I looked over Jordan and what did I see?

What Catkin didn’t mention in her last entry was the delicious birthday dinner that she prepared for me on our last night in Turkey. We had steak and chips (yum), followed by - wait for it – Banoffee Pie. How many people have had banoffee pie made in a kitchen in the back of a Land Rover for their birthday? It was delicious, and I ate too much.

Catkin did mention that we were in Damascus. Damascus was mad, but fun all the same. It was the only place since leaving Turkey that we stayed in a proper campsite, and for two nights we were the only people there. We can only assume that the overland trucks stop there and keep it in business. We spent a day wandering around the city, and most of that was spent trying to find the centre from where the minivan driver told us was our stop (not where we thought he was taking us).

Main Souk in Damascus

Before leaving Syria we wanted to fill up with diesel to take advantage of the cheap price per litre of US$0.14 and get maximum benefit of the US$100 diesel tax we had to pay when entering the country. This proved a difficult task, however, as every station we pulled into had run out. From the sign language it seemed the tanker had crashed or something. Anyway, they were certain there would be diesel in the afternoon… We were ready to leave Syria, so decided to head toward the border, detour to Bosra (another Roman ruin with an outstanding fortified amphitheatre) and see if we could fill up later in the day near the border. Eventually we did find a station and took on 140 litres in the two tanks to keep us going.

Exiting Syria was much easier than entering, and entering Jordan was also relatively hassle-free. This was a very busy border, so it still took a few hours to get all the appropriate paperwork stamped and distributed to various departments.

Our main priority now was to get to Amman in order to look at getting Saudi transit visas and carry out a few repairs/checks on the Land Rover. Since it was Friday the following day (the weekend) we decided to do a short loop through Umm Qais and Jerash (more Roman ruins). We made it to Umm Qais just after dark, and as we had seen no suitable campsites enroute, decided to ask the tourist police at the site if it would be okay for us to stay in the carpark overnight and visit the site in the morning. This was not permitted, and we were told we would have to stay in the hotel. I explained that we would prefer to camp, but it seemed there was no camping permitted in the whole area. Just as we were preparing to leave to go and look at the hotel, the policeman approached us and said that actually we might be able to stay inside the ruins, next to the Police Office. He made a few calls and it was all arranged. The night shift officers were a bit noisy when they had a break in the wee small hours, and I was afraid Catkin was going to get up and tell them to be quiet, like she did to the people camping next to us in Vienna and the nightclub owner in Hungary. She hasn’t told anyone off for a while now…

Hard to see, but the Sea of Galilee is in the distance

We had a good look around the ruins in the morning after pancakes for breakfast, getting a good view over the Jordan Valley and the Sea of Galilee. Our route south took us down into the valley and right alongside the Palestinian border, where we were stopped every few kilometres at military checkpoints to check our passports. Turning east we headed over some very steep hills towards Jerash and found the Olive Branch Resort, a hotel with camping facilities. The best thing was that they had a swimming pool, and we spent the whole afternoon sitting by the pool and swimming. A family who was having a picnic in the hotel grounds even gave us a fantastic lunch, which was much appreciated.

We didn’t bother going into the Jerash ruins, as we both felt a bit “ruined out”, and satisfied ourselves with looking in through the fence. From there on into Amman, the capital.

We had not been able to find out about any camping grounds in or near Amman, so thought we would go to the tourist information office and see if they could help. Whilst waiting in traffic, the driver next to me called out, asking what we were looking for. When we said the information centre, he said it was closed and enquired what we wanted to ask them. We replied that we wanted to find a camping site, and he said, “There’s no camping in Amman. Follow me!” Eventually he stopped and got out, telling us that we might be able to camp on one of his properties. He was going to be back in one hour, and we could park around the corner and wait for him in “The Duke’s Diwan”, a cultural centre on the next street. Well, it turned out that he was the Duke of the Diwan, and he had a farm that is used for honey production that we could camp on. We have spent four nights there so far and it has been the perfect base for us. We even went on a tour of the surrounding area, which is all the Duke’s land, including the magnificent home that has been in the family since about 1860.

In Amman we have found a Land Rover specialist garage who have welded our cracked front differential, as well as completely servicing the right front wheel bearings and CV joint, and we have the local aircon specialist looking for a replacement switch to get the A/C back up and running. More about all of that and other repairs in the "preparation" blog on the links to the right. We are still waiting for some parts ordered from the UK to arrive at the post office, so keep having to trudge back there to check.

The Saudi transit visa situation has not been so successful. We have been twice and been told that we cannot get a transit visa in Jordan, only from the embassy in our country of residence. This is contrary to what we were told in London, but that is the nature of the game I guess. On top of all this, we have been told of another couple who had the required visa, but were refused entry into Saudi Arabia because their Land Rover was right hand drive (as is ours). Even diplomatic personnel seem to require special permission to drive into Saudi. We are trying a few other options, but at this stage it looks like we will have to miss UAE, Oman and Yemen and ship the vehicle directly from Aqaba to Mombasa while we travel separately via Egypt to meet it. We will keep you posted on that front.

One of Catkin's favourite pastimes throughout Eastern Europe and the Middle East has been buying fresh fruit and veges from the many well stocked roadside stalls.

So far, since leaving London on the 25th of June we have travelled 9389 miles crossing 23 borders and visiting 18 different countries (we entered some countries in Europe more than once). Thanks to all who have commented on the Blog. It’s good to know that you are enjoying reading it as much as we are writing it. Unfortunately we can’t reply to everyone individually. Keep the comments coming though – it gives us something to look forward to!

Happy birthday Claire, from us in Amman, Jordan. Hope you have had a good day and have had lots of treats. We will write more about our latest adventures soon!

On The Road To Damascus.....

Finally we bought a carpet in Cappadocia. After crash course in Turkish carpet production and its history, we settled on one just the right size to fit under the mattress in our roof tent. After waving goodbye to Cappadocia - our longest home yet - we headed across what we think were the Taurus Mountains. This road was fantastic. The highest point was at 2000 metres and it felt as if we were in the middle of a quarry. There were lots and lots of trucks travelling up the road empty and down the hill very full of terracotta coloured soil and travelling very slowly. We barely saw any other private vehicles and at the top great swathes of the mountain side had been taken away; even one mountain top was completely gone. It was slow road down the other side as we remained high in the mountains for a long time.

After coming out of the mountains we sought out a tyre repair establishment. We had been looking for a few days but all we could find in Cappadocia were grotty sheds which seemed to specialise in bicycle tyre repairs so we were resigned to pumping up the tyre every morning- it was a very slow puncture and Gavin did enjoy having to use his compact compressor. However, Lassa was a much more sophisticated set up; they even had a portable wheel balancing machine. After playing with Google Earth, drinking tea and enjoying the comforts of the proprietor’s air-conditioned office we paid the hefty charge of £2.50 and headed to Anavarza.
We understand Anavarza to be of Roman, English and Spanish origin. Spectacular as it was it was difficult to find out any further information, but we had a lot of fun climbing all over the ruins.

We decided to stay in Turkey for one more day. It was not going to be much fun queuing at the border for Gavin on his birthday. So we headed for the beach and found a beautiful and deserted part of the Mediterranean coastline. While we were parked up - for two hours or so - only one other vehicle drove by. The water was decidedly warm and crystal clear.

The next day we spent three and a half hours at the Turkish/Syrian border. First impressions of Syria are of a somewhat chaotic place. Firstly we were obliged to queue at a counter for an hour only to be told that we needed a visa, "no" we say and point to the visas in our passport. "No, no" we must go through the unmarked door, through a corridor and find another unmarked office. We duly follow orders. Here our passports were closely scrutinised and still the official had difficulty recognising the visa his embassy in London had issued. Eventually they agree that it is OK and our passports are processed. Then we have more fun and games with customs with the first customs official declining to sign us off despite being satisfied that there was nothing amiss. Eventually after a customs officials conference another customs cfficial agrees to sign us off based on the original customs official’s inspection. Then we were off to get the all important Carnet de Passage processed. So all our fees are paid, tax for this and for that . Then we realise that we paid some extra money to one rather dour chap behind a glass screen and we have no idea what it was for and we have no receipt. Finally after some discussion with him, neither party understanding much of what the other was saying, we did get a receipt for a fraction of what we had paid. So I continued to stand there interrupting his business and persisting in showing him how much he still owed us I finally got back the rest of the money. I suspect he was going to pocket for himself.. Throughout all of this just about everyone was as courteous and polite as they could be.

Syria has some amazing sights. The Souks in Aleppo are like nothing I have seen before and I even enjoyed a visit to a rather grotty Hamam. What a wonderful experience. I felt as if I had entered into a secret world. It was a little odd to be scrubbed, and I mean scoured (I still have the grazes) by a woman in her bra and knickers, smoking cigarettes, who 10 minutes later was indistinguishable from most other women after she put on her Abeyya and veil.

On Monday (I think) we visited the Krak de Chevalliers, a Crusader’s Castle that has been described as a Castle to fulfil every child’s fantasy. It is such good condition we spent hours exploring all the nooks and crannies. We camped in the shadow of the castle.

Thanks Mohammed for the tip to visit Palmyra which is one of the most impressive places I have visited. We camped a very short stones throw from the ruins. We first visted the ruins in the evening sun and the following day surveyed them before breakfast in the crisp morning sun.

Unfortunately we are unable to spend as much time in Syria as we would like to, but the $100 weekly fuel tax and the need to sort out a few repairs on the car make it necessary for us to hot tail it to Jordan- the spare parts have been sent out to Amman.

Before I go however, I am very much aware that we have visited some places of which we really have very poor background knowledge. If anyone reading does have any interesting information to share about any of these places please feel free to enlighten us by leaving a "comment".

Happy Bırthday, Sue

Hope you are having a great day, as am I as I hit halfway to 70. Many thanks for the Hot Chocolate - will be perfect for the cold desert nights. Currently just outside the ancient city of Antakya (Antioch), soon to cross into Syria.

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