Tag Archives: Road Trip

A visit to Amos

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A couple of weeks ago, our good friends were visiting from the US and we decided to take a day trip to Amos. Amos is a small village a few miles from here on the coast. In this area of Turkey, each town or village is nestled in at sea level surrounded by high mountains. To get to them you have to drive UP into the mountains and then down the other side. These roads are twisty, narrow and have breathtaking views down the side of the cliffs.

The mountains we drove through.

From İçmeler we drove to Turunc, and the road was merely narrow, however the road from Turunc to Amos was essentially a one way path through the mountain pass, so narrow that you have to pull to the side and stop to let the other car by. My mother in law actually go vertigo during the ride from sitting in the passenger seat. I could see her visibly flinch every time we went around a curve.

  • Look Ma, no Guard rail! Also a cliff!
  • The road back to İçmeler

Amos is an ancient city on the road to The city is surrounded by 1.8-meter-thick and 3.5-meter-high walls and towers. The largest surviving structure is a theater, was settled from the Hellenistic era until the Roman era. It is quite a climb to the top of the ridge, and since there were so many cliffs, I carried Kayra up on my back. From there he was able to enjoy the view, watch me sweat, and not fall off of a cliff or rock formation. #ParentingWin

The ruins aren’t particularly well preserved, but it is still fun to go and poke around in them. The view is also absolutely stunning. The whole area has wild thyme growing all over it. When we first arrived I saw two men harvesting it. Those bags in the trunk, wild thyme from the Roman ruins.

After the hike we went down the mountain to the beach in the cove and spent all day resting. There is a restaurant on the cove that has a serving area with couches under the shade of trees, beach chairs and cabanas, and a pool as well. It worked out wonderfully. We swam for a while, then had a nice leisurely lunch while Kayra took a two hour nap on one of the couches next to our table. Then we were able to spend the rest of the afternoon swimming and playing in the sea and the pool. Actually I am hoping to go again this weekend.

Photos courtesy of Larinda Bucklew

Road Trip: The Big One

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After our vacation, Bülent and I decided to buy a car in Texas, where the cars have less rust damage from salt and snow.  We would then drive out to New Hampshire in time for Bülent to start his teaching job at the university.  Our plan was to drive from Leave Texas, stop overnight in Memphis, Louisville, northern West Virginia, somewhere in Jersey and end up in New Hampshire.  ScreenHunter_04 Aug. 21 15.32

However, right from the beginning we had some scheduling issues.  Bülent found the car he wanted to buy the night before we leaving for the trip, but it was too late to buy it and take it to get checked out. So early in the morning he went to the dealership, bought the car and took it to the garage.  However, the work it needed, brakes tuned and new tires, took longer than expected.  Instead of getting on the road by 12 and getting to Memphis by 8ish that night, we couldn’t leave until 4.   We were tired, so we stopped in Little Rock, Arkansas around 10 p.m.   We figured we would stop in Memphis to and have an early lunch and visit with my friend from college (hence required stop in Memphis), and have an early lunch.

And that is the day Arkansas became dead to me.  If we had time I would have like to look around the city and check out some Civil Rights museums, but we wanted to get on the road right away.  Bad decision.  The trip to Memphis is normally only 2 and a haf hours, but once we got on the road, we stayed on the road. And stayed on the road.  And stayed. on. the. road.

There had been a traffic accident that morning at 4 a.m. and the eastbound and westbound lanes of the highway were blocked all day. (I can complain about because no one was hurt.)  After several hours f being parked on the highway, we were detoured onto a two lane country highway.  It took eight hours to drive to Memphis.  By the time we got there, we were ready to tear our hair out.  We were trapped all day, had lost an entire day of travel and messed up our schedule.  We decided rather than try to make up time and drive to Nashville, we would stay with our friends in Memphis.   Honestly the thought of getting back into the car made us nauseous.

Good Decision.  We ended up having a great time.  We had a great Tennessee BBQ, and then hung out by the lake with the dogs.  The three dogs, that all have first, middle and last names.  Hee Hee.  It is so funny when my friend Katie calls out their full names with when the puppies are being rowdy.  I would post some adorable photos, but there were some technological issues and our camera ate the pictures.  The next day we woke, rested, with the goal of getting to Louisville for a late lunch and then continuing on to make up lost time.   We had to be in NH by a certain date so Bülent could start teaching his classes.    Next Installment: Day 3 of the Road Trip.  The road to awesomeness…I mean Louisville.

Back to US Road Trip Adventures!

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In the beginning of the summer we did a road trip.  We started off in Texas with a visit with Bülent’s BFF Shawn.  I was able to visit with Shawn again and meet his wife Larinda.  They were great hosts, I had never been to Texas before and they had planned an awesome trip.  We visited in Fort Worth, near their home, then hopped in the truck and started the first leg of the road trip.  We drove to Austin, took a look around and then headed to the Salt Lick BBQ, a little bit out of town.  There was meat, meat and more meat!  It was amazing!

From there we drove to Fredericksburg where we hit up a few wineries and then stayed in an adorable cottage right off the main street.  A former German settlement, the buildings and cuisine have an authentic German flair.  I went running each morning we were there (Not optional: The food was amazing.  Example: Duck Hash with Eggs.  *Duck* Hash!)  It was fun, because running along there was so much to look at and enjoy.  The town had lots of great local wine, since it was close to the wineries.  It also had some really fun kitschy shops where you could buy useless but amusing things.

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For your information the glassware, jam jars with stems, was billed as “Texas Crystal Wine Glasses.”  Clearly all about the class.    There were also quite a few fudge shops.  This is pretty typical in tourist towns, apparently people walking the streets for souvenirs love to court diabetes and heart disease and pack away that delicious mixture of sugar and butter.  There were also some novelty treats.

Chocolate Covered Bacon

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Chocolate Covered Jalapeños

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Chocolate Covered Pickles

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I talked with the teenagers selling the atrocities, and and they insisted people actually bought the “treats” and that they were pretty good.  I pressed them, Really?  They are actually tasty?  The boys said they liked the bacon and jalapeños.  But they remained suspiciously quiet regarding the deliciousness of the chocolate covered pickles.

From there we went to a small winery near Luckenbach, named Sister Creek.

June 2012 116It was a small place and informal.  When we said yes, we would like to see the winery, we we told to just on on through and come back to taste when we were ready.   We had run of the place.  It was like a dream!

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Generally I prefer dry wines, Sister Creek had a lovely Muscat Canneli  that was fairly sweet, almost effervescent and delicious!  We bought a bottle to bring back to NH and another for a hostess gift on the return leg of our road trip.

From there we went down to San Antonio.  We spent a night enjoying the River Walk, and in the morning went to the Alamo.   Then we drove back on up to Fort Worth.   I had never been to Texas before, and Shawn and Larinda went to great lengths to plan a lovely vacation and show us around the state.  From pit BBQ to wineries to Chocolate covered bacon, we had a blast!

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Where Everything is Bigger

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Texas.  Even the meat is bigger. BBQ…what were YOU thinking?

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Last week we had the good fortune to visit some good friends of ours.  Bülent flew from Turkey to Dallas and I met him there.

When Bülent  first moved to the U.S., Shawn was his landlord.  He became much more than that though, he and and wife, became very good friends with Bülent.   He even was the one to give Bülent his precious Butterfinger.   So last week we flew to Texas, from our own respective airports.  Our hosts gave us an amazing tour of Texas.  One of the first experiences we were introduced to was “Texas Barbeque.”  From Dallas we drove to Austin, where outside of the city we went to Salt Lick BBQ.   It was BYOB, and we could smell the meat from miles away.

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On the menu was summer sausage, brisket, pork ribs, smoked turkey, chicken and beef ribs.  Below you see sausage, brisket and pork ribs being prepared.

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I couldn’t decide between brisket and pork ribs, so I had both!  They were served with a side of beans, potato salad and coleslaw.  Everything was fabulous, but I was surprised by the coleslaw.  It was surprisingly light, more of a vinaigrette than a mayonnaise laden dressing.  Wicked tasty!

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Clearly!

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More on Texas and the food soon!

The Road Trip Begins

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Last Friday Bülent and I  flew to Dallas from our respective cities.  We have had a blast visiting with friends in Texas, and made a mini road trip from Dallas, to Austin to San Antonio and back.  There will be lots coming on our time in Texas but it needs its own post.  Our plan was to fly down, hang out, buy a car and drive back to NH.  And today it commences.   Bülent is picking up the car this morning and from there we will be hitting up cities willy-nilly in a northerly direction.  YAY!  It should be blast, and give me lots to post about.  I may be trying to post from my phone, so bear with me.

Romantic Getaway: Bolu

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One of the romantic weekends Bülent and I planned was to Bolu.  We had an amazing time, but it wasn’t actually in Bolu.  We had planned to stay in the Bolu city area and take day trips to Abant Gölü and Yedigöller, however the place we stayed was actually two hours from both, in Bolu province.  In the end it all worked out, and we had a wonderful time.   The drive there was very pretty.  There was still snow on the hills lining the freeway!

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We arrived at Hindiba Pansiyon, an ecofriendly resort with small bungalows.  It was really lovely.  The bungalows and outdoor tables straddled a clearing in the woods which a creek ran through.  There was a full service restaurant, and breakfast and dinner were included in the price of the bungalow.  The eals were great, produced with locally available foods.

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There were two types of bungalows, stone and wood. I would recommended the stone. The wood bungalow was very cozy, with not much floor space, but since we were on a romantic weekend, the size of the bungalow didn’t really matter.

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We relaxed, read, rested and took walks.  The best part of walking was that immediately after leaving the pension we were deep in the country.

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We did take a day trip to Gölcük, a small lake up in the mountains of Bolu.  The drive was gorgeous, and once we got there—there was water!  That is always a focus for people who live in Ankara.  Water, since our city is sort of arid, we all prefer vacationing in areas that are lush and green, preferably with a body of water nearby.  In this respect Hindiba was perfect for our needs.

Even though it was not what we were expecting, we had a great time.  The focus was on time together anyway.  It wouldn’t have mattered if it was a dive motel—but that is a post for next time…

Romantic Getaway: Safranbolu

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I have been in the U.S for the last three months, so when I flew back to Turkey for a few weeks, Bülent and I decided to plan some romantic weekends away.  So far we have been having a great time.  We decided to head to Safranbolu.  It is an easy three hour drive from Ankara.  After getting there we grabbed some lunch at Hanim Sofrasi.  I am a sucker for women-run establishments in Turkey.  This was pretty typical.  An older woman was supervising while her daughters, and maybe sisters or sisters-in-law (not sure which) cooked the food.  What was unusual was that while the matriarch sat outside smoking and chatting with tourists, her husband was the waiter, taking orders and running food out.  He only joined  his wife for a cigarette after all his work had been finished!

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We had “Safranbolu Manti” or “Peruhi.” Instead of your typical meat filled bites, they were more like triangular ravioli, very thin pasta filled with a white cheese or maybe yogurt.  However, while eating them I detected a floral note, I am not sure, it could have been a hint of saffron or maybe a spice.  Either way, it was a little different and delicious.

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After our lunch we walked around and stopped at Cinci Han, it is a old Caravanserai stop on the Silk Road.  Built in the 17th century it is now a hotel and a café.  You can still see the old iron rings where they used to tie the camels.

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There is a tower, which they allow you to climb with refreshingly few safety precautions.

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Safranbolu is a fairly small town, with quite a few pazars, however the really lovely part is just outside of the main square.  There are many old Ottoman houses, many of which are charming private residences rather than just hotels.  Safranbolu also has many streams and rivers which run through it and have carved canyons and ravines.  This particular camii (mosque) was built over a small river.  As a place of worship, one that spans running water and you can listen to the gurgle of it over stones while you pray—seems like a great idea—not that I would know much about prayer or worship.

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Along the same stream were many little gardens squeezed between the retaining walls and the water.

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During our walk we saw some local children  climbing a beautiful grassy hill.  So like any well adjusted adults, we were jealous and climbed it too.  We had a blast, and the kids thought we were pretty funny too.

Road Trip!!!

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Saturday we were on the road

From Ankara and Marmaris it took 10 hours. While driving through the middle of the country there is not alot other than natural beauty. This is my way of saying there was no radio station available for at least 9 hours of the trip. However, after we arrived and I was unpacking the car I found a case of CDs I could have played. That would have been nice, for me, but probably nicer for Bülent. I was a little bored at about the 6 hour mark and started singing. The songs I know well enough to sing (badly) are nursery rhymes and the poor man was assaulted by numerous versus of “Down by the Bay” and ” 5 Little Speckled Frogs.” However, all in all it was a good trip.

We stopped in Afyon and got a sucuk sandwich (the town is known for its amazingly tasty beef sausage.) There is no picture because it was too delicious to wait to eat. And then for dinner we stopped in a small town at a pide shop and got meat pide “Aegean Style” which translates into SUPER TASTY!! Served with raw onions and tomatoes.


And then this.


Try to look past the bug smeared windshield and appreciate what it is. It is my first glimpse of the Mediterranean after driving across the Anatolian hinterlands, and traversing several mountain ranges. We had been driving though curvy mountain passes for about an hour when we were able to see the sea. Marmaris is really gorgeous; it is situated on a small bay on the Mediterranean backed up against a mountain range. It is very warm by the sea, but about a mile back, towards the mountain a delicious breeze trickles down and it is never too hot. I am sure you will hear more about Marmaris the longer I am here.