http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/Emmad/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Emmad en-us Sat, 26 Jul 2008 09:42:56 BST Sat, 26 Jul 2008 09:42:56 BST Before leaving Romania we had two more stops to make to see a bit more of what the country was like when free of tourists.ClujNapoca is on the edge of Transylvania pretty scenery on the way there of course and a nice town when we got there. Despite the taxi driver who 'misunderstood' where we wanted to go and made some extra money it was a nice stop. A good hostel for the night lovely bui http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Romania/Transylvania/Cluj-Napoca/blog-279700.html Another place that was on my list of must visits Brasov for Bran Castle home of Dracula. But there's heaps more to Brasov than just Bran Castle.We stayed at a cool hostel about 10 minutes walk from the main square arrived on Sunday night and managed to find it without any issues which is always an achievement The weather had turned cloudy for the first time in a while which suited the Drac http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Romania/Transylvania/Brasov/blog-279699.html After being in small places for the last wee while Bucharest was a definite contrast. It's a sizeable city complete with traffic dirt and stray dogs yes Bucharest is known for it's 'community dog' problem. Our train journey to get there turned a wee bit complicated as the train was late arriving by two hours then after 20 mins travelling it stopped for another 2 12 hours in the middle o http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Romania/Bucharest/blog-276224.html Well this was an interesting few days...We left Plovdiv intending to head to Macedonia via Sofia as there is no direct bus. Which meant getting up at 4.30 to get to the bus station to make the early bus so we could connect early in Sofia which we did. And we quietly congratulated ourselves on making the connections with no issues and having things go so smoothly. Just before the Macedonian b http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Bulgaria/North/Veliko-Tarnovo/blog-275002.html The first true Eastern European stop on my trip beautiful Plovdiv home of the best street kebabs in the world. And I don't feel that comment is an exaggeration wait until you try them Tania Emma and I have had a great time here.The crossing to Bulgaria was smooth which was nice and we arrived in Plovdiv and and found our hostel with little drama. We were staying handily on the main pede http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Bulgaria/South/Plovdiv/blog-274993.html 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 no http://www.travelblog.org/Middle-East/Turkey/Marmara/Istanbul/blog-272195.html 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 wh http://www.travelblog.org/Middle-East/Turkey/Marmara/Gallipoli/blog-271913.html 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 dayBut 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 http://www.travelblog.org/Middle-East/Turkey/Aegean/Sel-uk/blog-271907.html 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 treecovered hills a marina redrooved white plaster buildings and lots of flowers and plants. Bliss. Here I purchased my obligatory evileye pendant to scare awa http://www.travelblog.org/Middle-East/Turkey/Aegean/Fethiye/blog-271889.html 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 Kad http://www.travelblog.org/Middle-East/Turkey/Mediterranean/Olympos/blog-271883.html 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 http://www.travelblog.org/Middle-East/Turkey/Central-Anatolia/Cappadocia/blog-271873.html 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 Midd http://www.travelblog.org/Middle-East/Syria/North/Aleppo/blog-271795.html 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 http://www.travelblog.org/Middle-East/Syria/West/Krak-des-Chevaliers/blog-270533.html 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 origi http://www.travelblog.org/Middle-East/Syria/East/Palmyra/blog-270527.html 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 http://www.travelblog.org/Middle-East/Lebanon/blog-270524.html Welcom to Syria Not viewed to favourably in the west but come here and you'll see what a fantastic place it really is.Our stop in Damascus was really characterised for me by haze and polluting smog but also by how close we are to the Iraqi border as evidenced by the photos... As I used Damascus as a base to travel elsewhere I've got little to say but wait until the next stop http://www.travelblog.org/Middle-East/Syria/South/Damascus/blog-270522.html Roman ruins are becoming prevalent the further into the Middle East I go. Jerash is a famous one and deservedly so. As our guide was easily one of the most boring and personalityless that I've seen my friend Laurie and I deserted the group early so we don't know a lot about what acutally happened there but we got to see a lot more Enjoy the photos... http://www.travelblog.org/Middle-East/Jordan/North/Jerash/blog-270516.html Swimming in the Dead Sea is a very weird experience...I'd heard about the floatiness and it really is like that. But not just floaty you actually cannot get yourself around like normal in water to get upright you have to manouvre yourself into the right spot. And boy does that salt sting I thought I should taste is since I was there so I stuck my tounge in. Bad move I don't recommend it http://www.travelblog.org/Middle-East/Jordan/North/Amman/blog-270513.html Man oh man Petra is one impressive placeI know I am repeating myself a lot in these blogs but there are just so many amazing places in this part of the world. I had always thought Petra was a reasonable size but all kind of together in one area. It's actually so spread out and while there is a lot in one rift there are many more places to look at over a huge area. A few of us spent 9 hour http://www.travelblog.org/Middle-East/Jordan/South/Petra/blog-270505.html Wow another new country. Jordan is lovely mostly clean and tidy organised and the food is great so farSpent the night camping under the stars in Wadi Rum home of Lawerence of Arabia and so many epic stories. It's beautiful in a stunning stark kind of way. Got to drive in the truck cab for the day which was cool. A different view of the world from there and not so bumpyIn the Wadi Rum http://www.travelblog.org/Middle-East/Jordan/South/Wadi-Rum/blog-270498.html