Hi all, it has been a very busy week!
We left Bristol airport on Sat. arvo and arrived in Instanbul about 1:00 a.m. Slight problem - only 3 of our 4 bags arrived - I'm not so sure why Kristin seemed upset - Andy, Billy and Declan had clothes!
Sunday morning, we got up and had breakfast at the rooftop cafe over looking the Marmara Sea. Our tour group numbered about 20, a mix of Aussies and a few token Kiwis and some from Trinidad. The ages ranged from 20 to 60. Most of the young Aussies were living and working in the UK. We spent the day walking around Instanbul and the popular tourist sites. The area was spectacular.
Before we went in to the AyaSofya, I managed to get an ATM to swallow one of our debit cards - not a good start! The Ayasofya is a magnificent building and full of history. Next we went to the Topkapi Palace and it was very grand and also had great views of Instanbul. For lunch we went to a Turkish restaurant and next stop was the Hippodrome. The Hippodrome is a giant square (rectangle?) where they apparently had horse/chariot races. In the square there are 3 columns, one being an obelisk from Egypt. Next we went to the Blue Mosque - truly impressive - after paying our respects to Allah, we went to the Bascillica Cistern. All these sites are within 300 metres of each other but took most of the day to visit.
At this point, the Day's tour concluded but our guide Paulot took a small group of us for an extra trip and drink. This allowed us to see more of Instanbul and included the Egyptian Bazaar, a tram trip, a train trip and a couple of drinks!
Monday morning saw an early rise because we had a long trip to Gallopoli (~300km) and we had some bloke called Obama coming to Instanbul and the city was going to be shut down!
When we arrived at Gallopoli I was unsure what emotions I was going to feel, after seeing the Museum we went first to Anzac Cove. The first impression looking along the coast is what a nice beach it is, then you look at the land and think to yourself - why the hell did they land here? the landscape reminds me a lot of what you see at Point Nepean, Cape Schanck or even the West Coast of Victoria. It is hard to imagine the poor soldiers who had to jump into the water fully rigged and attempt to climb the sheer cliffs - the futility of war is never more evident!
There were preparations for Anzac Day going on - in the photos the red blocks are seats. From Anzac Cove we went to Lone Pine (I lost my Wales cap here - very windy), The Nek and Chanuk Bair and some of the Turkish memorials. At the end of the day we went across the Dardanelles to Canakkale - here we saw the Trojan horse they used in the movie Troy. We stayed at a very nice Hotel in Guzelyali.
Next day we visited the Troy ruins and then a long trip to the acropolis at Pergamum - a renowned cultural and political centre in its time - very good. We then went to Kusadasi for our hotel and arrived at about 8:30 pm, had a meal and a few drinks.
On Wednesday we started the day with a visit to a carpet factory - some of the carpets were brilliant - but I was successful because Kristin didn't buy anything! From the carpets we went to the ruins of the Temple of Atremis (one of the 7 ancient wonders of the world) - not a lot there!
The next stop was Ephesus - a restored/excavated Roman/Greek city - magnificient!! We spent over 2 hours here and it was worth the visit! After a late lunch we visited a leather factory and then back to Kusadasi (a beautiful holiday area).
Thursday morning we left Turkey (this was the exciting part of the trip because we were all on our own and were organising it ourselves) to go to Samos (a Greek Island) on a ferry (~1hour 30 min). Vathi is the capital of Samos, and we had a lazy day there waiting for our overnight ferry to Athens. I thought the ferry trip (through the Greek Islands) was ok, but our 4 bed cabin was very cramped. We arrived at the Athens port of Piraeus at 7:30 a.m.
We caught the Metro (train - in peak hour!) to the middle of Athens and a short walk to the hotel. We were able to check in and have a shower etc..
We went for a walk towards the Acropolis (~2/3 km) and did all the sites: Parthenon, Agora, Temple of Zeus, etc.... - fabulous! Late in the day we bought some beers and ouzo (& ice) and had a few drinks back in the room - put the ice in the sink to cool the beers! After this we went out for a haircut, shave and a Giro (souvlaki)!
Saturday morning we went to the Archaelogical Museum -lots of marble and bronze statues. for the next couple of hours we wandered the streets and markets of Athens. Managed to get back to the hotel and caught a couple of buses to the airport and arrived back in Cardiff about 11 pm!!
That's all for now. All the pics have been posted!
cheers!
1 comment:
Hi Andy and Kristen and B & D - now that is a whirlwind of history -i never saw the blue mosque but its beauty is legendary. If you had hung around in Greece you coulda had Easter twice - theirs is next weekend. Bye Peter M
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