WEEKLY UPDATE | TRAVEL | TURKEY
Turkey, We Have Arrived!
My Weeks In Photos — Week 37 & 38 — November 24–December 7, 2022
Well, it’s been a couple of weeks since I did an update. Sorry for the delay. Last week we had a lot on our plate with getting ready to leave Bulgaria, and the days slipped past fast as we scrambled to get projects completed.
We spent the last week in Varna mostly working on the treasure hunt, but the owner of the hostel also had other maintenance projects going on that she wanted help with. So we kept busy.
We also spent some time walking around the city in the evenings checking out the beautiful displays of Christmas lights. I’m a bit sad that we won’t be in a country that celebrates a traditional Christmas this year. Although here in Turkey we have already viewed some Christmas lights and decorations, so maybe there will be more to celebrate than I think.
On December 2nd we boarded the bus from Varna headed for Edirne, Turkey. Although most people told us to just go to Istanbul, we stubbornly refused because we had already been to Turkey 2 times, and both times we never left Istanbul.
We are bound and determined to see more of the country this time around.
Edirne is a border city and is only minutes from both the Bulgaria border and the Greece border. We had a bit of a rough start when we arrived as my debit card did not work in the ATMs, rendering us with no cash. I won’t elaborate too much, but if you are interested in reading the whole story, click below.
Because of our debacle, we ended up staying in Edirne for 4 nights instead of the two that we had planned for. But because of that, it gave us time to wander around a bit and we discovered the old part of the city which was as quaint and charming as we could have hoped.
Three days after crossing the border, we finally felt like we had actually returned to Turkey.
We were thrilled to find vendors selling many of our favorite foods, and we could see that Turkey was much the same outside of Istanbul. We had developed such a romantic view of Turkey, but it was all based on our experience in Istanbul, and quite often a country's largest city doesn’t represent the rest of the country.
However, we can see that our favorite things about Istanbul, also happen elsewhere.
On Tuesday we boarded a bus to make the journey south to Izmir. One of the other reasons that we wanted to go to Edirne first is because we wanted to travel the outside coast of Turkey, where the Sea of Marmara reaches the Aegean Sea. At first, we thought it was considered the Mediterranean, but after looking at the map while on the bus, we could see that we were mistaken.
Turkey doesn’t really touch the Mediterranean Sea until you reach the south coast of the country.
It was about a 9 hour journey but the bus was so comfortable with great seats, a little drink cart that came around and even free wifi. So the trip didn’t seem to drag on too long. I even managed to get some editing work done for Globetrotters on the little drop down table.
While it started out as a grey and gloomy day, we passed some incredible views and we were so happy that we decided to come the way that we had. After a while the sun came out and we got to see the true sparkle in the Aegean Sea.
We passed two interesting landmarks on our journey. One was crossing the bridge that goes over the Dardanelles Strait which connects the Aegean Sea and the Sea of Marmara. It was a massive bridge and reminded us of the ones that crossed the Bosphorous in Istanbul, but much longer as this strait is wider than that one.
We also passed Çanakkale which is where Troy is and the site of the famous Trojan war. We had considered only catching the bus to that point so we could take in the history of the area, but we decided in the end to press on to Izmir.
As we watched the signs for Troy whizz pass the bus windows, I certainly had some FOMO kicking in, but suddenly a Trojan horse popped up and I was able to quickly get a picture of it as we sped past. That made me feel a little bit better about missing out:)
If there is one thing that we have learned in this life it is that we will never see everything. So we just take in what we can and leave the rest. Besides, none of these ruins are going anywhere and if we decide that we can’t live without seeing them, then we can always come back.
The rest of the trip was quite scenic as we would follow the road inland then it would sweep back out to the seaside. The sea was as smooth as glass and we watched people fishing on the shore and boats bobbing in the water.
As we pulled into Izmir I was struck with the size of the city. Highrises popped up in every direction and traffic was that of a major city. For some reason I had the impression that Izmir would be a small city, more like what we had left in Varna with a population of 300 000 people. However, when I looked it up, I was shocked to learn that there are over 4.5 million people!
It seems that Turkey doesn’t really do small cities.
I punched the hostel that we were headed to into google maps and we learned that we could catch a city bus almost to the doorstep from the main bus station. A nice man swiped his card for us on the bus since it only had a card system, and we readily paid him cash in exchange for the favour.
We arrived in fine form and were relieved to find the hostel down a small alleyway quite easily. We are staying at the Lotus Garden Hostel and it is a peaceful and beautiful oasis in the hecticness of the greater city around it.
The hostel is a buzz of activity despite that it is the off season. We have met quite a few Russians that have fled Russia to find lives here. But many are having hard times trying to find housing as the demands are high. I guess between the Russians and Ukrainians, most rentals are filled up.
These are definitely sad and uncertain times for many.
We have had fun getting to know Alex, one of the resident cats. He meows loudly at the door to be let in and out of the garden, and gets angry when somebody tries to shoo him off of a seat that they want to sit in. He will hiss and even try to bite in order to stake his claim.
One evening he jumped on my lap while I was typing and there was no shooing him away. He decided that he liked it there and that was that. He did make a good proof-reader, I must say.
He got comfortable and cuddled in and laid down.
After about an hour I had to go to the bathroom and the moment I stirred he tried to bite my arm, and quite violently. I was glad that I had my puffy coat on! What a character!
Other times he is quite cute, like when he was curled up in this bag behind the woodstove taking a nap.
We also spent a day walking around Izmir on Tuesday, but I’m going to cut this off now and save those details for next weeks update.
All in all we are very happy to be back in Turkey and have some fun plans coming up that I will be happy to report to you as they happen.
Hope everyone has had a couple of great weeks!
xo Jill
Here are my published articles from the past couple of weeks:
Some Picasso In My Cereal Makes Me Smile
I'm Grateful For the People We Meet Along the Way
What Is a Ugandan Rolex?
Christmas Looks a Little Different Everywhere We Go
Why Trusting People Is Not Naive
Share Your Creativity Monthly Wrap-Up (November 2022)
Sharing Food Monthly Wrap-Up (November 2022)
Gifting My Art Is Very Rewarding
Canada Is In the Middle Of NowhereI’m tagging those who have requested to be tagged in our weekly wrap-ups. If you would like to be tagged, please let me know and I will add you to the list.
Robert | Louise | Adrienne | Kim | Mia | Michele | Ivy | Erika | Anne
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