Blogs from Istanbul, Marmara, Turkey, Middle East

Wednesday marked our final day in Istanbul. We took the opportunity to tick some final locations off of our list. We hopped on public transit (which is very easy to use in Istanbul) and travelled towards the water with hopes of catching a cruise on the Bosphorous. After some extended haggling, we managed to get a deal of 10 lira per person for an hour and a half cruise up and down the Bosphorous River that divides the European and Asian parts of Istanbul. The cruise provided excellent views of Istanbul from the water, as well as allowing us to see buildings and monuments we would not have otherwise been able to see. The weather proved nice for the first half of the cruise but the second half presented high winds, waves and heavy rain. Luckily, ... read more

So begins my first full day in Turkey. I woke up to a beautiful sunny day and met the group for breakfast. During breakfast, we had a quick briefing before we were let lose on the city until we had to meet at the ferry terminal at 5pm. A small group, including myself, set off to find a few of the major attractions. After wondering around aimlessly and being heckled by a school full of elementary level Turkish kids (they ran to the windows and shouted the only English words they knew, which naturally, turned out to be swear words), we found a train station and proceeded towards our destination. Topkapi Palace: The Tokapi Palace is an ancient and famous piece of Turkish culture. In recent years, it has been turned into a museum to feature ... read more

…..”Wake up, 4:30am” ….”arg” The day began early today as we had a 4 hour bus trip to Koza Gold Mine. After a quick breakfast, we packed up the bus and started the trip. After napping for 2 hours, I awoke to blue skied rural Turkey. Contrary to the belief of several guys in the group, rural Turkey is covered in rolling foot hills of green grass and medium sized shrubbery trees. Put simply, it was quite beautiful. We stopped belief to stretch our legs at a small isolated coffee shop (many of us also took this time to use the rest room facilities). Rob Hall, a professor, made friends with a “Mange Dog” (our loving nickname for the countless street dogs). We arrived at the open pit gold mine around 930am. It was interesting to ... read more

Spending a little time this morning debating the next best things to do. I am considering a two-day trip to Capadoccia (Goreme) leaving tonight and coming back to Istanbul for a Hammam (wash in a bath) before heading out to Ireland. I just need to make sure I don't miss my flight. Ali, the hostel owner / manager will give me a recommendation and I will accept it since I haven't taken the trouble to plan it for myself. Last night Ali organised a street barbecue and a belly dancer on the rooftop garden. It sounds fascinating and it was good fund. Sitting in the street eating kofte and chicken with salad and rice was done by street light - I couldn't tell whether the meat was cooked but I a not dead or ill this ... read more

First day of Travel: Arrived ay YVR at 5:30, first one out of our group to arrive. Definitely feeling excited. The new backpack, osprey farpoint 65L, works like a dream. I was able to pack everything I needed with room to spare. The detachable day back is proving to be critical feature. The rest of the group arrived shortly after myself and we proceed with the essential steps of international air travel: check bags, get through security, drink beer. The first flight was about 9 hours into London…poor ventilation and parenting skills lead to a hot, humid and child-screeching filled flight. The 5 hour Layover in London consisted of sitting around and playing pokemon. It was here where I found an interesting display of premium scotches (with my personal favorite weighing in at 20,000€.) The final ... read more

With our UK visas coming to an end in a matter of weeks, we coincided our trip to Turkey so we would be in Gallipoli for ANZAC day. We booked yet another Travel Talk tour for this trip and went with a few friends. Arriving at Istanbul airport was an exciting time for me as being a New Zealand passport holder I didn't have to buy a Turkish visa so I got to wave goodbye to the Aussies in the visa cue and go straight through customs. Turkey lies on both the European and Asian continental plates, with 95% of the Country lying on the Asian plates (Istanbul is the only city on the European side). Istanbul has just two bridges separating Europe from Asia, and with a population of 13 million it makes for a ... read more

Let’s talk Turkey! We spent two weeks exploring this fascinating country. Because of our cancelled stop in Santorini, we arrived in Kusadasi a day early. Kusadasi is the gateway to the great ruins of Ephesus and close to the House of the Virgin Mary where the mother of Christ was said to have spent her last days on earth. This is a sacred pilgrimage site for Christians as well as Muslims who honor Mary as the mother of one of their prophets. We visited the caravansary in town where we watched some silk rug weaving and then walked the pedestrian streets of town. Many people are put off by the somewhat aggressive merchants. We never found them to be particularly insistent, since they are so good natured about it. "How can we help you spend your ... read more