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Published: October 11th 2007
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Hi Everyone,
onward with the tale...
22/10/07 - We moved on to Bergama and stayed in a very pink hotel! Bergama is mainly famous as the site of the ancient city of Pergamon and the Asceplion,or ancient hospital. both sites are remarkable but Pergamon stands out not least for the fact tht it it perched ontop of a very large hill and having both vast and impressive remains. Also whilst on the site a tourist managed to fall down the an ancient well! (No real damage done). The weather was slowly getting colder, and we to the point where we were forced to wear socks and shoes!!!
24/09/07 - Onward to Canakkle, the main hub for visiting both Troy and the battlefields of gallipolli. Going to see Troy was something I had been looking forward to for many years, but in the end it turned out to be less impressive than expected. all quite sterile and over-organised with a roped of walkway and only a fraction of the site on display, classical connections aside, Ephsus of Pergamon are much better archeological sites to visit. The next day we took the ferry across the dardannelles to visit the Gallipolli
peninsula. The whole area is now a national park and exquisitely beautiful . Its almost impossible to imagine that such a fierce conflict was raging here that took the lives of nearly 250.000 men 90 years ago.
The forests are scented with pine and wild herbs, and the seas are crystal clear & gloriously blue.
We also took a ferry to Killitbahir, a lovely little village with an Ottoman fortress overlooking the dardanelles. We ate at restuarant Vera (see the short film with music!) the owners couldnt do enough for us and the food was fantastic. It was all a little surreal however as they were playing 1960's country music full blast whilst Turkish airforce jets roared 100ft over our heads.
28/09/07 - We travelled on to Istanbul, but not wanting to arrive by land, we took the bus to Bandirma which is a town on the Sea of Marmara from where we crossed by ferry to Istanbul. Arriving in Istanbul felt like the culmination of the first part of our journey.
We were pleasantly suprised by the laid back nature of istanbul, maybe time spent in Marmaris had toughend us up.
Whilst in Istanbul we
visited the Tokapi palace, the huge and very impressive home of ottoman Sultans. at its heart is the harem where both the sultan his wives and concubines lived. You could spend weeks exploring Istanbul, but as we only had a couple of days we enjoyed the atmosphere and watching the citizens of istanbul fishing off every available space on any bridge.
02/10/07 - After a very pleasant flight on Emirates we arrived in Dubai, dazed and confused at 0230am went to the hotel, and spent most of the time asleep until we had to return to the airport for our flight to India.
03/10/07 - 0330am we arrive Thrivandrum Southern India, to torrential rain and fantastic heat we organised a car (such seasoned travellers!) and and off to Kovelam. Kovelam is a beach side town and a relaxing place to come to terms with travel in Southern India.
05/10/07 - Onward to Verkala, and first taste of road travel in India, which is quite alarming with cars, rickshaws, motorbikes and trucks everywhere, all constantly using thir horn. Every journey is an adventure!
In Verkala our neigbour was the temple elephant, whom we passed on our way to
and from our room seemed like a nice fellow!
The food is fantastic, so tasty and with a great use of spices, bears no relation to what we get in Indian restuarants in the UK. The state of Kerala (See map of India) is famous for its backwatersthat stretch for miles and connect all the paddy fields. We spent 2 days cruising the backwaters with a crew of three on a converted ricebarge floating past tiny villages miles from anywhere. at nights the skys fill with bats chasing insects and the glow of passing fireflies. Whilst on the boat we also saw a couple of fairly large snakes, though not poisonous as we were assurred.
10/10/07 - After two very sweaty days afloat we have now come to Fort Cochin, one of the oldest European settlements in India, full of buildings from Portugese, Dutch and British times. Here we are currently resting and recovering before heading to the hills for the tea plantations and wildlife sancturies, but more of that later
Regards
Shane & Claire (Photos to follow shortly)
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Gaurav
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food in south India
well,myself being an Indian,it's no wonder that you found food in here diff. from that back in UK,because there most of the shops cook according to the north indian way.South Indians are mostly veg.,whereas north Indians balance both veg. and non-veg.oh, by the way,I am an east Indian,from Kolkata.