Turkish kebabs

Leaving Istanbul I took the plunge and offered to navigate the way to Gallipoli. This means I leave the main part of the truck and sit up in the cab with the driver for the entire day reading out the pre-printed directions, keeping an eye on the road signs, chatting to the driver and not falling asleep! Luckily enough when we neared the campsite the driver recognised it from last time and knew the way leaving me delightedly idle for the latter part of my directional duties. Half of the truck went to the overnight Anzac memorial for the dawn service and the other half of us stayed behind and reacquainted ourselves with our tents, a most enjoyable reunion after 3 nights in a 30 bed dorm with drunken Germans waking us up at 3am!! Who would have thought that I would rather be in my tent than a dorm bed.

Over the last couple of weeks we have had a couple of leisurely days in some relaxing beach campsites as well as some bushcamping in a couple of lovely spots. Wherever we go the locals always come to say hello, some just do a slow drive by but others are very friendly, we were given a big bag of fresh eggs by a lovely man who couldn't speak a word of english, another bush camp saw us being serenaded by 2 men and their guitar who arrived, sat near us singing and strumming and then left. We've also had plenty time driving around the country and enjoying some of the stunning scenery that Turkey has to offer. From snow tipped mountains to tiny mountain villages with tight roads that we had to drive through very slowly causing traffic delays where they have probably never existed. As usual the locals stop what they're doing and gaze at us open-mouthed as we meander by, one old lady was sitting my the roadside and casually pulled her feet out of the way of the back wheels as they sliced off the tightest part of the corner. The truck also commands extra attention as it slowly makes its way up the tight meandering roads that guide us through the mountains and along the coastal hillsides.

We have visited various Roman ruins on our travels, first up the ancient city of Troy (Troia) which consists of 9 layers of buried cities dating back through varying eras beginning as early as 3000BC. The most impressive ruins were at the site of the city of Ephesus. Here we could walk through streets of the ruined Roman city and admire what remains of their amphitheatre, library, church, tombs, hall, statues and my personal favourite being the public latrine. This consisted of a large public bath in the centre of the room with benches along the surrounding walls features holes dotted every half-metre or so which dropped into a trench below. All of this was made from marble and I found it interesting that these parts of Europe began with a sit down toilet facility (albeit shared with 20 other people!) and yet somehow progressed to the squat toilet, a form of toilet which just reminds me of the horrors of learning to use these as a child in France, while wearing flip flops! If anyone has not yet experienced the delights of a squat toilet imagine trying a bush-wee into a bathroom sink!!

While staying at a beach resort in Oludenuz most of us took the opportunity to go paragliding which is where you are strapped to a parachute and you jump off the top of a mountain. The wind conditions weren't ideal so our flights weren't as high or as long as we would have liked but the views were incredible and we still managed a good 15 minutes of gliding around in the sky above the hills and the sea. It's not as scary as it sounds, the drive up the mountainside was far scarier than the parachute journey back down!

That's us four weeks into our trip and we are still in Europe. One more week in Turkey and then we can head off into Iran. Tomorrow we have a 6am start and a 14hour drive to get to the next point of interest, lets see what goodies await us in Cappadocia!