Blogs from Middle East - page 10

We had to be up at 3:00am to be ready for a 3:30am pickup. Tom got up to say good bye and we wished each other well as we now go our separate ways. The cab ride to the airport with no traffic took 40 minutes, I guess that's our base line to work from when we leave on Saturday. The airport is HUGE but well signed, so we made our way to the right spot without any issues, got our flight and slept most of the way. There was then about an hours drive to Goreme where the tour started from and we slept most of the way there too. Our tour today of North Cappadocia only had 6 people on it which was a good sized group. Our first stop was to Uchisar Castle ... read more

NOTE: We are home, but still catching up on the blog. This morning I was awake before the alarm so decided I might as well be up getting organised for our journey home as lying in bed wide awake. It wasn’t ridiculously early, only about half an hour before the alarm was set for. Fortunately, with our flight not until early this afternoon we didn’t have to rush to be at the airport too early. We were able to have a leisurely breakfast and clean our teeth before packing our toothbrushes and closing our suitcases for the last time on this holiday. Bernie lugged our cases down to the car and we gathered together our last few carry-on items before saying our farewells to Kath and Albert. Once again they have been most hospitable hosts looking ... read more

We had an early start today being picked up at 6:45 for our all day tour to the Gallipoli Peninsula. It was a long (and fast) drive to Ecebat where we stopped for lunch at 11:30am. We had covered 300kms in that time including a couple of 30 minute stops. After lunch we hopped on the minivan and our guide started telling the story of the Gallipoli Campaign. The goal of the campaign was to gain access to the Black Sea to support Russia against the Austrian Hungarian Empire (Germany) during WWI. To do this the allies needed access to the Dardanelles, a body of water down one side of the Gallipoli Peninsula which effectively linked the Mediterranean all the way through to the Black Sea. The offensive which landed on April 25th was the second ... read more

We had breakfast overlooking the pool and the Black Sea. What an outlook. Breakfast was one of the better ones we've had too. The tardus like stomachs of my travelling buddies defies reason, I don't know how they do it and then ride straight after. We got away at 9am, no hurry today as we only have 45kms to ride into Istanbul with a 2pm check-in, plenty of time. Our ride out of Kumkoy is uphill, not too steep to start with but then it turns uphill viloently for almost two kilometers averaging 14%. None of us can get to the top without having to have a break. We regroup at the top and continue on to the town of Bahcekoy and then turn towards the Bosphorus River. Considering the climb we had just done it ... read more

We found a great place for dinner last night which meant we ate way too much, I also found somewhere that sells halva on the way back to the hotel so we all enjoyed some with a coffee back at the Hotel. Breakfast was a bit meagre this morning but considering we didin't realise it was included I guess we can't complain. We did manage to get on the road by 8:45am which was good considering the distance we have to do today. As soon as we left town the undulations began, up and down, up and down. Eventually this takes quite a toll on your legs. The scenery today was much more interesting. Up and down means lots of spurs and gullys. We are in an area that is mostly forested which provides for a ... read more