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Middle East » Turkey » Aegean » Fethiye March 6th 2007

The night bus from Cappadocia to Fethye took 14 hours but Turkey's bus system is impressive, comfortable, clean and on time. Greyhound could make a study tour. They even serve tea and snacks, have fold down tables and movies on Mercedes ·Benz made buses. Southern Turkey as you near the coast is mountainous, major passes and mountains with snow, deep valleys with orchards, vegetales, grennhouse tomatoes, a very rich area resource wise. Fethye must be a mad house starting in April, with a harbor full of cruise sailboats and working fishing boats, b ut in winter it is refreshing. We climbed to a nearby abandoned Greek village, one of many that were deserted during the exchange of Greek and Turkish folk earlier in the 20th century. WQe then hiked over a ridge and down to the ... read more
turquoise coast
ready for summer cruising
it really is turquoise

Middle East » Turkey » Marmara » Istanbul March 6th 2007

Wow...ok almost would have forgotten my passport was in my glove compartment of my car unless I had to pull something out today on the way to work! That would have been awful! So my flight is tomorrow and I JUST got my Israel tickets in the mail from the travel agent...nothing like cutting it close! I have most everything packed, still need to figure out the shoe situation...I hate to pack a ton of shoes but also don't want to have the wrong shoes! I got an invitation to attend synagogue in Turkey which should be an amazing experience--I am hoping it will lead to an invite to see someone's home for a meal which would be a fabulous experience. I will update this when I land! ... read more

Middle East » Turkey March 6th 2007

The wait, ohhh the horror and the wait. Now lying in bed in Dorbygzat I was now only 40 or so km's from the Iranian border. My mind wandering in all sorts of directions, I couldnt believe that after all the waiting, planning and dreaming I was finally going to get to Iran. Just had to hope that the Turkish border guards let me out of Turkey, inspite of my visa being 5 days expired..... (the reassuring words of the Erzerum police "it will only cost ten us dollars as a punishment" were ringing hollow in their intention). Saddled up and started the ride to the border. Great countryside. I really enjoy riding through moutain ranges. On the left side Mount Ararat rose to 4500m (I think) abover sea level. While not too high the mountain ... read more

Middle East » Turkey » Marmara » Istanbul March 5th 2007

Halve ekspedisjonsteamet våknet til trestemte bønnerop fra de nærmeste moskeene idet det var tid for morgenbønn. Alltid en hyggelig bekreftelse på at man er på den andre sıden av Svinesund, og vel så det. Men som vantro har vi privilegiet å sove videre, og lar muezzinene styre med sitt. Det vennlıge hotellet kunne skılte med en brukbar loftsrestaurant med terrasse og utsikt tıl den blå moskeen. Frokosten bestod av ymse bakverk (et ord vi kanskje senere forbinder vel så mye med for lange dager i sykkelsetet), gjør-det-selv-salat og yoghurt. Og selvsagt svart kaffe og te i små glass. Neste viktige deloppgave var å komme oss ut til flyplassen for å avbestille de ufyselig dyre og ubrukelige billettene hjem fra İstanbul, og til Otogar for å bestille billett østover tıl Trabzon. Begge deler gikk knirkefritt, og økonomien ... read more
Den forsvunne sekk

Middle East » Turkey March 5th 2007

Not going into too much detail on our timely but somewhat meloncholy departure from Erzerum. We bade a fond farewell to "Ayran alley", walked along "overhead bridge" road once again, and finally strolled pass "piece of shit car" path. All these places having been given these rather odd names due to spending way too much time in Erzerum. Ahhh, how many hours did we spend discussing the relative kebap attributes of the half dozen kebab houses along Ayran alley. "well, kebab house a put on some extra salad yesterday" "hhmmm good point, but house b does the creamer ayran. you have to agree on this" "granted, and that is a pertainant point. but lets get radical and goto house c" "ok" and so we would munch and crunch. inevitably the conversation would then fall to ... read more
The man with attitude
The boys

Middle East » Turkey March 4th 2007

Hi Everybody! Walt and I have been pleasantly surprised with our experiences so far in Turkey. We feel the country is a step above most of the sites we visited last fall in Asia. We have felt very safe even in the evenings on the streets, and we have found the country to be clean. Turkey reminds us of Eastern Europe. Istanbul is the only city in the world that sprawls across two continents. To the East of the Bosporus Strait lies the city's Asian side. We stayed on the Western, or European side. We only stayed there for one night but will be going back for a couple of nights at the end of our trip. From our hotel, we walked to the Sultanahmet Square and viewed the Blue Mosque and Haghia Sophia. We will ... read more

Middle East » Turkey » Marmara » Istanbul March 4th 2007

Det svært hyggelige og hjelpsomme personalet på BA på Gardermoen måtte dessverre opplyse oss om at vi ikke slapp inn i Tyrkia uten enten å ha forhåndskjøpt visum eller å ha forhåndskjøpt returbillett. Vi hadde bare lest oss til at vi kunne få kjøpt visum på flyplassen i Istanbul, og var lykkelig uvitende om at de trengte dokumentasjon på at de kom til å bli kvitt oss igjen. Enden på visa var at vi brukte hver vår VISA og kjøpte oss to business-class billetter (business-class var det eneste som var refunderbart ved avbestilling) fra Istanbul til Oslo 2.april. Tilsammen kostet dette oss 18.018 NOK. Kredittkort er fine greier!! Til vår begges overraskelse gikk bagasjen gjennom innsjekkinga uten et eneste skeivt blikk eller gram i overvekt. Vi trodde selv vi hadde innsjekka bagasje på ca 20 kg ... read more

Middle East » Turkey March 4th 2007

Middle East » Turkey » Central Anatolia » Cappadocia March 3rd 2007

for 2 days now we have been ın central Turkey ın an area called Cappadocıa. Its volcanic origns have created a dry landscape vaguely reminiscent of Montana's open sagebrush spaces and Utah's multicolored cliffs and bluffs. Added bonus feature: pillars, outcroppings, towers and caves in the volcanic tuffa which is light enough to be eroded or carved easily. Early Christians lived in these caves, to escape persecution, and local folk created underground villages to escape violence and war over the centuries.... read more
Byzantine church entrance
early terracotta painting
cliff houses

Middle East » Turkey » Marmara » Istanbul March 3rd 2007

Well we're back at home and inspired for new things and other travels, but not for a while we need to earn money now to be able to leave again, still the memories of cold Istanbul will keep us going for a while. First coming to mind are the birds and the cats, the sky of Istanbul was full of birds, from storks in the Gulhane Park that belongs to the Topkapi Palace to the flight of seaguls lit at night over the spires of the blue mosque! to sparrows, asian doves, comorans and ibyses all part of the scenario. At dusk the sky would fill with the flight of birds, not exagerating, in their thousands over the hills, mosques and waterways of the city, what an amazing image that was! The mosques, city filled with ... read more
another mosque
On the ferry to the Asian side
a last toast in our hotel




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