Sorry it took long to finaly get to my last entry on Turkey, but here it is. Here in Cappadocia I have: 1- hiked THE SURFACE thru villages, mountains and caves 2- I have gone 8 floor levels BELOW THE SURFACE at an Underground city 3- ... and so, the obvious next move would be have to be going ABOVE THE SURFACE, like 1100 meters above ground, on a... HOT AIR BALLOON RIDE Yeah, I did it! The minute I laid my eyes on the fabulous terrain all around me in Cappadocia, I said: "If I'll ever go on a hot balloon ride, it will be here". And so it was. There isn't much negociating on the expensive price, even if you shop around. But it's one of those unique opportunities, and once I made up ... read more

IZMIR We did just a quick business stop in Izmir. Just a big city, nothing really special. The highlight was actually staying at a posh hotel with breakfast on the 37th floor, overlooking the Aegean Sea, while trying 11 types of cheese (out of 13!). I also got to try honey with the hive and all, which is common for breakfast, besides more yummy olives and dried fruit. My taste buds loved the experience but my stomach had to handle the bad consequences, probably from all the chesses. Being largely Muslin, the Turks don’t eat or touch pork, but at the Hilton, bacon was on the menu, for 9 Euros. You'd have to be a bacon-lover-rich-foreigner to order it… ESKI FOCA (Old Foca) We took a 2 hour bus ridefrom Izmir to the small coastal fishing ... read more

The uneasy feeling about Turkey generated by the movie “Midnight Express” has long been replaced about great curiosity about the country. While hopping around the Greek Islands years ago, many were the tourists telling me: “If you like Greece, you will love Turkey”. Surprised, I’d exclaim an astonished “Really!?", followed by a curious “Why?”, to hear answers like: “The people are friendly, the food is delicious, traveling and shopping is a bargain”. Turkey than became my dream destinatıon even though it's no longer a bargain destination. My curiosity about the Turkish culture has endured time. The world political climate after September 11 made me abandon the idea to venture into any Muslim country for a while. But since the world “climate” has improved and my reasons to go places are purely cultural, I refuse to let ... read more

HARIDWAR What a nice surprise this holy city by the Ganges was! Spiritually, it's more significant to Hindus than Rishikesh. It's one of the 7 sacred Indian cities, attracting a multitude of pilgrims and shadus to bathe and do "pujas" where the Gange River emerges from the Himalaya. Haridwar has the frantic confusion of the Indian cities, but in a much smaller scale. A huge plus was the fact that we were left alone, without pushy vendors or touts. The crowd was more interested on their pujas than on us. We hired a cycle-rickshaw for 3 hours (just little over one dollar) to visit the city. Kids waved to us and some hang from our cycle-riskshaw for a free ride. Friendly people all around. Har-ki-Pairi Ghat was an amazing site to witness Hindu rituals. It is ... read more

QUICK STOP IN NAAGAR Loving the scenery and peace of the Parvati Valley (minus the Israeli crowd), we decided to go to the town of Naagar on the Kullu Valley. Another great breakfast at Moon dance Cafe taking in the mountain views, than another rollercoaster bus ride on the super narrow roads, with the squeeky brakes, the blind curves and the old bus packed beyond capacity. I set by an interesting local man carring a basquet full of fresh roses. He said to pick the flowers from his garden every morning, filling the basquet which he drops at a road side Hindu "temple" (it's actually just a tree with red and golden cloth and ribbons around it: see picture) on the way to work. And so it happened: the driver stopped, he handed the basquet to ... read more