Dikencik

Mavi Konak Hotel

The evening is warm as I sit here composing the latest blog, wondering how many people out there read it.  We know the family does, we also know some people are struggling to leave a comment.  If you are a registered ‘friend’, when you open the blog sign in first and it might improve your chances of saying something.  If you are not a ‘friend’ and do not want to be, we would still like to hear from you, please e-mail us on either chris@chrisvickery.co.uk or meganulrika@hotmail.com  with comments and if you think we don’t know you, explain how you found out about the blog, thanks.

The landing outside our room

Meg Embroidering

We left the Muses House and spent a couple of nights in Muğla (Moolah) in a Ottoman courtyard house now  a small guesthouse with five bedrooms, it is owned by a German couple, who were away, and we were looked after by a young German volunteer!  The town is not really a tourist spot (all the more reason to visit), a great old town with all sorts of shops/businesses – sheet metal, leather, blacksmith and a barbers, well more than one barber, I think the average Turkish male has his hair cut every other day and a shave.  Talking of which I needed a beard trim and Meg wanted to see me have a shave as well, the whole works, lather, cut throat razor and everything.  

The Shave

'The Donkey Down Dere' - Tied

Blog Writing

Anyway Muğla was good, we then caught, yet another bus, to Fethiye where we were picked up by Ayse and Cengiz our new Helpx hosts.

This a different area of Turkey now, on the Mediterranean coast, and we are 700m up in the hills, where the pine clad slopes are a little cooler in the evenings, still very hot during the day.  Our first couple of days turned out be very eventful, we were interviewed for Turkish television for a magazine programme for a slot about volunteering, it will shown next week - Tuesday or Wednesday – we are trying to get a copy.  Then the next morning Megan trod on a scorpion just outside our door (we are in separate quarters to our hosts) and was stung, then had to go to the health centre for anti-venom and antihistamine injections, one on each cheek, she is ok, by the way the scorpion died…….!  

The Offender

TV Star

There seems to be lots to do, both here and around the area, so we will be kept busy for the next three weeks, already been here for nearly a week and we can’t believe how fast time is moving.  Went for a swim in the Med this morning with our hosts then breakfast, the water was smooth and as warm as a bath, fabulous. 

The Med

Moving on in Turkey

Ephesus Theatre

The now familiar feeling we both have just before moving from one Helpx host to another, was felt again a few days ago, just as we realised the end was close.  It is that heavy heart, of leaving behind new friends and now familiar places, which not long before were both the subject of  previous apprehension.

Kirazli is a small to medium sized village near the Agean coast of Turkey, about 2,000 inhabitants, a thriving community; as the Turkish government has adopted a ‘hands on’ approach to development of the country. Foreigners are only allowed to buy property in designated areas, leaving most of the country free of the property inflation influence, that ex-pat ownership brings.  So unlike parts of France, Italy and Greece, the village was full of families, with schools, shops, cafes and all the rest of the paraphernalia that communities need.  Children can be heard playing in the streets as the temperature falls in the evening, all the games we know so well ourselves.  Knock a door run being the most popular!

Ephesus Photo Shoot

Road to the Port Ephesus

The children are not the only thing to be heard – the call to prayer five times a day, plus extras as it is Ramadan.  The call is either a very bad recording or as some people think, a ‘down the line’ call from the Iman in Izmir – a call from afar you could say or long distance calling.  On our arrival in Muğla (ğ is silent, so pronounced moo-lah) we discovered a very melodic call from the mosque, however, the wake up at 5am plus the signal to break fast at 8pm is a cannon shot!  More of Muğla later.

We visited Ephesus and I am almost speechless, it was truly wonderful, the scale of the city and we only see the ‘posh’ parts, all the rest where the lower classes lived just rots away, like the people I guess.  Marble roads, the library, terraced houses, fountains, theatres, council chambers, and lots of columns and pedestals where statues stood. 

The Library

Listening to the description

 

All the finds are in the local museum again good to visit.  As a comparison we visited an ancient site called Priene, a much smaller settlement a bit like Halifax to Manchester, anyway Meg and I said we would prefer to live there, higher up, pine trees and a cooling breeze and not so many people, both then and now.  The crowds at Ephesus were huge when we left near midday about 3 - 5,000 we estimated and the crowded streets must have resembled it in its heyday when it had a population of 250,000.

Feeling the Stones at Priene

So we have moved and are halfway to our next host where we arrive tomorrow, Tuesday 23^rd August.

Priene

Kirazli

Istanbul to Izmir Birthday Cruise

Now where were we………oh yes, we didn’t believe it, well we didn’t!  Spent 22 hrs travelling, 7.15pm Popovo to Istanbul, arrive 5.50am, find another bus to Izmir and set off again 6.05am, we get to Izmir and find a small minibus within 20 minutes and set off again to Selçuk (Sellchuk) at 4.40pm and arrive to be picked up straight off the bus by Nick, our new Helpx host, and then onto the Muses House Boutique Hotel,  www.museshouse.com , where we arrive at 5.15 pm – 22hrs with hardly a stop.

The hotel is great, we have been staying in one of the 5 guest rooms – four poster bed and a bathroom big enough for a beach volleyball match (got to stay topical to convince you guys we are still part of the real world…WE ARE) swimming pool outside the door, Meg out of bed in the morning straight into the pool. 

Hotel Courtyard

 

 

 

Fatih

The hotel was shut for 10 days to allow jobs to be done, I’ve been making Ikea wardrobes, and making doors for the end of covered walkways to make cupboards, for things that the guests don’t need to see.  I have also been gardening.  Megan has been sewing; again, we think her fame goes ahead of her.  This time she has spent a good while taking a patchwork quilt made by Maggie (also our host) and her mother and turning it into a bedspread, it looks fabulous.   So we have been working honest! Megan has also adopted another cat, Fatih (pron Farty) formerly Tom, not a good name for a Turkish cat, so along with the help of Maggie he received a new name.  Needed de-fleaing, worming and the usual two brick operation at the rear end – two done one to go, so long as I don’t get my thumbs between the bricks I should be OK (ear plugs in of course).

Maggie and Megan with the quilt

Selcuk Market Busker

Market Stall

 

Turkey is amazing, we are really feeling at home here, the people are friendly and the countryside is beautiful.

We have also started to see some of the sights, Ephesus is just down the road and we hope to go next week, hope is the wrong word, we will be going, if you look it up you will see why it is a must, the best preserved Roman ruins in the world!  We have been to see The Basilica of St John which has the grave or tomb of St John the Evangelist inside the walls.  The church there was built by Emperor Justinian in the 6^thC when the original structure protecting the tomb started to fall down.   

Chris in the Basilica

Megan in the Basilica

The stones for this were robed out from the older site of Ephesus a couple of kilometres away and from the Temple of Artemis just down the hill.  Later with the rise of Islam the stones from the Basilica were robed out to build the mosque, isa Bey Camil, all three can be seen next to each other; all three using the same stones, for three different religions. 

The Tomb in the Church

Wedding Fever

Registry Office Wedding Party

Move over Wills and Kate, the wedding of the year was in Palamartsa, Bulgaria last weekend, on the 30^th and 31^st July to be exact.

After our arrival at Jeni & Jordi’s our time was taken up with wedding preparation tasks, Meg made yet another bridesmaid dress and the house and gardens had a complete tidy and clean.

Guests started to arrive on the Wednesday evening, Jeni’s dad, quickly followed by Jordi’s mum, sister and auntie, who Megan christened the Spanish Armada, because they sailed into the house on various occasions taking over the kitchen with Spanish food preparation, yummy!

Steve and Barry 

Rings

Waiting for the 'off'

Up until Thursday 28^th we all thought there was not going to be a legal wedding at the registry office as the paperwork was horrendous, three different countries, Bulgaria, Spain and the UK all with their own rules and regulations, the Bulgarian being the worst, physcological  appraisals, VD, and aids tests amongst the requirements.  However, Jeni was on the case and the go ahead came through and the ‘legal’ wedding was set for 5 o’clock Saturday evening in Popovo.  We think the on/off nature and the full on preparations for the ‘Bulgarian’ wedding on the Sunday meant that this first wedding was a surprise, the emotions it set off in both families, when they realised that they were actually married!  Tears flowed and there were lots of hugs and kisses and smiles and laughter.  This was followed by what started out as a meal for friends and family before the ‘big’ day, it turned into a party celebration where the drink flowed and everyone danced the night through except for Jeni & Jordi who had another ‘wedding’ the next day.

 The Sunday started off low key with a few hangovers, us included, final preparations and at 3pm Jordi heading off to Popovo to his Mum’s hotel to get ready, leaving Jeni and retinue to prepare at home.  So the scene is set, Jeni shut in at home, Jordi motoring to Palamartsa.  At the edge of the village he is stopped by a crowd and has to prove he is man by doing a number of tasks including shooting an onion – don’t ask me I was busy photographing the bride and retinue who were late getting ready and I missed it!!

The Bride

Jordi's retinue

After passing his tests he advances on foot to the house to claim his bride with traditional dancers and musicians leading the way, only to be met at the gate by her protectors who won’t let him in, after trying to force his way through he has to concede to buy her.  So reluctantly pulls a few coins out of his pocket and hands them over, these are dismissed as worthless so he tries again, with the same result.  So out come the notes, first 2 lv, then 5 and 10 lv, to no avail, then 20’s no luck, so a girl in his retinue pulls him away saying, Jeni is not worth it, but "she is" says Jordi forcing his way back to the gate only to be rebuffed again.  So out come the 50lv notes to cheering of the crowd.  600lv later he is let in but does not get to see the bride who is locked in the kitchen with her mother to the sounds of traditional songs and tears as she is told to say goodbye to her mother as she has to leave with her man to live another family.  Jeni didn’t actually leave then as she wanted to ‘walk up the aisle’ with her father to get married, so she followed Jordi down the road and she now had the dancers and music accompanying her.

'Buying the Bride'

Inside the gate

The ‘aisle’ was in the village square and was a strip on fabric strewn with flowers leading up to an arch where the ceremony took place.  This carried on through to the hall where the food and drink were and more ceremonies took place, eating bread and salt from the grooms mother, bread and honey from the brides mother, drinking wine and throwing the glasses over their shoulders and ripping a large loaf of bread in half.

Father and Duaghter on their way

'The Aisle'

We survived the wedding, both weddings, and both hangovers and a 20hr, 3 buses, journey to the Aegean cost of Turkey to our next Helpx hosts where we are now, but more of that next time, you will not believe it, we didn’t.

The End