4Runner Roadtrip – Turkey Part 1

Our first stop in Turkey was a little town called Eceabat, just across from Çanakkale on the Dardanelles Strait. It’s a gateway to the Gallipoli WWI battlefields and they have several monuments in the little town. Our hotel was just a short walk into the little town and we spent a bit of time looking at the monuments and learning a bit of WWI history. Our hotelier had spent quite a bit of time living in the USA and he and his family were very nice.  

Not too far south of Çanakkale is the archaeological site of the ancient city of Troy. The Lonely Planet description wasn’t really selling it but we decided to at least go to the car park and decide from there.  As it turned out, there were (what seemed like) gale force winds when we parked and between that and the LP write up we decided against the open air museum. On our way to Troy we again ran into the vehicle that had held up our Turkey border crossing, very slowly crawling up one of the steeper sections of road. We quietly cursed him under our breath (jokingly).

Our destination for the night and next couple of days was Ayvalık, a seaside town on the northwestern Aegean coast and home of the famous Ayvalik Toast! We stayed a bit out of town at a nice little place, but unfortunately for us they had a pack of dogs that lived around there too.  In addition to the 4 or 5 adult dogs, they also had 5 six month old puppies. You can imagine the difficulties we had trying to get Sebastian in and out of the place!

We also had some bad timing with the end of Ramadan and the Eid holiday starting and there was a government holiday or something at the same time so Ayvalik was very busy and we only ended going into the main part of the town and wandering around for one day.

Perhaps the highlight of Ayvalik for me was the Ayvalik Toast.  This little treat Shani had discovered from one of the YouTube channels she watches about a Globetrotting couple from the U.K. that spent lockdown in Turkey. In fact, their channel helped shape some of our Turkey itinerary. It’s such a big country we needed all the suggestions we could get.

But back to the Toast. This was Shani’s little surprise for me and we found the shop that (allegedly) originally made the first one. They were whipping up a major order of toasts and told us to come back in an hour. When I finally got my sandwich it was a treat. There are meats and cheeses and pickles and roasted peppers, maybe other things, and it’s pressed panini style thus the toast in the name.  It think the bread is special too, crunchy and soft. And it was about $2. 

Our trip into Ayvalik was also the first chance we had to use our new dog backpack and let me tell you, it is a gamechanger for travelling with Sebastian.  He’s a little dude and navigating busy city streets with him on a leash is always a challenge. We’re always concerned about him getting stepped on or an inopportune bark or an unexpected encounter with another dog or curious child. Well this fixes all of that. We just pop him in (treats help a lot) and away we go.

Did I mention that our timing was bad? We left Ayvalik and headed south to a little quaint village called Sigacik, supposedly a quiet holiday resort south of İzmir. And I suppose it would be a quiet holiday town if you didn’t show up on the first day of the Eid holiday.  As it turned out, Sigacik was absolutely heaving with people on holiday.

Our hotel (Sigacik Antik Hotel) was actually built partially into the old city walls so that was really neat. The owners were great, the included breakfast delicious and we recommend a stay there, just not during Eid!

The old town area is really quaint and we enjoyed a few wanders around.  We were also able to find a good take away kebap shop and with Google Translate and some Turkish and English challenges we ordered some gluten free/ separate the bread (the Turks are crazy for bread!) kebaps for Shani and some regular spicy meat kebaps for me. Really good. We ate there twice.

Needing a break from the constant movement, we booked an apartment for 5 nights in a little town just west of Bodrum. The Bodrum peninsula is apparently the A Lister choice on the Aegean coast and it is very very busy and popular with the jet set. We only saw bits and pieces as we transited back and forth but we were glad we stayed away from the towns.

Next up on the Aegean hit list was a re-visit to Fethiye. We had been 10 years ago and had fond memories. According to Wikipedia – It’s known for its natural harbor, blue waters and numerous rock tombs including the 4th-century B.C. Tomb of Amyntas, carved into a bluff overlooking the city.

What a difference 10 years can make! There is a lot more to Fethiye than either Shani or I remembered.  Driving in there was just so much urban sprawl and the traffic was a nightmare. Once we got settled into our hotel and got to explore the areas we remembered, it didn’t seem so bad, just a lot more grown up and busier than we were expecting.

We took a wander to the local shipyard for a walk and ended eating dinner at a place called Pasa Lokantasi, a spot right on the water next to the ships being built and where all of the shipbuilders were tossing back a few cold ones before heading home. Dinner and drinks $7.67

Wandering around Fethiye was nice, there is an old Roman amphitheater and the above mentioned tombs and of course the water is incredible. There is no shortage of tourist restaurants on the water and we were tempted by a few but in the end we ended up a few streets into town at a little sandwich shop. The guys there were super friendly and Shani was able to get some fried eggs and I had a beer and sandwich – $5.70 or so. (I screwed up and should have had the homemade meatball sandwich, live and learn.)

Next up – we head to Kas and start in on the seeing more ruins part of the trip. Stay tuned as we continue along the coast, visit some cool ruins in eastern Turkey and start the trek north to Georgia.