M40間諜米格魯的秘密日誌

In the last few weeks, we were preoccupied with Illy, the intelligent little Shiba Inu pup who arrives at our household kind of unexpected. Actually I have always wanted a beagle as a house dog, but it turns out that our first dog in more than 10 years is a Shiba Inu (of all breeds) !!
 
Her favourite activities include: running and jumping around the house; digging the corners and walls; playing ball and playing with little rocks. It is actually very dangerous for doggies to play with rocks, because they might get stuck in the intestines but Little Illy ignores our warnings. Since our front yard where she goes for potty is full of gravel, we have to put a hood around her neck to prevent her from playing with the rocks.

For many years, I had used Lancaster's Lily Nectar & Iris Florentina Alcohol-free Softening Perfecting Toner until someone told me that Lancaster used vivisection (animal-testing) to test their cosmetic products. Since my favourite breed of dog is beagle, and beagles are often used for animal-testing because they are docile, uniform in size and easy to handle, I decided to give up on facial toners manufactured by well-known cosmetic firms and turn to organic products instead.
The problem with organic products is, they are usually very expensive and not all of them are suitable for my skin. Given the lack of reasonably priced alternatives, I resorted to using French thermal water sprays as facial toners ...
This lasted for a while until I was introduced to 100% pure rose water (rose hydrosol) produced in the region of Isparta, Turkey, while on holidays there. Turkish 100% pure rose water is obtained by distilling the petals of rose damascena and by separating the resultant essential rose oil from the hydrosol. 100% pure rose water is colourless and has a very  light yet pleasant natural smell that reminds me of freshly cut roses with a greenish, leafy note.

Korres is a very well-known herbal skincare brand in Greece, and has been one of my favourite skincare products brands. Among their numerous facial lotions, creams and gels, the Greek Flora: Mastiha series, have firmly conquered my heart.
I first came across Korres Mastiha skincare products at the Mastiha Shop on the island of Chios.
Long before my visit to Chios, I have been intrigued by the medicinal properties of Mastic. This plant is unqiue to the southern part of the island of Chios. Attempts to transplant this unqiue fauna species to other parts of the world have failed. For some reason, only mastic trees grown in the southern half of Chios will produce the prized mastic gum. (even trees grown in northern Chios do not produce mastic gums) It is said to be anti-septic and has been used since the Roman times as a healing agent and oral refresher.  It is also an important ingredient in Middle Eastern cuisines. Given the rarity of the mastic plant, the Mastiha series products are available only in selected shops and stores in Greece. 

By sheer coincidence, I came upon one of the most beautiful Greek Aegean villages I have ever visited - Molivos, located in the north of the island of Lesbos. The town is about an hour or so by public bus from Mytilini, and I fell in love with it at the first sight. It's strange to explain why I love Molivos so such: it's a pretty little village with a lively harbour and quaint cobblestone streets, but there is something about this little hillside village that captures my imagination. Instead of just spending a few hours there, I decided to rent a self-catering unit from one of the locals and stay there for one week.

During the day, I would just visit one of the little cafes on the harbour front and enjoy a cup of coffee while admiring the picturesque view of the Aegean right in front of me. While some people might want to unwind themselves while on holidays, I found such views extremely enticing and made my brain cells work faster....

It seems there is a long-standing problem that foreign tourists visiting Goreme for the first time tend to be dropped off prematurely at Nevsehir bus station, although their ticket stated clearly that their final destination should be Goreme...
To be honest, it is not easy to tell when you board the bus in Istanbul or Ankara whether the bus will stop at Goreme station en route to Nevsehir, or it really by-passes Goreme and go directly to Nevsehir.
It is probably easier if one simply buys a ticket from Istanbul or Ankara to Kayseri instead, then change bus at Kayseri's huge bus station to Goreme. In this case, there is no danger of one being dumped at Nevsehir because the Istanbul-Kayseri or Ankara-Kayseri buses DO NOT go via Nevsehir. Hence you can be sure you won't be dropped off prematurely.
However, if one insists on taking one of those so-called 'direct' buses serving Istanbul/Ankara - Goreme, and finds himself indeed being told to get off at Nevsehir, be calm. There are a few possibilities:

A day-trip in the warm winter sun to the island of Kekova and Simena is like a dream come true... there is everything I asked for in life: Turkaz sea, beautiful scenery, peace and quietness, photogenic villages, and lots of olive trees (plus what probably is the most idyllic cemetery in the world....)

.... and the sight of a Lycian sarcophagus against such picturesque backdrop actually makes the view all the more interesting,

Andriake is the site of the ancient harbour of Myra, located about 5km away from present-day Demre. Today it is a small, peaceful harbour with a few small cafes and restaurants. In the summer, there are regular boat excursions to the nearby Kekova island and the pretty village of Simena. Personally I think the sceneries en route from Andriake harbour to Kekova are much more impressive and interesting than when coming from the direction of Kas.
In the winter, most of the traditional wooden gulets are on shore for maintenance and repair works, thus it was not easy to find someone willing to offer Kekova-Simena boat trips at an affordable price. Big boats will cost you at least 200 euro for a 2-3 hour tour - it's not worth it unless you have a group of 5 or 6 people to share the rental costs.
When I arrived at Andriake harbour, I did not really expect to find any boat trips to Kekova, but sometimes things happen when you expect them the least: a captain agreed to take me on a full-day tour of Kekova and Simena for just 50YTL on a small fishing boat. He probably finds it amusing that someone actually visits Demre and Andriake in the middle of January.
 

For those of you who have always believed that St. Nicholas a.k.a. Santa Claus lives in Lapland, Finland, sorry to disappoint you: he is actually from Turkey, and his place of residence is a sunny, hot seaside town called Demre (called Myra during his lifetime) which has neither snow nor reindeers.
Myra (present day Demre) was an important trading town in ancient Lycia during the Roman times, and St. Nicholas  - born in Patara near present-day Fethiye - was the bishop of Myra who became famous for his kind deeds towards the poor and the needy. The ruins of Myra is located about 3km inland from the modern town of Demre (about 20-30 minutes by foot). During the summer, many Russian tourists came to Demre for a one-day pilgrimage to the sacred St. Nicholas Church to pay homage to Russia's most beloved Saint (St. Nicholas is the patron Saint of Russia). The little square in front of St. Nicholas Church is full of shops catering especially to Russian tourists and pilgrims, selling everything related to St. Nicholas.

The ruins of Myra with the famous rock-tombs and the amphitheater. The walk from Demre town centre to Myra passes through some pleasant scenery and lots of tomato green houses. The region surrounding Demre is one of the most important areas of production of tomatoes and citrus fruits (lemon, orange etc) in Turkey. Everywhere you can see rows after rows of green houses.

Although I am a fan of rail travel, I seldom travel around Turkey by train, because many of the places I wanted to visit cannot be reached by rail. Travelling by train in Turkey has something romantic and sentimental about it: it brings one back to the golden age of epic train journeys immortalised by films and novels, when the legendary Orient Express was the epitome of travelling in style.
Which is why I decided to take the opportunity to travel with the overnight sleeper 'Curukova Mavi Espress' from Ankara to Adana. Initially I had wanted to take the overnight sleeper train from Istanbul's Haydarpasa Station all the way to Adana, but this train has been suspended until autumn 2009 due to engineering works on the rail tracks between Konya and Adana. So I had to choose between going by sleeper train from Istanbul to Konya, then change to a day-time train to Adana; or to go via Ankara.

Haydarpasa Train Station, located
on the Asian side of Istanbul, near Kadikoy. Haydarpasa Station also has its own IDO
ferry terminal. There are regular ferries across the Bosphorous from
Haydarpasa to Eminonu or Karakoy.

Here are some latest reviews of bus companies serving some of the more popular routes frequented by tourists visiting Turkey:
A) Istanbul - Ankara: Kamil Koc
At least a dozen companies serve this route and competition is fierce; in Dec 2008 I travelled from Istanbul to Ankara with one of my favourite Turkish bus companies, Kamil Koc. The journey took 6 hours and cost 40YTL. The price is about 5-10YTL more expensive than other bus companies; I tried to negotiate for some discounts, but to no avail: because the bus used for that particular departure is more up-market and spacious than ordinary buses; instead of the usual 2-2 seating arrangement, this particular bus adopts a 1-2 seating configuration. As a result, there are more legrooms and space between each seat, and it makes the journey much more comfortable. In addition, wireless internet is available on the bus if you have your own laptop with you, which allows passengers to surf the web during the journey. The in-journey snack service offers more options than what are otherwise available: cheese sandwiches, a wide selection of pastries and snacks as well as several kinds of fruit juice and other beverages.