Blogs from Black Sea, Turkey, Middle East - page 5

Hi everyone Arrived in Istanbul to be confronted with the wost peak hour traffic! Worse than the Monash.....so it took some time to get to the hotel. Worth the wait - very posh - 5 star hotel - which scanned us & our baggage for weapons - overlooking the Bospherous (well Nobby & Chris got that view...we just had an overgrown garden and a barking dog.) Decided we could handle going out for dinner (as opposed to taking the easy option of eating in the hotel) so after much consultation with the concierge we got into a dinky little taxi. After 20 mins we were on the waterfront and we knew for sure we were going to eat seafood by the raw fish in the window. We were not really dressed up for this occasion when ... read more

ESPAÑOL:Los Alpes Pónticos son unas montañas al Noreste de Turquía cuya cima más alta es el Kaçkar 3937m. Es un parque natural donde además hay iglesias medievales de la época en que pertenecía a Georgia, de hecho todavía hay pueblos donde hablan georgiano. Descubrí Barhal en 1994 y desde entones prácticamente todos los años he vuelto. TÜRKÇE:Doğu Karadeniz sahili boyunca uzanan bir dağ sırası. Doğusundaki birçok zirvesi 3000 m üzerindeyken, batı kesimi 2000 m yüksekliğe kadar ulaşır. En yüksek noktası olan Kaçkar Kavrun Dağı, 3932 m yüksekliktedir. 1994 yılında milli park ilan edilmiştir. Orada çok güzel gürcü kilisiler var ve bazin köylerde gürcücë konusuyorlar. 1994’te ilk kez Barhal’a gittim, ondan itibaren her sene dönüyorum. Gerçekten kendi memleketim oldu. ENGLISH: The Pontic Alps are a chain of mountains northeast of Turkey whose higher peak is the Kaçkar ... read more

Over a month later we are back in Istanbul except this time we arent sweltering in the middle of a heat wave, in fact it is pouring with rain! What a busy month it has been. After our stay in Cappodocia we looked at our options for the remaining time in Turkey. We had to be back in Istanbul for the 6th of September for the long awaited U2 concert. This left us with enough time to see a few more places but not quite long enough to get far east and back for the concert without some serious overnight buses or internal flights. We weren't too keen on either so decided to rent a car and take off on a ten day road trip back to Istanbul. We didn't have much to go on, just ... read more

Hi- sorry its been awhile since I have added new pictures but these latest ones are from our trip to Sile (pronounced Sheelay) on the Black Sea and some pics from Istanbul. Hope you enjoy! Please let me know if the videos and pics look ok as I have noticed some of them have the wrong info on them for some reason.... read more

Safranbolu was just a short 6 hours bus ride from Sinop! Actually our bus dropped us off in nearby Karabuk and we had to get a local bus to Safranbolu. That took 45 minutes as it went all the way around the local towns before depositing us near the impressive old hammam. Ali from the Bastoncu Pension came to meet us and then we followed him along cobbled lanes to the old Ottoman house which was to be our home for 2 nights. Inside it is beautifully decorated and Trish couldn't have asked for a nicer place to spend her birthday! It's not a big place but it's a nice place to relax for a day or two. There's nothing much more to do than amble around the streets, visit the museum, browse the souvenir shops ... read more