Hello lovelies!
I thought today I would share part two of my photoblog series on my top 5 adventures, before heading out for the last official day of our Staycation.
Choosing the photos for this one was even worse than wading through the 2000 plus photos I had for Morocco because I absolutely adored this place. So I hope you enjoy a quick look at today's adventures - in Turkey, my thoughts and some of my experiences.
Turkey is such a vast land, with so many exciting things to offer, particularly when coming from such a vastly different culture.
Turkey has an important place in the Australian psyche - wound into the image of young Aussie soldiers going off to fight at places they'd never heard of such as Gallipoli - looking for adventure, but finding death and tragedy. There would be few Australian's from my generation who don't remember the chilling music in Peter Weir's film Gallipoli, as Mel Gibson runs for his life to bring the word to stop the order to "go over the top" - the charge of soldiers up out of the trenches across no man's land towards the enemy.
The view Australians had when landing on the beach at Gallipoli
ANZAC Memorial at Gallipoli
Many Australian's now have their resting place here in Gallipoli
That's where many Australians start when thinking of Turkey - but of course there is so much more.. and Turkey and Australia seemed to have made their peace a long time ago. Australians seemed to be everywhere we went in Turkey, attracted by this exotic land with which we have a shared history.
Dancing to a Turkish rock band in a small club filled with locals in a tiny seaside village, when the strains of Men at Work's Land Down Under burst out is surprising but fun. We encourage the local clientele to get up and dance with us (more like jumping up and down like jackrabbits waving our hands about - but still good fun!) It seems they are just as fascinated with Australians!
Canakkale
Turkey, in 2012, was still a very secular country, particularly in the larger cities, but as with many of the Middle Eastern countries over the last few years it is returning to a stricter form of Islam, with calls to close sites such as the Hagia Sophia to westerners and return it to a Mosque. With the occasional march in the street and protests in Istanbul, the beginnings of this sentiment were already starting to permeate during our visit. I suspect if I was to visit these days I would feel less comfortable and as safe as I did back then. As someone who has had the luck and opportunity to visit these places, I truly hope that they remain open to visitors as a way to foster understanding of cultures and ways of life different to our own. Only this way do I believe we can truly became an inclusive global population. Acceptance comes from understanding.
Inside the Hagia Sophia
Inside the Hagia Sophia
The Hagia Sophia
I always plan thoroughly before going on a trip..that's why I make the worst backpacker! And it's likely a bit of Miss OCD coming out. But Australia is a long way from anywhere - we have limited time and money and so much to see... and we don't want to miss anything! Our holidays are often not "relaxing" in the traditional sense. Out of 178 days travelling on this trip, we were probably on the move to see things for about 140 of them! (A big trip like that for us, does however, start with pre and sometimes post holidays in Bali - where we actually spend a week or two doing nothing other than lying by the pool and maybe a bit of yoga - its no end of amusement to my friends that we have a "pre-holiday" holiday).
Sailing around the Lycian coast on the Mediterranean is really a must do if you have three days to spare - especially in some when you can dive off the boat into the cool blue water
Ruins can be seen under the water around the coastline
This planning phase also gives me a chance to discover all the things about a country I never knew. There are places you really just don't hear about and often when you get there, there's no time or it's too hard to organise to see them (There is method in my OCD madness). Turkey was one of those places. I pretty much was only familiar with Cappadocia and the pictures of hundreds of hot air balloons floating at sunrise over the amazingly coloured valleys below, Gallipoli and of course Istanbul and the Hagia Sophia.
The Cotton Candy Terraces at Pumakkale
Swimming in the Roman ruins at Pumakkale
The Library ruins at Ephesus
Ruins at Ephesus
I had no idea Turkey had one of the most amazing ancient Roman sites and ruins at Ephesus - much more impressive than many in Rome itself. There were beautiful landscapes that looked like cotton candy at Pamukkale. Quaint sea side towns were thriving tourist havens - somewhere to relax during the summer holidays. A whole history waited underground - both in the amazing cisterns under Old Istanbul and the underground cities near Cappadocia.
The coloured valleys of Capadoccia
The Fairy Chimney homes carved into the rocks in Capadoccia_
A month is no where near long enough in this beautiful country and I hope that one day we have the opportunity to return.
Here are just a few more of our favourite photos from this trip
The Basilica Cistern - a whole history under the old city of Istanbul
Anatalya waterfront -= you could easily spend a few days in this coastal seaside resort town
Yani Cami Mosque in Old Istanbul
Fethiye - beautiful but hard for an Australian to get used to beaches that are stony rather than sandy!
Us on holidays!
I hope these photos and stories inspire you to get out and explore this amazing rock we live on!
Til the next adventure - Steem on in Love and Light.
Source:
- Photos are the work of the author except where credited otherwise
- This is original Content and may at some future point also be found at my Travel Blog The Amateur Adventurer
- You can check out some of my other posts here:
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!steemitworldmap 41.0086213 lat 28.9802148 long Adventures in Turkey - D3SCR