The wheels on the bus go round and round

The next morning after our visit to Gallipoli it was time to leave Çannakale and head south to Kuşadasi (pronounced Koo-sha-da-see) via the ancient ruins of Pergamon (known as Bergama to the Turks).

We started our day early, piling on to the bus at 8am and were running to schedule, until about an hour into our journey disaster struck. The driver of the bus had noticed smoke coming from the rear of the bus and decided we should pull over to determine what was causing the issue. Further investigation discovered that there was an issue with the intercool system and the driver did not have the tools with him to fix the issue. So they called for a mechanic, however the nearest mechanic was back in Çannakale, over an hours drive away.

Luckily, the place where the driver had pulled over the bus was next to a set of roadside stalls selling a variety of foods including cherries, olive oil, nuts and honey. There were also a set of picnic tables under some umbrellas where we set ourselves up for the long wait. The owners of the roadside stalls were quite accommodating bringing us tea and serving us at the tables. Some of the group bought some cherries and we shared them around after rinsing them with bottled water.

The driver and tour guide made many calls to see what was keeping the mechanic. Around two hours later he finally arrived, fitted a new clamp to a hose in the intercool system and the bus was fixed in under 10 minutes. Unfortunately we had lost 2.5 hours of our day and were running very late for lunch.

So we all piled back on the bus and continued on our way to our lunch stop. Lunch wasn't that special, just a buffet in a tourist hall.

After lunch we headed towards Pergamon to visit the ruins of te Acropolis that had been built there. Our tour guide showed us around the site and described the history of the area. We saw Roman columns, ruins of an aquaduct, a well and various other bits and pieces. By the end we were all exhausted, but not because it was a large site. The weather was extremely hot. When we piled back into the bus, the thermometer was reading 43 degrees Celcius. Trust me when I say we felt every one of those degrees.

After Pergamon we continued to our hotel in Kuşadasi. As we passed through the city of Izmir (pronounced Izz-meer), one of the largest cities in Turkey, we saw a strange sight on the side of the highway. A gaggle of geese had decided to wander down the road to the next waterhole. It was just a really bizarre sight to see in the middle of a city.

Thanks to our breakdown delay we did not reach the hotel until 8:30pm and had to rush to dinner before the restaurant closed at 9:30.