Days in Turkey Round 3 ( Intepe, Assos, Mount Ida)

We got up at a decent hour, miraculous.  Starting the morning out with brunch on the beautiful hillside in Intepe was a great way to kick off the beginning of a great journey around a huge chuck of the country. 

 Something I didn't know about Turkey was the enormity of the rose business.  And I can see why, they were everywhere and they were beautiful.

And it was a beautiful drive.  I continue to adore the red roofs on all the homes. I am sure there is some geologic/historic reason for it, but I'm just going to go with "because they're beautiful."

We dodged inland and coastal over and over with multiple different views of the sea and mountains along our way.

The first big stop of the day was Assos. we walked up a little stone street with cute little shops and I had determined that the flip flops were not going to cut it as I mumbled repetitively, "I miss my suitcase, specifically my Merrells."

But I have to say that the walk was well worth it.

About every five minutes we spent on the coast Love would rename to islands that you could see. Ever informative and adorable.

 If only the Greeks had been more proficient at earthquake proofing....

 There are numbered stones scattered about, and I have to say I never found a pattern to speak of, but I"m sure someone didn't take the time to paint random numbers on rocks just to befuddle me.

All the toppled stones scattered about make me want to organize them a bit more, but frankly, they're really really heavy, and as mentioned above I just don't get the numbering system,

Even the bugs look a little historical around here...a fly as big as my thumb for exhibit A. 

First time a blog has made me cry. Probably not the last. Looking at the picture below did it for me.  Nothing special about the photo,  nothing special about the moment that went with it or about the moments that followed it. Love told me we needed to hurry up and get going probably about ten minutes before...my response was much like a three year old with a foot stomp and, "but I wanna." And we did, we wandered around the Mountain top for nearly another half hour. I'm spoiled and demanding and he is patient and loving. I don't deserve him, but he still loves me just the same.

A patient moment. 

We walked back down the hill along the little shops to continue down the other side of the little mountain .

Another huge amphitheater. Wonderfully maintained for thousands of years, in the middle of nowhere.

All the little tunnels underneath. Again I loved imagining the people coming through them. And a recurring theme was there were fairly "me" sized. A great set of evidence for how much larger humans have gotten in the interim. 

Ancient walkways now with tourists and cows, but still partially preserved after thousands of years...Maybe I'm easily amused, but this was pretty amazing.

After a day of ancient history it was time for a long drive up the rocky curvy side of  Mount Ida for what was one of the most serene relaxing places I've ever seen....probably the most serene and relaxing. 

 

Did I mention the beautiful, serene and relaxing part. 

 And some of the darkest red roses I've ever seen were scattered about everywhere.

 The cool in the valley was a nice break and Love enjoyed it quite a bit.  Again I love the heat, but I know he was in need of a relief.

 Big Beautiful Roses Everywhere!

 And the place we stayed was one of the most interesting and eclectic but simple places I'd ever encountered.  

 The grounds were spattered with interesting pieces and not a drop of cell service. Deep breath and enjoy. Ahhhmazing.

 The meals were wonderfully simple and the service was amazing. A sweet family to take care of you and build a fire in a fireplace covered in sweet little tiles and plaques including boar's teeth...plus a bonus fake parrot.

Mr. Frog escorted us back to our room after dinner, it was very sweet of him.  

Days in Turkey Round 2 (Gallipoli, Çanakkale, Troy)

Woke up late (you'll see that's a theme). And off to the ferry again; this time for a trip to Gallipoli. One thing I love is all the people out and about. The weather was perfect, but I like it hot.  I think this day was around a high of 85 F.

Waiting in the harbor on the ferry, Love finds the huge shipping boats the most amusing.  He tends to concentrate on ordinary everyday things while I love the detailed or refined.

Notice: the beginning of the end of a decent hair morning .

But who can complain I have this gorgeous goofy man to spend it with.

 Okay, maybe butterflies and flowers are indeed ordinary things, but I just love all the detail mother nature packs into these tiny things. This flower spawned the days favorite quote from Love, "I bring you to a war memorial and you want to take pictures of flowers!?"

Unbeknownst to me poppies are to Turkey like dandelions are to the states. 

I've seen flowers like these in the states, but these are about the size of a silver dollar, much larger than those I've seen in Kentucky.

One thing about Turkish "touristy" stuff is they aren't like Americans with the obsessive signage and roping off of things. I enjoy the opportunity to make up my own little stories about things and to touch things. (I guess it might be more educational with the signs, but I can just google it.)

Okay, maybe Love isn't the only one who's amused by ordinary things.  You throw enough  nooks and crannies on something I'm going to take a picture of it.  (FYI best piece of camera equipment I ever paid for was my polarizer.)

Oh yeah...war memorial.....Gallipoli Campaign , Much like Americans in Turkey they will put a flag on anything, and the bigger the better apparently.

Rose! (Said in the spirit of Doug from Up!)  Cut me some slack, there's some memorial in the background.

Look, I'm a good girlfriend it's a picture of the memorial and a flag for Love (special bonus flowers included).  Another Turkish culture difference.  People would just pick the flowers.  I had had the conversation with Love before that the arboretums  we have here in the US would be picked clean if they were in Turkey, and some of the people here were a good example.

I guess it wouldn't be a war memorial without a gory  stone carving ...or six.

 Each of these panels was etched with around fifty names, and they went on for acres.

Still obsessed with the eriks.  (Back in the states now and decided to scour the produce aisles, no luck yet, but I guess it's part of the central Illinois curse.)

Love is supposed to translate this for me, but I've been informed that may not be an easy task, especially considering I ask for all explanations, book reviews, research projects etc in 30 words or less. (What can I say, I'm not a reader.) 

 Back on the ferry with Love, and the vacation hair is in full force; I can't say for sure but I'm pretty sure he wasn't too embarrassed to be seen with me yet.

Now off to ancient Troy....and this Kentucky girl loves the ponies!

This dog disagreed with me on the temperature being "fantastic." He had settled into the shade for some nap time, and even my intrusive camera bearing approach wasn't going to disturb that.

Personally, I think that all the flowers add a certain je ne sais quoi to the ancient walls, but I don't know if all the Trojan soldiers would have agreed.

I can just see the mind ticking, "Really, another picture?"

Butterfly! (see Up! reference above) and on another side note, this country can grow some thistle.  I grew up on a little farm that had some healthy thistle, but here it was not only large but also the blooms were beautiful.

Ah, what'd I do today, nothing much, just carved beautiful things out of solid granite that will last thousands of years without modern tools, you?

Mud dobbers vs. ancient city :(

Figs, boy figs. As opposed to tasty girl figs. Also pictured: Love's ever warm hands; even in the winter, it's one of his special bonus perks.

Really Really Really Really old wall.

 I think if I build a home I'll have these guys do the driveway, has some obvious long term beauty and function.

 All of it was beautiful by any standards but I occasionally just stared at stuff and though about how it was built with such ancient tools....Trust me modern people, you aren't trying hard enough. even the remnants of the wells were deeper than I think I could dig in my lifetime without some sort of heavy equipment.

Thankfully not a close up of what was now full fledged hair craziness. I can only imagine the crowds watching plays or gathering for public announcements here.

Yes, still poppy obsessed.  I've always loved these flowers, but had never seen them uncut.

There it is hot mess of hair without makeup. The result of lost bags containing all my hair products/makeup, windy ferry rides and my constant leaning over railings, climbing into inappropriate places and a wonderful amount of heat and humidity.

Whatever these are I want one, or a hundred. Love was befuddled by my wandering into the middle of a field when I had already made it half way to the car before I turned around. But I've got an eye like a hawk when it comes to unusual flowers.

Turkey, much like the southwest of the US  had no lack of wandering cattle...goats, sheep, cows.

A little more beach time.

Some of the most brightly colored shell pieces I'd seen...wish I'd thought to get a littel closer to the neon green ones, but I was a little distracted by the beautiful scenery elswhere.

Palm sized moss covered crab, doing the same dance in and out of the waves as I was.

Definitely distracted by the scenery.

Dinner that night at Love's friends house. She made a delicious meal.  and come to find out one of the Turkish foods Love had wanted while he was in the states was a good old fashioned southern favorite, stuffed peppers! When he gets back this southern chick plans on a great stuffed pepper feast!

  Sitting on the patio we were treated to a nice post wedding fireworks show.

While I'm pretty sure they would have found me strange to pull out my camera at the beautifully set dinner table with all the wonderful food I did snap a pic of the adorable tea glasses afterwards.

A day of recent history, ancient history and wonderful Turkish hospitality.  Lovely to say the least. Much like a typical southern meal I was stuffed and ready for bed.

Round 3 to come.