http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/Philandchloe/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Philandchloe en-us Sat, 22 Nov 2008 20:05:00 UTC Sat, 22 Nov 2008 20:05:00 UTC A fond farewellIt was on our last night in Syria that the US decided to target and subsequently bomb Al Queida members within Syria. 6 people were killed who Syria claimed to be civilians and the US declared otherwise. As Western foriegners in Damascus this news caused the heart rate to quicken and it we were somewhat relieved that we had planned to leave the next day in any case. Our initial reac http://www.travelblog.org//Middle-East/Jordan/North/Amman/blog-340301.html Settling inWe arrived in Damascus after a relatively uneventful bus journey to be greeted by the usual hordes of taxi drivers trying to get us to take their cabs. We arranged to be taken in a minibus to our hostel and after a bit of arguing with the taxi driver who wanted to drop us at the corner with our hotel nowhere in sight we made it.Our hostel was a little disappointing but had a great comm http://www.travelblog.org//Middle-East/Syria/South/Damascus/blog-338884.html Palmyra ruinsThe alarm clock went off at 0545 and we both groaned. After looking out the window it looked like there was potential for a clear sunrise we could see the moon clearly but still the black clouds did not look promising. Nonetheless we'd agreed to be picked up to head up to the citadel so we set off with our fingers crossed.Unfortunately but not surprisingly the sunrise wasn't gre http://www.travelblog.org//Middle-East/Syria/East/Palmyra/blog-338883.html Apamea and the Dead CitiesStill travelling with our good friends Rick Diana the Canadians we took a taxi tour to the Dead Cities and Apamea. We drove through some small villages with basic abodes and then through some rahther sparse looking agricultural lands. It was far less rocky than the north of Syria and though dry life in this part of the country eemed more plausible. Olive trees are in http://www.travelblog.org//Middle-East/Syria/West/Hama/blog-337667.html Crossing the border into SyriaNemrut Man dropped us at Gaziantep and negotiated us a bus to Killis and the price for a taxi to take us from there to Aleppo Syria. The first stage onboard a minivan to Killis was uneventful and only took about an hour. The taxi we picked up from there however proved to be more difficult. After loading our bags in the taxi driver plus friend took us to an office o http://www.travelblog.org//Middle-East/Syria/North/Aleppo/blog-337666.html Nemrut ManWe reluctantly left Goreme having booked ourselves on a 3 day tour with the selfnamed Nemrut Man owner of CEM tours. He is from the East and moved to Goreme when tourism dried up as a result of the Gulf war. Hugely knowledgable and honest he was a great ambassador for Turkey. I guess we would say he is a man of few words but he did like to throw in some amusing stories and he was gre http://www.travelblog.org//Middle-East/Turkey/Southeastern-Anatolia/Mount-Nemrut/blog-337665.html Pamukkale and H305eropol305sWe have now headed 305nland to a natural phenomena called Pamukkale. It took about 3 hours on a wee bus from Seluk to get here w305th torrent305al ra305n batter305ng down the whole way. D305tch305ng our bags 305n the bus stat305on we ventured up 1km to the cottoncastle otherw305se known as Pamukkale. W305k305ped305a descr http://www.travelblog.org//Middle-East/Turkey/Aegean/Pamukkale/blog-335058.html PergamumCont305nu305ng our day travell305ng down the coast w305th Hassle Free Tours we ventured to the ru305ns at Pergamum. We drove through the atmospher305c old c305ty of Bergama and past the Ascelps305on at h305gh speed unfortunately probably due to the fact that our dr305ver was late and both he and the gu305de were new and k305nd of mak305ng 305t up http://www.travelblog.org//Middle-East/Turkey/Aegean/Bergama/blog-335032.html Arriving in the rainNot even arriving in the rain could detract from the majestic scenery of the Cappadoc305an countrys305de. Fa305ry tale peaks soar up all around and are made 305n var305ous hues of yellow and orange. There have been people l305v305ng here for thousands of years and so many p305cturesque l305ttle houses are cut 305nto the rockface. Goreme v305l http://www.travelblog.org//Middle-East/Turkey/Central-Anatolia/Cappadocia/blog-334990.html The ideaI recall the moment when walking through Chile's Torres del Paine national park Chloe turns to me and says Why don't we take the whole year off rather than just 6 months Then we can see Africa sooner rather than later. I laughed. As if 6 months of no income and living out a rucksack wasn't enough. Later somebody I don't recall who said that travelling in the Middle East was am http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/United-Kingdom/England/Greater-London/London-City/blog-332192.html More h305story lessons w305th some Turk305sh culture thrown inSeluk 305s a n305ce l305ttle town where we f305n305shed up at the end of our Pergamum tour. Only a couple of k305lometres up the road 305s Ephesus one of the best Roman ru305ns 305n the world the town 305tself has churches dat305ng back thousands of years and there are n305ce ne305ghbo http://www.travelblog.org//Middle-East/Turkey/Aegean/Sel-uk/blog-332175.html Couldn't find Brad anywhere.........but we still had a good time The best things about Troy were seeing artifacts that were 5000 years old 3000 BC. This took us a wh305le to get our heads round. And hearing again the legend of Troy from Homer's 'Illad' was quite 305nteresting probably now better remembered by the American blockbuster 'Troy'.The ruins here weren't as extensive or in as http://www.travelblog.org//Middle-East/Turkey/Marmara/Troy/blog-332174.html A whole lot of historyPlease 305gnore all punctuat305on errors we are work305ng on fore305gn computersAnother day and another b305t of luck. We would be travell305ng south to Gall305pol305 on the Best Bus of 2009 F305nd305ng th305s strange 305n 305tself 305t was even more amus305ng to pass a clapped out bus w305th a proud s305gn say305n http://www.travelblog.org//Middle-East/Turkey/Marmara/Gallipoli/blog-332173.html IstanbulAs luck would have it we two unemployed actuaries bumped into yet another actuary at 304stanbul airport. It was one of the Squeasy Jet affa305rs so we had a good hour and a half in the shared taxi to actually hit the city itself thus giving us plenty of time to discuss mortality tables and the likeOn driving into town I was 305n305t305ally distinctly unimpressed as the http://www.travelblog.org//Middle-East/Turkey/Marmara/Istanbul/blog-332172.html Monaco not the obvious place for two unemployed travellers to beginOur first stop on the next leg of our travels and by far the most luxurious I'm sure. We travelled out with Tobin and Jody and have spent a fantastic few days with Mum and Dad in the Marriott Cap d'Ail. One night here will probably cost more than the entire next month's accomodation thankfully somebody else is paying It's http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/Monaco/blog-332171.html 6 and a half months on the continent....How time flies only seven months ago we were celebrating Christmas with family and friends in the UK and now the time has come for us to return home albeit only for a short while.So what can we say to summarise our South American adventure. It's not an easy task by any stretch of the imagination we've had such a huge variety of experiences but always http://www.travelblog.org//South-America/blog-294133.html Six months on and we're back. Before we arrived we were thinking 6 days here what will we do We've already seen all the sights... then when we arrived we remembered how great and easy it is to just while away days in Buenos Aires doing very little apart from wandering it's lovely streets stopping in for the occasional cafe con leche or a bite to eat and lazing in the parks.Part of our reticen http://www.travelblog.org//South-America/Argentina/Buenos-Aires/Buenos-Aires/blog-294131.html From Paraguay to IguauOur rather expensive hotel in Asuncin Hotel Plaza wore us down over the three days. Its restaurant was truly terrible and at night the window and shutters seemed to amplify rather than reduce the noise from the main road outside as a result we were wide awake in the early hours. To top it all off the trip from Asuncin to Ciudad del Este the Paraguayan side of the trin http://www.travelblog.org//South-America/Argentina/Misiones/Iguazu-National-Park/blog-294130.html Stopping over in BoliviaOur last blog finished with us leaving sunny but cold Copacabana in Bolivia and heading for the capital for our flight to Asuncion. There is nothing to report here other than a great night celebrating the 4th of July with a bunch of Americans at the Adventure Brew Hostel. Everything was going swimmingly well until Phil caught wind of a Beer Bath outside. Many beers alread http://www.travelblog.org//South-America/Paraguay/blog-294128.html Copacabana a beach yes but it ain't hotAfter possibly the smoothest border crossing in South America we passed back into Bolivia and to the ldquolakeside resortrdquo of Copacobana from which the famous beach in Rio is named. Our hostel here is great ldquoLa Cupulardquo but we felt sorry for a couple of Italian girls we had travelled with who didnrsquot have a reservation and we http://www.travelblog.org//South-America/Bolivia/La-Paz-Department/Copacabana/blog-292962.html