are in my album now. Click on the photos below and pick the Turkey one. Each pictures has a comment that follows our journey through this incredible place.
I'm working on the trip report, but just too much to tell and it keeps getting longer and longer.....so hopefully I'll have that finished soo.
Linda, Thanks for posting the pictures, they are wonderful. I'm really getting excited about going to Turkey in May after seeing all of your beautiful photos. Your trip was obviously fabulous - I'll be watching for your trip report.
Linda: I'm so happy you enjoyed Turkey so much!!! Your photos brought back all the memories of my trip there last September. I want to go back!!! Your photos are really lovely. Thanks!
Oh Linda.....we LOVED it! We loved Rhodes too....other parts of Greece are tentatively in our plans for next year.
Cracker, I think you will really enjoy Turkey.
The contrasts of the people, the culture and the progressiveness (is that a word???)of some areas and non-progressivenss in others makes it a fascinating country. And we only seen a small sample of what it has to offer.
I'm sorry we didn't get to Cappadocia, but Turkey is a very big and diverse place and there's still so much to see, we are trying to figure out how we can incorporate it and a few more days in Istanbul into next years plans, which didn't originally include Turkey at all.
I do wish I was a better picture taker ....I just couldn't do justice to many of the places we visited with the camera.
Linda, I think your photos are wonderful! I enjoyed viewing them as a slideshow this evening.
Thank you for for taking the time and explaining a bit about each photo. I know that takes a lot of work...and it's very much appreciated!!
Looks like a trip filled with great memories! I may have missed it, but did you buy a tile, household item, painting, etc with "Rhodes" on it for a souvenir? The gorgeous blue of the water..WOW! I'd love a can of paint that color (of the bay you were swimming in ). Stunning!!!!
Hi Mindy, thanks for the pic compliments! I would have loved to have a superduper camera with all those fancy lenses to do justice to some of the places, but that said sometimes you can spend more time taking pictures than just savoring what you are seeing.
Ah...my purchases were limited due to only taking one bag each. I bought tea towels! How original is that, but of course these were monogrammed just for the "Rhodes" LOL. They are easy to pack, cheap and pretty to look at. I also managed to pick up some very pretty black and white/sepia pencil etchings, which too are easy to pack. And in Turkey, scarves.
The blue of the Med and the Aegean are something special aren't they. It's an entirely different blue than Tahiti, Hawaii and the Caribbean, all of which are beautiful too.
Great pictures. We were in Turkey for 3 weeks in 2006 and I would go back in a second. Most of the places we went were not the same as where you went so I really enjoyed seeing alll the things we can still get to see. Did you go on a tour with a company? Which one? Loved the pictures of Cafe Mescale in the Arista Bazaar, it was our favorite restaurant! Thanks for posting your pictures. BJinNM
Yes, we did use a tour company for the Gulet and the first week exploring the ruin sites.
Initially we were only going to use the tour company for the gulet because we didn't have enough people to charter one on our own. There were going to be 3 couples going so once we started researching accommodations, car rentals, site entrance fees, distances to travel from point a to b (and stressed out drivers...) it made more sense to check out some of the tours available. We used Explore Worldwide for the gulet and decided to add their Aegean Sites tour for the week before. They have small group tours, which we were a bit skeptical about...not so much the company, but the idea of being herded around etc. The max number of people on their tours is 18 so they can use small buses. In the end there were only the 2 couples, but we had decided pricewise for seeing all the places the tour offered, it was still the best way to go.
It all turned out great! We seen many things and places that we really would not have seen on our own....Alinda for one was not on our radar at all. Having a tour guide, at least the one we had, for the Aegean Sites tour was really good too. She was just great, fun and very passionate about Turkey and of course she had a degree in archeology, so a wealth of info.
Istanbul and everything else we did on our own. All out trips so far have been on our own so it was our first "tour" experience and other than a couple of longer bus rides, it was really a good way to go.
We'd love to go back....Cappadocia still to see. Even 3 weeks wasn't enough time...we seen so little of Turkey really. Having been there now, we wouldn't hesitate to rent a car. That wasn't even really a concern to start, but just the logistics of getting to all the stuff we wanted to see. I would actually consider another tour just for the additional info that a guide can provide...the also know great places to eat!! If not a tour, then at least a guide for some places.
Just bookmarked your company. I see it is a UK company. They have some interesting trips. We didn't do a Blue Cruise and most of the Aegean spots you saw we didn't get to. THey also have an Eastern Turkey trip which I would absolutely love to do someday! Do get to Cappadocia. It is fascinating and going into the caves and underground cities was amazing even for this clautrophobic gal. We definitely want to go back. We did Istanbul on our own also and were there nine days barely touching the surface (or the underground ). Next year we are going to Peru and Ecuador so Turkey is not on the immediate horizon but will be someday again. I too would not hesitate to drive there (except in Istanbul) but it was nice to have someone do it for you, to make the arrangements and to be a tour guide. We went for two weeks around with Globus (after Istanbul)and now that we have our overview would choose a much smaller company next time. Again thanks for the pictures and I look forward to your trip report. I hadn't discovered SlowTrav or SlowTalk when we went so it is fun to look at it now for Turkey stuff. BJinNM
....I just couldn't do justice to many of the places we visited with the camera. 
for for taking the time and explaining a bit about each photo. I know that takes a lot of work...and it's very much appreciated!! 
The gorgeous blue of the water..WOW! I'd love a can of paint that color (of the bay you were swimming in ). Stunning!!!! 
