We left Turkey after an amazing 2 week stay. To be totally honest, there was some hesitation in our minds before we crossed the border. We always do a lot of research before entering a new country. Mostly to become familiar with the country, get to know some customs and learn some useful phrases. But sometimes you can’t avoid the hysteria. There are lots of news articles talking about the jailing of journalists who spoke out against the government currently in power. A constitutional referendum gave the president more power and removed many of their judicial oversights. The recent nation-wide block of Wikipedia was also viewed as a move to further suppress their freedom of press and ability to access information. But all countries have their problems. Being Americans from the United States we know that as well as anyone. But being scared and staying home is not the solution. We can only grow both personally and as a world community by being willing to take risks and immerse ourselves in each others cultures. We loved our time in Turkey and all of the warm and welcoming people we met. Never have I been offered more free tea and coffee everywhere we went. Even though Turkey is the country where we encountered the biggest language barrier of all that we’ve visited, there is not a more universal gesture than a smile that brings everyone together.
But before we said goodbye to Turkey, we passed through a free campsite with free electricity, water and hot showers at a city park in Konya, Turkey, home of ‘The Whirling Dervish’.
We make an effort to cook on our Cobb Grill when we have water for washing it afterwards.
Then we headed to Bergama where on the way we saw chickens in the back of someone’s car.
We made a little detour to visit a fellow American family named World Towning who are also traveling Europe, Turkey and Morocco in their RV.
We ended up joining them at the campground they were staying at in Bergama, Turkey.
The kids immediately hit it off. It felt nice to hear American accents again, even for a little bit.
We all crammed into their RV to chat, play games and enjoy each others company.
Quick walk to town to grab pizza at Dominos. Haha. We couldn’t resist.
Flower from my Luka.
That night we celebrated a travel anniversary with them.
And said goodbye in the next morning. Safe travels, friends. See you down the road!!
Here’s a little video clip I made for Instagram stories.
As always, thanks for following along,
Marlene
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