Turkey to Croatia via Germany

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Where to begin?

I put some some pictures on the last 2 entries which were previously text-only, so in total there are three with new pics!

"Quick" travel update:
I finished my stay in Turkey at the tree house in Olympos and made my way to Antalya for my flight in the middle of the night (3:30am) on the 15th. I even got to explore Antalya proper for the day before (the 14th) flying out to Stuttgart, Germany. Landing in the morning, I was met by Allie (friend from UBC, living on and off in Stuttgart) at the airport and hung out with her the entire day and evening until my flight in the morning (the 16th) to Croatia where I was met by Zeljka, another friend from Vancouver (who is actually from Croatia).

At the moment, I'm at my friend Zvon's (from UBC in Vancouver) brother Neven's place in Zagreb, Croatia. It's wonderful to have a static location (in a house!) for more than 24 hours simply to get things a little bit more in order. It is also cool to see a familiar face (Zeljka) and catch up on things a little bit while also meeting loads of nice people at the same time. I'm thinking I'll probably be here until some time on the weekend and then I will make my way towards the coast (Dubrovnik via an all night bus). The only firm date is that I'm meeting my friend Massimo (Italian co-worker when I worked in Dublin, Ireland) in Trieste, Italy on June 1st.



More of a story (by country!):

----------TURKEY----------------

Finishing up my time in Turkey was amazing. I ended up hanging out with the couples I mentioned in the last posting (2 Canadian couples and an Aussie one (who have a really cool traveling journal describing their round the world trip!) nearly the entire time doing various hikes, fires, swims, and other chill-out sessions. A lot of time was spent, day and night, on the beach simply sitting around and talking, but that was really fun. Two of the nights we made fires which attracted more and more people to the conversation, including my new German friend Dr. NoJoke as well as another solo American named Bjorn, both of whom I'm going to try to meet during the upcoming World Cup.

One night, we hiked up to Chimera. This is the name of a series of eternal flames on a nearby (~9km) hillside. There are all sorts of legends surrounding the fires, so we gathered our posse and made way for the hills. Unfortunately, a large portion of the walk was uphill but by the time we got to the site, it was well worth it. Essentially, the flames smell very much like natural gas and exist from excess gases being spewed from the earth beneath. If you cover one, it goes out and soon after reignites. Our friend Theo verified this. The tallest flames were about knee high although it's mentioned that historically they were much brighter, as in ships could be guided by them (the hills are about 4km back from the sea). Their size didn't seem to bother the trio of Israeli campers at the top of the mountain. In fact, they embraced their presence and added to the mysterious ambiance with the wooden flute and makeshift drum that they brought. Exhausted after the vertical walk, we chilled and soaked in the unique atmosphere. The Israelis also passed a communal tea around, prepared on the eternal flames themselves. Our crew recipricated from our bottomless supply of Efes, the national beer of Turkey.

The walk back was delightful and much appreciated because their was a full moon that lit up the trees, cliffs, beach, and ruins. An alternative to get to the top is to shell out some cash and be driven from the treehouse, but all of us were happy that we embraced the lunar power. I felt inspired to write a poem about the situation but instead I returned to my treehouse to crash. The following night, there actually was a full moon party at this danceclub in the Olympos Valley itself. It was open-air and each side of the setting had a sheer, partially wooded cliff. The DJ was alright but not up to the standards of my friends, especially Dr. NoJoke himself ;-). Regardless it was a wicked fun conclusion to Olympos, and the site where I said my goodbyes to the crew I rolled with the previous days, and am sure I'll see again sometime somewhere.

Olympos was difficult to leave. Aside from the natural surroundings, the people I met were awesome. But I had a flight to catch the next night at 3:30am, and was 2.5 hours from the airport. On the bus towards the town, I ran into Dr. NoJoke so we chatted the whole time and I was informed about some cool music festivals throughout Europe in the next months, making determining my exact plans difficult (poor me to have so many choices!). Eventually we parted and I decided before camping out in the airport that night to get a tour of Antalya proper. I had to take a local bus in and was in search for the shuttle bus stop which was on Konyaalti street. Due to my inabilities to speak Turkish however, I was dropped off instead in the part of town bearing the same name. It didn't matter because at this point I had 12 hours to make it to the airport. The issue was more that I had all of 2 Turkish Lira (about 1.5 US$) left to spare on this days rations because I didn't want to withdraw Turkish funds since they'd be of no value in future destinations. So I just carried my large rediculous bags on the beachfront and chilled watching some dodgy beach soccer game while enjoying the last views of a Turkish beach.

Amidst my walking around, the only Turkish man ever in biking shorts aproached me to ask where I was from etc. Typically when approached as such, it's more than likely I will be sold something. Thankfully this time though, Arda just wanted to talk. And talk we did! He ended up not only showing me to the adress of the airport shuttle but also gave me a quite extensive tour of the entire area including old part of town named Kaleici (the 'c' has a thing under it, but I can't type that here on the Croatian keyboard, or don't want to figure it out). On the day, the local soccer team was playing one of the largest teams from Istanbul on the last day of the season. They ended up winning and avoided relegation as well as helping another Istanbul team win the league. So during the tour, endless cars of topless dudes with flags drove by honking and blowing noisemakers and whatnot so certainly it wasn't exactly fitting in for a backpacker with 60 pounds of backpacks and a grown man in biker shorts to be enjoying the surrounding history. But we did, and eventually wished each other well as I made my way to the airport.

I was dropped off at the wrong terminal and had to walk another 4km to the next terminal because no shuttle exists and taxis don't except love as payment (from men). So I finally made it to my "hotel" for the night, Antalya International Terminal 2. Killing time in an airport is typically boring. I inquired at information to find internet access but to no avail. No bother though because the worker there, Aynur, was equally as bored and thankfully very conversational and kind. She was delightful to talk to but eventually was off work at midnight in order to celebrate her birthday! So I slept an hour here and there in the airport and woke up the next morning in Stuttgart, Germany.



----------GERMANY----------------

My friend Allie was at the time in Stuttgart working so she was kind enough to pick me up at the airport and tour me around during the day. I enjoyed the sites and also was overjoyed to see the first face of a friend I knew before coming to Europe on April 19th. Things were busy for her running between Stuttgart and Vancouver (her offices) and Berlin (her exhibition) but thankfully she had the time to show me around. I threw my bag in her place and we were off to explore. We sampled the beers in the park (fyi, German wheat beer is my favorite thing in the world) and eventually sampled some bars and beer gardens. Along the way, we gained more and more people. First, we met a really cool guy named Jamie, a hilarious and smart Brit residing in Stuttgart. Later, a coworker of Allie's named Evelyn joined us at the beer garden atop Stuttgart. It offered excellent views of the city, which apparently was about 90% destroyed by allied bombing in WWII since it's the hub of the industrial region of Germany, being the home of Mercedes and Porshe.
Later we made it to a jazz club where we met a really interesting man in a wheelchair. It was a sight to see him down beers off the attached table to his transport device. He also was tremendously well-spirited as was everyone present. The fun led back to Jamie's where exhausted, I feel asleep fully clothed in the middle of the floor using my bookbag as a pillow. Classy. The nearby hostel was 22 Euro, and I paid no more than 8 in Turkey, so it was shocking. Apparently they tried to invite me to a softer, sleep-friendly location but I was out cold after the days of spotty sleep. No worries because I set my alarm amidst the chaos and after some thankful goodbyes to each for their good times and extensive help (both fluent German speakers), I made it to my flight the next morning to Zagreb. I have now been in Germany 4 times in my life, and never for more than 1.5 days. Do I win something for that?


----------CROATIA----------------

Zeljka, a Croatian friend I met in Vancouver, met me at the airport in Zagreb. This is where I currently am, staying at her boyfriend's (in Vancouver currently, a friend of mine) brother's (Neven) place. So far, I've been here 48 hours and have been taking full advantage of the full amneties and kindness. My clothes are washed, I have a bed(!!!), and free high-speed internet. I have even gotten a chance to talk to special people on Skype (you know who you are!). I'm xxdischord if someone wants to join the fun.

We have slowly explored the various parts of the area but a lot of the focus is gathering myself and also catching up with a friend and understanding the lives of the cool people I've met here. So instead of taking pictures of ruins and sleeping in caves, it has been more socially based (which as you can tell from the stories I tell, tends to be the case especially traveling alone). All of the friends so far are amazing and some of their names I can even pronounce!

The first day, we went straight to Neven's and I met the dog Astra, a white boxer often mistaken as a pit bull (my myself as well. A sidenote, it's not nice to say but I typically hate dogs because where I was raised the neighbors had a Doberman and a Rottweiler that frequently got loose and attacked us). The dog is actually really cool and the place is very relaxing and comfortable. These days, I've walked around with Zeljka and seen her apartment as well as various parts of the city. The center of Zagreb consists of the lower town and the two parts of the upper town, each on their own hill. Touring has been scattered and relaxed, since it's two friends catching up, rather than hyper and tourist like.

The evenings have been quite social. One night we went to a nightclub that is on a boat in the river. Even from 10 meters away, it didn't look like a club but once inside it was unique and fun regardless. Thankfully they played every single one of our favorite Croatian hits! Actually, I joke, but it was quite cool just be involved in the excitement and to enjoy the unique atmosphere. The next day we made it to a bar in the upper town called Tolkien where I had a Belgian Leffe and some spiced drink called grok, or something like that (sounding similar to glogg in Denmark/Scandinavia actually but was actually rum and spices rather than wine). That night, we made it to Route 66, apparently an American bar with rock bands playing every Wednesday. It was fun hanging out with Zeljka, Elena, Neven, Christina, and , and we rocked the night away. On the walls were everything reminding me of home!

I expect to hang out here until Saturday or Sunday night when I'll take a nightbus south to Dubrovnik. After that I'll progress up to Trieste, Italy, going from island to island and town to town in the process. Should be fun as Croatia's coast is supposed to be wonderful.

That's it. If you actually made it this far, you WIN!

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Photos

Olympos
the beach at Olympos from atop the castle ruins on the hill

beach chillin
this is basically what multiple days on the beach involved: swimming, lounging, joking, drinking

Chimera
the Israeli people play the pipe at the eternal flame

chillin at Bayram's Pension in Olympos Village
Dr. NoJoke and Ben discuss electronic music equipment on a Turkish rug with some Efes nearby

Chinese restaurant in Antalya
this Chinese restaurant looks a lot like a mosque...

Antalya
Arda and I after a day tour of Antalya

Comments

[Gitte]

Those stories
Such great travel tales! I'm just a little bit envious... Gitte