the turkey leg

27 july - 7 august
Paul was the one who stated the obvious (the Turkey leg) when we were planning our trip in winter, so blame the title on him.

the blue mosque

Ahhh Turkey. I love this place. There are several reasons for this. One of my dearest friends lives here, Kelly with her husband Martin and children Megan and Johannes. She has a gorgeous penthouse flat in a cool part of Istanbul and a summer home on the island of Bugaz.

galata tower, near the school where Kelly works and their kids attend. the tower is part of the view from their flat terrace, but his photo is taken from the other side of the golden horn.

I first came here when I was living in Bulgaria. Visiting her was like going home. But there's more to loving Turkey than this. The people are friendly. The food is fantastic. The place is exotic but manageable. The sites are glorious. The sea is friendly. It's just a great place. Mind you, I haven't been more than 100 miles from the western coast, so I really don't know Turkey.

We arrived in Istanbul a few hours before Martin. He’d been in Colorado with Kelly and the kids. She’s a teacher, so they are still there. Our drive from Edirne to Istanbul was easy thanks to a modern, divided three lane motorway and Martin’s precise directions. His brother met us near their flat, arranged for our underground parking, gave us a key and offered to give us some local currency so we could get some lunch. (Every time I've come here, I've experienced this kind of hospitality. It may be a big part of why I love this place.) Even though we didn’t have to set up the tent, we had more to unload as we wanted to wash as much as possible and reorganize things. Thankfully, there’s an elevator. After cracking the Fort Knox doors, we entered nirvana. Five stories above the noisy city, a wrap around terrace on the top floor, a tasteful and sexy décor, and best of all…four cold beers in the fridge (which we swiftly consumed thinking Martin was staying on the island). Martin arrived, deciding to stay in Istanbul, but he made a bee line for the supermarket when I told him we’d drank him dry, and after putting Tim to bed, we ordered pizza, drank more beer and watched TV. It was surreal. I could go on and on. Do you see why it’s so great for me to go to Istanbul? Staying at Kelly and Martin’s place provided us a holiday from our holiday. Paul says that statement will probably make some people mad. Sorry. After moving around so much and camping or staying in sterile rented rooms, eight glorious days in this place was heaven. Their flat is so nice and their hospitality so complete that staying here is heaven anyway. Thank you, thank you, thank you. He stays at their island home in the summer months, so we had the place to ourselves for a few nights. We went out to the island with him twice, each for one night. He has a powerboat and took us out twice, letting Paul drive even. Tim ‘swam’ for the first time. We thought he’d cry because it was a little cold, but he was a trooper. He tried to keep his hands and feet out of the water. He really liked watching the waves as we sped through the water and the bumps as we hit waves from the other boats.

lunch prepared by Martin on Kelly's power boat
Istanbul was its dependable, interesting and exotic self. I think Paul likes it as much as I do.

the hagia sophia

inside the hagia sophia. originally a christian church, it was turned into a mosque when constantinople became istanbul. today, there is an interesting combination of islamic and christian icons.

the grand bazaar - everyone wants to sell you the same thing, but it's a weird and wonderful experience.

turkish delight at the spice market

we took a boat ride up the bosphorus to the black sea. this castle was one of the sites on the way.

one of our 'babysitter's. in turkey, a baby is public domain. everywhere we went, tim was touched, kissed, cuddled, picked up and often carried away. our waiters took him from us and walked him around the restaurant. this woman was on the bosphorus boat ride with us. she had him for at least twenty minutes. this continued in greece to a lesser extent. he now expects strangers to pay him attention.

Sadly, we left the luxury of Kelly and Martin’s place today. Wonderfully, we left it not to return to jobs and responsibilities but to continue our adventure. We drove from Istanbul to the ferry at Chanakkale, which took us through Gallipoli, but we didn’t stop for the war tour. From there it was a quick drive to Troy. Tim and I enjoyed some time in the shade on his blanket while Paul toured the place, as I’ve been here before.

troy

From there we drove to a camp site recommended by Martin. It was a long drive on curving narrow roads, but the place was great, right on the beach. We ate dinner and watched the sun turn red and set. We would have liked another day here, but we’ve got ‘miles to go before’ we sleep.

breakfast in our campsite south of troy

We drove an hour or so to Bergama and visited Pergamum. The first place Paul and I met for a weekend together was Berlin and while there we visited the Pergamum museum. It was impressive then, and seeing where all that once stood in all its glory was great. I’ve been here before as well, but wanted to see it with Paul for that reason.

pergamum


pergamum

From Bergama we drove to Selcuk. The highway is top of the line, and the drive was refreshingly easy. We made camp and I took Paul to Ephesus. Tim and I skipped this one as it was hot and he was sick of being confined. When I visited these places it was in the reverse order: Ephesus, Pergamum, and Troy. Paul did it in the better order as each one is more complete and more impressive this way.

ephesus

ephesus