Blogs from Turkey, Middle East - page 386

A Day on the Truck Some of you may be wondering what it would be like to take a “Truck Expedition.” So here is a typical day. Today most of the group was headed to visit the ruins at Ephesus, so we had breakfast scheduled for 7 a.m. This means the cook group started unpacking the kitchen at 6:15 to cook breakfast, and today’s breakfast is french toast and coffee or tea so that everyone could catch the tour bus leaving at 8 a.m. For cooking we have a natural gas powered 4 burner collapsible stove. Two of the 4 burners are usually taken up with tea pots of boiling water for drinks and washing; the other two are used to cook. This morning we used a 20” skillet to span both burners for the ... read more

Geo: 39.9439, 32.856 I think we are all back on a "normal" schedule now. We woke up at a reasonable hour, had another fabulous breakfast buffet, complete with Nutella (chocolate hazlenut spread) on toast. We packed and went out to the store to buy snacks. We settled on breadsticks and simit and pistachios. We still had plenty of time to get to the bus station, but I didn't fancy hauling all the luggage up and down the stairs at the metro, so we took a cab. It was a fine thing that we took a cab too, because a child (I won't name names) left his/her bag with his/her new digital camera inside it in the lobby of the hotel because he/she got couldn't resist the lure of the revolving door. As soon as we pulled ... read more

A bordo dı una motonave attraverso ıl Bosforo e approdo sulla sponda europea della cıtta': tutto attorno case a perdıta d'occhıo sı arrampıcano sulle collıne ma fortunatamente ıl centro storıco con le sue moschee, ı bazar e glı ostellı sı trova tutto concentrato ın un'area rıstretta ın posızıone prıvılegıata. Rısalendo apıedı dal molo dı Emınönü al quartıere dı Sultanahmet sı possono gıa' scorgere alcunı deı luoghı pıu' conoscıutı, tra cuı la Yenı Camıı (moschea nuova), la stazıone dı Sırkecı punto d'arrıvo dell'Orıent-express, ıl palazzo Topkapı sede del sultano, Hagıa Sophıa e la moschea blu. Dıetro quest'ultıma sı trova ıl ghetto deı backpackers, con grande scelta dı sıstemazıonı a basso costo, pub e localı notturnı che radunano gente proponendo allettantı danzatrıcı del ventre e musıca occıdentale ad altıssımo volume che vıene pero' bruscamente ınterrotta quando ıl ... read more

Geo: 39.9439, 32.856Day 2: Still jetlagged. I got the kids to sleep by 11pm, but I didn't nod off until about 3am (That's 8pm at home). Hopefully I'll have that sorted out in a day or two. Josh was up by 8 and we let Kate and Alex sleep until 9. We decided to try the hotel breakfast which had the advantage of being both close and free. There was a huge array of breads, spreads, fruits, vegetables and olives. There were also a couple cereals, veal sausage and boiled eggs. I think the highlight for everyone was the honey served on the comb:We spent some time back at the room writing up our thoughts on yesterday and then went downstairs to ask the best way to get the the Museum of Anatolian Civilizations. I know ... read more

Geo: 39.9439, 32.856We had bubble baths and slept for 12 hours. Now we are venturing out in search of food. Our hotel room has a really great view of Ankara, including Ataturk's tomb. We are also across the street from a Metro station. With that, Josh proclaimed, "Ankara is in the palm of our hands!" Alex saw a ferris wheel and is lobbying to go to a theme park.I already blew the fuse on my power converter. Apparantly I need a transformer, not a converter for the heavy duty work. As a result, I'm low on computer power. We'll upload more details and picures after I get more juice.... read more