http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/rrruss/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from rrruss en-us Mon, 04 Jan 2010 15:09:15 +0000 Mon, 04 Jan 2010 15:09:15 +0000 Merry Christmas from sunny Sousse Well not so sunny Sousse here on Christmas day Itrsquos hard to believe wersquove only been here a month as we seem to have done so much in that short time. After blogs about our various excursions itrsquos time to tell you a little about our daytoday lives here in Tunisia.We live just a few minutes away from the teaching centre in Hammam Sousse half http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Tunisia/Sousse/blog-462665.html A couple of hours away from Sousse by the metro train is the small town of Mahdia. It helps if the staff at the metro station put you on the right train though Ours only went as far as Moknine half an hour short of where we wanted to go. We had to wait a further 30 minutes to get on the correct train frustrating but not the end of the world.A few minutesrsquo walk from the train and you find http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Tunisia/Sousse/blog-460604.html An hour away from Sousse on the train is the small town of El Jem. Trains are not very frequent though we avoided the 8am departure in favour of the more palatable time of 1141 We were surprised to find so many tourists joining us on our day out. After all wersquore not tourists we live here nowOn arrival everyone seemed to head straight towards the impressive colosseum. It was impossible http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Tunisia/El-Jem/blog-459555.html In the early days of any teaching contract you rarely have a full timetable of classes. Thatrsquos great for us as it gives us the chance to get a few day trips in before work gets too busy andor stressfulSousse where we are living is a touristy town but it is not alone on this stretch of Tunisiarsquos coastline. Nearby the resort of Monastir is probably a little better known amongst Euro http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Tunisia/Monastir/blog-459114.html Just half an hour by train from the centre of Tunis is the ancient Roman city of Carthage. Normally sites of antiquity are set in remote areas but here the modern city of Carthage surrounds the World Heritage Site. One ticket buys you entry into all of the Heritage Sites but you have to pay extra to get into some of the museums. The different locations are a bit spread out but if you donrsquot http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Tunisia/Tunis/blog-458843.html We arrived in Tunis capital of Tunisia late on Tuesday night because of dreadful weather at Heathrow. Though only a few hours behind schedule it gave us no time to orientate ourselves. Instead we just took a taxi from Tunis Carthage airport to the Hotel Ariha unpacked a few things and turned in for the night. Our French isnrsquot up to much so far and we ended up speaking Spanish to the taxi http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Tunisia/Tunis/blog-457180.html 17 hours to Kiev on a train with a stinking cold wasn't nice but at least we were both suffering Since then neither of us have fully recovered but we have had an amazing week seeing the sights and meeting up with friends old and new. Apologies to anyone if we've been a little too generous with our germsKiev has been an amazing city and we have no doubt we will be back The question is only wh http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Ukraine/Kiev/blog-443263.html From Yalta it took a little under 2 hours for our bus to twist and turn its way along the coastal road to Sevastopol. We were dropped off at the bus station conveniently located over the bridge from the train station. On arrival we were greeted by the sight of a stationary train with its cargo of an antiaircraft gun No doubt that was a reminder if one was necessary that we had arrived in a mili http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Ukraine/Krim/Sevastopol/blog-442524.html It took just over 12 hours on the train to get from Odesa to Simferopol. Despite being very comfortable compared to Azerbaijani trains we still didnrsquot sleep well At the station we found somewhere for a McBreakfast before buying tickets on the Worldrsquos longest and slowest trolleybus. From Simferopol to Yalta is just 85km but it took almost 3 hours. Itrsquos a nice route but after the http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Ukraine/Krim/Yalta/blog-441935.html What a palaver We left Sulina intending to travel up to Chisinau in Moldova. Tourist Information in Tulcea had said we needed to get a bus to Gelati to do so but this proved troublesome. So we took the hydrofoil along the Danube from Sulina to Tulcea from where we took the small local bus to Gelati. This took us through rural Northern Romania where the grape harvest has just begun. The narrow c http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Ukraine/Odessa/blog-441745.html Just 90 minutes away from Tulcea lies the small town of Sulina. 90 minutes by fast hydrofoil down one of the Danubersquos many arms double that if you take a slow boat. The scenery isnrsquot that much to write home about though so we recommend speedIn Sulina we were met from the boat by a guy offering us a room in a pension just 5 minutes walk from the jetty and apparently 8 minutes walk http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Romania/Dobrogea/Tulcea/Sulina/blog-438232.html From Constanta it took us just 2 hours by maxitaxi to reach Tulcea. That was despite the police pulling the bus over and detaining us for 10 minutes or so. We donrsquot know what the problem was but we suspect it is part of a drive to get unsafe buses off the road. If thatrsquos the case we canrsquot really complain.The bus station is on the edge of town on the banks of the River Danube wel http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Romania/Dobrogea/Tulcea/blog-438226.html Getting to Constanta seemed so straight forward. Get the bus to Varna walk 10 minutes to the bus station get the bus to Constanta cross the border from one EU country to another get off in Constanta find hostel. Well it wasn't quite that simple The bus from the village where we were staying arrived in Varna 15 minutes after the Constanta bus left. The solution was to cadge a lift off one of http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Romania/Dobrogea/Constanta/Constanta/blog-437541.html Our stay in Varna has essentially been 10 days of down time a welcome break halfway through this trip. It's just a shame the British weather came to greet us as we were looking forward to lying by the pool and getting a tan.We were met off the bus by Rob who we worked with in Azerbaijan. He kindly invited us to stay at his house in the hills above Varna. Our first full day with him was glorious a http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Bulgaria/East/Varna/blog-436161.html 2 Pages of photos again SorryGetting out to the Gallipoli peninsula turned out to be more troublesome than anticipated. Having bought tickets on a Metro bus one of the biggest companies in Turkey we thought it was going to be easy. Their servis transfer at 0910 took us to the bus station but not the bus station we expected to go to. There we were put onto another bus which eventually took u http://www.travelblog.org/Middle-East/Turkey/Marmara/Canakkale/blog-434238.html There are 2 pages of photos again. Where there is a poem or a quotation click on the photo. It should open in a new window and hopefully you can read the inscriptions.We came to the Gallipoli peninsula quite ignorant of any detail about the events which took place here in 1915. The night before our visit we watched the film Gallipoli starring a very young Mel Gibson. It was very interesting and I http://www.travelblog.org/Middle-East/Turkey/Marmara/Gallipoli/blog-433523.html There are 2 pages of photos again Please have a look at all of themIstanbul is a wonderful place. It's been about 10 years since we were here before. Back then it rained and snowed and we didn't really enjoy it This time was very different we loved itIt took us 6 hours to get there from Safranbolu. Our 1030 departure was actually a 1030 transfer to Karabuk bus station and then we had an hou http://www.travelblog.org/Middle-East/Turkey/Marmara/Istanbul/blog-432401.html Safranbolu was just a short 6 hours bus ride from Sinop Actually our bus dropped us off in nearby Karabuk and we had to get a local bus to Safranbolu. That took 45 minutes as it went all the way around the local towns before depositing us near the impressive old hammam. Ali from the Bastoncu Pension came to meet us and then we followed him along cobbled lanes to the old Ottoman house which was to http://www.travelblog.org/Middle-East/Turkey/Black-Sea/Safranbolu/blog-431400.html Sinop is a beautiful small town on a peninsula jutting out onto the Black Sea. It is Turkey's northernmost town but not quite it's most northerly point. Getting there involved a 2 hour bus ride from Sivas to Samsun followed by 3 hours or so more along twisting coastal roads with incredible views.We stayed at Otel 57 which has been most comfortable. At 60 Lira per night we've been more than happy. http://www.travelblog.org/Middle-East/Turkey/Black-Sea/Sinop/blog-430848.html Amasya was 4 hours away from Sivas by bus. Once again the scenery was impressive. It was a shame we passed through Tokat without stopping but the only reason we wanted to go was to experience a Tokat Kebab. Aubergine and meat are alternatively threaded on a skewer and it is cookedsmoked vertically resulting in an apparently exquisite taste Never mind it's only foodWe arrived in Amasya at 8pm http://www.travelblog.org/Middle-East/Turkey/Black-Sea/Amasya/blog-430421.html