Troy and Gallipoli. Two names of great significance - one has been immortalised in the culture of western civilisation by an ancient Greek epic, the other has been burned into the psyche of the Australian and New Zealand nations. Visiting both in the same day is quite something, let me tell you. Troy was close to the hotel so we arrived after a short drive. We were the first group there, but our advantage was soon eroded by our guide talking and us asking questions. A couple of large groups overtook us, but still, it was fairly quiet. It was interesting to hear the Turkish perspective of Heinrich Schliemann, compared to the Greeks. Heinrich’s first attempt at archaeology (which hadn’t been invented yet) resulted in the destruction of many newer layers of Troy, and the Turks ... read more

I’m back in Athens now, so you will get 3 entries at once. Now, when I last wrote we had arrived at the hotel at Delphi. Dinner was at a hotel down the road and once again consisted of meat and rice. Not exactly the best example of Greek cuisine. The next morning we boarded the bus and headed to the nearby ruins. In ancient days this was a very holy site. The biggest draw for the site is the ancient oracle of Delphi. What I did not realise, however, was that they also held games here like the Olympics. They differed in a number of ways. Firstly, there was no sacred truce where the Greeks would stop fighting each other. It was also held they year before the Olympics. The biggest difference, however, was that ... read more

On Sunday morning I woke early and headed down for breakfast at 6 o’clock. Expecting the breakfast room to be empty at that hour, I was quite surprised to find a large group of French eating. Later on, as I waited outside my hotel the same group came out to wait for something, presumably a tour. They left and I waited for my ride. They were 20 minutes late so I had begun worrying whether I had made a mistake or they had forgotten me. Eventually they arrived. After picking up more people at other hotels we headed down to Piraeus, the main port of Athens. It’s a fair distance from the centre of the city, which made me appreciate how significant the ancient walls must have been, as the road to the port was protected ... read more

On Tuesday I headed out to Vergina. Lonely Planet claims you can do Pella and Vergina in one day, and perhaps you can, but you would need to get an early start and have a copy of the bus timetables. I had neither. I headed off to the bus station, bought a ticket and went to find the bus. Looking for bus number 9, I was unable to find it. Then a helpful fellow told me that 9 was, in fact, my seat number. After asking a couple more people, I found my bus; we boarded and headed out to Veria. Most of the journey there was over flat plains and not particularly interesting. Veria, however, was very nice. It is built on the side of a hill, so there were some nice views as we ... read more

Hello from Changi airport. I have a few hours to kill, so I thought I would take the airport up on its offer of free wireless internet. Signing up wasn't as simple as it could be, but I got there eventually. Flight here went smoothly. Had a good seat with an empty seat between me and the other passenger. In-flight entertainment is super on Singapore Airlines. When I wasn't reading my book (The Chronicles of the Black Company by Glen Cook - good stuff!) I watched a couple of movies. The great thing about the movies is they are on demand and there are 80 to choose from (new and old movies, plus some chinese and bollywood movies that I could not say whether they are old or new). There's also audio and tv shows. None ... read more