Cappadocia Here We Come

If you're looking for a geography lesson then come to Cappadocia, mid-eastern Turkey, an hour from Istanbul.
Even though it's not the high season there are still plenty of tourists here. We were here for 3 nights so we had plenty of time to see the place. The first tour day, 28th April, North Cappadocia. It started at the Goreme Open Air Museum, a former monastery from Byzantium times, with some beautiful Christian frescoes. Next was the panoramic view from Uchisar Castle, which doesn't look like your ordinary castle. Avanos is an area known for its pottery - beautiful workmanship but very expensive. Pasabaglari is known for the fairy chimneys and Devrent Valley had rock formations which looked like camels, fish, etc IF you used your imagination. By this time we were a little over rock formations for the day and were looking forward to getting away from the tour guide.

Inside our cave hotel room.

Outside the room

View back towards Urgup

Open Air Museum - close up

Open Air Museum

Pot making display

Can you spot the camel in the background?

Tony waiting, waiting, waiting ...

Fairy chimneys

The next day, 29th April, we had booked for our balloon ride over Cappadoccia. 4:20am wake up call, picked up at 5am and drove out to the site only to be told at 6am that there was too much wind to fly and they would book us in for the next day. The full day tour covered South Cappadoccia. Kizilcukur had rock carved churches, Cavusin had more churches and the underground city which was the highlight of the day. Only 10% of the 8 floors in the underground city is open to the public. It's hard to believe that people would live underground for up to a week at a time. We stopped for lunch at a cave restaurant which was conveniently next to a gemstone showroom. Saw some beautiful black onyx and learnt that turquoise's name comes from originates from Turkey / quartz. Luckily for our wallets I'm not a jewelry collector. Fortunately for us though, our tour guide was the same guy as the previous day so we were able to pursuade him to stop at a winery for some tasting before heading back to Urgup.

Casserole in a clay pot - yummy and cheap

Balloon packed & ready to go

The reason for the balloon being cancelled

The Ottoman Library in Urgup, now a cafe

Hospital monastery

A cave painting in the monastery

Safety always came first

Most grape vines grew on the ground

The cave restaurant we stopped at for lunch

A castle I've forgotten the name of

Dinner on the 2nd night - beef ravioli

Our last morning started with disappointing news. We missed out on the balloon ride because of the backlog of bookings. They had 3 days to catch up on and we couldn't wait another day - disappointing.

So we watched them from the terrace above our hotel instead ... one day we will do a balloon ride. After breakfast we walked up to the little cafe on the cliff top above Urgup that was once an Ottoman library. We took some great photos of the local landscape before heading back to chill out and wait for our transfer to the airport. 

Balloons on the horizon

View back towards our hotel.

Final say - Cappadoccia was well worth the visit. Great place if you enjoy walking and climbing up, down and inside mountains. Would we visit again? Yes, for the balloon ride and to check out Goreme (they have bike hires).

Loved Turkey! Highly recommend a visit if you are heading this way. Stay in Sultan Ahmed, make use of the trams, buy a museum pass for 3 days and use it, ride a ferry up the Bosphorous, eat at "The Cistern Restaurant", wander the back streets for sales, try Raki with Efes beer and eat a fish sandwich for 6TL. If we have time we will return to Turkey - so much more to see.

Trip To Turkey 2

We stayed overnight in Eceabat and met a lovely Australian couple who are tripping around Europe on motorbikes. Tony was in heaven.
Next morning we decided to head over to Canakkale (pronounced Cha-na-ka-le) for a moring of wandering around the navy museum and shops with a fellow Kiwi from Wellington. We met the tour bus after lunch and headed 30 minutes south to the ruins of Troy. The actual city had been added to and built on top of over many hundreds of years (can't remember actual numbers). The place is worth a visit if you're interested in Greek mythology and archeology, even though there's still a lot more excavating to happen.

View back to Eceabat from the water break.

The navy museum is inside the fortress on the Canakkale
side of the Dardenelles. 

Street of cannons at the fortress.

Unfortunately the museum was shut.

The boardwalk at Canakkale. Boats on the left, cafes on the right...

...and lots of jellyfish in the water.

This trojan horse was donated from the movie.

Iti at the Troy VI and Troy VII walls

Spot the red squirrel on the well grate.

A brick wall riddled with wasp holes.

The different excavated levels were marked in this area.

Iti at the west ramp, where treasures were supposedly
 found and smuggled back to Germany by the first "archaeological" group.

This is the remains of where Paris and Hellen lived in Troy. 

A Roman theatre - just a small one.

The South Gate now ...

... and then 

Trip To Turkey pt 1

Being Kiwi, we planned a visit to Turkey, and just had to visit Gallipoli. After a night's stay in Istanbul we rode the tour bus down the peninsular. The 5 hour ride was broken up with just one toilet stop and the weather didn't look too promising either. We arrived at the Crowded House Hotel in Eceabat and the rain clouds disappeared.
Our tour guide hurried us all onto the bus and off we went, 5 Americans, 18 Aussies and us. Stops included Brighton Beach (where the ANZACs should have landed), the Beach Cemetery, Anzac Cove, Ariburni Cemetery, ANZAC Commemoration Site (where they hold the dawn service on the 25th), Lone Pine Australian Memorial, Johnston's Jolly, 57th Regiment Turkish Memorial (the whole regiment died), The Nek, and finally Chunuk Bair NZ Memorial where the Kiwis held out for 2 days til the Turks forced them back again. We were amazed at the distance from ANZAC Cove to Chunuk Bair and the close proximity in which they fought against each other. In some cases it was only about 8 metres of no man's land. We were shown the headstone of the 14 year old Australian private, the youngest to die there. I can't imagine how he must have felt during the few weeks he was there. The adventure must have turned into a nightmare for many of them.
We were so pleased to have the guide because he gave us the Turkish viewpoint of the invasion as well as summing up what had happened to the ANZACs. Such an amazing place and wonderful people who have kept the memory of our fallen alive for almost 100 years.

Beach Cemetery.

Iti at ANZAC Cove

ANZAC COVE - much smaller than we imagined.

The memorial at Ariburnu Cemetery. Very poignant.

Walking along the beach toward the ANZAC Commemoration Site.
ANZACs called the large rock in the background "The Sphinx."

The flagpole at the ANZAC Commemoration Site.

Preparations for ANZAC Day were in full swing.

Lone Pine Cemetery - the Australian Service takes place here.

There are still traces of trenches and tunnels in the area called
Johnston's Jolly.

The 57th Regiment Turkish Memorial

The view from the Nek down to the area where the British troops
landed, at the far end of the peninsular.

In front of the wall at Chunuk Bair,
where the names of the NZ regiments are listed.  

This statue in Eceabat shows Turkish mehmets
helping a Kiwi soldier (top centre) and an Aussie (lower left).

An instalment showing just how close some of the battles that took place were.

A model showing where some of the monuments and cemeteries
are on the peninsular. Chunuk Bair is at the top of the photo.

NB. I hope you read all of this Raymond. I'm going to test you next time we skype (haha!). Don't forget to read Troy too. xxx Mum

Alexandria for the Weekend

Selfie on the train with Bonnie & Bill

Fort Qaitbey

Last weekend we decided to head up to Alexandria on the train with Bonnie & Bill. Never having traveled by train outside of Cairo, it was wonderful to sit and watch the delta farmers in their fields as we passed by. Alexandria was going to be our first glimpse of the Mediterranean so I guess my expectations were pretty high. On arrival the taxi driver we decided to use was attacked by a couple of others. The driver didn't seem to like the idea of being hit over the head and started driving off with Tony still in the process of clambering into the taxi. First impressions eh?The Sofitel was lovely and situated right on the Corniche so after checking in we headed out, first to the Fish Market (restaurant not souq) then on to the highlight of the trip, Fort Qaitbey. The fort was built in 1480 and sits on a peninsular. We spent a few hours wondering around and taking a multitude of photos. We hadn't realised until this trip that being European and blond / grey is an oddity. The Egyptians were fascinated by Bonnie and Bill, constantly stopping them to have photos taken. This was very different to the attitude of some of the locals who threw stones and swore at us as we walked back along the Corniche. I guess the biggest disappointment though was the rubbish on the beach. Having come from clean, green NZ Tony and I still can't believe that people would treat the ocean this way. The last train back to Cairo was at 3.00pm so our Saturday was rushed. We found out, after walking for half an hour, on Saturday morning, that the library was closed on Fridays and Saturdays. The museum was hard to find but it was well worth the walk. The exhibits covered Alexandria's history really well. I found it strange there wasn't much mention of Cleopatra though. The crypt and the Turkish artifacts were awesome. Maybe one day we'll head back to Alexandria and spend more time there but not while there are other places to visit... Turkey later this month.

Iti, Tony & I on one of the coastal walls at the fort.

Looking back towards the Alexandria Library, the grey building centre right.

View of the bazaar from inside the fort.

The other side of the library with beautiful stone carvings.

These 2 Egyptian cats knew who the best fisherman was.

Looking out towards Fort Qaitbey, by Iti's right ear.

Managed to take this without being spotted.

The villa which holds the Alexandria Museum. Can't believe it was once
someone's home. It has 3 floors, a basement and a crypt.

The taxis looked like swarms of bees, very easy to spot in the hoards of traffic.