Istanbul, end of my Middle East tour. And what a captivating city to finish in! Turkey has been a surprise for me, it's so scenic and beautiful. I'm not sure what I expected, but this is definitely a place to come back to one day. Istanbul is a beautiful city. Being spring at the moment all the gardens are planted out with springflowers, and there are lots and lots of tulips everywhere. I'm not sure of the connection but it seems to be a city of tulips as there are a number of tulip statuettes around. And it is actually raining [View Full Entry]

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Okay. No matter what I say about this stop on my travels, I'm not going to do it justice. But I guess I have to try! This blog will be a big longer than my usual summary for those who wanted lots of details... So sorry to those with less interest and time. We arrived and took the ferry across to Carnakkale (and Europe!) at around 7am on 24 April. The weather was clear and sunny, though cold, which seemed slightly surreal considering the reason we were here. Our group of 24 (Aussies, Kiwis and one sole American) were lucky enough [View Full Entry]

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Hey, guess what, I went to visit some roman ruins! My apologies for the sarcastic tone, but after a cold shower on a cold morning, a long drive to Ephesus and another roman site, this wasn't my most positive day! But in saying that, Ephesus has some lovely features and things that do differentiate it from the scores of other sites around this part of the world. The library was massive back in the day, not quite rivalling Alexandria but pretty substantial none the less. And a lovely facade still stands from it. And of course the roman toilet is an [View Full Entry]

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Yet another beautiful place in Turkey! They just keep coming... On the way along the Mediterranean coast, we stopped for lunch at Kas, my first real Med seaside town. It had all the stereotypical ingredients, turquoise water, sloping tree-covered hills, a marina, red-rooved white plaster buildings and lots of flowers and plants. Bliss. Here I purchased my obligatory evil-eye pendant to scare away the evil spirits so between that and my St Christopher (thanks Michele) I should have no problems from here on in! Passing the border between the Med and the Aegean Sea was definitely more theory than a noticeable [View Full Entry]

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No, not the Olympus that the Olympic Games stemmed from, but a lovely place on the Mediterranean coast of Turkey. There are also roman ruins here (yes, they're everywhere!) but there is so much more to this place than a bit of history. It's developed into a backpacker mecca with a long, scenic dirt road lined with backpacker hostels, many of which feature treehouses to sleep in. We stayed a Kadir's, a Middle Eastern icon according to the Lonely Planet, and I can see why! In peak season it would go off, even in the quiet season as it is now [View Full Entry]

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Well, goodbye Syria and hello Turkey! Not quite that smooth of course, border crossings in the Middle East never are. Turkey has started enforcing a law that says foreign registered vehicles older than 30 years old are not allowed into the country. Our Frosty (our overland truck - appropriate name for the desert I know) is over thirty and so that made life interesting. A coach and drivers had been arranged for us to swap into at the border, but the day before crossing we learned that the driver didn't have a Syrian visa. Hmmm. So at the border we had [View Full Entry]

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As I think I've said before, Syria is far underrated by westerners. In Aleppo we found lovely, welcoming people with ingrained hospitality as well as beautiful architecture and great culture in general. Starting the day with big fresh juices and cheesy toaties did help the good mood I admit - not our usual boiled eggs, white bread and jam and cucumber that we have been coping with through the Middle East. I don't think I'll ever want to eat boiled eggs or pita bread again... Add those to the overeaten foods list along with pot noodles from China! Our hostel was [View Full Entry]

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Crac de Chevaliers, home of Richard Lionheart, in the middle of Crusader country. Doesn't that just bring back memories of all those good (and bad) movies about knights, crusaders, arab wars and the attempts to control Jerusalem in the middle ages... Well, it's all that you could imagine it to be! We turned up the night before we were to go into the castle after a particularly partying, singing, drinking truck ride, and rocked up to our banquet dinner very merry already. And we had a fantastic night eating great Syrian food, drinking bad local wine and very moreish Raki - [View Full Entry]

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Ah yes, more roman ruins. And man, was this a hot day! A beautiful place to look around, but we spent a lot of time trying to find shade to hide in! There's not a lot around in a roman ruin, in case you were wondering. This was one of the main Roman cities in the area, a huge place which is now in the middle of nowhere, but back in the day was a happening place on the trade route. It was originally a temple to Baal before the Romans came along and piggybacked onto it and made it their [View Full Entry]

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Wow, I never thought I would get here... Yes, Lebanon, famous for wine, Lebanese bread and civil war. I was lucky enough to get the opportunity to spend a day there, to see it post civil war and find out what it was really like behind all the hype. I can attest that it's a lovely, friendly and scenic place. While there are lots of seriously armed soldiers around, particularly around the border areas, that's not different from any other of the surrounding countries. We started off early from Damascus and travelled to the ruins of Baalbek in Lebanon, an old [View Full Entry]

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