http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/patanderin/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from patanderin en-us Thu, 24 Jul 2008 19:55:39 BST Thu, 24 Jul 2008 19:55:39 BST A few clips taken with the digital camera. 1. How to safely mount a camel. Erin getting up on the beast.2. Call to prayer. If you have never heard it it is somewhat haunting. It can ne heard 5 times a day from wherever you are. This was taken from our hotel balcony in Selcuk Turkey3. Erin makes a friend. Petting a lamb in Samandag Turkey. http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/Canada/Saskatchewan/Saskatoon/blog-284910.html May 28thThe now familiar bus trip to Antalya from Iskederun was 14 hours long. Along the way I contacted a hotel that was located within the old walled city based on a recommendation from our Lonely Planet guide book. The owner of the Frankfurt Hotel spoke very good English and even agreed to let us check in upon our arrival in Antalya. The bus finally pulled into the Otogar at 830. As we go http://www.travelblog.org/Middle-East/Turkey/Mediterranean/Antalya/blog-284903.html We left Palmyra as scheduled and headed for the village of Al Husn about 225 km from Palmyra in the western part of the country. The village itself has nothing much to offer but is dominated by the Krak des Chevalier likely the world's largest and most intact Crusader Fortress. It was built in the 12th century and has had a succession of tenants who added onto it however it was only ever capt http://www.travelblog.org/Middle-East/Syria/West/Krak-des-Chevaliers/blog-281607.html After picking up our Mazda 3 at the Europcar office we navigated out of Aleppo with the help of Michel a distant relative of mine. He had kindly volunteered to help us find our way to the highway at which point he also agreed to have us dump him at the bus stop to find his way back. This gesture combined with the fact it was Friday morning Fridays are like Sundays in Muslim countries made ou http://www.travelblog.org/Middle-East/Syria/East/Palmyra/blog-281184.html Internet in Syria is not all it is cracked up to be. No DSL. The first connection we found was 33 kbs so hard to even check email. This one is 133 kbs so I am not posting any pictures until we are back in Turkey. Sorry for the long absence I know Erin's mom is addicted to these now...We caught a 5 PM bus from Antalya to Iskenderun a Turkish city near the Syrian border. The bus ride http://www.travelblog.org/Middle-East/Syria/North/Aleppo/blog-279310.html On Friday we left Selcuk and headed to the coastal resort town of Bodrum. On the way there the chain on Pat's bike popped off again. Pat managed to get it back on the sprocket only to have it come off again 40 km later it was quite obvious that the chain lacked the proper tension and needed adjusting. While pulled over at a fuel station contemplating our next move Kemal approached us and aske http://www.travelblog.org/Middle-East/Turkey/Aegean/blog-277232.html We woke up quite early on Tuesday in order to make our 700 ferry from Istanbul to Bandirma. Ali met us outside the police house at 545 in order to escort us to the dock. We got on the ship and settled in for the 2 hour sailing across the Sea of Marmara.We had set Canakkale as our destination for the evening. Canakkale is only a few km from the ancient city of Troy and was the setting for a mov http://www.travelblog.org/Middle-East/Turkey/Aegean/Sel-uk/blog-276541.html After leaving Ankara we had a spectacular day of riding through the mountains on our way to Istanbul. The air was cool and the scenery spectacular. We ran into a couple on a tandem bicycle who were from Argentina and were travelling around the world. They were also headed to Istanbul and had just come from Syria. We decided to go as far as Izmit a city about 100 km from Istanbul. When we arri http://www.travelblog.org/Middle-East/Turkey/Marmara/Istanbul/blog-275421.html We left Goreme at about 0900 for our first day of solo riding with the Turkish capital of Ankara as our destination.The ride itself was pretty unremarkable afew stretches of scenery but mostly farmland. We crossed a few patches of rain about half way through but it did not last more than 10 minutes in total. At one point be305ng low on fuel we ventured into a village in search of a servi http://www.travelblog.org/Middle-East/Turkey/Central-Anatolia/Ankara/blog-274844.html We left Osmaniye after exchanging gifts with our hosts there. Pat has almost enough gear to put together a full Turkish police uniform. The ride to Cappadocia was much less strenuous than the previous day's one.The secondary highway we rode one took us through plains from which we could see some stunning snow capped mountain ranges and through a succession of villages that still looked like they http://www.travelblog.org/Middle-East/Turkey/Central-Anatolia/Cappadocia/blog-274678.html Just a few more riding pics... http://www.travelblog.org/Middle-East/Turkey/Central-Anatolia/Cappadocia/blog-274241.html We left Frankfurt Airport shortly after 1900 right on schedule. Hearing all the announcements on the plane in German and Turkish confirmed that we were indeed headed for an adventure of a lifetime. Up to that point the whole departure for Turkey had seemed surreal in the hussle and bustle of one of the world's busiest airports.The plane was not full and we were given a 3 seat row all to ourse http://www.travelblog.org/Middle-East/Turkey/Mediterranean/Adana/blog-274117.html After returning to the Frankfurt area last night we left this morning for the Rhine region albeit at a more relaxed pace then the last few days in the former DDR. Our destination was to be Rdesheim a town along the Rhine not too far from the city of Wiesbaden.Upon arrival there it was pretty obvious that it was Sunday and that there was not a cloud in the sky. People lined the main street w http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Germany/Hessen/Wiesbaden/blog-272908.html Thursday May 1stWe travelled from Bad Soden to Neuenhof today. The 200 km ride was somewhat hampered by a 10 km traffic jam caused by a combination of holiday traffic and a construction area on the autubahn. Did we mention we were chauffeured in a brand new BMW Our hosts the Beck's who are old friends of Pat's mom picked us up and took us to their house in the old DDR for a couple of night http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Germany/Thuringia/Eisenach/blog-272219.html We drove ourselves to the centre of Frankfurt sounds like an Amazing Race clue and found the Zeil a large pedesrian only shopping area complete with restaurants fruit and ice cream stands as well as rummies begging for quarters... I had perfected my I don't speak german line when a woman approached us and in near perfect english said do you have 50 cents for me and baby. After a brief m http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Germany/Hessen/Frankfurt/blog-271750.html We left Saskatoon on time at 130 PM heading for Calgary and a 3 hour wait for our connecting flight. So what do you do in an airport when you have 3 hours to kill You eatFortunately Calgary airport has a Chili's...The 9.5 hours flight to Germany was uneventful. Although our Boeing 767 was equipped with the latest on demand entertainment system. Erin read through an entire book while Pat http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Germany/Hessen/Frankfurt/blog-271279.html Just 16 days to departure. First Germany then Turkey and Syria. I have planned all I am going to plan my fear at this point is to plan this thing to death. We have a pretty good itinerary set up with some built in flexibility. Ali who I met online after emailing a Turkish motorcycle club has been just unbelievable. He has set up a few places for us to stay with local police and a dinner with http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/Canada/Saskatchewan/Saskatoon/blog-265840.html