Lots of loose dogs in Turkey. Occasionally one would attach himself to us, like this fellow in Alaçati.

We took a taxi from Goreme back to the airport in Kayseri then flew to Izmir on Turkish Airlines, an airline that serves tasty meals even on short in-country flights. You've barely time to eat before they're back to collect trays.

We then picked up a rental car in Izmir to drive to the coastal town of Cesme for lunch. The only challenge with driving in Turkey was figuring how to pay at the automated toll booths on the highway.

After lunch we drove to the nearby town of Alaçati where we'd hotel reservations. But we couldn't find the hotel, this being a time before the ubiquitous mobiles with map software, so we stopped in a cafe. One of the young fellows in the cafe offered to escort us to the Hotel Incirliev by having us follow him as he drove to the hotel on his motorbike.

Turkish salespeople can be aggressive. In the touristy parts of Istanbul, like where we stayed, the restaurateurs stand in front of their establishments and as you approach they entreat you, holding out menus and uttering enticing words, but as you walk past, their words not having succeeded, they become hostile, insulting even, which was counter productive but maybe it works sometimes or maybe it's just venting on their failure.

The carpet sellers would go to greater lengths, using flirtation, misrepresentation, even two-eye-coloured cats as lure. But we resisted, helped by the fact we'd not want to schlepp a carpet around along with our travel bags. Carpets, we don't need no stinking carpets.