Turkey is now officially our favorite country, so far, in the World. The Turkish people are so friendly, open, down-to-earth and generous. The word that captures Turkish people the best is 'sweet'.
We love the sensible, get-things-done attitude and the normalcy of the Turkish people's attitude to life. They don't ever seem to complain, dwell, or preoccupy themselves, they simply move forward with open smiles.
Walking around small community streets - we find the real Turkey. Pussy Cats and Dogs are everywhere - and mice are not. They are not considered to be problematic strays as they might be in the UK and the US. Instead, we came to realize that they are just socially integrated into the community and everyone shares in the responsibility of looking after them. People don't actually own all the cats and dogs, but welcome them and assist in their care. Bowls of food and water are left on streets and sidewalks all over and all the animals look well fed. The end result is that Pussy Cats and Dogs don't feel threatened - they wander in and out of cafes and restaurants, lie lazily around, and stop for a cuddle when they choose someone. People pet them and then they just wander off. When they fall asleep in the middle of the road, cars just stop or drive around them. People consider this normal. We found it refreshing - and perhaps a small insight into how Turkish people think the world should be.
There are loads of fun markets and bazaars in Turkey. So colorful and vibrant, even the tourist markets are fun to wander though.
All the local culture highlights are on display. Turkey does some things really well: Mini cucumbers are a staple diet; Tomatoes are fantastic - Many are what we would call Heirloom tomatoes; Fresh vegetables; Turkish Yogurt is the best we have ever had (Suzy being the thickest with a slight lemon flavor) even better than French; Huge, Plump Dates; Huge variety of Olives; the Dried apricots and Figs are second to none.
At today's prices, this lovely, high-quality local food is about 5X less expensive than the US or EU prices.
Turkish delight is also, everywhere - of course! We now understand that the traditional rose flavored, lightly powder sugared variety is truly Turkish but that the type filled with dried fruit and nuts - which is actually even more delish' .. is Russian or Ukrainian.
For meat dishes, stick to Chicken and Beef as there are not a wide variety of ham, bacon or pork-based meats for religious reasons. They have a 'salami', but we were not sure of its origin.
The mode of transport we chose was Bus as hiring a car was a hassle we chose not to deal with. The Turkish bus system is a dream - easy, cost-effective, comfortable. There are (1) inter-city coaches, (2) regional mini-buses, (3) local shuttles for tourists, and (4) city buses for the locals. Reservations are required for (1), cash for (2)-(3) and NFC card only for (4). The coaches have a driver and a 'steward' who serves snacks and drinks - reminiscent of the 1960's bus rides in our home countries. In some locations (like at DLM airport), they take the efficiency approach and leave only when every seat is full and then another bus immediately pulls up to start again. There are no online schedules except for the large coaches that run inter-city only few times a day. For local systems, routes are adapted on the fly to met local demand. There is very little formality. If the bus driver needs to stop for a leak or to grab a snack, he just pulls over. They just make it work, practically and thoughtfully. Once, an old woman needed to get off the bus a couple of blocks off the normal bus route. The bus just made a quick 1/4 mile deviation for her to her front door. No one complained. No one questioned. This is normal Turkish behavior.Wow. What have we lost in the West....?
A few times, without realizing it, we got on a local bus that required a local card (no cash). The bus driver realized that we were tourists or visitors by the gormless expression on Peter's face holding cash in hand, and allowed us aboard anyway with a smile even though we couldn't pay the fare as we had no card. In each case, local passengers jumped up and swiped their card for us, thus paying our fare. No questions. Just get on with life and make it happen. We then compensated the kind passenger with cash (although, some refused the compensation!). We were completely humbled, especially when we wondered how our home countries would handle the same situation - would the passengers all just start at their feet? Would the driver kick us off?
During the start of our three months in Turkey we chose to visit some of the ancient sites and some of the natural wonders that Turkey has to offer. Inland by a few hours bus ride, Pummakule, or the 'Cotton Castle' is a spectacular place to visit. A wide area of naturally formed, White Travertine deposits with water running over them. Travertine is a form of Calcium Carbonate based Limestone, deposited by mineral springs. (It's not calcium Sulphate as Peter told me) It looks like snow but is clean, hard rock. Covered in VERY hard, slightly milky, water. And, it's the temperature of a warm swimming pool. It's a Cliffside paddling pool walk - full of diverse people. Hundreds of people are walking up the hill slowly - enjoying the fresh clean warm water around their chins, feet or ankles. We just loved the contrast between the Conservative Muslim Dress code and the Bikini Clad Progressives - all enjoying the sunshine. Every one walking side by side, chatting in Turkish. It's nice to see people getting on together.... walking in the Cotton.
The area around Pamukkale is filled with complex geothermal viaducts. They capture the energy in the Geothermal energy plants we saw along the highway. Wide diameter, stainless steel, pipes run through the vast olive and pomegranate orchards, occasionally making shiny bridges to allow access underneath these hot pipes. Like Turkey's historical, cultural make up, the country sits in the middle of a rather complex tectonic system. Not two, but three tectonic plates intersect in Turkey. Arabian, European and Asian plates are all making their play on the region, thus creating an earthquake-prone zone. We remember the disastrous Earthquake in 1999, which killed many thousands of people in the Izmit region, a few miles East of Istanbul. Being from California, we know how the people must think about Earthquakes. At least they're making the most of it by reaping the benefits from low carbon geothermal energy.
We were staying in nearby Selçuk, an old town, closer to the coast with narrow, twisty cobble stone streets and full of character. There, community Pussy Cats are everywhere - well fed and very friendly. Our AirBnB was loaded with friendly kittens and very close to the city center. We found a little place selling fresh squeezed pomegranate juice. When we told the owner that we had squeezed about 50 pomegranate bushes a year, back in California, he insisted that we didn't pay for any. We just had to tell him that Turkish Pom juice was a bit better. We didn't realize how addicted to Pom juice we had become, living on our little vineyard in CA.
While in Selçuk, we visited the ancient city of Ephesus and the associated sites of The House of Virgin Mary and the Temple of Artemis. Ephesus is one of the major sites in Turkey where you can see well-preserved ancient ruins which was a city of 200,000 while under Roman rule. It was the ancient capital of Christianity as one of the seven churches of Asia as well as the Roman capital in Asia. The area is about 2,000 years old and had cool displays of Italian cypress trees, olive trees, vineyards, colosseums, ancient temples, ancient luxury homes, a brothel and a huge communal toilet/bath area for men only. Peter thought it sounded like a great place to live!!
Lastly, as we were traveling through Turkey, we got word on Chloe's status from Garcia. The hull has been flipped on schedule and is now ready for the ballast to be placed inside, further welding of internal components and bowsprit, and additional grinding and smoothing.
