Cape Town - Day 1 (for Lisa and I)

Good morning...







You will have to click on the image to enlarge it to get the full effect.

Today our goal is to get to Cape of Good Hope, where I was told before we left Canada we had to go because it was where the three oceans meet. The Atlantic, the Pacific, and the Indian Oceans.

I was immediately skeptical. Three oceans meeting. How can you tell? Do they paint yellow lines in the water?

And really, I thought the Atlantic might meet something, but not both, not possible. And so I was still very skeptical about two oceans meeting, but three, no way. Yet I was ostrich-sized or pooh-pooh'd one might say...

Cape Town - Day 0.5

FYI... As I blogged yesterday... When I mentioned the 9 hour flight, it was actually today. Ie the blog crossed days and I kept typing it under yesterday's date. Clear as mud?

Back to our story...

After a quick ride from the airport we arrived at Acorn House. What a lovely place. And what a lovely room. Much room. A sitting room, a bedroom and a large bathroom with what Lisa has been missing. A bathtub.

Also here at the Acorn House, and more importantly, were our good friends and neighbors Paul and Nancy Doane, our safari partners. They arrived here a day earlier after some annoying flight delays in Halifax and London.












After a quick refresh of clothes etc, and because weather was ideal, sunny and warm, 18C (remember below the equator so winter), we decided to attack Table Mountain (which is practically in our back yard). We took a cable car ride up, walked around, enjoyed the view, blah blah blah, then took the cable car back down. Everyone gets a full view in the car as the floor rotates 360 during the ride, either going up or coming down. Very cool.





















































































































































































Back at the ranch, after another quick refresh, out for a steak dinner. Yummy.

With so little sleep on the overnight flight Istanbul, I was a bit run down and not feeling top-notch, I headed off to bed while the others congregated in the living room for drinks and conversation.

Note. Paul has discovered that there is no good aged rum in South Africa. They don't even know you can get aged rum. I noticed drinks are cheap. A vodka and orange is R17.5 (rands) or divided by 7 get get $2.50C. Booze is crazy cheap. So are other things like a cab ride to the restaurant, R20 or $2.86C. Crazy.

Turkey to Africa

Today was moving day. We were picked up by Suleyman at noon. Our flight to Istanbul wasn't until 7pm so we had some time to kill.

First stop an old hill top village named Sirinçe that because of tourists has become a hill top bazaar. We poked around for a bit and had lunch. Lisa bought some jewelry. I saw a few ducks scurry behind an old building. Ducks still don't trust me. (If you don't know what my relationship is with ducks, you'll have to read my Croatia-France blog and my Greece blog.)

After that it was on to Izmir city. Izmir is turkey's 3rd largest city after Istanbul and Ankara (the capital). 3 million people live here. It is a seaside city sitting like a horseshoe around a very wide and today a very choppy harbor or bay. We stopped at the base of a large cliff, no more than 300 meters from the water. Here there was a tower containing an old Ottoman elevator (which is why the neighbourhood is called Acensor) to take us up to the top for a magnificent view. After a few photos and a lemon ice-cream we descended and headed for the airport.

At the airport, squeezed into a smallish pub for a beer. When it was time to board, we realized we were at gate 1 as we were instructed but needed to be at gate 5 as indicated on the boarding pass. They were not necessarily handy each other so a mini amazing race took place. No biggy.

The flight to Istanbul, 55 minutes. We were mid-ship and just as we were served our meal - yes meal, take note Air Canada - we started our descent and tray tables up message came over the PA. Being a very relaxed flight, we finished our meal and tray tabled up. Turkish Air is quickly becoming a favorite airline for me, friendly, reliable, large fleet of modern planes, and everything else an airline should be. As an aside, when we cancelled our Egypt 2 weeks and replaced it with Turkey, we cancelled to and fro flights from Istanbul to Cairo. Guess what, full refund in cash. If they would have treated us like Air Canada, we'd have credits for flights that would expire in a year.

We then hung out in the lounge, refreshed ourselves in all ways including a clothing change. We were a bit hot, the weather has been great, the temperatures just keep rising. Forecast for Cape Town is 16C. Cooler.

The plane ride to Cape Town via Johannesburg is 9 hours. With the one hour time difference (clocks go back an hour), we should arrive in Cape Town at 8 am. There we land, refuel and head for Johannesburg which I think is another 2 hours or so away.

I am writing this entry as they are turning on the lights for breakfast. I had a bit of a sleep. It is very hot on the plane, to us anyway. The plane is nice, up front we have 2-2-2 for 22 seats vs the 1-2-1 for 8 seats on Swiss Air. That said, we have 4-6 attendants taking care of us, there is a bar up front, there is a pastry chef (dressed as a French pastry chef in his white garb) making hors d'oeuvres, and people fussing over us in other ways. I'm happy, got my kit, my slippers, no pj's on this flight. Lisa reminds me that this really isn't first class on this plane but business class. Nevertheless, quite comfortable.

As I smell and wait for my eggs and turkey meat (there is no bacon in Turkey), I have fond memories and thoughts about Turkey. But I like bacon.

Turkey. I love the people, they are very friendly, good natured, they remind me of people from other European countries we have visited. Actually, Turkey feels like Europe to me. Except for the bacon.

Turkey has an almost infinite wealth in history. Everywhere you turn, every hole you dig, you will find something about the past. The landscape varies from place to place. Cappadocia was amazing. Those of you who still do not believe man landed on the moon in '69 can work on a theory that it was faked here.

Istanbul. We loved it. And for sure we will be back. Whether as a jumping off point to somewhere else, or as a start or end to a Mediterranean cruise (which would include Dubrovnik as well, we want to see it again). Istanbul ranks second or third as our favorite city. For Lisa, London is still number one, for me, not sure about London.

Now on to the other things of European life (including Turkey and England) I have ranted about in the past.

Electricity. 220 or whatever I don't care. The shape and size of the plugs, ridiculous. I know we are in old villages etc and to convert a country or continent to a sensible size/shape plug/receptacle is impossible. And having new construction go that way creates dual systems. So I guess they can suffer with the monster sized plugs for another 20 years or so until electricity will flow through the air from source to device.

WC. Toilets. Call them what you want. Here they score 50%. The individual stalls over here are often floor to ceiling rooms. Very private the way they should be. In North America, we think partitions from the knees up with gaps I can squeeze a tennis ball through is called private. It isn't. It is cheap. Where they lose is in often charging to pee or poop. We stopped that ridiculous concept 40 years ago. And what's with the holes. A hole with a foot print on each side is not a toilet. I get it for the ladies with long dresses and the perceived cleanliness and the religious reasons for it; but, really?

I would not want to drive to an large town or city in Turkey. Crazy crazy crazy. Imagine this. You want to turn left, you get into the intersection, but you must wait for oncoming traffic. Next thing you know, you have a car on your left, also turning left, and possibly one on your right. And they are squeezing you like a good basketball defense. Because the first one to move and gain access from this now 3 lanes of traffic into the 1 and sometimes 2 lanes we are heading for - wins. And lane changes. I think they are a requirement every 100 meters. And the lines on the pavement are not the lane indicators. It's how many cars can you fit abreast. Abreast, now that's a funny word.

Turkey. We loved it and we will be back. If you come to Turkey, the balloon ride is a no-brainer, a must. It is safer than flying in the plane that gets you here.

Anyway, had my breakfast, we land in Johannesburg in an hour, time for a tuppa tup.

We land. People get off. We refuel. And up in the air we go. Better than landing in Canada ie Newfoundland, where the make work project herds all passengers including those going to Halifax off the plane, with all cabin luggage. Then you go to the carousel and get your checked luggage which was removed from the plane. Then you go through customs and immigration. Then you put your luggage back on the belt to be reloaded. Then you all get back on the same plane, same seat, same bat channel, all 183 of you, except of course the 7 that got off in St. John's because they live there. Then you fly to Halifax. And that is on a good day.

On a bad day, the customs staff are still on their way to the airport, getting called in and paid double time. So you wait in line. Or, the computers were shut down and now we wait for the reboot while standing in line. I'm talking from experience. We write this all off as government regulations. Maybe. But common sense needs to enter our life as well. Here today it was done right, and I applaud common sense.

Anyway, we set our TVs to cockpit camera. So cool seeing the plane land on the runway. Neat also to see that the captain did not land or take off in the dead centre of the runway. I guess close is good enough.

The flight to Cape Town under 2 hours. Surprises me. 9 hours to do the continent. And then 2 more to move across South Africa. Didn't know SA was that large.

Well I've got some time to kill and I'd be remiss if I didn't continue sharing my insights. Back to Turkey. The food was fantastic. I don't know how many times I said, this tastes like my mother's cooking. The meat dishes, the salads, the desserts, the tea. Cheese strudel. Palačenke. There is much in common with the Turkish people and the people of the former Jugoslavia, ie Croatia (ie Hrvatska), Bosnia, etc. BTW, mom your cooking is still #1 in my book!

Then there are the doners and kebabs. I like our donairs better. And I can live without the kabobs. It's just meat on a stick.

Depending on where you are in the country, they grow oranges, peaches, apricots, strawberries, olives, pomegranates... They grow most of the vegetables as well. I didn't see and missed eating broccoli, celery and cauliflower. We were told Turkey is one of 8 entirely self sufficient countries in the world. Impressive.

They are not milk drinkers here. Instead, they like yogurt drinks called ayran. And they add a touch of salt to it.

I've already mentioned the nuts, fruits and berries that they snack on rather than junk food. Good on them. But they do eat an awful lot of bread. For breakfast, for lunch, for dinner. And they use it to dip in their hot or cold mezes eg. humus, tomato and eggplant. Eggplant. Very big here. Cooked. Cold. Warm. Fried. Stewed. They eat eggplant every which way is possible.

Well, that's it for now. Talk soon. And yes we know we still owe you the Ephesus day blog. Lisa still working on the redo. She did such a great job on the original. The second writing will be even that much better. So the prequel is yet to come...

Cheers.

Free day...

Slept in. Light breakfast. Went for a walk. Sat in the park. Went to our favorite pub for a cold one and backgammon. Lisa won today, 4-1. Returned to hotel rooftop for another cold one and to blog and relax. Met a nice gentleman from Chicago who is doing Greece, Turkey, Germany with his wife. Very cool.




(What the street looks like below stork nests. They plan their poops over the side.)

The stork fledglings have yet to test their wings. I'm afraid we are going to miss that.

For dinner we went to our favorite restaurant, again, third night in a row. As we approached we were told our table was waiting. Another fantastic meal. He had a surprise for us, a large fruit plate for dessert, on the house. Wallabies Chin Yu where Chin Yu is like "bro". They are rated 3rd on trip advisor at present, but that won't be for long. Amazing home cooked meals, more than reasonable prices. Beer, water (you pay for water here like in Europe), big salad, cheese appetizer, a main course each, tea (on the house) for 45TL or $27CDN. Crazy good.








Back to the room the blog, then get to bed, tomorrow is moving day.





GO CANUCKS.

The prequel we promised is still under construction. We'll work on it tomorrow...

Aphrodisias...

This sucks. I had a lengthy blog post on the go about yesterday's extensive visits to historical sites and somehow I pressed a button and poof. All gone bye. Now I don't care where we were yesterday.

So today we went to Aphrodisias! Longish drive from here, about 2 1/2 hours each way, not so much far as poor roads. They're expanding the highway as there's so much tourist traffic, but the site is inland through mountain farmland, so the construction takes it's time. It's nowhere near as popular a site as Ephesus, but well worth the drive! It's a wonderful find.













































Feliz, our new guide (from yesterday's deleted blog), explained that successive civilizations have lived in and around Aphrodisias, from Neolithic, to Roman, early Christian, Byzantine, Ottoman Turk, to nearly present day. A little Turkish village named Geyre sprung up around the ancient city in the 20th century. The village was damaged by an earthquake in 1956 and the government decided to rebuild it 12 km away from the ancient site when the site's significance became apparent.












































There's a really cool photography exhibit on site showing the "modern" village juxtaposed with the antiquities... Roman marble columns supporting old tin roofs of tiny houses; old men sitting on a marble bench smoking; an elderly Turkish woman in traditional dress herding up a path by a marble temple column. Really striking images. Photographer's name is Ara Güler. He stumbled upon the village by accident and then sent his photographs to Kenan Erin, an American professor of archaeology at the university of new York. He began excavating in the early 60s and made it his life's work. He is buried at the site, a rare privilege granted by the Turkish government.














(brings new meaning to the term 'bite me')


//OK, so by now it is obvious that this isn't me writing today's blog.// Ed.

Anyway back to Aphrodisias - in it's Roman heyday, about 1st and 2nd century BC I think, it was a thriving city of 100,000 or more people, boasting a large theatre/arena, a parliament, a bath named after emperor Hadrian (your city is important if the emperor lets you name something after him), two agoras (marketplaces), and one mother of a stadium! Holding at least 30,000 people (you read that right - bigger than anything we have in Halifax, that's for sure), and measuring 260m x 60m, it played host to international sports contests. No chariot races were held though, it wasn't a hippodrome. (Overheard the Transat holidays guide telling their group that... not sure what it means.) It is the largest and best preserved antiquity period stadium in Turkey, and 2nd or 3rd largest in the world.







































What's especially cool is that it's entirely original - no restoration has taken place.

The smaller arena is a more traditional Greco-roman style, with ionic columns and a "pit"' where animal-related games could be watched from the safety of the elevated seating area. The friezes that would have ringed the stage area are now in the museum.
















There was a sculpture school in the city for which it was well-known, and apparently its works can be found throughout the ancient world. This contributed to it's favored status with Rome. And of course the centerpiece of the town was the temple of Aphrodite. It's a regular sized temple (not a colossus like the temple of Apollo at Didyma, or the now lost Temple of Artemis near here), but beautifully built, owing to the the skilled sculptors and the ready availability of marble in the area.


I really enjoyed Aphrodisias, but boy was it another hot day. And though there were relatively few people there as tourist sites go, there were a couple of larger groups we could have done without. Yesterday's nearly deserted visits to Prienne and Miletos were a treat.
















That group of Canadians from Transat holidays was pretty funny though. They're on day 16 of an 18 day highlights of Turkey tour. Many of them had clearly reached the end of their "ruins" tether, wearing that haunted 'if it's Tuesday this must be Belgium' look. I think Geno had that look yesterday :-). //sometime a pile of rocks looks like another pile of rocks.// Ed.
















After a relatively quick and surprisingly uninspired lunch, we headed back to Selçuk. Geno napped and played Angry Birds; I listened to my book. Before we knew it we were back.














After we said our goodbyes to Feliz, Lisa and I went up to our hotel rooftop for a brew, to photo the storks (the fledglings are getting ready to try flight) and to work on the blog. That's when poor Lisa had a loss of data problem (Note app) on her iPad. Apple makes nice h/w, but their software is primitive, juvenile and just ridiculous. Her example, deleted data, there is no undo. My example. You can't create and import photos into folders of your choice. All 5000 of your images go into a folder called "imported". Brilliant. Come on Steve, even Microsoft allows you to create folders.
















Anyway, as you are finding out, tomorrow you will get the prequel to today's blog.

We had dinner today at Wallabies Chin Yu restaurant. Our table was ready and waiting, Jeff, the owner promised that today's dinner would be even better than yesterday. A hard task at hand. His mom, wife and cousin would pull off another spectacular Mediterranean meal. They did. Appetizer (meza), big salad, main courses, drinks, under 50TL. Amazing. We ordered what Jeff suggested, and as yesterday, he said I'll get you a great salad, leave it to me. Yummy.


Tomorrow is a free day. Yesterday we will visit Ephesus and some other amazing sites.

FYI. Land owners generally are nervous around here and other places in Turkey if and when the need to dig in the ground for anything eg. sewage because when you dig around here, you find something, and when you do, the archeologists then want in on the dig and your plans are delayed.

Sekçuk Storks...

The Selçuk Storks. Love the storks. They are compulsively watchable. I think we've taken hundreds of stork pictures. Here's the deal. Selçuk is on the migratory path of these storks, and they come here to breed and lay their eggs. They started building nests on top of all kinds of things, especially the ancient aqueduct, and the Selçuk citizenry have helped by reinforcing the nests and ensuring their safety.



































Every year the storks come back, usually to the same nest. Feliz was telling us of her biologist friend who assisted in relocating a nest from an unsafe power pole, to a new location, but when the storks returned, stick by stick momma stork began to move the nest back. The biologists stopped moving nests.


























Our little tiny balcony is located directly across from one of these nests. Four fledglings are in it! with momma never far away. I think - and hope - that maybe one of them will fly before we leave. They're so big and look so ready. The young'un on the next pole over must have flown the coop today - the nest was empty when we got back from Aphrodisias.