Day 23 - Kusadasi, Turkey to Oren, Turkey

After a good nights sleep ( we used ear plugs ! ) we woke to the sound of the call to morning prayer. It was 5.00 and we lay awake for a while waiting for first light. Packed and on the road for 7.20 we headed for Izmer. Ten minutes later we passed the site of Ephesus, if we had known that it was so near we would have paid a visit, still like Angie said we can save it for next time.
Once past Selcuk we made Swift progress on a good stretch of road. The sun was up, the air calm as we sped past acre after acre of orange groves, with their scent filling the air I rode along with my visor up. It was one if those moments that I would remember .
I decided, as we had some credit left, to use the motorway. It can be boring but without a satnav or decent maps we would get lost in Izmer, I should know I've done it before and it's no joke. Izmer came and went , not much to say other than its a huge sprawling dusty looking city. Not long after the motorway finished, literally, a row of concrete blocks and a couple of flashing beacons and then nothing, strange but thats Turkey. They haven't yet built the toll Botha so we didn't get charged ! Any one want a Turkish motorway card ? It has 34 tl left on it ! The traffic piled onto a main road and once we had gotten past Menemen things improved again.
Stopping at a roadside cafe for an hour, we tucked into a delicious Turkish breakfast washed down with Turkish tea, I'm really getting used to salad for breakfast !
We refuelled and the attendant charged us 100 tl instead of the 70 odd that we had had, it was soon sorted once I showed him the pump reading !
We arrived at the camp site in Oren at just gone 12. Pitched the tent on the sand overlooking the sea , had a cuppa then nipped out for supplies.
The site was run down and a little tired last time we used it in 2010 but it looks like things are improving a little, I would rate it as one of the best sites I have used, more or less on the beach , peaceful and all for 25 tl a night !
We sat and ate supper watching the sun slip into the sea. If you look close you can just make out a dog in one of the photos. He came from nowhere and flopped down outside the tent, he's there now and has been since late this afternoon, he follows us both around the site and even crawled under the toilet door to keep Angie company !

Miles today - an easy 186
Hours in the saddle - 3.40