Turkey Pt. 2 - The 'Gobble Gobble' Gangnam Style!

19/09

In the morning we were woken by the humming of the boats engine as we were waking our way on a 3 hour journey to the port of Kas, a small coastal village predominantly famous for its silver jewellery. But after a couple of hours cruising, halfway to Kas we were treated to some breakfast. Then, after motoring a bit further it was time to dock in Kas and as we hopped off the boat we were ready to explore the city. But after half an hour walking we were of the consensus that if you were a guy and not really into silver there really wasn’t much to the town- despite Harro investing in a Turkish beach towel! So the group consensus was to pull up stumps, access some wifi and grab some Turkish ice cream or dondurma. After purchasing some ice cream from a crazy ice cream vendor who in his broken English was claiming the viagral properties of the nuts he garnished our ice cream I skyped Megan. Expecting to be left in peace and quiet to skype, in stead I was surrounded with all of the restaurant’s waiters as well as the ice cream man- in appropriately fellating the ice cream he had just made himself.  After skype, we headed back to the boat. Whilst harro and I were scared that at any moment the nuts would kick in, at the boat we cranked out the touch ball, threw it round with Daniel and lil Josh and then it was time for afternoon tea and then to set sail.

 

 

 

That night, after the usual delicious dinner and a few beers, we thought some sort of communal game might be nice. Ditching  500, we invented some sort of non heavy drinking Kings Cup. Whilst some drinking was required there were a few rules that instead of drinking required some unique challenges. These included walking the plank and placing 10 grapes, then 20 grapes in your mouth etc for 4 minutes. Great fun but it was soon time to head to bed- again under the stars!

20/09

Today started like any other day until Finlay and I were ask by John the old Canadian guy over breakfast in front of everyone, “so are you two gay? not that there is anything wrong with that of course” …. No we aren’t for the record. Obviously John hadn’t been convinced by the whole “Megan” story.

And John thought we were gay?

 

The sunken city was up next, another old bunch of ruins destroyed by the many earthquakes in turkey however this one was more than half underwater so you couldn’t actually see it. Only where it had been. Riveting…

 

Next up we visited the Castle on the island of Simena where the challenge was set for the two teams to take the best Ellen picture using their surroundings on the island. Carly and I knew we had the money shot after finding a Teslar inspired power station scene to work with. While Finlay and Carine produced some average material (see photos below). To decide the winner we put them to the vote of the 20 person boat. It came down to the captains vote with The Bananas up 10 to 9 and the captain to decided. He chose the other and therefore no winner.

 

 

 

 

For the last night we were told about a bar called Smugglers Inn and jump into a speed boat with about 20 people and headed off into the pitch black. We arrived at this little wooden bar in the middle of nowhere and disembarked straight to the bar. Settling into a few drinks it was only our boat plus a few people from another boat. I got chatting to this Aussie girl who lived in London who was trying to tell me that it was super cheap there and even cheaper than Turkey, outrageous claim! She also had purchased an Audi convertible which I thought strange/stupid for England being a rainy place. Anyway after ripping this girl for being a spoon hit up some delicious shots and bossed the dance floor….well Finlay and I did. After most people got tired and left we stayed and Ilias and his pirate mates cooked up some late night munchies. Amazing poached eggs with butter and paprika! He told us stories of his pirate days, smuggling Somalians from the Greek islands to Turkey and booze as well. Then he met a Dutch girl who took him to Holland for five years and worked as an Engineer, then had a kid. However the call of the ocean was too strong for him and decided to return to the sea life, so here he was. On the topic of smuggling, Polly told us how she had brought Ilias a small green present from England which she placed on the 2^nd choice shelf for her plane ride. This appeared a little to normal to her. As things got weird we decided it was time to got to bed and caught the speed boat back home.

 

21/09

Waking up slightly dusty after a few drinks with a few pirates at the Smugglers Inn the night before, we headed to breakfast hoping eggs would cure our ills. With limited success we were soon below deck packing and readying our things to say goodbye to Ilias and friends and disembark the boat in Demre. From Demre we were to catch a minibus to Antalya where we would then catch an overnight bus to Goreme, the main town of Cappadocia. The minibus from Demre to Antalya was eventful to say the least., With the bus packed full with all the recently disembarked touriss it was then packed further with some locals including a young lady and her young child. With Harro the closest person to the child it was going to make for an interesting bus journey. It wasn’t probably half an hour in that the kid vomited all over her mum, narrowly missing Harro. With the smell of baby vomit moving through the bus everyone had resorted to sleeping off the stench. However, the bus soon stopped allowing mother and child to get into a new change of clothes. But this didn’t stop the baby crying its eyes out for the rest of the trip- Antalya couldn’t come soon enough.

 

Beers at the Smugglers!

 

Arriving at the bus station, we got to the bus desks and soon found a company that would take us to Goreme- either at 1900 or 2200. Thinking we would want to spend 8 hours at this bus station- oddly full of young Turkish men with dog tags, pink shirts and slash marks on their arms- we chose the 1900 bus that would arrive at 0430. After having dinner with Ben and Sharon we were on the bus ready to sleep off an eventful day.

22/09

Arriving in Goreme at 5am after a night bus is not one of the best things in the world, delirious from lack of sleep and unable to check into any hostel as none were open at that time we opted for the park bench.  We both selected our bench of choice rugged up and attempted to sleep homeless styles.  After being rudely awakened by the call to prayer we headed to the local tea house with all the old men flooding out of the Mosque for some chai and backgammon.  After some punishing lessons, Finlay finally learnt how to play the game and won his first. At 7am It was time to find some accommodation and as we strolled to the info centre we saw a man in the distance sitting at a coffee shop, and who else could it be but our man Daniel Zaltani! After having a good ol chat, getting the goss on his week long adventures in rural Turkey we thought it might be a good idea to find somewhere to sleep.

 

Using the free accommodation service at the bus station we found a cool hostel in the side a hill called Travelers Cave Dorn and after checking in we crashed for a few hours. Waking up were ready to grab a pide before we thought it might be good to get a glimpse of the Rabbitohs vs Doggies Semi-Final.  But after discovering that streaming it was only possible if you paid for it, we resorted to skyping Elies and Leah with the web cam directed straight at their big screen tv. Althought the wifi struggled with the load watching the average quality was enough- plus by the time we set it up the game was essentially over. Doggies Storm Final! For dinner we met up with Zoltani and eat a Cappadocian special which is a beef stew done in a clay pot. When the dish is served the waiter cracks the top of the clay pot off with a knife. Up there with one of the best feeds in Turkey so far! Post-dinner consisted of Zaltani teaching us two new card games, Gin Rummy and OG which we played till fatigue set in and we settled for an early night.

 

 

 

23/09

Over dinner the night before we had decided that while we were in Goreme it might be a good idea to do some serious sightseeing. So we decided that we would hire a couple of mountain bikes and do what they the tourist companies called the red trip- a round trip from Goreme to Cavusin, to Avinos, then via Zelve back to Goreme. There were some great road- long straight sections broken up with long down hill sections as well as long uphills.

 

However about 6km from home, I diagnosed my bike with a front flat- so close to competing the 33 km loop, none of us wanted to call the dudes to change the tyre and come and get us so as we stopped to check the damage we were closely followed by a group of Swiss mountain bikers riding around thr region for the next 5 days. With their neutrality and kindness they repaired my tyre with 3 of their best tyre patches to fix it,. Then as we resumed our run home we had 2 more blow outs. Now only 4 km from home and 2 bikes down the consensus was that Fin and I ran the bikes home while Zaltani rode his back. We made it!! After departing at 10 am we arrived back at the bike shop at 4 pm. After a brief argument with the bike shop guys explaining that their tyres were shit and the gears were broken we got away paying 10 lira for the flats and headed to the coffee shop in need of some urgent nourishment.

Swiss Mountain Bikers/Lifesavers!

 

Over coffee and cake it was decided that after some rest and relaxation (C&C and some R&R) we would reconvene at 7 pm at the coffee shop to head for some nachos- nachos that we had viewed the night before and frothed over! The night consisted in essence of beer, nachos, cards and stick ball before Danny Banjami hit the hay to prepare for his early start the next day! Harro and I finished the night with a trademark Cornetto and then we were off to bed sore and sorry after our long ride.

 

24/09

After a long ride the previous day we were sore and exhausted so decided we would chill out before our bus at 7 pm to Kayseri. From Kayseri we would get the overnight bus to Kahta the best base from which to see Mt  Nemrut and other remains of the Kommagene kingdom. So as we hung out round the hostel all day, it was soon time to head to the bus station.

 

On the way to the bus station we thought a feed was essential. So as Harro indulged in another awesome nachos I demolished a mushroom sactava- some kind of mushroom stir fry with rice. Then the shuttle arrived and we jumped on and only a couple of hours later we arrived in Kayseri. With a new, large and flashy bus station Kayseri seemed the place to be. But it wasn’t long before we realised that this in fact that wasn’t the case. Harro made friends with this ultra creepy guy.  Once his new friend discovered he was learning Russian, he just kept speaking Russian at, not ‘to’ him, while sensuously stroking Harros knee. After a couple of hours of dealing with this creepy guy we had no energy left so headed outside to wait for the bus ,With the bus delayed it meant an extended wait and a choice- wait inside with the creepy dude or wait outside in the cold. With our new friends from Barcelona by our side, it was safe to head inside. Not long inside and the bus had arrive and we were all on our way to Kahta. Overnight bus this time was awesome- many empty seats and a smooth ride made for a lot of sleeping.

25/09

As we woke up in Kahta, we were of the realisation that we were now in Eastern Turkey- a more conservative region where Islam is adhered to by the majority of the population. The women mostly wear hijabs and the men rock these awesome trouser/vest combo with the lowest crutch I have ever seen on a pant. We jump off the bus and having seen our accommodation from the bus on the way to the bus station prepare ourselves to make the short walk to the hotel. But as we put on our packs a man from the same bus company as our recently disembarked bus hands us a phone, where a man speaks English on the other end. He tells us he is the man from our hotel and says he is going to come and pick us up as this is a free service as part of our booking. As we arrive at his hotel we are delivered caj and invited to have breakfast while our room is prepared. After some amazing breakfast which included stringy cheese, tomato, cucumber, a ridiculous amount of delicious bread.

After breakfast we were shown to our room and dropped our bags off and got clean after a sweaty and stuffy overnight bus ride. When we were clean we thought it would be a great idea to head back to the bus station to check tickets to our next destination- Trabzon. But in our best attempts at Turkish and the bus companies best attempts at English, including sign language, we discovered the bus was full leaving us wonder how we would progress from our current destination to any destination closer to Georgia. Anyhow, our thoughts soon turned to lunch and a supermarket lunch we decided it would be- a can of dolmades, a can of brown beans in tomato sauce and a bit of fruit. Following lunch in our room we headed back to our accommodation ready for our tour to start at 1 pm.

 

 

Everything in Turkey is done by tours which is annoying but we have rolled with it. The tour at 1pm took us to Arsimenia, and other ruins of the Kommagene  kingdom but the most amazing was Mt Nermrut, mountain adorned with stone sculptures of animals, leaders of the kingdom and other god-like figures. As we watched the sun set behind the mountains in the distance we thought about the romantic nature of the whole experience but we resisted holding hands- worried about the impression we had previously given off on the boat.  After it was dark we jumped on the bus back to  kahta. As we got back into the hotel , we saw Mark and Laura chilling out so invited them to dinner with us. We had earlier found an iskender kebab restaurant so we hit that up for a couple of iskenders, some tea and then headed home to hit the sack after a long day on the tour wagon.

 

MUNBATs at Mt Nemrut!

26/09

Waking up I thought I may actually die. I realised that I had drank tap water from the restaurant last night. However this was not a day to be sick as we had to try and make it to Georgia, so I popped a bunch of Imodium and maned up. Although the hostel guy was very helpful he constantly was trying to get us to do things his way and go on his tours. We said a difficult “no” and eventually got a much needed lift to the bus station and found a Dolmus to take us to Siverek. I luckily got a window seat and sat tight with a plastic bag and bottle of water and off we went. On the way to Siverek we had to cross the Attaturk dam (apparently the 5^th largest dam in the world which is mainly used to supply water to grow cotton….effectively in an arid region…) and boarded a barg with a whole bunch of cattle which smelt delicious! Arriving in Siverek changed to another Dolmus and set off to Diyabakir. As we rocked into Diyabakir the Otogar station went past and we both looked at each other and wondered when the bus would stop, asking a local he chatted to the driver and we worked out this only went to the Dolmus Otogar and not the main Otogar which we wanted. However the driver offered to take us there for an extra two dollars via his personal shopping trip. He purchased a bunch of bread which we had to eat and I tried to stomach the bread which wouldn’t go down and proceeded to stuff it in my pocket so he would think I ate it. Finally at the Diyarbakir Otogar we found a bus company that could take us directly to Tbilisi leaving at 7pm, stoked!

I assumed the foetal position as Fin entertained himself the luxuries of eating and booked our Tbilisi hostel. I was still feeling terrible and another 15hour bus journey called for more Imodium and a few antibiotics just to make sure. Boarding the bus I went straight to sleep although in the morning as I found our things weren’t as pleasant for Finlay who described me as “rotting from the inside”.  Anyway we set forth to Tbilisi! or so we thought….

27/09

As we woke up, we were still on the bus and waiting for our next pit stop- ready for breakfast. But as we arrived at our next stop we were told the bus was terminating. After showing the conductor and then the bus station manager we were given a refund and then directed to a bus that would take is across the border to Georgia to a town called Batumi. At the bus station Harro also purchased in my behalf a green Rizespor snap back- one which Lutty is going to froth over! But soon enough we were on the bus on the way to Batumi and even sooner we were at the Turkish- Georgian border.

Our helpful conductor directed us off the bus and told us to head through the Turkis border. Waiting in line we had our passports stamped and then proceeded through no man’s land to the Georgian entry border. As we sweet talked and smiled to the Geoorgian passport control we were let in and into a new country. But as we met the bus on the other side of the border the driver pointed back to no mans land where we saw our bags lying there with the bus conductor. A misunderstanding across languages meant we had to then exit Georgia collect our bags and enter back into Georgia via the same passport ladies who had let us in. They must have thought that we were complete nufties! Anyhow, with bags in hand we headed to the bus and we were on our way to Batumi.

As we arrived in Batumi, we disembarked the bus in a crowded as bus station- so crowded that our bus even struggled to fit in the only available parking spot. With our bags in hand we askeed the conductor for maybe some directions to the Tbilisi bus but with little/no English he took that as taking us straight to the Tbilisi bus, paying our bus driver and putting our bags in the back. What a legend!

 

 

 

 

With 400 km in a small minibus stopping often to pick up and drop off passengers it was a long ride- nearly 7 hours of minibus pain made worse by the driver inflicting some of the worst/best euro pop doof doof songs ever recorded.  As we arrived at the Tbilisi bus station we were approached by a taxi driver who offered to take us to our hostel for about 7 bucks. Taking his offer we successfully got to our hostel where he then informed us that it was not a 15 lari ride but 15 laris per person. But 15 buck later we had a bed and we could drop our stuff after about 25 hours in a bus! After a feed we headed to the local Georgian cuisine chain restaurant for some pie and dumplings. Stuffed to the brim after an $5 pp meal we hit the hay exhausted from a whole day of travelling! But we went to sleep knowing we had made it to Georgia!!!!!!!

Turkey Pt. 1- Putting our feet all over the Ottoman

12/09

Arrived early in Istanbul at random bus station we were clearly lost/delirious as a helpful young man asked us were we wanted to go and put us on the right bus to Aksaray. Then a short tram to Sultanahmet we wandered the streets with my dwindling  4 year old knowledge of the area and finally found our way to Big Apple Hostel after a little help from mr WiFi. Although we were fatigued from the overnight bus we decided to put our tourist hats on and set out to see the blue mosque abd Topkapi Palace and Park where my fatigue prompted me to start taking some arty self timer photographs.  Finlay then got the idea (from an Elen DeGenerous episode) that we should attempt to take a self timer where one persons body is showing except for their head and the other persons head is showing but not their body. This provided a solid hour of amusement.  Heading back to the hostel we checked in and went to the local Hamam (Turkish Bath) for a scrub and massage. The Hamam was amazing! Basically you get in there with nothing but a towel and sit in a sauna for 15mins, then a big hairy Turkish man aggressively washes you with a exfoliator and then places you on a large stone round table where he stretches, massages and cracks your whole body. After this you are free to hit the sauna and cold pool. It was amazing and the shebeb came our sparkling! Finns dad had left a care package in the hotel Lee Anne and Stephen stayed at so we collected the package which included the all important Central Asian Lonely Planet. Thanks Stephen!

After a well earnt nap we headed to the roof top of the hostel to socialise. Sitting down with a group of people Finn started to froth over a guy called Daniel Zaltani an American dude who is based in Chang Mai and works as a MicroFinance manager for WholeFoods group. Essentially Micro Finance is what Finn did his Thesis on and he barred up over discussions on the Grameen Lending Model (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grameen_Bank for more information). Naturally this topic cleared the table and everyone but the three of us were left. Later a girl came back to the table and sat down to light up a cigarette. She was a Nigerian girl who informed us that she and her friends were offended that we had not included them into the discussions and largely kept to ourselves. Baffled we told her that her and her mates were allowed to ask us questions and that they had offended us by walking away without saying goodbye. A little more heated discussion about how one should include someone into conversations and we decided it was time to hit the hay and prepare for our assault on Istanbul.

13/09

After indulging in some trademark Turkish breakfast we found our main man Daniel B Zoltani/Danny Banjammy/ the Sultan and we headed off to explore Istanbul’s main sights. With our hostel only minutes walking distance from attractions such as the Blue Mosque and Topkapi Palace we had to fight our way through the many tourist buses and similarly large tour groups before we were into open space and the Turkish part of Istanbul.  Our first stop on the tour was the Grand Bazaar a huge undercover market selling all things Ottoman and Turkish. On our first observations the market seemed to hold only 4 types of stalls- ottoman ceramic, gold and silver jewellery, Turkish rugs and clothing stores selling all gross Ralph Lauren polos and professional soccer jerseys. As more of a female destination for everything shopping, and on a limited budget that didn’t include ottoman ceramic or a Turkish rug we were quickly out of the bazaar and making our way to the Spice Bazaar, another bazaar that unsurprisingly sells all things spices. The hustle and bustle of the bazaar was something to behold with salesmen constantly tempting you with more types of Turkish delight than you could ever imagine. But through some clever selling tactics (commenting on the great growth on the chins of both Harris and myself) Harris purchased some spice mix and I purachsed some pistachio halva- winning!  Out of the spice bazaar we arrived on the banks of the ?? river where we strolled past the many riverside eateries before heading over the bridge past the many fisherman with their rods strapped to the bridge into Galada and Taksim, the hip, trendy, youthful side of Istanbul.  As I searched for a drum to purchase on the music shop street of Istanbul I was left disappointed- and then shattered. I was looking for a special darbuka but had only come across cheap chinese made ones that they were selling for about AUD $10 then I arrived at a Turkish hand made drum shop- the drums were beautiful. As I enquired as to how much one might cost I was greeted with a reply that was unexpected! 300 euro! I exited the shop a shattered man with the realisation that a handmade drum would not be a purchase that I could make this trip!

As we walked Taksim we soon had a bite to eat and then headed back to the hostel via a crazy 6 storey art installation/exhibition with Buddhist themed art made by two hippy dudes- one Turkish one British. After a bit of R and R and some indulging in some Turkish Halva we were out the door again to meet Taco, our Turkish friend who we met at Sziget Festival in Budapest one month earlier. We met Taco and his girlfriend at GAlada Tower, a famous meeting spot in Istanbul where we sat and indulged in a cold Efes before we set out to explore some of Taksim’s coolest places. First stop was dinner- we were treated to cig kofteci; some kind of raw meatball patty that is pounded and moulded and only really cooked with the heat of the maker’s hands. To wash down the cig kofteci we were also treated to aa drink known as salgam- a savoury juice made of black carrots, turnip and some other vegetables. It was essentially like drinking rotten soy sauce which was not the most pleasant experience. After our meal we were ready to grab another beer and it was off to a small indie club in the clubbing distict off Taksim’s main square. After a few beers Daniel started to pull out some serviette magic and some lighter tricks. As it was a school night, Taco and his girlfriend headed off after a quick dance to some sweet Drum n Bass and left the three of us to dance the night away. Calling it after another beer we were in search of more food after the cig kofteci, whild delicious, did not satisfy our deep hunger. With a doner in the belly we found a taxi and headed back to the Big Apple!

14/09

After a late finish to the night before we were entitled to a late start. Up just in time to catch our customary free breakfast, we were soon skyping home; checking in with family and friends form our next country on the list. Then our brains turned to organisation and we thought it might be a good idea to make a journey to Istanbul’s bus station to investigate ways to get to Gelibolu or Gallipoli to visit the site of one of the most important events in Australia’s history! After a long tram and metro ride we got to the bus station, extracted the information we required and then thought it was time for lunch. On the recommendation of the waiter we ordered Iskender Kebab; a steel plate full of kebab meat on top of Turkish bread dowsed in a tomato sauce then baked in the oven and topped with yoghurt and a grilled chilli. Delicious! Then we made the journey back into the centre of Istanbul with full stomachs  to arrive at the Irish pub in time to watch the last quarter of Adelaide vs Fremantle. As harro went back to the hostel to do a bit of skyping I watched the crows get up and then headed back to the hostel via the palace grounds as I thought a no sightseeing day was prohibited while in Istanbul. As I arrived back at the hostel we caught up with Daniel and decided we would head to the often unexplored Asian side of the city.

Venturing to the asian side of the city would require navigating Istanbul’s ferry system. However, like much of Istanbul’s public transport, the ferry system is operated by purchasing a 3 lira token from an automated machine then placing the token in the slot before walking through the turnstile. After a 10 minute ferry we were on the Asian side and were soon plonked at a restaurant to indulge in some seafood and other mezze. Although the budget was blown we were treated to an amazing meal full of octopus, fish, dip and bread amongst many Istanbul locals. After a quick tea in what seemed to be the Asian sides tea street we were back on the ferry and into bed suffering from the big night the night before.

15/09

Yesterday, after booking our tour to Gallipoli, we awoke at 6am in preparation of a 630 am pickup by a small minibus that would take us the 5 hour drive to Eceabat, a small town about 10 minutes from ANZAC Cove. The long minibus ride included a couple of stops at various roadhouses, reading, Harro learning Russian, sleeping and talking to an Aussie called Mercedes. But after 5 hours driving we arrived in Eceabat, dropped our bags at a hotel that was reasonably priced enough to stay there and we were quickly whisked off to free lunch. 

At lunch we met an aussie couple that were streaming the Rabbitohs- Raiders game so it seemed fitting that we watched a bit of league before heading to the site. Post-lunch we were again ushered on to a slightly larger bus than the morning one and we set off to Gallipoli. The 4 hour tour took in all the main sights of Gallipoli including the beach cemetery, ANZAC Cove, Chunuk Bair and Suvla Bay. I recommend it to all Australians- great to go there! As we returned, tired from a long day sightseeing we headed off for a feed at the ‘pide salonu’ on the recommendation of the hotel owners. And boy it didn’t disappoint- far and away the best pide we have had in Turkey. Harro had the minced meat and I had the garlic sausage with cheese—delicious! Then it was back to the hotel to send some more emails and transfer some international funds to ensure visas would be easily attainable in the weeks to come. After we’d finished our serious work, we popped across the road for an ice cream and then headed up to hit the sack.

16/09

Getting up after a great sleep, we were met with the customary Turkish breakfast of unlimited tea, eggs, bread, tomato and cucumber with a bit of fruit on the side we met our friends Andrew and Yasmin, who we met at the bus ticket office the day before, ready to jump on the ferry to Canakkale. From Canakkale we were to get a bus to Selcuk, the town which serves a tourist town for visitors to the ruins of the ancient settlement of Ephesus. To read all about the history check the link but essentially it was important to Ancient Rome and important people lived there- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ephesus. After getting off the bus, we took advantage of the hotel peeps waiting at the bus station and luckily picked a good one with a nice double room with ensuite- just by chance our friends Andy and Yasmin had booked the same one prior. The Artemis Hotel was the name of our hotel and it was run by two Turkish guys aged in their mid 20s who had worked at hotels previously but this was the first one they had owned and run themselves. They were unique as they both spoke perfect English but with a ridiculously strong Australian accent. Unlike most Turks who have a strong Australian accent because of some dual residency arrangement, these guys had learnt all their English from Australian tourists on their way down to the Southern coast from Gallipoli via Ephesus.

After we dropped our bags we met Andy and Yasmin and headed out to grab some food. More Iskender Kebab for me and Harris and we were soon down the street at the patisserie feasting on some Baclava and guzzling down some caj before we hit the hay ready to dominate Ephesus and then make our way down to Fethiye on Mediterranean Coast.

17/09

With a bit of a tight schedule we were up reasonably early to ensure we wouldn’t have to cut short our time at the ancient ruins. Setting off however we soon became lost walking the completely wrong direction from the hostel to the ruins. But it didn’t take long before we were back on course and at the ruins ready to dominate some ancient structures. Again, much like Istanbul we had to continuously navigate the many tourist groups, both grey-haired and Japanese, to get through the ruins sight. It was well worth it though as the ruins are really well preserved and being Turkey, you can just climb all over them. The highlights were probably the huge amphitheatre that is continuously under repair and the library façade. The ruins were made even better by Harris teaching me about all things engineering- aspect ratios, arches, and dowled connections (with lead binder?).Leaving Ephesus we were back into Selcuk and at the pide salonu to test this pide out against the Eceabat one currently in top spot on the pide table. A great pide although it wasntt able to snaffle top spot off the Corban Salon.

Post pide we were on the dolmus to Aydin where Harris met a Turkish who he chatted to for the duration of the journey for which I was asleep. After some small talk Harro discovered her name was “happybear”. She seemed very nice and even moreso given she gave Tris the phone number of her son in Gireson, a small town out of Trabzon, a city on the northern coast which we are to visit on our way to Georgia and told me to stay with him. After the dolmus we found ourselves soon jumping on the second bus to Fethiye, this was not before a quick caj and Harro having a small debate with the boy selling tissues. The bus ride flew by and we arrived in Fethiye where we caught a free shuttle bus to the door of our accommodation, the Fethiye Guest House. The Fethiye Guest House is the guest house attached to the cruise company, Alaturca, who we were to cruise with on a 4 day blue cruise from Fethiye to Olympos. After checking in, on the recommendation of the guest house staff we went out for dinner at apparently the best kebab joint so far consisting of some sumac parsley and excellent chicken marinade. Post-dinner we went out shopping as I lost my thongs on the Selcuk to Fethiye bus ride but acquiring new ones was a highlight- new leather Kustom ones. Finishing on a good note we were off to bed ready for some cruising in the morning!!!

18/09

On the morning of our first cruise for 2012 we were both super stoked! Bec the hostel lady took us down to the dock to meet our boat Alaturka and crew Ilias who was rumoured to be a pirate and the two cooks Gorkan and another bloke whose name I cannot remember. With a pirate flag flying we set sail and started to get introduced to our eclectic group of passengers. In no particular order there was: 

• Hugo and Vanessa from Quebec
• John the old Canadian from the Rockys
• John and girl from Toronto (girl from Istanbul originally)
• Daniel, Michelle Josh and Amelia from Sydney
• Carly and Carine from WA
• Ben and Sharon from St Kilda via Frankston
• Polly the Parrot-Ilias’ partner
• Battsy and I

Ilias knew we were men of action and took us straight away to the blue lagoon where we fabled cliff jump was. After a few warm up backflips off the boat all the boys on the boat scampered up the cliff and all hesitantly leapt off ledge. I reckon it was about 10-15m high and was even more difficult as you had to clear a ledge further down.  While we entertained ourselves in the Mediterranean sea the cooks whipped us up our first boat lunch, delicious!

Next we set sail to St Nicholas Island where we docked for the rest of the day. The boat included afternoon tea which was an exciting luxury for us all which included tea and biscuits. Full of tea we took a few traveller beers and went ashore to St Nicholas Island where there are many ruins of an old church/monastery. We climbed to the top of the Island and romantically toasted to our boat endeavours and took numerous self timer photos much to the intrigue of the other passengers. Back on board the boat we all got a whole fish each for dinner and then decided that we needed to find new 500 partners. The only others that weren’t in a couple were Carly and Carine from WA, so I paired up with Carly and Finn with Carine; dubbing our team names B1&B2 and The Sea Creatures respectively. After a few rounds the girls started to get the hang of the game and The Sea Creatures were up on points. A fierce rivalry had formed. Knackered from the days activities we gathered a couple of blankets and slept out on the deck under the stars. 

Euro-pop Classics!

For anyone thats been to Europe, you are aware that there is a trend in flogging a maximum of 2, top 10 euro-pop songs in every restaurant and bar in every urban city and rural village for a 2  month period. So I thought I would share with you some of the most recent treats we have enjoyed over the last 2 months we have been away! Enjoy!

Michel Teló - Ai Se Eu Te Pego - Oficial (Assim você me mata)

Gusttavo Lima - Balada (Tchê tcherere tchê tchê)

Albania and Greece- Cows Kayaks and Ouzo!

05/09

From our lovely guesthouse in Ulcinj we were up and going to the Bus station where we would start our long trek from the bottom of Montenegro to the bottom of Albania in one day! We made the bus station with hours to spare before the bus would take off to Shkodra, a small town just over the border in Albania from which we would pick up onward travel. Arriving at the bus station though we were propositioned by some taxi drivers, who for the same price would take us over the Albanian border to Shkodra 2 hours before the bus would leave- with so much travel ahead of us we thought it was wise to get moving as soon as possible. Through winding roads and small Montengrin and Albanian townships we were soon in the transport hub which was Shkodra. With instructions to the taxi driver to drop us at the bus station we were dropped at the petrol station which doubles as the bus or furgon station. Furgons, according to Lonely Planet are an informal system of minibuses that form a public transport network across Albania. Negotiating a price with the Albanian driver who was rocking a sick snapback we were soon on the road to Tirana, Albania’s capital.

Picking up and dropping off as we moved ever closer to Tirana, the rural plains scenery soon turned into classic Balkan urbanism, tall drab ex-communist buildings- we knew we were in Tirana. After we paid the bus driver some extra Leke to take us to the bus station we got there and soon navigated the shambolic bus station and found our bus to Saranda. Grabbing a feed and exchanging our euros with the old man standing at the front of the bus, we were soon seated and ready to start our 7 hour bus journey along some of Albania’s best/worst roads. With a quick stop in the middle of the Albanian nowehere we were back on the bus in the dark to navigate our way to Saranda. We were soon awoken by the driver and conductor to be informed that this bus that was labelled Saranda did not in fact go to Saranda but would stop 100km short in a place called Gjirokastra. We were assured that there would be a bus to come and collect us and take us the rest of the way, but in the middle of nowhere with a strong language barrier at 9 pm we hedged our bets and splurged on a taxi to take us the rest of the way. With the driver demonstrating his strong rally driving pedigree on the windy roads over the hills Saranda, it was not long before we arrived in Saranda and we had hunted down the Hairy Lemon Hostel, on the 8^th floor of an apartment building about 5 minutes walk to the beach. A welcome shot of home-made Baileys greeted us on arrival which was optimal given our long day of travel. We were then out in search of food, after effectively not eating for the whole day and then it was off to bed.

06/09

Waking up in Saranda we were greeted with piles of Irish pancakes with 5 different spreads- this was the norm at Hairy Lemon Hostel. So feasting on pancakes we were soon nearly unable to move but we pushed through our food baby pain and got organised enough to make the 5 minute walk to Saranda’s main beach.  Walking past a cow with a large cow bell feeding out of the local dumpster we walked on the pebble beach laid our stuff down then dove in over the large diving board-style pier.  Reading the day away while intermittently swimming and sleeping it wasn’t long before 6 pm rocked around and we were soon thinking about dinner.

From eating out a lot over the past few days, or mostly not eating at all, we were up for eating a massive salad. So with ingredients in hand the boys got to work whipping up some roasted eggplant and potatoes and a fresh tomato salad. A great accompaniment to Tirana beer. Sitting in the Hostel lobby is a great way to meet the fellow traveller and it wasn’t long before we started chatting to an Australian couple from Melbourne and then two Scottish guys from Glasgow. Sick of Australians, we hit up the Scots, Stuart and Gregor, and got chatting, It wasn’t long chatting that Stuart, a kayak instructor at a adventure resort on the Greek mainland gave us tips for the following day and then invited us to the resort- from how he described it, it was going to be hard to refuse! After dinner we again reverted to the delicious home made Baileys before Harro skyped his Mum and Dad and I blogged the night away.

07/09

Waking up fairly early we were keen to head to the Blue Eye Swimming Hole on the recommendation of Stuart the Scotsman. Blue Eye is located somewhere between Gjirokastra and Saranda and it is a fresh water aquifer and the source of the large river system in the area. Divers have dived approximately 50m down the hole and the source of the water hasn’t yet been found- its pretty deep. Above the aquifer is a 4m high viewing platform for which it is ‘the done thing’ to jump off and into the clear blue water arising from the big blue hole.  With all of us successfully clearing the ledge below on our first attempt, we were addicted to the adrenalin rush of the jump and the freezing cold water. Jumping off 4 more times each it was time to head back to Saranda. Walking the back the 2km from the swimming hole to the main road we had to negotiate a controlled bushfire burn off that was growing out of control and about to jump the only road in and out of blue eye. Happy that we hadn’t lingered at Blue Eye any longer we were soon at the main road ready to make our way back to Saranda for the Corfu ferry by any means possible. Attempting to hitch on the advice of many at the hostel, we had only received car horns and strange looks but no lift. But it wasn’t long before we caught a taxi and we were on our way back to Saranda. A quick stop at the hostel  to grab our bags and we were at the pier ready to jump on the 4:30  ferry that we had booked the previous day. After clearing passport control it wasn’t long before we arrived in Corfu Town and ready to negotiate our way from the main town to our accommodation in Ipsos.

With the assistance of the Bus travel information man, we were on the right bus up the the east coast of Corfu to Ipsos where we jumped off and wandered to find The Comfy Hostel. We were greeted by the lovely Thelma who provided motherly advice about all things scooters and Italians. After a fair few beers, while heeding Thelmas advice, we were out on the town heading straight for a gyros- when in Greece. More Mythos in our systems and we were ready to party and our first stop was a cocktail bar being spruiked by a Greek kid who looked like the boy off the Mad magazine cover. Some 3 euro cocktails and were ready to make friends- friends being some English girls in Corfu for a week living up the sunshine, something they don’t seem to get in their god forsaken homeland. Harro being in a shifting mood and free shots from the Albanian bartender meant the night was going to get real. A few more cocktails and we moved on to a club/bar playing the top 10’s- Jessie J’s Laserlight went off! With Andy chasing the dragon we persisted with our novelty dance moves until it was time to call it quits and head back to the comfy hostel.

08/09

With all of us nursing  Mythos malnurtition, we were slow to get up and going. But once we were up we were on a mission t get a Gyros- we were of the opinion that this may be the best cure of a Hellas headache. With Gyros in our bellies we were off to the beach to sunbake and swim our day away. But in addition to baking and swimming novelty games and fighting off the beach retailers was on the activities agenda. One of the great Ipsos Beach novelty games included hitting the umbrella pole with a beach pebble. Like seemingly every novelty game we have had this trip- flip cup, toothpick in the cocktail etc Harro has emerged victorious! Its kind of starting to get to me!

In need of another feed we went to the supermarket and grabbed some Greek supplies for lunch back at the room- tzatziki, some version of baba ganouj, olives, salami and bread- made for a delicious lunch. While Andy was keen to sleep Harro and I were keen to make the most of the daylight hours. First we gave each other haircuts, knowing that the end of season nightclub party down on the main strip may require some sort of dress/look code. After the haircuts we were on the gravel soccer pitch opposite the hostel to run MUNBATs pre season #10. But after that session we needed a snooze. Waking up Harro felt it was a good idea to give me a Silent Bob education and watch Jay and Silent Bob strikes. While I concluded that it was one of the most random pieces of cinema I had ever watched it put us in a good mood to make it a dirty double and head out on the town- to Montecristo’s end of season party. But once we were ready and no sooner down at the main strip we were informed by our man at the cocktail bar that the closing pary had been called off. After a sigh of relief from all of us we grabbed a gyros and grabbed a relaxing beer. Browsing the other nightlife on offer on the main strip, we discovered the most happening place had a samba night. With none of us really competent in that dance genre we thought it may be better to just call it early- but by early we mean 3 am because we had only left the hostel at 1!

Me playing Tron

09/09

While a 3 am arrival home was always going to be rough in the morning, it wasn’t made better by the fact that no sleep was had the night before. Whether the number of gyros consumed that day had backfired, or I had simply contracted some sort of virus, I was hugging the toilet bowl all night with no food or liquid being able to be consumed to replace what I had lost. Naturally the next day was going to be a struggle. And knowing that it was a travel day, I was not looking forward to waking up. With a shower and bags packed though we were out the door and down the road looking for onward transport to Corfu Town and then Igoumenitsa, the port town on the Greek mainland. From Ipsos to Corfu we hailed a reasonably priced taxi and got to Corfu Town safe and sound while also gaining an insight into the state of the Greek economy- where the only thing that is free in Greece is the oxygen and soon they will have to pay for that. Arriving at the port with 45 minutes to kill before the ferry I collapsed on the bench to muster the energy to make the short walk to the ferry. But once on the ferry the empty bench seat in the saloon provided a great opportunity to crash for a couple of hours.

Waking up in Igoumenitsa we negotiated a good price for a taxi to Sivota to meet our main man Stuart from Glasgow. It was a couple of days earlier that we decided when these opportunities arise, invitations from fellow travellers along the route, you better take them! So, of the ferry into the Igoumenitse port we negotiated a price for a taxi, after we arrived after the last bus had already departed, and we were off along the windy, coast road through Plataria to Sivota. In the centre of the tiny Sivota, we gave our man a call and he soon arrived, dragged along by a small, black and white pooch affectionately named Mythos, after the famous Greek beer. After a ‘wee’ walk up the  hill that made Sivota’s main st we were in the depths of the resort’s staff accommodation and soon arrived at Stu’s 2 bedroom apartment where we met Stu’s flatmate Callum and Colin the pet rabbit. Despite thinking death was approaching, Stu’s infectious enthusiasm, got me up and about. Callum dropped us down at the resort where Stu took us out on a kayaking trip to the Blue Lagoon- a 1 hour return paddle to a hidden sandy beach with crystal blue water. Andy snorkelled, Tristan swum and I floated-hoping the healing powers of the Aegean Sea would fix a wounded traveller.

On our return to the resort, the boys settled in for some beers while we all watched the sunset over Corfu in the distance. Then it was time for a feed. And still not feeling the greatest, the boys met Callum at Georgious for some more beers and traditional greek while Stu took me to the local pizza place and then dropped me at home with a margherita to watch Moneyball and recover. But, the boys pushed on…

With Finlay tucked into bed with a pizza and wee peach the Scotts took us to one of their favourite restaurants. Having been working in Sivota for three seasons now they boys took all their hotel guests to this restaurant and we were all treated as royalty. An amazing meal was dished out; saganaqi, squid, prawn saganaqi plus plenty of Mythos for a mates rate. Moving on to the next bar one of the restaurant workers joined us and taught us all the word for bread rolls and dicks in Greek which are surprisingly similar… ordering six small bread rolls for Stu next time was going to be a success or very amusing. For a Sunday night the bar closed early and we headed back home to call it a night, but not before a quick episode of one of the great reality TV shows Sea Shepherd.

10/09

The scotts awoke early and headed off to work and we were then awoken by Colin going mental in his cage. Andy and I felt pretty dusty after a heavy shifting session but there was no time for complacency and Finlay dragged us out for some activities at the hotel. First on the itinerary was some stand up paddle boarding; Finlay and I had been in training at the Mason ranch back home so we showed Andy the way and soon the fighting started / I set my sights on boarding the other boys vessels pirate style. After this we found stu and borrowed some mountain bikes and road into town for a bakery lunch. Delicious baked goods, coffee and sweet sweet donuts went down a treat. Heading back to the hotel Stu had to take a tour and Callum took us for a closed Kayak session. Callum, about my height was a ripped unit with a lower percentage of body fat than myself; so jealous! The reason was that he used to be a freestyle wrestler for Great Britain and made the Olympic team in Athens and Beijing; what an axe. However he has now retired from that an instead works in one of the best offices I have seen teaching us muppets how to capsize and roll a kayak. After some patient teaching we all seemed to get down the basics. Class 6 rapids here we come!

For the afternoon Andy got hold of a speargun and disappeared into the ocean for a couple of hours while Finlay read about Africa and I worked on my Russian. Unfortunately he came back empty handed, however saw a octopus. Stu informed us that the way to kill one was bite a hole in its head and then invert /pop it…. strange. Callum and Stu were kind enough to host a BBQ at their house. Amazing chicken and pork kebabs cooked away and while we sunk beers with the lads plus one of their other mates Jack, Caroline and a strange British couple who were guests at the hotel. I was a little down as Andy decided that he was no longer going to travel with Finlay and I – We were to go to thessoloniki the next day then Turkey and Andy wished to stay in Greece and hit up Athens. This called for a celebratory bottle of Ouzo. Finlay still wasn’t up to drinking so it my Andy, Stu and My responsibility to make sure the Ouzo disappeared. Although Andy wasn’t that excited about this it was part of this responsibility. Stu and I were the last to go to bed after some interesting man love chats and left Andy to chase the dragon. Getting into bed with Fin I soon feel asleep before waking him up to point out stu standing in the corner on the room spinning a glow stick…Finn informed me that it was just a light and the ouzo made me see things.

11/09

While I was back on the wellness the train, the other two boys were feeling rough after beers and a bottle of ouzo in a classic Glaswegian drinking session. But regardless, we were up and ready on time to catch our lift with Callum in the red transit van after he kindly offered to drive us to Igoumenitsa rather than catching the 7 15 bus. However not before a team photo and walking Colin the rabbit. Back along the windy coast road with Greek Metallica covers playing on the radio we soon arrived back in Igoumenitsa where we said our goodbyes to Callum and headed up to the bus station to buy our tickets; Andy to Athens and Tristan and I to Thessaloniki. Yes, this was the time where the No Longer Anchored Wolfpack or NLAW was to return to its original duo (after some quick calculations we worked out that Tristan and I had only travelled as a duo for about a week before we started adopting people). Anyhow, we headed  across the road to the bakery to grab some supplies, skyped gk quickly with bakery wi-fi, said our goodbyes to Andy and then jumped on the bus to Greece’s second city. I shed an ouzo tear for you my man!

4 hours later we arrived at the Thessaloniki bus station where first on the agenda was to investigate a bus to Istanbul. Our first investigations were met with a negative response which left us having to search for the train station. With the directions of a local stranger (who said it would be a 1km walk) and our map, we set off in search of the train station. An hour later, we arrived at the station hot and sweaty after a massive hike to find that all Greece’s international trains no longer run. So using some fast food wifi we were able to track down a tour company that did in fact run buses to Istanbul. So we headed to their office, bought some tickets and headed off to the city centre to kill time before our 10pm overnight bus.

Thessaloniki is Greece’s second largest city, however, unlike Athens it seems no tourists really go there or if they do go there it is in transit to Bulgaria, Albania or Turkey. Lonely Planet and the guy at the tourist agency informed us that the waterfront was a nice place to go, relax and eat so we headed down there to check it out. After we walked to the end of the pier and took some stupid photos, in a delirium caused by an exhausting few days, we were walking back to town to get some food when we stumbled across the Thessaloniki Museum/Gallery of Modern Art. The  gallery was showing an exhibition entitled ‘It’s the Political Economy, Stupid!’, a title that plays on the words of President Clinton’s statement about the economy when he held office. The exhibition consisted mainly of videos which documented reactions to the Global Financial Crisis of 2006 centring on failures of the political economy to deal with such a crisis. We only had an hour to check it out as it closed at 6 but we could’ve stayed longer- clever and extremely interesting exhibition! From the exhibition we headed to grab a bite to eat at a nice but reasonably priced restaurant serving traditional greek food. Saganaki, meatballs, salad and souvlaki were devoured quickly before we were served some gratis ice cream. It was then time to head back to the travel agents. Along the way, a photo battle ensued where Harris and I with cameras in hand, searched for the perfect artsy fartsy photo- the fruits of which can be seen below. Soon enough though, 10pm rolled around and we were on the bus, saying goodbye to Greece and bound for Istanbul, Turkey!!!