Well I’ve been told that it’s my turn again (Rob), so here we go (I was watching soccer on TV - so this entry won’t be very long).
Well it seems like so much has happened since I last sat to type. As you will notice we were in Istanbul at the last posting. We had a great time in the relative luxury of a hotel in Istanbul and saw all the sights of Istanbul but without a doubt the most memorable part was the people. There have been so welcoming and friendly. After leaving Istanbul we made our way to Bergamo to check out some rather old ruins. They were in great condition and we all enjoyed the experience of trying to picture what the place would have looked like in 300BC. That was topped off with a great campsite on the beach (right on the beach), amongst the olive groves. The bonus was that it is harvest time and we got to speak with and watch the harvesters (all hand harvested). The kids of course availed themselves of the numerous skipping rocks and attempted to fill the Aegean Sea with stones and of course the mandatory swim.
From there, along the coast with a lengthy stop at the ruins of Assos. Once again a most beautiful day, walking through some spectacular ruins and quite extensive as well. That evening was finished off with a great walk at the picturesque little harbour where the fishermen were tending their boats.
Well we had seen the movie and some of us had even read Homers book, but it was time to see the real thing, Troy. One can’t actually say that they have been to see Troy because the excavation that is there has in fact uncovered about ten Troy’s spaning many thousands of years. By far the most extensive archaeological site we have been to and we all had good fun wandering the ruins and climbing into the horse that was nearby. We actually spent the night in Troy and I decided it was time for a hair cut (my first).
Now the local barber in Troy doesn’t speak English and I’m sure most of you know my Turkish isn’t too flash, so this was always going to be interesting. The hair part went pretty smoothly although I’m still blaming him for the unexplainable bald patch that seemed to appear on my head. The beard, well that was a little more interesting. As he approached with the cutthroat, I was very hopeful that the sign language signal for please just trim my beard was the same in Turkish. When he ignited a little torch and approached me I really started to worry. A few taps later and a scrape with the cutthroat it all turned out reasonably well.
A quick ferry ride across the Dardanelles would see us at one of the more moving points on our journey - ANZAC Cove. Two days exploring the sites where years before thousands of Australians and Kiwis fell (and of course, many British and Turkish people as well), enlightened us all of the magnitude of the task, the importance of the objective, and with the weather the way it was on the second day of our visit, the increased difficulty the winter brought. A very moving visit and as a bonus we had the majority of the National Park to ourselves (except for the stray dogs...).
And with this being out last objective in Turkey, other than making it across the border, it was off to Greece….
Well it seems like so much has happened since I last sat to type. As you will notice we were in Istanbul at the last posting. We had a great time in the relative luxury of a hotel in Istanbul and saw all the sights of Istanbul but without a doubt the most memorable part was the people. There have been so welcoming and friendly. After leaving Istanbul we made our way to Bergamo to check out some rather old ruins. They were in great condition and we all enjoyed the experience of trying to picture what the place would have looked like in 300BC. That was topped off with a great campsite on the beach (right on the beach), amongst the olive groves. The bonus was that it is harvest time and we got to speak with and watch the harvesters (all hand harvested). The kids of course availed themselves of the numerous skipping rocks and attempted to fill the Aegean Sea with stones and of course the mandatory swim.
From there, along the coast with a lengthy stop at the ruins of Assos. Once again a most beautiful day, walking through some spectacular ruins and quite extensive as well. That evening was finished off with a great walk at the picturesque little harbour where the fishermen were tending their boats.
Well we had seen the movie and some of us had even read Homers book, but it was time to see the real thing, Troy. One can’t actually say that they have been to see Troy because the excavation that is there has in fact uncovered about ten Troy’s spaning many thousands of years. By far the most extensive archaeological site we have been to and we all had good fun wandering the ruins and climbing into the horse that was nearby. We actually spent the night in Troy and I decided it was time for a hair cut (my first).
Now the local barber in Troy doesn’t speak English and I’m sure most of you know my Turkish isn’t too flash, so this was always going to be interesting. The hair part went pretty smoothly although I’m still blaming him for the unexplainable bald patch that seemed to appear on my head. The beard, well that was a little more interesting. As he approached with the cutthroat, I was very hopeful that the sign language signal for please just trim my beard was the same in Turkish. When he ignited a little torch and approached me I really started to worry. A few taps later and a scrape with the cutthroat it all turned out reasonably well.
A quick ferry ride across the Dardanelles would see us at one of the more moving points on our journey - ANZAC Cove. Two days exploring the sites where years before thousands of Australians and Kiwis fell (and of course, many British and Turkish people as well), enlightened us all of the magnitude of the task, the importance of the objective, and with the weather the way it was on the second day of our visit, the increased difficulty the winter brought. A very moving visit and as a bonus we had the majority of the National Park to ourselves (except for the stray dogs...).
And with this being out last objective in Turkey, other than making it across the border, it was off to Greece….
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