TravelStream™ news feed for member sting on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/sting en-us Copyright ©2010 TravelPod.com Sat, 24 May 2008 20:10:56 -0400 http://www.travelpod.com http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/sting/1/1208174880/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/sting/1/1208174880/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/sting/1/1208174880/tpod.html Sat, 24 May 2008 20:10:56 -0400 Wanderings in the Middle East

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Goreme, Turkey

Well, after almost a week here I'm heading out of Cappadocia. It's been a great little place to hang out and do lots of hiking. I was going to say lots of relaxing, but I was out every day walking, walking, and walking. The landscape is really quite bizarre.

My a last little video for Cappadocia...

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-6202297227509515639&hl=en

Tonight I'll head straight to Istanbul on the overnight bus, where I'll hang out for 4 days to finish off my trip before returning to Canada.
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Goreme, Turkey

Went hiking again today. Man, was it HOT. I had a week of bad weather, but now I've had almost a week of great weather. Today it almost hit 26 degrees. I was out there dragging myself around for about 6 hours so was real beat end of day.

Took a little video again.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-1821415662091772509&hl=en
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Goreme, Turkey

I went to the open-air museum today which has a bunch of churches built into the rock chimneys with amazing paintings inside...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Churches_of_Goreme_Turkey

I also bumped into an old friend!

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=58356167052411981&hl=en
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Goreme, Turkey

Took the public bus today about 40km out to see a cool underground city today

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Derinkuyu


I took a little video inside despite the low light...

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=58356167052411981&hl=en
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Goreme, Turkey

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=52719284390613359&hl=en

Enough said.
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Goreme, Turkey

After a bus ride from Pamakkale that took all night, I arrived in Goreme. I checking into a pension and headed right out for some hiking in the bizarre landscape here. Went to the Sword, Rose, and Red Valleys. Rather than try to describe, I'll just post these photos. I keep expecting to bump into Fred Flintstone, but haven't yet!

Check here for more info. if interested:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cappadocia
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Pamukkale, Turkey

Today I went to Pamukkale. I spent hours and hours there and found it stunning. During the day there were loads of tourists, but near sunset most had gone and I had the place more to myself. I'm not sure how much I'd pay for an experience like that, but I assure you it was more than I actually did!
Here is more about the place...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pamukkale
It seems that through gross errors in over development is dying due to lack of water. It's such a shame because I was absolutely amazed by it.
It's one of nature's most amazing creations on earth that I've seen. They're doing their best to fix their mistakes here, but they've really screwed up. People say that you just can't get a photo like in the glossy brochures anymore, but I gave it my best shot. I climbed up to the top twice and spent hours walking every corner of it.

There are a few very small areas where you can see just enough to allow your imagination to conjure up with awe and amazement a picture in your mind as to how stunning this place must have been when water was plentiful.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/sting/1/1207590180/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/sting/1/1207590180/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/sting/1/1207590180/tpod.html Mon, 07 Apr 2008 12:50:23 -0400 Wanderings in the Middle East

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Selcuk, Turkey

Last night in Bodrum was a little nutty. There was practically a monsoon. Sounded like tiles were being blown off the roof along with any dogs or small children that weren't secured indoors. I was in a dorm room, which naturally was empty except for me, and i walked in from having dinner in the evening to a wet floor... water was dripping in from around the light fixture in the roof on one side of the room and through a crack in the roof on the other side. Anyhow, none of my stuff got wet, so i was happy.

I did make it to the Bodrum Museum of Underwater Archaeology, which is why i came here. It was actually pretty interesting as they have a cool display of the oldest shipwreck ever found. It shows how everything was scattered on the sea floor, and from that how they reconstructed a guess at how the ship looked and was loaded when it sank. The entire museum is housed in an old castle and you can descend into the dungeons for a look at a rather ghastly display of how they 'stored' prisoners there.

Had a fantastic mean of 'kofta', basically turkish meatballs, with yoghurt and tomato sauce over pita... sounds odd but it's real good.

Braved the storm this morning to get on a bus to Selchuk... here i will see some of the most fantastic ruins in Turkey.

PS... this is the 8th day of rain in 9 days, but there was that 1 day of sun... where was i? what was i doing? Well, here's a photo... luckily i happened to be hiking from Fethiye over to Oludeniz to the Blue Lagoon, darn near Turkey's nicest beach...





]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/sting/1/1207586040/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/sting/1/1207586040/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/sting/1/1207586040/tpod.html Mon, 07 Apr 2008 12:49:42 -0400 Wanderings in the Middle East

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Selcuk, Turkey

Well, I found out today that for I don't know how long I've actually thought it was one day later than it actually was because the date on my watch was ahead... lucky I found out before my flight date!!!

Anyhow, I'm happy to report that today there has been no rain! And not even cloudy, but SUN! It worked out well because I spent 3.5 hours at Ephesus checking things out.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ephesus

Tonight I'm having dinner at the place I'm staying, Homero's, and the Mom is cooking dinner! My first real Turkish family dinner. Very cool. She's such a MOM: yesterday evening I had a knock at my door and there she was standing with a gosleme in one hand (a crepe filled with potato and herbs) and a glass of ayran in the other (a pretty bad *my opinion, of course * yoghurt drink with salt and lots of floating chunks in it). Anyhow, she's real nice, but can't speak a word of english, so it's fun!
Tomorrow I'm off on my biggest travel stint to date. I'm heading 3 hours to Pamukkale where I'll spend the day, then board the bus again at 10pm overnight to Goreme..
Anyhow, I've had lot's of time to sit and think about this whole Turkey trip and I'm already cooking up my return trip... it really is beautiful here and it sucks to be in rain and stuck behind a bus window... so, when I come back I want to come out in May/June, first stopping in Syria... probably Damascus for some awesome pistachio ice cream and to buy a motorbike cheaply... this would be THE way to see Turkey. Lots of opportunity and freedom to stop where desired to do some hiking and rock climbing and swimming and whatever!
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]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/sting/1/1207383480/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/sting/1/1207383480/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/sting/1/1207383480/tpod.html Sat, 05 Apr 2008 04:22:03 -0400 Wanderings in the Middle East

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Bodrum, Turkey

After my dissappointment in Marmaris, I have trudged onward to Bodrum where I have come to visit an underwater archaeology museum. After arriviýng in the early evening, I made another video along the lines of Marmaris, but with more details... thought I would post it as well...

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=7439346374095542383&hl=en
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