Pamukkale Cotten Candy

Alright first things first.  I’m very pleased to report that my Turkey experience has dramatically improved, you can all breathe a sigh of relief (or perhaps disappointment for some) that the feeling of wanting to pack up and come home has now passed and I will continue to taste test some more cuisines for you.

After spending our last day in Istanbul under the air conditioner we had our first overnight bus experience. One thing we have learnt about the Turkish public transport is that it is near to impossible to organise a bus ticket yourself and you must go through a travel agent.  Another is that everyone travels on overnight buses and there doesn’t seem to be many options for day travel.  So we finally got on our bus at 11pm and arrived the next morning at 9am to Pamukkale.  We had the day to ourselves so we headed in to town to grab some breakfast.  Another thing that has become very apparent is that the Turks like Turkish food and that is all, the variety between restaurants is next to none.  Every meal is served with bread, rice and chips and when asking for a breakfast menu the only thing on it is a Turkish breakfast.  This has proven a little difficult for us over the past couple of days so when we saw this tiny little Korean type restaurant that had multiple options for breakfast we were there.  I ended up choosing tuna on toast, probably not something that you would normally have for breakfast but after 10 hours on a bus that was a brilliant start to my day.  We decided to head back to our hotel for a bit of a nap and an afternoon by the amazing pool before heading back into town for dinner.
We were still a little unsure what we were going to see in Pamukkale as we were doing the tour the following day but the moment we saw the amazingly breathtaking cotton castle lining the edge of town we were both excited for what was to come.  We spent the evening sitting by the lake watching some cute little kids feeding the ducks while having another serving of lamb kofte for dinner.  This time it was more of the traditional grill and tasted just like BBQ rissoles served with of course rice and chips and some salad which I cannot tell you how pleased I was to see that on my plate, very satisfying.

Time to head off on our tour where we were picked up from our hotel and first taken to the red thermal baths just 5kms out of town.  The waters are natural springs due to volcanic activity and reach up to about 55 degrees.  We dipped our toes in and gosh it was warm.  The colours are spectacular on the surrounding rocks but it is much smaller than expected.  After spending a small amount of time here we headed off to the ancient town of Hierapolis.  This runs adjacent with Pamukkale and we walked through the ruins seeing many tombs and remains of buildings before arriving at the main attraction for the day, the hot springs that form the calcium covered cliffs on the outskirts of town, aka the cotton candy castle (the meaning of the name Pamukkale).  The view from the top is even more breathtaking than what we saw at the bottom the previous day.  The natural springs run down the cliffs and over time have formed the largest calcium cliff formation in the world.  There are small pools that run down the cliff where you can swim so we spent an hour or so of our free time wandering around and relaxing in the pools before heading off to our lunch that was provided as part of the tour.  The words buffet are like music to my ears as I knew this would mean salad!  I must admit it was no boat cruise buffet but I literally filled my plate with salads including lettuce, couscous, cabbage, eggplant (quickly becoming one of my new favourite vegetables) and tomatoes to name a few.  We finished our tour with a visit to an onyx masonry where we saw a demonstration of how products are made, it was very interesting and if only I had more room in my pack I would have loved to have purchased some things.
Before our next overnight bus (this time leaving at 10pm and arriving at 7:30am) we headed off to find ourselves some dinner. We were both in need of something that was not lamb and not cooked on a grill and the moment we saw chicken schnitzel on a menu we were in that restaurant before they could even say hello. We both had a bit of a laugh when it was served as it was basically a big chicken nugget from a Steggles box in the frozen section, but gosh it was delicious. If only we could have turned it into a parma!

Night bus number two down and we arrived in Eceabat, a small town near Gallipoli where we stayed the night, feeling more than exhausted to say the least.  I was very happy that we were allowed to go straight into our hotel room and by 8am we were both curled up in bed asleep still in our clothes from the bus trip.  We woke to the sounds of crashing thunder a few hours later and water dripping from the light fixtures in our roof.  Looking out the window the streets were flooding and there were some amazing lightening strikes, if only it was dark to see them better as I love a good thunder storm.  After gathering our things we moved rooms and settled in for a day of Olympic watching, the only problem being we were starving hungry.  So a trip to a near cafe with our rain jackets on where we ordered some toasted cheese sandwiches for breakfast and grabbed some cup of soup and fresh bread for lunch.  Turns out that the Turkish version of cup of soup is a little different than ours, if only I could have read the instructions that say you must mix it with cold water and boil for 15 minutes instead of just tipping in boiling water like we are used to, lets just say that the receptionist thought we were hilarious and was very keen to try and fix our soup but it was too late, lumpy soup for lunch was surprisingly still pretty good.
Spending the remainder of the day sleeping and watching tv we decided that we should venture out for dinner since the rain had cleared and maybe see what the town has to offer.  Turns out we could cover the town in a few minutes and settled on a nice little restaurant near the port where the roof was covered with grape vines and there were onions and garlic cloves hanging all around, something that I loved seeing.  I opted for some calamari, which by the way for the frozen kind it was cooked very well.  It was served with an interesting yoghurt/garlic/mint mayonnaise which seemed to be more of a sour cream consistency than a mayonnaise but it was really tasty to have as a condiment and something I might have to try and find a recipe for to try when I am at home.

The day had finally arrived for the purpose of our entire trip to Turkey, a visit to the Gallipoli memorial sights.  A day that started with a provided lunch at the hotel (yep rice & chips) we headed out on a 4 hour venture to see the memorial sights such as ANZAC cove, shrapnel valley and Lone Pine to name a few.  It was certainly an exhausting day but to see the sights was well worth the visit to Turkey, a highlight for me was seeing the original trenches that were dug out by our soldiers.
Standing out in the sun for hours on end called for a refreshing Turkish ice cream when we had the chance and I have never had ice cream like this before.  It is a very sticky consistency and to get a spoonful is certainly a task, it’s almost like a reward each time you put some in your mouth!   We then began the 5 hour journey back to Istanbul and I tell you this place has it in for me!  We were meant to be dropped at our hotel but our bus driver refused to as it was too hard to get to in the bus, not knowing where we were going ended with wandering around the city for about an hour before finally finding the most comfy bed of the entire trip for a quick few hours sleep before leaving this city.

3 months travelling has now bought us to a gorgeous little town called Ravda in Bulgaria after another 6 hour bus trip.  Luckily I was so exhausted from the antics of the night before so I fell asleep the moment my bum hit the seat.  One thing I did like about the Turkish bus companies is the hostess like service where they provide you drinks, snacks and lunch.  I was very pleased to be served a cheese roll mid journey while watching my tv in the back of the seat. 
We have now settled into our swish hotel with two pools where we have discovered this country is so incredibly cheap (I paid AU $7.50 for dinner and drinks) and so far our small dealings with the locals has been wonderful.  We headed into town to have some dinner and the excitement to be served a meal without carbs carbs carbs was amazing.  A tried a traditional Bulgarian dish, Haidushki style chicken which was served in a dish similar to a  gravy boat with chicken, carrot, zuchinni, capsicum and onions in a an unusual tasting sauce which tasted like a cross between a gravy and bbq sauce.  It was not most amazing flavour I have tasted but it was certainly a good start of what I hope to be a Bulgarian taste sensation.  Now time to get some sleep as I am anticipating breakfast to be amazing as the Bulgarians claim they discovered yoghurt and it is used in widely in all meals across the country, here’s to hoping for a healthy breakfast story xx