Blogs from Middle East - page 1200

I returned once more to Istanbul to collect my Iranian visa. And I got it! Exactly one week after I applied, I walked out of the Iranian consulate, smiling at the door guard who knew me already... It is not bad to return to Istanbul. It is a very charming city, especially in Sultanahmed. I went to the same hostel again, this time asking for a place on the roof terrace (half price). You have fresh air there, a bunch of travelers around you, and only the stars above you. If it doesn't rain! Two hours after I arrived it started raining very heavily. The roof terrace was flooded 10 cm with water and my raincover for the backpack proved to be usefull for the first time. But in the night the water was gone again ... read more

Up early for my 4 day cruise around the coast of Turkey. I walked down to the Olympos yachting office and waited with some others to walk down to the harbour to board our boat. Our captain came into the office with a bandana, a gold ringed earring and a missing hand, all that was missing was a parrot on his shoulder. Thinking he could be joking about the missing hand, he wasn't. We walked down to his Gulet Mr Hook I and net up with the other people on board. There was 17 plus 4 crew on board. 6 Australian, 2 Czechs, 2 New Zealanders, 2 Spanish, 2 Turkish, 1 Brazilian, 1 American and 1 English of course! Captain Hook was a little sleazy. He always wanted to be the centre of attention and spent ... read more

While waiting for the Iranian visa, I visited the small town of Selcuk in west Turkey. It is better known for its nearest archeological sight, Ephesus. I visited Ephesus for one day, but I also experienced Selcuk itself to be a nice place. In Selcuk I also had the possibility to upload some pictures from all the recent places I have been. I will also try to extend the correspondıng blogs a bit. But first about Selcuk. It is about a 10h busride away from Istanbul. It's not situated directly at the coast but some kilometers from the sea between many hills. The hills are partly covered by pine forest, especially at the coast and around Selcuk the lowlands have many peach and tomato plantations. Ephesus is about 2.5 km away from Selcuk, and you can ... read more

From space, the middle-east looks like the surface of the moon. The day was light for 20 hours. My consciousness faded in and out on occasions.... read more

My journey started on August 20th, 2005. I came to Turkey. First time to a foregin country..and since I didn't dispose of so much money, I travelled by train. It was a 24 hours journey...and so it started... One sunny and extremely hot day in Istanbul, 9 am. The train stopped in a dusty train station called Sirkeci that looked like in the old English movies. First shock: the Turkish language..seemed like some stones hitting each other in people's mouths...men screaming, luggage grabbing, weight carrying. I was with another Romanian friend, Anca. We were supposed to be English teachers in a city called Eskisehir, somewhere away..about 6-7 hours by train. What we didn't know was that nobody was there to wait for us. We had to manage. Outside the train station we saw something amazing: ... read more