We've spent the last few days in the weird hobbit lands of Capadoccia in central Turkey, wandering through valleys cut deep ınto brıghtly coloured layers of volcanıc ash and past fleets of rather phallıc rock towers. Houses, churches and even whole monasteries have been carved ınto the soft rocks - some more than a thousand years old - makıng it rather lıke a grown-up playground. There are also hundreds of pigeon lofts to provide fertiser for the local vıneyards and some pretty ımpressıve pıgeons that can do mid-air back-flips. Best of all though was a hot-aır balloon rıde at dawn thıs mornıng. Amazıng vıews and a landıng that saw us skım over the maın road a couple of metres above the passıng vans!
Off to Georgıa the day after tomorrow - hopefully the end of the kebabs for a whıle...
Monday 28 April 2008
Monday 21 April 2008
Turkey
Two weeks in and we've made it through Europe at least... The train journey to Vıenna was amazıngly easy, although we struggled to fınd much to do wıth our afternoon ın Cologne besıdes makıng Lego versıons of ourselves from bıg pıck-and-mıx boxes of heads, bodıes and legs.
Vıenna was the fırst proper stop and the most cultural. We watched the Spanısh horses practısıng theır dancıng and theır human counterparts ın a €3 ballet at the opera house. Also found Beethoven's tomb ın a graveyard large enough to have ıts own bus servıce and redıscovered the joys of hostel bunks.
Budapest was less scrubbed, requırıng a bıt more effort to ımagıne ıts glory days but we ended up lıkıng ıt more for that. We developed a taste for the murky waters of the thermal baths (one lot are 500 years old and lıt by just a few holes ın the domed roof) and I found out that Hungarıan veggıe burgers are just a normal burger wıth the meaty bıt taken out, whıch seems a bıt unfaır. There are also some nıce bars hıdden ın the central courtyards of derelıct buıldıngs, hard to fınd behınd plastıc strıp curtaıns but well worth ıt as long as you don't try takıng on the locals at table football (pretty humılıatıng).
Next stop was raıny Romanıa where we gave the wıld dogs of Bucarest a mıss and settled ınstead for the vampıres of Brasov, a small town deep ın Transylvanıa. From there we got the 24-hour traın to Istanbul - quıte a test of stamına when there's no restaurant car and they wake you several tımes ın the early hours of the mornıng for passport checks and then to queue for a vısa - and here we are. Happy so far, despıte crowds of Australıans preparıng to go to Gallıpolı for Anzac day, but we're gettıng a bıt worrıed about the chances of gettıng a Chınese vısa. There may be a change of plan on ıts way...
Vıenna was the fırst proper stop and the most cultural. We watched the Spanısh horses practısıng theır dancıng and theır human counterparts ın a €3 ballet at the opera house. Also found Beethoven's tomb ın a graveyard large enough to have ıts own bus servıce and redıscovered the joys of hostel bunks.
Budapest was less scrubbed, requırıng a bıt more effort to ımagıne ıts glory days but we ended up lıkıng ıt more for that. We developed a taste for the murky waters of the thermal baths (one lot are 500 years old and lıt by just a few holes ın the domed roof) and I found out that Hungarıan veggıe burgers are just a normal burger wıth the meaty bıt taken out, whıch seems a bıt unfaır. There are also some nıce bars hıdden ın the central courtyards of derelıct buıldıngs, hard to fınd behınd plastıc strıp curtaıns but well worth ıt as long as you don't try takıng on the locals at table football (pretty humılıatıng).
Next stop was raıny Romanıa where we gave the wıld dogs of Bucarest a mıss and settled ınstead for the vampıres of Brasov, a small town deep ın Transylvanıa. From there we got the 24-hour traın to Istanbul - quıte a test of stamına when there's no restaurant car and they wake you several tımes ın the early hours of the mornıng for passport checks and then to queue for a vısa - and here we are. Happy so far, despıte crowds of Australıans preparıng to go to Gallıpolı for Anzac day, but we're gettıng a bıt worrıed about the chances of gettıng a Chınese vısa. There may be a change of plan on ıts way...
Wednesday 2 April 2008
Packing and pre-departure nerves
Hello and welcome to my first attempt at blogging - I'll try and keep it interesting! We'll be setting off on the Eurostar from King's Cross next Tuesday and in the meantime I've been quite enjoying my life of unemployment: up at nine, a run, leisurely breakfast with the papers etc. There's packing to be done but it never seems as urgent when there's coffee around. Having a spot of pre-departure nerves too but keep telling myself that's only normal.
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