Making Friends With The Locals

On our first day here, Iron made me get measured for a leather jacket.  We found this cool little leather shop and looked around, finally selecting a style that I liked.  The poor wee Turkish man measured me up and we discussed, in broken English, what happens when you grow up in New Zealand and do a bit of swimming along the way.  Suffice to say, off the rack was not going to cut it.

I had a beautiful jacket made and I love it, picking it up before we went off on the big tour of Turkey. The shop owners were a husband and wife, him with very good English- her, no so much.  When we picked up the jacket, we spent probably an hour having coffee and just chatting about ANZACs etc and they were lovely and quite fun.

Coming back into Istanbul after our big roadie, we saw them and I waved out, discovering they were like my new best friends when you consider the reaction we got (either that, or they were really bored when we passed)

When I took Vicky to the shop to have a look, then ultimately buy, we again got the big rush and had a very friendly reception.  I asked if they had kept my measurements, so I could order online, he told me 'of course'. Iron made disapproving noises about being able to order at will and as soon as his back was turned, I got this huge stage wink from our tailor, which cracked me up, no end.  Definitely a man that gets it!

Later, the following day, we met the wife coming down the street and she exclaimed 'Susannah.....' and proceeded to kiss me on both cheeks, like we were old buddies.

I've got mates in Istanbul, you know!

Finally Finding Our Way Round Istanbul

We have had two days to ourselves in Istanbul and we have definitely covered some miles.  After being in Turkey for two weeks, we have finally got the lay of the land in Istanbul and have found all the shops, museums and interesting little alleyways that I wish we had had more time to explore.  Iron is a master of saying 'lets get on this bus/tram/ferry and see where it goes' so man! We have seen some stuff!

Yesterday we went onto the tram and found ourselves down by the ocean.  We crossed the bridge and went up to Galatta Tower, which was built in 1348 and is the tallest building in Istanbul, at 219 1/2 m tall.  It also sits on a hill, which ensures it looks out over the city.  We bought a beautiful handmade throw for our bed, which took over six months to finish.  This morning Iron got up and went for a massive walk and found an underground mall not far from where we were staying.  It runs under the road and under a mosque.

The trams deserve a special mention because they are packed!  I have not stood that close to people in my own family and definitely not for that length of time.  The tram stops and the few people getting off move first, then the six million getting on move in!  People have no problem oozing into an almost gap and it's okay to carry huge parcels and not worry too much who has to climb over your stuff.  The cool part is that people are very respectful of older people and hop up out of their seats and also no one is smelly (because that would suck in a closed in space like that!)

This morning we headed out and managed to find the Archeological Museum.  Well worth a look around, but then again Iron and I might well be Museum junkies!  The bit that most excited me were clay tablet letters from around 4th Century and one was said to be the oldest love letter in the world.  They are clay tablets, with some about the size of a pack of cards, with script on them and some even have envelopes!

There is also the worlds oldest written peace treaty, which was between Ramses II and the Hittites and was written somewhere between 1279 and 1213 BC.  There is a copy in the UN head quarters, which I think is very cool, considering the age.

We then walked for a bit and found ourselves back at the spice markets, which really feels like something from the Silk Road. The spices sit in large baskets and the whole place smells......rich and exotic.




We had to be back for our airport pickup, so got back on the packed to the gunnels tram and now we are sitting pretty in a hotel in Dubai.  Jet setters, huh?

Chunuk Bair

This  was the highest point the NZ soldiers got to during WW1 and is a hilltop from where you can see the Aegean Sea and the Dardenelles. NZ soldiers only held it for five minutes, but it is heaps higher than the Aussies highest point...not that it's a competition.....

We had allocated seating for the NZ commemorative ceremony and we were in the C stand.  As it turned out, C stood for
Crappy
Can't see anything
and- Considered leaving!

You know I am not one to moan, but the cenotaph stood in the middle and all the mics, seating, dignitaries etc were all on the other side of the brick column and we in the C stand could see bugger all!

When Prince Charles and Harry arrived with our own John Key, much laughter and excitement was happening and we were not even connected to it!  In fact our whole stand failed to clap with the collective at one point because we had NO idea what was going on.  It didn't help our cause when, lacking stimulation, many of us proceeded to fall asleep during the service and a few loud snores escaped from those disconnected throats.

I pondered the layout and I have to consider that their priority may have been security from a potential sniper, as we were almost the highest point, but the screens and stands made it impossible to get a shot into the area.  So we were the price it takes to keep those people safe.  I'm ok with that.

Funniest Things Said in Turkey

Just imagine a man goes to the Grand Bizzare in Istanbul, looking for a watch and is sold a 'Rolex' for around 230 Turkish Lira. He wants something waterproof and is pleased with his flash silver number.  He pays cash and upon leaving, asks 'what depth does this watch go to?' To which the reply is 'about as deep as your sink'. Chuckle, chuckle, ha,ha.

Imagine the mans surprise when his 'rolex' not only fogs up on the first shower, but stops working following the first dunking???  Imagine also his luck at actually FINDING the vendor to take up his consumer rights??  (Yep Mike, this is you!)

Also imagine a little lady (mentioned in the previous post), goes into a leather shop to consider a purchase after seeing some lovely leather jackets.  The salesman is blah, blah, blahing about the features of the jackets and special things about the leather, to which our lady says 'come on, what's the price?, let's talk turkey'!  To which all of us politely gahfawwed! Whispering to each other 'did she say talk Turkey to that Turkish salesman......???

Imagine one bus is having a rocking good time, whilst the parallel tour.......not so much, mixed with a little grumbling and complaining about pretty run of the mill stuff.  So this parallel tour eventually finds their way to mix with the rocking good tour.  Moans are not part of  the rocking good groups psychology and complaints fall on deaf ears.  This parallel group then leave themselves just a teeny bit wide open for the mocking to come....

Best lines used-

1.  Na! We're having the best time, this is brilliant!
2.  Did you only get 20 percent at the leather shop?, we got 50!
3.  Was your water cold? Ours was fine!
4.  Wasn't that chops dinner great?  They ran out.  We got steak!
5.  Did we tell you were having the BEST time.
6.  Our guide gave us wine on the bus!
7.  Our meals were lovely, not the dry chicken, flavorless stuff you are having with yet more Lentil Soup!

To be fair, I think our rocking good group just had a really positive and caring attitude and anything negative would have been drowned our (or someone would have said to pull your head in!!)

I will add to this as I remember and I need to go to bed as Iron is zonked out on the bed and I don't want to carry on disturbing him- or perhaps I could turn off the keyboard click sound and do another post?

What Goes On Tour, Stays On Tour

The things you find out about folk when you spend a couple of weeks with them...

It is possible, but could only be speculation, that we travelled the whole tour with a lovely lady who daily filled her water bottle with a wee tipple, to make the day a little more bearable.  At our lunch stop prior to going up the Gallipoli Peninsula, she commented that this would be the last wine for 24 hours, so she was planning to 'wring it out'.  I just chuckled, thinking that I had not actually even seen her drink much (that, but also I was feeling her pain!!! With ya sister!!). Turns out, she had been topping up the whole way and what we took for older lady innocence, with a sweet, disconnected smile at times was infact something quite different!!

Morning at ANZAC Cove

Just before the sun came up on ANZAC Day, the MC began to tell the story of the soldiers being readied for the drop off on the Gallipoli Peninsula.  The story is well known to us for its mismanagement and the poor decisions made by the English command.  It would seem unbelievable that a person would knowingly follow and order which would take them to their death, so I guess we are very lucky never to have faced war.

The commentary was choreographed with lights that lit up first the water they came in on and then straight up the cliffs where the ANZACs had to climb.  Very eerie.  Then the music, speeches and singing came.  We listened to John Key, who spoke very well and also spoke well about the Australians, then Tony Abbott who did mention us...a little.  In fairness, we were totally Aussied out as we were overwhelmed 1:4.  Even the souvenirs were for Aussies!

Last post was haunting, but I think we were so tired, the depth was a bit lost.  When it was over, getting all the people out began a day of waiting.  Moving thousands of people is tough and since I am involved in organizing events, I won't go into details.  Suffice to say, I loved the walk from the beach up to Chunuk Bair, going up with the Aussies and being held up while their passes were scanned was a bit of a fag, but once past Lone Pine, the next 3 km was a great walk.

Our commemorative ceremony was about 2 pm, so we had time to relax and take in the views.

Worst thing- missing the curb and splating on the ground in front of a whole crowd.

Funniest things-

Ian, who is now known as Iron, because when you sound out his name with a Turkish accent, that is how it sounds and that is what he has been called all trip and our position during the ceremony....but I'm out of battery, so that will have to wait.

Trek to Gallipoli

What a logistic nightmare it must have been to organize ANZAC Day on Gallipoli Peninsula!  Especially in this day and age where we have the potential for some nut job to do harm to others on a massive scale.  We came into the registration area and waited in the bus for about twenty minutes, at which stage someone turned up and our passes were scanned, passports confirmed and wrist bands placed on.  We then went back into town and proceeded to wait there for another four hours, time for haircut in post below.

At three-ish we reloaded the bus and headed up to begin out trek up to ANZAC Cove we were scanned and our bags checked through a metal detector.  They patted everyone down and looked into bags, searched pockets...  The lines were long and the wait was long, but that was just practice for what was to come.

At this point we walked and carted our packs for several kilometres, up to the next scan checkpoint, then off again.  We walked in a line with thousands of people, up the left hand side of the road as trucks, police, ambulance and police vehicles all using the other side of the road.

The next checkpoint was really slow as we cued to firstly get our tags scanned, then once again a bag search, a pat down, a new tag and we were through.  We walked about two hundred meters and arrived inside the makeshift stadium.  It was very well set up and manned and security was clearly a priority.  Could have been the safest place on Earth for that period of time.  Off the coast between the Peninsula and parts of Greece, were massive battle ships, at least a dozen of them.  Overhead airforce jets flew in formation and in ones and twos.  Along the walk were soldiers in little dugouts in camouflage gear, rifles at the ready.

Inside the stadium area we joined the rest of our group and took our seats.  It was about six o'clock and the stadium felt about half full.  We watched the sun go down over the Aegean as people continued to pour into the stadium.  About nine the stage area lit up and the MC got to work, with military bands, musicians singing the old songs and generally keeping people busy, as the night rolled in.  They filled the time with documentary programs on Gallipoli and periodic musical interludes as the people still pouring in and the temperature plummeted.

I can only say it was a long, long night and it was cold and it was uncomfortable and it was sleep deprived.  Anywhere else in the world, you would have moaned and complained and possibly left, but we have the privilege to be where our forebears were 100 years ago to the date and in a much warmer, safer position.  I could not help thinking about our Grandad, Tom Frean, who was about the same age as Alex stuck in this no win situation, in a cold, wet hell hole, facing death!

I am going to finish this post now, because that is worth thinking about.  No humour here.

Ian Gets a Haircut

We had some time once we arrived on Gallipoli Peninsular so after wandering round and having some food, we passed a Berber (barber shop) and decided that Ian probably needed a bit of a tidy up, so we went in.  We broke up a bit of a party when we arrived, with three guys sitting round drinking beers in the Barber shop and watching some soccer game on an old, heavy frame TV.

Ian hopped up in the chair and gave his English instructions to the Turkish barber.  I guess ' number two' is universal man language, because it all worked out pretty well.  Once the buzz part was done, the guy got some scissors and began to taper in the neckline which ended up looking pretty good.   Periodically he leaned over to take a swig of his beer, before setting it down again on the counter and carrying on.  The first time he took a swig, Ian's eyebrows shot up, but hey, it's only hair.....

He proceeded to trim Ian's eyebrows, mustache, another swig, nose hair, back of the neck, another swig...  Ian was slapped around the head a few times, which we are not sure weather it was supposed to be therapeutic for Ian, or possibly part of the Barbers alcohol fueled aggression.  I missed the biffo, but the others saw him get cuffed across the side of the head a few times.

The only thing left was the ears, so (after another swig) the guy produced a lighter and proceeded to blowtorch the hair off Ian's ears!  The smell was pretty woeful and I suspect the guy held a mouthful of beer to spit in the flames if things got out of hand.

When he stood up, we all had to agree he looked much tidier.  Then it was Mike's turn.  His hair is not a number two, more of a longer on top investment, so he was pretty reluctant to get in the chair of the drunken barber.  Peer pressure is a potent fuel, so shortly he was in the chair and his hair was being trimmed.  To be fair, the guy, amid swigs, did a really good job.  Then he asked if Mike wanted a shampoo and since we had time, it was agreed.  We looked around to see where the sinks were from  our low position on well, well worn couch and all we could see was a sink not at all designed for washing hair.....

The barber pushes the chair directly toward it and Mike head gets put under the tap (think laundry tub)  and the barber proceeds to half drown him whilst adding some soap concoction.  He comes up from the tub looking like a cross between someone who has been in a dog laundry mixed with torture water boarding.

Anyway, we leave the barber to his fresh beer and leave with two tidier looking men and not a singe mark in sight.......pretty good really (apart from the slight wiff of that burnt hair smell floating on the breeze)

For the two of them it cost 25 Turkish lira, which is about 12 NZ dollars or converted to the barbers currency 3 1/2 beers.

Sunset on the Adriatic

Last night we had a meal at a seafood Resturant on the Adriatic Sea.  We walked a way because the road was blocked so we scrambled off the bus and hiked down the hill as the sun went down.  The sunset was like nothing I have seen before, with a colour  so unlike our sunsets at home.  The sun is a huge orb that is a pomegranate color and it goes down so very quickly, that it almost as if you turn away for a second, then back and it's moved, like a bad card trick. 



The resturant was very nice, although, as we have discovered, if you look away from your plate in Turkey, even for a second, the waiter whisks your plate away (maybe that's where the sun got the idea???).

Funniest thing- trying to order wine and having no joy, then ending up with too much ( well, not really TOO much...) and the look on the faces of our fellow travelers when we tried to pay for everything they had delivered by mistake.

Weirdest thing- the cat that hung out under the table, inside the restaurant and at one stage nearly took the fingers off someone sucker enough to feed them

The House of The Virgin Mary

Apparently, as the story goes the Virgin Mary spent her last days on a hilltop in coastal Turkey.  I don't know where Joseph was, but apparently this was a non issue for everyone and to ask might have sounded a bit mocking and flippant.  The road up to the house is winding to say the least!  It is also narrow and has really steep sides, which freaks you out in a high bus.

The house itself is yet another stone walled cottage, that is now a church or more of a shrine.  It has this whole gingerbread house thing going for it, with the way the stones are cut and put together and it was as cold as a Grimm Brothers fairytale!  The wind had whipped up and is was sort of drizzly rain, so it didn't really make me think 'rockin' choice to live out you arthritic years, Mary!'

Plastered all over the place out side the house/church/shrine was signs clearly saying no cameras, no cellphones, no talking and just inside the first door to a small foyer was a very intense looking sign that ordered 'SILENCE!'  We were pretty silent as we entered the next part (apart from Ian sneezing, that is) and to the right just inside the door was a nun.  What was the nun doing in the house of the Virgin Mary?  Was she praying? Was she meditating to get closer to God? Was she pondering the meaning of life, with her head bent low over her hands.........no.  None of these...she was on her mobile phone!!  Texting, or updating her Facebook page, I couldn't tell.

It took all my Control not to whip out my camera and snap a photo!  I did however shoot my eyes to whoever caught my glance, so others could see!  As the rest of our group came in, the noise increased ever so slightly with a few murmurs, to which the texting nun turn and gave her best dictatorial glares and gave a stern 'shhhhhhh!!!'

A little Catholic irony deep in the hills of Turkey?

The New Adventures of Dads Shirt

A while ago, Mum was cleaning out our Dads drawers and I scored one of his shirts.  It is a lovely, worn in blue cotton shirt and I love wearing it because it is so cool, but also because it belongs to Dad.  Our Dad would have loved this trip, but he is not so well at the moment, but I think he will like his shirts personal pilgrimage to the Anzac 100th commemorations  To date on this trip, Dads shirt has-

 Been worn on a camel
Washed by an Egyptian laundry
Seen the pyramids......been IN the Pyramids
Slept in whilst on a Nile River cruise
Been to the Valley of the Kings
Partially wrapped around an ancient statue, but got caught....
Walked through the ancient churches of Turkey
Been laundered by Turkish cleaners (just quietly, it cost an arm and a leg to have this done and the shirt looked freaken new when it came back!!!!)
Dads shirt has been to the temple of Apollo and to a pool Cleopatra swam in.

That's just to date!  That shirt is going to Gallipoli!

It is fair to say Dads shirt has had a thrashing.

It is now lying one our hotel floor, mainly because it is exhausted and might have had a wine or two as well.  Damn shirt is a bad influence!!

It Was Called A Paaarrrrttyyyyy

Last night we went to a Turkish Restuarant that was your typical tourist event, with local dancing and food and it was packed out with all the tourists previously mention.  It involved dancers wearing national costume and heavily drummed music.  It also involved all you can drink.....

Knowing I was potentially going up in the hot air ballon, I was pretty restrained, but some  of our group lashed into it.  It seemed that Raki was the drink used to stitch people up and I am yet to try it.  I'm sticking to red wine as it doesn't taste like vinegar like it did in Egypt.

Part of the show involved the traditional dancing finishing and everyone leaping up and dancing to this sort of techno funk mixed with Muslim call to prayer.  We hoped up and had a wiggle, trying to resemble the local dance, which involved holding your arms up in the air and thrusting one hip forward and sort of round.  Everyone changed partners and danced sort of singularly.  Then at one point, a Congo line formed and it went round the room a few time, then out the doors, up a hallway, outside and round and round a huge cauldron with a massive fire in it.  All this while the techno funk call to prayer howled out of huge speakers.  Now I know it could have been the wine, but it was downright weird!  It reminded me of some heathen ritual and shortly someone was to be sacrificed!

It all sort of ended with everyone clapping as the circle round the fire became too tight.  So everyone poured back into the restaurant to go back to their drinks.  Weird.

Shortly after the belly dancer arrived and gyrated her way round the room.  She came down from the roof in a cage (very stripper-esq) and proceeded to perform a rather amazing performance with muscle groups on her stomach finely isolated so only that bit moved.  It was actually rather more provocative then I had thought belly dancing was, but maybe it was her second job?  She then proceeded to get men up to have a go at doing it, which was quite funny to a point, then this creepy creepo Australian got up and I wonder if the lights made him forget heaps of people were watching, including his wife!  It was bad and the belly dancer only just managed to maneuver away from him and his lascivious actions.

The night ended with a sudden lights on, bottles cleared the end kind of clang, which was almost as weird as the Congo around the fire!

Funniest thing was the hall on the way out contained shelves with plastic plates with individual images of people who had attended the night, for sale of course!  Ian and I walked past, only to be given our plate by one of our buddies who had bought it for us.  Bad photo, bad, bad, bad, on a plastic plate.  When you visit, it will be in pride of place at our house.....

Cappadocia

This place is really interesting and also a little freaky!  Just when you think you have seen enough hewn out rock rooms, something comes along to blow your mind!  In this case it was what started out as a Monastery in the second century and then became a place of learning for Christianity and then, God know what.  Today it is a tourist attraction and inside the rocks are the remains.  There are several churches, complete with domes and painted ceilings and wall reliefs, as well as storage rooms and dining halls.

Highlights?  The whole place and the atmosphere of sheer history and that someone's hands made this 2000 years ago.

Downside?  Freaken tourists!  Everywhere!  Myself not included of course!  Narrow little staircases made for somber people of God, bustling with about 75 bus loads of every nationality under the sun.

Further downsides?  Selfies!!!!!!  I could not be more over them.  Everywhere!!  Mostly with selfie sticks and ALWAYS a with what Alex calls 'sad, baby face' you know the look models have where they stare off with a wistful look.  That's the Selfie look adopted here in Turkey by the touring masses.

I saw an Asian kid today, surrounded by the ancientness of Cappadicia, lying on a patch of grass doing a selfie, with his background being...............?????  Grass!  Imagine him telling his buddies, 'here's me in Athens'  -grass
'He's me in Rome'. -grass
'Here's me in Cappadocia...'

Clearly not an art student.

The Kaymakli Underground City

Now this was cool!  The stone in this area is a volcanic substance that is incredibly soft and on top is a hard protective layer, so in the 3rd to 1st Centuries BC the people of this area discovered they could scrape through the rock and make living spaces.  We lunched in an entire restaurant which was excavated out of the hillside, with the kitchens and toilets, power, carvings, the whole thing  cut into the stone.

Kaymakli is the same, only it is 9 stores and housed up to 4000 people.  The story goes that Christians inhabited this area but were subject to Pagan raids and everyone was killed, so they made a 'safe' in the rocks to hide when they came to kill them.  The digging was pretty easy, so one thing lead to another, and before long, they were safely living below the ground and thriving- apart from the vitamin D thing, of course.

Inside the area are shared spaces, churches, shops etc, so the population had little need to leave and if a raiding team got inside, they had traps and locks to deal with them.

Again, the photos will show you better, but some areas you could stand up and move round in and some were long tunnels about four foot high.  They had air shafts with little disguised chimneys and had also drilled down to gain access to artesian water.

Today in this area, people's modern homes are also dug into the rock, with a modern facade, and rock rooms from there!  It gives the kids wanting their own room a whole new meaning!  Get digging then...

Hot Air Ballooning at Cappadocia

I had said that I would not do it because I was way too chicken, have a fear of heights and remember Carterton, not so long ago.  When the opportunity actually arose, I suffered from an extreme case of FOMOs disease ( fear of missing out)  If you're a follower of this blog, you will know this gets me regularly, is untreatable and my bouts are severe!

So, ( sorry Mum) I sugned on for the four o'clock wake up call to go ballooning this morning.  I hardly slept and it had been a late night as well, which I will fill you in on when I have more time.  The call came and I had already been up and down, so got up and got myself sorted for the soaring adventure.  I was set to leave so woke Ian up to say goodbye, in case I didn't make it back (you know... 'I'm going outside, I may be some time). Ian wasn't going to go because Gallata Tower had finished him off for those heights, the other day.

I opened the door, to be met by a fellow early morning balloonist.  'It's cancelled, too windy' she stated flatly and rather grumpily, actually.  I was not convinced, for two reasons-

 1. We've been traveling together for a week and a little 'flaky' comes to mind and....
2. Our room is the last in our hallway, before the fire door, there is nothing past us and she was coming from that direction!

I sought out more credible confirmation and it was indeed cancelled due to the wind and a little bit of me was thoroughly relieved.  Anything over fifteen knots is a no fly.  Meant to not be.

Eating, Eating and More Eating!

We seem to be doing a fair bit of eating, with most of the meals covered on the tour.  Whenever we stop for a group lunch, there are four courses, commencing with Lentil Soup!  They also put bread on all the time, so we certainly are not going hungry!  The weirdest things I have eaten so far are pigeon, stuffed with rice to actually fill a hole!  and Pumpkin Custard.  There are also chips with every meal, breakfast included.  At breakfast one of the team had cereal and what he thought was grapes.  Turned out to be Olives, but he ate it anyway and said it had tasted okay???  I think he's covering up.....

When we have been choosing our own food for any meal, we have tried to get Kebabs, like at home, but no such luck yet!  We've had some interesting and flavorsome dishes when ordering Kebab, making dining out a money or the bag kind of event:). Kate, you'd be impressed with my foodie branching out.

Hagia Sophia

  Yesterday we went to  a place that had originally been built around 537 BC called Hagia Sophia and it has been a Greek Orthodox Church, a Catholic Church and a Mosque, depending on who was in control of the city at different times in the last couple of thousand years.  It is huge and incredibly solid feeling.  The outside doors are arched in stone and appears to be a defensive structure, but inside is another stone wall about 40cm thick.  It has a series of doors with the centre one being about ten meters high.  Above the door is gold leaf and mosaic tile pictures, mostly Christian looking.  Inside are high domes and arches and detailed art covering the roof and walls.  There is a high balcony, that we walked up to along a winding rock based pathway that had a definite 'many feet have walked here' feeling and up to the next storey, where all the floors are huge, flat chucks of marble.

As you walk along the floor, the level changes quite a bit, which is kind of freaky, considering it is a long way down if it decides to take that moment to give up the ghost.  The place was packed with tourists and in one corner of the church was a wishing column, with a hole to put you thumb and a very well worn brass plate for the protection of the marble column.  You had to completely rotate your hand, palm flat, while keeping your thumb in the hole.  Of course I wished for world peace, but I'm damn sure plenty of Lotto was requested!  One of our group stepped up to have her turn and was immediately taken out at the knees by a hoard of Asian ladies, who although smaller than us, didn't see the clearly formed Kiwi line/group (although how they missed us, I can't imagine) and they began posing with thumb in aforementioned hole and others took photos.  At this point, most of our group decided it wasn't worth the hassle and moved on.

In the 1930s when there was a dispute about which church had rights to Hagia Sophia, some rather clever politician decided it should become a museum for everyone to enjoy and now, no religious ceremonies occur there.

Outside are beautiful gardens, with lines and lines of tulips and Hiascinths ( spelt wrong) and these gardens appear all over the city.  What also appears are the worlds largest collection of laid back dogs and cats, that belong to no one, but also everyone.  They just cruise around, snooze anywhere as tourist walk amongst them AND in true dog fashion, dig in those beautiful gardens!!!  Bear would be proud of these Turkish dogs mining efforts!  but there would be hell to pay if she dared dig up my tulips like that!

Across the River

I'm being quick tonight, because it is late and we have an early start in the morning.  Today as we headed from one side if the Bosphorus to the other, we passed a public transport space that takes passengers from the European side of the Bosphorus to the Asian side.  It is an underpass that tunnels down under the sea and vehicles can travel without having the hassle of bridges or long journeys.  The really interesting part is that when they commenced work, they discovered a village beneath the harbour that pre dated what they thought had been the progression of Istanbul and the discovery totally rewrote its history.  The ruins date back to 7000 BC and not only were there the living quarters and houses, but also a fleet of ships, which are now in the Istanbul museum.  We leave here tomorrow, early, heading for Ankara, but will be back after Anzac Day and we are very keen to visit the Archeological Museum, where the relics are displayed.

The Blue Mosque, Istanbul

Seeing the Blue Mosque was one of the highlights of our trip so far! It was built in the 15th century and is a patchwork of color and ceramics.  Going inside for us involved covering up any legs, skin and arms, as well as wearing a head scarf, if you're a woman.  I left my silk scarf (thanks Mum, it's had some wear!!!!!) in the bus, so was provided with a hospital blue headscarf to cover my hair.  We also had to remove our shoes, with the thinking being that worshippers put their heads on the floor, so you shouldn't bring stuff found on your feet into the Mosque.  Inside was very lush looking, with, once again, the carpets covering the floor and tiles, gold leaf and painting on every suface.  It is so hard to look around at these feats of engineering and think they their history is as long as our country has been occupied!

Funniest thing- two devout Muslim ladies, in the Mosque ready to pray.  They stand with their heads against the Mosque column and deep in prayer,  they switch off the rest of the hum drum and recite the Koran.  Right next to them is a group of Japanese school kids on a tour, so in a delicious juxtaposition, the kids pose just along from the praying ladies in their burkas, the kids with the typical funky kid poses and the Japanese universal sign that they are having a good time.....(peace signs with their fingers). I was not quick enough to get a photo, but it appealed to my sence of humour enormously!

We went out walking yesterday evening and found a painting to add to our collection.  It's rolled up in a tube, so best we check it before we leave, just in case it is just like the 'Rolex' one of the tour members bought.  On the first night the watch stopped and now the glass on the inside is fogging up.  Rolex really need to lift their standards!

Today is really foggy and it's hard to see more than about 50m.  We are up early and off to try and beat the tourists.  More tonight.

The Basilica Cistern

After a morning of walking around Topkapi Palace, we split up and had lunch, meeting back after some very yum Kebabs (very unlike NZ kebabs, might I add).  We walked down the cobbled street, with shops and high walls on one side and the road and trains running up the middle.  It was busy, as you can imagine and the people are quite comfortable brushing, bumping and stepping into one another, not really prevented from doing so as the cobbles are about the size of a slice of bread and all uneven heights and edges.  Steps and curbs are also a range of varying heights, from almost non existent marble steps, worn down from thousands of years of feet, to stone steps as high as my knee!  We arrived at a stone doorway and immediately headed downstairs on a wide stone stairway.  The air became crisp and cool as we got down to the level of the cistern and it opened up into a vast chamber with a stone and brick, arched ceiling, supported by a large number of columns.  I have some great photos, which  I will add to the blog when I get home, in the meantime you have to put up with my description.

The cistern was built between 527 - 565 AD and has the capacity to hold 100 000 tonnes of water. During the Ottoman period, sometime after 1453, it was abandoned and fresh running water was preferred.  When it was found again, it was restored and columns replaced as bits were collapsing.  Finally, in 1985, it was fully restored and 50 000 tones of mud was taken out.  In one of the back corners are two columns have Medusa head plinths at their base, one is side on and the other is completely upside down.  It is not know where or when these were added into the cistern, but they are pretty impressive.

Funny- an Asian woman was trying to line up the upside down Medusa, so all the Kiwis stopped and waited, and waited, and waited........ Eventually when the lining up of the photo was just getting ridiculous, this southern accent came from behind "come on woman! take the bloody photo!'

I am pretty sure she didn't speak English, but the tone and the key word known to all Asian tourists 'photo' ensured she understood the intent!  She burst out with a heap of either explaining or complaining, but the polite 'don't get in the way of her photo' spell was broken and we all poured past!

I got a photo on the way through and it took me about three seconds😜

A Day in Istanbul

Today has been a very full day, commencing with a boat ride on the Bosphorus, which spans the European and Asian continents, so today I stood on both.  Istanbul is a beautiful city and is very much like any European city of around 16 million, but I have to say this one is particularly clean and not too dissimilar to a NZ city.

We went to the Spice Markets which are a cooks delight, with fresh herbs and spices and other produce that you could cook fresh spicy stuff without a problem.  The air is thick with a heavy scent of spices such as paprika and turmeric.  The spice seems to sit on the air and mingles with the circulation of air by people the form a heavy perfume.  Mingled with this is insence, perfume and soaps and the thousands of people move about between the hawkers, to make their purchases.

We went on to the Grand Bizzare which was also very cool, with hallways of stalls ( apparently over 4000) selling carpets, gold, watches, leather goods and souvenirs.  These markets originally came about as sellers, plying their wares to support the local Mosques, two of which surround the Grand Bizzare.  This is no longer the case as the Govt pays for the upkeep of the Mosques and temples but the Grand Bizzare is clearly a tourist trap.  We got completely lost within the web of sales alleys, but Ian eventually found the way out to where we were supposed to be, little human compass that he is!

The sellers have no problem in hitting you up and we got to practice our best 'no thanks' to such sales pitches as....

'Come in and let me sell you something you don't need'

' hello lady, tell me how I can get money out of this man?'

When I lied and said to one hawker that we would be back this way, he replied 'I have been hearing the same music for 20 years, you won't be back'. AND HES RIGHT!!

'Are you from California?' Random....the answers still no.

'Come try my shop best leather'

At one stage we were followed about 50m while one guy tried to sell us leather goods and when he finally got the NO hint, he backed off, to which another guy stepped forward and said ' now is my turn'.  He got the same NO.  He could have saved some valuable oxygen by not bothering!

Some of the group bought stuff from the markets and it sounds like few (read none) got any real bargains, in fact I suspect some got mightily ripped off, but as said before....it's all in the pitch!

Life without an interpreter

We have joined the Gallipoli group, here in Istanbul and to be honest, it is nice to hear some Kiwi accents and hear some talk of home ( I know, I know, we have only been gone five minutes....)

We went out with members of the group for some tea about 5.30 and as a group tried to order food from a Turkish cafe.  I wanted one chicken, which Ian and I had decided to share and one lemonade, which is called something completely different.  What we ended up with was two chicken dishes, with chips, a salad and a seven up.  I also sold Ian for four camels and a bong, offered to do the dishes and told the waiter his mother was hairy...... God, I miss a native speaker being with us all the time, which really means, what a totally spoilt experience we had in Egypt having a willing guide to take us everywhere and interpret for us. We were picked up and dropped of, guided, taken places.  They bartered on our behalf, carried our bags, answered my incessant questions AND seemed happy to do it.  At no stage during our time in Egypt did we feel unsafe, or unsure of what was expected.  I sincerely hope Egypt is on its way back as a holiday destination.

As a sideline, I think it is only fair to say that many of my questions related to the common practice of being able to take FOUR WIVES, I am unable to get passed this and yet our Egyptian interpreter took it in his stride.  He was so cool about it at times, I thought he was having me on! Apparently not!  He only had one wife and she was a teacher ( go teachers! No second wives for us!) but one of our drivers had three wives and seven children!  They can live in one place or multiple apartments if they don't get on and when I asked what happens if you get a mean wife, our guide just laughed and more or less said 'you be thankful for the nice ones, you take the good with the bad'.  Every time Ian showed an interest in discussing this practice further, I distracted him at best and elbowed him at worst.  I have discovered I am a particularly jealous wife....

Arriving in Turkey

It took some time to come through customs and baggage collection and once through we had somehow missed our pickup, so ended up hopping a shuttle and we are now at the Ramada, Old City, Istanbul.  The most obvious thing is that it is SO much cleaner than Cairo!!  It is very much like European cities in the way it presents itself, with wide roads, gardens, parks and a general lack of rubbish.  We have been out for a wander and shortly we head off to meet some of the other people on our tour.  There happens to be a little leather shop opposite our room, on the side of the hotel, so..............surely it would be rude not to visit?

The Lengths Some People Go To

Everything  in Egypt is a transaction!  There have been lots of times when I have wanted to look at something only to feel too harassed to even slow down. There are stalls everywhere and the sellers come right out to meet you and push their postcards, books, t shirts, linen, scarves etc.  Wandering around the sights are random men, who offer their help or to take a photo and you OWE them.  I paid two Egyptian Pounds for two squares of toilet paper!  The ladies hang out all day in there, so I guess they deserve it!

We pay when someone carries the bags that we are quite capable of carrying ourselves, we pay our drivers and guides, even though we have paid for the tour!

Of course the money is nothing compared to our dollar, but still it seems weird to be handing out money all the time.  It seems the setup is a bit of a money go round because our guide handed money out too.  We met a little kid called Ahmed, who walked with us quite a way and told us he wasn't at school because he was 20!  He got a handout from our guide and I think it was mostly because he had so much cheek!  A couple of kids sang an African version of 'she'll be coming round the mountain' complete with drums and foot stamps and our guide paid them too. Probably to shut up, they also tried on Frere Jacques, which we barely recognized for the tune, but the words bore absolutely no resemblance!

Probably the most gutsy salesmen were the ones that came up to the cruising boat and threw a rope around anything to get a tow along and then attract the attention of the passengers.  These guys stand in their little boats, and throw their products up the three storey boat, to be caught by tourist buyers.  If someone buys something they put the money in a plastic bottle and chuck it back down, to be caught by the boaties.  To be honest it looks more like surfing than boating as I would guess the cruise boat is motoring along at at least 50km and neither the product nor the money ever looked like it wasn't glued to their hands.  This all ended when the man who has the shop on board, selling the same stuff got wind of it and came up to shoot the salesmen through.  I suppose it's all down to the delivery, because I truly doubt the German tourist wanted those fake Egyptian robes sold downstairs, but when they are offered by a surfing man, throwing it up and down against the odds..... now that's a sales pitch!

I It has been very hard for Egypt, over the last few years as they rely heavily on the tourist dollar and the unpredictable politics of its neighbours has lead to great poverty, but it still makes it tough when you have no idea who to pay, when? Nothing is as it is in NZ!

One Night In Cairo

We are back from Aswan and arrived in Cairo about 8.30pm.  The flight took off in normal fashion and then, almost immediately took an 80 degree upward path!  I seriously don't think I have ever taken off in such a fashion!  The rest of the flight was pretty normal, but coming into land was a whole different adventure!  I'm sure I could smell something burning...... Even the hostee raised her nose to the air at one stage!!!!???  There was no such thing as a message about 'stow your tray table and put your seat in the upright position'. No one told me to put my bag under the seat, but never the less, we landed and although sections of the passengers clapped (????) I didn't actually feel nervous.

We leave tomorrow morning with a pickup at 6am!!  4 nights in Istanbul next.....

Going to the Mosque

On our first night here, our guide asked us if we would like to go into town and we were definately keen.  We went and walked through the late night market, which to us was late night, but to the people of Luxor, it is a normal pattern of life as they work around the heat of the day and do heaps in the early morning and then up until around 12 at night.  It was hot and sticky and all around are the smells of tobacco, spices and the heat of animals and bodies.

We walked across a big square,dusty with sand and people and through the totally random traffic, with once again the horns bleating and people hanging off every surface of all type of vehicle.  We we up some stairs with dappled light ahead and came to the grated doors of a Mosque.  There were a number of people sitting in the open foyer, children, mothers and older men.  As we removed our shoes, an older man stepped forward with a head scarf and placed it on my head.  His demeanor was very gentle and guiding and I guess they don't have that many white visitors rocking up at 10 at night.  We entered into the temple and the light was very subdued, the area was carpeted in rugs and the whole floor was a myriad of textured rugs.  The old gentleman, in his long robes took us to some rock cut windows and pointed out for us to see and below, within their grounds were columns and statues from Ancient Egypt, dimly lit to show them and the surrounding grounds.  It turns out that the Mosque was built quite a long time ago, on what was thought to be general land, but later turned out to be part of a temple area, covered in statues, hieroglypics, (its spelt wrong, I'll fix it later....my time is nearly up) and all manner of treasures.  Their Mosque just overtook what was there, not even knowing what it was they were building on.   The whole area is slowly being uncovered, but there are houses built on top of many of the remnants and the people who own them won't move.  I asked how these amazing things came to be covered up, so that someone else could build on top of them and the answer was that across the centuries, people didn't value the old stuff, so the desert took it back, or silt from the river, covered it up.  It has also been periodically ransacked by different Kings or attackers and much of it damaged, or broken apart.

They are still uncovering ancient artefacts and things of huge financial and historical value now and UNESCO have stepped in and are helping with the recovery and the repair.  They are reassembling massive parts of the temples and the area they take up is huge, blocks and blocks of a city area sitting on top of all of that!  

Cruising the Nile

We flew from Cairo to Luxor on Tuesday and we have arrived on our boat and like I suspected, the internet it not to go.  I have finally managed to get onto the one computer they have on board and try to up date.  We have had an amazing time in Luxor and our guide is the best we have had the whole time.  He is a young guy and just kind of gets it!   We have been into cafes, we have walked the city at night and ended up in a Mosque that has glimpses of ancient Egyptian pillars and writing within its walls.  He took us through the alleys and we stopped and had Turkish coffee while he had a smoke from a whopping great bong.  (tobacco only, Mum and Dad, no need to fret)  We have been to see all of the temples and also the Valley of the Kings, which is quite frankly staggering.  It was very hot and quite desolate, but the Egyptians managed to dig out tombs and change levels and make false walls to fool tomb raiders and then decorate the whole place out with pictures that tell stories and histories. There are no photos to be taken within the area (unless you pay a bit of a bribe to the guards who are there to prevent you taking photos!

I really just wanted to get something down on this blog for you, so that everyone knew I had not just decided to flag it!  I have still to figure out how to get the photos onto the blog, so that might have to wait.

Kids Are The Same Everywhere

Our guide took us to lunch at a park, overlooking Cairo.  The park was about 15 years old and had been built on the slag heap from some building work that had been done.  It seems to be a grassy oasis amid the downtown homes and buildings.  The park was full of kids and families sitting in the shade of trees and heaps of teenage kids, just hanging out, trying to impress one another.  We sat and watched a group of young kids playing near, round, then finally IN the fountain- let's face it, it was well over 30 degrees and I was tempted myself!  They had to run away and hide when the security guard came and it was pretty funny sitting up high watching the kis outwit the guard.  The teens were taking selfies and photos of one another and pairing off for little walks together.

We asked our guide about the headscarf as most of the girls were wearing them and he said it is not an Egyptian thing, it has just caught on and the girls feel the peer pressure to wear them.  He said his wife does not, but keeps one in the car when she goes to her sisters houses as they both do.  He said that in a class 20 girls might wear the scarf and five not, but eventually they all start to wear them as that's the go!  the only girls I recall seeing in the park without one, was a bride and her bridesmaid, so the head scarf is a pretty strong fashion statement!

Ian and I went for a walk and I had been teasing him a bit as he was wearing shorts and walk boots and it's not a look I recall seeing on him before ( hehe- enough said) and as we walked round the park, we both had a bit of an audience, which I put down to the walk boots........but maybe not?  At one point I was set upon by about seven ladies, with what appeared to be Mother, leading the charge. They were wearing their black robes and headscarves and came racing at us like a bunch of Nuns late for Sunday Mass.  The mum was making 'photo' signals and I still thought it was Ian they wanted, but NO, it was me!  I opened up my arms, which immediately filled with the whole extended family ( of girls) for the photos.  They laughed and giggled and the mother hugged me and kissed me on both cheeks ( and I rolled with it, being the cuddler that I am!!!) and they took their photos, but I still have absolutely no idea what it was all about!?!?  The only thing I can put it down to, with my newly dyed dark locks, is my striking resemblance to Sandra Bullock!

The Egyptian Museum

This morning we travelled from Gisa, into central Cairo to visit the old Museum. It was built in the late 19th Century and contains artefacts from ancient Egypt.  Entering anything here, including our hotel involves going through security, like metal detectors etc and this Museum is no different, but is more poignant as the building right next door has been completely burnt out in a terrorist attack.  I can't remember the details but our guide pointed out the Government House, the American Embassy and the American University all within a stones throw and said they were on high alert as threats had been made against Museums.

Inside is more like an old, dusty warehouse, than we are use to with our Museums.  The light is very dappled as the windows are not tended to and exhibits, although mostly rocks and pretty hard wearing, are open to the touch.  Some pieces are inside glass cabinets and some have the crystals we have inside pills to suck out moisture.  I also saw ancient papyrus stuck with tape and inside frames, the value of which must be through the roof, as some are over 5000 years old.

The skill of the ancient engineers and the craftspeople is nothing short of astonishing as items fit together so neatly and if made from more than one piece, are pinned or hinged so cleverly that it is hard to comprehend the age and tools they were made with.

One of the prize collections in the museum is the contents of the tomb of King Tutenkhamum, because it remained hidden until the early 20th century and therefore not looted for thousands of years and all its goodies stolen, like most of the others.  Tutenkhamum was only on the throne for five minutes, but is one of the best known due to his remains being found in one piece.  There must have been mighty wealth because must of the contents are guilt gold or gold leaf and he had boxes, inside, boxes, inside boxes for his burial chambers.  His sarcophagus was three pieces inside each other, much like Russian dolls, getting more ornate from the inside out.  He had all sorts of things for the afterlife, including food, perfumes in glass bottles, beds, his throne and a folding throne and bed, I case he needed them???  The glass bottles actually threw me a bit as this was prior to 1324 BC and I had no idea glass had been round that long.

It was an eye opener and I am really glad we went!  Museums are places of great learning and up amongst my most valuable lessons today was that the price of two pieces of toilet paper at the Museum is five Egyptian Pounds AND you pay up in advance. Woe be tied of you need more than two.  I guess you go out and ask?

Memphis, Camels and Pyramids

We have had a very full day and there was too much to take it all in.  We started the day in the Museum in Memphis and got a history lesson about upper and lower Egypt coming together.  We saw statues carved over 5000 years ago and came to understand how they are so definite about there history, due to written records, both on paper and in stone.  The way the early Egyptians built is nothing short of incredible and the accuracy of cuts on stone up to three hundred tonne each is amazing, especially when they are cut with bronze hand tools.  Amazing how such a clever race of people could not figure a way to dispose of their own rubbish other than the street or into the closest waterway!

We rode a camel, went inside a pyramid, had a traditional lunch, probably got ripped off a few times, but generally have had an amazing day.  We finished this evening with a light show where the story of the pyramids is reflected off them in colored lights and projected images.

We have been back in our room less than ten minutes and Ian is sound asleep behind me!  They have said it will be about 32 degrees tomorrow, but.... Wait for it...... probably about 38 the next day!!!  I didn't bring clothes for this!

Sorry, I have just read this back and I have used about six too many 'amazing's but I am too tired to go back and change it, so it will have to stand as is.

Cairo Tonight

Getting from the airport was an adventure, as you can imagine.  The main highway is used by cars, trucks, donkey drawn carts and pedestrians, but also at one point stalls, tyre shops and just places to stop and tend to your derelict vehicle.  The horn must be used as some sort of 'I have travelled ten meters' celebration as, from where I am sitting on the deck of our hotel, they are a harmony of beeps, toots and honks.  This afternoon we were able to hear the call to prayer which echoed out across the old stone buildings and things seemed to go quiet for a time.

From our hotel room it looks like we could reach out and touch the Pyramids and tomorrow we are going there to start our day of touring Cairo.  The two Pyramids we can see are very smooth looking, either by design or by age and wear.  Doug said they were smaller then he imagined but they look pretty impressive from here.  To get here we followed a main highway on which housing runs down either side of the highway and one one side from the airport is rather new-ish looking, but it's hard to tell because it's all made from the same brick type material, but on the other side is a demolition site, that is mostly still occupied!  Parts of dwellings are lived in, while the other side of the same place is roofless and falling down.  We passed big areas that looked like demolition had occurred, but when I asked our guide he said it was natural 'it is desert'  (imagine this said in Egyptian heavily accented English) and politely he did not add 'dumbass"'

The sides of the highway (and I am talking side of highway! not grass verge ) that are not occupied by previously mentioned tyre outlets, stalls etc, are built up with paper and rubbish and quite frankly, the whole place looks like it needs a darn good inorganic collection.

It's amazing!  It's totally not what we live with and that is what makes it so interesting......

Cairo- Home to Twenty Million People

Our flight arrived about 11 am, local time and we were met inside customs by our tour guide.  He helped us get Visas and change money and finally after going through immigration without so much as a serious good look at us, we arrived at the baggage claim.  Not too dissimilar to home, except there was a total disregard for a) your ankles- as people just moved straight through you to get their bags and b) personal space (heard of it?????). The baggage handlers could be seen through the St Bedes curtain, ( my personal name for those plastic things at airports)throwing bags on, near or just in the general direction of the carousel.  I am guessing Egyptian people not send their chrysal via air???  At one stage a folded up pushchair got stuck by the St Bedes curtain and bags were either jammed up behind it or leaping out overtop of it, so some passenger had to climb onto the conveyer belt and free it while the workers looked on from behind the wall.  Our bags took an uncomfortably loooonnnnggg time to arrive and there were the beginning of a trickle of fear that I may have had to spend the next month wearing this same outfit! But...no! Through they came, right near the end and we were off, through customs, where once again no one looked at us and off out of the airport and on our adventure 

It's A Long Way To The Other Side of the World

We have arrived in Cairo after about 28 hours and three flights.  It is now just a distance memory how loooonnnnggg the flight from Melbourne to Dubai was.  We were sitting two seats from the back of the plane right beside the hostie station and the toilets for the back half of the plane.  Every time someone needed something the hosties  would clang and bang right next to us or the toilet would do the shooouT!! Noise as it flushed.  We also were in no mans territory when the hosties  had a Mexican standoff right by us, then forgot to bring our food.

But we're here now and to be perfectly honest the flights were pretty good and let's face it, I wasn't the only person having to sit there!