Samos Samos Samos!

So we messed up the Greek ferry times and on our arrival we soon found out the next ferry is on Sunday... 3 extra days to kill on a little Greek Island - what a shame...

After an afternoon tour of Samos town and a superb dinner (with the best view) at "steps" we settle in to the Virginia Hotel overnight. In the morning we hire a car (Hyundai something - does the job) for 30 euro a day and head out to Pythagoria via a quaint winding road through some stunning vilages.

The next nights hotel (Princessa) is out of the town centre but Michelle falls in love with the secluded beach in front of the hotel and the view of Turkey isn't bad either. We love this part of Samos. We swim, have the best "coffee toffee" ever and visit some archeological sites (including the Eupalinian Aqueduct) before finishing out day with a beer and baclava in the old fishing port area. We contemplate staying here but realise we have to move on in case Samos gets better than this.

Day two we head west (but hit the beach for a swim and coffee toffee once more). We visit on the site of Heraion, drive by Ionas and Pappa beach, visit the church in Pagondas and lunch. Then we head down to Marathokampou for another swim and some more great views. The days are long here - sun sets about 8:30, with light until 9 so we make the most of it and keep going until Karlovasi where we settle in to our next hotel- Anema by the sea. It fails to compare on views and location but its just one night. We have dinner in the town centre (fish and salad) and the next morning we head to Potami beach and the nearby waterfalls before checking out and heading East.

On our last night we stay at hotel Iro. It serves its purpose and gives us a chance to check out the local beaches of Lemonika and Tsanadou. Turns out clothing is optional in the latter... After a refreshing swim we head up the village of Vourliotes for a walk through Greek cottage charm. We finish with a HUGE dinner watching the sun set from a cafe on the water near our hotel. Mousaka, stuffed tomatoes, fried cheese, abergine dip, Greek salad, and local sweet white wine.

Our last day in Samos (and our first wedding anniversary!) and we drive back past Pythagoria to a little sandy beach, but forgo the swim in order to get back to Samos main town and the boat to Mykonos.

This was a great stop.

Samos Town view

Michelle at our favourite spot East of Pythagoria

Views looking West from Karlovasi

Lunch near the bay half way between Karlovasi and Samos town

Church

Heraion of Samos

Pythogoria Harbour

Mighty rental

Waterfalls

Sunset on Samos

Turkey Day 17-20: Fethiye-Kusadasi

Unfortunately it was raining on our last day in Fethiye, so we didn't see some things we wanted to, but we enjoyed the morning watching the storms roll in over the mountains and out to sea.

At midday we caught the bus to Kusadasi (4-5hrs) and had our cheapest lunch to date at one of the bus stops (it was really tasty too).

Fethiye harbor, the day before the rain

We woke up early for our tour to Pamukkale the next day. After waiting nearly an hour, Ben calls the agency who organised it and is told it's tomorrow (we assume the local travel group has stuffed up). Seeing we're ready to go, we get a local bus out to Ephesus and spend time exploring the ancient city instead.

Library of Celsus, Ephesus

Library of Celsus, Ephesus

Lunch at the Seven Sleepers

On Monday we wake early again for our tour to Pumukkale and after 30 minutes of waiting Ben calls again to see what’s going on. Long story short, by the time a representative from the tour agency finally shows up we’ve already organised a hire car and we’re walking out the door.

Pumukkale is a 3hr drive from Kusadasi. To be honest I'm so happy we're not doing a stupid tour but then I'm not the one driving. At 1pm we are walking up the travertines. It's a strange place ... random limestone formations on the side of a mountain, formed by flowing mineral springs. Once we've reached the top the crowds are forming and we manage to run into Fernando and Paulo from our cruise. We explore the ancient city of Hierapolis . Then head back down the travertines and this stage it's crowded. We feel very over dresses with the amount of tourists in swimmers.

On the way back to Kusadasi we stop by aphrodites but our guide book has the closing time wrong and we can't get in. Oh well, was an interesting detour.

Travertines, Pumukkale

Travertines, Pumukkale

Travertines, Pumukkale

Theatre, Hierapolis

Tuesday we went to the beach, explored the town, stumbled across a local market selling fresh fruit and veg, climbed up to what we thought was a lookout (couldn't find the way up so a local woman pointed us in the direction of a what looked like a goat trail through long grass, over rocks and broken glass and through holes in 2 barbwire fences) enjoyed the view of the city, found the easy way down the hill back to the market for our last gozeleme and I went to sleep after stumbling across a new episode of desperate housewives on the tv in the hotel room!

Market, Kusadasi

Kusadasi

Kusadasi

Turkey Day 16: Rodes

The 130 euro, 3hr return trip to Rodes today was all worth it for the amazing slice (cake size) of baklava ... better than anything we've had in the past 2 weeks of traveling around turkey.

The NZ family from the cruise were going to Rodes too, so time flew as both Ben and I sat for portraits by Milly. The trip back seemed very long and boring in comparison.

We wandered the old town of Rodes for a couple of hours, a very touristy but a lovely area encompassed by the old city walls. This was very much a chill out day for us both.

Portrait of Ben

Rodes

Turkey Day 12 to 15: The Blue Cruise

Our boat is a large and comfortable wooden hulled sailing vessel, although looking at the rigging I am not certain it is often sailed, rather motored everywhere. There are three crew (Captain -Torgai , Cook - Ibrahim and the guy who does everything else -Murat ) and we are travelling with a Brazilian Couple ( Paolo and Fernanda) and a NZ family of 5 ( Ned and Alex and the three kids Isaac 13, Eloise 10 and Millie 6).

On the first day we cruise into a secluded bay with a view of “Pirates Cave” and stop for a swim and some lunch. The water is a little cold and the wind still a little strong but we brave a few minutes in the water for a refreshing swim in a spectacular setting. The lunch made on board was simply the best food we can remember on our whole trip. Simple but delicious meze - Yogurt, Abergine something, vegetable salsa , bulgur wheat rice, bread, etc... mmmm.

Due to the rough seas off from the coast we are told we are anchoring nearby for the night, with an early start to try and beat forecast worsening conditions. Its not the best news but we can't seem to stop having a great time regardless!

On Day 2 we stop near the sunken city of Kekova and the Byzantine castle looking overlooking Simena, but we retreat to another secluded harbour for refuge from the winds and rough seas - nearby we climb to a mountain top to watch the sunset.

On Day 3 we head out early over rough seas for breakfast in Kas. We arrive just in time to catch a local annual parade in the port area and sit and watch whilst enjoying our breakfast. We explore Kas on foot for an hour or so (taking in some rock wall tombs and an ancient theatre) before heading out to another secluded bay.

On our final day the boat heads out early to once again try and beat the high seas. Its about 8:00am when I wake up after about 2 hours on the sea and I'm straight into the head to purge my stomach. Michelle sleeps peacefully as if a baby rocked to sleep. I am fine once above deck so all is well and another awesome day! We hit the Blue lagoon for breakfast , St Nicholoas and lunch and push on to Fetihye for the finish of this adventure.

St Nicholas - Our boat is third from left

Enjoying the sun

"Hi Ben" says Elloise as she walks past me sitting on the deck before breakfast. " do you have any kids?"

"no" I reply to the inquisitive ten year old.

" you should get some they are great fun"

Yeah you think so?

"yeah, but good kids, not like the little one"

You mean your younger sister Milly?"

Yeah the little one is annoying...

We have come to know our fellow passengers and crew quite well over the four days. Its a small boat so luckily its a great group of people. The three kids are simply adorable and their two mums easy going and good conversationists. Our other new friends are a brazilian couple. He is a doctor and she is a product/graphic designer...small world.

Our Cruise Family (from left Ben, Michelle, Murat, Alex, Isaac, Milly, Ned, Elloise, Ibrahim, Fernanda, Torgai, Paolo)

Turkey Day 9-11: Antalya/Cirali/Olympos

The bus ride... 9hrs and the seats were so uncomfortable, nothing like the bus to Gallipoli, stops every few hours, lights on without any warning, people getting on and off... need I say more.

We arrived in Antalya and we weren't feeling great. Our car hire rep was nowhere to be seen and meanwhile, the connection bus to Çirali had been and gone. We finally get in contact with our car rep and we're on the road! Thankfully Ben volunteers to drive but I'm stuck with the hard task of navigating us through an unknown city without any detailed maps. Unsurprisingly, with my fantastic sense of direction (if we listened to Ben we would have ended up lost) we quite easily made it and we're on the highway. We are completely surprised and blown away with the landscape ... there are huge rocky mountains spilling into the sea. In a little over an hour we arrive at Canada Hotel around 8am, where we were kindly given breakfast and then we went to sleep.

We awoke in the early afternoon and found a fantastic place specializing in Turkish pancakes (gozlemese). As we wait a local woman sitting on a low stool proceeds to roll out the freshly made mix and cooks it on a coal fired convex hotplate. I ordered the eggplant and I'd easily say it was definitely up there with the tastiest meals I've had on this trip. Wanting to go back to sleep we force ourselves to explore the area. We walk along Cirali beach to where the ruins of Olympos are seen, on the rocky cliffs above the sea amongst pine trees. We explore these for a few hours and then I have a refreshing swim in the beautiful clear water. Being lazy we have dinner at the hotel but it's a fabulous 4 course meal starting with lentil soup and bread, then mezes (including an interesting soy pasta with yoghurt plus the usual hummus, vine leaves, vegies and a fresh salad) chicken curry and lastly a fresh fruit platter. Way too much food but yummy!!!

View from top of Olympos Ruins

Cirali

Saturday we drove back past Antalya to Termessos. On the way we stoped at a roadside stall to buy fruit, as we point to various things the mother and father are asking their 2 young children in Turkish what the English name of the fruit are. By the time we leave at least another 4 children had emerged to practice their English.

Termessos was an amazing place. It’s an ancient Pisidian city over 1000 meters above sea level. We climbed up this massive mountain over pieces of marble, an ancient capital here, a column there. When we reached the top there were many ruins to explore, our favourite being the theatre, high on the edge of a cliff, overlooking deep valleys and mountains, with views to Antalya and the ocean in the distance.

Ruins at Termessos

Termessos Theatre

On the drive home we stopped at Phaselis. An ancient Lycian city set along the beach. This time I sat and enjoyed the view while Ben went for a swim ... and guess what, for the 1st time ever he was able to float in the regular ocean!!! We tried another gozlemese restaurant for dinner but it was no match for the previous night.

Phaselis

At about 8pm we drove (I finally get to drive) to Chimaera where we walk 1km up a mountain to see this natural phenomenon. Night has fallen by time we get there and we stare in wonder at these flames coming out of the rocks.

Chimaera

Today, Sunday, we returned the car to Antalya (logistically we should never have hired it there) and got a local dolmus ride back to cirali (which we caught from the side of a main road ~ no bus stop in sight). We had a delicious pancake back at the 1st restaurant we went to, a relax on the beach and a much needed lazy afternoon by the pool at the hotel.

We are both very much looking forward to tomorrow when we set sail on our 4 day 3 night cruise to Fethiye!

Turkey Day 5-8: Cappadocia

A short flight from Istanbul is Cappadocia, a fascinating place in central Turkey. The transfer from the airport is over 40 minutes but we soon get distracted by the snow capped mountains on the horizon. Our hotel is in Gorome, a charming town in a valley full of fairy chimneys, cave hotels and carpet shops. Our room in the Kelebek Hotel is a cosy semi cave room and the hotel itself has great views overlooking the town.

Gorome Village

The following day we wake up a 5am for a balloon flight over the surrounding area. As well as the stunning landscape, the number of balloons where a site in themselves - 46 fly each day and they said there should be 50 by then end of the year!

I hope the photos speak for themselves!

After a glass of champagne, we return to our hotel for breakfast and then start out day tour organised through the Kelebek Hotel/Heritage Travel. The tour included a scenic walk through rose valley, thus called due to the pretty colour of the rocks. This walk ended in the town of Cavusin where we walked upon the ruined old town (the town was relocated after an earthquake destroyed it). We then went to Pasabag, to see the mushroom shaped fairy chimneys and then the underground city of Kaymakli. We explored 4 floors of this underground city, which consisted of many narrow passages linking different rooms.

Rose Valley

Rose Valley

Pasabag

Pasabag

Pasabag

Kaymakli

The following day we did another tour. We had a few photo stops along the way before our walk through the Ihlara Valley. This was a beautiful walk through a canyon following a running stream, with pigeon holes and cave temples in the cliffs on either side. We ended our walk in Belisirma where we had a very average lunch compared to the delicious feast we had yesterday. After lunch we went to the biggest rock-cut monastery of Cappadocia, Selime Monastery and Kathedral. Then we drove to Guzelyurt where we explored another underground city. This one wasn't as extensive but it did involve some very narrow vertical passages that we had to climb up and down and a nasty horizontal one which removed skin from my back, ouch. We finished with a panoramic view of pigeon valley where we decided to leave our tour and walk home. Yet another beautiful walk through yet another different landscape. Budget dinner - doner kebab for Ben and a Turkish cheese pancake for me.

Looking down on the Ihlara Valley

In the Ihlara Valley

Volcanic peaks seen on the drive

Selime Monastery

Inside one of the cave churches in the Selime Monastery

Pigeon valley

Our last day in Cappadocia we had a slow morning packing up and organising the rest of our turkey trip. We explored the Goreme open air museum for a few hours (full of interesting cave churches and rooms) and had a walk through the Zemi Valley before our dreaded 9 hour overnight bus to Antalya.

Inside one of the churches in the Goreme Open Air Museum