So, in an effort to play catch up, here is a Reader’s Digest version of where I went and what I saw, from Petra (Jordan) to flying back to the States:
As you may know by now from the pictures, I passed on the second day at Petra and joined the guys on our bus ride to Anman in the morning. The deciding factor was that we saw a lot in one day, and that I would have to walk the same path for apx 3 km back before there would be a fork in the road that would lead me to something new. Plus it was just nice to have the company. We rode the 3 hour bus ride first thing in the morning, and learned something about the local long distance bus system. When in Jordan, always plan to take the early long distance buses, as the later ones may never happen. The long distance buses are of the mini bus variety, and they do not leave the station until they are at least half full, or in the case of the early morning ones, until they are fully occupied. Therefore buses anytime after noon, are questionable, as it is not known if there is the demand to fill them even to 50 percent. So with that, after saying bye to Hiro, who joined an American couple en-route to Israel, we hired a driver for a few hours to drive us to the Dead Sea (1-hour each way, and 1 hour to float), for only 33 JD total. The Dead Sea, was a great surprise, as you literally float due to its salinity, but be careful not to get any in your eyes, or have any fresh cuts or scratches, as you will definitely feel it. I had some scratches from my day at Petra, and really was not aware of it, until The Dead Sea notified me of it. The next day I caught my flight back to Istanbul via Royal Jordanian, a really nice carrier. The plane was small, as it was only a 2 hour flight, but nice wide leather seats, almost felt like business class, plus if you fly with them, they have a transfer office in the city that can shuttle you to the Airport for only 2 JD, in case you ever visit Jordan, which I highly recommend, after visiting Egypt.
Back in Istanbul, I met up with my local buddies, the gang at SpeedTravel: Ahmet, Bulnet, John, Onur, and a couple others. For the next couple days, I just hungout at their shop, played some backgammon, and took in a couple sites. Coincidently, on my last night there, Gemma was returning from her tour through Turkey, so we all went to Onur’s bar, Sha, for some dancing, and again plenty of soda for me. During those couple days, I got a chance to speak to many fellow backpackers and with help from some of the gang, define a loose itinerary for my trek through Turkey. The goal was to spend the next three weeks in the last (Southeast) country in Europe, before I made my transition to another continent, but technically, most of Turkey is on the Asia continental plate, but you catch my drift (get the pun, okay I know, dorky engineer). So after another late night with the gang, I hopped on a bus-about type tour bus early in the morning headed for Gallipoli. During World War I, the British Allied forces tried to take over portions of Turkey due to its geographical and logistical advantages in its fight against Russia, namely access via its water ways. What resulted was, that hundreds of thousands of Australian and New Zealand forces were sent in (along with British, French and India) by the Allied Forces, to fight against the Turks. The Allies severely underestimated the fight, and had miscalculated that the fight would last less than two weeks. The fighting, of course, continued much longer, with almost 500,000 injured from both sides (almost 50-50), and resulted with the Turks defending their land. The intriguing part is that, during this fight, the Turks developed a strong bond with the Australian and New Zealand troops, such that there is a term: ANZAC (Australian and New Zealand Armed Corps). They say, it is because the ANZAC was not there, because they wanted to, but because they were made to by the British Allied Forces, much like the Turks were made to defend their land, additionally there are stories where these two sides, fought from fox holes/trenches, not more than 30m from each other, where they heard the suffering that each side was enduring. During that time, they also called temporary truces, to re-claim the dead and injured. In sum, it was an interesting tour to participate in, since I was oblivious to this history, and all those around me were Ozzies and Kiwis (New Zealanders), led by a Turk. At one time, the tour leader, almost shed a tear, and told everybody that he felt like they were family, part of his family, because of his close connection to the war (his grandfather died at Gallipoli), and that as an ANZAC he wanted everybody to be quiet and be one with the land and soak in the soil that their ancestors walked and fought on. So after taking a day of taking some subtle American bashing, I politely asked him: What I should do? We spent the night in Cannakkale, where I think I was attacked by a swarm of mosquitoes, probably at the request of Captain Ali, our tour guide.
The next day we headed for Selcuk, where I would hop off the bus, and go the rest solo. Along the way, we did a tour of the historical cities of Troy and Bergama (aka Pergamon). Everybody knows Troy, because of the Trojan horse, the interesting story is that the city was re-built many times, on its same location, as many as nine times. The other interesting fact, is that the fighting began over a woman, and continued to last for over ten years. Bergama, with its columns, friezes and a large amphitheatre, was of the Roman Empire variety of ancient cities. I had actually visited the Pergamon Museum in Berlin, which contained much more of the in-tact sculptures than at the site itself. The best story, I heard on our tour was the story of how applauses came about, at the end of a play or stage event. The king would host a celebration each year, and during that week, a member from each family would attend the event in the evening at the Amphitheatre. One year, the king had been much too busy the week leading up to the celebrations, so during the first night at the amphitheatre, he few asleep during the show. The problem is that: the people were not allowed to leave, until the king had. So the people sat, all night until the morning, when the king awoke. The next night, the king fell asleep again, and so the people waited till sunrise. On the third night, the people conspired, and as the show ended, they saw that the king was again fast asleep, and they erupted in applause not to compliment the actors on a job well done, but to wake up the king.
I spent the next couple days in Selcuk, visiting Ephesus (another ancient City, but one of the more well preserved ones), Ephesus Museum, Temple of Artemis (one of the original Seven Wonders of the World, but now nothing more than a few columns and pieces of foundations), and the Basilica of St John (who accompanied the Virgin Mary after Jesus’ death). The Church of the Virgin Mary is also next door, which you can see from St John’s, so I passed on actually going to the front door.
Russ (my roommate from Egypt) and I joined back up and decided to travel together for a day, and head to Fethiye, with a detour to Pamakkula (one of the Natural Seven Wonders of the World) to see the famous terraced calcium pools. Not sure what I should say or tell you, as this is where you feel bad for what we have done to the planet. I am probably one of the least tree hugger types, that we all know, but this place looked nothing the pictures that brought me here. The only place that I found, which I have photos of, with the terraced calcium pools, require the use of pumped in water. Its still on the list for places to see, when you are in the neighborhood, but I heard of people staying here multiple days before to see the sunset and/or rise, but now reduced to a half day trip. The night ended, after our 5 hour bus ride to Fethiye, a small Mediterranean Sea front town, where many come to catch on for a boat cruise (Blue Cruise) to Olympia. Russ had booked the Blue Cruise (so named for its beautiful blue waters along the entire route), but in the reverse direction. Most take the 3-day cruise from Fethiye to Olympia, but since this was now peak season, all the cruises were supposedly booked, so the only one he could catch on was a few days later, leaving from Olympia. This is when my lucky streak continued; at this point everybody kept telling me to book the Blue Cruise. But to be honest, I could not be bothered with booking a cruise, weeks or even days out, knowing that I may get antsy, as I was already flying through a good portion of Turkey and was reducing my three weeks to just over two. I figured, if and when I got to Fethiye and I was in the mood for the cruise I would just see if there was any last minute vacancy, if not, no worries, then off to Olympia by bus.
The next morning, Russ and I wished each other farewell again (actually for the third time, as we had met up for an afternoon back in Istanbul), and I stopped by one of the operators for the Blue Cruise. And as luck would have it, they had one spot open for the next day, and so I took it and now had a firm itinerary for the net few days. The cruise ended up being one my favorite time and memories of Turkey. The daily routine was swimming in the morning, eat breakfast, chill/hang, swim before noon, eat lunch, chill/hang, swim some more, dinner, then one last swim before dark. At night the boat mates just hungout like we did all day: play backgammon, cards, tell stories, read… it was basically like summer camp, without all the required arts and crafts. The people I met on the boat, were great, they help me re-energize and restore my excitement to meet new people. For some reason, just before the cruise, I was feeling a bit of a lull, I was not in the mood to talk and meet people as much, and was fine going at it alone for most of the day. Having Russ around a bit helped, as you could be alone by not talking, but still not be completely along, this is where I referenced earlier that I started to feel home sick. But, the boat mates were so great, that you really couldn’t help but interact and have a good time, although our boat did break into two camps. Half of the boat already knew each other, and had some history together, which for some reason, prevented some of them from wanting to interact with the rest of us. But in the end, we all had a great time, and I really enjoyed the company and getting to know our half of the boat: Tamara, Sean, Jez, Mary, Georgina, Alessia, Sophie and Pamela. They were so great, that many of us hungout for another day in Olympia, and I even ran into Tamara and Sean at Cappadocia and again at Istanbul. One of my favorite past time on the cruise was sleeping under the stars. I remember camping as a kid, looking up into the stars, and dreaming until you fell asleep. Not since that time, have I seen a sky filled with so many stars, honestly, there were probably more stars out above that boat, then I had ever seen in my life, ever! Its as if you had a black piece of paper, and with a hand full of salt, sprinkle it all over the paper, now do the same with the other handful of salt. Each night, when we finally decided to call it in, we calmed our spot outside on the boat, and while some passed out from the days labours activities of: swimming and eating, I tried to stay up as long as I could to count the falling stars. As I recall, I counted about a dozen on our last night, but that was no where close to Mary and Jez’s twenty plus.
Once back on shore, I spent a night in Olympia, in the “treehouse” which is what all the hostels call themselves. But to quote a fellow backpacker, “Yeah, I guess they are, sort of like a house, that are made from trees.” The best way to describe Olympia, is: a place in the middle of no where, with nothing much to do, and try to live like a hippie. It is actually a good place to get re-adjusted back to life on land after the three days on the boat. Then I caught an overnight bus for Cappadocia, the land of strange but oddly beautiful, almost mystical, land cone formations. I don’t need to go into detail, as it’s a must for anyone doing a pro-longed tour of Turkey, and everybody pretty much does the same tours. The cutest thing did happen on my bus ride into Cappadocia, that is where I met Malaka, a nine year old girl, traveling with her mom and sister to Cappadocia, to see her aunt. They sat in the seats in front of me, and I swear, it seemed as if she had never seen an Asian before. When she first got on the bus, she did a double take and subtlety pointed at me to her mom. Her mom whispered something in her ear, probably don’t stare or point, but I just waved back and gave her a smile. She then literally jumped with excitement and told her mom what I had done, and her mom just looked back and gave me a smile as well. For a good portion of the trip, at least for the time that I was awake, we just played hide and seek between the gaps in the chairs, which made the trip go by faster.
My luck continued for my trip from Cappadocia to Istanbul, apparently bus tickets are much harder to get when leaving Cappadocia. I just figured there would be as many leaving as coming in, and can’t be bothered with making reservations. My plan, was to spend two full days in Cappadocia, but only one night, and just the rough it on the overnight buses. As I was walking through town after my first full day in Cappadocia, I decided to stop by the bus office to inquire about the buses leaving tomorrow night, as I always intended to buy the ticket the day of. The first bus office, said that they were sold out for the next couple days, and could have something confirmed in a few days, or stay on standby for the next couple days. Shocked by this, I went to the other bus companies, all located next door to each other. They all said the same, and explained that it’s the peak season, and that they are fully booked, and trying to get more buses in. But, then the last one said, that they had nothing unless I was a party of one, Bingo! He said, that he had literately turned away forty people in the last few hours, as they were always groups of two or more, and he had only the one ticket for the next couple of days, and it was for tomorrow night’s bus, perfect!
Having covered so much ground the last couple months, I decided that it wasn’t a big deal to cover some more, and instead of looking for a place that I liked, I decided to change it up and go to place that I knew I already liked. At this point I had just short of a week before my flight from Istanbul to Dusseldorf, Germany, where I had a two day layover, before heading back for the States. So after arriving in Istanbul early in the morning, I dropped my bags, and headed to the train station and bought a ticket for Belgrad, Serbia, a 24 hour train leaving that night. After arriving back in Belgrade, and receiving a heart warm welcome from my friends: Srdjan, Dragana, and Nevena, I basically hungout for the next four/five days. This time I took in some more of the sites, with a visit to the Tesla Museum, and met more great fellow backpackers at the hostel. The hot and strange news throughout the city, was an incident at the zoo. Apparently, I had just missed Beer-fest, an annual 3-4 day festival/event, where the beer companies have booths and host musical acts, it’s suppose to be the party of the year. Of course, I didn’t feel too bad to have missed it, water or soda pop may have been hard to come by. Anyways, word around town was that some older teenagers, got drunk, and one of them, somehow fell into the black bear pit in the middle of the night. On the front page of the newspaper the next night, was a picture of the bear mauling this kid. Luckily I wasn’t there to see the paper, but it was the talk of the town, and how the newspaper was in trouble for including the picture. The attendance at the zoo skyrocketed the following week, and yours truly participated. I know, bad me, but I had heard so much about the zoo now, and honestly, I was running out of things to do in Belgrade, during the day.
Instead of catching a 24-hour train back to Istanbul, only to catch a flight to Germany, I decided to take a bus to Munich, for a couple days of sight seeing, then a train to Cologne, for another day of sight seeing, then finally to Dusseldorf to catch my flight home. In Munich, I joined a walking tour, which I ditched mid-stream, visited: the Art Museum, Modern Art Museum, Duetch Museum (think engineering and technology museum, great for kids young and old who are fascinated by science, technological advancements, and evolution of flight, motors/engines, print press, glass…), and the huge public park, which included a surf wave, and a portion of the park where people sun bathe, and clothing is unfortunately is optional. The one thing that I missed out on, that I wish, I knew about is, that on Monday nights the City hosts: Night Rollerblading through the City, where they have the right of way. This particular Monday was the last one for the year, as it only takes place during the Summer, so everybody was there, literally there was thousands and thousands of them, we had to stand on the street corner for a along while, before the cops finally set a break in the rollerbladers’ path, so that the pedestrians and cars could finally pass. In Cologne everybody does the Dom Church, similar to the Gothic style as St Vitus in Prague, but much bigger. Similar to St Vitus, you can climb the steps to the top, but this one of course required more steps, supposedly 509 steps to the top. I also visited the Chocolate Museum, which to me was more like a big ad for chocolate, but you had to pay to see the message, definitely something you can pass on.
And that catches you up (as best as I could) to my trip back home, and the completion of my first three months of travel. I hope that you have enjoyed accompanying me on my trip, thus far. The many words of encouragement and support of the blog and travel have meant a lot, as I am writing this blog for many reasons. One, its something that helps me record this trip, in a much different way than a private journal, where you might get lazy and just jot done a few lines and hope that you remember what you saw and felt. Knowing that others will read it, has challenged me to keep it as interesting as possible, but at the same time keep it personal, by injecting my thoughts and weird sense of humor at times, in essence my fingerprint. Additionally my objective has not been to replicate what The Lonely Planet and Rick Steve’s does so much better, but rather to share with you about the places I have visited, as I have learned that it is much more important to know the author (and what they enjoy and why) as much as it is to know the words, as someone may rave about a particular place, but if you don’t enjoy the same environments, your outlook may be completely different.
I have chosen the title of this entry as “lucky”, not only because of my fortune with getting onto the Blue Cruise and the bus out of Cappadocia, but also for how I feel in general, for: the places I have seen and experienced, the people I have met, the friends I have made, the opportunity to take this trip, for seriously everything.
Hope all is well.
