Bodrum

Bodrum Beach
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Bodrum

After some customs irritation and 45 minutes of our time we were in the Bodrums harbour. It was after 6pm at this stage but the streets were still busy with both Turks and tourists. We found a map and worked out where we had to walk to find our hostel. Bodrum Backpackers is the only backpacker in Bodrum the rest of place is full of hotels and expensive restaurants for all the British tourists. The hostel was above an English bar, very loud place that partied all night. Sleep at night did not exist, nor did the included breakfast in the morning due to sleeping staff.

John walking down a little residental alley in Bodrum.
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Our first night there was a Saturday and it just happened to fall on the night of the Rugby World Cup. England VS South Africa. So we decided to watch it because we knew we wouldn’t be able to get to sleep anyway. It was our first rugby game we have watched from start to finish. We were a small group of South African supporter’s, 3 Kiwi’s and 2 Aussies. The rest English, but we cheered our little hearts out. All the Poms thought we were South African, very funny. That night was our first taste of Turkish beer. Efes isn’t too bad and the most affordable drinking option in Turkey. Out at a bar you’re paying about 4 Lira for a 500ml bottle and from a shop about 2 Lira. Now 1 Lira is about 90 cents back home.

One of Bodrums many harbours with the castle in the background.
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The next morning was a bit of a slow starter, we were up and about at 10 or so. We went for a walk around, through the covered markets and down by the water. We had a Kebab for lunch and then hit the Internet café. We spoke to John’s Mum on MSN with web cam. It was great chatting with a happy familiar face. That day we tried to get into bed early but like I mentioned before the hostel was above a bar. So after many hours of incredibly loud music we fell asleep. After about 5 hours of sleep we woke up and went down stairs for breakfast but alas and no big surprise nothing was open. There was definitely a lack of organization at this place. So we made our way to the bus stop.

The walk to the bus stop is only short, it was about 9am so the streets were quiet and just how we like them. We hadn’t bought our bus tickets yet so we had to do some shopping around for good ticket prices. We managed to get tickets to Denizli for 18 lira. Denizli is the major town near Pammukale and is about 4 hours from Bodrum. So we were soon on the bus and making our way out touristy Bodrum and heading inland.

Love Erin and John xo