My Grand Tour of Europe, Four weddings and a Favela

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Eventually I am about to post to this blog!!!

I have finally reached South America, a place I have been talking and dreaming about for nigh on 9 years now! Back in 2000 when I first took the plunge to give up my job and head away on a year's adventure, South America was always on the ticket following my "few" months stint in Australia-land. Well as you know my few months in Australia turned into 8 happy years. But then I got itchy feet again and hence I have taken another crack at this travelling lark.

Be warned before you read this...I am attempting to capture the last 3 months in this blog so it will be VERY long. So go away now and get yourself a cup of tea or whatever takes your fancy before you attempt to read this to completion. And feel free to be bored and give up in this...I am writing this much as a reminder to myself in years to come so hence it will be full of boring details.

So I guess I should try to recap what has happened to me since I left Australian shores on 9th July.

First stop was Turkey...I absolutely loved this place and would like to go back there some day to explore what I didn't see in this trip.

Istanbul was my first stop in Turkey. Istanbul is a beautiful city located at the meeting point of Europe and Asia and hence the history of this city and indeed Turkey has been very much influenced by its position. It is located on the Bosphorous river (excuse me if my facts or spellings are slightly wrong...its been nearly 3 months since I have been in these places and I am recalling this all from my very dodgy memory). One of my highlights of my time in Istanbul was taking a ferry ride down the Bosphoros until we came to a point where we could climb a hill and from there view the Black Sea. It was such a beautuful day and something I will also remember from my time in Istanbul.
Other highlights from Istanbul were the old city itself and of course Aya Sofia (build in the 6th century as a Christian church and the largest of its kind for almost 1000 years and with the fall of Constantinoble in the 15th century it was converted in a mosque) and the Blue Mosque (a working mosque these days and one of the most elegant and tranquil inspiring buildings I have seen to date).
But I guess what I loved most of all about Istanbul and Turkey was her people. Everywhere we went we were met with very friendly and fun-loving folk. At times they did not understand me or me them but it didn´t matter. They were always there to help.

Once we left Istanbul we headed to the Gallipolli peninsula. The trip I was on was mainly made up of Aussie and Kiwis of around my age. We had a Turkish guide for this trip (Boput I think his name was) and he gave us such a poignant commentary of what happened at the various battle sites on this peninsula. Even though I am not Australian by birth and the battle for the Dardanelles was only something I learnt about at school, I couldn't help but be moved by what was (it seemed to me at least) an avoidable waste of life. What I also learnt from this trip to the Gallipoli peninsula is that the Turks celebrate their version of "Anzac Day" on March 16 each year as they consider the battle for the Dardanelles as when the Turkish nation became of age and it is of course where Ataturk (founder of the Turkish Republic) first came to prominence. So I thought it was fitting that one could see monuments to the Anzac soliders alongside monuments to the Turkish soldier and that Aussies, Kiwis and Turks now have somewhere to come to, to remember a part of their shared history.

After the Gallipoli peninsula we visited the ruins of Troy (and yes they even had one of the wooden horses props from that equally as wooden film in the main square of the town nearest to the Troy ruins). I took a lot of pictures of ruins at this site which probably not make any sense to me now but I do recall being amazed by age of what we were seeing..they were REALLY old is all I know.

We also visited the Roman ruins in Ephesus which was memorable if only for the manic guide we had. This guy was well into his 60s i would guess and was running from Roman remain to Roman remain like a man possessed...and this in the heat of the day (early 30s and no shade). I am glad we left left there before he had a heart attack.

So after a week in Turkey it was off to London and the English countryside....
It has been years since I have spent a few days in London and I have to admit it is a great city. Of course we had great weather when we were there so that helped. We were staying on the far side of Hyde Park so used to walk through it on our way to and from London centre. We walked almost everywhere in London, we only used the Tube occassionally so I was well wrecked at the end of each evening. We visited all the usually sights in London but what this city has going for it that I haven't found anywhere else is its myriad of musuems and plentora of magnificant and sometimes opulent parks and monuments.

We hired a car once we had finished with London and I can't believe it but I actually managed to drive out of London with the help of course of my co-driver. Twas nerve-wracking to see the least and continued to be for the rest of the time I spent driving in England....for some reason their roundabouts are not like the roundabouts I have encountered in Australia or Ireland....or maybe I can decipher the signs better in those countries...anyways we survived.

My highlight of England has to be Stonehenge...we had stayed with friends near Salisbury and the locals in this area are very dismissive of Stonehenge..."ah its only a pile of stones" they would say and couldn't understand why people would travel to see this pile of stones. But as I drove towards Stonehenge and came to the top of the hill overlooking Stonehenge, it took my breath away...it was still far in the distance but I could still make out what seemed to me to be a perfect circle of stones, encircled by an even more perfert swirling circle of people. I admit that closer up it may not be as spectacular but I still think it is pretty special. Stonehenge itself is just part of an area that was used for burial purposes in pre-historic times so other than viewing the monument itself, you can also explore the surrounding area to understand more about what happened at Stonehenge. I spent some very happy few hours exploring the trails around Stonehenge in glorious sunshine and I will also remember this place with fond memories.

After Stonehenge, it was on to Cardiff, Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwick and Nottingham. I did get to see Sherwood Forest in Nottingham! But other than that I don't think I'll be visiting Nottingham again.

It was then time for the first of the 4 weddings I have attended over the past few months. My little sister, Niamh, got married! It was a great day and she look gorgeous. Despite some sort of downpor of biblical proportions the day before, the weather played nicely for the wedding...despite Tom and my father being caught in floods in Mallow as they were travelling to the reception from the church. However it all worked out in the end.

After Niamh's wedding, we headed to France (Paris and Bayeux) and Spain (Granada and Barcelona). Didn't enjot this section of the trip. Losing the camera in Granada probably didn't help. I thought the Alhambra in Granada was a bit over-rated but perhaps I was tired at that stage and so didn't appreciate it fully. I did very much enjoy Bayeux though. Perhaps it was to do with that fact that it was a nice small village, people were nice and we didn't have to contend with the crowds we had in Paris. Seeing the Bayeux tapestry was special. Had heard and learnt so much about it over the years and so I wa delighted to finally view it. And also in Bayeux we did a tour of the D-Day landing beaches. Again a brilliant tour and would do it again.

So the it was back to Ireland again. I was only supposed to stay in Ireland for 3 weeks but for various reasons, I extended my time in Cork. I had a great time with my family and friends. I had hired a car so was driving around as much as I could. I only learnt to drive in Sydney so it was a novelty for me to have a car in Ireland and believe me I made the most of it! It was also an interesting time to be back home, what with this economic crisis and everything. Talk about doom and gloom. Every day the newspapers and TV were full of what was happening and how things have taken a turn for the worst. Now I am no economic expert but it seems to me that people in Ireland were trying to best each other in their stories of hardship and how they are dealing with this recession...and it has only begun! I think you can talk yourself into disaster! Anyways I was glad to leave that behind.

My time in Ireland passed in a whir of 3 more weddings which were all great fun. Thanks guys for inviting me to them!

And finally the day arrived for my big trip to South America! Flight over to Rio was uneventful but was disappointed to see that the weather was crap when I arrived in and it didn't improve while I was there. But that didn't stop me. Have great photos of me and Christ the Redeemer where you can harldy see me or him becauise of the mist! Copacabana beach was deserted so I feel special to say I have seen Copacabana beach with no-one on it! However despite this I did enjoy Rio and it is a beautiful city. But my highlight of Rio was visiting one of the Favelas.

Now I have seem all the movies about the favelas in Rio and you know these films make these places out to be didgy places...and you know I think they could be right. We visited the largest Favela in Rio where 220,000 people live in 2km square area. The trip began with me getting on the back of a motorbike and holding on for dear life as my driver wound his way up the hill to the top of the favela. This road was choc-a-block with buses, trucks and any other obstacle you can think of and my drive liked to swerve! So of the entire visit to the favela this was the most nervous part for me! Once at the top of the
favela, we were warned not to take any photos in certain places, so you were left in no doubt that there is very much real danger about. You could feel the tension in these places and I will never forget the smells and sights of houses built upon houses as we walked through the favela. To be honest I wonder what the locals thought about us visiting what is their homes but we were ensured that the money we paid for teh tour was going to good causes within the favela and indeed we did see the results of this in some of the creches and workshops that were sponsored by the tour group.

From Rio we travelled to Paraty, a seaside village on the coast 5 hours south of Rio. Yesterday I spent teh day on a boat visting the islands and swimming and snorkelling. The weather wa still dull and a little cool so me, a Kiwi couple and and Irish lad were the only people to jump into the sea.

But today the weathe is only gorgeous! So happy times! About to head on a bus soon for Sao Paulo so better finish up.

If you have read to this point well done...my next postings will be shorter, I promise.

I miss ye all and am looking forward to catching some bit of the Sydney summer when I return but for now I think I'll make do with the Brazillian spring.

Ciao for now.

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