Turkey part 2: Turkısh hospitality

After the heat of the coast Cappadocia is very refreshing. Despite temperatures reaching beyond 30 degrees during the day, night time temperatures are nearly 15 degrees lower than at lower altitude, but I think it can be fairly bleak up here in the winter. It has been a long hot drive across Western Turkey but it certainly worth it. We have spent three nights at a delightful camping spot by a lake with belly flopping frogs, jumping fish and have enjoyed many days exploring the underground cities, bizarre rock formations, 4X4 tracks, churches and monasteries hewn out of rock and deliberating over the purchase of a Turkish carpet.

Scattered around the area are ancient underground cities, dating from 4000 years ago, to which the townsfolk would retreat to in time of invasion or threat. They are complete with schools, wine cellars, kitchens, huge food storage areas and more recently churches have been added. However, these are not for the claustrophobic, as we descended eight levels through narrow, low and twisting tunnels and staircases.

Some of the rock formations could be condsidered to be decidedly phallic in appearance which I think has led to some interesting graffiti and models for tourists to buy.

Many towns and villages have developed in the valleys and the houses built into and out of the hillside.

However the rock is so soft and the harsh environment up here has made some of the dwellings quite fragile that they are now derelict and the main inhabitants are pigeons and bats. Only this winter part of the church we visited collapsed. Although the rock, or more accurately Tufa, is quite fragile amazingly this 4th Century Church and Monastery has survived in quite a good condition- despite people having barbecues in it 20 years ago, forever blackening the walls. We were led up flights of stairs with only 3 feet of headroom and down chutes 20 feet long in pitch black.

Many of the frescoes have survived as has other evidence of how the monks lived, such as the use of carrier pigeons to communicate with the outside world. After such a fascinating tour our guide then played host as we drank tea and I was force fed biscuits. Turkish hospitality really perseveres throughout.

When we first entered Turkey it looked for a while that we were barely going to have to prepare food for ourselves. Everywhere we went we would be invited to join a family for lunch, or as we were leaving a beach a gentleman would rush over to give us some peaches. One delightful lunchtime stop, at a pebbly beach on a deserted and barren coastline, the local middle aged beach bum emerged out of nowhere. He was quite enthralled by Gavin’s skill in repairing the kettle which had somehow been dropped (!).

He proceeded to serve up chilled wine, went picking blackberries for me and on discovering that Gavin is an Engineer, he rummaged around finding a hard hat he had obviously been saving for such an occasion.

Now we head a little further and east and south to the Syrian border.

Turkey Part 1

Turkey has been outstanding. The Turkish people are very welcoming and generous, and we have been given all sorts of food and drink to share with people that we have met. It seems to be the way. Istanbul was well worth a visit, with huge mosques and other amazing buildings. We even managed to find a shop in a back street that specialised in Land Rover parts, so stocked up on a few bits and pieces. We had looked, unsuccessfully, for a couple of campsites, but ended up staying in a guarded carpark, although we didn’t get much sleep because it was a hive of activity all night long. It seemed to be the meeting place for everybody who was anybody, including the local Police.



From Istanbul we headed back west to get to the Gallipoli peninsula. This was somewhere I had long wanted to visit, as any New Zealander or Australian would understand, so was always going to be on our agenda. We arrived just in time for sunset over the Aegean Sea. It’s an absolutely beautiful spot, despite the history. We spent two nights in total at Anzac Cove, with a full day walking around the War Grave cemeteries, up a steep track to the top of Chunuk Bair, down the road past the Turkish cemetery to Lone Pine, and back down to the beach. Much to my surprise, we only saw about two or three antipodeans (but busloads of Turks). During the time we spent there I managed to get a much better appreciation for the situation the Anzacs found themselves in back in April 1915.



Since then we have crossed the Dardanelles into Asia, and our first stop was the ruins of Troy (and a quick climb into the wooden horse). We stayed that night at a tiny beachside campsite near Assos. The narrow cobbled streets were only just wide enough for the Land Rover in places.

We have also visited the ruins at Ephesus. Parts of Ephesus are still very much intact, including the massive theatre in the photo. You can almost see the Ephesians going about their daily business, reading their letters from St Paul. It is a major tourist location though, and busload after busload are shepherded through by their guides.

From here we head east toward Cappodocia.

Happy 70th Birthday Pops Bowley!

Sorry can't be at the party, but we're drinking to your health (and ongoing mobility!)
Love G&C

Goodbye EU...

I think that we managed to soak up some of the Transylvanian atmosphere in Romania. It rained most of the time so the hills were very misty and eerie. We visited the alleged birth place of Dracula, Sigisoara, and the beautiful city of Sibiu. Sibiu is sharing the role of European City of Culture with Luxembourg this year and the Romanians have gone to great lengths to present it in its full glory- it is spotless, unlike the rest of Romania. On our way to the Bulgarian border we drove over a mountain road through the Fagaras Mountains and for once we were treated to a view from the top. However the rubbish was disgusting. I understand the area to be a National Park, it was so disappointing. On our way down we did see some workers clearing some of the rubbish but they were just making little bonfires out of it- there was too much to transport away.

Band on the street in Sibiu, Romania

Romania is a beautiful colourful country with something to interest everybody in every corner; however, I did become weary of having to clean up the area every time we stopped.

Mountain pass, looking down the hanging valley

The final stretch to the border was via a rather rickety and isolated road made much worse by the rain. It followed a railway line and we passed numerous what looked to be derelict large Collective Farms.

Again in Bulgaria the roads were washed out but the police were very efficient in diverting everyone. We headed for the Black Sea Resort of Varna and then a little further south to camp is a Special Reserve area of forest right on the beach. Again we are not sure what the Special Reserve was for. Not wanting to moan but again the litter was pretty foul. Luckily the part we chose to camp on had just been the subject of some flash flooding so I think all the litter had been washed into someone else’s patch. After it started to rain again, our neighbours, Dianne and Mark, played host to us in their “White Box” until the wee hours of the morning with the help of some fine Bulgarian wine.

Breafast stop, first morning in Bulgaria

We found a better beach further down the road at Sozopol. The town, despite being extremely touristy was delightful and after regular dips in the Black Sea to cool down we made a move to find a secluded shady spot where Gavin could do some maintenance on the car. I will let him explain about this in more detail, but needless to say it did not go to plan and those pesky flies were attracted to every orifice on ones head. Finally, with Gavin’s patience holding out the task was a “good ‘un” and we were on our way again.

The road to Turkey was through a hilly green and lush Natural Park, home to many types of oak and periwinkle and fly- tipping.

Now we are finally out of the European Union and I had to pay for my first visa, Gavin’s was for free. So far Turkey has been delightful and the Turkish people have been so courteous. Initially the road down through the hills from the border to the first big town, Kirkareli, was full of villages and babbling streams. Kirkareli was stuffed full of different grocery shops and little eateries. The whole place was simply bursting with life.

We are now cooling off at a beach campsite right on the Sea of Marmara before heading into Istanbul.

Recovered Photos...

Have finally managed to recover photos of Croatia from the memory card, and have added a few here. A bit more interesting than photos of stork nests and Land Rovers... The first photo shows the wind on the water north of the Dalmatian Coast. The last three were taken at Plitvice Lakes.

Happy Birthday Mum!

Last year from Russia, this year from Bulgaria.
All the best.
Love from Gavin and Catkin

Croatia, Hungary and Romania

Roof tents are great – when it’s not too windy! After our last post we headed south-east to the northern Dalmatian coast (and we even saw a Dalmatian dog!). Quite early on in the day, however, the winds picked up to gale force, whipping up a frenzy on the sea. People were sent scattering from the beaches, trying to maintain control of their inflatable dinghies, and the road was closed to motorbikes and caravans. Not Land Rovers though, so we carried on past the barrier arms. Man, was it windy. It looks like it might be like that quite often, too, as there was hardly any vegetation above four feet tall. As the day wore on our thoughts turned to our camping situation. At an altitude of six feet above ground level, the roof tent tends to cop the wind a bit. "Maybe we should use the dome tent on the ground?" Catkin suggested. "Just wait until the sun goes down, and I’m sure the wind will drop," I tell her. "We’ll be fine." When the wind actually picked up after sunset, the dome tent was looking promising, although I’m not sure if that would have withstood the gusts either. Finally at around midnight the wind did drop to satisfactory roof tent levels, albeit with the fly tied down, and even then it was still a pretty noisy night. On top of all that, I don’t think we really ventured far enough south to get the best of the coast.

We had a more important mission. With our newly acquired insurance green card, mentioned in a previous post, we had a small window to get through Romania, so back north and further east for us. Stopping at the Plitvice Lakes (on another tip from Marcus), we spent an afternoon wandering around the boardwalks marvelling at the turquoise water. Took heaps of photos, but so far the memory card has refused to release them for public exhibition… Instead you get to see a picture of a stork nest on top of a power pole. The nests are massive, and are quite a common sight.

Crossing into Hungary we made for Pecs for a few essential purchases and a night in a great little family-run campground, and then onto Szeged. Over the last few days our focus has changed slightly, in that we have been covering a lot more ground and seeing a lot less touristy sights. Consequently we’re taking fewer photos, but have included a night shot of the Camel in front of the Tisza river in Szeged, Hungary.

Since then we have made it into Romania and the roads have got worse (and the driving). We spent the first night at another family-run campsite, Route Roemanie, were the owner was very helpful in giving us advice on routes and things to see in Romania. I think he was a little disappointed that we were driving through so quickly, but understood when we explained that we had to get to New Zealand.

Last night we chanced our arm on the shore of a fishing lake in Transylvania. We got a few odd looks from the locals, and I think we may be camping at one of their best fishing spots.

We've currently in Sighisoara, where Dracula was allegedly born, and have just had a delicious lunch at a small cafe, although what was delivered to the table bore no resemblance to what was ordered!