Trotting around Turkey

The call to prayer is going on as I type this....the mosque is quite close.  It starts up at 5 a.m. and I dare anyone to sleep through it!!! 

The tour is going great and we are a small group of 7 who all seem to get along well.  Our tour leader Kemet is a doll - she is so full of knowledge and eager to please.  As we are pretty well on the go all day with a late dinner all I can do is maybe read a few emails and browse Facebook quickly and crash...no time for blogging or much contact with people online. 

We have a free afternoon and I am pretty tired so decided to do a little blog.  I hope you appreciate that I am sitting on my bed sideways doing this. 

This morning we visited Ephesus which was amazing.  The best preserved Roman ruins in the surrounding area.  Rain was forecast but luckily it never materialized as it was windy and I can't imagine trying to negotiate that place (and walking on wet marble) in those conditions.  I will post more on it later..much later...but here are a few photos...

Roman toilets

The library

The Nike brand got their name from this statue - can you see the Nike logo? 

Holes in the marble so the chariots would hot slide when it was wet

Yesterday we had a long bus ride - three buses...to get here.  We are currently in the town of Selcuk which is a five minute drive from the ruins.

Today we went to a place for lunch that makes the local speciality of crepes right in front of you from scratch  - I had a spinach, feta and onion one..yum!!

Spreading the dough and putting the fillings in - the other lady is making Turkish ravioli

Into the oven one by one!

The finished product which was yummy!

The day before yesterday was hectic as we took a tram then a ferry and then a bus to get to the city of Bursa which is the third largest city in the country.  We had a short orientation walk and after lunch we were free to do our own thing.  I went gift shopping!  That evening we visited a local tea house to listen to local musicians play and of course...drink tea!  Very entertaining. From there we went to a Whirling Dirvish ceremony - this is a sect of Islam that is the spiritual side.  Because of my positioning upstairs I only got photos of three but there were six men and young boys whirling for about 25 minutes nonstop with music playing as well as singing.  It was really amazing and I am so glad I got to see it.   And that's been it.  Our hotels have been pretty good - nothing fancy but they do the job.  I have two tiny balconies at the hotel we are at now.  However it is dull and windy out so it's not really tempting me to sit out....a shame...ah well. 

Unfortunately even on sports mode my camera could not capture the action.