Bob and Ann in Turkey 2008

Please visit April 23 slideshow

Ann Talking with Schoolgirls

Our bus was parked near the stadium. As we walked there this morning, we got to see participants in the ceremony celebrating Turkish children on this Independence Day holiday. Most of them were children dressed in ethnic costumes, martial arts outfits and school uniforms. Underway on the bus we made an impromptu stop at a school where relatives were watching their children perform ethnic dances. When we walked in, we were soon surrounded by cute young girls testing their English - Hello - How are you? - Where do you live? - How old are you? - What's your name? - etc. They enjoyed posing for pictures.

Our main morning stop was at a huge local street market. It had luscious looking vegetables and fruits along with dates, cheese displayed in hollowed out goat legs and honey combs. Housewares and clothing were also for sale. We bought grapefruit and peanuts for our bus ride and yummy deep-fried dough stuffed with bananas and soaked with honey for an immediate snack. On the way back to the bus, I had smoked goat milk ice cream which sounds strange but was very good.

This was grazing day, so when we stopped at the next truck stop, we snacked on Turkish mac and cheese and cold vegetables and potatoes.

We reached Pamukkale and were soon walking barefoot on the white, sandy calcium deposits left from leaking thermal baths. After that, we watched some bathers partaking in the healing powers of the thermal pools. Then we walked to the well-preserved Roman theater and on to the bus past a huge necropolis filled with sarcophagi.

Our hotel, The Villa Lycus was in a small town near Pamukkale. It also had a thermal pool which some of our group used. There were no reports of instant healing of any ailments. Dinner was a disappointing buffet. We did a stroll through town after dinner to look at the local shops.

The map of our route is below. To see it in Google Earth, follow this link.