Hello non-English speaking countries...

TURKEY

 The IN BRIEF...

So Daniel William and I made our hearty way from mother England to Turkey at the end of May (yes, that was a while ago and no, there is not a lot of internet over here... or readily accessible for long periods of time internet).
We flew into Bodrum (South-West Turkey), a small little port town that looks like this:

There we saddled up and awaited the beginning of our cruise... an eight day epic adventure with our crew and other shipmates (who could be described lavishly as a couple of Swisse, four Swedes and two Turks, but which is probably more accurate in saying, some Swisse dentists who enjoyed hypotheticals, Turkish people who adorably sometimes wore matching outfits-made cutier by their inability to speak English and a Swedish foursome). The choices of activities included: swimming, having a nap, light reading, eating, drinking beer/wine, napping, sleeping... you understand the picture. Little to say on this point other then it was a lovely break from the running around in the UK, the water was clear, the food amazing and we managed to read up extensively on the history of both Istanbul and Croatia.

Istanbul

Flying into Istanbul for five days of high-intensity touristic activity. A city that I still cant (please excuse any missing apostrophes as I cannot find the apostrophe key) quite pin down. The only place to have been ruled by three empires (Roman, Byzantine and Ottoman), truly intercontinental, where the call to prayer marks time passing and you can find anything on the streets (including a guy trying to tell your fortune through the fool proof method of a rabbit or coq). Istanbul is a contradiction I wish I had more time to explore.
So much time spent wandering and possibly purposefully getting lost, as well as cursing all the hills that just dont appear on the map in front of you. In amongst that there was of course the sight seeing- the galata tower/bridge, funicular, galleries and museums (of course), the Bosphorus (the huge river that Istanbul hugs), Topkapi Palace (home to the Ottoman Sultans and some seriously nice jewels-86 carat diamond nonetheless), mosques, grand bazaar, spice bazaar, an ancient Roman cistern.... etcetcera... I think you understand the point. So busy. After the whole thing we felt like we needed another cruise. Everything is so busy in a city that houses 13 million people. Seriously, you can drive for two hours on highways both east and west and still not reach the edges. So everything was action packed, which meant that when we found a little bit of serenity we certainly appreciated it... Also Condo now has a fabulous story to tell about an Iranian mystical dance performance he saw and the blind guy who led him there... but thats for him to let out...
Also.
Nothing. Absolutely nothing, is better then Turkish food. Turkey turned me into one of those picture taking tourists, who must get visual record of every meal they eat for fear that it could be their last.
Also.
Upon leaving Istanbul, we went to the wrong airport... apparently Condo made bookings without realising there was more then one. Condo almost all his nails in the -nail biting incident- of the 11th of June 2011 when Amy and Dan rocked up to Ataturk airport to find that they needed to be 60km, over the other side of Istanbul in under and hour... crunching stuff.





Then there was Croatia...

 Official birthplace of the Cravat (later to be re-modelled by the French into the infamous `tie`, Croatia has been a lovely trip that I jumped on board with Phoebe Harrison and her fabulous Frenchy exchange-o friends. Rockin up in Split I was ill-prepared. Sure I could tell you the history of the country and its various regions, but how the hell did I get to Plitvice Lakes! Finding my feet and eventually sorting out where I was supposed to go I was met by a walm and welcoming kind of environment on my arrival to meet the clan...

You see, Plitvice Lakes looks a little something like this...

Dozens of waterfalls tumbling into crystal clear water, which houses various types of fish in its folds... Five hours walking took us around the upper and lower falls, through the caves and was enough time to have ensure much happy-snapping and gasps at ``the beauty of nature``... mmm sublime.
Split and Hvar
This journey was not a slow paced on in even the slightest sense of the word. Away from the islands we moved to the transport hub of Spilt... no sooner could you say ``Why is everyone here Austrlian` before we`d immersed ourselves in the culture, finding myself having to inexplicably rub Bepanthen into the back of a Native Canadians recently tattooed back, everyone loving the markets and trying to learn Croatian phrases and then realising that everyone speaks English anyway.
Away to Hvar for three nights and I counted my lucky stars on being involved in this trip as the planning wasa seamless... we had managed to snag ourselves an apartment for our stay... Days of great seafood, laughter, getting to see Phoebe again (yay!), sun, more and more pebbles and a sad infatuation with a John Grisham novel ensued....
Obviously getting restless, we moved to Dubrovnik ((with a short stop over in Serbia on the bus trip)... D-brik (as Ive started affectionately calling it) actually took my breath away and then I found I just couldnt breathe because there were so many damned tourists...
Another graphic:

And yes, I am shamelessly taking these photos off the internet. Id totally take my own and theyd be just as good as this, just in pure Amy style, I dont have my camera cord (lost, typical) and its quite crapola anywho.
But seriously this ancient walled fortress (as in the old town) is littered with little galleries, coffee shops, restaurants and shops that sell only white and blue striped merchandise. Our last day all together meant a trip to Lokrum (the island just off Dubrovnik), sunbathing, avoiding nudist beaches, boring people with our book reading, museum visting, wall climbing, wine-drinking, dinner and an exhausted getting into bed. Bon voyage to the rest of the girls and now I am flying solo in D-brik.

POINTS OF INTEREST

Ipod Death

 

 

 Yes. My ipod did not stand the test of time and was henceforth accidentally thrown into the sea just off the Turkish coast by persons other then myself. Whilst I have settled myself down now, I was quite riled up... a message wrote shortly after the incident can probably enlighten yout o what extent

I'm currently ın an ınternet cafe ın Turkey, frustratıngly tryıng to grapple wıth a Turkısh keyboard that keeps hıdıng key Englısh letters etc on me... please note my lack of 'enterıng', I have not found the ENTER button yet, or at least ıt does not work. Also, why ıs the god damn apostrophe the shıft key of the number 2! I swear, what were they thınkıng. Anywho, as you may have noted (maybe you saw my profıle status update)... I have lost the fabulous ıPod touch to the fabbled land of 'got wet broken Apple electronıcs' as ıt was accıdentally thrown ınto the GOD DAM AEGEAN SEA by persons other then myself... You may have notıced that thıs has me quıte rıled up. You would be correct. Dammıt. all my (actually some of) my musıc was on that... now all I have to look forward to are long haul Eastern European bus trıps wıth lıttle blastıng ınto my coclear then some hıghly twanged foreıgn (albeıt exotıc) tones... boo... 

The upside to this may be that I managed to start using Condos ipod and therefore find the beauty of the game Adas Hospital, a raring game where you set up your own medical clinic and treat serious illnesses such as depression by rubbing all over the face of the patient to remove their tears. See Graphic.

Couchsurfing

A couple of different couch surfing incidents popped up their head in Istanbul. Firstly I had many a random request from -people who were near me- including this hunk...

 who kindly offered to share not only his apartment, but also his bed. Selcuk you old dog.

But seriously, Condo and I scored the couch surfing jackpot. We met up, just upon arrival with Kai, a Turkish accountant who had lived in Canada for a few years! He walked us around Istanbul and let us grill him with questions about the upcoming elections, Turkish baths and appropriate protocol, history, geography, food... everything under the sun. He also showed us a fantastic coffee shop five floors above the city. Peace and quite just before we departed.

We also lucked in staying with Burark and his brother for a few nights. That were such funny guys, great music, great night out in Taksim hanging out at bars frequented by movie stars and the like, making full use of the sauna, spa, pool and table tennis... Fabulous fun. Definitely suggested for all travellers.

ART-WANK (finally)

Not sure how much more I can write, but here goes:

• Borusan Culture Centre, Istanbul- Five floor installation exhibition. Highlights being a work which involved an orchestra of printers who had been programmed to type so as to create melody, beat, rhythm.
• Sanralistanbul, Istanbul- free shuttle bus to a privately funded museum connected to one of the Universities here. Though my penchance isnt necessarily for modernist painting, I was impressed with the space and the generosity of private investors.
• Istanbul Modern- free on a Thursday and seriously good. Guy Madding was great. Rivane Neuschewander made an appearance#...
• War Photo Limited, Dubrovnik- very good exhibition space highlighting war photography. Harrowing tales of war photographers and their journey on the front line.