London living

Hi all

Apologies in advance. I have no further photos at the moment. The good news though is that we found somewhere to live! We've just moved into a room in Holborn which is quite central. We're sharing an apartment with a Latvian couple (Nellie & Jeff). We're on the third floor and have a big bright room to ourselves & a bathroom (with a bath!) and big bright kitchen which we're sharing. We share the building with a dentist (Nellie) and a beautician (also Latvian) who use the levels below us.

In other news DHL finally delivered 2 of our suitcases & have somehow lost the 3rd suitcase in transit. Unfortunately the 3rd suitcase is the biggest and contains all of our suits & my big wool coat. It's lovely to have some different clothes to wear (in addition to the summer clothes we took to Turkey with us), however I'm hoping that the suits are delivered before I start work on Friday! One of the customer service officers we spoke to believes it might still be in Sydney but isn't sure. Crossed fingers they deliver it soon!

More updates soon!

G'day London

Short message to say Hi to everyone back home. We're both well & happy. Missing everyone back home (of course), but loving seeing new places!

Spent the last few days in Istanbul seeing a few more sites (Blue Mosque, Galata Tower & a ferry ride down the Bosphorous to the Princes Islands for a day) and one memorable day carpet shopping! We saw literally hundreds of carpets in 6 different shops. Each shopkeeper sat us down with a cup of tea and rolled out an absolute mound of carpets - an experience I highly recommend to anyone travelling to Istanbul. We started with a $1,000 budget and ended up convinced we needed a $7,000 carpet. Luckily we slept on it and decided we probably didn't need a carpet for travelling ;)

We arrived in London yesterday to around 26 degree heat & are doing our best to get everything organised before we start work. Also, it's looking as though we'll have around 4 months of work in India starting in December so we're hoping to find an apartment for only 4 months in London so we can travel for 2 months through Europe before getting to India. It's harder than we thought it would be, with most agents not wanting 4 month leases and a lot of places being taken by the time we call them.

Otherwise we're getting all of the accessories for life in London fairly quickly. Yesterday we picked up SIM cards for our mobiles and today we picked up our bank cards and applied for credit cards (no fees for most banking over here - yippee).

Hope everyone is happy & well and hope to have some photos for the next post!

Back in Istanbul!

Since the last post we've had a busy couple of days. We started off with a visit to the ancient ruins of Troy. See pic on the left of the massive Trojan Horse at the entrance to the site with Richard in the top right window (in the orange shirt)!

The site is somewhat confusing as there are 9 main cities built one on top of the other, dating back to 3,000 BC. Apparently, since most houses were built of mudbrick, everytime the city was destroyed (e.g. earthquake/ war etc) some 40 years later more people would come and build on top of the rubble of the old city. The resulting mound is 15/20 metres high (remembering that this mound is entirely old cities), and was flattened off on top by the romans who built a Temple of Athena on top most recently (which was subsequently destroyed by a later civilisation).

Our guide was pretty fascinating and has written a book on Troy (of which we now own an autographed copy!). The ruins were only discovered in 1822/1890 by a German amateur archaeologist who was looking for the treasure of King Priam (which he subsequently found). There is now an international team excavating the site and so far an estimated 10% has been uncovered - still quite a way to go. They believe that the famous Trojan War occured in Troy version 6 and/or 7. Anyway, enough history you can google for more information if you're interested, or borrow our book when we get back! Pics on the left & right of some of the ruins.

Following Troy we headed back into Canakkale and then on to Gallipoli National Park via a ferry across the Dardanelles which is the passage of water which the Allied forces were fighting for to gain access to Russia. It is also the divide between the Europe and Asia continents, so we actually caught the ferry from Asia to Europe! (see pic of Richard on the boat on the right).

As you arrive on the Gallipoli peninsula there are gigantic letters in Turkish which say "Traveller halt! The soil you headlessly tread once witnessed the end of an era. Listen! In this quiet mound there once beat the heart of a nation." During the campaign it is estimated that there were over half a million casualties. Around half of them being Ottoman troops. Our tour leader said that most families in Turkey sent someone to defend their land so the war is very close to their hearts. Gallipoli was a very moving tour. We took 7 hours to see most of the sites including the intended landing site for the ANZACs, the actual landing site, the sites of some of the fiercest battles and quite a number of cemeteries. The number of bullets in the land is so high that the farmers now have a phrase "Ploughing the bullets" instead of ploughing the soil.

The stories told during the tour were also very moving. They told of the respect that was developed between the Turkish and the ANZAC's, with both sides calling a ceasefire one day to bury the dead, both sides throwing food to each other to try, the Turkish not firing when the ANZAC's played a game of cricket, and many more.

In addition, stories were told of the many mistakes made during the campaign and the many lives that were lost. Stories were also told of the conditions and the many people who died due to poor diet, poor sanitation and poor conditions. People died in the heat of the summer when flies were in the millions, passing on disease, people died of exposure in the cold of the winter when it snowed, and people drowned in the tunnels when it flooded.

Pic on the right showing the first beach cemetery (Hell Spit Cemetery) near the landing site, with a grave for John Simpson the "Man with the Donkey" who passed

through the battle grounds many times a day to collect the wounded and who collected an estimated 300-500 soldiers before being shot in the back, pic on the left of Lone Pine - a huge cemetery on the site of one of the bloodiest battles for the heights (an estimated 4,000 died here in a few days), another pic on the left of the first Turkish Prime Minister Ataturk who became famous during the war and who eventually led most of the Turkish troops and who took a bullet to the heart at Cunuk Bair which was stopped by his pocket watch. A very full 7 hours with a lot of emotion felt by all the visitors.

Eventually we caught the ferry back to Canakkale in time for sunset over Gallipoli. See pic on the left.

Today we were out of the hotel by 6:30am to catch the ferry back to Europe and a bus onto Istanbul which is where we are now, and which is where we will be for the next 4 days catching up on sites and some rest.

Love to all.

Historic ruins

Merhaba! Apologies in advance for the appalling quality of the photos in this post. I had to be fairly creative as the computers here didn't connect to my camera, everything is in Turkish & there are limited programs for compressing photos on this computer! Challenging stuff.

We're now on the 3rd last day of the tour and looking forward to resting when we get to Istanbul. For those of you who are not so familiar with Turkey, I've included a map of where we've been on the right (conveniently lifted from the intrepid website if you want a clearer version: http://www.intrepidtravel.com/trips/RRG)



Since the last post we travelled from Fethiye to Pamukkale, a tinee tiny town with lots of tourists where we stayed only one night. The main attraction here is the Travertine pools (pic on the right). Unfortunately, since the tourism boom in the 80's, a lot of the calcium deposit has vanished, and the water has slowed significantly apparently. The government has since demolished the hotels which were above the pools, which has improved matters, however the water flow continues to decline. Nevertheless they are still magnificent.


From Pamukkale we travelled on to Selcuk which is near the famous ancient city of Ephesus. We stayed here for 2 nights. It was a gorgeous place - very laid back with cobbled streets and heaps of history.

We started off on the day we arrived with a meander around St John's Basilica. After some of the other ruins we've seen I have to say I found it a bit disappointing. Apparently the government is still restoring the site. The view from the hill was magnificent though.

The next day we woke early and caught a Dolmus out to Ephesus where we had the most amazing tour guide. Student in Archeology and History, Neil was racing all through the site to try to show us all of the main points in 2 hours. The place is massive and only a fraction has been unearthed and restored. The statues, the detail, and the general magnificence of the place was astounding. Pic on the left of the library remains.

Moving on, Salih had organised lunch at the nearby Grotto of the seven sleepers. This is a cave where apparently 7 christian men escaped to while being prosecuted. Unfortunately for them, the King trying to prosecute them sealed the cave where they then fell asleep for 200 years and apparently then died shortly after awakening. The cave was interesting but I don't recommend going out of your way to visit. Lunch was Gozleme - a turkish dish which basically is very very thinly rolled dough cooked with fillings such as spinach, cheese, minced meat and or potato. Richard & I had a go at making our own under the close supervision of the cooks. Heaps of fun - see pic on the left.

In the afternoon we moved on to visit the Ephesus Museum where many of the statues have been kept. More amazing ruins & an interesting display on gladiators in ancient rome.


That night we caught another dolmus up to Şirice for the evening which was a gorgeous little village nestled in the hills (see pic on left). With Greek style houses and many shops with tiny cobblestone paths & roads the place is really adorable. We spent the evening doing wine tastings of some amazing fruit wines (that really taste like apple/peach/tangerine/cherry etc etc!) see pic on right of the group doing the wine tastings.

For dinner we went up onto a balcony overlooking the village and were treated to some music performed by the owner on a local instrument called a Saz which is similar to a guitar but with a round body and only 3 strings. Very special.

Today we have travelled 7 hours by bus to arrrive in Canakkale. Tomorrow we are off to visit Troy (as in the trojan horse see pic on right) and Gallipoli with historical tours at both sites.

Another update!

So. Coming back from Heaven and Hell with the military police. They were nice enough to let us take a photo which I've just posted to the right.

After the day at Kizkalesi we went up to Silifke Kalesi which is an old Byzantine fortress high on the hill overlooking silifke for dinner. Lucky for us there was an anniversary happening up there including a live band and lots of very friendly turkish people who were more than happy to get us up & teach us all some turkish dancing. It was heaps of fun :)

After Silifke we travelled on to Antalya - a huge city with a population of 500,000 and over 8 million tourists visiting every year - mostly German apparently. It had gorgeous cobblestone streets with old houses everywhere! We were here for 2 nights. On the first day we went to the Archealogical Museum which has more than 5,000 archaeological works in 14 exhibit halls. Amazing stuff. I've posted a pic of one of the Roman statues on the right.

After spending half a day at the museum we had a lovely lunch by the water spent the rest of the day meandering through the town taking in the sights and some turkish tea here and there.

The next day we headed on to Kas (pronounced Kash), which is a gorgeous little village tucked between mountains sitting on the coast. The town is beautiful with lots of narrow streets and old greek ottoman houses all sitting on the water. You can see a pic of Kas at sunset on the right. Gorgeous!

While we were there we went on a boat trip to visit the sunken cities around Kekova Island. See pic of richard snorkling amongst the ruins and a pic of us on the boat also on the left.

Moving along, we drove to Fethiye and on the way stopped at the ancient ruins at Patara (see pic on the right of the old theatre) and enjoyed some time at the famous Patara beach. Another beautiful spot.

We then moved on to Saklikent gorge which is an 18km crack in the mountains. The first part of the gorge is a raised walkway into the gorge and then on to the gorge proper. We then waded on through icy water and over many rocks up the gorge. You can see a pic of richard on the right wading through the water. It was an amazing place with huge walls of rock on either side.

Anyway we then drove the rest of the way to Fethiye which is where we are now. Today we have caught a Dolmus to Oludeniz which has one of the best beaches in the area & Richard has just finished his paraglide. See pic on him paragliding.

Hope you're all happy and smiling! I'm off to grab lunch.

Travelling on the Coast

Greetings from Oludeniz! Last time I finished I think I was still up to the Cappadocia region...

On our 2nd last day at Cappadocia we did a 4 hour walk through the valleys (& over the ridges) to Nazim's place (our homestay for the night). Nazim has been renovating his place for the last 10 years with the aim of making it into a pension (hotel) for guests who want to stay in one of the fairy chimney caves. We stayed in one of his rooms which was gorgeous as was the food prepared by his wife. See picture to the left of Richard helping out in the Kitchen!

The next day we took a 10 hour bus ride to Mt Nemrut (far east - more Kurdish cultures out here) where we crashed for the night part way up the mountain. The bus ride was uneventful with the exception of one incident where a truck pulled out in front of us & the bus missed the truck by inches. The bus driver then got out of the bus & went over & started abusing the truck driver. We thought that there may be a fight as there was some shoving going on, however things calmed down after a bit & we continued on. The reason for the bus driver being so heated we believe is because the buses are all new (replaced last year apparently as part of Turkey's bid to enter the EU) & record the driving - including heavy braking which is analysed. Very strange.

The next morning we were up at 3:30am to pack our gear & ascend the mountain for sunrise. At the top of Mt Nemrut is a man made mountain top with 8 statues facing east for sunrise. The statues are of the gods & a roman king believed to be buried there. Apparently they were built around 60 - 30 BC & were rediscovered in 1881 & explored in 1951 by archeologists. They have lost their heads due to earthquakes & the heads are lined up in front of the bodies still facing east. There are more statues facing west however these are more randomly placed. It is belived that these are the tombs of the king and some other females. Breathtaking. See pic on left of some of the heads facing east & in the background the bodies still seated on thrones.

We then began another 10 hour bus ride to Sıflıke on the coast. This little town didn't have much going for it apart from its proximity to some attractions! On our first day here, 5 of us caught a Dolmus to Kizkaleski (the nearest beach) in the morning. On the way to Kizkaleski we hopped off to visit the Chasm of Heaven and the Pit of Hell which are quite interesting. Unfortunately, Salih hadn't told us that it was 3km uphill from the Dolmus stop to get there, which, on a boiling hot day, isn't an attractive proposition. Lucky for us a passerby took pity on us & ferried all 5 of us up there. The Chasm of Heaven had 452 steps leading down and is a 250m gorge with the ruins of an early church, 4th century BC. Hell is 150m deep and cannot be walked down. Local legend holds that it was one of the entrances to the underworld. Very fantastic. See pic on the left of Paul & Chris next to the signs pointing to Heaven & Hell! Another pic on the left of us with the tractor that was kind enough to give us a lift back down! We were also able to then catch a lift in the van with some of the local military police into Kizkaleski which had a lovely beach with a castle out on the water which Richard swam out to.

Anyway must go as Richard is paragliding at the moment & is about to land! Will attempt to catch up more later!

Going East

Merhaba! We're now writing from Sıflıke on the south east coast of Turkey & a lot has happened over the last week!

Last time we wrote, we were still in Istanbul & had just visited the Grand Bazaar where we bought some jumpers (due to the weather being colder than we expected) & an overnight bag for our excess baggage to leave in Istanbul. The Grand Bazaar was huge & the building where most of the stalls were was gorgeous - big doomed ceilings & cozy little cafe's tucked in between stalls. We then went on the to Spice Bazaar (see pic on right) which had amazing colours & smells - spices & foods of all kinds! We had lunch in a deli which we happened to walk into with a cafe tucked away up a spiral staircase at the back of the shop. Gorgeous food. We ordered 3 dishes just so we could try them all!

We met our tour group that day as well. There is 12 of us - 10 Australians & 2 Canadians. The group leader - Salih is Kurdish, from east Turkey & has heaps of jokes & is a fountain of knowledge. See pic on left.

So. Onto our 18 hour overnight train to the Cappadocia region! Fortunately some good wine & beer & a few packets of cards helped us to get a decent nights sleep. (see pic of some of us on the train on the rıght & a pıc of the train also on the right. You can see Mt Argeus in the background with snow on top - amazing landscape). We arrived in Goreme in the afternoon after transferring to a Dolmus (12 seater bus).

The landscape in the Cappadocia region is amazing with bizarre moonlike contours. Apparently these have been carved out of volcanic ash over the years by the weather. They are called fairy chimneys which you may remember from part of Star Wars which was filmed in the area. Up until recently when the government bought out many of them, they were inhabited. You can therefore see windows & doorway's in many of the stone faces (see pic on left & pic of us in front of pidgıon valley below also on left). Amazing.

After an orientation walk of the town courtesy of Salih we had dinner at a local restaurant where the speciality was Pottery Kebab. This involved the meat of your choice + vegetables being cooked in a sealed pottery jar which you smashed open at your table (using the implement provided on the scored line on the jar). Absolutely delicious & extra nutritious with some bits of pottery depending on your pottery breaking skill level (see pic of Richard with his pottery Kebab on right).

The next morning we went to visit an underground city in Kayseri where the villages would hide if they saw enemies coming. The tunnels have been carved out over many years & are extremely detailed. The tunnels we visited included a winery, ventilation shafts & a morgue among other things. Apparently they could hold approximately 4,000 people for up to 2 weeks at a time. After this we had a local lunch of Gozeme (thin pancakes with any combination of cheese, spinach & sweet potato - yumbo). Did I mention Turk's eat around 4 times more bread than any other country (according to our lonely planet guide)? We are given bread with all meals for free & it is delicious!

After lunch we proceeded on into Kayseri where we went to the local Hamam (turkish bath) where we nearly cooked ourselves in a steam room & took of a few layers of skin afterwards with the massage. Fabulous way to get clean!

We then went on to see a local pottery maker who gave us an amazing demonstration of tea pot making at the pottery wheel (see pic on right) & had Sally (one of the girls in the group) attempt to make a basket which was quite funny. The stuff he makes is gorgeous & extremely durable. The colours painted on the finished product are gloriously rich. He set fire to one of the plates with some oil to demonstrate the colour fastness of the product. Very cool.

We then proceded back to Goreme where a few of us hired quad bikes (4 wheel drive motorbikes) up along the ranges to see some of the valley's (including love valley which is aptly named - see pic of me on a quad bike on right) We also saw sunset over Goreme with wine & cheese which was nice.



The next morning started bright & early at 4:45am for 4 of us who went hot air ballooning over the valleys (see pic on left). Amazing experience as neither of us have been hot air ballooning before. The driver of our balloon was extremely experienced and had us hovering in valleys & brushing tree tops and amazingly touched the balloon down on the trailer waiting for the basket! The balloons are 100% controlled by the wind but this guy knew the current's so well it was as if he had the wind in his control.

After the hot air ballooning we went to a local carpet shop where we were treated to a educational lecture about the carpets including origin, differing styles, indicators of quality for the different styles and heaps and heaps of different examples which were rolled out all over the floor for us. I never knew that there was so much to learn about carpets! We nearly bought a few, but managed to restrain ourselves.

More to follow soon...