Just for now, I've added a couple of links to our photos under "Nick's Tweets" in the right-hand column. These should take you to our various web albums, where you can explore all our photos, not just the ones we've chosen to included in our posts.
Also, the links at the end of my tweets are automatically added by global SIM card company and give our approximate position. (hold down the Ctrl key when you click on them to open the target in a new tab/window.) I'd like to switch them off, but can't find out how. They're a nuisance for two reasons: firstly they take up (an unpredictable amount of) space in the tweet, and second, they're not as accurate as the GPS coordinates with which I lead every tweet.
What? You didn't realise those long numbers I've been carefully adding were coordinates? Try copying and pasting them (not including the colon) into the search box on Google maps.
N
Saturday, 7 July 2012
Some Observations
I just thought that I would add some other thoughts and observations to go alongside the posts that Nick has been doing for each day. These will be a bit random and about things I have been thinking about or doing as we have been going along.
The first thing is to say that Turkey is BOOMING! It is a country that doesn't appear to have been hit by the recession if the amount of buliding of houses and blocks of flats and the amount of new road building is anything to go by. Right from when we drove into Istanbul there was a feeling that the new blocks of flats being constructed (and there were loads of them) were not destined to sit empty like some of the other places we had seen. The whole presentation of the roads and verges was neat with flower displays being tended by teams of men, watering was taking place and all looked green and pretty. In the city new paving had been put down. There were all kinds of restoration and repair projects going on. Ring roads have been built and all the roads we have travelled on through the whole country are being renewed and made duel carriageway or are being resurfaced and notjust in the touristy bits. I'd say the EU would be lucky to have Turkey as a member (obviously with the proviso that they improve their human rights as well.) But it's great and we have loved being here.
Second thing to mention - for those of you who saw the red bracelets that I made before I came away and the information about how every culture and religion seems to have an example of them, it was amazing to see them hanging from the branches of the damson tree in the grounds of the painted monastery in Bulgaria. Apparently the damson represent the blood of Christ and they are hung in the tree like prayers or wishes.
About the heat and hot flushes and so on.... gosh we have been hot. The temperatures have been in the in the low 30s but have been getting higher. The other day it was 37 degrees! This is a huge shock to the system. When we left the North East the temperatures were around 9 degrees so that's quite a difference. As you can imagine I have spent a lot of time looking like a boiled lobster with sweat simply pouring off me - elegant I know. But what is ok about all of this is that it's not just me and my hot flushes but everyone is going through the same thing. Nick thinks that he is having sympathetic flushes like a phatom pregnancy, but all the young ones are struggling too which makes me feel much better. When we are out and about now I am mainly under my orange umbrella looking like some memsahib from the Raj. I was quite surprised that I didn't pick up a gang of tourists following me around Ephesus! The hardest thing is trying to keep cool at night. Thank goodness for the silk liners for our sleeping bags - that's my best bit of kit so far. Can just sleep in those and sometimes even they are too warm. I know it will get cooler as we go into the mountains and in different countries so I will probably be complaining about the cold soon. It was pretty chilly on the roof of the truck the other day.
A word about cooking and cook groups just so that you know how that side of things is going. We are in pairs to cook and have to do the evening meal and then the following breakfast. Karen takes the lead on this. She has a plan of what we will be cooking and we take instructions from her. So far Nick and I have cooked spag bol, chicken fajitas and, most recently, hamburgers. People seem to think that we are the gourmet cook group but it is really down to Karen. It's a lot of work to do the cooking. Everything is stored under the truck and it all has to be taken out every time - tables, four gas cookers, huge pans, cutlery, implements, provisions etc etc and then it all has to be put away at the end of the meal after the washing up has been done. So quite physical work. I am hoping that it will be aiding my weight loss. The first thing to do each time is to put on enough water to heat up for tea and coffee and for cooking and for washing up so great pans are boiled. It's the first job in the mornings too so the cook group are usually up an hour before everyone else to get the water on. This can be pretty early when there is a long drive day and we leave the campsite at 6am. It's also pretty grubby as things get very dirty as the truck goes along and need to be washed off before you start. It will get more grubby when we start regularly cooking over open fires, which is what Karen prefers. We bought clothes especially for doing cook group which can get as dirty as we like and which we will burn when we get to Sydney!
And finally, in case you are interested something short on loos... so far they have all been fine and can be found all over the place. They have started to be squat loos in Turkey, but they usually have a western loo too. I have remembered to fill my pockets with toilet paper so that I always have some. Always worth nicking some when you find a place with some there as you don't want to be caught without. Does tend to make your pockets bulky though!
Enough for now. I expect further musings will follow at a later date.
J
The first thing is to say that Turkey is BOOMING! It is a country that doesn't appear to have been hit by the recession if the amount of buliding of houses and blocks of flats and the amount of new road building is anything to go by. Right from when we drove into Istanbul there was a feeling that the new blocks of flats being constructed (and there were loads of them) were not destined to sit empty like some of the other places we had seen. The whole presentation of the roads and verges was neat with flower displays being tended by teams of men, watering was taking place and all looked green and pretty. In the city new paving had been put down. There were all kinds of restoration and repair projects going on. Ring roads have been built and all the roads we have travelled on through the whole country are being renewed and made duel carriageway or are being resurfaced and notjust in the touristy bits. I'd say the EU would be lucky to have Turkey as a member (obviously with the proviso that they improve their human rights as well.) But it's great and we have loved being here.
Second thing to mention - for those of you who saw the red bracelets that I made before I came away and the information about how every culture and religion seems to have an example of them, it was amazing to see them hanging from the branches of the damson tree in the grounds of the painted monastery in Bulgaria. Apparently the damson represent the blood of Christ and they are hung in the tree like prayers or wishes.
About the heat and hot flushes and so on.... gosh we have been hot. The temperatures have been in the in the low 30s but have been getting higher. The other day it was 37 degrees! This is a huge shock to the system. When we left the North East the temperatures were around 9 degrees so that's quite a difference. As you can imagine I have spent a lot of time looking like a boiled lobster with sweat simply pouring off me - elegant I know. But what is ok about all of this is that it's not just me and my hot flushes but everyone is going through the same thing. Nick thinks that he is having sympathetic flushes like a phatom pregnancy, but all the young ones are struggling too which makes me feel much better. When we are out and about now I am mainly under my orange umbrella looking like some memsahib from the Raj. I was quite surprised that I didn't pick up a gang of tourists following me around Ephesus! The hardest thing is trying to keep cool at night. Thank goodness for the silk liners for our sleeping bags - that's my best bit of kit so far. Can just sleep in those and sometimes even they are too warm. I know it will get cooler as we go into the mountains and in different countries so I will probably be complaining about the cold soon. It was pretty chilly on the roof of the truck the other day.
A word about cooking and cook groups just so that you know how that side of things is going. We are in pairs to cook and have to do the evening meal and then the following breakfast. Karen takes the lead on this. She has a plan of what we will be cooking and we take instructions from her. So far Nick and I have cooked spag bol, chicken fajitas and, most recently, hamburgers. People seem to think that we are the gourmet cook group but it is really down to Karen. It's a lot of work to do the cooking. Everything is stored under the truck and it all has to be taken out every time - tables, four gas cookers, huge pans, cutlery, implements, provisions etc etc and then it all has to be put away at the end of the meal after the washing up has been done. So quite physical work. I am hoping that it will be aiding my weight loss. The first thing to do each time is to put on enough water to heat up for tea and coffee and for cooking and for washing up so great pans are boiled. It's the first job in the mornings too so the cook group are usually up an hour before everyone else to get the water on. This can be pretty early when there is a long drive day and we leave the campsite at 6am. It's also pretty grubby as things get very dirty as the truck goes along and need to be washed off before you start. It will get more grubby when we start regularly cooking over open fires, which is what Karen prefers. We bought clothes especially for doing cook group which can get as dirty as we like and which we will burn when we get to Sydney!
And finally, in case you are interested something short on loos... so far they have all been fine and can be found all over the place. They have started to be squat loos in Turkey, but they usually have a western loo too. I have remembered to fill my pockets with toilet paper so that I always have some. Always worth nicking some when you find a place with some there as you don't want to be caught without. Does tend to make your pockets bulky though!
Enough for now. I expect further musings will follow at a later date.
J
Days 18 (Parmukkale), 19 (Cappodocia), 20 (Balloons and Belly Dancers) & 21 (Resting)
From there we drove on for hours across wide, arrid plains between tall hills and high mountains. Where it was irrigated, we saw some fields of low growing wheat, but also many appricot and cherry trees. As we drove higher and higher into the hills and mountains, the wide plains were replaced by wide lakes, and the temperature dropped a little as the clouds increased a little. Leaving the lakes behind, the landscape turned to rough scrub, then another wide plateau with fields of wheat as far as the eye can see. Eventually, this scenery too was left behind as we entered a wierd 'Fellowship of the Rings' landscape, where we made camp just off the road at about 1,300 meters.
That night, though we'd already piched our tent, we decided to slept on the truck's roof and, though a bit of a clamber and a bit scarry for Juli, who has no head for heights, we were rewarded with a magnificent view of the rising moon, huge, bright and only just past full as it climbed into the cloudless night sky. So bright was it that, despite being a clear sky, we could only make out the brightest of stars. Also, because it was so clear, and at the altitude we were, it got rather chilly, which meant, because I'd forgotten my sleeping bag, that I didn't get much sleep. Still I was compensated to some extent by the sight of one shooting star and one satellite, and was kept company on my moonlit vigil by a Turkish airforce jet - visible only by its navigation lights - constantly patrolling their airspace in an unending series of passes heading east then west then east again and so on, all night long.
***
Another hot driving day the next day across more vast and empty plains with occassional glimpses of mountains in the misty far distance, or so I'm told, since I spent most of the morning making up for lost sleep, which is a pitty as, for me, the drive days and seeing the way the landscape changes as we journey round the world, is why I'm doing this trip.
Climbing again, it became cooler and the mountains clearer, as we continued through a poorer, uncared for, scrubby landscape, we began to get our first glimpses of the 'fairy castles' this part of Turkey is famous for. I'm no geologist, but I gather that these strange limestone casts are formed by a combination of wind and water errosion and come to be as a result of their particular composition. Evidently, however, the stone is readily carve-able, as everywhere you look are cave dwellings large and small. We stopped to explore some of these on the way to our lunch stop, a lovely restaurant with low, cushioned seating platforms built over a trout stream, which provided not only our idyllic setting, but also our excellent lunch.
Next stop was an underground city at a place called Derinkuyu near Goreme. A 10th century UNESCO World Herritage site, where you get to explore a labyrinth of passageways, chambers, steep steps and tunnels. The site seams to be about five levels deep and would certainly confuse any invader. Glad they've added arrows to help you find your way back out again.
After a last short drive, we finally arrived at our Cappadocian campsite, and blow me if wasn't the very same one as we stopped at ten and a bit years ago on our first trip of a life time. Yasser, the site owner confirmed that he used regularly to receive visits from Dragoman trucks and remembered our two trip leaders, Lottie (Swedish) and Ian (British).
-
[If anyone reading this knows what happened to them, the owner here would love to hear about it, so do comment back. Hope his interest has nothing to do with an unpaid bar bill.]
-
We were on cook group duty that night (hamburgers from scratch) but had a bit of time in hand, so, after putting up our tent, for the first time, we also strung our new double hammock from two handy trees, taking care to use our tree straps, purchased especially for the tree friendly purpose and sent all the way from the tree loving USA. After a quick swing, we left the hammock for later and got on with dinner.
Much later, while washing up and clearing away, a large Estonian coach arrived, which disgorged a great many excited Estonians, four of whom proceeded to - or rather attempted to - erect their tent immediately along side our hammock and barely inches away from own own tent. They were still struggling with the task when we finally turned in and continued to shriek with laughter for sometime. Eventually the shrieking subsided, only to be replaced shortly afterwards with the most horrendous cacaphony of snoring. Suffice it to say, we moved our tent (and hammock) to another part of the campsite the next morning.
***
We got up early the next morning to see the others off hot air ballooning. Aside from the fear of flying/heights thing previously mentioned, we had already decided that our budget didn't extend to the 130 euros each required for the 45 minute flight, so contented ourselves with the sight (from the campsite) of 50 something hot air balloons, each carrying about two dozen passengers, rising with the morning sun. Quite a spectacle. Quite a business too, considering that this happens almost every morning in the season, sometimes with more than 100 ballons x 25 passengers x 100 pounds. You do the math.
Later, while Karen did some admin, Will took us for a drive round some of the best sites and we took lots of photos and turns at riding shot gun up front. After another lovely lunch, we came back to camp and did very little for the rest of the day. That evening, most of us went out to a folk dancing centre and restaurant in a sort of mock cave, where we sat in tiered ranks and enjoyed both the entertainments and the very many delicous dishes with which we were presented. Some of the younger members of our party went on to a bar afterwards. However, we - along with others of our vintage - wished them well, but retired to our tent.
***
So, here we are: day 21: the end of week three. Another lazy day in the shade, uploading photos and writting this. Tomorrow we leave for north-east Turkey and the Monastery at Trabzon built into the side of a gorge and our last night before crossing into Georgia, the beginning of the trip proper - so far this has been a sight-seeing / training trip - and, for us, the unknown.
Up until now, we've had frequent wi-fi access to the internet. Don't know how that's going to be hereafter, but don't be too supprised if these posts become less frequent.
TTFN - N
Full Moon Update
With apologies from Nick for missing it out, here is a short update to fill in the details of what we did for the Full Moon. It was while we were at the beach near Ephesus that the moon became full and because we couldn't get any champagne we decided to treat ourselves to gin and tonic in the campsite restaurant. So we surprised the barman, who seemed a bit unsure about how to make one, but he eventually poured us two very large Cyn (gins) and put tonic and ice in them. We took our seats in the shade looking out at the sunset over the sea and toasted the full moon.
Later that evening we saw the moon rise above the trees as we finished our eveing meal. It has been looking good since then.
Who knows whether we will get champagne or something fizzyforthe next one.
Later that evening we saw the moon rise above the trees as we finished our eveing meal. It has been looking good since then.
Who knows whether we will get champagne or something fizzyforthe next one.
Tuesday, 3 July 2012
Days 14 (end of), 15 (ANZAC Cove), 16 (Ferry to Asia) and 17 (Ephesus)
Juli came back to the hostel after her walk around town, including visiting the Roman Cistern - a vast underground freshwater storage facility - and the Galetea Tower - a 16th century watchtower - and, after a quick bit of internetting, we went out to the square/park between the two mosques again. Being a Saturday, there were a lot of families picnicing in there, some with small boys dressed like princes with fur trimmed silver capes and matching hats and staffs. Juli approached one family and, through gestures, asked if she could take their photos. The family were delighted and proceeded to make a fuss of their boy, making sure he looked his best. Wanting to know what the occasion was, again using gestures, Juli asked what all the fancy dress was in aid of. The boy's mother, smilling as she did, nodded towards her son and made a simple, low 'snipping with scissors' gesture that made all clear.
We found the sister restaurant of the one we went to the previous evening and enjoyed another reasonably priced meal including Baclava and Turkish Coffee while listening to the Turkish folk music from the next door Dervish Restaurant, where we also watched a traditionally dressed dancer slowly spin himself into a trance like state. Budget meal, free floor show. Sorted.
After a quick sit on our favourite bench in front of the illumiated Blue Mosque and a last glass of tea from our favourite chai seller, a Kurd who, incidentally, comes all the way from East Anatolia at the other end of Turkey on a 21 hour bus ride to sell tea to put food on his young families table.
***
Early-ish start the next morning and back on the truck for a drive day out of Istanbul - much faster than coming in, but still took a long time to clear the city limits - through gradually more rolling landscape over some shocking roads to our first beach campsite near the ferry port via ANZAC Cove, monuments and wargraves. The ANZAC (Australia and New Zealand Army Corp) battle site covers a large area, and a one-way driving route takes you from site to site. It was a Sunday and, in addition to ourselves plus a number of coach parties, there were lots of Turkish families there for a day out, ice creams and all, in what is now a lovely bit of the countryside, but for a time in 1915 would have been hell on earth for hundreds of thousands of Aussies and Kiwis plus Brits and some others, but most particularly (both proportionally and absolutely) for the Turks.
From there we moved on to Eceabat and the Boomerang Bar and beach campsite, owned and run by a permanently pickled (he drinks Jim Beam for breakfast) long time friend of Will's. (Queue much catching up, drinking and dancing 'til dawn.)
After a slightly later start the next moring we drove onto the ferry across to Asia (ferry number two) a really quick and smooth crossing. First stop was Troy, although, after listening to others who'd been there before, we just snapped a shot of the mock horse from the Brad Pitt movie over the fence, but didn't pay to go in. The rest of the day was a long drive through a landscape of small-scale agriculture - some mechanised, but mostly tended by women with hand tools - olive groves on steep-sided hills, along twisty turny coast roads with terrific views out to sea to islands beyond. On the way we passed through Izmir, a huge and populous city with housing as far as the eye can see. Eventually we arrived at our second campsite by the beach near Ephesus.
This morning, Will and Karen drove us to visit the Ephesus site, which is huge. Highlights include the remains of a 23,000 capacity amphitheatre and the restored facade of the Library of Celcus, a large and elaborate, highly decorated ediface that pleased Juli. I don't know: all that trouble, just for books.
All of which brings us more or less up to date. As I write this, we're enjoying a lazy afternoon in the shade; the sea looks inviting but is apparently a bit too cold still. Tomorrow we're bush camping somewhere on the way to a campsite in Goreme, Cappodocia for a couple of nights after that, so next post... when I can.
TTFN - N
We found the sister restaurant of the one we went to the previous evening and enjoyed another reasonably priced meal including Baclava and Turkish Coffee while listening to the Turkish folk music from the next door Dervish Restaurant, where we also watched a traditionally dressed dancer slowly spin himself into a trance like state. Budget meal, free floor show. Sorted.
After a quick sit on our favourite bench in front of the illumiated Blue Mosque and a last glass of tea from our favourite chai seller, a Kurd who, incidentally, comes all the way from East Anatolia at the other end of Turkey on a 21 hour bus ride to sell tea to put food on his young families table.
***
Early-ish start the next morning and back on the truck for a drive day out of Istanbul - much faster than coming in, but still took a long time to clear the city limits - through gradually more rolling landscape over some shocking roads to our first beach campsite near the ferry port via ANZAC Cove, monuments and wargraves. The ANZAC (Australia and New Zealand Army Corp) battle site covers a large area, and a one-way driving route takes you from site to site. It was a Sunday and, in addition to ourselves plus a number of coach parties, there were lots of Turkish families there for a day out, ice creams and all, in what is now a lovely bit of the countryside, but for a time in 1915 would have been hell on earth for hundreds of thousands of Aussies and Kiwis plus Brits and some others, but most particularly (both proportionally and absolutely) for the Turks.
 |
| ANZAC Memorial |
From there we moved on to Eceabat and the Boomerang Bar and beach campsite, owned and run by a permanently pickled (he drinks Jim Beam for breakfast) long time friend of Will's. (Queue much catching up, drinking and dancing 'til dawn.)
After a slightly later start the next moring we drove onto the ferry across to Asia (ferry number two) a really quick and smooth crossing. First stop was Troy, although, after listening to others who'd been there before, we just snapped a shot of the mock horse from the Brad Pitt movie over the fence, but didn't pay to go in. The rest of the day was a long drive through a landscape of small-scale agriculture - some mechanised, but mostly tended by women with hand tools - olive groves on steep-sided hills, along twisty turny coast roads with terrific views out to sea to islands beyond. On the way we passed through Izmir, a huge and populous city with housing as far as the eye can see. Eventually we arrived at our second campsite by the beach near Ephesus.
This morning, Will and Karen drove us to visit the Ephesus site, which is huge. Highlights include the remains of a 23,000 capacity amphitheatre and the restored facade of the Library of Celcus, a large and elaborate, highly decorated ediface that pleased Juli. I don't know: all that trouble, just for books.
 |
| Celcus's Library (especially for Helen) |
TTFN - N
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