March Expenses... that was a cheap month!

How much does it cost to RV in Turkiye for a month? Well using our March expenses as an example, it costs about $950 CAD ($760 USD)!

Yes, that is our total expenses for the month of March. $950 CAD. And that is for everything, including our travel medical insurance.

Spring hiking in the snow in Turkiye!

I know, many of you will think "what are they doing in the snow??" and it's a good question since we often talk about not liking the cold and the snow. And now that shorts and t-shirt weather has returned to Turkiye's southern coast, you would think that's where we would be!

But for a week or two, we really don't mind the snow. It's when you have to put up with cold and snow for seven months in a row that we really don't enjoy it. 

And so we begin the drive northwest

While we've enjoyed exploring Turkiye's south coast, we've really been missing the mountains, and of course there is so much more to see inland. The weather has finally turned, so yesterday we did a fairly long drive into the mountains.

We woke up to a strong wind yesterday morning, so we decided to get on the road right away at 7:00am in order to get through the congestion at the city of Samandag. We did hit some traffic on the bypass around Antakya, and didn't stop for breakfast until almost 9:00am.

Moses Tree, the Titus Tunnel and another great overnight spot

We finally said goodbye to our hosts at the little campground by the river. We had a really good time there. When we had arrived, we figured it might be good for a two night stay, and we ended up there for four nights.

There were two things we wanted to see in the area. The Moses Tree, and the Titus Tunnel. The maps all said that the Moses Tree was in a little village on a mountain road, but we figured that if tour buses can make it there, then we can make it there.

Traditional Turkish Bread

We arrived with a plan to stay here two nights and ended up staying four nights. And are we ever glad we hung around. Yesterday, spring arrived in this part of Turkey. In fact, the whole country seems to have jumped into spring this past weekend as sunny skies and increasing temperatures have taken over the area.

In the morning, we went for an 11 km (7 mile) walk around the villages near where we are staying. And in the afternoon, the campground became quite busy with picnickers and our hosts showed us how they make traditional Turkish bread.

Max got a bath

Lots of comments yesterday regarding replacing our computers. The "Mac vs PC" arguments are still alive and well I see! We will stick with the more frugal choice. We have spent less money in ten years on PC laptops for the both of us than what it would have cost for one Mac laptop ten years ago. Hopefully they will last another few months until we get back to Canada in August.

Anyhow... Ford vs Chevy... who really cares, provided they both do the same job. 

Planning our travels around the weather

Sunshine one minute and showers the next. That's been the story the last two days, and it looks like it's continuing today. It kind of makes it hard to do anything, and of course it makes it difficult for the laundry to dry!

It seems like we've been dealing with on and off weather issues since we arrived back in Europe last October 1st. Sure, there have been some nice days mixed in there as well, but we sure do miss the perfect weather that we would get every winter we spent in Mexico.

Kamp Alani near Antakya, Turkiye

Laundry needed done, and holding tanks needed emptying, so we decided to go to a campground for a couple of nights. I found one on iOverlander that was surprisingly not listed on park4night. It also got great reviews on Google Maps, so we headed over there Thursday morning.

The Museum Hotel and St. Pierre Church

I know I said yesterday that we are done with museums for a while, but when we were at the Antakya Archeological Museum we had bought the combined ticket which included access to the Museum Hotel and St. Pierre Church along with the Archeological Museum.

Max is parked right behind the Museum Hotel, so that was the first place we headed Wednesday morning.

I am a little bit in awe of where we are right now...

Yesterday's drive took us from north of the big port city of Iskenderun to the valley city of Antakya.

Antakya is located in Hatay province, which until 1938 was part of Syria, and the area still feels more like Syria than Turkiye. Not that I know what Syria is like, but the area definitely has more of a middle eastern feel to it than what we have experienced elsewhere in Turkiye.

And in fact, we are now only 20 kms (12 miles) from the Syria border. 

Not every day is a good day

And yesterday was certainly not one of the better ones, but in the end we are fine and it's just another adventure.

We packed up from our beautiful free campsite and set off at about 10:30am. I decided on a backroads route so that we would avoid having to return to the big city of Adana. The road wasn't in great condition, but I would rather go slowly that way than have to deal with the traffic through the city.

We had a beautiful first day of Spring!

What a gorgeous day we had yesterday. Blue sky and sunshine! It could have still been a little warmer, with a high of only 10C (50F), but there was no wind at all and with the sun shining it was really quite nice.

So we left Max behind and set off on a 10 km (6.2 mile) hike to try to get to the nearest high point.

Booked the rest of our flights, and found the perfect free camping spot!

It's a really tough call booking flights this far in advance. Especially for summer travel which is expensive to begin with. Then add in constantly changing Covid restrictions that are wildly different in each country, and increasing fuel prices, and it's hard to know what to do. But, I'm overall happy with what me managed to book.

So, we fly back to Canada August 5th from Amsterdam. We arrive in Montreal with an 18 hour layover before our flight to Calgary. 

We are sticking with our original plan

We didn't really do very much yesterday, except we spent a lot of time with Duygu  and Timmy talking about the many things to see and do in this area, as well as talking about their road trip to India and looking at some photos and telling stories. 

Although, Ruth did go with them to the fabric guy to buy the material for the covers for Max's dinette seats. I was feeling the need for an afternoon nap, so I stayed behind and did just that!

Well, that was an interesting day!

We were up and on the road at 6:30am Thursday morning. We were headed just across the city, but wanted to beat any rush hour traffic, and we did a pretty good job of it.

I had been looking at other listings on the park4night app for the city of Adana and came across one from fellow motorhome travelers who live in Adana. They like to welcome others to park at their home and visit with them. We contacted them, and they invited us over.

Adana Museum, and a great day for a bike ride

We left Max parked up by the river and walked the 3 kms (1.8 miles) over to the Adana Museum. Other than the riverside, this was the first we had seen of the city itself. Adana is a modern city, very clean, and with lots of green park space. For a big city, we were pretty impressed.

We arrived at the museum and there were a few school buses with groups of kids, which is not surprising. We paid our 15 lira ($1.30 CAD, $1.00 USD) each entrance fee and went in with a large group of them.

Into the big city of Adana

We packed things up at the free campground in Tarsus. It had become quite busy there as three Turkish rigs traveling together showed up around 9:30pm Monday night. I think all the spots were full so we're glad we parked well out of the way.

Thanks to the municipality of Tarsus for providing this free campground. Always good to be able to get back on the road with full batteries and water, and an empty toilet tank!

More wandering around Tarsus

Three nights in Tarsus is almost one too many, but we still managed to keep ourselves busy yesterday with a few more interesting sights to see in the central area.

Fortunately, we had blue sky and sunshine, with a high of about 13C (55F).

The city of Tarsus has been inhabited uninterrupted for 9,000 years!

Sunday was an abnormally chilly day. Only an overcast high of 7C (45F), and down to the freezing mark at night. Next winter we are going somewhere warmer, even if it's only for a month or two!

We bundled up as much as we could and set off to explore the old central part of the city of Tarsus. 

Inverter gone bad!

The other morning, I turned on our inverter and immediately heard sparks. Uh oh. That's not good. I shut it down right away, and tried it again. This time, I left it on despite the sparking, and within about five seconds it shut down automatically and went into fault mode.

The night before, it had been working perfectly. What happened between then, and the time I turned it on the next morning? Who knows. Electronics don't last forever. But it should last more than 9 months!

Sometimes you just have to trust your instincts

We left our quiet overnight spot at the Men of Rock parking area and drove back down to the main coastal highway heading east towards the big city of Mersin (pop 1 million). 

Not many cars on the road, and we think that might have something to do with the price of fuel. When we arrived in Turkiye January 22, we paid 13.5 lira per liter. Today, it is now 23 lira per liter. Yes, I know that is happening all over the world, but fuel was already expensive for the Turkish people at 13.5 lira per liter.

Well, that was an adventure!

What a day we had! Keep reading to the bottom for the best part!

We had a totally silent night parked at the ruins of the ancient city of Olba. But it was chilly... -1C (30F) when we woke up. A good reminder of why we've been staying on the coast! Fortunately, things are starting to warm up and the next month will make a big difference. They are calling for sunny highs around 20C (68F) by the end of next week.

We left Max in his spot and went out exploring. Nobody around but us and some goats and sheep!

Fantastic Gilindire Cave, and up into the mountains

First thing we did was to go for a short walk around the park at the beach where we had overnighted. It's a really pretty bay, and I'm sure the place is packed with tent campers and picnickers on a summer weekend. 

But yesterday morning, there was just us, one couple in a tent, and a guy picking up trash.

We have decided we are not going to Cyprus on this trip

We are now only 60 kms (37 miles) from the ferry port that would have taken us to North Cyprus. So we needed to make a decision.

We weighed the pros and cons. If we went to North Cyprus, the only real benefit would be that we would be able to extend the spring season so that our remaining time in Turkiye would be warmer.

The fantastic mosaics at the ancient city of Anamurium, Turkiye

The ancient city of Anamurium dates to between the 1st and the 7th centuries. I always have to think about that a little bit. Of course in Canada, anything old is maybe 300 or 400 years, at most. So when you come across structures that are still standing after 1,500 or 2,000 years, it's difficult to comprehend.

We had no plans to visit Anamurium until Ruth did a little bit of research to find out what there was to see along our route. And it turns out there is a lot to see! In fact, it was one of the better ruins sites.

Summer plans... booked another flight!

Sunday was a rain day. They had called for showers on and off, but it rained pretty steady most of the day. We didn't get out of the motorhome for a walk until around 5:00pm!

So we played some backgammon and yahtzee, and did some computer time. We want to get back to Canada this summer, so I did some searching looking at flight possibilities.

Another busy day, and a feast for lunch!

Lots of exploring to do in this area, and it was another nice day. Plus, it's an easy bike riding area with a good network of bike paths. 

So I got the bikes off and we went for a ride. First destination was the ancient fortress of Selinus.

Yep, this will do for a couple of nights!

We got up at 7:00am and hit the road right away Friday morning. Two reasons for this... first, it's a good way to warm up Max's interior without using propane, and second, we wanted to get out of the big city of Alanya before the traffic got heavy.

And we did... there was hardly any traffic on the road. 

That was a busy day!

And a much better one than the last few, because the sun was shining and we were able to get out do stuff! 

We needed to find a laundry. There were a few listings in the big touristy city of Alanya (pop 300,000), so we packed up early and drove the half hour or so into the city.

Life goes on

We are fine, thanks. We've received a few messages of concern because we are geographically fairly close to the action, so to speak. And yes, we are following the headlines and are aware of what's going on in the world. 

But we don't worry so much about "what if", so we continue with our plans, for now. 

Not much point in moving on

Another wet overcast day on Tuesday, but at least we managed to find a two hour window where we got out for decent walk.

Today is supposed to be worse, with pretty much non stop rain, and a total accumulation of more than two inches. We were going to move on just for the sake of moving on, but I think we've decided to just wait it out. We have electricity and a good strong cellular internet connection.

Train trip and Cyprus update

Yesterday evening, we published our February expense report. If you missed it, you can read it here. 

A few weeks ago, we told you about an overnight scenic train ride that we wanted to do between Ankara and Kars, or the reverse. Tickets are really hard to get, but we put in our request hoping that we might get some around the end of February when we were in Antalya area and we could have flown from Antalya to either Ankara or Kars to meet the train.