Last scraps of Turkey...

From Katranci we headed further inland to visit the legendary cliffs of Pamukkale, by this point though we were more & more aware of our dwindling finances and decided not to walk up along the top of the calcium formations but instead we went for dinner in a little restaurant which had a balcony overlooking the cliffs. It was lovely and once the sun went down there were lights which illuminated the cliffs with a soft blue glow.
We got up bright & early the next morning and by the afternoon had arrived at a campsite in Ephesus.
Adam suggested we visit a local village _ Sirince _ which is famous for it's vineyards & fruit wines. Never one to shy away from an opportunity to sample the local tipple, we made it a priority to go straight up there! As Adam was driving lucky me go to go for the wine tasting - which was very pleasant - there was a range of different flavours, all incredibly sweet - from a plain white wine through to a dark cherry flavoured one. Also strawberry and a lovely peach flavour. We indulged in a box of 3 and retired to the campsite for our dinner of pasta with tuna and a whole lot of wine. A lovely evening. We had every intention of going to visit the ruins at Ephesus and could actually make out the amphitheatre from our campsite but on reflection, once we saw the ticket price to go in we decided that we had really seen enough ruins in the past 2 or 3 weeks and that Turkey isn't that far away should we wish to go back and visit another time.
Another factor in the decision was a little accident i had at the campsite in Pamukkale - when i somehow managed to fall out of the back of Treacle when she was stationary and i was sober. I cracked my shin on the little step that drops down to enable me to get into the back of the car more easily - and it was starting to swell up by this point and was fairly uncomfortable to walk on.
We left just before lunch on the 19th Aug our destination was Istanbul via Iznik but that was a few days drive away so we took it steady until mid afternoon when we got stuck in the biggest traffic jam we had seen since Poland! It must have been a regular occurrence as there was an elderly lady wandering up and down the three lanes of stuck traffic with a wicker basket full of warm freshly made gozleme. mm yum. Everyone pretty much was out of their cars stood around chatting, picking berries from roadside shrubs and walking up the long hill to try to establish what the delay was. We got chatting to a friendly group of lads in the car next to us - who were also on their way to Istanbul. One, Ozkan, could speak pretty good English and after rooting around in the boot of his car came over and presented us each with a different book. We were chuffed and rather bemused to note that they were in English too. Mine was entitled "Nature:cause or effect?" and Adam's tome was called "The Fruits of Belief". They are by Bediuzzaman Sais Nursi & go some way towards explaining some of the beliefs and by ""demonstrating the essential truth & reasonablesness(sp)"" of the Qur'an. He was a great guy and was in no way trying to do a roadside conversion but just succeeded to shed a little light on a mysterious and intriguing subject.
He gave us his e-mail address so if any of you have any questions about Islam or the Qur'an, i know just the guy to ask!

Iznik was a lovely little village & we camped right beside the lake there, which was as clear as glass. Had a look at & bought some of the pottery that they are famous for, enjoyed some wonderful cakes and as it was the night before then month long Muslim fast - we got some absolutely delicious Ramadan bread. Lush.

We were lucky enough to be in Istanbul for the start of Ramadan - so one evening popped down to the area near the blue mosque and the Aya Sofia as we had heard that there is sometimes a light show projected onto the walls of the mosque. When we got down there it was total carnage!! It seemed the whole of the city & it's family were out for a twilight picnic and a stroll. To say it was packed would be an understatement. Everywhere we looked were groups of people with huge feasts spread out on blankets or on the many little picnic sets which had appeared for communal use. It was lovely, such a great atmosphere.
We went to a little snack stall to get something to eat - something we had both been craving for a while - a jacket potato. But this, dear readers was no ordinary jacket potato, oh no.... it was the sexiest spud ever. With not one not two but 12 fillings :o) some of the more unusual being chopped gerkins, cous cous & olives...


And so that's it from Turkey, a wonderfully diverse country with so much to offer and they truly know how to treat a tourist & the meaning of genuine hospitality!!