Independent travel in Turkey: Turkish delight

First up, Selcuk, to visit the ruins of Ephesus. We stayed in a fantastic bed and breakfast, Tuncay Pension, right in the middle of Selcuk, a small town on a direct train from Izmir airport. We had a bit of an adventure getting there, latching onto some locals to figure out which train to get on, and ended up standing with our packs by an open train door for part of the journey, watching people walk on the tracks behind the train. Poor old Dean just about had a health and safety hernia.

The ruins of Ephesus were well worth a visit, and within walking distance of Selcuk (although not on a super hot day, you’d expire).The ruins are not all that ruined, which made it easy to imagine what life would have been like in the port city thousands of years ago.

From the sunshine of Selcuk it was off on a dolmus (public bus that dropped us off on the motorway by the airport – bargain but again, health and safety Turkey...) to catch a flight to Goreme, in Cappadocia. The region is known for its amazing volcanic rock formations, with buildings cut into the rocks.

We spent two nights in a cave hotel (despite the name, it was very plush), braving the cold weather to explore the outdoor museum of caves, do a hot air balloon ride over the fairy chimneys, and do a tour around the region, including to the underground city of Derinkuyu. A unique part of the world, well worth visiting (but take your thermals).

From there it was on to Istanbul for a few days, broken up with a trip to Galipolli. We missed our flight there (official airport shuttle driver had never driven to the airport, took the wrong route then stopped to ask directions – go figure) so despite a sprint that would have seen us win the Amazing Race across the airport with our packs, check in for our flight had closed, and no amount of fake tears and “but we’re visiting all the way from New Zealand” would move the man. No bother though, we took a £12, 6 and a half hour public overnight bus instead which turned out to be a fantastic, clean and comfy option.

The tour of Troy that morning was ok (could have missed it and still died happy) but the tour of Gallipoli was fantastic.

In Istanbul, we visited all the main sites, the Hagia Sophia, the Blue Mosque, Galata Tower, Topaki palace, a boat cruise, some shopping at the markets and squishing a backgammon set and tea set into our packs for the trip home. We also visited two Turkish baths, learning that the less touristy ones are far and away superior in service and price. We stayed at Second Home Hostel which was just fantastic, the staff were lots of fun and the location was prime.

And as always eating featured heavily on a von Yarrall adventure, with apple tea, Turkish delight, fish sandwiches from the sea side and kebabs in their plenty.

Bruges and the battlefields

We spent a weekend in Bruges in September and were spoiled with amazing sunshine the whole time. We’d booked a day trip to see the battlefields of WW1 and were not disappointed. The tour was based around the area of Flanders which saw some pretty intense fighting throughout the war. Amazingly each year over 200 tonnes of old munitions come to the surface in the farms of Flanders. When farmers find them they just leave them on the side of the road and wait for the Army to come to destroy them. We visited a number of different grave areas, including the largest Commonwealth cemetery at Tyne Cot, some incredible museums, one of which recreated the feeling of being in a trench (almost too realistic at times), and the Menin gate in the town of Ypres.

Inside one of the museums was an installation by the NZ artist Helen Pollock, created with clay from the Coromandel. Quite a moving experience as it was placed in an area where many New Zealanders fought and died.

Bruges itself while very pretty was a bit ho-hum and really expensive, although we did enjoy a few fabulous beers. We were glad we did the tour for a whole day otherwise we would have got a bit bored (only so much ‘wandering the pretty cobbled streets’ you can handle in one year). Stopped into Brussels on the way home on the Eurostar and scoffed some frittes with mayo and a couple of waffles cause you have to if you’re in Belgium. It’s the rules.