twilight in cities like Selcuk,
and the striking geography of Cappodacia.
When we got up to go we must have looked a bit suspicious carrying our clothes and backpacks to the washroom, so the security guards converged and politely but firmly escorted us out, the manager acknowledging our explanation of the misinformation given by the tourist office with a tight smile and some finger wagging. 
They were really sweet and the kids were happy to have met them.
- my kind of campaign - partying in the streets seems a lot more fun than knocking on doors!
What I didn't know was how emotionally attached I would become, despite having only skimmed the surface of all that is Turkey.
Geographically we saw a tiny fraction of the country, a tiny fraction even of Istanbul for that matter. What we saw though was amazing, and our last stops on our itinerary were no exception.
For instance, the charming Selçuk. Our first morning there we visited the nearby ruins of Ephesus. The immense library had an ancient looking engraving, dated with the long ago year of 1978, naming the German philanthropist who paid for much of the extensive restoration of the site.
Archaeologists take exception to rebuilds that have been done over the years here and at many other ruins, but Tom had no problem with it, and upon seeing some workers on site exclaimed "look! they're building some new ruins!"
In the afternoon we asked the friendly guide at the Selçuk tourist office where the best place was to go swimming. He suggested we head to Hotel Tusan, as they a nice sandy beach that, though private, had free entry. So we hopped on the bus and got dropped off at the hotel gate, where the guard smiled and let us pass. As we walked through the manicured grounds and opulent hotel we felt increasingly uncomfortable, and by the time we got through to the beach (passing a private cinema, lounges and a glittering pool) we felt pretty sure that as non guests we weren't actually supposed to be there. But with nobody stopping us we nervously settled ourselves into sun loungers and passed a lovely few hours swimming and relaxing.
Kyra and I - before we knew we'd be doing the walk of shame out of the beach.
We managed to avoid further brushes with the law during the rest of our time in Selçuk. We enjoyed our short time there, though we missed visiting the Virgin Mary's house, sponsored by McDonald's.
Then it was on to Çanakkale via a six hour long bus journey. Despite what I've said in past blogs about the uncertainty over schedule and fares, travelling by bus in Turkey is very civilized, and there is a lot to be said for the way they organize their system. Firstly, no matter how long or short the distance there are always two drivers, who spell each other off and divide fare collection from driving. Secondly, there are snacks, movies, games and often free wifi for passengers. Finally, instead of having bathrooms on the bus - never anyone's favourite place to go or sit near - they have regular (but short) pit stops at cafes where you can use the facilities and then have a çay or kahve or some fresh pomegranate juice.
We went to Çanakkale primarily to see Gallipoli and Troy, but the town itself was really lovely, with cobblestone streets closed to cars and a lengthy promenade along the harbour, lined with cafes and restaurants packed with people day and night. Lots of great food including jelly doughnuts from a bakery named called "Berliner".
The people we met there were friendly and helpful, especially the owners of our apartment. Şebnem and Onur had read our blog (my email signature is the blog address so they'd seen it when we corresponded about the apt) and Şebnem, who happens to be a reporter for a local online newspaper, was very excited about our journey. She interviewed and photographed us and published the story the next day which was kind of fun! (if you want to try reading Turkish it's here at http://www.canakkaleicinde.com/kitapla-baslayan-yolculuk-canakkaleyi-ve-turkiyeyi-cok-sevdik.html )
The kids also made friends with two 10 year old boys in the playground, starting with a frisbee lesson from Paul and Jacob,
then Turkish dancing lesson from the two boys, some tandem ziplining at the park, and a picnic at dusk.
In Gallipoli we hiked 16 km in the hot sun through the valley and over the hills of the peninsula, something of an arduous journey to us,
but nothing compared to the travails of the ANZAC soldiers who fought in the trenches and climbed these same hills, laden in military gear, carrying injured and dead comrades, and being shot at by snipers only to ultimately suffer a resounding defeat. Blossoming trees had been planted in the gardens around the white markers engraved with the soldiers names. The beauty, peace and tranquility of the site belies its bloody past.
At the Australian War Memorial I found the Ataturk's words to the mothers of sons killed in the war profoundly moving.
The peaceful words contrasted with the sounds of fighter planes that raced through the skies above while we were there, a reminder of the conflicts far away from us in Turkey's eastern region.
Before going to Gallipoli Paul had listened to an audio tour on a website devoted to educating Australians about the doomed battle fought there in World War I. Apparently an intensive education effort was launched due to widespread national ignorance, evidenced when Australian Alan Bond's yacht won the America's Cup in 1983 and he erroneously exulted "This is Australia's greatest victory since Gallipoli".
I was similarly uninformed about the city of Troy and its famed Trojan horse, not quite realizing it was a fiction of Homer's, which hadn't stopped the city of Çanakkale erecting a giant horse on the harbour, with an official looking plaque proclaiming its use by Brad Pitt in "Troy". The ruins at the town of Troy were smaller than we had been seeing elsewhere,
but curated well and the kids were really interested in the lessons from the audio tour. The winds were whipping in the trees that day, on cue as if to prove the truth of the motto that "the winds brought wealth to Troy", blowing so hard against ships that sailed into the harbour that they were forced to stay until the powerful Dardanelle winds turned in their favour, which could be days or longer.
Finally we returned by ferry and bus to Istanbul, where we got ready to leave Turkey by buying baklava, coffee and a few small souvenirs from the bustling markets. The city somehow seemed even more packed than when we'd been there in April, possibly because we had been in such quiet places that it a slight shock to return to such a densely populated city, but likely also busier in reality as May is prime tourist season in Istanbul. The high volume of the city soundscape, ordinarily made up of traffic noise, vendors shouting out to passersby, and calls of the muzeein, was now amplified with the addition of music and slogans from the campaigns for the upcoming June election. It blared from loudspeakers on moving vans plastered with images of candidates, and rallies where Turkish songs rang out and supporters danced in huge groups
Despite the dancing, the political situation in Turkey concerns many, who feel the current authoritarian government is a threat to democracy. Headlines about the Armenian history, Syrian conflict (and the flood of suffering refugees into Turkey), and increasing religious extremism demonstrate that there are serious issues in the country. There is rampant poverty in the country, and our host in Selçuk told us "right now it is a struggle for us to live, but we are living, and that is something. We can share and still be happy, but it is hard, very hard". As tourists we seldom saw direct evidence of the dire poverty, except on our apartment's doorstep in a poorer area of Istanbul, where dirt smudged children not much older than toddlers ran barefoot through the cobbled streets, occasionally beseeching tourists for change but more distressingly stopping cars to beg at the busy highway. One evening we witnessed a group of men kick and punch another man on the ground in the street, before a bus stopped and a crowd of passerbys intervened to help (fortunately the man stood up and seemed relatively ok). We also crossed the highway with a tiny boy not older than four (and possibly younger) who was alone, navigating back and forth across four lanes of speeding traffic completely on his own (the children would sometimes venture out separately from their group, then return later). It was a haunting feeling we had going to sleep that night, knowing that a child younger than Tom was fending for himself like that. It's one thing to know about such inequity, and another to directly confront it - and know that we are doing nothing about it, save for charitable contributions that are a drop in the bucket of what is needed.
Most of our encounters of course were illustrative of the positive side of Turkey. Our final day we went to the Prince's Islands for a picnic. These islands are retreats for wealthy Istanbullis, who come over to escape the heat and bustle of the city. A one hour ferry ride but a world away, with no cars allowed, leafy trees everywhere 
and beautiful old wooden houses abutting the tree-lined boulevards. 
The islands can get quite busy, and the park we went to was over-run by kids on school field trips. All the chaos was a bit off-putting at first, and the kids complained that they wanted a quieter park. That changed when two boisterous and enthusiastic boys came over to our table to practice their English on us, calling Paul "brother", giving us their lunch (bread and kebabs their teacher cooked over a charcoal grill) and encouraging the rest of their schoolmates over to meet us, who took pictures with their selfie sticks,
enthused over Kyra's every word and hugged and patted Tom. They challenged the kids to a soccer match, and when Jacob scored on a penalty shot
they hoisted him on their shoulders and chanted his name over and over.
We finished off our last night in Turkey by watching the sunset on the bridge over the Bosphorous. As the sun set and we turned to walk back to our hotel, two dolphins surfaced briefly directly below us, and did a flip in the air as if to say good-bye. Okay the flip in the air part isn't true, but I wouldn't have been surprised if they had, our time in Turkey was so magical. I left with tears in my eyes, and the whole family will always retain the enchanting impression Turkey left on our hearts.
Thank you for all of us:) And we are very happy to know you.There was a travel plan in my head. Seeing you, I was reminded again what a good thing it is to ride. See yourself very well. We send greetings to your family.
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