No Napoli in Napoli

We had been preparing for the Naples culinary experience (the birthplace of pizza and renowned for the margarita) since before we left home. In preparation we had a margarita from pizza hut to contrast with the real thing. There was no contrast, the real one melts in your mouth and is full of the flavour of its 3 simple toppings. Adrian avoided Spaghetti Napoli, at every restaurant we ate at in Greece, in preparation for the real thing only to find you can’t get it Naples. All was not lost though, the pasta we have had is better than any we have ever tasted.

As well as eating we have also managed to fit in some sightseeing above and below ground, explored the ruins of Pompeii, and climbed Mount Vesuvius. We had a couple of nights in Rome before arriving here. We are heading to Milan tomorrow (Monday).

Mystic Meteora

We experienced something of the life of the monks and nuns who have journeyed to the monoliths of Meteora for centuries. After a seven hour journey from Athens (2 hours at a bus terminal along the way) we arrived in Kalambaka our base for exploring the hilltop monasteries. On Sunday we caught the bus up to the highest monastery and then started a trek to others.

The first monastery was very impressive and included museums of the monks’ role in various Greek wars throughout the ages as well as relics from the early Eastern Church. The next whilst equally impressive from the outside (perched on a rock column) but was less impressive within. A kilometre or so down the road, Adrian convinced Joy to take the left branch up to a nunnery. The sign said it was 2 km but an hour or two later we reached a road junction indicating the distance back to Kalambaka was 9km (there was no return bus from here) but we were in sight of the next monastery. That’s it in the picture (right) taken just after the road junction.

We reached the path to this monastery and could see that it was about 500m down to where the stairs up began. It was at this point that Joy spat the dummy and refused to budge. A lonely Adrian began the trek down and at the base of the stairs leading up he discovered there was a walking trail back to Kalambaka. A phone call to Joy convinced her to join him and together they made the climb up to the monastery before trekking back to town via the forest walk.

We are off to Rome in the morning (Tuesday)

Life’s a Beach

Well, the Greek domestic crisis finally caught up with us. A ferry strike left us stranded on Santorini for an extra day. It was terrible. There was nothing to do except lie on the beach and lounge around in coffee shops. Life’s a beach!

To the Islands

Our final days in Athens were spent climbing the Acropolis, walking the parks and seeing the changing of the guard at Parliament. Since then we have been on the Island of Santorini. We have decided to stay here longer than originally planned and will be here until Thursday.

Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie are also here on the Island but we haven’t caught up yet. They must be eating in different restaurants. We saw their yacht when we went on a cruise (its the grey one in the pic) out to climb a volcano today. Yesterday we hired a quad bike and travelled from Perissa Beach (where we are staying) to the other end of the Island. Adrian drove the outward leg calling in at all the scenic highlights along the way and Joy took over for the return journey with a non-stop trip of about an hour and half.

Apart from lazing around we have also managed to fit in some Greek dancing, wining and dining and have walked the famous black pebble beach.

We are changing our plans for the rest of our time in Greece. We had planned to visit the archaeological sites at Mycenae and Olympia but we are all ruined out and will now travel to Meteora to see the hilltop monasteries and then fly to Rome to commence the Italian leg of the trip.

It’s all Greek

It’s all Greek: mousaka, souvlaki, giros, spaghetti Napoli; or at least these were some of the items listed in the traditional Greek cuisine section of the menu at the restaurant we ate at tonight. And we’ve eaten all of them (except the spaghetti) since arriving in Athens yesterday.

The streets are abuzz with noise but fortunately there has been no sign of the civil unrest that has featured on recent news reports. This is especially good as unlike the TV in Turkey there been no CNN or BBC world news at our hotel (we could have watched McLeod’s Daughters though).

So far we have wandered the streets of Plaka (the original village that surrounded Acropolis Hill prior to the establishment of Athens), visited the Greek Archaeological Museum and the Ancient Agora to wonder at Hellenic arts and architecture. Tomorrow (Wednesday) we are off to the Acropolis.

Ancient Anatolia to Gallipoli

From Cappadocia in central Turkey we headed west and eventually reached the Anatolia region. Along the way we called in at a Caravan Park but could not stay as we didn’t have any camels (it was used BC to protect the Egyptian caravan trains from Barbarians). We ended up staying in Pamukkale which has been a tourist resort in Asia Minor since roman times due to its stunning calcite cliffs and hot springs. It was then onwards to the Marama Sea at Kusadasi from where we stayed 2 nights to visit Christian pilgrimage sites of the house of the Virgin Mary and church and tomb of John the apostle; as well as ancient Hellenic/Roman sites including cities, temples and a healing centre.

On Friday the tour continued on to Canakkale where we visited the site on ancient Troy and viewed the Dardanelles. Saturday we explored Gallipoli and returned to Istanbul. Tomorrow (Monday) we fly to Athens provided there is not another general strike. Turkey has been a delight (we’ll get some more Turkish Delight later).

The Caves of Cappadoccia

We have been living like troglodytes in a cave hotel and today (Monday) has been spent on the tour exploring the subterranean heritage of the Cappadoccian region. The early Christians fled persecution in underground cities and we explored part of the maze of underground tunnels and rooms in one of these cities. We ate lunch in an underground restaurant and visited an array chapels built into the hillside at the Gorrem Open Air Museum. Above ground it was taking in spectacular vistas of the unique fairy chimney rock formations. The tour also managed to fit in inspections local handcraft production: pottery, carpets and jewellery.

Istanbul and Constantinople

We arrived in Istanbul on Thursday and settled into our hotel in the Sultanahmet area in the old city. This is the area that was once Constantinople. We are in walking distance of many of the attractions of the city and there seem to be more tourists than Turks on the streets.

On Friday we were awed by the Sultanahmet Mosque better known as the Blue Mosque, the Hagia Sophia (once the largest church in Christendom, later a mosque and now a museum) and the Topkapi Palace. At the palace we saw some of the treasures of the Ottoman Empire including jewellery, furniture and clothing studded with emeralds, rubies and diamonds some as big as golf balls; holy relics: the staff of Moses, the head and arm bone of John the Baptist, and the footprint, whiskers and other items of the prophet Mohamed. We even toured the Harem; Adrian was quite disappointed that there were no scantily clad girls in Jeanie pants, not even a eunuch

Saturday it was the Basilica Cistern, an underground water storage built by the Romans, followed by the Grand Bazaar (the first undercover shopping mall) and then a couple more mosques. In the evening it was off to see the Whirling Dervishes.

Today (Sunday) we have flown to the Capadoccia region to commence a tour of Turkey.

Experiencing Cairo Culture

For our final day of sightseeing in Cairo we decided to brave the taxi services. So we researched the price of a fare to the citadel on the internet and the hotel desk and decided our top price was 30 Egyptian pounds. You could have blown us over with a feather when the first taxi driver we spoke to offered a fare of 20 pounds. Mind you it cost 40 pounds to get a fare from the Citadel to the Islamic area (about a quarter the distance we travelled to get there). The taxi driver negotiated a climb up a minaret at mosque that is not open to the public as part of the fare so it ended up being good value at $11.69 Aussie dollars for the two fares.

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After the minaret climb we wandered through a local bazaar where all manner of local produce was on sale including live rabbits, fish, sheep, chooks and pigeons. This was good to see as we ate grilled pigeons for dinner last night. At the citadel we were a big hit with the local children who there for school excursions. They lined up to take our photos.

Walk Like An Egyptian

We knew that getting to our hotel in Cairo was going to be a challenge as the map on the bookings website was different to the two other potential sites shown on the internet. But we came prepared with our Google maps of the downtown area. Adrian had researched that the cheapest way to get downtown was to transfer on the free bus to the domestic terminal, take the public bus 246 to Egyptian Museum and then take the metro train 2 stops. All the potential locations for our hotel were within walking distance of this metro station.

Things started out well at the airport. We obtained some local currency, our visa and bags, cleared customs without problem, found the shuttle bus and successfully transferred to the domestic terminal and found what we thought were the local buses. We asked a bus driver where to find the 246 bus, “to downtown?” we thought we heard him clarify and we nodded, “here” he said and motioned us to the door. We had thought we had done pretty well as by this time we had fended off offers from about 20 taxi drivers.

We took our seats and the bus took off and later came to halt in a back street where it was time to pay the fare. Joy handed him a 20 pound note expecting 16 in change but the driver wanted another 20 pounds. As we were in no position to negotiate we handed over the money and proceeded to be taken to a bus stop in central Cairo. We quickly learned that pulling a suitcase is arabic for ‘I want a taxi’ and a continuous stream pulled up to offer us a ride. We sought directions to the Metro from passersby but eventually gave in to the advances of taxis and negotiated a price to take us to our hotel.

Once in the taxi, the driver tried to negotiate his services for a tour of Cairo, “just take us to the hotel” we asked. We crossed the Nile several times and then down some back lanes and before coming to halt outside a hotel. “This hotel very good, very cheap, you want to look?” It wasn’t our hotel, nor was the next one he took us to and eventually we asked to be taken to the Metro station. He said the station we wanted to go to didn’t exist but eventually we did get to a station from where we took the train one stop to our station and managed to find our hotel after a couple of phone calls (it was option 3 on the Google map).

In the evening of our first night we took a stroll through downtown Cairo and found the site where we were dropped off by the bus (about 15 minutes walk away). Cairo gets busier by the hour and when we returned to our hotel after 11pm the streets were teaming with people, the coffee shops were full and the shops were doing a roaring trade.Yesterday we toured the Egyptian Museum and wandered the back lanes of Old Cairo and learned our first Arabic word ‘bahkish’. “Bahkish, bahkish” said the cleaner who opened the door to show us an ancient chapel, “Bahkish, bahkish” said the Tourist Police who showed us a good spot to take a photo, “Bahkish, bahkish”. We learned quickly that bahkish is the bribe you pay for accepting unsolicited advice or services it is different to a tip which you pay when you initiate the service request.

Today was tour of the pyramids and sphinx on horseback, a visit to the stepped pyramid, Saqqara and an excursion inside a pyramid at Dahshur. Tomorrow is our last full day in Cairo and we are planning on visiting the Citadel.

We are enjoying the local cuisine, have managed to survive crossing the streets and are getting used to the sweet acrid aroma that permeates the air.