Blogs from Middle East - page 922

We’re heading into Iran now where internet access may not be easy and we really wanted to complete our record of the Turkey tour, but don't know when we'll be able to publish this. Up Up and Away Cappadocia was our last port of call on the West Turkey “tourist trail”. What an amazing place topped off with our Hot Air Balloon ride, a 50th Birthday Present for Terry from folks back home. It was a beautiful sunny morning and as if being in a hot air balloon wasn’t exciting enough (especially for Terry with all those cylinders valves and functions) the geology below us was breathtaking. We were lucky enough to have an English pilot and so received a running commentary on what was what, and there was a lot of it. An hour later ... read more

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

Dubai. I know everyone has seen pictures of the famous skyscrapers of Dubai. So i won't put you through them...instead here are a few shots from our dhow cruise we took over Dubai creek at night. (relative Neeraj, in background in one of them). ... read more

We arrived utterly exhausted from our tour of Egypt utterly desperate for a Laundromat to wash our clothes at. We’d gone for wayyyy to long without a machine wash and the old handwash in the basin was losing its effect. The family was there to meet us at the hotel and it was lovely to see them again and we couldn’t believe how much Kaylah had grown up since we’ve been gone. We had a day in Istanbul before our tour began and took the time to catch up on some sleep and visit the Bazaar. After that though, we were flung into the frantic itinerary that comes with guided tours. You see so much but it is tiring. We had another day with the family before they headed back home and we changed hotels and ... read more

Day 1, Overnight bus ride from Izmir to Gőreme: $25 I took the metro (about $1) to the main bus station (Otogar) in Bornova, Izmir. I had no trouble getting pointed in the right direction of the long distance bus counters. I think the only company to travel all the way to Gőreme was Metro, so I approached the counter and asked if anyone spoke english. Several of the ticket agents said they spoke a little, so I proceeded to book my 8pm bus to Cappadocia. I decided I was going to stay in Gőreme, a small central town. I had already booked a room in a pension ($17 nightly for a room with a bath). I was seated next to a young college student. She did not speak much english, but between my daughterś handy ... read more