Turkey and Africa - Part 1

YYZ-ORD-IST, IST-IZM-IST, IST-JNB-LVI, drive/fly botswana,  

MUB-JNB-CPT, CPT-JNB-MUC-YYZ

So we line up for our first flight - Pre-flight boarding annoucement!  Star Alliance Gold Members and Business class passengers can board at their leisure - as we approach the desk she takes one look at us and says in a very loud voice - Business class passengers only in this line!

Do I not look like I deserve to be in business class?

Turkey

According to Wikipedia Turkey is about 10% bigger than Texas or France (or 72% of the size of Ontario for us locals) so you'll understand why we couldn't do all of Turkey in 4 days.
We opted for Istanbul and Ephesus (Efes) and we flew between the two to save time.

Ephesus is a MAJOR tourist destination.  The cruise ships come into the local coast and can flood Ephesus with 5000 people a day (at least that's what one of the local guides said).  Little hint - you can easily do Ephesus by yourself, you can drive from Izmir (I wouldn't drive in Istanbul but driving in the country is a piece of cake), it is well sign posted (well mostly - if you get on the highway aim for Aydin) and if you get lost follow a tour bus. Get an audio guide (comes with a map) and wander through.  Super easy.  Also park near the exit and aim to arrive later in the day - at noon it was a zoo and by 2:30 the parking lot still had buses in it but it was completely devoid of people.

Ironically, Ephesus is where it is because it used to be a port.  There used to be water surrounding it and it was a major trade destination.  There are stories of Anthony and Cleopatra visiting the city so you have the idea of when it was important - they even come back for the occasional visit!

When I heard that there were so many people traveling through Ephesus (in the modern age) I was a bit worried about the toll that all these people would have on the antiquities, but when I saw it I realized that its no big deal as most of Ephesus doesn't seem to be that old.  In the 1900-1980's there were a lot of renos to Ephesus.  Something that started off as rubble turned into a theatre or a gate using the magic of concrete and rebar - and they are still fixing it up.

 That said it is still amazing what has survived the test of time...

Look I'm an Olympian!

Pretty Turkey

Why don't we have ceilings like these at home?

Mosques, Mosques and more Mosques

The Blue Mosque

Hagia Sophia - technically not  mosque - but it was a church, then a mosque and now it's a museum

Inside...impressive is a bit of an understatement

Cool Turkey - James Bond!

Yerebatan Sarayı - the cistern was used in "From Russia with Love" back with Mr Connery...

...and now Skyfall is filming with Mr Craig! (they made up this market in the open square in front of the spice market so they could shoot it up - how cool is that!)

Shopping in Turkey

The Spice Market

The Grand Bazaar

Quirky Turkey

Fresh Bread at your local corner store

Personal Carts - not sure what else to call them - they are everywhere.  Perhaps the streets aren't car friendly, perhaps they found something that works and have just decided to stick with it?

Fishing in the city

Stray dogs and cats everywhere.  We saw a doggie walk through an intersection the other day, he mostly paid attention to the traffic lights but it was a bit nerve wracking when he decided to walk down the middle of road with traffic whizzing by on both sides!

Delicious Turkey

Turkish Breakfast

Flaming Food - need I say more? Oh yeah, actually I should...you whack the pot until the top breaks off (or in our case falls on the floor) and you eat out of the bottom of the pot!

Think shredded wheat, cheese and honey - sounds weird but it is delish!

Turkish beer (from Ephesus!)

...and of course Turkish coffee from the Turkish Starbucks (don't get me wrong, there was still a Starbucks next door - but you can't have Turkish Starbucks coffee!)