Turkey

Ok, So on the subject of not knowing of what to expect from a country, lets talk about Turkey.
I brought 2 rolls of toilet paper with me, along with some anti diarrhea medicine. That's just how uncertain I was.

ok. so here was the trip.
Me, JP, JP's little brother Andrew, Lillan, Chris, and Hugo started all out together in Istanbul. We spent a few days there seeing the sites. At first the weather was crappy.. kind of drizzly at night. Then it cleared up. Istanbul seems like San Francisco but not as rich or liberal (but more muslim eh). It is really a nice city. The enitre Aegean cost of Turkey is probably Central California to Southern California weather. It was really nice to feel climate like back at home after being in Stuttgart freezing my ass off for a few months.
After a few days, everyone but me and Chris went off to Athens. Then they did their thing.
So Chris and I booked a tour to
Selchuk (free day)
day trip to Ephesus
day trip to Pergamon
Pamukkale and Heriopolis
Antalya free day
day trip to Termessos

Selchuk was a cool town. Not really touristy compared to Kushadasi in the port. It was a great place to start day trips though. We were there on the 29th of March, the day of the total eclipse over Antalya. It was said that between 1 and 2 million people came to Antalya just for the eclipse. We were in Selchuk, not far away, so we barely missed being in the total eclipse area, but it got as dark as sunset there, and then after a while it got bright again. It was pretty cool even though we werent in totality. The turkish kids there were kind of stupid. They wanted to see the eclipse so they would burn something under a shard of glass and then look though the glass at the eclipse. Wouldn't be surprised if 100 Turkish kids became blind that day.

Ephesus was really nice. The weather was perfect for the rest of the trip after this, and we got a lot of good photos because its still the low season and there aren't many tourists there.

Pergamon was nice too. Both Chris and I have been to the Pergamon Museum in Berlin and we knew what the Alter of Zeus looked like before we went to the actual site. That was really key for us I think. Right now its a a field of stones with some trees in it. The theatre there in Pergamon was really neat too.

Pamukkale was kind of a let down I think. It was invaded by German tourists and the site was so destroyed by earthquakes and stone thieves (to make other buildings later in time) that there wasn't all that much to see. The natural springs there were kind of cool, but they limited what tourists could go into, and the water wasn't that warm, and the thing kind of hurt my feet. waaaah. I know. The hotel we stayed at in Pamukkale was the best... they had a cool pool, but they didn't have hot water for some reason.

Antalya was pretty sweet too. Very big recent tourist boom made that city what it is today. (thank the Germans for that one too) - its got some nice things, not insanely touristy like Istanbul, but the geography and climate, and people really make me want to go back.

We took a day trip to Termessos - that was probably my favorite tourist trip to ruins for the entire vacation in Turkey. It was only discovered again in the 20th century, and most of it hasn't been excavated yet. The theatre view of breathtaking for lack of a better description, and it was really just amazing to be able to walk through the forest of small trees and shrubbery that grew since it was abandoned centuries ago. The city is located over 1000meters above sea level near Antalya.. They were a rugged group of people up there. Alexander the Great couldn't conquer them, and the Romans had to compromise with them and make them an independent ally rather than a province or subject city. The photos are really cool. (I ran out of batteries so some of the photos were pretty much like turn camera on shoot and shut off before it automatically turned off on its own. Ill see how they look when I put them up.)

As far as visiting Turkey again, I think 100% that I will. There is really just so much to see there that it takes more than one trip. We really only saw a small part of the country, but from what we saw we were more than impressed.

Next - Spain for a few days, then Morocco. I will be back April 18th.