Olympos

For the last 3 days we have been staying in the Saban Pansion tree house hostel in Olympos, Turkey. The hostel is basically a group of wooden houses on stilts that are capable of sleeping 2 to 3 people.

Toby posing in the door of the treehouse

The campsite also has several areas for sitting and relaxing (and a lot of relaxing has been done here!), with a table tennis table to make sure that we do some exercise at least!

Everybody sitting in the comfy relaxing area while the midday sun is cooking everybody outside

Olympos is a fairly small place and there is little to do without spending a large amount of money on extreme activities, but we did find time to take a walk down the river and explore the ruins on the way to the beach. Most of the ruins are from the middle ages, but there was not a lot of information available to read around the site.

This sarcophagus was among the ruins that run alongside the river to the sea

Our first night here was David's 70th Birthday, and to mark the occasion we decided to have a fancy dress party with everybody coming as something beginning with the letter D. Choosing not to simply come to the party as "Dan", I came as a DJ while Vicky decided to come as a diver. Other popular costumes came in the form of Darth Vader and a dalmation amongst others.

I will add a photo when one becomes available.

The most famous attraction in the surrounding area are the Chimera Flames. A rocky hillside in the village of Chimera has pockets of natural gas, that when they make their way to the surface instantly combust to create around 2 foot tall flames on the hillside. 

A few examples of the flames burning on the hills in Chimera

The site is best viewed at night, as a lot of the smaller flames (just a few inches high) would go unnoticed during daylight hours.

An earlier than normal start tomorrow as we hit the road at 6am. We have 14 hour journey ahead of us, and we will be camping in the wild for the night before we continue our journey on to our next main campsite.

Pumakkale and Oludeniz

After leaving the sunny (but mosquito infested) beach at Selcuk, we made our way to Pumakkale to see a mixture of the Roman ruins and the carbonate mineral hot spring pools that line the hillsides there. 


Feeling a little worse for wear, after my bites had swollen very badly and combined with a very poor nights sleep, I very nearly decided not to get off of the truck. But in thee end I was very glad I did as the hillsides are really something to experience!

Bathing our feet in the warm salt water at Pumakkale. Looks like a giant snowfall all year round!

We spent around 2 hours in the blisteringly hot sun walking down the hillside, stopping to paddle in the warm salty pools of water and to take plenty of pictures! Once we reached the bottom a well deserved ice cream was in order, before we hopped on the truck and made our way to a small clearing where we prepared to spend the night. 


Before long we had attracted the attention of a couple of locals, one of which came proudly sporting his Fenabache football shirt. I showed him my Dover Athletic shirt, but the only English words he could speak were "Manchester United", "Chelsea" and "Champions League". I don't think he was overly fussed by Dover!


The next morning we made our way to our campsite for 3 nights at Oludinez. We stayed at the Sugar Beach resort, but to be honest I did not think it was all it was cracked up to be. For the camps size, it seems to focus on getting people who are not staying there to come and use their beach and bar, with the camping area being very small and basic.

Vicky and Janet testing out the latest addition to the tent, the hammock!

During our dinner on the second night, one of the residents came out of his shack with a gun and shot one of the cockerels that are running around the site here. He then said in very good English "That will stop the f***ing thing waking me up in the morning!" From what we gather, we think (and hope) that he owns the birds, as he then tried to sell what was left of it to us for our dinner. We said no.


During the second day here, many of the group decided to go paragliding, and whilst I stayed on the ground to play photographer,Vicky drove up to the top of the nearest hill to throw herself off into a 15 minute glide to the floor. She has now declared that she would like to take up the sport to go alongside scuba, skiing and blo-karting. I have suggested she might like to take up a cheaper sport such as darts (note: this suggestion was not met with great enthusiasm!).

Although it is difficult to tell, this is Vicky during her sky dive. I wasn't nearby when she came in to land as I was distracted...bad husband!!

Today, our final day at Oludinez, we took a day long boat trip around the local coastline, stopping at a number of places along the way for swimming and refreshments. Both of us ventured off of the back of the boat, but there was little to no sealife to take in unfortunately. The water was pretty cold as well, and it being a cloudy day did not help everybody's enthusiasm to stay in the water too long!


Tomorrow we head off to Olympios for 3 nights in a hostel, including David's 70th Birthday party, so we will try to update again as soon as possible.


On the way out of the campsite we came across this friendly little fellow who we decided to name Alfie. He's only a baby, and about half the size of one of our hands.

Alfie the tortoise

Troy and Ephesus

So 2 days out of Istanbul and 2 sets of ruins visited. 

First up on our way out of Gallipoli was a visit to the remains of the city of Troy, famous of course for the legend of the wooden horse and the Greek army. 

The first thing you see when entering the site (which cost 15 Turkish Lira or around £5.50) is a replica of the wooden horse from the legend which is only around 35 years old. The reality of the situation is that nobody knows if there was actually a wooden horse involved in the battle for the city or not, as they only have tangible proof that a battle was fought in the city by finding arrowheads and spears etc as they have excavated the site over time.

The wooden horse at Troy

At this point only around 30% of the site has been excavated with the remaining 70% being currently buried beneath reasonably deep woodland. The technology company Siemens is funding further research into the site which will be taking place over the next 5 to 10 years (slow progress the excavating lark!). So far they have found that the city has been rebuilt essentially 9 different times on the same site, obviously over many different eras, and they are able to roughly date and map each of the layers of the ruins individually. The cities were named (rather unoriginally) Troy 1 through to Troy 9, with some of the ruins dating back to approximately 3000BC. It is widely believed by experts that the city in existence at the time of the great battle would have been Troy 7, although there was evidence of war paraphernalia also discovered in Troy 6.  

Following the trip to Troy we camped up at a rural spot in the hills near a village called Kocaoeayoru, where after the locals discovered our presence we became somewhat of a tourist attraction. Locals in cars, on bikes and even riding tractors to come and have a look at what we were doing. Everybody was very friendly and one man even brought us some eggs and milk from his farm.

The locals stop by for a chat (and then pop back later looking for a lost sheep) on the tractor

Following our stay there, we made the short drive to the beach near Selcuk where our campsite for the next 3 days was. Everybody was delighted to see the deep blue sky and sea, and the golden sandy beach, and within a couple of minutes most of the group were out larking around in the shallows (great fun!).

Our campsite just outside Selcuk

The only scheduled event during our stay at this campsite was a visit to our second set of ruins, the Roman ruins of Ephesus, with an admission price of 25TL (or around £8.50). With a large quantity of remains dating back to around 90AD and later, Ephesus is the largest example of Roman ruins in Turkey, and what a sight it is. The site dwarves that of Troy, and there is a remarkable amount of the building structure still remaining. Some restoration work has been made to some of the structures, but on the whole it is in excellent condition. The 2 highlights of the visit were the old library building (the second largest in ancient history), and the amphitheatre which was capable of holding up to 25,000 people for a gladiatorial contest. 

The library building. Some of the group at the bottom give you a sense of scale

The remainder of our stay at the campsite we have tried to treat as a "holiday from a holiday", where we have taken a bit of time to relax and get a few jobs sorted out (such as washing and a repacking of our bags). The mosquitoes however have take an exception to me having a good time and have bitten me something chronic (Despite repellent and long clothing being ever present in the mornings and evenings)! Two of my bites have swollen up uncontrollably and extra rations of stronger antihistamines have been acquired by Adam the driver for me :)

Tomorrow we set off for Pamukkale, which is home to natural hot springs, and terraces of carbonate minerals which have been left behind by flowing water. Aside from the early start it should be awesome!

Istanbul

We arrived 5 days ago in the wonderful city of Istanbul in Turkey. Billed as the gateway into Asia, Istanbul offers an interesting mixture of old and new architecture sat side by side (some of the city walls are from Byzantine era).

We stayed in the Orient hostel in the European side of the city (Istanbul of course being the only city in the world that spans 2 continents, Europe and Asia), within walking distance of many of the city’s main attractions.

The Blue Mosque

Istanbul has been the first place where we have been able to stay for a few days, and it really makes a difference in terms of what you are able to see and do.

The first day we made a trip to the Grand Bazaar, which is the city’s largest indoor market area, and you are able to buy just about anything you can think of there. You do of course have to be able to pick between genuine products, and black market copies which are absolutely rife in Turkey. The bazaar is a wonderful experience with the brightly coloured displays at every turn, alongside superb aromas coming from the stalls selling sweets and spices. All of the girls who are traveling with us tasked themselves with finding loose fitting clothes and headscarves, ahead of the visit to Iran we are making after we leave Turkey. In Iran all ladies must be fully covered with the exception of their hands and faces (with no hair showing across the forehead), and this applies also when travelling in a private vehicle such as our truck.

Brightly coloured bowls in the Grand Bazaar

From the hostel’s rooftop bar we had a wonderful view of the River Bosphorus in one direction, and the Blue Mosque (largest mosque in the city) and Haghia Sophia (previously a place of worship but now a museum) in the other.

The second day we decided to take a river tour of the Bosphorus, and for the equivalent of just under £3.50 we were able to spend around 1 hour 45 mins cruising up and down the river taking in the sights in the sunshine. You can find some things in Turkey which are very good value for money, but equally there are some things that are even more expensive than in the UK, so using your judgement before you hand over your money is a must. It is also the first country that we have visited that it is widely accepted to haggle (especially in the markets), and it is quite fun having some banter with the locals over prices, even though neither party can understand what the other is saying most of the time!

It was proving quite a luxury to not have to put up the tent each night, and to have the guarantee of warmth regardless of what the weather was doing outside. Having said that with the exception of the first morning the weather has been excellent with temperatures reaching the low 30’s.

On our final day in the city, we went to visit the Blue Mosque. Despite still being a fully functioning mosque, the building is open to visitors at all times of day. Worshipers receive a “call to prayer” around every 4 hours, which is broadcast from the towers around the edge of the mosque. Within the building itself, there is a large area at the front of the building for men to pray with the women being confined to a smaller area at the rear of the room. If the outside of the building wasn’t spectacular enough, the inside took things to another level, with a high amount of ornate decoration for a building of it’s size.

The inside of the Blue Mosque

Our final visit of our stay in Istanbul was made to the Spice Market, which by it’s name you can probably guess is full of stalls selling spices and other delights (mainly Turkish delight!). We both managed to resist the temptation of the food, with the exception of the free samples, and came out with our money and waistlines intact.

Piles of spices and teas in the Spice Market

During our journey out of the city, we stopped at the Iranian embassy to submit our applications for the Iranian visas. After a hold up of 2 and a half hours, the embassy decided that they would process our applications by Friday, rather than the 24 hour period that we were expecting. As a result, 2 of the group have stayed behind in Istanbul to collect the passports in the morning (hopefully with visas granted!)

The girls in Iranian dress. From left to right: Vicky, Jackie, Janet, Stephanie, Libby, Rebecca, Laura, Emily, Polly and Helen. Vicky has rebelled and dressed in blue so that she can find her clothes in the laundry!

Feel free to leave us any comments on our blog posts, it will be nice to hear what you think of our adventures so far!

Daily Routine

Of course travelling overland is a great way to see all the parts of the world you would miss by taking a flight to your destination, but naturally an overland truck does not stay clean by itself and the food does not magically come down the aisle with the cabin crew. So here is a small insight to the daily life of an overlander, it's not always the luxury that you might think!


Currently we are travelling as a group of 21 people, and that helpfully divides into groups of 3 very well. Each group will cook dinner, cook breakfast and clean the truck once per week, and those tasks are grouped closely together to get "your turn" out of the way as quick as possible.


Mornings:
5.30am - This is the time we get out of bed in the mornings if the truck is due to move that day. If your group happened to cook dinner last night, then it will be your turn to cook breakfast this morning. If you are cooking breakfast, you get cooking straight away as breakfast must be served by 6.00am. If you are not cooking, you can start to pack your tent away early.

Cooking using the gas supply from the truck

6.00am to 6.30am - Breakfast time. If you haven't eaten by 6.30am you won't be getting any breakfast as this is the time all of the breakfast equipment is packed away.


7.00am - This is the time that the truck sets off in the morning for the next destination, and o everything and everybody must be on the truck and ready to go by this time.


During the course of the day we can be travelling anywhere for up to 12-13 hours a day (once outside Europe where you are restricted to 9 hours a day), and so it is important to synchronise food and toilet stops well to maintain a steady progress. Don't forget a toilet stop does not mean there will actually be a toilet! You get what you get regardless of what you need!


5.00pm - On an average day this will be the time that the group cooking dinner will assemble to unpack and begin cooking. If you cooked breakfast that morning, that means it is your turn to clean the truck. Each day the truck is swept, mopped and disinfected, and if necessary a toilet hole is dug by the same group somewhere near where we have found to camp.


7.00pm - This is the time dinner is normally served (unless we have a very long driving day). If you cooked the dinner you must wait until everybody else is eating before you are allowed to serve yourself.


8.00pm - Washing up time. Those that cooked must now clean everything that was cooked with or eaten off of. Once this is done all of the equipment must be packed back onto the truck ready to cook breakfast in the morning. 


By 9.00pm you are normally finished with your duties, and you leave it as late as you dare before you go to bed to be up again at 5.30am to do it all over again! This is generally the time when I will look to see if I can blog or go on facebook, and so there is not often a lot of time left over to do anything else.


The good news is that once those tasks are out of the way, you get  5 days with a bit extra time before you do it all again! Tonight my group cooked, and so I will do breakfast and cleaning tomorrow. Vicky's group is one night behind me, and so she will be following the same pattern starting tomorrow.


On days where the truck does not move things are a little more relaxed, and breakfast will not normally be served until 7.00am.

The group cooking using a fire we have made near Istanbul. We cook on fire where possible, but it is mainly using gas at the moment.

Bulgaria

Found an unexpected wireless signal on the beach where we are camping in Galipoli, so time for a bit of impromptu blogging!


We were glad to finally get out of Romania, as with the exception of the mountains there really was not much to see or do there at all. Even the journey out of the city was harder than it should have been, with the traffic police frantically blowing their whistles seemingly just to tell you there is nothing wrong!?! I think a certain Mr Venamore would find it quite easy to find work out here (a few select people will know what I mean)!


So out of Romania and into Bulgaria, and immediately the country takes on a more positive aura. I'm not saying that everything is perfect suddenly, but the country is maintained better, the people are friendlier and the scenery and walks are just incredible.


We stayed on a campsite for 2 nights that was run by an English couple, but we hiked to a couple of local villages to get a feel for what Bulgaria really feels like.

Panoramic view from the campsite over the hills

On the second day the weather improved dramatically from the first day (after the tent pegs were ripped out of the ground by the wind during the night), and all of the mist visible in the photo above was burnt off. We went for a walk in the morning, before Vicky and I tried an archery session in the afternoon. Although it was challenging, it is certainly something we would like to try again in the future.

Some of the group at the campsite. From left to right: Jay, Janet, Vicky and Toby.

We were all quite sad to leave the campsite the following morning as we had all had such a great time (especially the 80p a pint beers in the evenings), but of course were looking forward to our journey into Turkey at the same time.

Romania

So the 7th country on our agenda is done having spent the last 3 days in Romania. 


We started our stay with a camp in a muddy field (one thing we have learnt about Romania is that it rains...a lot!), where we spent a number of hours hoping that the field's owner would not turn up and boot us off, which fortunately they did not. Vicky and I slept on the truck that night as I was cooking and unable to help put up the tent, and it was a fortunate move as a heavy rain storm swept in flooding a couple of the groups tents.


The next morning we packed our bags and headed off toward Bucharest, via Bran Castle (which is the castle in Transylvania used in the setting of the story of Count Dracula). Surprisingly the castle was not as Gothic or as creepy as you would associate with the story of Dracula, and it was actually quite light and airy in places.

Bran Castle

One thing that has been apparent as we have traveled through the country is just how run down and decaying a lot of the countries are. In a lot of cases it is difficult to tell whether a lot of the buildings are still in use or whether they are derelict. There are an enormous number of buildings that have crumbled away and not been restored, alongside a number of new build properties that have been left in a half finished state almost certainly never to be completed. 

On the contrary though the physical scenery is breathtaking, especially in the mountain regions. It is just an awful shame though that the country is blighted by a severe fly tipping problem, and there is rubbish everywhere you turn, whether in the cities or miles from any civilisation. The country also has another problem with a huge number of stray dogs, where it is not uncommon to see a stray or two wondering every 2-3 miles in the country and on almost every street in the city.

The breathtaking mountain scenery

In a way the city of Bucharest itself was a bit of a disappointment as there was very little to take in compared to any other capital you would have been to, but although a lot of the buildings are constructed in a monotonous concrete there is still some impressive (if crumbling) architecture to be seen. Along with that there are a number of small independent businesses that are alive and well in the city, that would surely struggle to stay alive in more contemporary cities.

Another early start tomorrow as we head off for Bulgaria :)