http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/Empem/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Empem en-us Tue, 08 Dec 2009 21:01:52 +0000 Tue, 08 Dec 2009 21:01:52 +0000 Tuesday 19 AugustLots of sleeping on the bus and it was back into France destination Nice. On the way we had a stop over at a perfumery. It was just in time as the tyre under where we were sitting sounded flat.The perfume tour of Fragonard wasn't the most riveting but I did learn that the alcohol used in perfume comes from beetroot. Who knewUpon returning to the bus we found out that the http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/France/Provence-Alpes-C-te-d--Azur/Nice/blog-339141.html Sunday 17 AugustToday we were on to a new country. SPAIN And Barcelona was our destination.Nat broke her thongs at the start of the day. She bought a lovely bright orange pair at a servo during our drive with the servo's name REPSOL written largely in the soles. The Repsols became very handy since becoming a bit of a legend for us on the trip.Upon arriving in Barcelona we did a driving to http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Spain/Catalonia/Barcelona/blog-334387.html Saturday 16 AugustWe were on the bus at the fresh time of 730 in the morning. It was a long driving day arriving in Avignon France in time for dinner. The beds were very dodgy with one of the top bunks breaking early into our stay.After dinner we had our walking tour with the wonderful Leticia. Avignon is an old walled city that used to house the Pope. In the centre of the town is the ch http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/France/Provence-Alpes-C-te-d--Azur/Avignon/blog-334376.html Thursday 14 AugustOur first big travel day. We boarded the bus early to drive to Lauterbruen Switzerland. The method to make it a quick journey was to sleep on the bus. I wasn't that tired at this point of the trip so I actually got to see some of the French countryside. There were some amazing castles on the way.As soon as we passed the Swiss boarder the fun began with a Champaign party on http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Switzerland/South-West/Lauterbrunnen/blog-334046.html Tuesday 12 AugustMy whirlwind Europe tour was to begin. It was an early start after a small sleep no thanks to Wayne's World 2 the night before. I made my way to west London to meet up with my tour group at 6.30. From here we got on the bus and made our way down to Dover where we caught the ferry across to Calais in France.Leaving the white cliffs of Dover behind us we were on our way. It w http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/France/Ile-de-France/Paris/blog-334040.html I have been slightly side tracked in my updating of the travel blog.Where did I leave off....Upon returning to London I had a few day of work remaining at Mazars which filled out my stay in London. Very helpful. I went for walks in my lunch breaks to really suck up being right in the centre of London City.I said goodbye to the family in Hastings. Once again there was no chance of starving as http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/United-Kingdom/England/Greater-London/London-City/blog-334027.html It was early rise and shine to catch the bus to Stanstead Airport. The flight James and I were taking was up to Glasgow. We arrived in town at lunchtime after a little confusion as to where to catch the bus from once at Glasgow airport.Not long into our wonder around were we lured into a pub with the promise of 1.99 breakfast. Who can go past that really Of course we upgraded to the massiv http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/United-Kingdom/Scotland/blog-305910.html One of the things on my To See list could finally be crossed off. With my departure date drawing closer and closer I ventured out on my own this is beginning to be a bit of a theme to see Bath. The expectations I went with were gladly met with the beauty of Bath.Leaving London at 8am it was a three hour coach ride to Bath direct. Coming over the rise that leads down to Bath you could see http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/United-Kingdom/England/Somerset/Bath/blog-299522.html Well what a weekend So busy and are my legs feeling it today and yesterday for that matter but being Sunday had to push on through. Due to the fact that time is ticking away for me in London it was time to get out there are see the sites. Equipped with my London Pass what an investment that was I set out to get my moneys worth. Following my carefully planned and roughly timed time http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/United-Kingdom/England/Greater-London/London-City/blog-296428.html In the last few weeks of my England stay I'm trying to do as many things a possible. Upon asking anyone if they wanted to go to Stonehenge Krystel informed me that they were going in two weeks for the Summer Solstice. This sounded like a good plan so I signed up for the trip.Meeting up after work at Shaun and Krystel's house the tree of us and Matt and Gill headed to the famous stones in ou http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/United-Kingdom/England/Wiltshire/Stonehenge/blog-290783.html As the lady at work next to me makes yet another cat noise I figure there is no time like the present to punch out another blog of what I have been up to the last few weeks in London. I am currently temping and my first job that was meant to last one week is now into its sixth with a possible five more to go. Good news for me. It is situated right opposite the Tower of London and at the b http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/United-Kingdom/England/Gloucestershire/Painswick/blog-288802.html Our last full day in our travels. To start the day off we went to the Blue Mosque and went inside. It was stunning and so beautiful.We then went on a walk up to the Spice Market. On the way we had a look in the front gardens of the Palace but decided no to go in. After a kebab lunch at the Spice Market we had a look around the area. At the bridge there all the men were lined up fishing. http://www.travelblog.org/Middle-East/Turkey/Marmara/Istanbul/blog-277461.html 27408We arrived at about 8 in the morning and found ourselves some accommodation. We ended out at a pretty cool hostel which was carved into the rocks. The breakfast they served in the morning was also the best breakfast I had in my travels. Ahhhh menemen.We decided that day we would just go for a walk. After some walking and a ride in the back of a truck we ended out at some great caves. http://www.travelblog.org/Middle-East/Turkey/Central-Anatolia/Cappadocia/blog-276319.html Today Megan went home and James Nick DJ and I spent the day wandering around Istanbul.Unfortunately the rain and cold had come over so that limited our ldquosit in the parkrdquo time. We first went up the Grand Bazaar. Here we managed to lose Nick and DJ but met up with them later on a kebab run.After lunch we ventured up to the Spice Market via many streets that sold socks. DJ had a r http://www.travelblog.org/Middle-East/blog-276314.html 24408A long day. It was our trio down to Gallipoli. We were killing time in morning walking around the Saltanahmet area until our tour left. We arrived at our tour office to find that we werenrsquot leaving at 12 but at 1 instead. At 1 we found out that the bus was running 30 minutes late. At 3 we were finally on our way.It usually takes about four to five hours to get to Gallipoli. It http://www.travelblog.org/Middle-East/Turkey/Marmara/Gallipoli/blog-276299.html 22408What a great city Irsquom thoroughly impressed with Istanbul. Itrsquos very chilled out and very clean.Magan and I started the day wandering up to the Blue Mosque and Aya Sophya. They are very pretty and about 100 metres from our hostel. The Blue Mosque and Aya Sophya are opposite each other with a beautiful garden teeming with tulips and a fountain connecting them. Here we deci http://www.travelblog.org/Middle-East/Turkey/Marmara/Istanbul/blog-275111.html 14408We arrived in Dahab at 330am to the bus station. We then realised that there was no phone there and only one taxi. In Dahab the taxis are all Toyota Hiluxes so we had no choice but to jump in the cab while all the locals piled in the tray. We were at our hotel in no time and then the driver tried to rip us off. There was no way he was going to get away with that. We were now fairly http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Egypt/Sinai/Dahab/blog-275086.html 12408Another early start and it is our trip back to Cairo. This was mostly done on our own bus but we had to swap to the Metro once we were in Cairo due to the car licence. We managed to escape having an escort on this part of the trip with some persuasive arguing. Sure did beat our desert trip in which we had an escort who snored really loudly and kept me awake.We got into Cairo at about 5 http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Egypt/Lower-Egypt/Cairo/blog-275079.html This day marked our journey across the desert and our night under the stars. It was amazing scenery along the way and we made a few stops including Sand Dunes Volcano Mountain The Black Desert The Obstacles lunch at Haez Crystal Mountain The Flowers and Fossils The Old White Desert Mushroom Rocks and the New White Desert which had Chicken Rock and was our final camping spot for the nig http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Egypt/Western-Desert/blog-275072.html 8408It was another long day on the road. We had anhellip early start just for something new and hopped on the bus. Ten hours later after passing some pretty amazing Mediterranean coastline we arrived in the Oasis town of Siwa. First impression was that it was a pretty small and barren town but delightfully first impressions arenrsquot always right.We first headed up to the site of t http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Egypt/Western-Desert/Siwa-Oasis/blog-274406.html