Page 4 of Matt and Birgit Travel Blog Posts


Middle East » Jordan April 1st 2010

We have just completed a whistle-stop tour of Jordan, but have seen all the main sites and had a brilliant few days. The thermometer is on the rise, it is well into the thirties now and only set to get hotter. Our first stop was Amman, a great place to be based to explore the surrounding areas. One of the highlights had to be our excursion to the Dead Sea which is 390m below sea level, with about 30% salinity. It was awesome - you can literally float like you are on a lilo, it was really difficult to put your legs down, your body just kept bobbing back up. The water was quite warm but really salty, not something that you would want to get in your eyes and look out if you had any ... read more
Bobbing in the Dead Sea
The Dead Sea was so much fun!
The place where they believe Jesus was baptised, Bethany

Middle East » Syria March 25th 2010

Salaam from Syria. We have had a fabulous week in Syria - home of some of the most friendly people we have ever met. Wherever we went people would always stop us to welcome us to Syria, ask where we are from and share out their delicious treats. Syria is nothing like we imagined and everyday Syrian life does not appear to be what is portrayed in the media. Our time in Syria was a very interesting history lesson. The food is cheap and delicious, falafel wraps for only 40p, freshly squeezed orange juice from the street seller only 30p and loads of delicious hummus and the famous baba ghanoug (eggplant) and mansaf (chicken with rice with a delicious yoghurt sauce). The border crossing from Turkey was pretty interesting. We first headed to Killis in Turkey ... read more
The view of Aleppo from the top of the citadel
Banquet dinner, Aleppo
Omayyad Mosque Aleppo

Middle East » Turkey » Central Anatolia » Cappadocia » Göreme March 21st 2010

Our next few days in Turkey have been dominated by some really wonderful bizarre landscapes. Our first stop was Goreme in the Cappadocia region. The town is set among honeycomb cliffs and towering fairy chimneys, strange formations carved out of the rock. People live in these chimneys - just like what you see on the Flintstones! We hired a guide and headed to Derinkuyu Yeralti Sehri - one of many underground cities in the area. It was fascinating; it was 55m deep, with 7 levels including a monastery at the bottom. The city was from the 12th century BC and there were 400 other such cities in the area that were all connected. This particular city was 1km in diameter and could house 15,000 people. It was used by the locals to hide from troops as ... read more
Goreme, it was like something from the Flintstones
View of Goreme and the fairy chimneys
Group photo, Zemi Valley

Middle East » Turkey » Aegean » Pamukkale March 18th 2010

The weather in Turkey has been fabulous - the sun has been shining and most days there has not been a cloud in the sky. We headed to the fabulous town of Pamukkale. The name means Cotton Castle which reflects the breathtaking view of the site. Even from a distance, the white travertines looked spectacular. In spring the water is 35.6 degrees and contains high levels of concentrated calcium hydroxide. As the water cools it cascades over the cliff edge and deposits calcium creating stalactites and potholes containing glorious blue water. We had to take our shoes and socks off to walk on the calcium so that it did not discolour. The calcium was difficult to walk on - a little hard on the feet but the water that flowed down the travertines was warm with ... read more
Pamukkale
Pamukkale
Matt standing in the warm pool at Pamukkale

Middle East » Turkey » Aegean » Selçuk March 16th 2010

We flagged down the bus and had a mammoth bus ride to Selcuk. There was so much to do in this area. Our first stop was the Basilica of St John. There was no one else there and it was a really impressive site with a great view over the valley. St John is said to have visited this area twice, once with the Virgin Mary and again to write his gospel. It is thought that the 4th century tomb houses his remains, so the 6th century Emperor erected a magnificent church. Most of it was destroyed in earthquakes and has been restored. On the hill below is Isa Bey Camii, a mosque built in 1375. It was a lovely peaceful place with the main prayer room covered in Turkish carpets. The main attraction here is ... read more
The Basilica of St John
View of Isa Bey Camii
Isa Bey Camii (Mosque)

Middle East » Turkey » Marmara » Gallipoli March 14th 2010

We are now on a tour and travelling through Turkey. The group is nice, only 10 of us plus two tour leaders - 2 Canadians and 6 Aussies. Our first stop was Gallipoli. We were here last year for ANZAC day and the place had left a real impression on us. It was good to visit the area without 7000 New Zealanders and Australians. We visited the Kabatepe Museum which is only small but it contained some really interesting exhibits - uniforms, photos (including one where during a break in the fighting the Australian soldiers played a game of cricket and another of an Australian soldier giving water to an injured Turk), letters and other finds such as a foot that had been blown off by a grenade - still in the shoe and a jaw ... read more
Anzac Cove
The Sphnix and Walker's Ridge
Anzac Commerative Site

Middle East » Turkey » Marmara » Istanbul March 9th 2010

We have been to Istanbul before so and had a look at her most impressive sights of the Blue Mosque, Aya Sofya and Top Kapi Palace, so this time we decided to poke around a little deeper. Our first stop was the Istanbul Archaeological Museum. This museum was fantastic with some great exhibits from Egypt including the Royal Necropolis of Sidon which was discovered in 1887 by Osman Hamdi. It is thought that the sarcophagus date from the 5th century. They were huge, made of marble with amazing detail and most of it had been preserved. The museum also had a statue section - the sheer size and detail of these creations was incredible. You can see the definition of the calf muscles on the legs, the straps of the roman sandals and even the toenails! ... read more
Blue Mosque
Sarcophagi from the Royal Necropolis of Sidon, Istanbul Archaeological Museum
Alexander Sacophagus, Istanbul Archaeological Museum

Africa » Morocco » Souss-Massa-Draâ » M'Hamid February 28th 2010

Leaving Boumalne Dades, we then headed for M'Hamid which is literally at the end of the road. We had no idea that this would be another 14 hour day of buses and taxis - our guide book was wrong as was the person who we purchased the ticket from. Anyway to cut a long story short we took 2 taxis, 2 buses and then after waiting on the bus for 20 minutes while new passengers jumped on, we were driven around the corner all told to get out and were then filed into a minibus (if it could be called that) for the next 2 hours. We were crammed in like sardines, people were even sitting on plastic stools in the aisle and 2 people were sitting to every seat. My knees banged against the seat ... read more
Erg Chigaga
We were conned into buying turbans
Matt and his trusted camel

Africa » Morocco » Souss-Massa-Draâ » Boumalne Dades February 26th 2010

We have spent the last few days in some quite remote areas in Morocco. Our first stop was Boumalne Dades or specifically about 28km into the gorge from this town. Before we left the bus station in Fes we double checked what time the bus left. Two days later we got up early, whoffed down breakfast and got to the bus station at 8am for the 9am bus only to find out it was actually an overnight bus leaving at 9pm. I must learn the French words for morning and afternoon. So we now had a very long day in Fes to kill with our big bags, all we could really do was hang out in the new town and move from one coffee shop to the other - there are worse things to do I ... read more
Outside the Nomad's cave
Dades Gorge
The art of pouring Berber whiskey

Africa » Morocco » Fès-Boulemane » Fes February 22nd 2010

Leaving the cool town of Essaouira we headed to Rabat for an overnight stop on our way to Fes. 8 hours later we arrived in Rabat and headed straight for the medina looking for another delicious tagine. Rabat, the capital, is pretty relaxed although as soon as we jumped in a taxi to get from the station and into town, a fight broke out between our driver and about four other taxi drivers who had blocked him in but refused to move. There was a lot of yelling, spitting, shoving and gesturing but finally the driver causing the problem, finally moved his car the 10cm required for us to get out. All the way into town, the driver told his passengers the story of what happened and laughed away looking forward to retelling the fight to ... read more
Kasbah des Oudaias, Rabat
Kasbah des Oudaias, Rabat
Pastries




Tot: 0.242s; Tpl: 0.009s; cc: 29; qc: 134; dbt: 0.1378s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1; ; mem: 1.4mb