Blogs from Mediterranean, Turkey, Middle East - page 5

The next morning dawned with low clouds and rain. Woolly says – not being the sort of mammoth to let this dampen my enthusiasm I ensured that my tour group was equipped with waterproofs and umbrellas to keep me dry and hustled them into the hire car for today’s excursion. Setting off along the D400 I scanned the landscape to see what changes had occurred since my last trip along this much travelled road. A few new hotels seemed to have appeared and were starting to prepare for the season to come. Woolly says – As Nanty Carys kept her foot on the pedal I pointed out the points of interest that we were passing, the shop where I purchased pistachio’s, the banana stall with its friendly owner, the campsite we had stayed on as well ... read more

It's not my first visit to the Hatay region of Turkey. I visited Antakya (formerly Antioch of old) and some notable nearby sights back in 2013 when I last travelled the country. On that trip I clocked up a number or towns and cities along the Black Sea coast and in the East, but Antakya stuck firmly in my mind as being the most unusal. I hadn't even considered visiting until by chance I met a fellow traveller, an Englishman called Ben, who professed an interest in going that way. We parted company shortly afterward but during our brief stay we occupied two of the guestrooms at the Catholic Church off Kurtulus Rd, a stone's throw away from the Orontjes River which flows through the heart of the city, and in the proximity of a variety ... read more

Woolly says – Isn’t it strange how things can happen, having never been to a wedding before I am now the proud bearer of TWO invitations. Over four thousand miles apart and from two completely different cultures I left the small details to Jo and set about preparing my outfits. I’ll give him small details!!!! While the fur ball considered his bow ties I organised the travel plans, accommodation, snacks and the million other things to enable us to attend and support our friends at both events. Wedding one, Sammy and Ray in Stourbridge, England, let’s head back to the 20th September…….. Woolly says – I sat watching the grey clouds moving across the sky and kept my paws crossed that my first ever wedding wasn’t to be blighted by rain. The smell of perfumes and ... read more

Hi. Following my blog from a couple of days ago we headed back up from the Cornish Coast and Plymouth, on to the New Forest and then back to Corsham. Pete, Helen, Alex and Georgie arrived back from their tour of the States so it was great to catch up with them and spend the next few days traveling around Wiltshire and the Bath area with Helen acting as our guide. Every little road seems to end up at a beautiful village or a historic site. In the New Forest we stayed at a beautiful B&B, a thatched cottage. With Helen we went to the Westbury White Horse which is about 400 years old, visited the World Heritage Site of the Avebury Stone circles and one evening Pete and Helen took us to the Gifford Circus ... read more

The morning dawned bright and warm, following a late night involving a water pipe and quite a few measures of alcohol and a lot of umbrellas the Mammoth didn’t appear for breakfast. Woolly says – I think I deserved a lie in after all my hard work over the last few days, although missing breakfast is not a good idea, snacks please! We had rather a nice evening and I couldn’t believe my eyes when we found a street full of umbrellas, all different colours and quite impressive to say the least. With a few new fans in my quest for fame life was good. Our walk back led us past a fleet of horses and carriages, strangely they were all spotted, on closer inspection the poor horses had had the spots painted on! Well I ... read more