Film: Turkey

I was having a bit of a miserable day the other day so the lovely fiance decided to drop-box me (yeah i just made that into a verb) some of the film pictures that he had developed since I left London. I didn't know he'd had them developed - so it was such a nice surprise! Here are a few from our trip to Turkey - 

 

The Bodrum Castle and the Museum of underwater archaeology.

Gumusluk little docking bay

{Turkey: Random Snaps}

A few very random snaps of our Turkey holiday. Sunsets, cats, drinks and moonlight wanderings.

{Turkey: Bodrum}

On one of our days in Turkey, we took a bus into Bodrum Harbour City about 40 minutes away. There were some awesome bars and alleyways filled with yummy restaurants and it was lovely to be out walking along the Harbour pier in the sun.
Warren: "Yes, I think I'll take one of those big ones as a wedding gift, thanks. But don't worry, I'll build a gym on it for you."
My man - always so thoughtful.

We decided to smash in a bit of history and culture and visited the Bodrum Castle and Museum of Underwater Archaeology. Below is a pic of me on one of those handy voice guide things so that we can learn ALL the history. Well done us.
It was really interesting to see all the bits and pieces that have been recovered from underwater archaeologists. I particularly liked looking at all the old jewellery created using gold leaf, copper and other precious metals as well as the evolution of the money system. The picture below shows the development of inflation rates: each couple of centuries the same coin, the tetrodrahimi, is worth less and less oxen.
I really love this pic (Thanks Warr) It shows how someone of high social standing would have been buried with gold leaf adorning their eyes and mouth as a payment made for crossing over.

A few of the recoveries made from underwater dives.

Above shows a picture of a wine pourer. Wine was stored in a huge vat and needed to be decanted into smaller pouring vases. The bulbous thing at the top of this picture was used to syphon out wine from the big vats. Someone would place the long spout into the neck of the big vat and suck the wine into the bulb holding it there to be deposited into the smaller pouring jugs. Warren and I are dubious of this method and were debating about who is selected for this job since we feel it is very easy to suck a little extra wine "by mistake" like one big-ass wine straw. Hmmm... dubious.
This is the old school version of the iPad. A wooden frame filled with wax that was written on using a stylus. Awesome. Homer makes mention of this form of writing in The Iliad. Yeah, Apple - we don't need you - i'm gonna get me one of those!

Some of the views from the Towers of Bodrum Castle

Anyone else been to Bodrum?

{Turkey: The Markets}

Turkish Markets and Bargaining Tips
In Turkey we spent some time at the local food markets and what I would call the "gypsy-trinket-markets" in Bodrum and Turgutreis. It was awesome to see all the brightly coloured teas, vegetables, exotic fruits and nuts. The smell of the hot spices is delicious and definitely works up a little appetite in the tum. Fortunately though, you generally don't leave these markets very hungry since all the Turkish stall owners hustle you to try their dried figs, Turkish delights and pistachio-rolls and to smell their dried herbs and teas.
We also found a few more "interesting" market treasures. Ahem, those underpants? What? and Sex Tea? - we didn't ask.

Raw almonds on ice.

The Turkish market stall owners were all very friendly and helpful. They were completely enamoured with Warren's new iPhone 5 and during one of our "bargaining sessions" we were surrounded by a small gang of Turkish men who all took out their iPhones et al to compare and debate the new features.  

Then one of them turned to me to ask me if I also had the new iPhone 5:

Turkish man: You? You have also iPhone 5?

Me: Nope...  the iPhone 4.

Turkish man: LOL. ha! ha! YOU! Your phone. It's so shitty! lol.

To which I punched him in the arm gave him a friendly-joking tap on the shoulder.

He apologised and gave us a great deal.

Extra lashings of mascara also work wonders in the market bargaining negotiations. 

Just saying.