Trail of Ruins

I still have a lot to share on Istanbul, but I want to get caught up on the trip so far.  Istanbul is easy to get back to because we're going to actually be back there at the end of the trip.  We're happy to return, it's a great city.  But we've had some great adventures since leaving.  Here's what we've been up to since Wednesday.

Istanbul to Bozcaada
Wednesday morning, if you had asked me about Bozcaada, I would have said, "Huh? What's that?"  But after a long string of unplanned events, that's where we ended up for the night.  It just goes to show that even the best plans sometimes, or in our case, rarely ever, work out.

Wednesday morning we woke up early to catch what we thought was a 7 am train to Izmir.  The man at the train station's ticket booth told us we would catch a local train at that time, then a ferry, then another train.  It didn't dawn on me until after we got off the first train that the 7 am departure was for the ferry.  This realization came at the same time as the first drop of a major downpour.  It was two minutes till 7, the ferry station was ahead, across four lanes of traffic and down one block.  We ran, yanking our luggage along behind, and missed the boat.

So, there we were, standing outside the ferry station, upset, soaking wet, and looking like goldmines to the lurking taxi drivers.  We asked them to take us to a car rental place and they literally fought over whose taxi we were to end up in.  If there is something every taxi driver in every country knows, it's how to take advantage of a desperate traveler.  The "winner"of the battle refused to turn on his meter, but backed down in the face of our wrath.  At this point, we were not to be messed with.  Luckily, we didn't have to deal with him long, there was a travel agency just a few streets over.

From there we took a shuttle to the airport, and left the airport in a shiny Ford Fiesta.  Brand new and in prime condition to cruise on down the west coast of Turkey.  With the car and the GPS we were ready to explore.  And so we did.

Our first stop was in Tekirdag for lunch.  The guidebook told us it was famous for its meatballs, and sure enough, there were about 300 meatball restaurants by the side of the road.  They were great, but abundant, so we wrapped up the rest for a picnic at the first of our historical stops: Troy.

Meatballs!

I actually had very little interest in stopping at Troy.  Brad was only slightly more interested, but we both knew one thing for sure: if we had just blown on past it, our fathers would have been disgusted.  Do you know that my dad used to read the Odyssey to me as a bedtime story?  Brad's dad is an even bigger history buff.  So, off to Troy we went.  Dads appeased and to be honest, it was on the way.

To me, Troy looked mostly like a bunch of old rocks.  But I can appreciate the awesomeness of that much history in one spot.  But the big hit of Troy was the Trojan horse replica at the entrance.  People were treating that thing like the real Trojan horse, examining the walls, taking their time going through it, yeesh people!  What the hell?  You really think a wooden horse would last thousands of years?  Good Lord.  Oh well.  I guess it's nice to feel smarter than the other tourists.

The Trojan horse

This is Troy.  See what I mean about old rocks?

With Troy checked off the list, and a long day behind us, we needed a place to stay.  The guidebook recommended the island of Bozcaada, calling it a sun-drenched island, known for its wine.  That's about all you have to say to convince me.  We were just in time to catch the ferry (our ferry luck had changed.  Earlier in the day we took another ferry, just over a small stretch of water, and saw dolphins!) so off to Bozcaada we went.

Bozcaada town

Bozcaada is not sun-drenched in April.  In fact, it was really rainy and cold.  But it didn't take us long to find the wine, and our hotel owner/Turkish grandma made us dinner in her cozy little kitchen, so we were snug and happy.

my Turkish grandma

In the morning we took the car around the island, which was in fact covered in vineyards.  There were some small beaches and little restaurants, but everything was closed for the season.  After a quick tour of the town's castle, we got back on the ferry and headed south to parts unknown.

jump shot!

While Brad and I were playing around in the castle (making shooting noises and pointing our gun-shaped fingers out of the windows) I saw the ferry pull up.  I was worried we would miss it.  

Bozcaada to Foca via Assos
this part of the post will be otherwise known as:
A Night at the Drunk Hotel

All along our plan was to get to Selcuk, the base for Ephesus, but we rented the car for five days, so we knew we could take our time getting here.  We thought we'd toot along the southern end of a peninsula to see Assos, the temple of Athena.  I don't know, I guess once you see one ancient ruin, you just gotta see more.  So, the guidebook said it'd be a quick drive there, but we might have taken the wrong route, because it took most of the day, winding through open countryside, watching the sheep and shepherds, stopping in tiny, tiny towns to ask for directions, which involved lots of hand signals and pointing.  Eventually we made it, but in this case, getting there was more than half the fun.  The drive was really beautiful, the temple, not so much, but it did have some good views, and a lot of old rocks.

Temple of Athena

pretty countryside

Brad in the rain

After the temple our goal was Foca: a little seaside town.  We didn't make it there, but we did get to Little Foca where we had a delicious dinner of fried sardines, salad, beets and a mysterious green.  The people who owned the restaurant were eager to help us find a place to sleep.  Most of the hotels are shut down this time of year, but they found one for 100 lira, about 60 dollars.  We thought we'd save money and checked into the pension around the corner for 50 lira.  Oh, boy.  What a decision.

Foca

fried sardines. yum. 

Does anybody know what this is?

The room was dirty, the bathroom already wet, but we realized just how bad things were going to be when a man with a lit cigarette stumbled into our room.  Apparently we'd checked into the drunk hotel, the place where all the town's derelicts stay the night.  You know that scene in Big where he checks into the crappy hotel and turns off the noise of the TV only to discover that the noise around him is worse?  Well, that was us.  The drunks in the street were loud, so we shut the window.  But the drunks in the hotel were louder and they were jiggling our door handle.

Yikes!

People were not abiding by the no-smoking rule, but the hotel did provid room sandals.  Isn't that nice?

We made it through that cold night with very little sleep.  Brad slept in all his clothes and we both used a t-shirt to cover our pillows.  I had a spring in my back no matter which way I turned, but must have eventually nodded off.  At 7 am, Brad shook me awake and said, "Let's go."  I didn't hesitate.  The water in the bathroom had been shut off sometime in the night.  We didn't even brush our teeth, just grabbed our bags and ran out the door.

Foca to Selcuk
Out in the safety of the street, with the sun shining, it was a new day.  Today.  We made the two hour drive to Selcuk where we checked into a much nicer, and not much more expensive hotel and promptly fell asleep.

We planned to see Ephesus today, but our little nap turned into a big one.  Our only two activities today have been eating a big lunch, with wine! we deserved it, and visiting St. John's Basilica, some more old rocks, but also holy.

Tomorrow, we'll do Ephesus: the pinnacle of old rock collections.  Then this tour of ruins is over.  We're heading to the beach.