11th September 2001

Hello everybody,

Guess what.  I've piked.  Left Jackie stranded in Olympos, Turkey.

Oh my God I hear you say, what's happened?  Has she had a fight with Jackie?  Got her back pack stolen?  Been terrorized by too many Turkish men?  Exploded from too much awesome cuisine?  What's happened??????

Well,.....absolutely nothing! I simply just got over traveling.  Over squat toilets, cold showers, lumpy beds, carrying my backpack, receiving food that I didn't necessary ask for, doing sign language, paying for toilets without toilet paper, seeing fat European men in Speedos and being ripped off!!

I've had a wonderful time, don't get me wrong, ten countries in seven weeks is not bad, and to think that as of may I had never left Australia before!!  But I've seen so much that I was at the point where I was no longer absorbing anything!  There are only so many ruins you can look at until they just look like a pile of old rocks!!  At the moment it feels like a bit of a blur, I can't wait to get my nine rolls of 36 film to find out where I've been!

But let me first tell you how wonderful Turkey is.  Greeted after our delightful overnight ferry on the deck by two crazy Turks who absolutely begged us to go to there hotel, of course it was better than the one we were going to!!!  So we said, okay, prove it, ....and they sure did!  $10 for a double room and they spent the whole time with us, taking us to traditional Turkish restaurants, explaining true Turkish culture and showing us true Turkish night life in Jimmy's Irish Bar!!!  Overwhelming hospitality and we found this to be the norm.  Turkish people rock.  They are so funny, they love mimicking Aussies, everywhere we went they'd say with a cheeky grin, 'G'day mate!'  It is still beyond me how they knew we were from Australia, they can just spot us a mile away!!  Also, they all seem to be related to each other or be buddies with everyone.  Anywhere we wanted to go, they'd say, ' No you go for free, my friend take you, he owes me favour!!'
They absolutely knock themselves out to make sure you have a great time.

While in Kusidasi, saw the impressive ruins of Ephesus.  My favourite was a 3000 year old amphitheatre that seats 25000 and Elton John will be playing there next year.

Also this town was my first introduction to the millions of carpet sellers in Turkey!!  Never seen so much carpet in my life or had so much apple tea, and they are very good salesmen.  Nearly bought one and then I thought, I don't even have a place to live so why do I need a carpet??!!!  They are just so stunning though!!

Then we headed down the Mediterranean coast to Fettiye.  Was forced kicking and screaming (not) to go on a cruise to Oludinez, the beach where Blue Lagoon was filmed.  Stunning not too touristy and spoilt.. yet.  Also fun to jump off the ferry and swim in the caves along the coast!!

Then we headed to Olympos, the land of tree houses!!  Yep, that's right, we slept in a tree house.  Every hut looks like it has been made by ten year old kids, such character!!! Funky outside chill out area too with hammocks and Turkish couches!!  It was an effort to get up and walk to the beach!!!

Also had an outside bar with  a bonfire that everyone danced around, and there were fire twirlers too.  Electric atmosphere and for once there weren't many aussies!! (we are convinced that there mustn't be anyone left in oz because they are all in Europe!!)

It was at this point that I decided to bail, leave on a high and head bad to London.  Very daunting task mind you, quite a hike to get back to Athens to fly out after numerous ferries and buses!!  But as fate would have it, found 3 lovely south African guys who happened to be heading that way too and they kindly offered to look after me!!

Lucky, because night buses are not a pleasure at the best of times and it's even worse when you get stuck in a bus station for a few hours in the middle of the night!  Yet, of course the little Turkish men always see the funny side, at 1.30am, I was looking pretty tired and unattractive (majorly regretting partying both nights in Olympos) when a funny like Turk said something to the boys in Afrikans (you just never know what languages people know in Europe) and they all laughed.  Of course I demanded to know what they said, and he says, 'You spunky!' and then laughed hysterically!! So cheeky!!!

So we then caught another bus and arrived at the ferry port at 4.30 am and then caught a ferry at 9 to Rhodes.  Then I had to leave my traveling companions and catch the 19 hour ferry by myself to Athens.  Yey, another night without sleep!!
So now I'm in Athens, typing to you all to kill time because I don't catch my plane back to London until tomorrow at 6.50 am!!

So let me leave you with Katie's European hoon 2001 in a nutshell!!

Best people: Turkish
Best beach: San Sebastian, Spain
Craziest drivers: Tough call, but Italy
Best Sunset: Santorini
Best drinking water: obviously Switzerland
Best nightclubs and podiums: Barcelona
Most bizarre transportation: Donkey, in Santorini up a cliff
Cheapest beer: Prague
Tastiest food: Turkey
Biggest Party animals: Spanish
most glamorous place: Monte Carlo, French Riviera
Most confusing currency: Turkish  One million Turkish lira= $1.30 Aus!!!
Worst street performers: Barcelona
Worst Train: Athens
Hottest date: 5yr old Turkish boy who decided to eat with us!!

So there you have it!  I hope you have enjoyed the silly stories (and there are plenty more, I've just had to give you the golden book version!!).  I hope for those of you who have been here, I have rekindled some memories, and for those of you who haven't, I hope I've given you a little insight or even a little inspiration to get on over here!!

Better go and get my final true blue Greek souvilaki and greek salad!!
love you all, and hopefully I will speak to you next from the land of the fading tans, good ol' London town!!!

Keep those emails coming in!!

Love Katie
:o)
xxxxoxooxoxxx