Turkey...

First things first, as you readers may all be aware, the Miss B's have both been on holiday over the summer. I travelled to Turkey by plane to visit my family who live in Dikili, near Ismir, a bustling seaside town surrounded by mountains and farms. Here are a few things you should expect to see when you get there, I hope you find this interesting...

What to expect when you first arrive in Turkey if you're in the Ismir/Dikili area

• Terrible driving on all roads: Crates flying off trucks, dangerous overtakes, swerving lorries, need I say any more? 
• General temperatures between 27c (in the mornings) to 38c (by mid afternoon): A bit hot when you first get there, but after a while you get used to it.
• Loads of mopeds: There wasn't a single day that went by when I didn't see at least ten mopeds, Turkey is moped crazy! 
• Horse and carts being driven along the motorway: Weird as it sounds it actually happens quite a lot.   
• Lack of tarmacked road: If you're hiring a car make sure it's one with good suspension because there are a lot of un tarmac ked roads, in fact a few of the main roads are un tarmac ked.  
• Random herds of cows amongst built up housing areas (in Dikili): I could see them from my window, strange it may be but the whole thing works in a crazy way, farmers just graze their livestock on any piece of disused land they can find. 
• Stray animals i.e cats and dogs: The place is crawling with strays, and believe you me, it really gets to you when you see stray puppies and stick thin cats, but most of the time they get on ok because the local restraunts feed them. If not intentionally, but somebody always drops a bit of food. 
• Litter everywhere: The Turks really don't seem to be into their environment, they just throw rubbish out of their car windows and keep driving. 
• People out to rip you off...if they twig you're a tourist: It happened to us so many times when we didn't have a Turkish relative with us, my Aunt ended up paying the equivalent of forty pounds for a bowl of chicken soup. 
• Beautiful scenery: It's absolutely mind blowing especially in the mountains, my advice is take a drive up there, you're bound to see something interesting.
• Amazing architecture: The town of Ayvulikk has some pretty amazing examples, though sadly some buildings are a bit run down. 
• An amazing aray of insects: I am not kidding, it really is amazing, obviously not for those afraid of bugs though...anyhow, I saw many a beautiful butterfly, jewled beatles and even a hummingbird moth! 
• A tan: It's wonderful, normally I just freckle, but I actually managed to get a tan!