Turkey

Dear All,

Well, we've just spent 10 days in Turkey, and have had a sensational time. The trip started out poorly, since we lost our luggage somewhere on the flight from London to Istanbul. We survived three days in the same clothes, but even washing them out each night didn't help us feel any cleaner! Unfortunately, we hadn't taken mum's age old advice, and taken spare underwear, toiletries etc. with us as hand luggage, so along with the clothes on our backs, we had two guide books, our camera, plastic plates and cups and a couple of jumpers (really useful in 35+ degree heat!). Our experience of what you really need is as follows:
Day 1 - toothpaste and deodorant (soap provided by the hotel)
Day 2 - toothbrush and soap
Day 3 - shaver, shampoo, comb, couple of T-Shirts, summer dress, more undies etc!
...but rest assured once you have spent heaps on all this stuff your bag will miraculously appear - as ours did on Day 5.

Despite these dramas, Istanbul was wonderful. It's a really lively place with incredible mosques and palaces, loads of culture and really friendly locals (that often try to take you for a ride!). With a stomach bug in tow, we then travelled down to Gallipoli, where we were both incredibly moved by touring the WWI battle sites. We then bused to Assos, supposedly the most beautiful place in Asia Minor, and the place where Aristotle met his wife and taught philosophy for a few years. From Assos we came to Selcuk, a place of religious and historical significance. It has one of the most well preserved ancient cities in the world, Ephesus, where St John converted people to christianity after the death of Jesus. He is buried nearby; also nearby is the house where Mary (mother of Jesus) spent her last years after travelling here with John, but the evidence for this is only circumstantial. Today we went to Pammukale, an amazing natural phenomenon: limestone pools and cliffs created by natural spring water running down a mountain. Up there is also a church dedicated to St Philip, on the site where he was stoned to death, presumably for his religious beliefs (apparently Philip was also an apostle???). So, really wonderful history, in a spectacular country which also has wonderful food (Oh the tomatoes!). Can life get any better then this??

We are off tomorrow to Greece (the land of Elite Athletes!)

Lots of love from Laura and Nick