Getting around in Turkey by bus, train, and taxi. Silence on the bus!
We got around using public transportation. This worked well most of time, except when we wanted to get a bit funky in where we were going.Inside the towns, privately-run dolmus (minibus) ferry locals and tourists around. The way these things work is that you look for a bus with your destination written on the front. They do not run on a set schedule, and will stop wherever, whenever to pick (more...)
The people in Turkey - some of the kindest people in the world
Turks are some of the kindest people we have met in the world. Day after day we were astounded by how truly nice these people are. Every time we were lost, someone would immediately offer to walk us to where were trying to go - not just direct us - and there was no strings attached, no attempt to get us into a carpet shop. People seemed very happy to (more...)
Health and Safety in Turkey
In Turkey, we never felt threatened or unsafe - even when we were completely lost in the slums of Ankara. We took the usual traveller precautions of not prominently displaying a wallet or expensive jewelery, and this was sufficient.Turkey doesn’t require immunizations, although it is recommended to be up to date on your MMR and Hep. A. Drinking the tap water is not recommended. Bottled water is everywhere and cheap (although make sure you dont get ripped off - walking 10 feet down the road can save you 50%). We chose to brush our teeth with bottled water, as well. (We never realized just how much water you use brushing your teeth!)
Getting to Turkey from Greece by boat
Local customs - clothing and tipping
Clothing: All of our guidebooks seemed to disagree on what was appropriate wear, so here are our observations. Ian was ok in shorts/tshirt almost everywhere we went in Turkey. Only in ultra-conservative Konya did we feel it was necessary for Ian to wear long pants (this is where combination/zipper pants came in very handy). In the mosques, we took off our shoes and “recombined” to wearing pants. Shorts are not (more...)
The town of Kusadasi
We didn’t really see much of the sights in Kusadasi, as there really isn’t much, except for the “Pigeon Island”, which is an old closed off building at the end of the harbour. It’s not worth it, except for the nice view of the town and ocean. Other than that, we wandered around the market areas - they were nice, but overpriced.
Liman Hotel in Kusadasi, Turkey
We stayed at the Liman Hotel pension that was #1 on both Let’s Go and Lonely Planet’s list, with good reason. ‘Mr. Happy’ met us right as we came through immigation, and walked us 2 minutes to the hotel. His English was almost better then ours. We shelled out the big $ ($50 a night) for a room with an amazing view of the (more...)
Ephesus, Turkey overview
Getting to Ephesus from Kusadasi, suggested route
Our hotel arranged transport there. This seemed to be the easiest way to get there, and allows you to walk down through the ruins and be picked up at the other end. There are two entrances to the ruins. We were dropped off by our shuttle at the Magnesian Gate, which means we were walking down through the site (not that the climb was that steep - but on a hot day…) If not taking a shuttle from your hotel, a minibus ride will drop you off about a 10 minute walk from the lower entrance.
On the way back, we took a dolmus instead of the hotel transport, since we were not sure what time we’d be finished at the site. This worked out well.