GREECE

Hi everyone
Due to a formatting problem with this blog, there is a huge gap between the bottom of the last post ISTANBUL TO GREECE and the previous one of Turkey to Cappadocia. Please just scroll down to find the previous posts.
Thanks
Peter

TURKEY AND ON TO GREECE

Well since our last post we have finished our travels from Cappadocia up through Turkey back to Istanbul and then we have flew on to Athens, Greece.

First a few photos that I did not include in my previous post - yes I have a computer where my SD card reader works !!! Sorry if the text is a bit repetitive but at least you will know what the photos are of.

Peter and Jenny floating on The Dead Sea in Jordan

Standing in Anzac Cove, Gallipoli, with the Dardenelle Strait behind. There was a very sombre feel to this cove. We looked up the cliffs and realised what an impossible task the New Zealand and Australian soldiers had to advance with little cover on the beach and scale those cliffs.

We crossed the Dardanelles from Eceabah to Cannakkale and stayed the night before continuing the next day to the ancient city of Troy and the Wooden Horse .

We drove on south down the west coast of Turkey stopping at Kusadasi a beautiful port town. Inland we visited the old ruins of Ephesus and Jenny found the roman public toilets in the ruins !!! Incredible how this city of 200,000 people had everything, from theatres to library's, shops, houses, markets, village square, roads, piped water, sewerage system, etc etc and all thousands of years ago!

Above Ephesus on the top of the mountain, we visited the house that Moses took Mary to live in following the crucifixion of her son Jesus. The little stone cottage had a beautiful peaceful feel to it and we spent some time inside considering this event and the 2000 years since. Hard to comprehend and almost overwhelming!

From Ephesus we drove on down further south to Pamukkale and the massive white cliffs covered in Calcium from the natural springs in the hills above.

Higher up on the hill we climbed to the ruins of Hieropolis which was once a thriving town with people visiting to enjoy the springs which they belived had healing properties.

Next it was around the south coast of Turkey to the Tourist town of Antalya. A beautiful seaside and port town, where the old city has been preserved and the new city is growing to accomodate the 7 million tourist who visit each year for the history (like us), the mountains for skiing in the winter and the warm waters for boating in the summer. We stayed at the Sheriton on the beach front, one of the better hotels on the tour!

From Antalya we drove north through the Taurus Mountains to Konya a very poor and conservative town. Then across the Obruk Plateau which was like the Desert Road in NZ with mountains and extinct volcano's. We are following the original Silk Road route that the traders in their Camel Caravans followed. In Sultanhani in the desert we visit a Caravan House, where the traders would stop and spend the night safe from the Bandits.

Following the mountain range and the now extinct volcanoes across the Obruk Plateau we stop on the side of the road as there begin to be more fertile soils and farms. Our guide Alp Kose asks a farmer if we can talk to him about his mud brick house and farm. He's delighted, but more so when he sees Lizzy and decides he wants her to marry his youngest son who is currently doing his compulsory military training. We start talking about doweries and he wants a photo with his future daughter in law and her parents!!! Lots of fun and much smiling as Alp translates there excited talk. Finally we pull Lizzy away and depart on the bus.

Further on along the Silk Road we arrive in Capaddocia. Many thousands of years ago when the volcanoes erupted, they spewed Volcanic Ash into the valleys. Over the years with erosion, they formed amazing structures called Fairy Chimneys which the locals carved out and formed houses that they lived in.

They also carved into the hillside and made amazing networks of underground cities. These sometimes reached to 14 levels.

At night we visit a traditional Cappadocian restaurant and have a meal of lamb stew cooked in sealed pottery jars, which the waiting staff bring into the restaurant and with great gusto use a small axe to knock the top off the jar to get the stew out. Very nice and a bit of fun.

In northern Cappadocia we drive to a small town called Avanos, where we visit a family run pottery factory and showroom. The owner and father makes a tea pot on the wheel, then cuts it in half to show us how beautifully thin the sides are. A masterpiece ruined ! Jenny buys a beautiful plate and small bowl as a memory of the beautiful pottery we saw.

Then after spending a day driving back from Ankara the capital of Turkey, we arrive back in Istanbul and our tour is over, We visit the Spice Bazaar which like the Grand Bazaar with all the gold, silver, mats, etc etc is amazing.

So 3200km and a couple of weeks later we have visited many beautiful sights in the western half of Turkey.

AND SO ON TO GREECE ...

We fly from Istanbul to Athens and stay in a central Athens boutique hotel. Even though it is early in the tourist season, there are thousands of tourists at the

Acropolis and the Parthenon is covered in scaffolding.

Anyway we enjoy our few days in Athens before we leave for Serifos the Island Jenny and I stayed on 23 years ago. We are disappointed in the changes we find on Serifos, including a two lane road they have built 3 years ago around the bay where the restaurants are - ruined it!!

This time we chose to stay in the port town of Kamares on the Island of Sifnos which is another 30 minutes further south in the fast ferry. A good choice, it is compact and a great little community that we fit into well. We stay in Hotel Stavros which is right on the Quay amongst the restaurants and we can see the pier where the ferries tie up to deliver passengers, cars and supplies. A facinating location and the people are very friendly.

Each day there are more shops and cafes open as they get ready for Greek Easter on 27 April. Its funny watching the town wake up from winter. The only problem is the water is very cool (I guess 16 c) and so we can;t swim but enjoy the enforced rest after our couple of months travelling.

Next week we head back to Athens for two days and then we fly to Rome for 6 days before collecting our car and beginning our Italian Tour. We will update the blog once we have started our Italian leg of this trip.

Our love to all our friends and family. Thanks for your comments and emails.

FROM İSTANBUL TO CAPPADOCİA - TURKEY

We enjoyed four days in Istanbul before joining our tour group, however Lizzy became very ill on our last day and vomited for 22 hours. We called a doctor who arrived by ambulance with a driver and paramedic assistant. He put Lizzy on a drip with medication and within 24 hours she was much better. We then joined our Turkey tour guide in Istanbul to fınd ourselves on a 44 seater coach with 42 other people, not the max 20 seater coach we were expecting. Not a good start. Jenny who is not a good back seat passenger suffered with the bouncing motion and became very sick on the first day, collapsing and passing out in Eceabah as we were about to board the ferry to cross the Dardanelles to Cannakkale. She was taken away by ambulance for treatment at a medical centre and just made it back in time to join the ferry crossing. The next day was almost as bad with more vomiting until we could get some motion sickness medication. Thank goodness for the toilet on the bus.

Visiting Gallipoli was a very sobering yet moving experience. To walk on the beach that so many ANZACS gave their lives on is hard to describe. Standing there looking up at the cliffs that they had to climb under enemy (turkish) fire made you realise what a terrible mistake had been made landing the troops on the wrong beach. We visited the Australian and then New Zealand war cemeteries and found the inscription of Jenny's grandfathers brother Mr Bain. We laid four poppies on the memorial, a special moment.

Over the next few days as we travelled south down the west coast, visiting the Ancient City of Troy and saw the replica of the wooden horse, Pergamon the terraced hillside city, Izmir the large port town and spend the night in Kusadasi at a lovely hotel overlooking the Mediterranian. Nearby the ancient city of Ephesius was facinating with its collonaded streets, Hadrians temple, Roman bath house, public toilets with marble toilet seats, grand library and carving of the goddess Nike with her feather, now portrayed as a stylised tick by the Nike sport brand. We also visited Mary's House, the mother of Jesus Christ, set in the woods near the top of a hill overlooking Ephesius. İt had a very special serene feel to it and we had a moment to stop and pray and light a candle.

Travelling further south we arrive at Pamukkale and the ruins of Hieropolis and the cascading white terraces caused by calcium deposits from the mineral springs above in the hillside. İn the valley below there are steaming vents and a thermal power station.

On the southern coast of Turkey we arrive at Antalya, a modern tourist city of 1 million people that hosts 7 million tourists per year. Staying at the Sheriton for 2 nights its a nice change and we enjoy the food and lovely accomodation. A highlight was visiting the old city with its marina with gulettes (traditional turkish sailing boats) and other boats. We visited Perge with its stadium and 200m track that hosted sporting events in 200AD and its gymnasium with bath house and underfloor heated rooms - facinating and incredibly clever for its time.

Changing direction we head through the mountains and drive a couple of hundred kilometres north and inland to Konya which is at the crossroads from North to South and East to West. We are on the old Silk Road which the Trade Caravans followed hundreds of years ago. We visit a Caravan House on our way across the flat central plateau with its snow covered volcanic mountain range in the eastern distance. This fortified house was were the traders and their camels overnighted in its shelter from the bandits who regularly attacked and pillaged these caravans.

We stopped on the side of the road and talked to a traditional turkish farmıng family who welcomed us into their paddock. We had a great photo session and finished up with them wanting to keep Lizzy as a bride for their youngest son who was returning next week from completıng his 18 months of compulsory Military Training.

Finally we arrive in the Cappadocia Region of central Turkey with its amazing underground houses carved into the soft sandstone and the Fairy Chimneys, cone shaped rock structures that people carved the centre out of to form houses - hard to describe but an amazing sight! We experience a traditional Cappadocian meal out at a restaurant, where they cook Lamb in sealed pottery jars in earth ovens like İndian tandoory one's. They break the jars open with an axe - all very dramatic but very tasty.

I am sorry that I have no photos this posting, as the hotel doesn't have a cable for my camera and my USB adaptor for the memory card won't work on this computer. Oh well.

I trust you our family and friends are well and thank you to those of you emailing us news from home/NZ