Tag: TURKIYE

SOLO TRAVEL FOR WOMEN by oldbirdtravelsNov 5, 20238:00 am

BRAVE NEW WORLD. TURKIYE COUNTRYSIDE.

OR, MY BRAVE NEW WORLD, NOT WHAT THE ELITES HAVE IN MIND.

View from my friend and neighbours house at sunset

Every day here in Turkiye has been a blessing except for the house hassle. This I will set aside for today. Every day I see a new side of the magnificent countryside in it’s raw brutal strength, mountains of rugged and often dangerous secrets, olive fields with animals roaming beneath their ancient boughs and wild flowers that pop up overnight despite the apparent arid land. Snakes and scorpions are what the locals most fear but I’ve been blessed in not having a sudden venomous surprise under the many rocks I have moved and the dark tunnels that have been exposed by my work. The chickens seem to tidy up the nasty bugs for me and Mother Nature has thus far been benevolent to me.

The pure mountain water beside the mosque where I go each day to wash some of the dirt from my face and arms and have a long, cool drink

Surprise in the ivy I was clearing. A hawk moth larva.

The capturing of my beautiful garden one last time.

SOLO TRAVEL FOR WOMEN by oldbirdtravelsSep 4, 20235:02 pm

GARDEN. MY LOVE OF THE MOUNTAIN REFUGE IN TURKIYE.

OR, NOW I’M DEALING WITH A JUNGLE!

When finally I got back to the mountains and went up to my garden a bit of a shock was in store for me.

Brambles and vines hide a wall down to a secret garden

The beautifully ploughed field was shoulder-high in weeds and very thorny thistle-like weeds, and the trees had all got a lot bigger! Not just a bit, but about doubled in size. I turned my attention to the top terraces by the broken beautiful carcass of a house and there I saw nothing but weeds, ivy, vines, rocks and bloody plastic. I would have to have a proper plan and I needed a less shocked and overwhelmed brain to process it. I would have to put my gardener’s brain in gear and see what could be achieved that wasn’t reckless and well, a waste of time till the rebuild.

In the exposed secret garden, Henry the Tortoise has reappeared and Doggo who ‘helps’ with the garden. I say that loosely as he feels kipping on newly cleared bits and chewing pine cones his main job.

SOLO TRAVEL FOR WOMEN by oldbirdtravelsSep 2, 20239:57 am

BAY FROM HEAVEN ACCESS FROM HELL!

OR, THE BEST PLACES USUALLY REQUIRE EFFORT!

Alert: My artwork can now be found on this link, click on photo:

I was in a weird mood. My back was better due to sleeping in a proper bed, but I was having trouble sleeping through the night. I’d bought a Melissa tea but hadn’t noticed it had St. Johns Wort in it, which doesn’t agree with me at all, instead of calming me it makes me edgy. I was eating very little and drinking and smoking a lot and the very idea of getting on another minibus to a beach I had discovered on the map just filled me with dread.

SOLO TRAVEL FOR WOMEN by oldbirdtravelsAug 24, 20232:43 pm

RECAP OF FISH RESTAURANT, ORCHIDS AND AYDIN MUSEUM. TURKIYE.

OR, LUSH GARDENS IN THE MOUNTAINS AND FABULOUS ARTEFACTS

I made it the other day to my paradise and was exulted to breathe that clean mountain air again and drink water from the mountain spring. After being here in winter the garden had developed into a jungle of flowers (especially orchids), herbs, vegetables and fat fish swam lazily in their pool unaware that for some it would be their last day before being cooked!

The family gave me such a welcome that it brought tears to my eyes. I had been gone so long! A great fuss was made of me which made me very happy indeed. My pals were very impressed too! It looks like I’ll be squeezed into a cabin there as I’m family!

SOLO TRAVEL FOR WOMEN by oldbirdtravelsAug 22, 20237:50 am

KLAROS AND THE BEACH.

OR, A DAY OF LONG WALKS IN THE SEARING HEAT FOR MY LOVE OF ALL THINGS ANCIENT.

After nearly a week of stress organising myself in Turkiye, I finally got out to see some archaeology! Heaven!

SOLO TRAVEL FOR WOMEN by oldbirdtravelsMar 27, 202311:45 am

IDYLLIC COUNTRYSIDE IN TURKIYES MOUNTAINS.

OR, WHEN IT WARMS UP YOU FEEL THE SUMMER HEAT IN AEGEAN TURKEY IN THE MOUNTAINS.

It might be warm at the coast but it’s very fresh up here.

An abandoned house and garden in a largely abandoned village.

Walking up the mountain alone most days it was lovely for my friend Ege and his brother to come to visit. They were so enthusiastic and made me feel like I was seeing it all afresh. Instead of moaning about the effing Rottweiler, the bane of my life on the walking shortcut, I take most days, I could enjoy going up to the mosque and spring water fountain by car. Beyond there we walked and what a beautiful landscape unfolded before us.

SOLO TRAVEL FOR WOMEN by oldbirdtravelsMar 23, 20238:04 am

HIERAPOLIS. OLD BIRD IN HOT WATER AND HISTORY.

OR, A WHITE MOUNTAIN OF CALCIFIED MINERALS

Well, finally this old bird got to swim in Cleopatra’s pool!

The background is not foaming sea but the top bed of calcified spring water!

Going to Pamukkale from Tire requires a three-hour drive. I was drained and bone weary from the ghastly band and its thumping bass keeping me awake till two in the morning. The weather was shit and I was a reluctant passenger at the beginning. However once on the road, I was reinvigorated and regained my energy and adventure lust.

Climbing the side of the mountain you rub your feet raw trying to get to the peak

The countryside is spectacular. Valleys, mountains, lakes, rivers, deciduous woods, coniferous forests and the eternal olive groves are everywhere. I saw places of poverty as well as more affluent communities. The arrival vista at Hieropolis is, however, another thing even in the grey misty weather.

Cleopatras Pool. with column ruins below the thermal pool bubbles like champagne as it aids your health in many ways

It stretches over a mountain top, glistening white like a huge, white snowy blanket of an ancient giant, thrown casually down landing atop a mountain full of bubbling hot thermal springs. It has a secret bonus, the ruins of the major Greek ‘Holy City’, Hierapolis.

Health-giving minerals dry on the calcified crust

SOLO TRAVEL FOR WOMEN by oldbirdtravelsMar 8, 20238:10 am

ESCAPING LONDON FOR MOUNTAINS AND MUSEUMS IN TURKIYE.

INLAND TURKEY IN SPRING, IN LIKE A LION AND OUT LIKE A LAMB.

Alert: Sorry for the big delay but my plans obviously changed after the ghastly events here with the earthquakes. On finally deciding to come I had a few other hiccups. My Turcel phone decided that it wasn’t working after me topping it up with a data package, well it worked but just for one day. It’s crazy we have spent literally hours on the phone trying to find out why they are insisting that I set up an account over three months ago the idiots! Also, yesterday, when I was writing this, Google decided something more had to be paid on my email so I had that drama too as I kinda need emails for tickets etc. Also, I was told my photo limit was full so I couldn’t store pics. I spent hours trying to resolve it all and had no luck. Other bits threw me off so I sulked a bit, drank beer and got nowhere. I’ll fix it on my return to London but as we know travel always throws a few curved balls to check your mettle!

Loving the fresh mountain air and bubbling streams of the spring water

Springtime in Turkiye is a beautiful thing, especially when you’re escaping a dreary down-in-the-mouth London. It’s full of little lambkins and alpine flowers, olive trees as far as you can see and the soft green fuzz of fresh grass. Water can be heard along the way gurgling in the mountain streams. The villages are stirring after the short but sharp winter and life starts new and fresh. This is the time most tourists don’t see and indeed it is a very different land from the parched land in the summertime.

My usual preparations of cleaning and tidying my place in Soho left me clear-headed and ready to travel. I was heading for a village inland from Izmir, having managed to book a little chalet at an extensive lodge in the foot lands.

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