why did the turtle cross the road?

I'm back, and my headache is gone. Since my last post we have traversed almost the entire Black Sea coastline and caught about a bazillion buses (maybe 15). But I'll start from where I left off.

Our second overnighter on the bus took us from Ankara to the massive port town of Trabzon, which wasn't especially great but we were only there to visit a monastery set in mountains. Which was beautiful and very impressive in that it jutted out the side of a cliff face.

After our night in Trabzon we had an unremarkable few days of catching buses- we did sleep at a bus station one night but that isn't so much remarkable as a show of our ability to put up with an uncomfortable night's sleep rather than pay for a hotel room.

When we finally reached the town of Sinop we decided to spend the night rather than catch anymore buses. Because we might have killed ourselves. It was a good idea (both the staying alive and the staying at Sinop) because we used our free day to go and visit a town that boasted a park with 28 waterfalls. Awesome Land, I like to call it.

It was a rainforest park, right near a giant reservoir, and going straight up the middle there was just waterfall after waterfall after waterfall. 28 times. And we were allowed to climb up them! There were even ropes there especially for that purpose.

I'm climbing up the side of a waterfall in thongs using a rope as an aide...hence "AwesomeLand"! And then once we had climbed the 28th waterfall, there was an old man who was selling cay (tea) and apples and bread rolls in a little tiny cafe with a hammock. I don't think it gets any cuter than that.

And on the way home from waterfall village, we saw a turtle crossing the road...so now the title of this post probably makes a little more sense.

After that winner of a day we went and had some dinner then went to the thousand year old fortifications of Old Sinop and had a beer and played backgammon. So here's a little message for everybody to take away with them. Sometimes it pays to slow down and break up your journey a little. You get to climb waterfalls and drink in ancient buildings and see turtles crossing the road!

Aaannnd now, after another full day of minibus travel, we are in the small coastal town of Amasra, our final stop before Istanbul.

along the black sea.

We left Kas after a wedding, one last swim in the Mediterranean and some tears from my new little step brother, who definitely did not want us to go. All excited we jumped on the bus and started our journey, first to Anakara and ultimately to the port town of Trabzon on the coast of the Black Sea.

Ankara is the capital city of Turkey and it is totally land-locked, which gave it a strange feel for me. I always find it weird to be in a city and when you look out at its edges you are surrounded by the same landscape. Dry dusty hills in this case.

We were tired in Ankara but we did pool all our energy and managed to walk for 20 minutes to visit the mausoleum of Ataturk, the founder of the Republic of Turkey. Admittedly it did not have the same amount of meaning for us as it did the hundreds of Turks who were visiting at the same time, but we could appreciate the size. When you remember it is essentially just a grave site, you realise it is massive.

Huge. And it is protected by lions that eat your arms.

So that was Turkey's capital city for us. That and a bit of resting and eating. Then we made our way back to the otogar for our second overnight bus trip.

But I have to stop writing for a while because my head feels like it's about to explode and I don't think sitting in front of the computer is helping. More to come.

dogs, cats and cigarette smoke.

I decided I needed to lift my game (actually no, two boys told me to stop being lazy) so I am writing again from Kas. So what have we done since we've been here?
We have...visited a LOT of beaches. One with sand (which is unusual in this part of the world) and waves that slanted sideways, a few with pebbles and rocks as sand and some where one must dive straight from the cliff to the water. Though they all look slightly different (and slightly the same) they are all very, very salty. Which isn`t great if you swallow a mouthful of water or it somehow makes its way into your eyes, but if your greatest wish is to be able to float in deep water while standing straight with your arms by your sides, then you are definitely in the right place! And you need never worry about drowning. I actually think it would be almost impossible.
...gone to a Greek island. We caught the ferry across from Kas to Meis (mace) and it was really hot. Like, hot as the hottest part of summer hot. We ate some food (giant chunk of octopus anyone? But really, it was delicious), sweated some and saw a naked, sunbathing and swimming man who invited us to swim from his area of the shore. But we didn't.
...swam from a boat amongst ruins of a city called Kekova, which has ended up on islands in the sea as a result of a volcanoe erupting some time ago.
...aaannnnd, had a lovely campfire picnic of roasted vegetable salad and kofte and chicken and sucuk (spicy, Turkish sausage) in bread while we fought with wasps for our food and I ate some strange Turkish fruit from a cactus thing and got tiny little prickles in my face and hands. On the way home we stopped and walked down a giant flight of stairs to a little beach on the side of the road while we sawm to the sun setting.
Other than all of those lovely things we mainly stay at home and swim in the pool, eat some breakfast and drink nescafe, sleep and try to entertain a 9 year old boy with far too much energy. Sometimes we visit the town if it isn't too hot.
On Tuesday evening we leave Kas by bus, so I will have new and exciting things to tell you about. Until then I imagine we will be doing much of the same.