The First Bite of the Kepab
So we are in Turkey now.. Came off the boat at Cesme, turned left and followed the coast, heading to Istanbul slowly - nothings a hurry now, deadlines and alarms clocks and working around world time zone changes are all gone... But as Francios (I will explain) joked the other day we dont have the English disease, we have learned to get out of bed nice and early, we are up with the Mullahs, its cooler then, no more then 25 celsius, by mid afternoon its somewhere around 40, or more, the tar on the road is sticky and the siesta has begun.
Roads around here look all half finished, road works and random holes appear all over the place, staying on your side of the road appears optional, the heat ruins the big swoopy curves that can be so much fun on a bike, soft sticky tarmac will bring you to a soft sticky end!!
If an entire country could get the Janet Thornton Award for Time keeping excellence then Turkey is a gold medalist with tripple diamond crowns - Manyana to the Nth degree
So we go to Bergama and see the acropolis - but we first we go to the camp site, hot showers and a swimming pool 80 pence a night or some such silly amount, and we are in!! What we did not Know at the time was its Fri night and a wedding party will be in the grounds doing thier Turkish Family thing till midnight - then the gaurd dogs will take up the racket where they left off - not much sleep, so plan B came into effect and we left to Avylik the next morning.....
.... but we went to the Acropolis, rather impessive stuff some images are here...Click on the word IMAGE and guess what happens! Am image appears...
Indiana never quite made the adjustment to being a tour guide at the temples - Even with the Rhuematism he would have prefered the old days of raiding - Who does this Lara think she is any way..... (Excuse me Mr Jones, are we going to get to see any of the new ones, all this stuff is just so old and ruined!!)
"At the camp site where a great laid back couple Francois and Marie, from Britany - is that Britanois ? (Which is a kind of French) She teaches and He is doing somthing with Political Sciences, great disuccions where to ensue...they end up on the back of the bikes with us to the acropolis and next day along the road for a hour or so to the pretty harbour town of Avylik - its Turkey, who needs to wear a helmet!!
The main street in old town Ayvalik
Shoe Shinner to the famous 'Eh General you would not believe who İ had on me stand the other day - İ have shined the famous İ have - look at the photos, could İ lie?)
Do you wonder what it is that the Mullahs wail so early in the morning? At the mo we are habitually getting up with the mullahs to avoid riding in the heat of the day - well I asked and was told what it is the wail - its astounding how appropriate it is - I quote.... Get up, get up it is better to ride then to sleep,get up get up, there is only one motorcycle and B M W is hıs name, get up and ride ... awesome eh!!!...... Yeh I know you believe me, but have you ever read some of the stuff that HOMER bloke wrote, he was from around here too.. İ mean a great bıg wooden horse, a face that lauınched a thousand ships.. PAH - we went there and it is nothing but a pile of rocks - go see the movie.. image image
OK İ am hungary another kepab beckons - the questions of course is Donna or Shish? The ice cream stand on the corners is a dam certainty for afters though - Niether will probably be as good as that Whole Roast Pigs head!
Sleep well - ik hou van jou mijn heerlijk lievard dat je bente
PS My bike is now leaking a tiny amount of oil from the forks, İ think it is in sympathy with all the stuff coming out of Chris's gearbox!!
.... and A Final word from chris - quoted out of the blue over a beer today - Travel is fatal to hatred bigotry and predujice, it is the lifeblood of tolerance and understanding - Ý will drink to that