stray

2019-03-05 Day 174 Tue

Drove down the track the horses were up and about but their water troughs were still frozen.

We arrived at Webasto at 09:00. They had a look at the heater but didn’t know much. We left with the plan that they’d fix the leak in Istanbul. So to deliver it to the agent there.

We stopped in Demirci at a small supermarket, we need yogurt and bread. I heard someone talking to john in very good english. It was Mustafa a local English teacher out of a job.

Mustafa was very excited and friendly not many English speakers visit his town. He wanted us to visit some carpet factories and to visit his family and visit the school.... We agreed. That we had the rest of the day free.

By the time we got back to EC we had about 6 guys around and more arriving. Were hustled into a carpet shop for glass of tee. Were given two small chair pads of carpet of which we refused one. Very friendly people.

They hardly spoke about the carpets and there was no sell at all. Next Mustafa took us to a machine carpet factory and a man was assign to show us around. They do the whole process here except grow the wool.

Card it, spin it (two processes) die it, dry it, put it on spools, then create the carpets with the big looms. One machine can make 600cm in a day the other twice that. The carpet is then has a mow, then is washed and dried on a frame to keep it square then edged. All with machines.

Our guide who spoke no English receives US$500 per month but is capable on all aspects of the business.

A really great tour. Next to Mustafa’s house. He has a wife, Ishane and 3 children, one at uni, one about 12 and the other 4 years old. We had dinner sitting on the floor. The middle girl was very shy and would not interact. An interesting evening. Crawled into bed in EC about 2300.

Health and safety is not a big issue here.

The number of threads needed for a machine carpet is about 6000 all reeling off of these racks.

Camp site 220km

2019-03-04 Day 173 Mon

A bit of computer use in the morning then headed to Ephesus.

I remembered the theater and a few bits and pieces, but for me this time the highlight were the Houses that had been uncovered in the last 20 years.

They had a huge cover over them to protect them. The apartment block, if you like, extended 27meters up the bank and was 4 stories high. The walls originally were decorated with thin marble sheets, some of these were back on the walls others were still on the Jigsaw tables. The mosaics on the floors were all really well preserved.

Showed John his first ancient wonder of the world Temple of Artemis(Diana’s temple) One solitary pillar was exactly as I remembered.

We hastened north to be close to webasto in Manisa. We camped at the top of a hill in the Sureyyer tabiat park. Back in the snow. A great view of the lights of Izmir but lots of smog!!!

Camp site 127km

2019-03-03 Day 172 Sun

An early morning drive. Leaving at 6:30 we were running on time for a 9 o’clock catch up but the witch put us wrong with the roads in Izmir arriving 10mins late.

We had not seen these type of traffic lights. The whole Pole lights up with the lights color.

Twin buildings were very obvious.

Adrian and Christina's camper. Great to see them their rig that they bought cheap and fixed up.

Same length as us but over 3 m high. Adrian and Christina have done the Stans and Mongolia so we will follow in their footsteps. Good to hear some stories.

Turkish flags in Izmir.

Walked into town to find lunch and then back to a very full car park.

We managed to get out but they were stuck there till 7pm. Cars were parked in a row between the rows of car parks.

A new subdivision.

Glad we got out. We continued south and as close to Ephesus (Selcuk) as we thought was wise.

We had a beach camp which we shared with a few Sunday beach goers. Until they went home on dusk. Then all alone. A quiet camp.

Camp site 198km

2019-03-02 Day 171 Sat

A fishing trawler was netting right close to the shore line.

Off to Troy.

A lot more has been excavated since I was here 38 years ago. Was interesting to see all 8 layers of the different civilizations that lived here.

There were lots of little brown squirrels scampering around. Not sure any of the Japanese tourists saw them - to busy with their selfie sticks.

Finally got to wash the vehicle. The mud from Sulva bay was really quiet sticky.

A friendly group of people traveling in the back of this vehicle. When I held the camera up to ask if I could take the photo they all waved and smiled.

A big drive south to get within hailing distance of Adrian and Christina. Have been planning this catch up for about 6 months.

Anyone for dinner? A wing seat? A restaurant with a difference.

Yep clicked over 160,000 so into our 70,000km's overseas.

We had trouble finding an interesting site. Drove up towards some aerials but was treed in - so back to the coast and north again retracing our steps. Found a spot just above the road . It rained gently during the night as forecast.

Camp site 235km

2019-03-01 Day 170 Fri

The rock below our camp site was quiet pock holed.

We tried to return south on a different muddy road but decided after a slippery corner that it would be wise to back out. With the broken mirror telling lies we slid into the ditch. With the winch rope wrapped around a sturdy olive tree we dragged our way out. This time John reversed with the open door, ignoring the mirror and kept the right hand tiers on the dryer part of road.

We checked out Lone Pine cemetery and monument and a few others. I did not find the head stone of the 14yr old drummer that I remembered…

Next we caught the ferry across to Canakkale,

Onto the replica of the mine layer from world war one. A young navy guy took us under his wing and showed us around, into the wheel house and below.

We had a look at the fort but they had removed the missile from the fort wall. The hole was there and the missile was on the ground. An interesting museum now. Lots of different apparatus for killing and blowing ships up were displayed around the gardens.

On south to the coast just before Troy for the night. Another guy was here with a fire. After pulling the passengers door apart and manually winding up the window, we went across to the fire. The guy was very welcoming offered us sausage but I had defrosted the fish that Teo’s uncle had given us. He gave us his rack to cook on. We could only chat through google translate.

He received a phone call and had to go and cook at his family restaurant.

Quite a few cars drove in during the night.

Camp site 82km

2019-02-28 Day 169 Thu

Drove down the Gallipoli peninsular on back roads. Still snow hanging around. A very agriculture area with villages being of similar style. Lots of green paddocks with snow in patches. Looked very pretty.

Took us longer than expected to get down to the museum at Galipoli. A very new and modern museum welcomed us.

A great museum with a tactile movie(s) of the history. We needed to walk into 12 different theaters, some in 3D. The experience of the engine vibration and ships rolling, blast of cannons was fantastic. An interesting experience.

A twist to the symbol of the NZ fern leaf. I had not seen this before but I felt connected, a bond.