Trouble in Europe

So it’s taken me longer to process all the photos and get them online than my holiday took, but all the good stuff is now there. Next time I’m making my holiday much shorter, so avoid post-holiday photo trauma.

All photos here.

After a bit of photo rest, Italy and the first part of France (Aix en Provence) are now up …

Italy

France

http://www.leighrolfe.com/gallery/v/europe/Greece/

oops … looks like I forgot to mention that I also finished off Turkey … *cough* about a week ago *cough* … View Here

Cor blimey, I’ve managed to sort out up to day 4. Which means the hot air balloon photos are up. I’m about 1/3 of the way through now, woo! only 1000 photos left.

http://www.leighrolfe.com/gallery/v/europe/Turkey/Goreme/

If anyone is still reading this - I have begun trawling through the multitude of photos from the trip, ahhh … 1500 for 6 weeks isn’t too bad.

Anyways, this website isn’t really made for photos, so I’ve put them in my usual photo gallery at http://www.leighrolfe.com/gallery/ easy to find once you get there, under, wait for it … European Vacation … of yeah, it hurts when I think up names!

I was up til 2am … and only managed to get through 150 photos, so it may be many late nights before they’re all there.

I am thinking this could be my last update before arriving back in Australia?? Maybe one in the Airport tomorrow evening…how knows.

Well the past two days have been interesting ones. Travelling by yourself allows you far more freedom although so far I have found it only 1/4th as fun as the past 3 weeks were, 1/11th as the 3 weeks before that.

Yesterday I managed to sleep into, cough, 12pm so I figured most of the morning was given to jet lag. After crawling out of bed I managed to make my way to little India where I did the walking tour recommended in the Singapore Lonely Planet….well most of it. See I got a bit lost and ended up I think in the slums of Singapore. For those of  you in Melbourne think commission flat building in collingwood, carlton and Fitzroy. Singaporian druggos isn’t the best to hang around I figured so I hightailed it to a local safehaven (711 store) and asked for directions. Little India was just as cool and probably more appreciated than Little China. Little China I saw with majorly bloodshot eyes after a plane flight from Paris, Little India I saw after a pretty good 8 hour sleep. Spices, curries, hindu temples, electronics and a mosque which I visited. Seeing a Victorian style mosque is an interesting thing to say the least, completely different to other ones I saw whilst in Turkey. People where sleeping on the floor in this mosque for one thing, they weren’t praying, just sleeping. It was that hot that they needed a nap after praying I guess.

After this little trek and its supposed 2.5 hour walk turning into 4 hours I made my way to the zoo. You would think by now after all the times I have missed museums and shit due to not checking the opening and closing times of places I wouldn’t make the same mistake, well you are wrong. I arrived at the zoo right after they closed admitance to the zoo(differnet and earlier to closing time….grrrr) so I bought tickets to see the night safari and the zoo. I did this for two reasons, to force myself to see the Singapore Zoo and also it was cheaper. 

Night Safari was I guess you could say, ummm, interesting. I have a real problem with caged animals to say the least but I am not going on a safari anytime soon so I thought why not. I thought I may have changed my opinion or this zoo maybe different to all the others I have seen… nup. The reason why the night zoo is supposedly so good is that you don’t see the cages that the animals are enclosed in so you feel closer too them…. This is bullshit as you still see how small the enclosures are. I did the walk around, took the wanky bus trip through it all (only did this because it took you places you couldn’t walk) then caught the next taxi ride home skipping a few other things I could have seen. Partially it was due to tiredness but mainly I did a runner because, as I said before, I don’t like seeing caged animals. Once I arrived back at the hostel I must say I piked (around 11 pm) and slept…ahh sweet sleep.

 Today I woke up bright and perky, a bit less stressed about caged animals so I decided to see the Singapore Zoo (yes different to the night safari). This was slightly better, although only marginally so. A polar bear being in a equatorial climate?, penguins too? are there polar bears and penguins around the equator?? I couldn’t imagine anthing worse. One thing I did like about the zoo is its message of conservation and rainforest depletion. I thought the amount of Indonesians and Malay’s that see the message may eventually have an effect…who knows. As soon as I saw more than one pacing and rocking animal I decided to quicken the speed of the zoo and leave.

From the zoo I made my way to the Marina bay area to do a Colonial walk mentioned in Lonely Planet. Not too bad, a bit boring but still alright. I think Singapore really is geared towards shopping so I can accept that most walks that don’t involve shopping won’t have as much to do. After the walk I sat in the Fullerton Hotel and had a cold beer, some calamari and read my book. That I must say was my highlight of the walk, the beer at the end. Maybe I should have just started and finished there….mmm beer. From beer to watching Pirates of the Carribean 2,  not a bad transition really. Recommend seeing the movie if you havn’t already.

Well this is me, probably my next update will be me back in Melbourne making a very long awaited, well by some people at least, photo update. I will hopefully cull the crap ones and only upload good ones. Leigh will be doing the same I am sure when he finds the time away from saving his company.

I will have to say I hope to see you all soon, at least to rub in the fact that I am tanned, well as tanned as a geek like me can get.

Well I am now travelling alone through a country I have no idea about; thank god they speak english!! I arrived in Singapore, said my farewells to Maia and Leigh, brief though they were. Checked out of customs and picked up my baggage. On that note I have to say Singapore has so far been the best Airport I have travelled in, although I am a bit confused about the supposed security. I really have to say so far Australia has been the most anal about its borders than any country I have seen so far.

   Found myself the nearest hostel to Orchard Street although now I am wondering why. Shopping isn’t really my best ability, especially when it comes to Versace, Dior, Armani and Luis Vitton and after my walk once arriving at my hotel I was already in shutdown mode!!!

   Once hitting the threshold of that critical mode I managed to recover and head off to China town and have a walk around, grab a bite to eat then head back to the hotel for a try hard nap that never quite worked out. I managed to find myself in a room with two other jet lagged travellers that snored worse than Leigh, which I must say is very loud!.   

   After becomming frustrated enough to drag myself out of my bed I managed to make my way to the pool to have a swim and a power nap in the sun. After all this fun, or lack thereof, in the sun I dragged myself back down Orchard Street to grab a bite to eat. Lucky for me there seems to be a food festival on at the moment with existing food stands supposedly trying different dishes. I wondered from shopping center, to shopping center, to shopping center eating a bit here and a bit there, very satisfactory. Eventually I managed to find a book shop as I was hoping to read the lonely planet on Sinapore in the store to see what the go was. Unfortunately it was shrink wrapped so I had to buy it (thankfully it is thin and light).

   On the way home I came across a bar that had outdoor live music where I then sat for the rest of the night where I drank beer and read. That is my night apart from the wild story how I found this Internet cafe….nobody and I mean nonbody in the area knew where it was. it was 1.30am  yet I found it through my ears hearing the noise of the game Warcraft 3 in the distance. Who said being a geek is a disadvantage!

Patricko “the dork” Villalobos. aka Keith

After the previous days power bus tour, we decided to do it again earlier so we could see the sites. First stop, Musee D’Orsay, museum with many famous artworks from ye olde artistes such as Moset, Van Gogh, Renoir, Cezanne, list goes on. Some cool stuff, some crap stuff, spent about 3 hours checking it out before we got bored and hungry, so we wandered to find lunch and dessert.

Next stop, had a brief look at the famous Opera building, big, old, detailed. Gotta get some photos out - soon my pretties … soon … Then onto the Arc De Triomphe, huge arch, with allegedly the largest round about in the world … or maybe Europe, or Paris, can’t remember which, but it was pretty impressive. Pat and I climbed the 200 and something stairs to the top with views of Paris in every direction. Then made it down in time to see some guards and the lighting of the flame of remembrance.

Then back to our favourite stop at Notre Dame to hunt for sustenance. We stumbled across a bar at happy hour, so we made ourselves happy with some beer. Then happy hour ended, and since we were happy we ordered some more beer. This continued for several hours, later finding out that Maia was supplying most of her beers to pat and I. Me and my usual uncoordinated self put half a beer on my legs, so the lovely waitress supplied me with free beer, did I mention I like French waitresses? The night also contained Karaoke, with Pat getting 2 girls to sing to him in French, he didn’t give them much choice by sitting in front of their screen.

Allegedly at some point we were singing We Are The World with some French guy who may or may not have been gay. At the end of the night we found Chinese food, and some American guys to listen to us crap on. Then Pat and I woke up the next morning lying on the double bed, width-ways (at opposite ends of the bed, don’t get any ideas) - in what must have been the exact same position we landed.

Begin the final day in Paris, Bastille was pretty quiet for Bastille day. Unfortunately since we only found out the day before that Bastille day was on Friday, and that was the day we were going to visit Versailles, we missed out because it closes, as do many of the sites around Paris. But we found out that the Hotel de Invalides, a place, big, old, hmm … I sense a theme … it was built for 4000 injured war dudes in the 17th century, enough history I’m babbling now.

Outside there were tanks and soldiers, some Bastille Day remebrance things, and some army recruitment by the looks of things. Then we wandered around the inside for a few hours visiting the war museums, checking out the cool old armour and weaponry. Then it was time to hunt down food, we found escargot and cheese … only fitting for your last day in Paris. Afterwards, we meandered, or continued meandering our way to Champ de Mars (big grassy area near the Eiffel Tower) and found drinks before continuing on.

As was our goal for the day, we made it to Champ de Mars to sit and wait with tens of thousands of other like minded fools for the sun to set. The time came, the sun disappeared, night set in about 10.30ish, the classical music began and permeated the entire area as the lights on the Eiffel Tower were turned off, the sky lit up behind us in the most awesome fireworks display any of us had ever seen. It must have lasted almost an hour, but seemed to go so quickly.

This marks the 3rd time fireworks has seen us off (fireworks on our last night of the Turkey tour, and once again on our last night in Mykonos). Europe loves us.

And yey, it was an awesome holiday. I leave it here, Pat has a couple days left. It’s 2am now and we have to be up at 7 for our flight. See you all soon.

Before arriving in Paris we booked (well I really should say Stef and Leigh booked) a hotel room in the Latin quarter right next to the Bastile monument. Pretty simple hotel but close and easy. We arrived in Paris in the evening so it was straight to dinner for us all. It was Stefs last night in Paris so we decided to eat in style, so we ate at the oldest resturaunt in Paris called Bofingers. Fairly nice dinner although after the previous nights standard we all decided it wasn’t as nice but good none the less. After dinner we walked down to the Notre Dame cathedral to see it at night in the process checking out the Hotel de Ville (mayors office) and a few other purdy buildings. A nice introduction into Paris I must say.

Following morning we went to La Fayette to do a spot of shopping although nothing was purchased. Leigh saw a T-shirt which cost 200+ euro so you can imagine the price of most things. La Fayette was pretty much a time kill while we waited to sadly see Stef off to the airport. This was a sad one as for the past 3 weeks we were living out of each others pockets. Group dynamics change and you get used to how it all works, when someone leaves, as I said in when the Turkey trip finished, it is a fairly sad moment.

So after pushing Stef through the train turnstyle and throwing her guitar over the barrier we all legged it to Notre Dame to see it in daylight and so we can go inside. It really is a nice church, so far in every place I have been in France I have seen the local Cathedral, this one is a nice one although I really liked the Duomo in Milan. I think the crowds in Notre Dame took away something… Oh and here is a tip, if you are going to visit Notre Dame, get the audio guide; I didn’t and regretted it. Highlights are the massive stained glass windows, the little alters devoted to certain Saints, Stations of the cross, treasury where you have to pay extra to see but it is worth it. We didn’t climb to the top, not sure why but I think you get to a point when queues are just plain annoying and I couldn’t be assed waiting around any more. I also think I am cathedralled out!!! Moving on from Notre Dame we decided to catch a bus tour for 22euro which allows you to take a bus around to all the major sites for 2 days. Leigh and Maia met an american guy at the wedding who recommended it so we figured why not. We didn’t really have much time to see everything so it was an easy way to check out the major sites. Hopped off at the Navy Museum to get a great view of the Eiffle Tower, some postcard shots and then to climb it. I had darryls thought in my head about how the queue for the stairs was shorter, for some reason we ended up lining up in the queue where you couldn’t climb the stairs, you could only take the elevator. The queue wasn’t that bad, bareable 30 minute wait to see something pretty spesh. I must say it was worth it, great views and something that is a must do in Paris. Not really much else to say about it apart from it being a nice view.

Afterwards we had some dinner and a place nearby, probably one of the worst places we have chosen so far. Surrounded by Americans with very plain food, even though all that we wanted was salad. We sat next to a guy who ran with the Bulls not once but twice in Pamploma. Actually did it that morning before driving to Paris. We walked back from the Eiffle tower not realising how knackered we all were, nice little 1.5 hour walk so we pretty much got back to the hotel and crashed.

Well, we’ve been slackers, OK, we’ve just done so much we haven’t had time to update the site. So I’ll see what I can do to get you up to speed.

Once upon a time we were in Milan. Then we travelled to Aix en Provence in Francem quite south in France. It was a very pretty train trip travelling through the mountains between France and Italy, would make a nice quiet getaway around there, with waterfalls coming off the mountains and green green pastures. After getting up at 5.45 to get the train out, we stopped a couple of stations, some which we were to travel back through on our way up to Paris later. We arrived at about 3.30 and had to find a hotel. We did alright, nice place close to everything, but had 2 double rooms and I had to share a bed with Pat, something that became a little tooo regular if you know what I mean.

We had our first French dining experience with some amazing foodm except my main. Ordered lamb somethingm which ended up being a very small portion of lamb shish, tres petit. For the price of the meal, that lamb was worth its weight in gold! But the friendly, cute French waitresses made up for everything. As did the desserts, we quickly learnt that the French seriously know how to do dessert. From here on in it’s wine and dessert with everything! We also learnt that there are soooo many cute young lasses in France, I’m definately moving here!

Then we caught the end of the game, which Pat storified already so I’ll skip on. As became a habit in France, we wandered the city by night, soaking up the atmosphere, checking out cathedrals and such by night. We went to a tea house at some point, and had tea, cake and the French hookah … I’m afraid Turkey does hookah better.
Next day, we started late, not doing much and decided to forgo eating out for I think only the 2nd time since leaving Australia. We had a picnic in the park with you guessed it, 2 bottles of wine, several cheeses and a couple of baguettes. So we sat listening to some French rock band warm up for some kind of show later that night, sounded good warming up, but looked like it was going to turn into some death metal event once we noticed guys turning up early.

Rest of the day was just more town wandering, and drinking beers in one of the many “squares”, France seems to have a lot of sqaures, while watching street performers, and attempting to speak French to waitresses. Later on we tried hard core street foodm which is nothing like hardcore Turkish street food. We had an awesome pizza, and possible one of the cheapest meals so far.

Then we had some really bad cocktails on the main drag and gave up and found beer near the hotel. Then home for cards and Raki (yeah, still got left overs from Turkey), and falling asleep while doing so.

Next day was train to Avignon, can’t remember when we found accommodation, but possibly booked it the day before, that’s about as organised as we ever got. Ended up with a really cool hotelm the Hotel Medieval, was kinda old (as everything is) and down a side street, ol’ skool big staircase leading up to the rooms. And just a really nice room, with comfy beds, except one which we gave Pat.

After that we wandered for food, I think we spent 1/3 of our trip wandering for either food or beer/winem just the way it should be. Found a German restaurant, I had sausage, I like sausage. While eating dinner we decided to look for a show to see, as Avignon was in festival mode, all sorts of things going on, streets all very lively. I decided on a juggling show that sounded very cool from the guide in the very limited French that I pretend I know.

So we found out where this show was, and managed to get there with minutes to spare (OK, about 15 of them) but still not bad for a last minute decision. The show ended up being fantastic, the other guys struggled to keep themselves awake, I had trouble in the last few minutes, due to exhaustion, not boredom. Was called Convergence 1.0 and was basically a kind of weirdo futuristic, modern interpretive movement juggling act, with a transparent screen in front of the juggler that had images projected onto it, so he was juggling light balls. The audience was very quiet the entire show, until one point a pong game was projceted onto the screen, with our juggler interacting with the pong balls. That got a laugh out of them.

It was soon to be dark, so you guessed it … we wandered the city, saw some live music outside the palace, cathedral, pope’s hangout thing in the town. People everywherem still very festive. Then wandered to a broken bridge, basically went half way otu to an island and stopped. Can’t remember why it was broken, but it was cool. Then we got lost on our way back to the hotel, I was too tired to use my spidey senses that have gotten us home so many times before. But eventually they came back to me and we made it back.

Next day Maia and I had to find our way to Loriol, small town, middle of nowhere for Maia’s friends wedding. We got our trains and tickets OK, but when we got the the Loriol stop, it didn’t look like a stop, train appeared to have stopped in the middle of the line, and we didn’t know that we had to push a button to open the doors. So next stop, we realised we did and got off there. Luckily it was only 5 minutes down the track, as opposed to the others that were about 20-30 minutes apart.

Then we met some girls who didn’t speak a word of English, yet were probably the most helpful people we have come across, who got us the number for a taxi. Maia tried ordering one, but sucked at it so one of the girls ordered it for us. The taxi finally arrived, and took us to Loriol, and for some reason there was mother and assumed daughter as driver and direction giver. Both had no idea where the church we wanted to go was, so that made for an interesting ride! But we got there eventually, with backpacks in tow, and only about 30 minutes late.

After the church, met some Aussie year 11 exchange student who was only at the wedding because his French homestay family knew one of the relatives, these guys then drove us to the reception, which was at a purdy country house. Wedding was interesting, mostly in French. Reception was full of food and wine, started with appertisers at about 5.00 and food just kept coming til after midnight, dessert started at midnight. Lots of meats, cheeses and wines and dessertsm so many desserts.
Maia and I crashed a bit earlier cos we had to get up for train to Dijon the next day, and another of those cute little French girls helped us out with a timetable - which she didn’t really seem to understand at the time, and as we found out the next day, also didn’t realise that there’s only 1 train out of Loriol on Sundays at 7.30am! Ah well, we found this out at the station, and it was my turn to attempt taxi ordering in French. At the end of the conversation, girl on phone speaking French, me speaking English, and only understanding key words, I thought I had it right, and I figured we might have one in 20 minutes. Taxi turned up 20 minutes later, so I must have, phew!

We were told Montellimar was only 15 mins away - half an hour later, and 70 euros poorer, no way! 2 minutes left, gotta hurry! Also, couple Aussies got up and sang Rolf Harris at the French wedding, so wrong.

Then it was train to Dijon. Done for now. Aurevoir!

Damn this is going to be a hard update, a lot has happend since Aix En Provance which leigh is going to write about, probably has written about it already. So what this post is going to be about is how the group split off for a couple of days and what Stef and I did in Avignon, Lyon and what we all did when we reconverged back in Dijon. There, nice little summary, now its time for the detail…..

So after Steff and I left Leigh and Maia to go off to their wedding, we went a wandering through the city (I must say, wandering through Avignon during the day is much easier than trying to find your way back to your hotel at 2am). We visited the Papal Palace where the Catholic Church was run from during the 14th to the 16th century…or around that time at least. Grabbed our stuff from our hotel, which was really cool (medieval style) and quite cheap and then jumped on the next train to Lyon.
Got into Lyon in the evening and managed to find our way to the backpackers we stayed at. Up to this point we have managed to avoid backpacker hostels apart from 1 night in Athens and now 1 night in Lyon. The hostel that Lonely Planet recommended overlooks Lyon so it has a spectacular view, but really thats all you can say about it. The she bitch at the door had a real attitude problem, so I am seeing a pattern as there was also a she bitch at the door in Athens. I was lucky as my room was with 6 beds, 2 bunks on the bottom floor then two beds on the mezzanine. The two beds on the mezzanine were pushed together, which actually was a bit concerning considering it was a split sex dorm, but i threw my stuff on my bed pushed the other away and headed off to dinner with Stef. By the time we manged to get out at to a restaurant it was 11.30pm so we were a bit concerned but we found an amazing place which had brilliant food. Stef and I decided to splurge so we both ate Escargot, my first time ever and I must say very nice!! Followed by my next dish….I think we managed to get out of the waiter what it was, I know it was from a cow, and he pointed to his kidney area … it didn’t taste like red meat so I think it was actually cow kidney. When I chose the dish it was because Stef didn’t understand what it was and she speaks pretty good french. All I can say is that it was absolutely amazing!!!!!!!!! This was then followed by Fromage (cheese for all you plebs), and espresso. After dinner we hightailed it down the road to a rather dodgy bar, a bar you tend to end up in after all the other bars are closed… Lots of neon lights to attact the bar flies. We ordered a couple of house special coctails each, these tasted like rocket fuel but they did the trick. We then walked around a bit and back to the hostel by about 4am.

Up at 9.30 for a 10am checkout followed by a nice breakfast crepe and a brilliant espresso, we managed to see 5 minutes of 10.30 catholic mass in a brilliant cathedral, a walk around Lyon markets where I picked up some travel gifts for my two fabulous sisters and a lesuirely stroll through the business district of Lyon. Grabbed a bite to eat and a beer and then headed back to the hostel to grab our stuff. Lyon is very different to the other french towns we were in but very nice. No old city walls that I could see unlike Avignon and Aix. Pretty much everything in Lyon was closed, it was a Sunday after all, but at least we got to walk around the city and have some fun. Oh I must say that I also got to ride the Funicular…such a great name for a cable car up to the hostel. Grabbed our stuff and then headed back to the train station to grab the TGV to Dijon.

Arrived in Dijon around 6.31pm to catch up again with Leigh and Maia to stay in another great hotel, not Medieval but nice none the less. So far we have really only used the Lonely Planet for accomadation in France. For that it has been real handy! Stef and I arrived bedraggled and very vague, carrying a huge load of stuff that Stef has been lugging around since Aix to the hotel in 30+ degree heat does that too you I guess. Quick shower then we headed off to the nearest pub with Leigh and Maia to watch the World cup. If you think that while travelling in Turkey and eating Kebap after Kebap Leigh and I would be sick of them, you would be wrong. French Kebabs would have to be the nicest ones so far. If you order chips with your kebab, they put the chips in the kebab…now thats cool. It was dissapointing to see France lose the world cup, I didn’t see any flares or broken glass nor any crazy rioting. It was great to be able to watch France play in the Final whilst outside a French pub, eating a Turkish kebab, drinking an Australian beer (fosters is everywhere!!)… some definate novelty value in that for sure. We walked around the town a bit more and then headed to bed exhausted.

Next day we got up late, had some pastries and hired bikes to ride around the town. It was a brilliantly warm, sunny french day. One thing I love about France that in summer, the grass is still green everywhere! We rode along a river to the lake where there is a fake beach to eat some lunch. Stef and I had an interesting lunch to say the least, Meat fondue….. When we ordered fondue we thought it was going to be cheese, when they came out with a pot of hot oil and a bowl of raw meat you could say we were a bit surprised!! So we got our skewers like any good french person would and plunged hunk after hunk of raw red meat into the boiling oil. That, followed by the chips and the very creamy sauce left us both stuffed and sleepy. A nap soon ensured under a shady tree.

After getting back to town we checked out the local haunts where Leigh managed to find a brilliant resturaunt, he has an inate sense for great resturaunts in small side streets. I ate, I would have to say one of the nicest meals on this trip. Kir Cassis for appertif, some tuna thing as a surprisem before the Foe Grae entree, Swordfish for mains, Creme Brulie for dessert and espresso after it all. When we got the espresso they brought out buscuits and caramel, I was that full I couldn’t eat the buscuits! Afterwards we all staggered home to bed with full bellies and for me a mild case of indigestion.

After a brilliant meal like that you think we would have a break, nup, never. Wine tasting the following morning was the best way to finish in Dijon! The tour we booked through the tourism office probably wasn’t the best one we could have done, only 3 hours and 2 wineries but I thought it was still fantastic. The first winery was Chateu Andre Ziltinger where we tasted from the dodgy wine all the way up to the Grand Cruz….very nice!!! We all spend some serious dosh and bought a bottle of the 2003 Grand Cruz. After Andre’s joint we legged it through a few towns in the Burgandy region and ended up in another winery. Unfornately I can’t remember what the name was but we bought some more wine from there as well. Not as good as Chateu Andre Ziltinger but still nice. I must say drinking wine at 10 in the morning until 12 kinda hits you pretty hard. I didn’t have breakfast because the previous nights dinner was still lingering around so it went straight to everybodies head! After the tour we bummed around town, grabbed our bags and caught the next TGV to Paris.

The morning of the next day in Milan was spent organising tickets and what not for our train to Aix de Provance in the south of France. After some bullish negotiation by me and some polite recovery by leigh we manged to organise everything. Next we went to the Duomo to go inside the church, we figured out that everything was closed on the Monday so thats why we couldn’t actually go inside when we were there the day before. Next stop we did pretty much what we did the night before but this time we actually went inside the castle, although because of us misunderstanding the times,(castle closes at 7, everything else inside the castle closes at 4.30) and our piss farting around all we got to see was the inside of the outside if can understand that.

From there we back traced our steps again from the previous night and went to an area with some chilled out restaurants, ate dinner, then with the cheers of Italian fans egging us on just down the road we wandered into a bar to watch the last half of the Italy v Germany world cup. This would have to be another classic night! I have seen crazy Aussie Rules fans, rugby fans, but now I think I have seen the most passionate fans ever. Italian soccer (well i really should say football while in Europe) fans are a bunch of passionate nutters (in a good way). After seeing the little bar we were in go off, we followed the crowd to the Duomo where we saw Italians running, chanting, lighting flairs and cheering in absolute happiness. A must see for anyone. There is a statue of some bloke on a horse just outside the Duomo…i could google it but at the moment I don’t have time, I have a photo though!!. Stef and I jumped the barrier like everyone else did, climbed up and waved flags while chanting chants. The day was a great contrast for the same area during the day has such a police presence, then at night there was not one in site. Glass from broken bottles littered the ground, people getting in Testosterone fueled fights….well I didn’t see any but I am sure there were some somewhere . I must say the Police in Europe know when to stand back and watch the crowd have some fun!! After so much excitement we stumbled to bed to wake up at 5:45 a few hours later to catch the train to Aix.

Aix so far has been brilliant, pretty much due to two things. This was where Stef lived while she was studying in France, secondly we were here while France played Portugal. So now we have been in both countries and watched the match where they have now got into the final. Italy vs France. France celebrates in a complely different although in a similar way. More reserved, not as much emotion although very crazy and wild. Stef thinks it is because they believe that whenever they play they will win or something along those lines. Not only this they also believe there god and savior Zinadin Zidane will bring them to glory. After having dinner in a very nice restaurant, and then watching the last bit of the soccer and seeing the crowd react to France winning, we followed them all to the main fountain to see flairs, flags, and general crazyness for the second night in a row. I must say football has been a main feature and a cause of much fun and frivolity throughout our jaunt through Turkey, Greece, Italy and now France. I think I am becomming a major fan.
In terms of being in the right country at the right time I think we have pulled off a coup. After Italy cheated its way past Australia in the world cup they fortunately managed to get past. I have now forgiven them for their evil indiscretion. I don’t know who I want to win, probably France because we will be here when it happens but there is something said for the way the Italians celebrate a soccer win that makes me kind of wish for them to take home the glory.

Place we stayed at in Santorini called San Georgios, highly recommended, very helpful guys Dina and George. 

Boat trip around Santorini was soo cool. To get to the ship, we had to climb down 3 times as many steps as heaven - thats a lot of steps. Donkeys could have taken us up or down the steps around the islands, but we’re hardcore. Everything we did on Santorini just ended in fantastic views.

First island stop was the volcano, still active, with occasional plumes of smoke (really small) we had to climb the volcano, had no idea we were doing this, and Pat, Stef and Maia wore thongs. Our second stop was some rust coloured water, which had 40 degree water merging with the surrounding ocean, making for some comfortable 25 degree waters to dive into from the ship and have a nice swim around. This island was inhabited by 1 man … and his goat.

Third stop saw us doing more climbing, which was great for the thong people who made me look good, always a bonus. this time up many more steps to the only restaurant on this island. Oh yeah, forgot to mention our guide to the islands, Maria, who seems to be able to speak fluently in at least 7 different languages, she was cool.

Lastly, our 6 hour tour ended with us on the Oia end of Santorini, ready for more steps, soo many steps, soo hot, so we took that lot slowly. All this step climbing certainly beat any of our step climbing days in Turkey. We then sat in some trees drinking beer from the local supermarket until it was close to sunset. Then we wandered to an old castle, just a little one, where we could watch the sun set, apparently one of the best places to do so. It was absolutely packed with tourists, but we managed to get not a bad spot after we pushed a few people off the edge. They were only tourists after all.

Then we ran around like idiots trying to find a bus back to our hotel. After all that excercise, things become a little hazy. We sat outside a jazz bar drinking beer after we cleaned up and listened to some nice live music. Then we wandered to the local recommended place called Murphy’s, the local cheap place to drink and dance stupidly (ok, probably just me who dances stupidly). I think we sleep walked home from that place about 4am, but had lots of fun.

Next day we got some sleep before heading off to the ferry to Mykonos, thankfully an afternoon trip and only 3 hours, though it was late and we had to hang around and pretend to be awake and nice to each other. Once again, once we got to Mykonos, our very friendly hotel lady, Christina picked us up, and had managed to fix up a weirdo booking that happened over the net, thanks to Dina from San Georgio’s who’d called her that morning to let her know, people just know people all over the islands (we didn’t ask her to call).

Rest of the day, I think we just lay on the beach and swam, just down the stairs from Mama’s. Mama and Papa, as they are known to everyone are Christina’s parents and fed us breakfast every day, and tried to tell us stuff in Greek that we barely understood, which was quite amusing. First breakfast we met some more Australians, you really can’t escape them, especially when beaches with sand are involved.

Most of Mykonos was spent lying on beaches and swimming, the second day, we hit Paradise Beach about 2pm, and found out things started kicking off, well, just behind us on the beach about 5pm. So we scored ourselves a table, thanks to our amusing waiter (yes, paradise is having a waiter bring you cocktails while you lye on a beach). Then we scored ourselves a bottle of vodka (Absolut) for 60 euro (you do the math) - of course once that was finished, we scored a second. OK, the bottle also included any mixers we wanted.

Then you just have to imagine us getting up and dancing on podiums, the Aussie girls from the hotel also ran into us at some point and joined us. Then imagine myself getting onto the bar with 5 lovely dancers, until Pat tried to join in, so the bar tender kicked us off - good one Pat. OK, you don’t really have to imagine it, photos will surface at some point. We partied on there til aroudn 3am before taxiing it home.

Next day, we lay around a pool, soaking up sun and swimming, bet you didn’t see that coming. Don’t think we did much else that day. Had dinner by the beach, place running off generators due to blackout earlier. Then the generators died, so we all had a nice romantic dinner in the dark for a while. Some wedding thing was going on at this place, so we got to see drunkards doing greek dancing, was great. Also met some 19yo American guys at the hotel, with their own stories of paradise beach, involving them, alcohol, shoving and bouncers. They looked a little worse for wear in the morning, hehe.

By night, days and days of sun and beach took its toll as Pat and I ended with sunburnt backs and stomachs. Seems weeks of Turkeys sun didn’t make us invincible, ah well, live and learn.

Next day we hired 4 wheelers and power toured the island, stopped at Super Paradise Beach, don’t know where they where coming from - where was my waiter with cocktails? But was still fun, 2 of us on each bike, just cruising an island.

Then we had to get back for our midnight ferry. Mental note #187, bring a travel blanket at least next time I travel, also a mini mat and sleeping bag. Also, book ferries well in advance so you don’t get stuck on a 5 hour midnight ferry that turns up late, with crap tickets that get you stuck on the deck, with 100km (felt like it) winds, and nothing but a steel floor to attempt sleep on.

Anyways, Athens came around 6am, and had brekky and went straight to airport to Milan (Italy for the unitiated). Got to Milan and had left over pizza from last dinner in Greece. Mmmm … soggy … Then got to the city and found accommodation, which we went for 2 nights instead of the original 1 idea. I like Milan - it’s very … big. The streets are huge, the buildings are hugely wide, not so much tall. The shops in the main shopping area are so fancifully laid out. And everything is ridiculously expensive. Except the really nice gelato we had, from a nice lady who couldn’t speak English, but was teaching us bits of Italian

Saw one of the local landmarks, the Duomo, undergoing restoration, but so … big, and intricately detailed. Also wandered to the Castle at night after dinner (I ate wild boar, it was good), going to see it today as well. And that brings me to now, only a week and a half to go. Time to plan the next trip. Ciao!

Leigh left you at San Torini before we left to go on the cruise. We climbed the Volcano of which created the San Torini, in thongs mind you…supposedly we were supposed to bring closed shoes but were never told. Swam in hot sulphur springs that smelt suspiciously like Rust. In a previous post I mentioned that I had a hot sulphur spring sauna/mudbath in Pammukale, This did not smell like rotten egg, It smelt and looked like rust. I am not complaining though, its not often you get to swim in hot volcano springs. Ended up getting off the ship early to watch the sunset, some amazing photos, some of which I am sure Leigh will post.

I have very little time to use so I am going to be brief from this point forward. Also I am finding without trip notes writing on this website is kinda tricky. Leigh has been taking notes on what we have actually done so I am thinking I will have to borrow his next time I update. Can’t really remember what else we did on San Torini, I can barely remember the hotel we stayed at…now thats scary.

Mykanos was fantastic, had a lot of fun. We partied hard one of the nights we were there in a place called Paradise, it would have to be one of the most fun nights so far on this trip. Lounged on the beach drinking coctails, beer and the occasional swim. A DJ kinda person who was wearing an elephant gstring was dancing around with numerous hot chicks dancing on the bars…. Leigh found himself up there first and I soon followed…very funny. Ended up getting a table at this bar where we drank copious amounts of Vodka, two bottles to be exact. Stef and I swam out to a yacht that was moored in the bay late that night which even though we were drunk, wasn’t that dangerous as the sea was flat as a tack and you float so easily it was a breeze. Leighs take on this night will be different so stay tuned for his update.

Next day bummed around and recoverd so not much to tell there. Day after hired two buggies and we hooned around the Island visiting as much as we could before we left that night. Mykanos is the party Island but I think it is far more beautiful than San Torini by far.

That night the fateful overnight ferry ride back to Athen where the only space that was left was on the top deck. Gale winds, well it felt like gale winds roared past us while we tried to sleep!!! Now that was an experience. Arrived in Athens, trained to the Airport and then flew to Milan. This is where we all are now. More to follow shortly!!!!!

Man, this is gonna have to be quick - I gotta get to a ship to sail around Santorini and swim in some hot springsat at a volcano shortly.

After last night of tour,and little sleep, next day we visited Aya Sofia - absolutely beautiful cathedral turned mosque in Istanbul. Hopefully I didn’t accidentally delete the pics. Man, next time my photography equipment will be more organised.

We ended up back in Taksim that night for dinner with Bec, then met up with Talia (old friend, in for family reunion) and played backgammon and drank tea til 2am before heading back. Always good to see old people.
Then up again at 6 or something to get to the airport, met Maia, flew out, met Stef at Athens airport and went to the city to get accommodation which we hadn’t booked. Luckily stef knew a place and it wasn’t booked out.

Then we went wandering and eventally found the Acropolis, not much left after too many destructions, but still impressive. Then tried to emulate the famous running tour of Troy performed by Bec and Laura. We failed miserably, with the ancient agora being closed early.

Then we found dinner, really nice place to eat and had tsipporo as suggested by Paul. Very nice stuff. I will have more. Then wandered around and saw some really nice bars, but most of the guys were tired. But watched some street music by some indian americans that was really cool. Bed before 1am - don’t think that had happened in Turky - pikers.

Next day, ferry to Santorini, couldn’t get one that didn’t arrive before 4am - hint, book early. Did another power tour of Athens and saw the olympic stadium and the ancient agor and temple of zeus. All pretty impressive stuff.
Watched the Aussie v Italy game on the ferry - very disappointing, and I’m not even a soccer (football) fan. Drank some crap beer that tasted likeVB to drown sorrows. Rigged I say! Tried to sleep on the ferry, but air-con was soooo cold. Getting out in the warm 4am air was the best part of that.

First day in Santorini, hotel people are lovely, picked us up at 4am to drive us to hotel. Hired a red convertible jeep from them and sp[ent the day driving around the island in style! Spent some time at some black beaches and just taking in the views. Photos will come soonish.

Now it’s time to hit the road and get to the boat I mentioned earlier. Take care all!

Well when did I leave you last… hmmm … so much has happend!! As you would have read Leighs had some “issues” which brought the website offline for several days not allowing us to update and to get terribly behind. Because of this we both decided to communicate in this entry in point form…enjoy

Kas - Stayed at a brilliant place called Hilal Pension which is very relaxed and had a balcony view of the bay. Kas is the sort of town where dogs were sleeping in public squares seemingly oblivious to everyone around. Swam at a local beach in the afternoon and played beach volleyball. Listened to Miles Davis - Kinda Blue in a jazz bar drinking Raki. Sea kayaked over a sunken city.

Fethiye - Went to a very nice beach in Oludeniz where they sell everything in british pound!! Hiked from there to an abandoned city called Kayakoy. Mainly we relaxed in the pool at the pension and drank some Efes. Checked out the Lycian ruins which were nice. Temples carved into the cliff face and all.

Pamukkale - Well in Pamukkale there is essentially one thing to do, check out the limstone pools in the cliff face. Did this which was amazing!! Swam in the hot springs at the top of Pamukkale for free, normal entrance $20 as our resident spy Basil Jet sussed out a weakspot in the security defences. Paul our leader organised a trip for a few of us to the mud baths in a nearby village. No tourists, plenty of rotten egg sulfur smell!!. Smelt like rotten eggs for about 2 days afterward, brilliant

Selcuk - This is a town where there are that many turkish people speaking with an Australian accent it is ridiculous. We were greeted at the bus statoin by a turkish tout in an Australian Rugby top, jeans and thongs yelling out “Are you looking for me” . Places called Canberra Hotel, Outback hotel. Cafe owners called Russell Crowe and so on…. very funny. Selcuk is the place Australian and New Zeelanders tend to travel to after visiting Gallipolli. Visited Ephesus which was the capital of Asia Minor in the Roman times. We got there early and we were lucky enough to see it before all the boat loads of tourists flooding in off all the cruise ships. Waves and waves of them. Bec, Laura and I watch a peformance of the Singing Angels (church choir group from the Mid West USA) peform several songs in a senate arena of Ephesus. One song which I managed to record on my camera was “Istanbul not Contantinople” by They might be Giants. A highlight of the whole trip as it was just sooooooo funny. Also checked out the local Ephesus Museum and the Basilica of St John where he supposedly wrote the Book of Revelations. Got very drunk of Efes back at the pension playing cards. $2 lira per 500ml stubby was a very cheap way to have a lot of fun!!

Canakkale - Troy in the morning, Gallipolli in the afternoon. Went to Troy with Tony, Leigh and Shelly where we were fortunate enough to get a guided tour by a brilliant guide who has written a couple of books on the area. Gallipolli was amazing, a must see for anyone anywhere near the area. Australians and New Zeelanders I don’t think have any understanding how important this site is to all Turkish people as well. Around 250,000 casualties on the turkish side but not only that, it was the place where Ataturk (the man that won the battle for the turks) asserted himself as a force to be reckoned with. After winning Gallipolli he then continued on revolutionising the turkish nation becomming General then leader of Turkiye. It was a very emotional and hot day! Lone Pine, Shrapnel Valley, The Nek, I saw all the sites that we all hear about and it puts the battle into perspective on how it was lost (allies for those of you who forgot) and won. Went out to dinner and a bar/bars (lost count) then watched the Australia/Croatia replay back at ANZAC House with a bunch of Aussies who were also very drunk. 1.5 hours sleep and onto the bus to Istanbul

Istanbul - Well we arrived here yesterday afternoon and hung around before going out to goodbye dinner and drinks. Paul brought us to his favorite restauraunt in Istanbul where there were no tourists in an area called Taksis where it was very young and vibrant. Lots of fun. Leigh explained the night in the other post but I think any night where you end up in a dodgy kebap place at 4am where in the same place are two Turkish Shims (yes Transvisties) is a night to remember. As Leigh also said, but I feel I need to say as well, last night/this morning was fun and happy but also very sad. We both made some great friends on this trip, Laura (one time in band camp), Becs (token New Zeelander), Shelly (token American), John (Commander), Tony (Basil Jet, Dad) ,Geraldine (Gerry, Mum), Tina and Carrolyn (our resident healers) and Xena (Warrior Princess). I can’t wait for the reunion in Sydney!! Greece here we come. 

Don’t know where to start - but somehow during the high of being in such a beautiful, interesting country I managed to have the most stressful time of my life. Starting with my web host seemingly disappearing off the face of the planet.

This took out not just this site, but many clients web sites. At one stage it was looking like I would need to cut my holiday short and head home to fix up the mess that ensued.

But thanks to the help of several wonderful people who I owe more than a lot of thanks too. And after many late night / early morning phone calls and a phone bill that caused my phone provider to stop outgoing calls twice, we have sorted out enough to keep everything going until I finish my holiday.

Try organising that from several thousand kms on no sleep and 14 previous days and nights of beer!

Last night was our final night of tour beer (21 days straight minus 2), hookah and backgammon, and a great night ended a great trip, complete with fireworks reflected in a rooftop bar window. Reality set in for most of us early this morning, before or after the obligatory hour and half sleep when we said our final goodbyes.

It was very sad to see everyone off to their various destinations, most of us continuing a holiday elsewhere. I’ve been in a strange place all day, already missing the wonderful group I’ve seen so much of over the last 3 weeks and dearly hope we can catch up in the future, sooner rather than later.

For the last couple days photos, I’ll just put them straight in the gallery. I’ve added some people shots this time, though I’m missing about half the group, I’ll find them later.

Sorry there has been no updates for so long, been technical issues due to the webhosting company leigh was using to host a majority of the websites went down. That was resolved yesterday so I am hoping to update the website tonight/tomorrow.

Some photos.

v?ew of city - can’t remember the name / oen of the many varied places we’ve stayed at / one of the many forts we’ve seen / underground cave / sunset over nemrut deg? / the young wh?ppersnappers ?n the group / most of the rest of the group

 apologies for lack of detail but the beer ?s setlling in nicely and I’m being antisocial

One of the things you just don’t (we’ll I don’t) realise at home is that you do actually need sleep occasionally. I also have to say this diary blog crap thing is turning into the most half-arsed effort - as anything with good intentions seems to turn out.

Back to sleep - I have qu?ckly learned that in order to sleep on a tour like this you need to limit each night to 4 - 5 hr, less if you can convince someone to join you in Rak? or beer, the beer here (Efes) ?s quite a nice drop. Then you sleep on the horribly long bus rides, but something you quickly get used to.

Anyway, because this blog ?s now half-arsed - and because holidaying for the first time in another country is just so awesomely fantastic. Pat and I have decided to stay here, never to return. However, this thought may only last as long as the cash flow - which may not even get to the end of the trip

In summary - every day involves food and beer as a minimum. Pat last took us to the picnic by the river w?th Laura, Shelly, Pat and myself (thought I’d keep some names coming - they may be offended if they’re only ever known as the others).

After that night it was yet another 12 hr bus ride to Antalya - once again a very different c?ty to the last couple. Still friendly people, but not as overly friendly as the people in Malatya - I shouldn’t say overly, because it was very welcome, but the crowds drawn to us as tourists was quite phenomenal - about 40-50 people gathered around us at one point in the markets.

Once we hit Antalya, we had very good food - again - and went to a Hamam, the turkish baths. I’ve never even been in a sauna, so this was even more an experience. In short, you wear nothn?g but a towel - underground - very hot - very wet. Then some guy takes you into a room, scrubs you down, soaps you up and gives a very relaxing massage.

Early night last night - about 2am after a couple beers. Probably 2nd best sleep I’ve had since I left - should give me several more days of no sleep.

This morning most of us hired some taxis and went to the mountains to cl?mb up and check out a well, mountaintop city, on top of which there is an old (as is everything) Greek theatre with beautiful v?ews. Then to some caves, the source of some relics dating back 50,000 years. And lastly to a very pretty waterfall.

None of which I have pictures of - cos there’s no USB plug in this PC.

Lastly, Bec has found out she has been introducing herself as Becca (bekar) to the locals with some strange and promising looks in reply. We found out it actually means ’single woman’ ?n Turkish. Any rebeccas going to Turkey - take heed.

Hi all,

   Well from Malayta to Silifke, a rather interesting few days. Malayta was a nice city to see however it really was a typical city and you couldn’t do much in the time we had there except check out the local markets. You metal section, fruit section, meat, cloths…standard really for any markets…well except the metal section where you had esentially blacksmiths with foundries in the market place belting out pots.

   So from Malayta after a morning checking out the market place we hopped a bus to take us to Nemrut Dagi. For those of you that aren’t familiar with this place, a photo of a stone head from Nemrut is on the front cover of the Lonely Planet book on Turkey comes. The bus ride was a grueling 8 hours of very slow bus travel up a winding mountain tracks which was made soooo much better by the fantastic views.

   Mt Nemrut sits at a cosy 2300 meters so it was a nice temp when we arrived which soon turned to cold the following morning…more on that later.  The night we arrived we celebrated a member of the groups birthday (61st) with a brilliant dinner, cake, raki and white wine. The unfortunate thing about this is that we had to get up at 3:45am the following morning to watch the sun rise on top of the mountain. One by one people went to bed which eventually left Leigh, Rebecca, Paul and myself to finish off the Raki and white wine. Crashed at around 2ish… we all wern’t sure when we went to bed and all that I know I was still drunk when I woke up and walked to the top of Nemrut Dagi… I am pretty sure the other 3 were too. Drunk or not Nemrut is beautiful, this meglomaniac king built statues of the greek gods and of himself on top of this mountain then when he died he was buried under a 100 meter high man made pile of rocks. Some brilliant photos were taken of all the scenery however in the trend that I have started and am still continuing, I again left my camera cable in my other bag so no photos for you!

   One thing I can say about only having 1.5 hours sleep is when you have a long bus ride (12 hours) you tend to sleep most of it. Not much I can remember about that bus ride apart from waking up a few times and each time seeing different people sitting next to me. Thankfully members of the group were very understanding and kept an eye out for my belongings while I was in the land of z.

   That brings me and you to Silifke. Arrived last nightish all that I did was have some dinner and beers then crash. After some much needed z’ds we have come to today was brilliant!! Hired a bunch of paddle boats and “rode” out to Maidens Castle which was, as the story goes, built by a father for his daughter after he was told by a soothsayer that she would die after being bitten by a snake. Unfortunately as fate would have it she was still bitten by a snake and died. Thanks for the castle though mate . After we peddled back the group leader realised he left his shoes back on the island, so he and I rode our boats back to get his shoes. Thankfully when we got there he noticed my shoes were right next to his… now that is some Karma, I didn’t even realise they were missing !!! After our successful treasure hunt a few of us walked up the beach and checked out another castle.

   For lunch I had an amazing plate of Calamari with salads and bread galore at resturaunt within eyesight of the castle, after seafood and a few beers 4 of us jumped off the resturaunt deck and swam in the Med to ease the stomache cramps of eating and drinking too much. You really can’t complain too much about that I don’t think.

   This was then followed by some punishment where we went and visited some caves. One called the Asthma cave, and two others called Heaven and Hell. The Asthma cave is said to cure, you guessed it, Asthma so we all hiked down there to perform a healing ceremony (new age chanting from the massage therapist of the group and some eveangelical faith healing by me) on Laura as she had been suffering badly from her Asthma the past few days. So far we think a miracle has been performed as she has been fine since!!! No I have not turned all religious on you and I wouldn’t blame you if you thought so. I have been visiting a  number of churches recently, it just seems like the thing to do in Europe, Churches and Castles.

   After this cave we then went to two other caves called Heaven and Hell. One cave is where the greek God Zeus was held captive by some fire breathing giant, the other cave is where Zeus kept him captive after escaping. The giant stayed there until Zeus decided what to do with him, he was eventually placed underneath Mt Etna. Checked out another Castle over looking Silifke too….suffering Castle overload today!!!

   Ended the night with a nice little picnic involving only a few of us down by the Goksu river. Turkish bread, some other local bread, spicy tomato paste, olives and cheese…oh and efes beer. Bloody marvelous!!!!

Well from the last post we have travelled from Goreme to Malaytia. After the last update most of the group went out to a $25 all you can eat and drink night which started on the effe beer and ended on the Raki or it could be called Ouzo for people who don’t know what Raki is but I have been told it is slightly different. There was dancing and a traditional wedding ceremony put on for us all. Really the only reason why it was so fun is because we all had a blast drinking Raki, the first bender of the group.

Next morning we hung around Goreme and did our own thing and then all met up and went to a Carpet shop. This person is essentially an expat (well from newzeeland) and she explained all the rugs in the area and why they cost so much. No one was obliged to buy however a couple of people were so convinced of her authenticity that several were sold (she really did know her stuff!!)

Buying rugs was then followed up by a four hour hike to another village where we stayed the night in a locals house. The hike involved checking out some churches/family crypts that very few people visit which was great. The track that we hiked on ended up being the track for a local Mountain Bike race so we had plenty of good riders zooming past. Also involved scrambling up some abandoned sandstone “castles” where people had lived getting a great view of the surrounding area.

Today we had an amazing breakfast, the best so far, eaten at the homestay, followed by an 8 hour bus ride to Malaytia. Thankfully the bus ride was broken up with a relaxing journey on a row boat…yes a row boat We discovered this nice little detour which wasn’t on the itinery. Unfortunately for us the water was 12 degrees which isn’t swimming temperature even by Melbourne standards.

Dinner tonight was so so, mainly due to a couple of people not getting the right orders and then complaining. Complaining when the staff in the restaurant don’t understand english isn’t the best way of going about things I don’t think…

Tomorrow morning we get to explore this rather busy city (known as the Paris of the east) then off to Nemrut Dagi is as far east as I think we will travel. When I asked “Why Paris of the east” it is because this the last city before hitting Iran and Iraq that has a cosmipolitan feel about it.

Gule Gule

Pat.

Well, I think it’s time to talk about the food using as few of the letter i as necessary, because th?s keyboard has a weird layout.

Food good Turkey. Excellent, that should explain it. Found

OK, ok - we found this great place in Istanbul where I had some dish - aubergine with mash potato and lamb. Also had a tomato stuffed with maybe couscous - or something similar.

Paul (our tour leader, not a guide, I could be imprisoned for calling him a guide) took us to a restaurant on the first night I th?nk which was noth?ng special, but I gave him another chance and he hasn’t d?sappo?nted. Had some interesting food at the train station on our way to Göreme, some mixed mezze, a couple little vegetar?an d?shes that were very nice - and the only meat dish that I’d chosen tasted interesting - and later found out was liver, which actually went well with the raw onion. Couldn’t eat much of it tho.

After many hours by bus and train maybe 15 hrs, the trainride being a sleep deprived overnight trip (it’s at this point I’ve decided there are too many i’s ?n the English language, so from now on I will remove them) we arrved at Göreme.

In Göreme we had lunch at a nce cafe and ate some crepe bread lke thngs flled wth spnach and cheese (OK, maybe I need these pesky i’s).

In Göreme, the place ?s full of dwellings carved into rock, we visited the Open A?r Museum where you can see all the old cave paint?ngs from Christians, about one and half thousand years old (the paintings, not the Christistians).

And for dinner had this beautiful meal that is cooked in a clay pot and cracked open to serve you the food, which is minced meaty and spicy, and great for dipping the fresh Turk?sh bread. One of the waiters had Laura (one of the group) try to crack the pot open herself, eventually smashing it on the ground, giving her a heart attack - only for ?t to be completely empty. Both these places chosen by Paul, so he more than redeemed himself

This morning we went on a hot air balloon flight, I’m sure most of you won’t believe that may have cured my fear of heights at Cappadocia. We had Champagne for breakfast which topped it off nicely.

Had a great lunch again - a different kind of kebab, meat laid out almost look?ng like a skinless sausage, with flat bread underneath - very spicy and good.

Sorry I don’t have photos at the moment, but patrick has, hopefuly temporarily killed my portable hard dr?ve with his dodgy memory card. And I have to go now - plenty to write , not enough time.

Merhaba, 

Well that was an ep?c journey to get from Istanbul to Goreme…..Tra?n ride from ?stanbul to Ankara wh?ch was an overn?ghter…yep ? squeezed ?nto a bed on a tra?n and managed to sleep qu?et successfully. The bed was comfortable, four to a room, the only problem be?ng the WC (to?let\bathroom ?n Turkey). There are two types of to?lets ?n Turkey, the squat to?let and the normal everyday western to?let. See?ng the state ?n both I am glad I never requ?red to use e?ther!!!! You couldn´t use the water at all, not even to brush you teeth w?th, yet ?t was ?n plent?ful supply. Thankfully our gu?de gave us the heads up not to use ?t as ?t would have caused all the dodgy stomach a?lments that any dodgy water would g?ve.

Pretty much sta?ght on the bus ?n Ankara to Goreme for another 4 hour bus r?de, but eventually when we arr?ved ?t was all worth ?t.  Yesterday when we arr?ved we headed stra?ght to the Open A?r Museum where Chr?st?ans h?d from the Romans for a few hundred years around 400AD. To cont?nue the?r worsh?p they carved churches ?nto the cl?ff faces, and pa?nted frescoes. Most of the frescoes are st?ll ?ntact however due to a crap load of tour?sts ?n the area, and the touch and flash photograhy ?t ?s slowly fad?ng and fall?ng off. The tour?st pol?ce wh?ch guard the s?te are pretty str?ct so ?t doesn´t matter how much they try to commun?cate the message due to all the d?fferent nat?onal?t?es ?t ?s go?ng to be a h?t and m?ss affa?r.

So anyway mum, ?f you read th?s, you w?ll be glad to hear I have gone to church, well at least 12 of them and all really old ones, so I am completely godded up at the moment

Last n?ght was really cool, had d?nner at a local resturaunt and where myself and the tour leader (paul) were very ant?soc?al and played backgammon, checkers and Turk?sh Checkers. I am happy to report that I comfortably defeated Paul ?n Backgammon, and managed a draw w?th Turk?sh Checkers. Got my but spanked on normal checkers though. Gerard and Darryl, learn to play Turk?sh Checkers, ?t ?s a br?ll?ant game, far more ?nterest?ng as normal checkers and comparable ?n fun value to backgammon. I am plann?ng on buy?ng a backgammon board ?n Turkey, you can get amaz?ng ones for next to noth?ng (mother of pearl ?nla?d board, very ornate, for around 50 AUD). F?n?shed up ?n a bar called Fl?nstones (carved ?nto the h?lls?de) and had some more beer before h?tt?ng the sack for a 4.00am wake up.

Well that br?ngs be to today, ballon fl?ght over Goreme and surround?ng v?llages, underground c?t?es, funny rock format?ons, and sleep, sweet sweet sleep.

The ballon fl?ght was amaz?ng, supposedly one of the 1000 th?ngs to do before you d?e and one of the best ballon fl?ght opportun?tes ?n the world. Got some great happy snaps however ? seem to be mak?ng a hab?t of forgett?ng my camera cable. Hopefully Le?gh can recover from h?s Portable Storage Dev?ce d?saster and mange to upload some for all to see. Ballon fl?ght was a very soph?st?m?cated affa?r tak?ng about 2 hours and end?ng ?n a Cherry ju?ce and champane breakfast.

After the ballon fl?ght we met back at our Pens?on and through some weal?ng and deal?ng Paul cut a deal w?th a pr?vate dolmus and tour gu?de to so show us through the underground c?ty.

In Goreme and the surround?ng reg?ons there are amaz?ng cave dwell?ngs dat?ng back to 2000 BC. I can´t poss?bly go ?nto deta?l about all the h?story as there ?s so much but pretty much from 2000BC through to around 40 years agoö ?t was used for var?ous reasons. From the H?t?tes h?d?ng from the Musl?m ra?d?ng part?es through to Chr?st?ans h?d?ng from the Romans up to the locals us?ng ?t for every day purposes unt?l ?t was “d?scovered”. Th?s one part?cular underground c?ty (Kaymakl?) wasn´t the most popular one however both Paul and the local gu?de couldn´t understand why as ?t ?s supposedly better than the ma?n tour?st one w?th over 7 levels of undergroundedness opened up to your perusal.

We followed th?s w?th some photo snaps of some we?rd local rock format?ons followed some of us do?ng some a t?ny b?t of ch?mney rock cl?mb?ng and hav?ng a look around where Sa?nt S?mon had h?s d?gs, l?terally hey dug them ?nto a free stand?ng rock format?on and l?ved there for a per?od of t?me.

So that br?ngs be to the sleep and now, sleep was well needed but not ?nterest?ng and I have to go as ?n 15 m?nutes we are go?ng to a local fest?val where for 25 TNL ?t ?s all you can eat (mmmm kebap) and all you can dr?nk (mmm effes beer).

gule gule

Pat

ps. Darryl I now understand why you had so many we?rd m?stakes, these turk?sh keyboards are a k?ller. I am so used to touch typ?ng that ?t has been a t?r?ng bus?ness correct?ng all the m?stakes!!

Well what a first couple of days!! Landed in Istanbul around 7.30 am Sunday morning which with a +7 is 14:30 EST. Not too bad I guess, works out to be 22 hours in the air. Getting out of customs was a crack, they didn’t even check our bags, nothing. Very funny.

Once arriving Leigh and I walked around the Sultanamet which is a mecca for touters and scam artists. Because it is such a tourist orrientated place they are everywhere vying for your attention and your Turkish New Lira.

For all you cat lovers out there, Turkey is a  place to be. It seems in Islam cats are not nessacarily revered but respected and they are all over the city. Turkish people feed them and take care of them…very tame and don’t seem that malnourished.

After catching up with the tour group our guide walked us through the city showing us not the main attractions but the free ones where you don’t see the large tour groups trekking through. The group who I am with is quiet varied in age ranging from 22 up to 60+?? Not to sure on one bloke but I think he is approaching 70. I am not mentioning this because I think it is a bad thing, actually quiet the opposite. One couple since retiring have travelled constantly so the wealth of experience is great.

Sunday (today) has been brilliant. After breakfast four of us travelled to Topkapi Palace and we walked through that at a relaxed pace. This palace is where the Sultans of the Ottaman empire up until the early 20th century rulled Turkey. There is that much history in this place, just to name a few relics located in “The Treasury” that you may have heard of…. John the Baptists arm (covered in gold and jewels) and head are in one display cabinet. Directly opposite that is the Topkapi dagger which supposedly is very famous (Lonely planet says so) although I have never heard of it. Really the amount of jewels and history in this one room is crazy. I was a bit bemused at the start as each display case is rather simple. If both of these artifacts were in Australia for example I could just imagine each being in its own room surrounded by a glass case. Checked out the haram, which was impressive but not as impressive as The Treasury.  One Sultan, Murat III, once had 200 concubines, ended up with 100+ kids

Grabbed some lunch and checked out the Cistern, took some great pics of that however I forgot to bring my camera cable to the Internet cafe so you are going to have to wait for photos. This is where Constantinople, as it was called at the time, housed its water. I have been told that the water was shipped via aquaducs from 19ks away. This place is huge, I couldn’t believe that we were underground in the heart of the Sultanamet with Trucks and buildings over our heads!

If you haven’t realised by now I am loving the trip so far.

OK, thought I should make my first post, been here almost 2 days. Such an amazing place. Arriving at the airport at 7.30am yesterday, after a gruelling 24 hours of air flight - ok, it wasn’t THAT bad - but still. We decided to give public transport a go as the first bit a fun. Not really much different from Melbourne, you jump on a tram or 2, everyone looks at you strangely, no one talks to each other and it smells

Istanbul is absolutely full of people trying to sell you everything from children’s toys to cigarettes and weapons (apparently, I haven’t seen them yet). Pat and I checked into the hotel and wandered around to check out the city. Was interesting trying to buy a turkish coffee from people who don’t understand English at all. After about 15 minutes, we got one, not bad, and managed to not get ripped off - score 1.

We met up with out tour group, nice bunch of people (you know I have to say that, cos they might read this ), maybe half an older crowd, and some around our age, 12 all up. Went on a walking tour around the place, checked out a couple of mosques - the detail the put into everything in the city is just crazy. From the shoes and hats, to the stained glass windows and entire structures. So much history, that I won’t bore you with (mainly because I don’t remember most of it). Wandered through the Grand Bazaar, and went to the place where Turkish Delight was first discoevered, and of course bought some.

Second day, we spent 5 hours in the Top Kapi palace. We also visted the harem, it is now my aim in life to become a sultan with a thousand wives, mainly for the giant bath. The palace is huge, all sorts of jewelled things from cup holders to weapons to the thrones, they’re all encrusted with ridiclous amounts of emeralds, rubies, diamonds and pearls.

We also visited the underground cistern, which has stone heads of medusa, very cool. Anyways, for the most important part - here’s some photos.

singapore airport / patrick the tourist / the grand bazaar / stained glass window in the harem / the cistern / the blue mosque

Well both Leigh and I have arrived in Singapore. Both planes landed essentially at the same time (we were racing and leigh won by 3 minutes…bastard).

Currently using free internet access at the airport which is really cool, although I only have 15 minutes before it logs me off. Flight was all good however I was jammed in like a sardine, no free seats, middle row in the middle seat so not good for a 6ft 4″ person.

 Umm what else can you say, nothing interesting happend on the 8 hour flight.

9 mins 30 secs to go…fast typer

Pat.

The title says it all.

When Leigh and I first decided to travel together overseas it was more of a melding of two trips. I wanted to go to Turkey, Leigh wanted to go to France. The rest of the trip was pretty much made up of us getting from Turkey to France.

Occasionally I get asked the question why Turkey? Well after some thinking I have decided the reason why I have always wanted to go to Turkey was because of an abiding memory from my local fish and chippery when I was growing up. Sounds a bit strange I agree, the mind is a weird thing and I am sure of those people who know me, mine can be quite weird at times.

This local fish and chippery was also the place where I chose to play arade games, double dragon, raiden, 1942….ahh such great games. Not only did this Fish and Chippery have arcade games and of course fish n chips, above the deep fryer there was a photo of a place in Turkey called Pamukkale.

I thought this place was one of the most beautiful places in the world…from memory I think I would have been around 10 or 11 yrs old. As I have grown older the memory and the beauty of pamukkale didn’t leave me, and as I learnt more about Gallipoli, Isanbul and all the ancient civilisations I thought I had to see this place. Also I heard it was cheap - Pat

Edit: I loved the idea of Turkey also because it was cheap - and I’ve never heard a bad word about it from anyone that’s been there - unlike the other places we’re going to. - Leigh

Things we would like to see on our trip.

But it doesn’t end.