Random Thoughts on Turkey...
Trip Start
Mar 23, 2009
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Trip End
Apr 21, 2009
Bodrum, Turkish Aegean Coast, Turkey
Saturday, March 28, 2009
Just a quick note about today...
We had a wonderful day enjoying Bodrum. It's a nice, waterfront town that gets quite hoppin' in the summer months (I guess they call it the Cancun of Turkey). Right now it's still off-season so things are pretty quiet.
We spent the morning at the beautiful and amazing Castle of St. Peter, the main attraction of the inner harbor area. The castle was built by Christian Crusaders as they made their way to the holy land. The castle is now mostly a museum dedicated to the thousands of shipwrecks and underwater finds in the Aegean. It is thought of as the best collection of its kind in the world and it was quite amazing.
We also walked throughout the hills of Bodrum checking out a few of the other ruins of the region including the Ancient Theater, the Gates of Mydnus (where Alexander the Great entered the city from upon conquering it) and The Mausoleum (one of the seven ancient wonders of the world). We spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing by the water and reading.
Tomorrow we are off to make our way towards Kusadesi and plan to visit several ancient ruins along the way...
We also have some random thoughts on Turkey thus far for your reading pleasure:
1. Guidebooks and Wikipedia are correct, Atatürk's picture is EVERYWHERE and he is revered more than Lincoln or Washington is in the states.
2. Waiters like to help men put on their coats after meals, not so much the ladies.
3. It's politics season here with elections coming up and Turks love to show off their democracy using more flags, balloon's and van's with loudspeaker's than we have ever seen. I think they even make Eisenhower jealous...
4. Turks love tea, in little cute flower shaped cups. It is delicious. Oh and nobody really drinks apple tea. It's only made for tourists.
5. Street signs are nearly non-existent, traffic signals are a "suggestion" and walking may be hazardous, especially in Istanbul.
6. Pedestrians NEVER have the right of way.
7. You can kebab anything (with nipples...says Faulker) and more kinds than we ever though possible exist (I was thinking just shish or doner...but I would say more like 20 kinds).
8. Fish is eaten on the bone
9. Meat is (usually) eaten off the bone
10. Turkish airline pilots like to make descending as bumpy and scary as possible
11. Turkish airline pilots like to land on one wheel first, because that's how Atatürk did it (joke, well not about the one wheel landing part).
12. The Armenian ?
Until next time,
Bianca and Michael
