First my apologies for the i & y fiasco...the keyboard is different and has extra Turkish letters.  I hope this one comes out a bit better...though it will take me a while to write it.

Well the last 24 hours have been rather exhausting.  Let me first start by nothing bad happened...i am just a bit frazzled and overwhelmed...but it is all good because this is the experience I wanted!   though today I feared I may have bit off more than I can chew!

For 24 hours now I have been playing charades....I really thought more people would speak English.  I tried to go to bed early but couldn’t fall asleep.  I woke up about 7 today and had breakfast at the hotel..olives hard boil egg cheese bread and coffee.  At 9 I ventured out to find a trip to Ephesus tomorrow as that is a highlight of where  I want to go.  I went to tourist place after place and no one spoke English.  After an hour I finally found a place that offered English Ephesus tours.  Once ý got that all squared away I walked along the boardwalk and ended up in a bazaar...it was very interesting to see all the spices fish fruit but then I ended up in a super crowded bazaar where everyone was yelling and screaming Turkish it was so loud and overwhelming and masses of merchants running up to me you want leather you want rug you want jeans.  I always though Venice Italy was the most confusing city but I got hopelessly lost several times today and the language barrier made it all the more difficult to get help.  I was trying to find the ancient Agora and ended up in some small back alleys that were so crowded with people and cars trying to get buy and mopeds and bikes on the sidewalk ý felt like I was going to get crushed.    Please don’t worry about me getting caught up in some terrorist plot....the most dangerous thing here is the traffic.  I was pushed so hard up against the wall my shirt got caught on a nail and ripped.   I quickly became agitated from the pushing shoving horn honking screaming and yelling... after wandering around I finally found the agora.  This was the center of the city when it was called Smyrna..It was built by the Greeks but destroyed in 187 B.C. by earthquake and rebuilt by emperor Marcus Aurelius.  I was the only one there and I was walking around and some security guard started yelling at me in Turkish.   I walked the other way and he left me alone.  I still don’t know what I did wrong.  I did learn today that izmir/smyrna is where Homer was born and has been here for 5000 years also 3 of the 7 churches mentioned in the bible are here.

After the Agora I took a cab to the kadefekale a castle at the top of the mountain built in 4th century B.C. by Alexander the Great...it is way off the beaten path and very few tourist go.  There were old Turkish women using knitting kilns. The view of the city was breathtaking up there.  I decided I would walk back since it was all downhill....this did not prove to be a wise move.  It was the most meandering path of streets and stairs I have ever encountered.  Also it was obvious not many fair skinned people traveled this way because I got many stares from children pointing at me.   Furthermore this area all of the women were dressed in traditional Muslim attire...it was smelly seedy and like a slum.   I really have not been that nervous before in any of my adventures plus the sun was setting.  I finally made it back down to the city and come to find out the short cut I took was through the most dangerous part of the city.  Thankfully nothing happened.  Now that it is over and I made it safe...I can say it was exciting!!   I then found a place to eat and now ý am trying to unwind.   I feel like a handicapped person....I have to point and physically act out what I want or need....food, the check, coffee, an ashtray, etc.  It has given me a new appreciation for people who have any kind of handicap...blind deaf don’t speak English mute....I hope that this will teach me more patience when I encounter people that get on my nerves.

So...tomorrow should be a bit easier...ý leave at 10 with an organized English speaking tour to Ephesus The Tomb of St. John...and the home and death place of Virgin Mary.  Wednesday will prove to be my next challenge of getting to the airport here and get to Amman Jordan!

As difficult as it is at times....I love it...its like and addiction and I am already thinking about where to go next!  Perhaps one of you will want to join me!   Take care...and I hope not to many i,s are y,s!

With love and peace

Keith

Greetings from Izmir, Turkey.  I apologize for the numerous typos on this email.  It took me 20 minutes to figure out how to log on because the keyboard is in Turkish and no one here speaks English and I speak no Turkish.

After I wrote last night I was rather tired and went to bed early about 10 and slept until 6.  This morning I had breakfast and then got on the bus for Troy!!  Absolutely fascinating..It was hard to believe that I was actually at troy...to be honest until I made my plans I thought Troy was in Greece!  We saw the huge wooden horse. the Trojan horse and I even climbed to the top.  The tour guide was great and explained all about Helen of Troy Paris Aphrodite Zeus and all the legends.  Troy was around since 3000 BC until 500 ad but there were 9 cities of troy rebuilt over the other ones.  We saw where Hektor and Achilles had their final battle and where the Phoenicians and other cultures had battles.  There was so much history it was hard to keep track of...most people think of troy as Greco roman but I learned a lot about Mesopotamia the Hittites and that the Turks were originally Anatolia from central Asia..They are closely related to Uzbekistan and Pakistan but look different because Turks mixed with so many races and cultures.   I thoroughly enjoyed this.  This is also where homers Iliad and odyssey took place...which I read in college but didn’t really pay attention to it.  Now I want to learn more about the history

I then got back to cannakale and got bus to Izmir...this is where the difficulties began.  The bus ride was a long winding 6 hours along the Aegean Sea.  No one spoke English and I didn’t know what was going on.  I didn’t even know when to get off the bus.  Finally I got to Izmir and my hospitality club plans did not work out.   I wandered around the bus station asking do you speak English? Do you speak English? And no one did.  I went to a taxi driver and said Centrum so he took me to the city center and I wandered around looking for a place to stay.  It was dark and I had no idea where I was or where I was going.  I finally found a place called hotel oba and it was 20 a night but it includes breakfast and it is a private room with private bath and hot water...at that point Ithought...I just need to find a place and regroup and I am not going to quibble over a few dollars   the room is very nice.   but the people that own it speak no english..So I roamed the dark streets of Izmir looking for cafe.  It is rather scary in this city...it is not like Istanbul...much more conservative and not a big visitor stop.   Though...as difficult as all this was it does always make me feel proud that no matter where I am at.  I have good survival skills and sometimes life is just an adventure where there is no plan there is no sure thing and you just have to wing it!

So now I will find a place to eat grab some goodies and head back to my room until the sun rises and I feel safer on the street and ý figure out how I will get to Ephesus from here.  I may stay here an extra night to regroup repack etc.  By the way...I am now officially in the Asian Continent...so I have now been to four continents and 21 countries!