Turkey - the last leg

The trip through Turkey was originally just a way to get to an airport to fly back to Australia, albeit a long winded way. We only scratched the surface by travelling up the west coast but it was enough to get a good feeling for the place. We both found the people amazingly friendly, well the guys really because you don't come across many females working in the shops or behind the reception desks, or even in cafe's etc. I had always heard good things about Turkey. It is definitely a place that would be good to come back to, to travel more into the mountains of the east and the lesser travelled parts.

One of first stops on the travel up the west coast was Selcuk, home of some ancient Roman Ruins (Ephesus) that are better kept than the ones in Athens or Rome. It was easy to vividly imagine yourself walking down the streets back in the time.

The nice thing about Ephesus is it is a more natural setting, nestled in some hills rather than a big city.

Also, a little lesser known fact, well to me anyway, but the area around Selcuk was where Mother Mary and St John came about 8 years after the death of Jesus to get away from it all.

One thing we did learn quickly in Turkey was that they definitely know how to cook up a storm. While they haven't been so adventurous with the meat side of the things, not really advancing past cooking meat on skewers, they definitely know our to make delicious vegetarians dishes. They have a turkish starters called mezes, which are there version of tapas really. We gladly had a few. This is the cabinet at our hotel in Selcuk.

Just before we left Selcuk, we were given the privilege of an adhoc airshow above the town as it was Independence day. It was just as good as any I have seen. At times it came within 100m of the top of the building we were standing.

The next stop up the coast was Gallipoli, a mandatory stop for any Aussie traveling through Turkey. At first, we thought it would be easy to pass by if we were in a rush but lucky we didn't, the guide was excellent and told stories which gave us a more in-depth perspective of what happened in 1915.

Our guide had been doing the tours for 12 years now, he grew in the area and his grandfather also fought at Gallipoli but on the Turkish side. Both sides knew then that it was a losing battle with an unnecessary loss of life but there was still a bond that still exists. While there are about 20 odd different cemeteries for the Australian, NZ, British and France forces, it is only recently that they started building memorials for the Turkish side. While walking through the Turkish memorial, I passed a Turkish man, probably about 60, a quick glance and nod said it all. There was still a respect from both sides.

One story that came out of Gallipoli is that after the Turks mounted an attack on the Australian and NZ trenches in which nearly 4000 Turks died but only 160 ANZACs. There was a cease fire for a day to allow the Turks to remove the bodies and give them a burial. This was within 10m of the Aussie trenches. They have a statue of a Turkish solider carrying a wounded Australian solider to safety.

The commander of the Turkish side, Mehmet Ataturk, and a celebrated hero in Turkey, said this to the first visitors back to Galipoli from Australia and New Zealand in 1934.

"Those Heroes that shed their blood and lost their lives... You are now living in the soil of a Friendly Country. Therefore rest in peace. There is no difference between the Johnnies and the Mehmets to us where they lie side by side. Here in this country of ours... You, the mothers, who sent their sons from far away countries, wipe away your tears; your sons are now lying in our bosom and are in peace. After having lost their lives on this land they have become our sons as well."

And after meeting the friendly Turks now, it is easy to imagine the words are heartfelt.

The following is the Lone Pine memorial, a battlefield where the ANZAC's were on one side and the Turkish were on the other. It is hard to walk around the memorials, looking at the headstones of the soldiers with ages typically in their young twenties and not feel your eyes watering a little. The pine is 3rd generation from the original pine which stood during the battles (thanks to a soldier who carried some seeds with him for 4 years during WW1).

Still, while it was in the past, the feelings are bought home stronger by the fact that some of my own flesh and blood has experienced war in the current day.

The same night we traveled on towards Istanbul with constant coverage of the floods on the Bus' TVs. It wasn't noticeable where we were staying but the bus station was flooded. The shuttle bus driver who took us from the bus station to our hotel relished in driving through the deep puddles and driving very erratically.

Istanbul is huge, and while we pretty much stuck to walking distance from our hotel, you could get a sense of the size when looking out over the river to the Asian side. It covers both the Europe and Asian Continents.

We just wandered the streets and visited the main sightseeing Mosques etc. but Mosques are a bit like museums and churches to the weary traveler. You've seen one you've seen them all. It was good learning a little bit about Islam and getting woken up at 5am every morning with the sounds of wailing through city speakers. On Fridays, all men have to go to a Mosque for their daily prayer. (Still don't know where all the women are hiding).

Here are just a few general photos from around Istanbul. A kitten getting a clean from his friend in the palace gardens.

The Blue Mosque from the outside.

The blue mosque from the inside.

Krishni in the Blue Mosque. She had to cover up.

One of the cool things we did in Istanbul was go to one of the traditional baths. This bath as been used continuously for the last 500 years - used by Sultans and Tony and Krishni alike. We started in a sauna type room made of marble. I am still unsure on how the heat was generated but it definitely got the pores open. Just when we could not take any more, we got summoned in for our scrub and soap massage. It was really just in a little marble room adjoining the main room so it was still in a sauna type environment. I won't go into to much detail but the following were the tea towel type garb they put you in at the end.

Well, this is it. We are just getting ready for our 2 day journey home. They didn't have any direct flights so we first have to fly to London and then back towards Sydney and Melbourne. That is flying 12 hours just to get back to where we started from.

Anyway, this will probably be the last post, so hope you have enjoyed the photos and a few stories.

Till next time!

Naxos & Amorgos - some not so famous Greek Islands

We said goodbye to the views of Santorini a lot easier than we arrived. We had hired a car the day before so we had a ride down to the port and didn't have to drag our bags over the pavers again - lesson learned. There are many different types of ferry's used to move between the islands - the one to Naxos was a fast one and looked so as well.

Our first stop was Naxos, one of the main ferry hubs in the Cyclades but it sounded quite nice in the Lonely Planet so we decided to stop over for a couple of nights. After we arrived we wandered about 50m to the beach and relaxed.

This marked a change of pace as we settled into a beach lifestyle. There wasn't really much to do in Naxos apart from check out a few local restaurants and chill out at the beach.

We moved onto Amorgos - a must see island according to the two guides I had read prior to the trip. It was quite a big island but had a small town feel. It had large mountain ranges with a couple of main ports. The port of Katapola where we stayed was small and inviting with a splattering of the typical white cubic houses you see in the Greek Islands.

You could feel the the change in pace. The streets weren't that busy. There were just a few mopeds and cars cruising about. There were cats everywhere. We quickly found our hotel which believe it or not was a 3 storey building which meant another couple of flights needed to climbed with our bags - Doh. The room was basic but what do you expect for 45 Euro. It was nice relaxing on the balcony. I managed to do a little repair job on my computer cable which allowed us to recharge the computer. Not that it got much use. It stayed in it's bag the whole trip.

One of the cool things to see on Amorgos is the Monastery. It is only 5ft wide but about 80 tall and built on the cliff side. They were keen to make life hard back then. It is just around the corner of the cliff in this shot.

This is the island they shot the movie 'The Big Blue' about the free diver Enzo. Rob and I actually read his biography on our Europe trip last time. I would have loved to see the movie again and they happened to be showing it at one of cafes on the last night but with a 4:30am start the next day to catch the ferry to Turkey, we passed.

After the Monastery, we cruised down to a nearby well known beach. See if you can spot me in this photo.

The water was perfectly clear. The clear water is a great thing about the Mediterranean. You can see even see little fishes swimming around your feet. Even in the main port where this shot was taken, the water is crystal clear.

To get to the Monastery and the beach we hired a quad bike for the day. It was only 50cc so didn't exactly sprint up the hills but it was still cool to have a bit of freedom. Krishni even had a go.

And as per most of the trip so far, there has to be a dessert involved. Since we had the bike we cruised back up the hill to the old town for dinner. There weren't any streets, just little alleyways which cute old ladies walking around and old men sitting on the sides. On one of the side alleys we came across a dessert bar and I knew the walks and swims I have been doing in the mornings will be taking a set back. Can you see the glee in the eyes.

The last day on Amorgos, we just relaxed at yet another beach and chilled out. Here's the sunset.

As mentioned previously the boat towards turkey left at dawn. It happened to be the same boat as this one which I had photographed the previous day. It was almost like a cruise liner it was so large. Watching it maneuver into place was an event in itself. It almost took up the whole bay.

We are on the boat now. It has Wi-Fi on board so with a newly charged computer, its all good.

It feels like we are on the home stretch. Until we get to Istanbul, we will just be spending a day here and there traveling up from the port of Bodrum. We will be stopping off and checking out Epheus and Gallipoli.

Athens & Santorini - ah Santorini

This blog will probably be a little shorter than normal. My power cable stopped working last night so we are on borrowed time.

After leaving from the Amalfi coast and a short stopover in Rome(will skip that section as once again, it involved far too much walking), we descended onto Athens. I had been told not to spend much time in Athens as it wasn't that great. But I was surprised. It was clean and people where friendly. We were staying in the Plaka area which is the nice area to stay in and has all the resturants, the acropolis etc. It was about 30 deg but there was a nice breeze.

The day we were there, we didn't feel like walking to much so we got on one of the little red trains that wind there way through the Plaka and down all the side streets. I was like a train the kids go on at an amusement park.

We did the obligatory stop at the acropolis which seems to be constantly undergoing restoration works to fix up the previous restoration works.

The next day we took the ferry to Santorini. The first of the islands we are stopping at and from what we hear, the most beautiful. We go a bus ride to the main town and the plan was to catch a taxi from there. When we asked the taxi driver through he just pointed up the road and said 'up there' and drove off. Obviously too short a ride. We didn't try another and thought maybe it wasn't that far. We set off with our bags up the steep and cobblestone pathways through the main town. To cut a very long story short, about an hour or an hour an half later we finally arrived. Here's Krishni heading up one of the easier non-cobblestone portions. She showed her mettle.

We were tired when we arrived but after a short rest we soon got to experience the magic that is santorini - watching the sunset. We decided to splurge on a nice place so the views from our place were gorgeous. This is looking out our front door.

The desert for this portion of the trip was to be baclava. We had far too much.

Sunset.
Breakfast on the deck. It was a great way to start the day.

We also decided to take a boat trip around the volcano rim and to watch the sunset.

A sax player came out of the wood work for about 20 min's to give us a few tunes.

The other dish to try was the octopus. This one obviously wasn't a small one.

Will end with a few photo's around Santorini. Very picture perfect.

PS. Thanks for all the well wishes. It is good to hear them.

Italia - more than a few surprises

I remember last time I was in Italy 2 years ago with Rob, I had mixed feelings. I loved Cinque Terra because of the beauty and swimming in the Mediterrian, but I wasn't exactly overwhelmed with the touristy feel of Rome. Albiet it was suffering from a heat wave at the time. This time around we went wiser and spent most of our time on the Amalfi Coast down south. It was a good decision as we got to experience some great food, swimming and locations.

We spent 3 nights in Conca, a small costal village on the middle of the Amalfi coast, 3 nights in Ravello on a plateau overlooking the coast and 1 night in Rome.

We arrived in Conca on the 1st day late after an early start from Madrid. But this time our bus woes were behind us and we had amazing connections all the way to our front door. We got shown to our room, not knowing what to expect. We were happy when we opened the doors to the balcony and the Mediterran view was endless.

It was a good start and we had good vibes about the place. We immediately walked down the stairs to the water, went for a swim and lay for a while soaking up the last of the day's sun.

After relaxing for a while we ventured out for dinner. We were staying outside the main town of Conca so we just started to wander in the general direction of the main town. We saw some houses high on the hill but didn't know if it was it or not but we started walking up some steps. We walked up for ages not knowing where we were heading. Luckily at the top we found an old lady who was standing in her doorway and asked if there was a 'ristaurante' nearby. She said the name of the one we were looking for and through sign language managed to convey that it was just down the road. When we got to the restaurant the view was amazing and the food was also amazing. It was our first taste of real Italian seafood pasta on the trip. We had a ricotta and pear tart for desert which is on every menu in Amalfi we saw afterwards but it was so awesome we had it at least 3-4 times again. This is view from the restaurant. We had walked up from sea level.

The walk down was a lot easier and luckily was partially lit. We counted the steps on the way down. It was almost exactly 500. Add the extra 150 or so extra ones and it equates to about 1300 steps we walked to get to dinner and back. I think we earned the pear tart.

The next day we ventured to Positano, the most famous of the Amalfi towns. We had bought a book on Amalfi by Amanda Taberer(Maggie's daughter) who had lived there for 18 years and so went to Amalfi armed with a list of things to do. One was to try the lemon granita's here. This is Krishni's first one. Check out the cool hat Krishni also just bought.

There are lemon trees everywhere so they have come up with a million and one things to do with lemon. Another of the tips was to go to Adolfo's, a resturant in a bay just around the corner that you need to catch a boat to and one she married into. As luck would have it, the boat was just leaving as we wandered onto the dock. We weren't even planning to go at that time but sometimes you just have to go with the flow.

The beach was cosy. It catered for the well off crowd as we later saw many of them taken back to their own boats. It obviously wasn't a very touristed place as they all seemed very Italian. But it was one of the best experiences on the coast. Adolfo's is the little one on the right hand side.

The following is a picture of the Adolfo boat and some people getting off it.

We didn't manage to get an umbrella so we crashed on the rocks. It was hot and the first boat out wasn't till 4pm. It was beautiful water though so nice to cool off. The lunch of fresh fish also made it worth it.

The rest of the day was just spent wandering Positano. By the time we got home we were buggered but it was another great day.

Day 3, we investigated the nearby grotta (or cave) which gives the water a bright blue tinge due to the lighting coming from the underwater entrance. This is similar to the one in Capri. Was ok but wasn't really spectacular - maybe it was the time of day.

We kept on walking to the main Marina area of Conca - the place we originally thought we were staying. Another beautiful beach, supposedly one of the 10 most beautiful beaches in Italy. It was pretty nice but when you come from Australia, nothing really compares. All the beaches are crowded but the water makes up for it.

The Amalfi book had recommended the Flying Squid Pasta from one of the little restaurants serving the beach crowd.

It truly was the best Pasta I think we have tasted. The squid was so soft. I was disappointed the last time I was in Italy with the food I had. But then I was mainly in the big cities. It is different in the coastal towns. If you like seafood, then you are spoilt for choice.

The closet beach to where we were staying was just down the road - literally 200m if you dare the traffic. There are no footpaths. I would put it down as the most beautiful I swam at while there. It was in a small fiord so created a cool atmosphere with towering cliffs on each side. They also hold the famous Italian diving competition here every year.

After 3 nights we moved onto Ravello, a magical little picturesque town above the town of Amalfi. We had rented an apartment which was fantastic as it gave a lot more space. The view was amazing as well. Just as good as any on the whole Amalfi coast.

The first 2 nights we thought we would just eat in and had bread, cheese and procuitto for dinner on the balcony. The photo is a bit dark but you get the idea. It was truly amazing watching the light fade over Amalfi and the lights come on.

We spent half a day down back on the coast at Amalfi and Minori which was cool to check out a few of the towns further down the coast but also a little dangerous after a close encounter with a moped.

The last day we decided to just hang about and relax at Ravello. The humidity that hit us on the previous days had disappeared so it was nice to just wander about. Ravello is known for its Music. From July to September, they hold concerts almost every night. Except for August, they hold concerts on a stage overlooking the coast inside the grounds of one of the beautiful Villas.

Unfortunately we were there at the wrong time so didn't managed to see one. We will need to come back as it would be spectacular. Ravello has a cute little square surrounded by restaurants and ceramic shops. It has a nice feel to it. Really easy to just sit back, and watch the world go by.

After a rest back at the apartment for the afternoon, we ventured out at about 6 to check out the best villa on the plateau - Villa Cimbrone. The weather was warm but not too hot. The villa's grounds were huge and covered the entire tip of the plateau. After getting a bit sidetracked, we got there about 6:45. It was really beautiful. It was ornamented with statues throughout the gardens.

The centerpiece of the Villa is the 'Terrace of Infiniti' which overlooks the coast and is breathtaking. The entrance was guarded by a statue and the terrance was adorned with 18th century marble busts.

The busts are on almost every postcard of Ravello you can find.

It was easy to take photos. It was a special place. There were a few people around. They seemed to hang around but I wanted it to be just us to take it all in.

We left the terrance and wandered throughout the rest of the gardens. It was nice but there was something on my mind. I mentioned that we should head back to the terrace for some more photos as the sun was starting to drop and was casting a good light. We wandered back. The light was fantastic with the different shades of colour.

There were still a few more people taking photos. We just sat for a few minutes taking it in. They were taking their time leaving. Finally the terrace was empty, the sun was setting. It was a perfect opportunity. Krishni went to the corner for a photo. I came up close but not with a camera, but with a ring box. I wasn't actually that nervous but still couldn't say much more than, I have something for you. She looked down and I opened up the box. It was an engagement ring. Somewhere along the line I asked her to marry me and she said yes. She cried and I might of shed a little tear as well. It was the perfect setting. Everything just clicked. Here is a picture of Krishni, just afterwards.

We had the terrace to ourselves for a good 5 minutes before people started showing up again. We got someone to take a photo to mark the occasion. I don't think they were any the wiser.

For those of you who are interested, here is a picture of the ring. It looks great on.

I didn't think I would see the day come around but sometimes it just does. I am sure more than just me are surprised that I have finally made the jump.

We left Villa Cimbrone to head towards dinner. We had seen a nice restatuant on the way. The view again was fantastic. The moon had replaced the sun and was just above the horizon. It was an outdoor setting so there was a nice breeze.

As expected, the food was excellent. It was a good place to celebrate. After dinner, we wandered back through the streets to the main square. Even the walk back was nice. The whole place just had a nice feel.

We had already planned on seeing a violin player play that night. It was the only music event on. She played what was once described as an impossible piece to play. The speed of her fingers were mesmerising. She played in a small chapel next to the main church in the main square. It was already quite full but we managed to get seats in the second row. It was a good way to finish the day.