Turkish Delights

Well what have I been up to since Istanbul???  Lots!

Firstly, we got to meet Calypso (our truck) that will be our home for the next few months.  We were all really happy to see her and once we were loaded up we were off!

After a few hours we had a lunch stop and I was on the first cook group with 3 others so we quickly cut up some bread, cheese, salad for some quick sandwiches and we were on our way again.  We reached our destination of Eceabat after about a 6 hour drive and it was time to set up camp for the first time.  After a quick demo all the tents were set up pretty quickly - they are really easy to put up and take back down!

Back in Istanbul a few of the guys had been ill with what we thought was food poisoning.  Unfortunately that was not the case as it seemed to be some sort of sickness bug which, after 6 hours in a confined environment, spread through a number of us.  Thankfully, just to the right of the truck there was a bar with couches for them to curl up on and, more importantly, toilets!  Thankfully, I was in the healthy group and managed to stay that way and it seems to have passed us by now.

 

 

As it was my day for cook group I helped make the dinner of chicken and vege pasta - unfortunately not too many were eating at that point.  And before you say it, they were ill before eating my cooking!

 

It was windy and cold at Eceabat at night so a few layers were required as well as the sleeping bag but once in I was really toasty and warm.

 

The next day I went to Gallipoli. It was the ANZAC side that we visited and it was really interesting. The guide, Hasan, was really engaging and passionate about the subject and brought some good information and viewpoints. Here are a few photos (but don't worry Katie Nimmo, I have loads more!)

 

 Setting up for anzac day ceremony...

 One of the trenches..

 

 

After another night of camping, we packed up from Eceabat and got on a ferry (with the truck) to the other end of the peninsula and continued our journey on to Kusadasi. We had our first campfire....

 

The next day I headed into town for a wander about before going to Ephesus in the afternoon. It was pretty awesome, particularly the ampitheatre. Here are some Kusadasi and Ephesus pictures...

 

 

 

Yesterday after Kusadasi we packed up again and headed to Pamukkale, which was stunning....

 

 

You had to take your shoes off to walk up which at time was lovely but could be a bit sore on the feet!

Last night a few of us went out for a few drinks since it was Saturday night. We do have a bar in the truck which we have been making sure has been stocked up with beer and wine etc but it was nice to go out.

And some shisha for Teresa and Simon (our crew)

 

Today we are still in Pamukkale and I am having a quiet day doing the blog and chilling by the pool as the sun has now come out. Some of the more adventurous guys have gone paragliding over the Pamukkale pools which I'm sure they'll find amazing - a bit too scary for me!

I am aware that I'm not really in many of the pictures but there are a few with me kicking about so I'll get them from some of the others and try and post them next time.  Bye for now, will probably do another update next week some time (it takes ages to upload photos so I'll probably only do it about once a week).

Bye for now! 



Hello from Istanbul

Hi there

Where to start??? First of all, I made safe and sound to Istanbul on Saturday evening.  Flight was great until the very end, we were about 20 seconds from landing when all of a sudden the plane shot back up in the air again.  There was a scary few seconds where everyone looked at each other with very confused faces before the pilot came on and gave an explanation in Turkish of what had happened - the translation in English was an 'incident'!  Anyway, we circled for about 20 minutes then landed perfectly :-)

I cheated slightly and got the hotel to pick me up so there was no stress there.  Got checked in, got myself a chicken kebab and orange juice from the street vendor near the hotel, which was lovely.  All for a princely 5 lire (about £2)!  There was a message on our facebook page from some of the guys in the group saying where they were going so I headed out to meet them - it was great to finally meet them in person after all this time.  We headed up to see the Blue Mosque all lit up at night.......

 

Sunday was great, weather not so great.  Rain was forecast but it did manage to stay away for most of the day.  I headed out to the Blue Mosque to see it in the daylight......

 

and the inside.....

(some info on this if you are interested - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sultan_Ahmed_Mosque)

 

I managed to get in and round before midday prayers and then headed over to the Hagia Sogia which is straight across from it.....

 

Some info on the Hagia Sofia - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hagia_Sophia

 





After that I headed back to the hotel as we had a welcome meeting.  Firstly I got to mee my roommate Jo, who is the same age as me and really nice.  Then we headed down and met up with the whole Odyseey clan.  There are 22 of us in total, including Simon and Teresa our crew.  I'll talk more about everyone in coming posts.  We all went out for a lovely meal then a few beers to break the ice - I think we'll all get along nicely!

 

Today the weather was just like home - cold, wet and windy.  No chance for homesickness anyway!  Firstly though, I went to the spice market which was very colourful.....

 

 

From there to the Grand Bazaar........

 

 

And from there to the Basilica cisterns .........

 

 

 

That's all for now.  Tomorrow we meet our truck for the first time (many pictures to follow - I know you are all curious) and head off out of the city for our first camp for 2 nights.  Can't remember where it is but it's about a 6 hour drive.  From there we will be able to go to Gallipoli and Troy.  After that Kusadasi!  Until then xxx

 

PS - pictures aren't great as i've had problems with the camera.  We think it's a faulty memory card so i've bought another to try it out.

One More Sleep zzzzzzzzz

I can't believe that it's only one more sleep!  2 years after I booked my Silk Route trip it is finally upon me, in some respects it has flown in but there were definitely days when it seemed very far away....

What have I been up to.  Well I finished work 2 weeks ago and have had a mix of getting organised and some chill out time.  Got my final visa, money all sorted, bag packed, repacked and then repacked again!
I've also had a lovely time catching up with various friends and family during my 'farewell tour' :-)

Tonight I've one last family and birthday celebration before I head off tomorrow morning.  I'll meet up with the rest of the group officially on Sunday but many of them arrived today so I'm sure I'll see some of them tomorrow - I can't wait to finally meet up with them instead of just talking to them on facebook.  On that note, a quote I read recently seems appropriate:

“A journey is best measured in friends, rather than miles.” – Tim Cahill

Here's to meeting my new friends :-)