...we'll be back after this sea voyage

We have flitted to Pamukkale (best highlight of Turkey so far) and then to Fethiye on the south coast since our last post. We are 1/2 hour out from a 4 day "Blue Water" voyage out of Fethiye - with blissfully no Internet and no travel plans to make. So we'll post again in a few days, when we're back from cruising. As Bugs Bunny says: "Bon Voyagee" to us!

Turkish Shave

Our hotel recommended getting a shave from one of the many barbers in Selchuk.  I'd never had a proper barber shave, and the going rate was 5 TL (less than $3 CDN), so I figured I'd give it a shot.

Besides, my long beard had been making me a little owly.

I was pretty keen to try some manly pampering, and to get rid of my now-itchy beard.

Admittedly I haven't been to Southeast Asia, but this was the best value-for-money I've yet experienced for a personal service.  My 5 TL got me:

• A big, churned up faceful of thick, hand-whipped cream shaving cream, applied and thickened for several minutes on the face with a huge brush.
• Laser-accurate shave with a straight blade from a barber who knew his business.  Every whisker was removed, sometimes individually, with no irritation or burning.
• Auxiliary hair removal around other facial features.
• Manual sideburn trim and associated over-ear and side-of-neck hair trim.
• Rinse & firm toweling.
• Apricot face lotion massaged in.
• Shaving talc applied.
• Stray cut whiskers removed with alcohol-dabbed cotton swabs.

The shave took at least 20 minutes, and indeed I felt fresh and invigorated.  Not kidding!  If you let your beard grow and are facing the prospect of clogging your weak little safety razor 100 times in a row to chop it all off, do yourself a favour and let a pro handle it. 

I heartily endorse this barber's shaving technique

COMPLETELY UNRELATED

...but not worth its own post:

Many people in Selchuk (and elsewhere) have purchased cheap Chinese knock-offs of 1970s-era Honda 125cc motorcycles, as pictured above.  They're available under several brand names, but they're obviously trying to be the tried-and-true Honda, which is a pretty cool vintage bike.  From what I know, there's a reason they are CHEAP Chinese knock-offs: don't expect Honda quality.

Selcuk and Ephesus

On Friday we awoke to sun in Bozcaada, which was unfortunate for us as we were spending the whole day on a bus headed for Selcuk, our base for Ephesus.

We were rewarded on our arrival with these views from our hotel room window (the mosque is lovely at sunset, but the call to prayer sure comes early in the morning).  We are staying at a hotel called Jimmy's Place, which for some reason I find hilarious (it's Turkey, people!)

Selcuk is a great little town with a nice buzz.  It is also about 3 kilometres from one of Turkey's most famous sites, Ephesus.  It was a major Greek and then Roman city, though it began in the bronze age.  We started today with a trip up to Ephesus, catching a taxi up early with an Aussie friend we made to avoid the crowds and heat to the extent possible.  Here's a few of our many, many shots, though the scale and impressiveness of Ephesus are impossible to show or describe here!

The small theatre

The large theatre - seats 24,000

It is mind blowing to imagine how Ephesus must have been 2,000 years ago when it had 200,000 inhabitants.  The site is very impressive, and definitely exceeded my expectations.

We returned to Selcuk to find the Saturday market in full swing throughout the downtown.  Hands down the best market I have ever been to.  It is filled with locals stocking up their pantries for the week, rather than tourists, and the range of fresh fruits and veggies for sale is stunning.  We left with tasty cherries, apricots, peas, and oranges, and it was hard to limit ourselves just to those!

We found artichokes as big as my head!

We spent the afternoon wandering some of Selcuk's other sights, visiting the Ephesus museum, feasting on the fruits of our trip through the market, and sitting in a cafe in the park soaking up the sunshine.

The ruins of the Roman aqueducts running through the centre of town.  A favourite spot for the cranes to build their nests.

Cranes are everywhere!  At this time of year, most have chicks hiding in their nests.

A 3D optical-illusion sculpture of Ataturk.

In the Ephesus Museum, the "Socrates Room" - a fresco, mosaic floor, and some of the decorations from one of the Terrace Houses where the wealthiest citizens lived.

The huge head and arm of Emperor Domitian - the entire statue was reputedly 21m tall

We had a lovely time in Selcuk and were suitably impressed by Ephesus.  Tomorrow we move on to Pammukale - stay tuned for what we find there!

More Bozcaada

Day 2 on Idyllic Bozcaada, we awoke to fairly stiff, though intermittent, rain.  This did not bode well for our plans to hang out on the beaches on the far side of the island.

The minibuses weren't running, and we didn't want to rent a scooter in the rain or pay extra money for a cab.  So we thought hey, what's a little rain?  We have rain gear & umbrellas, and could use a bracing walk across the island.  We set out in a lull in the rain.

Right out of town we saw a couple of wineries.  Alright, good stuff.

Unfortunately, we then ran into an unbelievable local cold front - lightning, and a massive, horizontal downpour.  By pure luck we were 100m from a gas station where we could shelter, but still got soaked in our brief encounter.  Given the intensity of the storm and the frequent lightning on open country, we figured we should stay in town.  Even taking a cab would only take us to a rainy beach.  We even got a ride back with a sympathetic resident.

Town was experiencing drainage problems from the rain as well.

Sarah, looking a little wet, was happy to grab some lunch.

The rain let up a bit in the later afternoon, so we were able to walk around town a bit.  Lots of lovely little homes.

Looking into wine country & towards the beaches we couldn't take advantage of.  Drat!

Nice melange of thistles and poppies.

The wooden ship in the middle is named "Titanik I".  Um, no thanks, I'd rather not go for a cruise.

We were walking by this Carlsberg poster, and I glanced at the skyline thinking, "I wonder what city that is?"  Then I looked a bit closer.  It's a heavily modified downtown Vancouver skyline.  Canada Place (minus the sails) is in the middle, and there's a mirror image of the Vancouver skyline to each side.  You can see the Scotia Tower, Bentall 3 (BMO), Marine Building - the bright light at the shoreline on the right is the big Chevron fuel barge sign in Coal Harbour, which they've whited out in the poster.  Weird.  I guess Vancouver has a world-class skyline - or a very generic one suitable for advertising...

Saw some pretty interesting modes of transportation on the island.  Here's a rototiller and a 2-wheel trailer that have been converted into some kind of slow-speed Mad Max chariot.

And here's a tractor with the slogan of a local winery ("life's a cabernet"), with Lamborghini badging, including the Bull hood ornament.  Sweet ride.

We stopped by a cafe for dinner, and ran into a Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retriever - Sarah's parents' dog (Allie) is the same breed.  Definitely NOT something we expected to see here.  The cafe owner had found it as a stray on the island, and after it hung out for a few days, she decided to keep it.  She wasn't sure what breed it was, but we were able to 100% confirm it's a Duck Toller.

Sarah was in heaven giving some fine pets to Humphrey, Allie's Turkish cousin.

Bozcaada

Before leaving Çanakkale, I had to snap a shot of their much-worshiped WWI mine laying ship Nusrat, prominently displayed in the harbour.  I only found out later that it's a replica.  The ship laid mines in a position they expected the allied fleet to use during attack, and its mines destroyed three allied ships during the main March 18, 1915 attack.  Strange, it looks harmless enough.

We grabbed a fast catamaran ferry to the island of Bozcaada, the smallest of the two Aegean islands owned by Turkey.  (The rest are owned by Greece.)  It's a Turkish tourist destination, not many Euros or others go there.  Which is fine by me - it is small, charming, friendly and super relaxing.  It also has a growing wine industry (most of the arable land is used for vineyards) - wine has been produced here for millennia, but they really only got their act together for modern, higher-quality wine recently.

Umm, a nice Venetian fortress overlooking the harbour in the little (and only) village on the island?  Yes please.

Glass of "red poppy syrup" (poppies grow wild everywhere), that tastes a bit like sweet red wine?  Definitely.

Shoreside bench with a fortress view?  Sure!

Wednesday market with fresh local produce, cheeses and wines from the island?  Of course!

Open-air breakfast/lounge area provided by our hotel, with local kirsh cherries, strawberries and wine from the market, and homemade dolmes (grape leaf-wrapped rice) from our host?  Heck yes.  (View of the harbour washed out in the photo.)

Dinner of mezze (small shared plates) in the Greek quarter (hard to believe a village this small has a Greek side and a Turkish side, each a few blocks wide).  With a big glass of raki (equivalent to ouzo, pastisse (e.g. Pernod), etc. - typical Mediterranean aniseed-flavoured liquor).

Ooo, finally a real Turkish coffee instead of Nescafe!

Harbourside view, with the wee fishing fleet.  Will probably become a haven for yachts and cruise ships in a few years with the impending enlarging of the harbour and the push to "develop" this quaint little island more.  (Some would say too much.)

Greek quarter restaurants pre-dinnertime.

Yes, we actually could have eaten there - it's not a painting!

Surveying the Aegean.

Hotel had an extremely relaxed dog, Miller, who "guarded" the front door to escape the sunshine.  Always nice to have a dog friend nearby who likes being petted.

Note: Turkey is FULL of cats.  They run rampant in Istanbul, and to a slightly lesser degree everywhere else.  But weirdly they don't seem to be a problem - they don't beg very forcefully, they stay out of your way, only quarrel occasionally at night, and seem to be relatively healthy.  Dogs need licences, however.  But on Bozcaada there were quite a few seemingly owner-less dogs around - but all were calm, friendly and reasonably well-fed, and seemed to be fixtures in the village.

Indeed, our first day in Bozcaada was remarkably good.  We finally hit a "vacation" moment instead of all the "travelling" we've been doing.  We planned to stay another day, in order to check out the beaches on the far side of the island, and maybe taste some wine.