Turkey

Waking up to the call to prayer from the local mosque is definitely a bit of a change from my Blackberry alarm...with the snooze feature in Marmaris fulfilled by the local roosters.  Sometimes it takes determination to sleep in...especially when the Resort's pool opens at 8am.  Good morning, Turkey!

I'm not really sure where to start with describing Turkey.  We stayed in a resort in the town of Marmaris which is right on the Aegean Sea. Turkey is the bridge between Asia and Europe and that actually seems to explain a lot when you think about it.  The west and south coasts of Turkey lay on the Aegean sea with Greece to the north and Syria to the south.  They seem to be stuck somewhere between in many ways.  We travelled many nice new highways but when you look out into the fields it is like a history lesson.  I never thought I would actually see fields of sheaves or that goat herding was still a occupation.  But then again, I had never seen free-range cattle either.  Some areas are incredibly behind the times but then you get into the next valley (southern Turkey is mountainous) and people are driving around in shiny new tractors.

We took a day trip to see Ephesus which is, if you believe the tourist literature, among the best preserved ancient cities in the Mediterranean. I believe it.  Definitely the first (and maybe the last) street paved in white marble I will likely walk on!  At it's peak, it had a population of about 250,000 and was the Roman capital of Asia Minor.  John supposedly wrote his version of the gospel in the city around 60 AD...Mary, as in the mother of Jesus, was also in the neighbourhood.  Even if, like me, you struggle with organized religion, it does make you sit up and take notice.  Probably owing to the number of plumbing projects I have undertaken at my house over the last few years, I am totally impressed with the Romans water and sewer systems!  And, the architecture is okay too.

One thing I will always remember are the abundant and spectacular wild flowers.  The funny thing is that they are all flowers that we grow in our gardens at home except the Turkish climate makes the results amazing (and of course they are wild and not bought from the local greenhouse)!  Hollyhocks growing 10 and 12 feet high with flowers the size of my fist, every colour of ganzia you can imagine, bright red poppies, azaleas the size of a golden elder bush with the brightest pink flowers I have ever seen.

Just to top off the trip, we also experienced a small earthquake!  I'm not sure "experience an earthquake" was on my bucket list?  Very strange to feel the earth shake under your feet.  We were standing on a dock at the time and weren't really sure what had happened.  Luckily our new local friend Joe (played defence for the Hamilton Bulldogs at one point...so of course we three Canadian girls would meet potentially the only Turkish Hockey player in Marmaris), told us what was going on.