By boat, train, bus and air, Bermudian Robyn Skinner is travelling around Europe. Here she reports from Turkey, where she finds two men sleeping and smoking in the room they were supposed to be cleaning for her!

Next Stop: Ephesus, Turkey: "Taxi, Hotel, Taxi, Taxi". Touts bombarded us as soon as we stepped off the five hour bus to Selcuk (the town to stay in if visiting Ephesus) hoping to grab onto us and drag us to their hotels.

That was the first time this really happened in Turkey and we were not quite prepared, but ignored them, pushed through them, grabbed our bags and found our lift a Turkish man who fancied himself the playboy of Selcuk and who was part owner of the hostel we were destined for.

The hostel was fine though the owner tried to sell us every day trip he could think when all I wanted to do was relax after the long bus ride.

No matter how comfy the bus is, my stomach does not do well on the twists and turns so he didn't get very far with me!

Plus the only reason we decided to stay in Selcuk, which is a small, landlocked town, was for its location near Ephesus (Efes) one of the best preserved ancient cities in Turkey if not the entire Mediterranean.

Ephesus, a trading city, was originally established by the cult of Cybele, the Anatolian fertility goddess.

Later becoming the cult of Diana with the Romans who also used it as their provincial capital for Asia Minor because of its coastal location.

Now you cannot even see the ocean (thank you global warming).

Later the area around Ephesus and Selcuk became a must-go-to for Christians with St. John settling there and the Virgin Mary and St. Paul setting up shop for three years.

In Selcuk itself there is a Basilica dedicated to St. John and on a nearby hill there is a house where some believe Mary to have lived before her assumption to, where else, Heaven.

There's a small chapel here now, but my travel buddy had no interest, so we just wandered through Ephesus.

The ruins of this ancient city were worth all the travelling. It is incredibly well preserved with the library the most impressive building still standing and an enormous amphitheatre that used to host concerts until Sting ruined it for everyone causing damage during his concert. Now it only features tourist wannabes.

We spent close to four hours in Ephesus before the rain started in and cheapskates that we are, declined all taxis and hiked three kilometres back to town making a quick pit stop in the Grotto of the Seven Sleepers. Here, apparently, seven persecuted Christians fled to in the 3rd century AD.

Those doing the persecuting found them, sealed them in the cave and figured they were done and dusted.

Well that is until an earthquake two centuries later, supposedly, awoke these seven men who then strolled into town, the villagers figured they had been resurrected and their cave developed a cult following.

Um, the story is far more interesting than the site, both take a leap of faith to accept and though we tried we could only justify two minutes here before heading back to Selcuk.

Back in town the basilica of St. John was closed for the day, but rather than take the bus that afternoon to Troy, which my stomach just could not have withstood, my travel buddy pardoned me and we paused for one more night in Selcuk.

First thing the next day, however, we were on a bus to Çanakkale better known as the city close to Troy made famous by Homer's Iliad or more recently Brad Pitt.

It was a seven hour bus ride and after an hour long search we found our hostel right next to the bus terminal where we arrived. If that is not proof positive of how exhausting these bus rides are I don't know what is.

Anyway, there really is not much to do here other than arrange your visit to Troy so we spent the afternoon resurrecting ourselves from the torturous bus ride.

To see Troy and a seaside town called Assos in one day we rented a car. What an experience.

Most car companies were giving us ridiculous quotes, but my Canadian travel buddy managed to find a dodgy, but cheap car rental.

The car was salvaged from the 70s! Its windshield wipers worked sporadically (perfect for our rainy day), there was a choke start and the suspension was apparently an afterthought, but we saved $50, so who can grumble?

Everyone had been warning us not to bother with Troy, but we had seen Agamemnon's city in Mycanae, Greece so we thought it only fair to see Troy, which he attacked along with King Menelaus of Sparta and Achilles (weak heels anyone?).

What can I say about it? Um, my travel buddy enjoyed it. There was a big, wooden, modern horse you know the whole Trojan Horse thing and some stones sticking out of sand that archaeologists have still not solidly pieced together into Troy. So if in Turkey don't bother.

We ran through the ruins before grabbing some gosleme a great Turkish treat, much like crepes with different fillings, but usually include spinach or cheese.

For the celiacs out there like me, I'm sorry but Turkey is not a friendly nation. Breakfast is bread with honey, cucumbers, tomatoes and olives; most of their other meals are bread based, so come prepared! I wish I had.

We drove through pelting rain with our finicky windshield wipers navigating small villages on our way to Assos.

As we turned a corner an elderly woman, headscarf and all, popped out of the hillside in front of the car. I jumped out of my skin, but luckily my travel buddy pulled over. Before we could say a thing, she jumped into our back seat and proceeded to start yelling at us!

Totally confused my travel buddy drove while I tried desperately to look up Turkish phrases in our guide book.

This seemed to antagonise her more as she started throwing her hands forward and her yelling became more persistent.

Before long we figured out that she wanted a lift to a village about three kilometres up the road!

OK, OK, OK we kept repeating, which only slowed her yelling slightly, until we finally arrived. Despite all the confusion I was glad we gave her a lift; it was a long, uphill hike to her village.

When we finally arrived in Assos, we started wishing we had spent more time here rather than Troy.

Cobbled streets wind up through this hillside town, which overlooks a harbour and boasts views of the Greek island Lesvos.

Unfortunately, it was rainy and windy so we didn't last long at the Temple of Athena, which stands on the peak of the hill and was built by Greeks during the 8th Century BC.

After seeing the harbour and getting lost down a muddy road we eventually found our way back to Çanakkale.

Unfortunately, we took too long to get back so missed the 6 p.m. bus to Istanbul (and don't even get me started on the gas situation in the car!).

So we had two choices: stay another night or take an overnight bus leaving at 11 p.m.

Since we reserved a room in Istanbul for that night we choose (b) another horrendous overnight bus! I e-mailed the hostel letting them know of our situation, but that we would still pay for the room so we could move in when we arrived at 5 a.m. Their response: No problem.

So we suffered through the six-hour, overnight bus, with three cay (tea) stops and a ferry ride over the 1.4 km Dardanelles a waterway that offers an entrance into the Sea of Marmara and is also the gateway to Istanbul and the Black Sea.

In the past many countries have tried to control these straits with little luck. Yes, even the Allied fleet in World War One tried but could not win the Dardanelles.

Now Gallipoli, the fields on the north shore of the strait is a pilgrimage site for Australians and New Zealanders especially on Anzac Day, April 25, to commemorate the tens of thousands of men lost during the war.

After crossing these historical sites around 2 a.m., we arrived in Istanbul at 5 a.m. and the bus company gave us a free shuttle to Sultanahmet the tourist neighbourhood of Istanbul.

Convenient because Istanbul is an enormous city of almost 16 million people and nearly stretches from the Sea of Marmara to the Black Sea so sometimes travel within Istanbul can be a task.

I lived here for four months about six years ago, which should have given me a leg-up on directions, but after the long bus ride we where both zombies and it took us close to an hour of wandering the streets with a stray dog who decided to be our friend before we found our hostel.

An old man answered the door and immediately asked for money and our passports. Well, we were not going to give up money so we showed him our passports so he could write down the information.

After a few minutes it was obvious that he was just stalling so we demanded to see our room immediately.

How did they get our room ready? By telling two employees who had been sleeping and smoking in our room to get out!

While my travel buddy waited downstairs I followed the old guy into the room where one employee was still getting dressed. 'Oh no problem, miss. No problem.' No problem!

You have been sleeping and smoking all night in our room and you think there's no problem?

I gave the old guy one more chance to show us a clean room, but he feigned confusion so we picked up our bags and made for the rainy streets of Istanbul at 7 a.m. to find a clean hotel!

Backpacking can be such a joy sometimes.

Next Stop: looking for a decent place in Istanbul!