Monday, June 11, 2007
Glad to be home
Hi we are home now and it is very cold.
We left Turkey with some sadness. This is a beautiful place with such an amazing mixture of history, religion, culture and occupations and new friends.
We stopped of at Dubai on the way home and I wondered if I was in another world. The Arab people have a national costume. The men wear a white cloak and a veil like head dress and a lot of the womwn wear a black dress and veil. At the airport there were some beautiful African women dressed in their natural dress which has big puffy sleeves with a long skirt often worn with a layer of shawls and a headress made from matching fabric The earthy colours of these garments are spetacular.
The heat was in the high 30s so we caught a bouble decker bus the next day and did a tour of the city.This was surposed to take 2 hours and ended up being 4 due to heavy traffic congestion in the downtown city area. The builders working on the site by our hotel worked all night. The guide told us that on one particular building site there was 3000 workers working a 24hour shift. They had hoped to build a floor on the tall building of 75 floors in 4 days. Everything had to be big and the best in the world. It seemed a waste of enviromental resources. Sea water is recycled to water the trees in the city about 30,000 gallons is used so people forget it is a desert and it looks green and lovely. This place is built on sand. Our hotel receptionist told us to do indoor activities as they were expecting a sand storm.
Im so glad to be home and hope you have all enjoyed sharng our trip with us.
We left Turkey with some sadness. This is a beautiful place with such an amazing mixture of history, religion, culture and occupations and new friends.
We stopped of at Dubai on the way home and I wondered if I was in another world. The Arab people have a national costume. The men wear a white cloak and a veil like head dress and a lot of the womwn wear a black dress and veil. At the airport there were some beautiful African women dressed in their natural dress which has big puffy sleeves with a long skirt often worn with a layer of shawls and a headress made from matching fabric The earthy colours of these garments are spetacular.
The heat was in the high 30s so we caught a bouble decker bus the next day and did a tour of the city.This was surposed to take 2 hours and ended up being 4 due to heavy traffic congestion in the downtown city area. The builders working on the site by our hotel worked all night. The guide told us that on one particular building site there was 3000 workers working a 24hour shift. They had hoped to build a floor on the tall building of 75 floors in 4 days. Everything had to be big and the best in the world. It seemed a waste of enviromental resources. Sea water is recycled to water the trees in the city about 30,000 gallons is used so people forget it is a desert and it looks green and lovely. This place is built on sand. Our hotel receptionist told us to do indoor activities as they were expecting a sand storm.
Im so glad to be home and hope you have all enjoyed sharng our trip with us.
Monday, June 4, 2007
A Day Doing Nothing
Well today has been a real day for doing nothing. All the weekend visitors had gone when we got up for breakfast and the place certainly looked deserted.. We watched the little fishing boats go in and out. Fishermen cleaned the crabs from their nets and local restauranteers came down to buy some red mullet, a small fish like a sprat and sea bass which looks like our mullet. A fish meal costs 15L.
Yesterday we bought a loaf of bread for 00.25, a couple of bananas and a bottle all for 5L and that was lunch. I'm surprised there are no sea gulls here. I've seen one and a shag. Today we walked out to the coast army post about 2km away and were surprised to find 50boats waiting to go through the straits.
The little village of Kilyos has approximitaly 12 places to eat, 2 vege shops, 2 small grocery stores and 3 shops selling swim wear. Tomorrow we return to Istanbull to pack our bags ready for home.
I forgot to tell you about the 2 tortoises we saw trying to cross the road. Our driver stopped the car and lifted them across!
Yesterday we bought a loaf of bread for 00.25, a couple of bananas and a bottle all for 5L and that was lunch. I'm surprised there are no sea gulls here. I've seen one and a shag. Today we walked out to the coast army post about 2km away and were surprised to find 50boats waiting to go through the straits.
The little village of Kilyos has approximitaly 12 places to eat, 2 vege shops, 2 small grocery stores and 3 shops selling swim wear. Tomorrow we return to Istanbull to pack our bags ready for home.
I forgot to tell you about the 2 tortoises we saw trying to cross the road. Our driver stopped the car and lifted them across!
Gateway to the Straits
Well this is meant to be 3 nights rest and recouperate before we head for home. Getting out of Istanbul was a mission - it was Saturday midday and traffic jams were every where with people heading for parks, shopping and to watch an airshow overhead. We have a hotel room over looking the sea. It was 20l cheaper with no view.
The beach front directly infront of us is stony and an anchor place for the small fishing boats tied up to a concrete wharf. There is a hole through this to the other beaches which are cordoned off and you have to pay 30l to swim there. However the water inside the area is so shallow people all swim outside the bouys. There is a rusty old ship in the bay which I may endeavour to walk out to later. It's not a case of walking along the beach but walking along the bouys in the water as the sea has little difference in high and low tide.
Today the water is dominated by young teenage boys and noisy music which is needed as the water is so cold you have to do aerobic exercises to get wet. Last night there was one ship waiting to go through the strait - this morning there are about 20 out there. Not short of entertainment..
The beach front directly infront of us is stony and an anchor place for the small fishing boats tied up to a concrete wharf. There is a hole through this to the other beaches which are cordoned off and you have to pay 30l to swim there. However the water inside the area is so shallow people all swim outside the bouys. There is a rusty old ship in the bay which I may endeavour to walk out to later. It's not a case of walking along the beach but walking along the bouys in the water as the sea has little difference in high and low tide.
Today the water is dominated by young teenage boys and noisy music which is needed as the water is so cold you have to do aerobic exercises to get wet. Last night there was one ship waiting to go through the strait - this morning there are about 20 out there. Not short of entertainment..
Back in Istanbul
Well we feel as though we are home. It was a funny feeling coming over on the ferry from Yalvas into Istanbull - we all felt the same. It had been an absolute action packed 6 nights. Our gamble with a car and driver certainly paid off.
We had left Pamukale about 11am and it was about 500km to Istanbull if you followed the straight roads: however our driver was reluctant to do this due to his experiences in the army when you only drove on main roads for security reasons. Thankfully some local men persuaded him it was pefectly safe saving us another 200km. The road was similar to our roads so our rally driving driver slowed down a fraction. Once again we were looking at farm lands of wheat and poppies this time. And a few tea and cotton fields. We stopped to také a photo of a young lady following a donkey home from the hills. When she saw Braydon and Bill in the car she picked up her donkey stick and truned to go the other way. She relaxed when I got out of the car but the donkey then decided to run off on its own without her. In all the confusion we all forgot to find out what the donkey was carrying. I think it was cut grass in sacks for the animals at the farm house. It seems that most people travel out from a central farming village to their work place. Plastic houses to grow tomatoes in dominated one village we passed through.
Back in Istanbull we went out to dinner with Braydon and his wife who spoke no english. They were giving us a special Turkish food meal which I can describe but not name the dishes. We started with an awesome hot bread bun baked in a wood fired oven. To go in this was butter and a small square of blue vein cheese with walnuts in the centre. Oh it was delicious. Along side this was a rice dish with an egg topping served from a small dish the size of a breakfast cup. Next came a diamond shaped meatball with yellow cheese in it. As the meat wasn't quite cooked in the middle I passsed this on. We then had a piece of mutton served with a green chilli and a tomato. Following this we had a desert of coconut shredded and soaked in honey encasing cheese. It was very rich but the taste was delicious. I think we have made a long lasting friend in Turkey.
We stayed 2 nights in Istanbull and are now in Kilyos a small fishing village on the Black sea. After over 2 weeks being on the go daylight to midnight it was time to také a break.
We had left Pamukale about 11am and it was about 500km to Istanbull if you followed the straight roads: however our driver was reluctant to do this due to his experiences in the army when you only drove on main roads for security reasons. Thankfully some local men persuaded him it was pefectly safe saving us another 200km. The road was similar to our roads so our rally driving driver slowed down a fraction. Once again we were looking at farm lands of wheat and poppies this time. And a few tea and cotton fields. We stopped to také a photo of a young lady following a donkey home from the hills. When she saw Braydon and Bill in the car she picked up her donkey stick and truned to go the other way. She relaxed when I got out of the car but the donkey then decided to run off on its own without her. In all the confusion we all forgot to find out what the donkey was carrying. I think it was cut grass in sacks for the animals at the farm house. It seems that most people travel out from a central farming village to their work place. Plastic houses to grow tomatoes in dominated one village we passed through.
Back in Istanbull we went out to dinner with Braydon and his wife who spoke no english. They were giving us a special Turkish food meal which I can describe but not name the dishes. We started with an awesome hot bread bun baked in a wood fired oven. To go in this was butter and a small square of blue vein cheese with walnuts in the centre. Oh it was delicious. Along side this was a rice dish with an egg topping served from a small dish the size of a breakfast cup. Next came a diamond shaped meatball with yellow cheese in it. As the meat wasn't quite cooked in the middle I passsed this on. We then had a piece of mutton served with a green chilli and a tomato. Following this we had a desert of coconut shredded and soaked in honey encasing cheese. It was very rich but the taste was delicious. I think we have made a long lasting friend in Turkey.
We stayed 2 nights in Istanbull and are now in Kilyos a small fishing village on the Black sea. After over 2 weeks being on the go daylight to midnight it was time to také a break.
Backdating to Antalya
Antalya is a city of over 2 million people which reaches over 3 million in the summer season as it is the exit and entry point for those people wanting a Mediterranean holiday. One look at the crowded beaches lining the coastline was enough to put me off. High rise tourist hotels, umbrella and beach loungers covered the sand. All types of pleasure craft and leisure craft boats lined the beach front as well.
The city was founded in 158!BC It was a regular staging post for the Crusaders on their way to the holy lands. In the 1930s control was handed to the Ottomans and remained with them until it was occupied by Italy in 1919 and 3 years later handed back to the Turkish people. We drove round the inner city and as said previously went out on a boat from the city looking back at the old Roman wall that protected the Roman people from invasion thousands of years ago. Our first stop was to look at a beautiful waterfall that cascaded down the cliffs into the sea. Next stop was - yes, you guesssed it - another museum.. There was a room for children to see how life was in roman and Ottoman villages and it was the first I'd seen where children could understand the history surrounding them. We had been surrounded many times by bus loads of children and I wondered many times what they were taking in and how good their pre-visits were. There was a hall for Greek Gods and the most enormous marble statues. Even one of Alexander the Great. At least I felt I knew a little.
Bill climbed up to the Chimaera at Olympos where there occurs an extraordinary natural phenomenon of belching small flames which flicker among the rocks. Apparently the result of leaking methene gas. The guide book tells me this is thought to be the origin of the Greek myth of the Chimaera, the fire breathing monster with a lion's head, goat's body and serpent's tail that was finally destroyed by Bellerophon.
We wandered along to the pebbly beach and joined hundreds of tourists dropped off from a daily sightseeing trip to visit the ancient ruins here.
Our next destination was Pamukkale where we arrived early in the evening and were able to wander over these magical terraces. They have been formed by limestone laden hot springs cascading and forming terraces and stalacitites and potholes . The water is reputed to be beneficial to ones health. Surrounding these terraces was another Roman ruin called Hierapolis. This ruin spread over 2 km. It was levelled by an earthquake in AD17 but rebuilt in the 2 and 3 century. Once again you are reminded of an enormous civilisation that lived so long ago.
The city was founded in 158!BC It was a regular staging post for the Crusaders on their way to the holy lands. In the 1930s control was handed to the Ottomans and remained with them until it was occupied by Italy in 1919 and 3 years later handed back to the Turkish people. We drove round the inner city and as said previously went out on a boat from the city looking back at the old Roman wall that protected the Roman people from invasion thousands of years ago. Our first stop was to look at a beautiful waterfall that cascaded down the cliffs into the sea. Next stop was - yes, you guesssed it - another museum.. There was a room for children to see how life was in roman and Ottoman villages and it was the first I'd seen where children could understand the history surrounding them. We had been surrounded many times by bus loads of children and I wondered many times what they were taking in and how good their pre-visits were. There was a hall for Greek Gods and the most enormous marble statues. Even one of Alexander the Great. At least I felt I knew a little.
Bill climbed up to the Chimaera at Olympos where there occurs an extraordinary natural phenomenon of belching small flames which flicker among the rocks. Apparently the result of leaking methene gas. The guide book tells me this is thought to be the origin of the Greek myth of the Chimaera, the fire breathing monster with a lion's head, goat's body and serpent's tail that was finally destroyed by Bellerophon.
We wandered along to the pebbly beach and joined hundreds of tourists dropped off from a daily sightseeing trip to visit the ancient ruins here.
Our next destination was Pamukkale where we arrived early in the evening and were able to wander over these magical terraces. They have been formed by limestone laden hot springs cascading and forming terraces and stalacitites and potholes . The water is reputed to be beneficial to ones health. Surrounding these terraces was another Roman ruin called Hierapolis. This ruin spread over 2 km. It was levelled by an earthquake in AD17 but rebuilt in the 2 and 3 century. Once again you are reminded of an enormous civilisation that lived so long ago.
Friday, June 1, 2007
Bits and Pieces
Well here we are back in Turkey and I'm sorry I'm a couple of days out of sequence now due to catching some thing rather nasty: Had to happen with all the hand shaking and different foods. However we appear to have stabilised for the moment and had a good nights sleep in pamukale last night We are staying the next 2 nights here in the old part of Instanbull with thousands of other tourists. We have traveled nearly 4000 km since we left. It has been a long day today since we left Pamukale. The terraces were truely amazing and being with 16 bus loads of tourists all wading in the so called healthly water springs in various clad bodies was a sight in itself. However I'm going to spend this blog on some tid-bits and come back to serious stuff tomorrow.
As we have spent time traveling through country towns we have noticed that people use their tractors like cars. Whole families can be seen sitting up on the mudguards travelling to and from their house to farm, special carryalls on the back for people to sit on and their hoes, scythes and sickles. During the week women alone or groups of women can be seen hoeing with their backs bent over using a small hoe weeding and mulching crops.
As animals are housed indoors at nights sometimes small holes in the wall are used to push the manure through which is gathered up and used in the fields. Carpets are often seen hanging from houses. I'm not sure if it is for cleaning or to seal the dies and colours used in the making of them. People hang their washing from the balcony. All white garments are together and hung from smallest the the largest and all coloured clothes are hung together. There are very few chooks anywhere and I wonder if they got taken with the bird flu?
Today we passed 2 nuclear power plants. There is no shortage of technology. Cell phones are everywhere, all the security guards have walkie talkies, internet is widely available, not always the latest model though. Few people walk aroung with ipods like you see at home. Today when we stopped for lunch the waiter came out and washed our car window. Imagine that happening in NZ. Thats it for now. Talk to you tomorrow.
As we have spent time traveling through country towns we have noticed that people use their tractors like cars. Whole families can be seen sitting up on the mudguards travelling to and from their house to farm, special carryalls on the back for people to sit on and their hoes, scythes and sickles. During the week women alone or groups of women can be seen hoeing with their backs bent over using a small hoe weeding and mulching crops.
As animals are housed indoors at nights sometimes small holes in the wall are used to push the manure through which is gathered up and used in the fields. Carpets are often seen hanging from houses. I'm not sure if it is for cleaning or to seal the dies and colours used in the making of them. People hang their washing from the balcony. All white garments are together and hung from smallest the the largest and all coloured clothes are hung together. There are very few chooks anywhere and I wonder if they got taken with the bird flu?
Today we passed 2 nuclear power plants. There is no shortage of technology. Cell phones are everywhere, all the security guards have walkie talkies, internet is widely available, not always the latest model though. Few people walk aroung with ipods like you see at home. Today when we stopped for lunch the waiter came out and washed our car window. Imagine that happening in NZ. Thats it for now. Talk to you tomorrow.
The Mediterranean
Today we left Konya and have travelled down to Anatayla by the deep blue Mediterranean Sea. We passed through productive looking wheat fields and then some barren land as we passed over the mountain range. Im assuming it snows here in the winter as the hill tops were barren. The trees were a variety of fir trees all shapes and sizes and the rocks looked as though someone was making grey pancakes and didn't know how to stop so just threw them all over the place.
Akseki was an industrial town with a huge steel mill and other unnamed buildings. We stopped to get petrol and as we are on the highway we are allowed to use the broom and water to wash our car down. While this was all happening I sat in the car and next thing one of the men from the petrol station tapped on the window with a glass of apple tea. Wow imagine that happening at home!
We visited a couple of waterfalls before setting out to find a place to stay for the night. Apparently there is a stretch of 12km with hotels. We have a 2star room for 50L which included dinner and breakfast. Dinner consisted of a oily mushroom soup and dry fish which had lots of bones. It has been our worst meal so far. After choosing this hotel we went to the tourist end of this subburb called Lara and walked through the really narrow streets lined with sellers and their wares. This led down to a small fishing harbour and we ended going on a 45min cruise for 5L each. It was beautiful out on the ocean looking back at the Roman fortress and a waterfall. Hotels and houses were built right out on the rocks. There was no beach here, just cliffs to the ocean. We had stopped on the way at Side for pizza lunch with a breathtaking view of the tourist section of the coast. To look along at the string of high rise buildings, unbrella beaches, tourists charter boats and tourists themselves you wouldnt believe there was another Turkey where we had come from.
Akseki was an industrial town with a huge steel mill and other unnamed buildings. We stopped to get petrol and as we are on the highway we are allowed to use the broom and water to wash our car down. While this was all happening I sat in the car and next thing one of the men from the petrol station tapped on the window with a glass of apple tea. Wow imagine that happening at home!
We visited a couple of waterfalls before setting out to find a place to stay for the night. Apparently there is a stretch of 12km with hotels. We have a 2star room for 50L which included dinner and breakfast. Dinner consisted of a oily mushroom soup and dry fish which had lots of bones. It has been our worst meal so far. After choosing this hotel we went to the tourist end of this subburb called Lara and walked through the really narrow streets lined with sellers and their wares. This led down to a small fishing harbour and we ended going on a 45min cruise for 5L each. It was beautiful out on the ocean looking back at the Roman fortress and a waterfall. Hotels and houses were built right out on the rocks. There was no beach here, just cliffs to the ocean. We had stopped on the way at Side for pizza lunch with a breathtaking view of the tourist section of the coast. To look along at the string of high rise buildings, unbrella beaches, tourists charter boats and tourists themselves you wouldnt believe there was another Turkey where we had come from.
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