To those of you whom I have bored with ramblings about our "next" Turkey trip -- Turkey 2 as I call it, and Turkey Leftovers, as Robert calls it...I am SO thankful to announce: The Time Has Come!! We're going back -- and I am SOOOOO excited!
After almost two years of planning, and lots and lots of research and reading, we are heading out on Wednesday, April 30 for six weeks in a wonderful country! We discovered Hittites the first time we were there, and now I am more than ever on their track. Our huge Turkey map has stickies all over it, and those have all been transferred to our Turkish atlas. Additionally, we will be going back to Gobekli Tepe for another look at the world's oldest temple and Catal Hoyek and other neo and paleolithic sites.
Initially, I had hoped to make it all the way across Turkey to Lake Van and the Armenian border. However, Turkey is a VERY large country, and I had to scrap that plan (version 9 or 10, as Robert calls it...) so that we could get everything else I wanted to see accomplished ... or hopefully most of it. The one thing we found about Turkey the last time, anybody who was anybody passed through there coming or going from somewhere else -- so there are many ancient civilizations.
So...our trip begins and ends in Istanbul (I actually would have preferred to go into and out of Izmir, which is much smaller, but the flights didn't work out that way.) From there, we will pick up a car and begin our journey east. We will be heading into Midas territory, and then back to the Hittite capital. We then head up towards the Black Sea, and then plunge south to head to Nemrut Dagi and Urfa near the Syrian border. This will be the farthest east we go (this time!). Then we follow the coast a bit, then head straight into the middle -- Kayseri and Konya, and from there drop back down to the coast at Mamaris. At this point, we have a three night break in Rhodes, Greece -- so must remember to pack Euros...Back to Turkey after that, as we make our way along the Aegean coast to Selcuk and Izmir. And finally, a mad one-day dash back to Istanbul to return the car...Whew! Robert says he doesn't want to know details, as they would tire him out thinking about!
I have set up the blog to go automatically to whoever wants to receive it, just by clicking the link on the right hand side of the page and entering your email address. Once you do that, you will receive an email notification from somebody called something like "Feedburner(?)" with a link to click. You must do that before the emails will go to you. If you have any problems, please let me know! Hopefully, this time, we will be able to get automatic email postings for the entire trip, as three times before, something just "happens" mid-trip, and the emails stop! So...hopefully this time will be OK all the way along!
I do try to post every day, as I have found that saving things up just becomes more difficult, and I try to be diligent and post every night...so we'll see how I do!
We also absolutely LOVE to get your comments posted on the blog, as well as any emails you might feel inclined to send! We really do enjoy having you along with us on our adventures -- so come on! Let's get going!!
Love,
m
xxx
Remember! To get a larger image, just click on it! Click the map above for more detail than you probably want to know!
m
x
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