Antalya, 19th September 2023.

It was still warm and sunny as I left Antalya. Ideal riding conditions.

I headed for another set of Greek/Roman ruins called Tremessos. It was a steep walk from the car park because the site rose up over 130 metres. At first there just seemed to be piles of stones, with labels stating what they once were. But after a while I came across a Corinthian temple, then access holes down into the very large underground cisterns. Best of all was a completely intact amphitheatre which had a white, rocky hillside as a backdrop. It must have looked very dramatic when the events were taking place.

Later that evening, after I’d got to my hotel, I went to see Mount Chimera. At the top of it is where the Mount Olympus flames can be seen. I made the mistake of wearing my riding gear to go there and really suffered when climbing up the steep, one kilometre long track in my heavy boots. But it was worth it.

The flames leak out of the ground and are permanently alight. The gas is 85% methane and self ignites on contact with the air. It isn’t known exactly where it comes from and it’s anybody’s guess as to how long it will last. The flames have been burning for over 2,500 years now and were a miraculous sight to ancient peoples. These days people just sit next to them and cook marshmallows. And take photos, of course.

Phaselis Ancient City was the next place I visited, on the way to the town of Fethiye. It was very much a trading town and had a harbour. There’s a stony beach there now, with replica sailing ships for the tourists to enjoy food on. Quite a lot of the buildings here were still standing and there was an actual street, giving the town a more meaningful look than some of the others.

The hotel I found in Fethiye had a swimming pool and I needed to do a couple of small jobs on the bike. So it seemed a good idea to stay for a couple of days. Sitting by a pool in the sun, following a cool swim, is never a bad thing to do. The restaurant only offered one meal, outside of burgers etc., and that was chicken steak. It was very nice. And the next night? Exactly the same thing. I wondered how many days you’d have to stay to get something different.
A couple of days previously I’d stopped at a filling station and made use of the café. Some other bikers told me about a Motofest at a place called Ortaca. They marked it on the map for me and I headed there. It was a at a camp site next to the beach. I didn’t have a tent so I found a nearby hotel then went back there. I walked around and chatted to a few people. There was a stage, obviously for a band and perhaps other entertainment. I thought about coming back in the evening but didn’t bother in the end.

For some reason I’d decided to wear my sunglasses when I went down there. A bit of a strange decision because my helmet has a built in sun visor. On the way back to the hotel a bee managed to get itself behind them. I pulled up as quickly as I could, ripped the sunglasses off but it was too late. It had stung my eyelid, dying in the process and I broke my sunglasses when tearing them off my face. I had anti histamine ointment and that did a good job of reducing the swelling and the pain. My penknife has a pair of tweezers, which got the sting out.

After all of that I definitely didn’t feel like going back to the camp site so instead I went into the small town for pizza and beer.
Next place to visit was Milas, to meet a young guy named Tolunay, who’d contacted me via the Overlanding Turkey Facebook page. He was helping out a friend at her coffee supply business and I met him there, along with his girlfriend, Ilayda. He’s a very nice young man of 28 and his main job is that of a Turkish/English interpreter. He also helps out at his uncle’s catering business sometimes.

 A place that sells coffee also serves it so after a couple of cups Ilayda came with me on my bike to direct me to Tolunay’s flat, where he lives with his father. Tolunay came along later to take Ilayda home, leaving me alone. After a while his father came home. I’m not sure whether he was surprised to see me there or whether Tolunay had told him about me. He’s a nice guy who is a primary school teacher. He speaks some English so we were able to chat.
Later on we went to the town of Bodrum, about 40 kilometres away, so that Tolunay could help his Uncle at a wedding. The venue was next to a beach, which must have looked very nice in the sunshine. There were 750 guests all told. That’s a lot of washing up!
I had some food then was sat at a table with Tolunay’s uncle, his partner and a couple of other guys. I was offered some Raki, which I’d heard of but never tasted before. It was the same as Ouzo or Pernod, made from aniseed. It arrives at the table in a bottle, not a glass, and you pour some out then add water to taste. I’d had Pernod before so I knew what to expect. Delicious, of course.
I was able to chat to his uncle’s partner, as she spoke good English. One of the other guys spoke English too and it turned out he was the owner, and skipper, of a thirty metre sailing vessel on which he took tourists around the Mediterranean and the Adriatic. I’d sailed in the Adriatic once, so we were able to swap stories a bit. I imagine he would have had some interesting tales to tell.

There was plenty of traditional dancing going on, which mostly involved the men dancing around energetically in circles with their arms around each other’s shoulders. Very good fun to sit and watch. Towards the end of the evening people were coming up to the bride or groom and  pinning money and jewellery to their clothes. I’d seen this before, when a friend married a Greek Cypriot woman. A good idea in my opinion, and it beats the hell out of getting a toaster.
Looking around at the guests I noted that everyone seemed to be dressed in modern clothes, with nothing traditional in sight. That included the bride, who wore the type of wedding dress that you’d see at any wedding. This was all reinforcing my impression of Turkey as a modern European country.

Last night had been a late one, so getting up was equally late. Ercan organised breakfast after which we went out. Tolunay was riding his Yamaha Tenere, which he’d used to go to Russia a couple of months previously. Ilayda was on the back. We went to Bodrum again, planning to visit the ancient castle. But before that we stopped to look at Bodrum Ancient Theatre, which was right next to the main road. It was a Roman amphitheatre which had been very nicely restored and, to my surprise, is still in use for concerts today. I wanted to look around but couldn’t because they were setting up for a gig for that evening. It must be a magical place at which to watch a concert. But you’d need to bring a cushion. Those stones are hard.

The castle was next to the harbour, which was crammed with floating Gin Palaces, very likely including the one owned by my friend from the night before. The castle was big. It rose a long way up from the harbour and included a lot of towers. It was built from 1402 and was occupied by Hospitalers who were forced to militarise because of retreating forces from the crusades. The Crusaders were made up of knights form many European countries and they all added a tower to the castle, hence its size. That included the English, French, Italians etc. Eventually they were slowly forced out by invading Islamic forces.
We walked around, admiring the coats of arms placed onto the towers. The castle had no particular style or design because of the additions, which seemed to have no plan to them. I got the impression the towers were mostly vanity projects. There was a museum there as well, containing Iron Age shipwrecks from 12-1300 BCE. That was an interesting day, rounded off by eating Pide, drinking some beer and sitting up chatting with Ercan and Tolunay.

On the day I left Milas, Tolunay took me to see a site called Labranda. It dates from the 7th century BCE and is dedicated to the god Zeus. No buildings were complete, just some walls still standing. While riding up to this place I lost my Buff, which was just stuffed into a place on the bike rather than being worn. We went to a shopping mall to get another one but the only place that sold one was a mobile shop from Fenerbace football club. So there I was riding around like a Turkish football supporter.

I was heading for the town of Selcuk but on the way I called in to see Didyma, quite an impressive place. There was a temple dedicated to the god Apollo and the thirty metre tall entry arch was still standing. The amphitheatre was also very much intact. It seems that in all of these ancient towns and cities it’s the entertainment centres that still remain. The temples and political centres have crumbled and fallen. In my view, that’s exactly as it should be.
I booked into a hostel in the town of Selcuk with plans to visit the ancient city of Ephesus. In terms of Turkey’s archaeological remains this is The Big One. It was the capital city of the province of Anatolia and has been occupied since 7,000 BCE. The remains are Greek and Roman and it covers a very large area. Not surprising considering it used to have a population of 250,000. For an ancient city, that’s a lot of people.

Large areas of it are still standing and it has at least two large amphitheatres. It’s perhaps worth explaining that these open spaces were originally used for political and communication purposes, where citizens would meet for public debate and to listen to politicians. But once the Roman Empire came into being they slowly turned into places of entertainment.
It was common for rich citizens to build temples dedicated to whomever was Emperor at the time, as a way of currying favour for their city. I sensed a degree of competition as I went from place to place, with a kind of scorecard recording which city had temples that had been acknowledged by the Emperor to whom they were dedicated. From the point of view of the less well off, they lived in terraced houses which spread up the hillside. One section I looked at rose up 27 metres, with rows behind other rows, just like in any modern housing scheme.

Unusually for these ruined towns, some of the streets still existed and were quite long. One of them went down hill, past the main amphitheatre to where one of the most spectacular buildings was located.
The Library of Celcus was mostly still intact and its best feature was Hadrian’s Gate, named after the emperor of that name. It is two storeys high and heavily decorated, with niches for statues along it. The columns and openings look stunning. In contrast, the interior looks very ordinary but then, it was designed as a library and would have been full of books. It was one of the most important in the ancient world, ranked third after Alexandria and Pergamon.

The city had a port as well, accounting for its trading status and riches. The road that led down there was closed so I carried on walking around, looking at the various temples etc. I mentioned the theatres and the main one here one was easily the biggest, and steepest, I’d seen in any of the sites I’d visited. It held 20,000 people and I remember thinking that I wouldn’t like to have climb up or down if I’d been indulging in too much Roman wine. The noise from that number of people must have been very loud indeed, probably rivalling today’s football matches.

Ephesus was a great place to visit, quite stunning. When I left there I went to the archaeological museum where many of the statues and friezes were on display. This kind of artwork is common throughout the Roman Empire and always impresses me with its quality.

Izmir was my next port of call. It is, indeed, a port and was were my bike was transferred from one ship to another. I found a hostel in which to stay and went for what turned out to be quite a long walk.
I visited the Ataturk museum, which described the life and achievements of Mustafa Kemnal Ataturk. He was quite a remarkable man. He came from Thessaloniki, now in Greece, and went to military school, then joined the army. He became interested in politics and always believed in Turkish independence. At that time Turkey was part of the failing Ottoman Empire but there was a strong movement for change. He was heavily involved in the successful defence of Gallipoli, where he enhanced his reputation.
It was WW1 that pretty much finished off the failing Ottoman Empire and he changed his focus from military to political progress. His role was so important that he was nominated as Turkey’s first President when independence was gained in October 1923. He is rightly referred to as the Father of the Nation. He brought many changes. In particular he worked to make sure that Turkey became a secular republic. He also changed the alphabet from an Arabic based one to one that was Latin based, a key feature of Turkey’s modernisation. A very impressive man.
I went to look at the ancient city of Smyrna, built by Alexander the Great. I got very annoyed by this place because about two thirds of it was closed to visitors, with no reduction in the entry fee. All there was to see were the underground arcades, where trading took place, which sat beneath the now ruined basilica.

In among all this walking and visiting, I was trying to resolve the problem of insuring my bike for travelling in the EU. There’s always help and advice on the Facebook pages. I’d been given details of three different German companies that would issue a green card, including to cover the UK. But I hit a snag. Because I’m over 65 years old they all wanted a letter from my own doctor confirming that I’m fit enough to ride a motorcycle. I didn’t know the reason for this but my guess is that there’s a regulation in Germany about it. Impossible to get such a thing when you’re not even in your own country.
The alternative was to buy it on the border between Turkey and one of the EU countries. The choice was between Greece and Bulgaria. There are insurance agents at the border posts who would supply a green card. I was firmly advised that no such places existed at the Turkey/Greek border but that they definitely did on entry into Bulgaria. That became the planned route.
Out of Izmir to Balikesir. The weather was still warm and rider friendly so I was enjoying the journey. I went to a place called Bergama to see the Acropolis. It also had an Odeon (amphitheatre) that was very steep. To contradict the point I just made a light shower came over while I was drinking a coffee, but it didn’t last. The main drama happened on the way out. Google took me down a small, steep side street which ended in some steps. There was no room to do a U turn, or even a three point turn. But I rescued the situation by spinning the bike around on the side stand, much to the amusement of the old fella who was watching me from the chair outside his house. He gave me a thumbs up as I rode back out.

I headed for a hotel I’d found on Google maps, but it was full. The guy directed me to another one which was pretty decent and almost a third of the price. A lucky refusal. There were plenty of cheap eating places around the busy area so I was happy. I decided to stay a second night, which turned out to be a wise decision as I woke up to heavy rain.
It also started raining soon after I set off on the morning after. I’d planned a twisty route through the hills but by the time I turned off the rain was heavy and the visibility was poor. So I went back to the main dual carriageway where I would get an easier ride. The sun came out after a while and I carried on to Troy.

It felt strange to be heading towards such a well know place, rather like riding back into history. The city grew out of a town that had been repeatedly built on top of older towns , going back over 3,000 years. In Roman times it had a population of 200,000. It’s a big site, with a lot of the buildings still in existence, just not very high. There’s a good spread of info boards so I was able to get a good idea of what it was all about. But none of them told where the horse had been located. I’m guessing that nobody really knows. There is a replica of the Trojan Horse but unfortunately it was being refurbished.

Next day I got the ferry across to the Gallipoli Peninsular and started to explore the famous WW1 battle area. A brief history of it.
While First Lord of the Admiralty, Winston Churchill decided that the Allies (Britain, France and Russia) needed to create a route from the Mediterranean Sea into the Black Sea, thereby creating a warm water route to Russia. It would have been through the Dardanelles Straight and along the Bosphorous. But Turkey had other ideas. As part of the Ottoman Empire they were aligned with Germany and were not about to allow this to happen. They had strong defensive positions on the Gallipoli Ridge as well as ships protecting the sea route.
The Allied navy was very strong and had a major effect on the Turkish navy, destroying a number of ships. Their task was to control the waters of the Dardanelles and to shell the Turkish positions on Gallipoli Ridge. But despite early success they ultimately failed because of clever mine laying by Turkey. The Allies had three ships sunk and three disabled by mines. The Allied naval leader withdrew his forces All that was left to attack the entrenched Turkish army on the well defended ridge.
Britain called upon its colonies and Dominions to help in this effort. Australia and New Zealand answered that call and the ANZACs were created, (Australia and New Zealand Army Corps) forged in the blood of the Gallipoli campaign. Those two countries now celebrate ANZAC Day on the 25th April, the date the attack was launched in 1915. It was a bloody campaign and, because of the determined Turkish defence, ultimately unsuccessful. In December the allied forces withdrew and Churchill’s ambition was not realised. Mustafa Ataturk was one of the Turkish commanders leading the defence.
I spent the next two days riding around, visiting various sites. Most of them were memorial sites to the fallen, but not all. The first place was Kilitbahir Castle, built to protect the peninsular from attack from the sea. A somewhat different design to most of these places, with a central, heart shaped tower, and three lower towers. It was built and improved during the Ottoman reign but didn’t actually seem to have done much during WW1.

The next place was the Red Crescent Museum, which was very interesting. The Red Crescent was formed in 1868 by a group of volunteers and quickly aligned itself with the Red Cross, which had been founded in Geneva in 1863. They have often worked together over the years and both organisations carry out the same type of work. I learned, to my shame, that during WW1 the allies bombed and shelled Red Crescent facilities.
There was a guy there who was a guide and he runs a podcast were he talks to visitors to see where they’d come from. When I told him about my route there he said I was easily the most interesting visitor they’d had so he insisted on interviewing me. I’m always happy to talk about myself, as you probably all know. He was supposed to be sending me the Spotify link but nothing has turned up yet.

Next day I visited a whole load of memorials and cemeteries – fifteen in all. I’ll only mention the main ones. The Turkish Canakkle Martyrs’ Monument is a big place. It has a memorial arch and opposite that, a bas relief carving of soldiers in action. It’s long, about 30 metres. Behind that is a cemetery. Unlike British cemeteries, the Turkish ones have boards with up to ten names on them. Are all those people buried underneath? I don’t know.
I had a bit of fun with some visiting school kids. Their teacher had lined them up in front of the long carving and was busy setting up the photo. I started waving at them and, needless to say, they all waved back. I’m not sure what the teacher thought but I got a nice photo out of it. Some teenagers came over to chat to me as well.

I was quite impressed with the French cemetery at Seddul-Bahr. It’s often forgotten that French forces were involved in these campaigns.
The memorial at ANZAC Cove was very good, with a lot of information about the fighting there. It was quite moving to look out over the clear blue water and try to imagine what kind of hell must have been taking place one hundred and eight years ago.
The other one I liked was Chunal Bair cemetery, with a Turkish and British memorial there, next to each other. Because of the focus on ANZACs when talking about this campaign, it’s easy to forget that thousands of British soldiers died too. Twice as many as did ANZACs. But numbers don’t tell the story. It’s the percentages that matter most, both out of the military numbers and the population numbers.

The who died numbers are: 8,709 Australians; 2,779 New Zealanders; 21,255 British. 44.150 Allied soldiers in total. 86,692 from the Ottoman Empire (mostly Turks). It’s been described as a ‘bloody campaign’ It would be hard to disagree with that.
All of the British and colonial cemeteries are looked after by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, who always do an excellent job. It was notable that the graves were marked by a simple flat stone marker, rather than a cross. My guess is out of respect to the Muslim country in which they lie. There were many small cemeteries around, far too many to visit.

As with almost anything connected to WW1, the story is of heroism and tragedy. The allied forces almost pulled it off, and would have done but for the determined, and equally heroic, Turkish defenders.

These words are attributed to Ataturk, from 1934,  although there is doubt about whether he ever said them. However, they still strike a chord and were very well received by Anzacs.

My last day in Turkey involved a very nice ride along the coast, on some minor roads that I’d sought out, before going up into the hills on some lovely twisty roads. A great way to finish off this great country.
What did I think of Turkey? A wonderful country to visit. Excellent infrastructure, with all the modern facilities I’m used to finding in Europe. Wonderful people, of course, generous and hospitable. There were days when I simply wasn’t allowed to put my hand in my pocket. Although I was in the Asian part of Turkey most of the time I very much had to adjust my thinking about prices. They were definitely not Asian! But that wasn’t a problem really.
In the cities Islam is not very much in evidence with the appearance of the people. I rarely saw hijabs or any other signs of traditional Muslim dress. In smaller towns and villages it was different, with almost all women wearing a headscarf of some kind. The men just looked like men do everywhere else. Plenty of mosques, of course. The country is divided between Europe and Asia and many of the people seem to be the same.
A wonderful country to visit but I’ve only explored the western half. That gives me the perfect excuse to go back and explore the rest. I can’t wait.