Thursday, 2 May 2013

Journey to Izmir and Bodrum


Tuesday 30 April (Day 7)

6:15am found us at the port bright and early.  The trip across the Sea of Marmara was smooth and uneventful and we arrived at Bandirma just after 9am.  We expected Bandirma railway to be a hive of activity but it was deserted, even the chap in the ticket office seemed surprised to see us.

After purchasing a ticket (£8 each for a six hour train journey – not bad) we went in search of some breakfast and the makings of lunch.  Finding a bakery was trickier than we thought, especially as we didn’t know the Turkish for ‘Excuse me my good man, do you know the whereabouts of a good artisan baker?’  The train left bang on time at 1:30pm.  The Turkish railway system is very good.  Everyone gets a seat with plenty of legroom on a clean, modern, air conditioned train.  The scenery went from lush green hills to mountains and plains and eventually the urban sprawl of Izmir where we spent the night at a hotel close to the station.

not our train

Bandirma Station

Wednesday 1 May (Day 8)

The plan was to take a taxi to the coach station but the chap at reception said it was 15km away and it was best to go to the square to buy a ticket then we’d get a free shuttle bus to the coach station.  There was a large police presence in the square because there was a protest going on.  I’m not sure what it was about but there were lots of banners with pictures of Che Guevara on them.

The coach station was fairly chaotic but we managed to find our coach and set off for the 3.5 hour journey to Bodrum where we have booked  a small cottage to stay in until Saturday.

After a short taxi journey we found our cottage where we met Karen (the owner).  The accommodation consists of a small courtyard with separate doors to a kitchen, bathroom and toilet with a further door leading to a lounge and upstairs to a bedroom.  After  a rest we went in to the town centre and had a delicious meal at the Berk Fish Restaurant.

Bodrum

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