Hey Folks, I need to say straight off! (Ross) It was only apple tobacco and the pipe was too long and my lungs too short! Good fun just the same.

Pammukale, the Travertines, absolutely beautiful. Our lovely host dropped us at the top gate, he suggested we wade through the pristine blue pools down to the bottom of the hill. Much too slippery.

No twisted ankles or cracked skulls for us! Hundreds of tourists around this site. We were bumped off a bench seat by two small Chinese ladies who obviously thought we were younger than them?
Experienced Dolmus (pr:dolmossh) riders like us sigh with relief when we score a BIG bus. The bigger buses have a steward and serve refreshments. The Dolmus are mini buses that do the village to village transport. They frequently fill up with heavy smokers – not a very pleasant bouquet. At least half the population are smokers. Our punishment for being ex smokers.
Antalya is an Aegean paradise, one day was not enough but will remember that view forever.
Kas (pr: Karsh) our favourite place in Turkey, other than Istanbul. Blue blue water everywhere, beautiful old fishing boats. Enjoyed a lovely apartment in a quiet lane off the main drag. Had a great day out on a boat visiting all sorts of Lycian and Roman underwater ruins and some historic villages. That night we joined a local election rally, red Turkish flags waving, thumping, stirring patriotic music.
No mean sausage-sizzle here: free doner kebab on fresh bread roll with water and yoghurt milk. You could feel the excitement especially when the women started ululating. Every party had their candidates on stage together. All made a speech, all got thumping applause. In the days that followed the incumbent govt received a solid endorsement according to the vote count. But funny thing that – nobody seems to like them and the folk around Kas who spoke to us on the subject expressed their considerable disappointment at this lost opportunity for change. Our considerable experience in such disappointments, meant we could commiserate with them all with gusto.

Commiseration demands relief of course so quite naturally we soon found ourselves sunken deeply into a soft sturdy pile of Turkish rug-dreaming... those oft-repeated dreams so familiar to we of means too light to know the truly dark heart of luxury beyond brief third-party encounters. … but yes, when in Kas, pay a visit to the best Kas and Carry carpet man

and you too, may find a simple dream or two or three… of luxury lasting longer than you’d ever thought possible!