Albertson

Cappadocia region is famous for its troglodyte villages, subterranean churches and fortresses have been hewn from the soft, porous, rock. The rock formation has been formed by both wind and rain eroding softer rock creating a surreal landscape that look like fairy chimneys Underground dwelling were built into the remaining rock by Greek Christians trying to escape the Muslim onslaught and persecution. They used them as hiding places in times of war and contained underground churches, wine cellars, food storage, sleeping quarters and even places for animals. For defence they have large stones that could be rolled crossed certain passage ways. The underground villages are a complex multi storey structures with a series of interconnection passages ways at different levels. For air circulation a series of ventilation shifts were used which allowed fresh cool air to ... read more

We next travelled across the central Anatolian high plateau to the region of Cappadocia. On the way we stopped at Konya to visited the Mevlana Whirling Dervish Museum. This museums contains a mausoleum for the founder and other important members of the movement. Under Islamic law you can not depict people or animals in images so for decorations, designs are created using geometric shapes, colours and verses from the Koran. Tulips were again growing outside including some striking black ones which are really just deep dark purple. We also stopped at 13 century Caravansera at Sultanhani. All along the famous silk caravan route from India, secure night stops or camps were built to protect merchants and their goods and support trade. When we visited sections of a movie was being filmed there, so it had been ... read more

After ANZAC day the tour continue with us following the standard tour route thought Turkey. Over the next two days we visited a number of ancient roman sites, all UNESCO World Heritage listed sites. Sites we visited included the hill top town of Pergamum with it’s amphitheatre. We also visit the neighbouring Asclepion where Galen the great roman physician hospital was located. The next day we travelled to the legendary Roman city of Ephesus. Originally founded as a Greek city it became the Roman capital of Asia Minor It includes the ruins of the Temple of Artemis - one of the Seven Ancient Wonders. Major sites seen included the Great Theatre once capable of seating 25,000 spectators, Curetes Way, the Temple of Serapis, the façades of the Temple of Hadrian and the awesome Library of Celsus. ... read more

The next day the weather changed with heavy rain and the temperature dropped to 6 degrees. Between the rain I visited the Topkapi palace including the Harem section it was an interesting place, it really was a real golden cage. Then on to the Archaeological museum next door to see it’s collection of Hittites and Babylonian artefacts. There were impressive tulip displays all over Istanbul, while the original Tulip plants were natives of Turkey, these were all Dutch hybrid tulips that are more impressive and easier to grow in mass. In the afternoon I visited the military museum it had a special display about Gallipoli campaign plus its normal display about the conquest of Constantinople, together with a collection of armour, swords, bows, shields and firearms . The next day I visited the mosaic museum which ... read more

Hong Kong is amazing city It has a high energy excitement about it. There are signs everywhere calling itself Asia’s global city which would appear true It is an interesting contrast of 4 strands: Traditional Chinese, Western capitalism, Chinese communism and the old British imperial system. . While the public transport especially the metro is very efficient you also do a lot of walking between stops. In fact a lot of the transport is a tourist attraction in itself for example the star ferry between Hong Kong island and Kowloon and the ding ding tram and the famous funicular ride up to The Peak . All of these are worth doing as tourist attractions as well as being a means of transport. The skyline of Hong Kong while incredible during the daytime it comes alive at ... read more