Turkey! The birthplace of Santa Clause? Final resting place of Noah’s Ark? Maybe. Here are some things we found out to be true: Turkey is a country rich in Greek and Roman history as well as its own. Trojan Horse? Happenened here. It is home to some of the best Greek and Roman ruins. Turkey has some magnificant landscapes – endless mountain ranges, tons of large lakes, green trees forever.
So, we volunteered at a charming little B&B WAY, WAY out in the country that offers eco-tourism for its guests. This involved daily cleaning of the pool, guest rooms, and gardening as well as preparing breakfast and helping with dinner. Equally important duties included runnning bandit chickens off the property and the occassional goat. July in Turkey is HOT; a brutal face-melting heat. We have a new appreciation for a cold glass of water and some shade.
The food has been excellent, second only to the genuine kindness and generosity of the people we have met. We’ve been eating the Mediterranean-style diet and have been loving it. The soil here is volcanic in many parts so it is rich in nutrients. You could put almost anything in the ground and watch it grow – olives, grapes, citrus, pomagranite, berries, bananas, figs.