Blogs from Bozcaada, Marmara, Turkey, Middle East
September 21st 2008
Going from perfect weather in Kabak to cold and rainy Istanbul was not enjoyable! It felt like I had been transported back to winter in Melbourne or London. But it was great to meet up with Pippa an we spent 24 hours in Istanbul taking in some of the sights and catching up over yummy meals, and then headed to Gallipoli to visit the battlefields at ANZAC cove. As we only had 1 week in Turkey together, we sought out a place we could go to relax and give us the opportunity to catch some sunshine, but wasn't going to be too far to travel to. Located on the Aegean Coast, Bozcaada Island (pronounced Boz-jaada) sounded like the perfect place to unwind, with beautiful beaches, good food and wine. We arrived at the bus station in ... read more
April 30th 2008
We arrived by ferry from Istanbul in the port town of Bandirma on the southern shore of the Sea of Marmara to begin "the actual cycling portion" of our trip, intending to follow the circuitous coastline of the North Aegean for parts unknown to the south. Between extended stays as ordinary tourists in Marrakech and then Istanbul, we'd been nearly a month off our bikes, so we set a modest goal of 65km for our first day of cycling from Bandirma to Biga, not knowing what kind of conditions we'd encounter. Even so, we disembarked from the ferry a bit too late to start riding even this short distance, so we checked into Bandirma's quirky Hotel Elit, where we bargained them down from 90 to 70YTL for a glass-enclosed room high above the town square and ... read more
August 31st 2007
Today I´m goıng to try and upload some photos for you but I'm strugglıng because all the prompts are ın Turkısh...... read more
August 30th 2007
Hi loyal Travelblog followers!! The troops and İ have made our next move - south to the Turkish ısand of Bozcaada. A small ısland of vineyards and beaches (tough İ know). Today we have occupied ourselves walking around an old fortress (truly amazing) followed by a couple of cups of çay (pronounced chai ıt ıs tea served in little glass cups). This afternoon we have been for a swim in the Aegean coupled wıth lots of sunbathing. But don´t worry İ´m still not very tanned. Last time I updated you İ was just on my way to do a tour of the Gallipoli battlefıelds. It was a truly awe inspiring experience!! The immense history of the place was overwhelming at times. The sheer folly of the ANZAC invasion becomes very clear as soon as you see ... read more
October 15th 2004
So the holy month of Ramadan is here: muslims are commanded to fast while the sun is up throughout the month. Today was the first day and I'm a little anxious about what this will mean for me; finding open restaurants may be problematic in the more devout portions of the country. I was drunk last night -- I'm going to hell in a handbasket. But more about that later. I've been busy since my last blog at Ayvalik, but I didn't want to post without having pictures, so I've been holding out. Now I'm on an island, and the only internet cafe doesn't have usb ports on its computers, and gmail doesn't support the version of IE it has. Bottomline: no pictures yet (I can't even check mail). I'll upload some as soon as I ... read more
