Boo hoo, a big plane ride to come...

Wednesday 11th of July

Boo hoo. Today is the last day of our holiday. We are now beginning to brace ourselves for the big trip back to New Zealand.

We have spent the last four days having a lovely time in London. Marty’s sister Ngaire and her husband Paul have been extremely kind and generous hosts and we have had a great time seeing the sites in London-town.

On Sunday, we went for a drive to Windsor and saw the castle (along with every other tourist in London, I think). We then had a genuine pub lunch and enjoyed a stroll along the lake at Virginia Waters. We continued out London pub crawl in the evening and went to a pub quiz not far from Ngaire and Paul’s house where we managed a respectable fourth!

Monday and Tuesday were spent exploring the city and I feel like I have spent two days playing Monopoly (Oxford, Regent, Whitehall, Bond etc…)! We successful negotiated both bus (yes, red double decker) and train and so are beginning to feel like locals. The real highlight of the last two days was a trip to the Tate Modern Art Gallery. It is the sort of place where you really could spend the whole day. Marty particularly enjoyed the current Dali and Film exhibition. I tried to go to the Globe theatre but unfortunately arrived right in the middle of a show which meant that I could see neither a play nor the theatre. I guess I’ll have to come back! Sadly, we forgot to take our camera both days in London, so I don’t have any pictures to show for it all!!

The weather in London has been much more like New Zealand’s (read: colder) so we are feeling like we are in the process of reacclimatising, although we hear that it has been really quite rotten in NZ. We’re certainly not looking forward to getting the winter woollies out again.

Anyhow, in 48 hours time we will (all going well) be back in New Zealand and looking forward to catching up on all the news. Thanks to all of you who have emailed and kept in touch… it’s been nice to have some contact J See you back in NZ!!!

xxxr

Holiday time in Berlin

Friday 6th of July

Our first stop today was Legoland (can you guess who chose that?). We should have known better than to go during the school holidays but somehow the days don’t mean much to us at the moment. I suspect that if you were 10, Legoland would have been great. For us, it was noisy and a bit overpriced. The model of Berlin was outstanding but there was not really that much else to see. I think this is the kind of place you should take a small child to in order to get the real effect.

The highlight for me today was the Berlin Film Museum. There was nothing wiz-bang about the museum but it was a thorough representation of the history of German film. The audio guide (free!) was also excellent and there were plenty of places to sit and listen to the commentary. At E4.5pp, the Film museum was great value and a fabulous place to spend a couple of hours in Berlin.

New digs in Berlin

Thursday 5th of July

Job number one today: find new accommodation. After one night in the Berolina Backpackers, we have booked ourselves into a more respectable looking place around the corner. It’s in the same area but at least we will have our own bathroom. The lesson from Berlin is that more, is indeed, more. We are only paying E5 a night more, but there is a world of difference between where we were and where we are. I can officially recommended Artim Hotel, Charlottenburg, Berlin.

I am feeling less smug about the weather today. It is RAINING in Berlin. This is the first time we have had rain (indeed, the first time we have been in temperature below about 28 degrees) since we arrived. I’d go as far as to say that summer in Berlin is more like summer in Wellington. This morning we did lots of walking and eventually ended up at the Berlin Aquarium- which made Marty very happy. We have also invested in a City Tour card, which we highly recommend. It costs E15 but allows you to travel on all transport around Berlin for a 48 hour period. It also gives you discounts on entry into some of the sites around the city. We have been making a point of riding the train lots so that we feel like we get plenty of value out of our cards J

The coolest thing we saw yesterday was Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church in Berlin. The original church was mostly destroyed during WWII and the memorial church sits right next to the remains of the original. The memorial church is almost entirely built of coloured glass blocks and has the most amazing effect:

It seems I made a mistake

Wednesday 4th of July

I don’t want to sound like I’m showing off, but today I ate sorbet, in 30 degrees, overlooking the Mediterranean. Ok, so I am showing off, but it was pretty nice J Mum and Roger took the train to Italy this morning. It was sad to have such a short period of time with them but it was great to meet up in such a fab spot! I took the plane to Berlin this afternoon and Marty and I are now reunited.

For the first time on this trip, it seems that I have made an error of judgement on the accommodation front. In honour of the Berolina Backpackers, I have started a ‘Marty and Rochelle DON’T recommend’ section on this blog. On paper (or more particularly on the internet) this looks like a reasonable place to stay. In reality, to call it utilitarian may be being too kind. Marty went as far as to call it skanky. Berolina looks like it should be part of the old East Berlin and worse, is swarming with school groups. The towels are hand towel sized and the beds have marginal mattresses and squeak. And it STINKS! Oh, and we seem to be in the…. more ‘colourful’ (mostly red) end of town. It’s not pretty.

The French Riviera

Tuesday 3rd of July

Feeling more coherent today! We spent today on the most amazing outing. Jimmy and Mairelle are friends of Mum and Roger who live near them in Brisbane. They both grew up in France and make regular trips back. Mairelle’s mother still lives in Menton, near Nice and they happened to be over at the same time as us. Soooo… they took us sightseeing. Our first stop was the village of Eze. It is about 20 minutes from Nice and was a medieval village, carved into rock overlooking the sea. The village is now a mixture of luxury chateau (starting prices E400 per night), little shops and restaurants. While we were in Eze, we stopped for coffee in one of the cafes. It may well have been the most expensive coffee I ever have at E9. I think the only possible response is oo la la!! I choose to believe that we were paying for the magnificent view and the outstanding atmosphere.

Next stop was… MONACO! My best story of the day starts “When I was at the Monte Carlo Casino…”. Actually, that’s about all there is to the story, as you have to pay to get inside the Casino, but I thought the beginning was cool J The array of cars around Monaco (and especially the casino) was astonishing. They were the kind of cars that you usually only see in James Bond films and you never see in New Zealand. It seems that the cars are quite a tourist attraction- all around the casino, people were taking pictures of them and hanging around to see the next flash car to arrive. Roger had a great time playing ‘spot that car’.

Final stop of the day was Menton. This was a particularly nice stop as it was where Meirelle grew up. She took us to several of her favourite haunts and was able to tell us about growing up on the Riviera. For dinner, Meirelle booked us into a restaurant that used to be owned by her parents. She has very fond memories of playing in the little village as a girl. It was a gorgeous dinner and a lovely ending to the day. Jimmy and Meirelle were extremely kind and really showed us a great mixture of the tourist sites and the Riviera that the locals know. Thanks guys!!

Apple Strudel and me

Monday 2nd July

I have a confession to make. Today I had apple strudel for breakfast. I just couldn’t help it… In my defense, here are the mitigating factors:
1) My plane left Istanbul at 3:35 am this morning. This meant a midnight ride to the airport and several of the wee smalls sitting around at the airport.
2) I was in transit- I still had 5 hours before arriving in Nice
3) It was there! After two weeks of Greek and Turkish breakfasts (tomato, cucumber, bread, watermelon, olives, a boiled egg and bad Nescafe) I was craving a bit of variety in my diet!
So. Overall, today was a bit of a blur. The plane between Istanbul and my stopover (Cologne) was mercifully under booked so I had a whole row to myself. Even so, it was still pretty hard to get comfy. Mum, Roger and their kind friends Mairelle and Jimmy met me at the airport and took me back to the hotel for a much needed sleep.

After a snooze, we went for a great trip on a little tourist train.. saw some of the highlights of the central part of Nice and heard a bit of the history. Nice is very pretty and it was lovely to see the Mediterranean but it’s also quite touristy and quite pricey. It’s the gateway to lots of very exclusive parts of the Mediterranean and you know you’re in good company when you see Donald Trump’s aeroplane on the tarmac.

It was great to catch up with Mum and Roger and hear about their trip. They have really enjoyed their time in both Paris and Avignon.

Hoşça kalın, Türkçe

Sunday 1 July 2007

Well, I didn’t expect to get internet access for a while, but obviously I have… we’re still in Istanbul and have had an extremely pleasant day. Ngaire and Paul have gone in search of a beach (and Paul is hoping to spot a submarine or two) and we decided to have a low key day. Our flights are at 3am tomorrow morning, so we thought that a siesta (can’t spell the Turkish name) would be in our interests.

We ended up having several really interesting conversations during our morning stroll… First, we came upon Mehmet (from a shepherding family in Mt Ararat) and a fabulous rug shop named Tugra. Mehmet speaks outstanding English, partly because one day an American couple came into the carpet shop and bought $100 000 dollars worth of carpets. In the course of the transaction, Mehmet got to know the couple who then invited him back to the USA. They took him to the US Embassy in Istanbul, got him a 10 year visa and off he went. After living with them in Seattle for a while, they told him that his English wasn’t good enough, so they sent him to an American College for nine months. Great story, eh?

After we met Mehmet (which, by the way seems to be the Turkish equivalent of John), we met Jennifer (see previous entry). I have been really interested in the state of politics in Turkey and so it was great to talk to a foreigner about her perspective. The general consensus is that the current government is here to stay, but amongst the more educated people, there is a sense of concern about the current Prime Minister becoming the President.

Finally, we spent half an hour talking to our host, Elif, here at Marmara Guest House. She seems about 22-23 and her family runs the pension. She is, I guess, a modern Turkish woman: she learnt English at school; does not wear a scarf; and seems to travel alone. Once again, I asked about the government and it was interesting to hear that Turkey is undergoing reforms very similar to New Zealand’s in the 1980s. The government has been selling off state-owned assets and land is now up for grabs to anyone. Elif was saying that quite a lot of property in Turkey is being bought up by Israelis. I guess that you can understand how that could be a concern, given Israel’s relationship with its Muslim neighbours!

All in all, a great day hanging around and learning a bit more about Turkey!

We’ve now had our last meal in Turkey and are getting packed ready to head in different directions. I’m really looking forward to my 3:45am flight and knowing that I don’t get to Nice until lunchtime tomorrow (NOT!).

Hoşça kalın, Türkçe!

When in Turkey...

As I have previously mentioned, recommending things seems to be the way in Turkey. So I have started a "Marty and Rochelle recommend" section on this blog... See the right hand side of this page

Cos we said we would...

We have just stumbled into what may be the only western-style cafe in Old City. It is run by a very friendly Canadian lady who is trying to convert the Turks from Nescafe. And as the Turkish way seems to be to recommend, we promised to put her on our widely read ( :) ) blog... Therefore, when in Istanbul, you must visit Jennifer in the Java Studio http://www.javastudioistanbul.com/ just near the Four Seasons hotel and the Blue Mosque- Cankurtaran ah, Dalbasti Sok No 13- 34122 Sultanahmet
(Oh, and they have free wireless.... )

Turkish delights on a moonlit night...

Today has been another day of exploring. We heeded advice and went to Topkapi Palace first thing this morning… oh the life of the Sultan!! Construction for the palace began in 1453 and it was the home for virtually all of the Sultans of the Ottoman Empire. At its peak, Topkapi Palace was home to between 4000 and 7000 people (including up to 1000 chefs!!!). Various parts of the Palace have been destroyed and rebuilt over the years and you can only go into a relatively small portion of it, but it still took us around 3 hours to walk around. We entered the Palace at 9am and by the time we were finished, it was swarming with tour groups… we were glad for the heads up.

This afternoon we went for a walk to the Spice Market- oh la!! There were spices in the market that I had never even heard of! It was fantastic! We were overcome by the Turkish Delight (soooo…. much better than at home, not sure if that was just ‘cos we ate it in the sun in Istanbul) and just enjoyed seeing all the colours. Outside the spice market is a general food market- cheeses, fruit and veges, fun and (ug) poultry. It’s all incredibly energetic and colourful.

After the market, we went to Asia. Istanbul is right on the point where Asia meets Europe and half the city is actually in Asia. So we crossed the bridge, congratulated ourselves for getting to Asia, and crossed back again.

We have thoroughly enjoyed our stay in Istanbul and it has been nice to have a few days here without feeling like we have been rushing. It’s also been great to hang with Ngaire and Paul.

Marty and I head in different directions tomorrow- he is going to Dresden (for work) and I am going to Nice to see my mother. I’m not sure when I will get to blog again, but it may be a few days. Hopefully I will also manage to get the photo problem sorted…

Hope you are not too cold in NZ, go Team NZ,

xxxrochelle

Comments and photos

Hi guys,

Thanks so much for all your comments and email :) It's nice to know that someone is reading the blog!! I have been having a bit of trouble uploading pics, so there are a few gaps where the pics should be... will try and get it fixed and get them up soon...

xxxxr

"Istanbul was Constantinople, now it's Istanbul..." sing along if you know it....

We are currently staying in a little pension (bed and breakfast) in the heart of Sultanahmet, Istanbul. It is part of the old city of Constantinople and all around the area you can see parts of the city wall that surrounded Constantinople- the capital during the Ottoman Empire. We are just five minutes from several of the most famous sites in the city, including Aya Sofya and the Blue Mosque. Our plane landed at 7:30 this morning (which meant a 5:15am wake up call) and spent the first part of the day wondering around the area. We ended up in a tourist-trap café outside Aya Sophia and quickly learnt that some things are the same world round- if they think they can charge you lots, they will. In this case, it was a surprise 25% ‘service’ fee on top of the already hefty prices. That’ll teach us!

We also visited the Blue Mosque this morning but I’d have to say that the whole experience was rather underwhelming- mostly due to the fact that the mosque was absolutely teeming with cruise ship tour groups. Even inside the mosque, you had to work hard to find a space to stand. The architecture and tile work certainly was amazing but it was hard to really appreciate it in the face of so many people.

After an afternoon nap, we set out again to visit the Grand Bazaar. Its sheer size is almost overwhelming and like Kusadasi, you have to work quite hard to not get lured into every single shop. We are working on two tactics for avoiding getting hassled:
Ignoring the sellers. This has been having various levels of success as we do actually want to have a look at what’s on offer. Also, Marty feels rude not responding to their questions…
Pretending we don’t speak English. We have been trying the odd response in Maori and this may be a tactic we develop further tomorrow!
We did buy a couple of bits and bobs, including an obligatory scarf for me.

After leaving the bazaar, we followed our noses and ended up at the water front. I wouldn’t go as far as to say that we got lost but we certainly weren’t exactly clear where we were. Happily, we seemed to stray out of the predominately tourist area and into a more local quarter. There we discovered that you can indeed eat cheaply, which was a relief after this morning’s experience.

The weather in Istanbul has been much more pleasant (maybe around 30 degrees?) and we have found it much more conducive to exploring.

Canakkale and Gallipoli

Most of Wednesday was taken up with an eight hour bus trip to Canakkale. This actually wasn’t as horrendous as it sounds. The bus was comfy and air-conditioned and we were brought drinks and snacks along the way. We’re not sure whether it reached the predicted 58 degrees- the thermometer on our bus only reached 46 degrees… At any rate, we were happy to be in an air-conditioned environment for most of the day.

Canakkale is a really different sort of town from our previous stop, Kusadasi. Kusadasi is a rapidly growing city and is primarily funded from cash from cruise ships and day trippers from the Greek Islands. As a consequence, wherever you go, people are trying to help you part with your cash, whether it is for restaurants, leather jackets or ‘genuine fake’ watches. I’d have to say that I was beginning to find Kusadasi a bit overwhelming… Canakkale, on the other hand is a different kettle of fish. Of course there are people trying to sell things everywhere. However, they seem to lack the grap-you-off-the-street-and-show-you-everything-in-the-shop/restaurant approach of Kusadasi. Today I went for a 10 minute walk and only had to say “no thanks” 3-4 times… rather than 20-30 times. Phew!

We are now travelling with Marty’s sister Ngaire and her hubbie Paul and have just had an outstanding day doing a tour of the Gallipoli Peninsula. We had a very knowledgeable tour guide and were, once again, in an air-conditioned bus. It was amazing to see the sites that you hear and read about and to imagine the landscape that the Gallipoli battles occurred in.

Just to prove that it’s a small world, we came across this at Chunk Blair:

We intended to have a quick dinner and an early night but ended up being seduced by cheap Turkish beer and an offer to watch a man play guitar. While we were having dinner, the man next to us came over and said that he would be playing guitar in a nearby pub and that we could come and watch him if we liked. The first couple of songs he played were cheesy classics hits (‘Wonderful tonight’ and ‘Hotel California’) but shortly into the set, he was joined by another fellow on a traditional Turkish instrument whose name I can’t recall. It was roughly the same size and shape as an autoharp and was played using picks on the fingers. It ended up being a very cool outing and we had the sense of being part of ordinary Turkish life, rather the just ‘for the tourists’.

Thoughts on Turkey

Wednesday 27th of June

In some ways, Turkey is much easier on the dollar than Greece. The Turkish Lira is worth about the same as the New Zealand dollar and you seem to be able to get a pretty good meal for two for about $20. Unfortunately, Turkey seems to have been hard on OUR dollars…

Last night we set out for dinner with the clear intention of not spending any more money than we needed to on a cheap dinner. Three hours later we returned with a brand new leather jacket for Marty. Turkey has a way of making you want to part with your cash and it has certainly worked its magic on us. I think we might be on bread and water for the rest of the trip!

In our brief time in Turkey, I have really noticed the lack of visible woman. I know Turkey is a Muslim country but I really have been quite surprised. Everywhere you go, men are trying to sell you things or wandering in packs… virtually every female we have seen has obviously been a tourist. While we were talking to Ali yesterday, he mentioned the upcoming elections. I asked who he thought would win and he said that he hoped the current government would stay in. From his perspective, the government has worked hard and done a lot of good: inflation is down from 20%-10% (!!!); they have made a number of the historical sites more accessible; and taxes are down to 8% (I can only assume that there is a fair amount of ‘user pays’ going on in Turkey!). You will probably know that there has been some trouble in Turkey over the current government. In particular, the conflict is over whether Turkey is and / or should be a Muslim state or a secular state. There have been a number of protests and the odd bombing (that may or may not be related) in this period leading up to the general election. From an outsiders view, I guess I had thought that the government was bad and that everyone wanted to get rid of them, but this certainly does not seem to be the case. The general feeling where we have been is that the government wants to be part of the EU more than it wants to be a fundamental Muslim state- I guess time will tell whether this is true or not.

Now, I have had some feedback about yesterday’s entry and some of you are desperately hoping that I made a typo… sadly, I did not… it really is predicted to hit 58 today.

Fleeced ın Turkey? You be the judge!

Tuesday 26th of June

Ok. So in what might seem like slight madness, we ditched our pre-bought package tour of Ephesus and went for a ride with a friendly Turk named Ali. Here’s how the day went- judge for yourself whether we were sold up the river or not:
Yusuf- the very helpful and quite persuasive owner of the Anzac Golden Bed Pension where we are staying offered to try and get our money back- to no avail…
“Oh well”, he says, “you come with me at 9am”
“But why don’t we just go on our tour?” We say
“It be very hot and very busy then. You come earlier with me”
“Hmmm…. Ok, I suppose that makes sense.” Rip-off tour is abandoned.
“And I take you to my carpet shop after.”
Well… we wanted to see some carpets (you saw this coming, didn’t you….)
So. At the duly appointed time, Ali arrives to take us to Ephesus… he drops us at the gate, loans us a book and arranges to meet up with us again 2 ½ hours later. All good so far.
We had a fabulous time wandering around Ephesus (see later in post)… it really as worth the trip… but HOT! The temperature was due to go over 50 degrees today and the marble around Ephesus certainly didn’t make things any cooler.
A quick cold drink, Ali arrives back and we are off to the carpet shop.
The man at the carpet shop shows us his range. He keeps telling us that he is not giving us tourist prices- just his best price (are you laughing out loud yet?)
After some umming and ahhing, we narrow it down to a (comparatively) cheap rug or a kilm. We suggest a lunch break to consider, so kind Ali drives to a great lunch spot. We have traditional Turkish fare, enjoy a chat with Ali… it’s great to get a local perspective…
Finally, we decide on the Kilm (see photo).
So. We part with our cash. It’s probably the cheapest item in the shop but it still feels like a lot to us!
We’re still not sure whether we just had a great day out and made a cool purchase or whether we had a really expensive great day out J Anyhow, which ever way, we had out own local tour guide for the day, saw some things we wouldn’t have seen on our own… and are now the proud owners of a genuine (not ‘genuine fake’ we hope) Turkish Kilm.

Walking around Ephesus was an outstanding experience. There are all the elements of a full scale city and you can begin to get a glimpse of what it might have actually been like. Apparently the Ephesians even had hot and cold running water on tap!

We seem to be following in the footsteps of the apostle, St Paul. Apparently, he spent several long periods of time in Ephesus and even died there. Unfortunately, he didn’t have a great time here and apparently when he tried to speak to the people, they spent 2 hours yelling “Great is Artemis” at him…

We’re off to Canakkale tomorrow. The Turkish government has declared a day of holiday as it is predicted to reach 58 degrees. Oh dear. Will let you know how our 7 hour bus ride goes.

It pays to be a Kiwi

Monday 25th of June

Most of today was taken up with getting to Kusadasi. From our little village, it was a bus ride to Samos (town, not to be confused with island, aka Vathy) and then several hours in the midday sun waiting for the boat to depart. For the second day in a row, we hit Samos during siesta-time so there was little to do other than huddle in a café. The boat ride to Turkey only takes 1 ½ hours and it was fabulous to be out at sea and have the sea breeze. The water of the Aegean is amazingly deep blue but the air is always hazy (pollution, I’m told).

On arrival in Kusadasi, we discovered that it pays to be a Kiwi. As soon as you get off the boat you are required to pay a €10pp port tax (and you don’t argue with the man with a gun… not as big as the Greek guns, but a gun, none-the-less). Then you have to line up to get a visa and it turns out that you have to pay more at this point. If you are unlucky enough to be Canadian, you get to pay €60pp. If you are fortunate enough to be a Kiwi, you pay…. NOTHING!!!! Which was just as well- we need to restock our pile of Euro J At this point, you also have to surrender your passport and wait. And wait and wait… It was a little disconcerting to part with our passports but seeing as the 40 people ahead of us all had, we didn’t see a lot of other options.

When you tell people that you are going to Greece and Turkey, you get a lot of stories about the person who was trying to get a cab to the accommodation they had booked, got picked up by someone claiming to be from there and ending up who-knows-where. So when we were rushed at by a man as soon as we exited the terminal, we were pretty dubious… “that man over there, he is waiting for you, he is here to pick you up…” Fortunately, after some negotiation, we discovered that he was legitimate and we have ended up in a fantastic ‘pension’ (b&b / backpackers). It is run by Turk Yusuf and his Aussie wife Sandra and they are both fonts of useful knowledge.

When you come to Turkey, it seems that getting fleeced in some way is almost a rite of passage and we managed it even before we landed. The nice lady at the tourist bureau in Samos sold us a €25pp tour of Ephesus. It all sounded fine until we got to the pension to discover that they run a FREE daily shuttle. Doh! Anyhow, off to Ephesus tomorrow- hope the bus is air conditioned!!

Island lıfe

Saturday 23rd and Sunday 24th of June

We have spent the last two days on the island of Samos and it seems about a million miles from Athens. It is, in fact, one of the Greek settlements closest to Turkey but is staunchly and unequivocally Greek.

Samos is utterly gorgeous. It is everything quaint and sun-soaked that you expect from a Greek island. I know I went on about the fact that Athens was just like the pictures, but Samos is actually better than the pictures. It has a gentle, unhurried feel about it and even though it is teeming with tourists, it does not have the hard-sell feel that Athens did.

We are staying in a little village called Ireon (or Herion… bet that confuses ya, eh? It sure did me…). Ireon is named for the Greek goddess Hera (see previous brackets) and just down the road, is a temple dedicated to her. My trusty Lonely Planet tells me that the temple was once twice the size of Parthenon. Only half of one of the once 155 column remains standing but if you walk around the edge of the temple you can certainly get a sense of the size it once was.

On Sunday, we gathered our nerves, hired a car and went driving. It was moderately nerve-wracking but Marty did a sterling job of keeping us on the right side of the road. The first round-a-bout just about did him in but he recovered admirably.

About 10 minutes from Ireon is the township of Pythagoria. No points for guessing who that is named after! Actually, there seemed to be a whole raft of triangles around the town- even the jetty was triangular. We went and visited the statue of Pythagoras and Marty posed in a suitably intelligent-looking position… he was very excited J I think Pythagoria has been my favourite town to date. Not only did it have a castle for Marty, but it was small, friendly and absolutely stunning. It was exactly how I wanted a village on the edge of the Aegean to look. A highlight was for me was the ‘traditional’ Greek boats… painted in an array of colours, they fitted perfectly with the rainbow colours of the houses around Pythagoria.

Sorry to go on about the weather again (sorry Karen… feel free to skip this paragraph J) but it has been over 40 degrees each day we have been here. Even the locals think it is unseasonably warm. Consequently, people seem to make great use of that outstanding European invention- the siesta. If you are bold enough to be out and about in the after-lunch period, you find many of the shops closed and the public places almost deserted. It’s only mad dogs and Englishmen (or on this island, cats and crazy Kiwis) who venture out when the sun is high. However, if you wander through town in the late evening (ie when we are on our way to bed), it is a whole different story: the town square is teeming with people, the restaurants are full and the playgrounds are brimming with children. I’m sure our hosts think we go to bed ridiculously early… 11pm is early evening around here!

We’re off to Turkey tomorrow and unlike when we left Athens, I don’t feel quite ready to go. Samos has a real beach holiday atmosphere and you can unwind and move at a slower pace. There’s more of a generous mood here- last night we were plied with Ouzo (ug!) and people seem to love the fact that we travelled 30 hours to get here. Being next to the sea has been glorious and you can’t beat eating dinner while watching the sun go down over the Aegean. Still, hi-ho, Kusadasi here we come.

I see the sea....

Friday the 22nd of June

Today, in a bold move, I tackled the metro. Part underground, part plain old rail network, the subway links most parts of Athens. In 2000, Athens had just 25km of metro line; today, thanks for the 2004 Olympic Games, it has over 75km and it’s cheap and (relatively) easy to use. For reasons not entirely clear to me, I decided to take a ride out to Athens’ brand spanking new mall. It’s called, believe it or not, “The Mall”. As a rule, I am not a great fan of malls, but it is just down the road from the new Olympic Stadium and is far enough down the metro line to see some of the Athenian ‘burbs, so I went…

In the end, the metro ride was certainly the highlight of the excursion. The Mall was.,, a mall. Like all the others. The signs were almost exclusively in English and a goodly number of the shops were American or English chain stores. Coffee cost over €4 (I refused on principle). The Olympic stadium was big and empty. I’m sure it’s fun when there is something happening there. Enough said.

Last night’s social outing was to Cape Sounion. While the tour of the Acropolis on Thursday evening was unbearably hot, the organisers timed this trip perfectly. We arrived at about 8pm (after an hour and a half bus trip), just in time to watch the sun go down. Cape Sounion is the southern most point of the Attica region and looks out over the Sardonic Gulf. It is home to the Temple of Poseidon, the god of the sea (called Neptune by the Romans). While the Acropolis is a far more famous site, I actually enjoyed the trip to Cape Sounion much more. Firstly, the temperature was quite pleasant; the later time slot and the sea breeze meant that we didn’t feel like we were being baked. Secondly, it’s beautiful at the Cape! Looking out over the Gulf at sunset was indeed a very pleasant experience.

Athens has an odd relationship with the sea. Athenians are very proud of their coastal city, however, while the sea is not far away- about an hour from downtown Athens-you could easily visit the city without seeing it. I guess when you come from Wellington, you get used to the sea (and its accompanying weather) being part of everyday life.

Anyway, dinner was at a fish restaurant overlooking the Gulf- just as well I was still full from Thursday… We didn’t get back to the hotel until about 1:30pm so I am feeling it today… off to Samos this afternoon…. I’ll miss the 5* hotel (Marty will miss the breakfasts) but I’m looking forward to moving on…

Famous stuff...

Thursday 21st June

Today I joined the “accompanying persons” tour and went to the National Archaeological Museum- what a fabulous place! I dredged my brain cells and recalled 5 minutes of 7th Form Classics and felt in awe. I think I thought that these things only really existed in books… I was blown away by the vases and took about 1000 pictures and also snapped any number of marble busts: Aristotle, Agrippa, Claudius…. all those famous dudes…

After a genuine Greek lunch (lots of meat), I spent some more time in Plaka and Monastiraki. I wandered the shops and the stalls but I’d have to say that it is hard to do any real damage when your buying power is in the NZ dollar. It seems that most every day items are about what you would pay in dollars but in Euro. To date, my biggest investment in the Greek economy has been in the form of bottled water. It’s cheap (between €0.27-0.50) and available everywhere. I did break out and buy a frappe (coffee in crushed ice) the other day. It’s Greece’s signature coffee (invented by a Nestle distributor and still made in the traditional way- with Nescafe) and cost €3.70… it’s a hard habit to justify when you know you are really paying about $7. On the other hand, I can see why smoking is a popular pastime in Greece; my coffee cost more than a pack of cigarettes does (around €1.80) so I guess if you have no objection to the potential health outcomes, it’s a reasonable habit to adopt!!

As I have already mentioned, Athens does look exactly like you see it in the books. There’s nothing swept up or flash about it- it has a ‘take me as I am’ kind of attitude. However, what the books don’t mention is the (mostly) glorious noise. Wherever you go, there is music (often live on the side of the street) and always car horns. I have come to realise that our taxi driver experience was nothing out of the ordinary. Greeks drive like they are always in the middle of an emergency and use their horns with liberal abandon.

Last night we went on a conference social and visited the Acropolis. I found the visit a bit surreal. Firstly, it was so hot that we sweated standing still, but also, most of the main temples on the Acropolis (name of the hill rather than the buildings- the most famous of which is, of course, the Parthenon) were covered in scaffolding. It sort of spoiled the 5th Century BC effect… It was, however, very cool (well, actually hot) to stand on the top of the hill and look out over Athens in all directions. Half way up the Acropolis is a mound of rock where St Paul (of Bible fame) allegedly preached his first sermon in Athens. He must have been pretty fab- officially around 98% of the population is Greek Orthodox Christian. Once again, I had a profound sense of the span of history- St Paul stood there in the first Century AD looking at a building that was already 500 years old… and here I am…

And finally, dinner. Greeks eat a lot of meat. Or, at least, they serve their visitors a lot of meat. Even Marty has started to feel overcome by the sheer volume of it. Having a slightly ambivalent relationship with meat at the best of times, I am hoping that Turkey will have a more vegetable-friendly approach to eating!

Things I learnt today...

Wednesday 19th of June

Another great breakfast- this really is the life! Last night, we came back from dinner and a kindly person had folded our pjs on the bed, laid out slippers, turned back our beds and left a chockie on the pillow. Yeah ha!

Marty is off at the conference today so I got to explore by myself. I seemed to end up in the flash (read: expensive) part of Athens… the prices would seem exorbitant if they were in dollars and then you double them for euro- yikes! €415 just seems like too much to pay for a bikini top….

During my wandering this morning, I encountered a section of town that housed the police and also a number of embassies and government ministries. Consequently, there was quite a bit of security around and all of the police had VERY LARGE GUNS. It’s just not something you see in New Zealand, I guess. We prefer our police to keep their hardware hidden away unless absolutely necessary. I wanted to take a picture but didn’t want to draw attention to myself in light of the fact that, well, the guns were VERY LARGE. It’s easy to forget that while Athens is an extremely westernised city and virtually everyone seems to speak at least a smattering of English (“You want, you want?), it is in fact, on the edge of a particularly volatile part of the world. I didn’t realise until I got here that the US have a base on Crete that they have utilised extensively during the ‘war on terror’. It seems that the Greek government has kept it pretty quiet- something to do with the fact that it’s reasonably unpopular with some of its neighbours.

I spent the middle part of the afternoon hanging around the conference in order to hear Marty speak- he did a great job, of course. Crazily, his old boss from Dunedin spoke immediately after him- it’s funny who you run in to J

After the talk, I went for a walk and got slightly ‘misplaced’. During this, I learnt a couple of things about Greece:
Greek supermarkets (more of a large dairy by NZ standards) like you to have close to the correct change and don’t take any form of plastic
38 degrees is REALLY hot, especially when you are not quite sure where you are

On returning to the hotel, I made a bee line to the pool and collapsed in a heap…38 degrees is enough to do me in…

Hot, hot...

Tuesday 19th of June

It’s astonishing! Athens in real life looks just like it does in the books! It’s hard to believe it’s real!

The first job after breakfast was to get ourselves a new room. We inadvertently ended up in a smoking room and it STANK! It’s easy to forget that the rest of the world doesn’t have stringent smoking laws like New Zealand does. There’s no view of speak of in this room, but it’s quieter, has a jug and best of all, smells…. clean.

We have spent today meandering around the touristy parts of Athens- mainly around Plaka (the old city) and Monastiraki (the flea market). The stall owners in Monastiraki are ‘insistent’ at best… you have to have an iron-strong will to resist the elderly lady who pretends to shake hands and then hauls you into her shop“…but for you, just…”

It’s hot. Have I mentioned that already? It’s certainly over 30 degrees, but it’s not unbearably hot and we have not found ourselves feeling overwhelmed by the heat. Most of the shops, even the smaller ones, are air-conditioned and you don’t have to work too hard to get out of the heat.

We have been constantly astonished by the fact that there are ancient ruins everywhere you go. We even stumbled across the odd archaeological dig. Being in Athens certainly gives you a real perspective on ‘history’.

Marty is getting a bit nervous about his talk tomorrow- he has just spent an hour going through it and making sure that he knows it properly. It is, after all, the point of the trip. In preparation for his talk, Marty asked the man at the front counter for an iron to iron his shirts and he looked at him as if he was completely barking. Of course you can’t iron your own shirts! Of course we will do it for you! Of course we will charge you the price of a moderate meal to do it!

A LOOOOOOOOOOOONG way

Monday 18th June

Well, turns out that it’s a bloody long way from Wellington to Athens! Still, girls who are staying in a flash hotel overlooking downtown Athens don’t complain J

The plane trip was…. long. That’s the only way to describe it. Happily, the woman sitting next to us on the Auckland / Hong Kong leg took herself off to business class so we had 3 seats to spread out in. Sadly, this didn’t happen on the hell Hong Kong / London leg… 13 hours is a loooooooooooong time!

In our quest to test airline food, we have discovered that Olympic has the worst food and chairs, by some distance. To be fair, we only have AirNZ to compare it to but there is no competition at this point. As we will be flying on 7 airlines during our trip, we’ll have a better basis for comparison is a week or two.

Despite being low on faith that we would make it, we did get all the way through to Athens without a problem. Amazingly, you don’t seem to need to clear customs if you arrive at 11:30pm… I’ll not make any smart remarks about what you could bring in or they might not let me out J

Marty has already observed that the roads in Athens are fantastic and they certainly seem to have no fear of toll roads- I think we passed 3 on the 20 minute trip from the airport. The Athenian taxi driver was extremely helpful and pointed out lots of flash hotels (and the odd historical site) on our way here… we had to look quickly, however, as he seemed to maintain his speed at about 140kph (not exaggerating, I promise!!).

Even with no sleep to speak of in the last 48 hours, Marty still woke up at 6:30am this morning. I think it might have been the excitement of the all-you-can-eat buffet. It was truly awe inspiring and I think Marty was tempted to stay until they tossed him out. After 36 odd hours of plane food, I ate fruit until it seemed rude to keep going. Oh, and I drank a little coffee…

The hotel we are staying in Divani Caravel (http://www.divanis.com/) is flash! They seem to anticipate my every need and even managed to have coffee on the table before I got back with food. We’re planning on making use of the roof top swimming pool later today and Marty has his eye on the gym. I think I might join the Europeans for a siesta about that time. Have I mentioned that it’s hot? It’s really hot! It was around 30 degrees at 9am… hot, hot.

Right, well, it’s our first day in Athens so it would be sad to sit here typing for too long…. Will try and post more later, hope you are all well, feel free to leave comments…

xxxr+m

The day before..

Hi guys,

We may or may not use this while we are away... I guess it will mostly depend on our access to the technology :)

Anyhow, the mountains of washing are almost done, the bags are half packed and the Euros are bought... we are almost off!!!!

Talk soon,

xxxrochelle