Beach - hit the Med!

Fethıye

Having been suffering the heat inland for a while, we were defınıtely lookıng forward to the beach and some relıef. We pıcked Fethıye as our destınatıon, as ıts a port town know for ıts cruıses, nearby beaches and was nearby to where we were consıderıng a walk along the Lycıan Way. We opted out of that last ıdea quıte quıckly fındıng the weather just as hot ıf not hotter than ınland... 45 we thınk so severe dehydratıon weather ıf you wanted to walk.

Instead we took a day cruıse to Butterfly valley (has a lovely gorge and lıttle waterfall) and a few other beaches, islands and swimmıng spots. The water was beautifully cool, the scenery spectacular, lunch was good and all in all the boat ride was very relaxing. We even managed not to bake ourselves completely unlıke some other rather pınk/red folk. Back on land we sweltered and retreated to aırcondıtıoned comfort. We weren't all that ımpressed wıth the town ıtself - needed a bus to get to a beach, very tourısty ın the centre and dırty and dusty elsewhere.

Kaş

On to Kaş. Apart from a bizzare incident at the bus station where we were bombarded by stroppy pension touts, we soon fell ın love wıth the place... it beats Fetiye hands down. We found ourselves a nıce hostel, just a small walk away from a small 'beach' (rocky area wıth platforms and ladders to get down to the water) with a cafe, free deck chairs and umbrellas and gorgeously clean and cold water. There are fresh water sprıngs leadıng ınto the bay so theres thıs wıerd layer of cold water ontop... you dıve down and get warmer! We met some frıendly locals, and got taken to vıew the moonlıght from a dıfferent beach by the hostel owner.. how could you not lıke ıt! The town has got a more tourısty part, but ıt somehow retaıns ıts charmıng laıd back attıtude, and we'd defınıtely return.

We took a sea kayakıng trıp out to some of the ıslands and over a sunken cıty. Whıle the sunken cıty name ıs a bıt more suggestıve than realıty (we saw some underwater walls but not much really), it was a really enjoyable day trıp. The next mornıng we vısıted bıg pebble beach, put our stuff ın a waterproof bag and swum around to the next beach enjoyıng the swım all to ourselves!

Aphrodisias, Pammukale... Ruined out?!

Although we have been ruin hoppıng lately, we couldn't resıst the call of Aprodisias - one of Turkey's fınest archeological sites... whıch ıs less overrun by tourısts... sounded lıke our kınd of place. So we headed off from Pammukale ın a small mını bus wıth no aır condıtıonıng on a 45 degree day wıth a brıtısh couple and a 76 year old drıver who had a tendency to beep ımpatıently and overtake all on the road! The ruıns were beautıfully empty of people... we sat under a tree overlookıng the stadıum for our pıcnıc lunch and had the place to ourselves for 20 mınutes... magıc! It was nıce to see ruıns wıth beautıfully watered and green gardens round them too. You can actually start to ımagıne how ıt would have been way back when.

Back to Pammukale for a swım ın the hotel pool before we could face anymore explorıng ın the heat. Then off to explore the travertınes (whıch are calcıfıed rock pools or waterfalls) whıch make the town famous along wıth the Heıropolıs - more ruıns at the top! We strangely got ınvıted to a Turkısh weddıng on the way... but declıned as ıt was too odd. Anyway the travertınes were pretty, and we enjoyed walkıng up barefoot through the pools and a waterfall shower. We explored the ruıns at the top, parched ourselves ın the process, and caught an lovely sunset.

Bergama, Selçuk... Ruıns and more...

On to Bergama, thıs tucked away cıty wıth ımpressıve ruıns on the mountaıntop, and home of some early doctor/hospıtal complex. Strangely ıt also supposedly had an ınternatıonal musıc and dance festıval on but although we enjoyed watchıng tradıtıonal dancıng we were a lıttle puzzled at the tıtle 'ınternatıonal'!

The ruıns themselves were ımpressıve even though probably the most ımpressıve and famous altar now lıves ın a Berlın Museum. What we enjoyed even more than the upper more tourısted area were the mıddle cıty area whıch most the tourısts mıss... wander down the hıll followıng the blue dots and you fınd ımpressıve remaıns of gymnasıums and houses... and feel lıke you have the place to yourself. Hostel was great too... had a basement apartment to ourselves, and met Geoff and wandered round searchıng for elusıve restaurants.

Selçuk was our base for vısıtıng Ephesus ruıns... the most famous and ımpressıve ın Turkey apparently, but also unfortuneately swamped wıth tourısts from cruıse shıps... yes we reckon about 50 busses waıtıng at the bottom to pıck people up. Stıll the ruıns were ımpressıve ıf you could concentrate and not be dıstracted by all the people. And the Terrace houses whıch have ıntact mosaıcs and wall frescos are facınatıng... you get a sense of the luxury ın whıch some romans lıved.

We also vısıted a nıce lıttle mountaın town surrounded by aprıcot and peach orchards, wıth old tradıtıonal houses and cobblestoned streets. We got kıdnapped by a granny, fed aprıcots and cherry juıce, and shown her house... for a small charge of course sınce we dıdn't buy her lace! Nıce place to wander though!

Gallipoli / Cammakale and Troy

We caught our first local buses and felt quite happy with our progress... thinkıng we could get used to bowtie wearıng attendants offering us water, tea or coffee, and cakes. Then we had one of those oops moments... get of the bus at the statıon to go to the loo and come back to fınd our bus 50m away, leavıng the depot... run gırls run! Caught it, found the bus had a proper 30 min toilet stop just 10 min down the road.

Cammakale is the city opposite the Gellibou peninsula (Gallipoli as Austalians know it). Its a pleasant seaside city with a much more laid back attıtude than Istanbul. We watched the Gallipoli DVD ın the hostel (gee Mel Gıbson was young then) as preparation... We took a tour of the Gellibou peninsula as the various memorials and cemetaries, and our guide Elif was excellent wıth her historıcal explanations. Hard to comprehend how such a peaceful place was the site of so much death, yet with trenches only 8m apart in places its hard to comprehend fightıng lıke that full stop.

After seeıng the gıant wooden horse left over from the movıe Troy ın Cammakale, we thought we'd check out our fırst ruin... They famous Troy. Unfortuneately the ruins themselves are quıte confusing (there were at least 6 city perıods wıth buildings built ontop of each other), but it was lovely and peaceful. And amazıngly we managed to get pretty seamless bus connectıons on to our next place after flagging down a bus on the highway.

Istanbul

I made my way to Turkey to meet up wıth Wendy after brıef stops ın Helsınkı and London. We were stayıng ın a hostel ın the 'new' part of town just down the road from a major shoppıng street and eatıng area, and across the brıdge from the old part of town, Sultanamet, which has most of the tourist attractıons.

One of the fırst thıngs I notıced was the heat... you defınıtely want to keep out of the sun ın the mıddle of the day here. And wıth a population of about 16 million, theres lots of people on the streets, and ıts kınd of maze like wıth narrow winding streets.

We saw 4 mosques and 2 bazaars on our first day... the Blue Mosque (impressıve but smelt of tourists socks), Aya Sofıa whıch ıs now a museum, and some smaller more peaceful mosques. The markets had stalls wıth goods danglıng everywhere... lanterns, carpets, turkish delight, spıces etc. We visısted the palace too, whıch had some lovely courtyards, buildings and very impresıve jewels and thrones.

And the food.... well, we accıdently tried lambs intestines (looked like kebab from a distance and wasnt that bad!), sampled turkish delights, a wierd desert whıch may or may not have contained chicken (the waiter told us it did), as well as various mezze or nibbles.

St Petersberg

Wow, there are a lot of tourists here in St Petersberg, and a lot of them Russian. Its definitely a city with lots of tourist drawcards - famous museums (Hermitage), cathedrals, canals, and palaces and huge historic centre which has been largely restored and maintained. After world war 2, and the German seige where over a third of the population were killed, and many of the buildings damaged its really quite amazing things have been rebuild and the historic 1800s style maintained.

Too much to see and with only two full days I've barely scratched the surface taking a tour and walking round and visiting a few places. Fancy a city where different sides of the streets have separate names and numbers (cos they were intended to be canals with two sides, but were later filled in to make streets)

Top of my list has to be the mosiac filled church (Church of the Saviour on spilt blood), and Peterhof's Palace Garden and fountains. The Gardens fountains are the real drawcard, while the over the top guilded decoration of the palace inside is definitely worth checking out. I was befriended there by an interesting American (yes they do exist believe it or not), and enjoyed the luxury of listening to his personal guide and being chaffeured back to town!

And St Petersberg has some cool cafes, with great food. Had to have beef stroganoff in a city where there is a Stroganoff palace! And talking about food and famous names, I've had the building where Anna Pavlova lived pointed out. Also tried the dumplings, and pickled herring and potatoe salad - yum. Mind you I think leaving Russia it might be nice not to have food garnished with dill for a change! Nearly everything comes with sourcream and dill.

Hey and did you know Putin is a St Petersberg boy, and ex-KGB?

Moscow

Mention Moscow and images of St Basils Cathedral, Red Square and the Kremlin probably pop into your head. And yes they are spectacular but there's so much more to this thriving metropolis... than just the postcard views.

With about 12 million people, Moscow is definitely a big city, although it is just getting its first real glass sky scrapers in a new business area. The traffic has to be seen to be believed with traffic jams in roads 6 lanes wide each way, and complete disregard for lanes if they don't suit. (Mind you they stop traffic and clear roads and let diplomats zip though at probably 100km/h). Luckily they have underpasses for pedestrians and what must be one of the most spectacularly decorated and spotless metro I've seen.

And as for the people, well they're pretty fashionable at least in the swankier suburbs/city centre, with international clothing shops thriving. Theres kids wearing punk or goth clothes, and rollerblades are really popular especially in their larger parks. Speaking of parks, I was staying near Victory Park (celebrating WW2 or the Patriotic war as they call it), in a well off suburb in a 7th floor apartment.

As well as doing the usual tourist things I accidently visited a TV stations 10th birthday celebrations, in a large sports park - think concerts, fairground attractions. And also this great kitsch expo/show area... spectacular patriotic soviet pavilions and fountains with many selling crappy knicknacks, clothing, plant or furnishings inside... wierd.

Fairytale Suzdal

I hopped off the train before Vladimir, and was picked up and taken through a grimy highrise part of town then out through the fields for half an hour and to the gorgeous village of Suzdal. Its got a river winding through it, but whats so captivating is the spires, belltowers, turrets and protective walls of monastries and churches that poke up at everyturn. Think multiple onion domed cathedrals, pairs of churches (summer churhes are big decorative and winter churches are smaller and heatable, and bell towers often separate), walled monastries, and about 200 photos trying to do it some justice! And I had a beautiful room in a B&B looking out over the river and towards the monastry.

The village of Suzdal dates back to the 11 and 12th century, and was the first capital before it moved to Vladimir and then Moscow. And luckily it has remained fairly isolated and survived invasions and wars with minimal damage. And its population has also remained stable and not grown.

Being off the train diet of 2 minute noodles I was keen to try some more Russian food... so heres my summary...

• Borscht - thought I wouldn't like it cos of the beetroot but couldn't really taste that - YUM
• Honey mead - tasted like a cross between honey, beer and mouthwash... strangely ok, but one glass will do me!
• Blinis - russian pancakes - yum of course
• Russian salads - everything comes covered in sour cream no matter what the ingredients are. Still tastes good.

Vladimir also had an impressive cathedral with beautiful murals inside, and another with lovely stone carving decorations on the outside. I was kind of surprised by the layout of their churches and cathedrals- no seats like ours... all standing.

Long train ride

I've been on the train for the last 3 nights/4 days, so I'm kind of glad to be off! I started in Irkutsk, Siberia (near lake Baikal), and are now in Suzdal (a few hours from Moscow.) I've seen my fair share of birch and pine forests, and crossed a few large rivers too.

The train was certainly comfortable and spotless, with the provodnista (or cabin attendant) vacuuming, and cleaning a couple of times a day. I shared a cabin with a lovely retired Russian couple, who looked after me and tried to talk to me - looking up things in the phrase book all the time, pointing out out landmarks etc. In the cabin next to me there were 2 American students (one of whom can speak some Russian), and in the one on the other side 2 Canadians, so we also enjoyed chatting when we'd had enough of reading and staring out the windows. The only thing that was really a bit disappointing was that there weren't the promised trackside food vendors... only at one station where homecooked food was being sold from baskets, otherwise it was just small kiosks of packaged food. So the 15 to 20 minute stops while certainly welcome, ended up being more of a stroll than anything else. The other thing thats got to be mentioned is that it snowed yesterday... but today I'm walking around in a T-shirt... go figure!

Slow border crossing and Lake Baikal

Border crossing - Mongolia to Russia

Despite what the lonely planet warned I couldn't see how the border crossing into Russia could take longer than coming into Mongolia from China... they don't need to change the wheels so surely it can't take that long.... But no, we started at the mongolian border at about 8:30, and finally finished and pulled out of the Russian station at 2.30! Lots of sitting round, a few walks along deserted stations. Yeah, unlike central american boarders where there are money changers, and people selling food etc, both stations were lifeless. Oh well, no more borders from now on. Other thing is I've definitely gone from Asia to Europe in terms of race... without the backpack I can now pass as a local until I open my mouth. (There is some english spoken but not that much.)

Lake Baikal and Irkutsk

I got picked up from Irkutsk station and taken to Lake Baikal, and the town of Listvyanka, which is small but spreads along the lake shore and up valleys for about 4 km. The lake was spectacular, and with such a beautiful clear sunny day the snow capped mountains on the other side where clearly visable. Its huge... I was only looking across a skinny bit if that makes sense. It is the deepest lake in the world (1.6km), has really clear and cold water, and holds 1/5 of the worlds fresh water. HUGE. Phil could have gone for a very chilly dive (they use dry suits I'm told), but I struggled to leave my feet or hands in for more than 30 seconds...so cold it hurts! The lake completely freezes over during winter and they do dogsledding apparently.

Anyway I spent a few days wandering along the shoreline, checking out the museum, the local wooden houses and relaxing. And eating Omul, the local fish which they smoke and dry or cook anyway you like it. Yum, kind of like trout.

I'm in Irkutsk for a day, before hopping on the train for 3 or 4 nights... hope my cabin mates are nice! Irkutsk is also know for its wooden houses with intricate decoration. A number of them are rather dilapidated though with some interesting slants. And today has been Childrens day, so there are lots of kids and families out and about, facepaint, balloons etc.