#turkey Archives • Page 3 of 3 • Folksy Travel by Bill Smale

February 11, 2025March 5, 2025

Ocean and windmills in Bodrum

what you can expect to see our ocean and windmills in Bodrum. It’s kind of a one Walking Street Ocean facing restaurant and shop tourist attraction. You can find many boats there at the port offering to take you on different kinds of excursions including scuba diving and eating entertainment. While I was not that excited with the city itself since it seems to be fairly limited to that one ocean facing street, there are some interesting attractions. There is an old castle which you might want to approach on foot since parking is a little limited, well actually very limited. I never did find a place to park so I didn’t go see the castle and it was a long way from the hotel. And then you have windmills. But the one interesting part of the area for me was the little fishing village of Gümüşlük. Below there’s some including a Google Maps location for a restaurant I was recommended to but found was closed when I got there. Be careful with Google maps trying to get there because it wants to take you on a direction that has no road for some reason. There seems to be a road on the south end but I parked up on the cliff and walked down. Don’t set your Google maps to this restaurant because it won’t take you down to the village. Enjoy these photos by Bill Smale Adventures.

https://maps.app.goo.gl/aarg24a8Ad1YH6A67?g_st=com.google.maps.preview.copy

Typical Turkish breakfast — This was the breakfast and seems to be fairly typical in Turkey. There is an egg of some kind and maybe something else that’s hot and then there are little things in their natural form without any sauce.

Olive trees on the way to Bodrum — All the way to Borum you’ll see mostly olive trees. I saw some fellow harvesting the olives but did not stop to take a photo.

My hotel in Bodrum — This was my hotel. It’s a very relaxing place and would be very much fun in the summer

Various Asian food in Bodrum — OK, you tell me what this is. Indian food and Chinese food and Japanese food all in one complex with separate entrances. Most of Europe you just see one entrance to a single restaurant and it says “Asian cuisine”.

Calamari lunch — Down at the one street on the port I had some really fantastic calamari. As you can see it’s very typical to get olives served with almost every meal.

Bodrum dogs by the ocean — I made a couple friends on the way

A night snack — When I got back to the room I saw this by the bed and I thought some customer got into my room by mistake and left some half eaten cake. But when looking at it closely the fork was clean and the cake pieces were cleanly cut so it’s obvious this was a treat left by the hotel people. It tasted very good.

The Aegean sea — A view of the Aegean sea. What I found is interesting on Google maps is that the towns from Bodrum North are listed as on the Aegean sea. South of Bodrum they are listed as on the Mediterranean Sea.

A Citroen electric car — I was surprised to see these Citroen little electric cars which are kind of cute and very practical. This is the kind of car I think is perfect for electrification, around town driving.

Raki Is the national drink of turkey — This is the national alcohol of turkey. It is made from the aniseed and grapes. It seems to me to be the same as Uzo in Greece and Galliano in Italy. Several years ago the government put a gigantic tax on alcohol so this little bottle which is no bigger than a can of Coca-Cola it’s about $18.

City next to Bodrum — There’s a beautiful view of the next Ocean City

Wind — The blades are not here anymore since they are being used

Mysterious building — I saw a couple of these and I’m not sure what they are

This is the Bodrum Castle viewed from the windmill Hill

Sheep on the hills — This is where a lot of cheese comes from

February 8, 2025February 8, 2025

Intriguing Fethiye Tombs

When you arrive in the city you will find the Intriguing Fethiye Tombs. The largest one is the Tomb of Amyntas. You go to the busy center of the city which is very touristy but also interesting and then walk to the very back streets up the hill and that’s where you will find the tombs. You can get an inexpensive hotel down in the city center and just walk around. It’s kind of a fun place to stay.

The tomb has been emptied — This is the **Tomb of Amyntas**. They charge €3 to walk up the steps and then over the rocks for the next 5 m. The two obviously has been emptied but you get a great view of the city and the port from up here.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tomb_of_Amyntas

City view — It’s a great view of the city

Snowy mountains beyondFethiye — you could see there is snow on the mountains in the distance

Intriguing ancillary tombs — I guess these also are tunes but I did not walk up here of course.

https://muze.gov.tr/muze-detay?SectionId=MFA01&DistId=MRK

Boat tours in Fethiye — In town, like with the other ports along the Aegean/Mediterranean seas, you will find tour boats for day trips or longer, fishing trips and feasting adventures. Some of them have phone numbers posted outside so you can call and make arrangements.

Ancient structure — Some other ancient structure on the hill

Strange structure — I’m not sure what these are. I have to ask somebody

Small space is inside — The inside of the tomb. It seems like quite a large endeavor for such a small space. But I guess the people they were building these for were considered respected.

Wall marking — I wonder what this mark on the wall indicates

Washing the windshield — I took this photo just because I wanted to show you this gas station attendant is washing the car windshield. I haven’t seen that level of service since Japan. The process at the gas station is to get the attention of the attendant so he can fill the tank. And normally he will give you a printout with a QR code which you take into the shop to have it scanned and they will print out two receipts, one which they stamp and then is to be handed to the attendant to allow you to leave.

February 7, 2025February 7, 2025

Batmobile in Turkey

The Batmobile in Turkey is quite an interesting surprise. Of course this one is an exact replica but I think if you visit the museum you will enjoy not only how they display the Batmobile but also the Batcycle which is the original. In addition, of course, as you can see from my previous phlog there are many olden antique cars as well as motorcycles to enjoy viewing. If you’re a car enthusiast I really encourage you to stop by here if you have the means to get here kinda out in the countryside.

February 7, 2025February 7, 2025

Key Automobile museum near Selçuk

Key Automobile museum near Selçuk, Turkey is kind of an interesting presentation of fairly recent antique and very interesting automobiles and motorcycles. I think it’s worth you visiting if you have an interest in cars. There was some extensive displays of BMW motorcycles and cars. When I saw the attraction on Google maps I thought it might be interesting but then it showed the Batmobile and that meant I had to visit. I backtracked on my journey for about 40 minutes since it was closed the day before. I’m very glad I got to see it. Enjoy the photos.

There were a couple interesting things about this car. The front is very unusual and the doors don’t open out, they slide forward to let you out.

Triumph of TR series — We used to see these fairly often on the roads in California. A friend of ours even had this vintage triumph which they never drove due to some problems with getting the right parts to fix it.

Austin Healey — If this was completely white it would be the same color as my sixth grade teacher’s Austin Healy, Ms.. Dicarlo”s car she drove from San Francisco which was quite a ways.

MG A — This MGA was one year earlier than the one my dad bought. He arranged to have the wall between the seats and the trunk taken out and two seat seats put in facing backwards for us kids which was great fun because we could see where we had been. The story was, my dad wanted a sports car and my mom said it was OK if the whole family could ride in it. You will notice there are no door handles. You had to reach inside the car and pull a cable to open the door. This meant you couldn’t really lock the door which was an interesting idea?

Museum coffee shop — The coffee shop (Coca-Cola) inside the museum

Ford Mustang pool table — A replica of a 1965 Ford Mustang as a pool table

MG roadster — I love this design and it kind of reminds me of the TV show “the avengers” but I think that John Steed’s car was a Bentley.

Thunderbird at the key museum — This Thunderbird was definitely worth buying. After that series Ford decided to make it less sporty looking and not very interesting

Amphibious car — I had a matchbox version of this car and thought it was so cool. You could drive it on lakes

Corvette stingray — This car started quite a revolution for Chevrolet and for kids as well. Just after this car came out bicycle manufacturers started making the stingray bicycle which had very high handlebars and was very sporty looking.

The original Corvette — This was the style Corvette used for the TV show “Route 66”

Nude Mercedes hood ornament — This was an interesting Mercedes hood ornament

Old Renault — This old Renault has the typical sloping front and that’s how you tell the old Renault

Bread delivery truck — This is kind of a funny looking bakery truck. Remember in those days they used to deliver bread and milk

Gangster car — This is such a typical 1930s gangster car. Look at the running boards

Old pump calculating price — I found this fascinating. On the pump above you can see this price per gallon and then a chart for what the price is for how many gallons. If the price changed it would be quite a job to switch all of these out

The old barbershop — An old barbershop. On the very right you can see a display stand and inside they have collars with collar buttons which you could buy

Ford Edsel — The one car that I totally loved when I was a kid and was not on display in real size, only in miniature, was this Edsel

Country leaders limousine minus a bodyguard — This is probably a limousine for a liter of a country and it looks like somebody has already taken out one of the bodyguards

Old gas pumps — The reason we call these things at gas stations “gas pumps” is because they actually had to pump the gas up into the cylinder above to fill the cylinder with the amount of gas the customer wanted. Then gravity would pour the gas into the gas tank.

Visible measuring canister — This visible measure concept was introduced to avoid suspected scamming by the gas station. You could see exactly how much gas was going to be put into your car through the glass measuring container above.

Blue ring octopus Jeep — The blue ring octopus is deadly and this looks like the markings of a blue ring octopus. I decided not to touch theJeep.

Tire pressure pump — Tire pressure gauge and air pump

January 31, 2025January 31, 2025

The Basilica cistern Istanbul with Bill Smale Adventures.

the basilica cistern Istanbul is one of the main attractions which is not inexpensive to enter, something like €27, but they have fixed it up so it does create an interesting tourist attraction that you might be interested in seeing. I didn’t find any more fish here so I guess they cleaned them out.

me in the cistern — Just to prove I was here

Orientation for cistern touristS — There are quite a few groups entering. From the exit you can see them getting an orientation

Water provider architecture — With the series of lights and reinforcements the government has really created something interesting out of a long forgotten underground structure for providing water to various large structures such as the main Christian Church turned mosque and the Topkapi palace.

An added sculpture — They added a sculpture in the center

Reinforcement of the basilica cistern — Turkey is subject to earthquakes so this reinforcement and preservation is necessary

Inscribed column — Some of the columns have inscriptions

Ceiling design — The ceiling is a very interesting structure and design

Basilica cistern Istanbul — More of the ceiling from farther away

Reconstruction on the cistern — There was a lot of repair necessary

Green lighting — Here you see one type of lighting which will change

Creating a shadow — And see how it changes to another light and an interesting shadow

A funny skeletal sculpture — This kind of looks like Medusa’s skeleton

A lot of money — This is all over the cistern so I wonder if they clean out all this cash. I suspect many of these coins are donated by visitors who don’t want to take coins back to their country

Blue green lighting — Interesting lighting

Time to leave — This was the end so time to leave

January 31, 2025January 31, 2025

Istanbul in an afternoon with Bill Smale Adventures.

Istanbul in the afternoon should start off in the Egyptian bazaar which really doesn’t have anything to do with Egypt, it is the spice market but of course it has other things in there like Turkish delights and other stuff. You get there by going to Eminönü station and wandering around behind the mosque.

Spice variety in the Egyptian bazaar — There is such a wide range of spices and every shop seems to have the same products available so you can browse and find a good price and exactly what you want. Why don’t you pick something you’ve never tried, take it home and see how it works.

A shop in front in Istanbul — This is one shop I visited which had fairly reasonable prices just in front of the main bazaar

Investigate spices in the afternoon — The shops are very interesting to visit. Talk to the proprietors and see what they have.

A beautiful building — It’s a very nice beautiful place

Some local shops in the area — This area is just behind the main bazaar building where they have a lot more variety of things and definitely worth walking around. It is not just for tourists. Many local people are shopping here.

Old building in Istanbul — The building itself is very

Turkish coffee and tea — This is where I had my first Turkish coffee sitting outside in the cold

Istanbul corn sellers — You will see these corn sellers all over Istanbul

Banking Museum document — After the bazaar I visited the banking museum which was free to enter and kind of interesting

Old bank equipment — This set up really takes me back to my grandmother’s house and my father’s typewriter

Piggy banks — These are old piggy banks that are meant to be opened only by the bank

Account manager desk — One account managers desk

Tram sign — The signage is pretty good. Here you know where to get on the tram

Coffee and cake in Istanbul — This was actually next day at a coffee shop and it was very delicious fruit with cake below

The tip box — You can see the tip box at the checkout counter. I asked a Turkish friend if tipping was customary and he said, “you can give a tip if you like”.

A roll with meat and garnishes — Meat and vegetables inside the roll of dough which was very delicious. The green cucumber pickles were nice and the yellow peppers are the very spicy, salty vinegar flavored ones which I really enjoy.

Dress up clothing mall — One downstairs shopping mall was almost exclusively fancy male and female dress up clothing. This is right near the station at the spice bazaar

A local laundry — This laundry near my hotel didn’t seem to be getting very much business

Pigeon feeding — It’s very often you see people feeding the pigeons in these squares

Interesting display — An interesting display

Older building in Istanbul in the afternoon — An older building with some artwork

Hors d'oeuvre dip Turkish style — The hors d’oeuvre dips which is a very famous Turkish offering. This was enough for three or four people so I took a lot of of it back to the hotel

"Egyptian" obelisk — I didn’t check to see if this obelisk is really one that was stolen from Egypt

Walking area — This was just a walking area with a few shops at the end

Salad without dressing — There was no dressing on the salad. And that seems to be very common but a little bit disappointing

Old fortress wall — The old Fortress wall

January 30, 2025January 30, 2025

Beautiful Topkapi Calligraphy with Bill Smale Adventures.

The beautiful Topkapi calligraphy area of the museum at the Topkapi palace is something not to be missed. I have never seen words used in such beautiful ways to create amazing works of art. All of these photos you have here are calligraphy, they are words shaped into things that are of course imagined. Take your time when you go there to imagine how carefully they must’ve created these to present to the sultans in the Topkapi palace in Istanbul. Enjoy these photos with Bill Smale Adventures.

Protective words — The words on these pieces of clothing are to bless and protect the wearer

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