They invited us in with promises of nice food (spoken in broken English).  Once we were in it became apparent that the waiter spoke no English and ended up getting a french tourist form the next table to help decipher the Turkish menu. This was a little bit of help and then we ended up with the man from hotel reception to wait on our group. All this aside, the food was magnificent and relatively cheap.

After dinner we strolled back through the busy streets of Konya to loudly blaring prayer music from the local mosque.

Now it is off to bed and prepare for another busy day tomorrow.  What it will hold, who knows!

Our next stop is Antalya!!!

So until next time, dont miss us too much!

Love always Toot and Gordo Xx.

Still in................Viagra Valley!!

Hi All,

Toot here in the pilot seat today!  So we're still in the land of Fairy Chimneys, caves and strange rock formations (that look like big penis')!! See below:

Here we are with some Penis formations at Viagara Valley (re-named by the lovely Claire Gordon).  Its proper name is Love Valley.

Its our last night here and then of to Konya - which I believe is religious so must remember to cover up!! 

Anyway yesterday involved some more hiking (in which Claire has heat rash on her legs again (like last year in Vietnam)) and went and enjoyed a walk to the closest town to the hotel and bought some postcards and stamps.  We also went to a rug maker where we were shown the steps how each were made.  Of course the rug I liked was $2,000.00 a little out of my price range.  So no magic carpet to take home but mind you I had no room to bring it anyway.

Also have discovered apple tea = delicious!  I'm almost a local well except for the headscarf, B.O and hairy upper lip!!

We also had the pleasure of a real Turkish bath "Hamam".  Let me explain the process we endured for this experience. Firstly, we we're given a coffee table size piece of linen we were to wrap ourselves in we decided to go real traditional "commando" (under the cloth) for the occasion.  We then went into the steam room which has several small rooms off the main section where there are cold showers, large pots of cold water and buckets to pour over yourselves.  Once your wet you have to go lie on the hot marble slab in the middle and lay down (bear in mind we only had these tiny cloths covering us) when wet these don't leave much to the imagination.

After doing this numerous times we then also went and sat in the sauna just in case we weren't HOT enough.  I was bright red!!! 

Once steamed to your satisfaction (or in my case before I passed out) we were then rubbed with a loofer glove (looked like an oven mit) by a old large, hairy, smelly Turkish man (they say this part is traditional) which was also wearing the tiny loincloth around their waists!! Yup what dreams are made of!! HUNKY!  So we were scrubbed around our parts around the cloth even my head and soles of my feet.  At this point it was tickling my feet and had dreads in my hair!!

The next part of our brave adventure was to get a massage, which we went into another room where we were asked to lay face down (again with our loin cloth just covering our bits and pieces) and they waved soapy bubbles over our body and then gave us massages.  Claire's Turkish man was very good where my old man wasn't as good with his hands!! But still good none the less!  However when I was rolled back onto my back and stupidly opened my eyes just as my Turkish man's armpit was over my face eewwwww!! Not so happy ending for me!

To finish off this experience we had a Houdini Turk of sorts that magically changes your wet cloth for a dry one with no skin being shown (and no peeking as he claims) and we could then get changed and offered some apple tea!

Even though I was going blind in there (contacts and steam don't mix well) and even in my blindness saw more than I needed too!!

We realise this sounds like a mass orgy but not as bad as it sounds! Promise!!

All of this took about 2 hours and of course we're a bit late for dinner but got there in the end but got another delicious cheap meal.  By the way I'm going I'll be coming back with excess baggage on my arse from all the bread, dips, lentil soup and meals in clay pots!!  Ekkkk!!

After dinner we strolled back to the hotel and had some fireworks on the way - it was a lovely summers night.   When we arrived back to the hotel we were smart to tie the fly screen to the other window handle to try to avoid if someone tried to come into our room at night as we are on the ground level and it's too stuffy in our room to not leave the window open!! So I had a much better sleep last night!! Soo goood!! I think finally my body clock has finally caught up with me! YAY!

This morning we went for another hike around "Imagination Valley" and we're naming shapes in the rock formations such as camels, a witch, a ram and Napoleon's hat just to name a few.  Was fun for the first few times then it was just getting a bit warm.

Today we also went to a pottery place where the family there has been making pottery for over 7 generations!  Beautiful stuff but again out of my price range! Claire took a liking to a platter plate but couldn't justify the price.  We then went and had a lovely lunch in the backyard of a local family's home.  Food again was delicious and cheap! 

We're now having a "siesta" back in our hotel room and by "siesta" I mean re-packing our bags and talking to you fine folk!

Shortly we will go for another hike around the Goreme Open Air Museum and after that who knows our tour guide isn't all that good with the communication!! This can be very annoying for all that know me I am a control freak and like a little order!  We believe we're supposed to going to a Turkish dinner night with dancers, food and Rakki "local rocket fuel" (Turkish equivalent to Ouzo).

Hope I haven't bored you all  too much?!

Miss all and love all!

Speak soon

Much love Toot & Gordo (over and out)!! xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxooxxooxoxox

P.S. Len no Turkish man's rug will ever be as good as yours!

P.P.S I'll load some more pics on to the blog next time. I've run out of time now siesta is nearly up! Damn it I didn't fit in a nanna nap!  you know how I love my sleep!

Cappadocia

Hi All,

We survived Turkish rail.  The train was a Hilton compared to Vietnam rail last year (and our current hotel)

We are happy to go back and stay on the train any time as it is no smoking (this hotel room isnt), the toilet door opened without hitting into the toilet (unlike this hotel), it had air conditioning (unlike this hotel), the bed didnt fold around gordo swalling her like a hotdog bun (unlike this hotel) and it had complimentary slippers (unlike this hotel). The one thing this hotel has going for it, is a cold fridge, that is all.

Good thing we have a fairly busy few days while we are here so we will only be here to be swallowed like a hotdog and breath in some used tobacco air!!

After an early arrival (7am) into Ankara (Turkey's capital believe it or not, if u sneezed u might have missed it in this tour), we only saw one archaeological  museum and the breakfast room of a random hotel.  From there it was onto a roadhouse for lunch where we ate pida (flat thin pizza, see picture below)

After lunch we got back into the bus and off to the salt lake (Turkeys second largest lake) where we went for a walk out on the salt field and it look as though we were walking on water.

From there it was onto Goreme (the where we are staying) where we are surrounded by towers of hardened volcanic lava form an erruption obviously many years ago.  On one of our photo stops close to the hotel we tried some ice cream made of goats milk served to us by a Turk who has obviously been to clown school and suffering the effects of LSD! He was very amusing!!

Once settled at the hotel and we had done some washing it was then off to dinner in a cave made of the hardened lava.  The food was delicious and I would be happy to eat there again.

So far our thoughts on our group are mixed. There is a couple from Manchester, Pete and Pat, the husband doesnt do socialising and looks like Elton John after a night out. He is a research scientist and hasnt spoken two words to us and even his own wife admits he lives in his own world, although she is very pleasant and keen for a chat.

Then there is a couple from Auckland New Zealand, Kent and Liz, took a while to warm up to them but they are fairly harmless, he has a very dry sense of humour and Carrie wants his camera. They are travelling with a high school friend of Liz, Rose, who seems fairly nice but we havent spoken to much.

There are two friends from Sydney, Nellie and Rod, who are both lovely and teach to feed their travelling addictions.

There is a lawyer from New Zealand, Ruth, dont have much  to do with her.

Then there is Nicole who is Aussie by birth but lived overseas for the last seven years in various places and has almost an Anerican accent. She is a little annoying.

Then the best for last (apart from us), there is a lovely couple from country Victoria, Kevin and Veronica. These two are very entertaining and highly amusing. They have five kids all until recently four of whom lived overseas.  They have just been to their daughters wedding in Italy and traveling through Turkey on their way home. 

Mehmet is our tour guide.  We have mixed opinions about him.. Think we were spoilt for our tour guide in Vietnam and no one will ever live up to Tom!

We will let you know how it all pans out!

Thats it for now, we are going hiking today, followed by a Turkish bath, we will let u know how it all goes.

Love to all, bye for now

Toot and Gordo Xx.

Istanbul- Round 1

Hı All


We have been out and about all day today and seen a few ınterestıng thıngs


Our day started wıth a buffet breakfast wıth lots of yummy pastrıes some fruıt and even olıves!


From breakast ıt was then tıme to check out of the hotel and begın a day of adventures. We went and saw the blue mosque, went for a crıuıse along the Bosphorus whıch allowed us to vıew the European sıde of Istanbul as well as the asıan sıde. After thıs we caught the underground cable car to the maın shoppıng strıp of new Istanbul (we are stayıng ın the old part whıch ıs amazıng) whıch ıs lıke rundle mall on steroıds.


From there we caught the tram back to the hotel and went to the Grand Bazaar. The Grand Bazaar ıs about 4000 shops under a roof of entwınıng alleys sellıng everythıng from scarves. to bags and heaps of sparkly jewelery! Plan to see as much as we can ın Istanbul on our last day of the trıp whıch ends up back here.  We stıll have a few thıngs on the lıst to do.


We are now sıttıng back at the hotel and psychıng ourselves up for an overnıght traın rıde to Ankara.  We have our drınks and need a few snacks to get us through the nıght.  Hopefully the traın cabın ıs better than fırst class vıetnamese raıl (whıch we survıved twıce last year).


I may have to drag both Carrıe and her pack onto the traın thıs evenıng as she ıs stıll runnıng on Adelaıde tıme and currently ıt ıs 1am ın Adelaıde and only 630pm here.

Next tıme you hear from us we wıll be experıenced Turkısh traın travellers (here's hopıng)!

Love to all

Gordo and a very tıred Toot Xx.

Finally We made it!!!!!

So we finally made it to turkey (after 29 hours of travelling) and they even let us in the country. After two delayed flights, many screaming children and both of us grumpy after no sleep and no shower we finally arrived in the land of Christmas dinner (turkey for those who didn’t catch on).

Our transfer to the hotel gave us both flashbacks of the driving in Vietnam with a few near misses and many words muttered (by both of us and the driver). We arrived at the hotel, checked in, had a shower and then met up with the rest of the group. We went out for dinner and both just managed to keep our heads off our plates and our eyes slightly open.

It still doesn’t quite feel real to be sitting here on the other side of the world and also noticing that it is 420am Monday morning in Adelaide. No wonder we are tired.

Neither of us can think of anything else at the moment and I am amazed we can remember our own names.

Love to all

Toot and Gordo Xx.