Günaydın! Six down and six to go. Truly it is not a bad thing, just wished I had a day to sleep and just lay around. Wasn't really hungry this morning. I guess I was really tired. I couldn't pass up that Turkish coffee though. The day just wouldn't be right without it. Three hours to Pamukkale. Hmmmmm, brought some newspapers to read along the way and my trusty blanket. As we drove along Aydın pronounced eye-din is a city in and the s...

Günaydın!  We started off with an okay breakfast at the Crowne Plaza Izmir. Didn't take any pictures as the food was not all that great. The buffet was cafeteria style. Hundreds of people just making an absolute mess.  We did what we could with the food. I stick with potatoes and coffee when I'm not sure.  We loaded up on the bus and headed out. We all are just amazed at Abdullah, our driver. For such a small man he is strong and just...

No sleep AGAINNNN! Breakfast was delicious. An absolutely huge variety of everything. The Turkish coffee is so very strong. I ask to have a 1/2 cup of coffee to a 1/2 cup of milk. That stuff has you going. We load up and head out for a very long drive to the city of Troy. All of days seem to begin with extensive rides to reach our destinations. After 8 hours of driving we reach Troy. Troy was a city, both factual and legendary, in northwest Anatolia in...

Oh my goodness. It's only day two and I am totally exhausted. With very little sleep the breakfast buffet was really impressive. I had a chance to really look over the open areas of the restaurant. Pinat (waitress) had given me a small tour yesterday and I was truly impressed. Everything was absolutely delicious also. Abdullah had loaded all that heavy luggage onto the bus (our group consists of 31 women and 1 male), we were off. Berna narrated as we drov...

After a long, long, extremely long Thursday, we arrived in Istanbul. I was busting down the door to get off that plane. You all know I had tons of luggage and my arms were so weak, I thought they'd fall off before we got to the hotel. Today we arrived around 9:30 and were wisked on to our hotel. The Grand Hyatt was absolutely gorgeous. The staff very courteous and friendly. Bunny and I could not go for the walk our tour guide Berna had in store for us. W...