As planned, we visited Pumakkale after Ephesus. The place throws your senses a bit; although the rocks are white like solid ice, the sun is shinning down, the temperature is blazing hot, and the water lukewarm. Here is a picture of the main part of the place:
The best part of the whole attraction was watching Turkish girls trying to take model pictures in the hot springs. I did manage to be mildly creepy and steal a few shots of this ridiculousness on the camera...some of those are up for those interested. Better yet, we got Jess to pose a little bit and those are definitely worth a look...
After Pumakkale we headed to Fethiye. Fethiye is mostly a port city with some great views and a beautiful beach just outside the town. After a couple days here, Rory and Maura decided to take a boat trip to our next destination, Olympos. We never managed to cross paths after this separation, but I think we all ended up having a great time regardless.
As for Olympos, Jess and I got sucked into the chill atmosphere. We meant to stay 3 nights and ended up staying for over 2 weeks. We blame this mostly on the crew at Saban Pension (shout out to Mike, Meral and Hüseyin), who serve up some great food, provide lots of laughs, and generally make it very difficult to leave. For those of you wondering, we were there for the 4th of July and we did celebrate American style. Jess and I got tons of red, white, and blue accessories for the whole pension and forced them all to endure numerous renditions of the national anthem. If that wasn't enough, we then made them partake in some American games (America vs. "the rest of the world," of course). What can I say, we are true Americans. God Bless America! Besides all this fun, Olympos has some ruins that we admired from a distance, a great jumping rock, and lots of places to lounge around. So, lounge is what we did for the majority of our time.
Promptly after departing Saban Pension in Olympos, both Jess and I got really ill. Maybe that was a sign that we never should have left? We will never know. Anyhow, at the moment we are in Cappadocia and have yet to see a thing. I think tomorrow will be our day to see the site. Our next stop will be Istanbul to pick up our things, reconnect with friends we made the last time, and then head off toward Italy to meet up with my family. There will be lots of buses and trains in the next couple of weeks...but I can't wait to see my family!
2 comments:
A belated Happy 4th! I've never heard of the places you just mentioned. At some point I may find a map but not right now. Why, well we are gearing up for our own travels. We will be heading out in mass (Aunt Joan & I) to the far end of Long Island, Sayville to be exact. The traveling will be long and difficult (not the words I wanted to use but I can't spell the one and the other is unfit to print). We expect to see the site, and have many things to discuss afterwards and maybe some pictures. So there we travel to places of interest (???) also. Miss ya, be well stay safe and as always don't forget the fiber
dear jessica,
abby and i will be in spain the first week of august. any chance you'll be there. we're going to madrid for a day or two. would love to see you.
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