Turkey, again!

After a rough night with a fierce storm on Lesvos; howling winds, waves crashing on the beach - sleep was hard to find. We were on the Northern end of a storm blowing through Africa and Saudi Arabia which produced sand storms, so I guess we were lucky to just have waves crashing on the beach.

On Thursday morning, we departed Mytillini on a smaller ferry boat to Turkey, about a 1 ½ hour ride through the turbulent seas; before boarding we were pelted with heavy rain as we walked to the ferry from Passport Control at the docks. The weather did not abate until we reached our destination at Avyalik, Turkey, where the rain let up and bits of blue sky appeared. We planned to rent a car and drive through the country from Ayvalik to Bergama, Izmir, Heirapolis, Effesus and Cesme, then take a ferry to the Greek island of Chios.

In Avyalik we located the Avis office, made the necessary arrangements and took off in our 5-speed manual transmission, diesel powered, Ford Focus. White in color so we could travel incognito through the countryside instead of being branded as foreigners in an Orange Fiat Panda. We had a large fan fold map of Turkey that included some city maps. (Barb really loves these large maps that are easy to handle in a small car). The travel from Ayvalik to Izmir is mostly country, Bergama is one of the larger cities about half way there that was known as Pergamon, another ancient city sharing Greek and Roman roots. Recorded history in Turkey goes back 3000 years and is a mixture of many cultures, lots of wars, with many important ancient cities and events.

Turkey is surprising, it is very clean, in the countryside, the farms are well organized and productive. The soil is very dark and rick looking with large flat tracks of land. (In the Greek Islands the land very hilly and full of rocks). We saw large fruit stands along the road with beautiful citrus fruits, honey and other fresh items, the climate along the West coast of the Aegean Sea seems to be warmer than the Greek islands; the fruit trees were in full bloom, green vegetables fully developed even corn ready to bear.

The main divided roads are in excellent condition, well signed and posted for 100 kmh (62 mph) while the toll roads are posted at a maximum speed of 120 kph (75 mph). Toll roads are three lanes wide including a passing lane, and although the max speed is 120, that seems to be only a ‘suggested’ limit since cars regularly pass and disappear in short order. We have seen virtually every mode of transportation used, from fast cars to donkey carts, to farm tractors, three wheel scooters, motor cycles and pedestrians, which are all allowed on the toll way and other roads including the main city streets. It was not unusual to see a farmer driving a tractor with his wife and family in a wagon hooked to the tractor.

After a stop in Bergama, we arrived in Izmir, a city of some 2,500,000 people living in old parts of the city and newer areas of high density apartment buildings. The streets are packed with cars, buses, taxis and the occasional farm tractor, roads so narrow only a single, small car can pass. We had a small city map showing the location of the hotel within a particular area of the city, but no reference to where this area was within the overall city, so we did have great difficulty finding the hotel. We tried locating the hotel on the map but discovered the street signs are hard to find and not always indicated on the map. We finally broke down and called the hotel for directions but the best they could do was tell us the Ismira Hotel is directly across from the Hilton, not knowing where the Hilton was located made this a bit difficult; so after driving through most major areas of the city, we turned on the iPhone and keyed in the location of the hotel. Now the iPhone is truly amazing since it showed us the current location, and the location of the Ismira Hotel. Of course, this does not take into account one way streets, any street signs, or difficult traffic. We finally found the general area of the hotel but could not find it! We called the hotel again and got the same answer, next to the Hilton. After driving around and around the one ways streets clogged with traffic, traffic circles full of buses, streets where a trench was cut in the middle of the street and left full of dirt, merging from three lanes to one, we finally found the Hilton! But, no Ismira hotel. The iPhone clearly showed the location, but no hotel!!! A couple more turns around the neighborhood and we finally saw the hotel about one-half block from the iPhone indicated location, on the corner disguised as a large pink faced hotel.

With relief, we checked in and went to our room to unwind!

On Friday morning, we took off in the car for Hierapolis and Pamakkule about 224 km from Ismir. The hotel provided rudimentary instructions on how to get out of Izmir, which was helpful, and off we went on a new adventure. We have learned that the best way to navigate in Europe is to look for a city or town that is either the final destination or at least a city in the same direction. Since the normal street signs or road signs are sometime not adequate, at least finding a destination sign is the next best way.

Some 224 km later, after flying along the toll highways, and slowly winding through country roads we ended our journey at Hierapolis and Pamakkule. Hierapolis is an ancient Greek/Roman city situated next to the mineral springs of Pamakkule that was known for textiles, particularly wool. It is reportedly the site of the martyrdom of Saint Phillip in AD 80. Today the ruins and the mineral springs are one of the most photographed sites in Turkey. Many tourists visit these sites and one of the favorite activities is to bathe in the mineral pools, even in the cooler seasons, on the day we visited many tourists from Germany, France and Italy were there by the busload.

After a nice walk through the ruins and a visit to the impressive mineral springs which cover several acres, and are visible from twenty miles away, we drove back to Izmir, locating our hotel with no trouble!

After an uneventful trip back to the hotel, we decided to go for a walk looking for bargains near the hotel. Having lost her $1 pair of sunglasses on Lesvos, we found a small store with a variety of merchandise including racks of sunglasses in the latest European fashion. After a little haggling with the Arab trader she became the proud owner of a very nifty pair of sunglasses, they even look good in the dark! Next was the shoe store with fantastic sandals for a mere 5 TL, the biggest problem was trying to convert metric size shoes to US sizes, but no problem and we are now in possession of the best pair of sandals ever.

On Saturday morning we left Izmir for the last time and drove to Ephesus, one of the greatest ruined cities in the western world. with over 3,000 years of history starting with the Greeks and then taken over by the Romans in the 4^th century BC. The ruins today are extensive and still give a perspective of the size of the city that was once the main Aegean port for the Romans. The most recognized ruin is the Library of Celsus built in AD 114, along with the theater which seated 24,000 people, the largest theater constructed by the Romans. The site is being excavated and restored by several

Groups including the Austrians in cooperation with Turkey. It is an incredible site and one of the largest sites we have ever seen. Part of the restoration includes homes of the wealthy built on the side of a mountain, what we call view property today. The remains of these houses include beautiful wall frescoes, marble walls and mosaic floors, large banquet halls, and reception rooms, water and drainage systems.

Ephesus was one of the major cities in the early Christian world hosting two councils, and reputed to be the home of the mother of Christ in her last years. There is a shrine about seven kilometers from the main town on top of Mount BulBul with a house advertised as the last dwelling place of the Virgin Mary, however, the rock structure was built in the early 1900’s. Many tourists visit this site especially on August 15, Mary’s feast day.

With time growing short we departed for Cesme, on the Turkish coast opposite the Greek Island of Chios. The 100 km drive was uneventful, even as we approached Izmir on the bypass road. We had made arrangement to drop the car in Cesme with the rental agency in Ayvalik; there is no Avis agency in Cesme but they said we could drop the car with one of their associate agencies near the Port, of course they were not really explicit about the exact location, probably because they were not sure themselves. So after driving through the village looking for rental car agencies, with the usual ending up in narrow one-way streets, trying to find a way back to our starting point, we double parked the car in the street outside a rental agency , went in to ask about Avis; ‘no, there is no Avis agency in this town’, yes I know that but do you know anyone that would handle Avis, no! Okay, so down the street to another agency, no, no Avis in this town. With one more place to try, we were getting a bit apprehensive since the ferry would be departing in about one hour. The final agency gave us the same story (did I mention we tried calling Avis in Ayvalik)? We did but the person who answered said in broken English that the Avis guy was out not sure when he might return, at least that is what I thought he said. So, back to the final place, did they handle Avis, no, do you know who might, no. I explained we had to catch a ferry; oh, which ferry? The San Nicholas to Chios, and I showed him our travel voucher for the tickets. Why this is our agency and we will give you the tickets, just go to the dock at 5:00. Excellent, but what about the car? After a conversation in Turkish with one of the other people in the office; no problem ‘we will take care of the car, leave it at the dock and no problem, everything is taken care of’. Hmm, so what did he really say in Turkish? ‘These stupid Americanos are about to lose their rental car because they trust us?’ Stupid or not, we took photos of the rental agency, the car, odometer, full fuel indicator and the location at the dock. But before we could leave the car at the dock we had to fill it with diesel. One of the amazing things about Turkey was the abundance of service stations, even in the small villages, there were at least two if not three gas stations, so no problem, we go to find a gas station. However, the city of Cesme has no visible gas stations, more questions and finally we locate a gas stations about 7 km outside of town that has diesel.

Back to the dock where we left the car, obtained our ferry tickets, went through Turkish Customs and waited for our ship to come in. Of course once inside the waiting area the Duty Free shop opens and I have 100 Turkish Lira that needs to be spent since we are not returning to Turkey anytime soon. The Duty Free shop is full of liquor, cigarettes, perfume and watches. Cigarettes and perfume are not on our list, so all that was left is liquor, or a watch that costs more than 100 TL. The booze was pretty cheap, so I bought two bottles of wine, a small bottle of Absenthe, and one liter of J&B Scotch for the hotel owner. With the bag in hand and two small coins left we boarded the ferry for the 40 minute ride to Chios. Upon arrival, we went through Immigration and then had our luggage searched where we learned that our allowance was only one liter for each traveler…… Well, we played dumb as the customs guy explained we could only have one each, then, he just let us go. We wondered if the Turks did this, (knowing the limits) as a cruel hoax on the Greeks, and unsuspecting Americans.

In Turkey, we drove about 800 km (500 miles) with no problems, no scratches on the car, actually doing remarkably well even ins difficult situations, so I figure we could just about drive anywhere, except maybe Cairo!