Journey home

12 hours journey home; drive for an hour before dawn, drop off car, 2 flights and 2 trains then a walk home from the station - amazed that it all went smoothly. We've had a great holiday but, as always it's good to be home.

Last full day

Today we toured the area visiting more cave dwellings and looking at the incredibly strange landscape.

Kath and Martin climbed up inside this one but I chickened out.

Cappadocia

We had an early start to catch the 8.30 shuttle bus to the airport on the Asian side of the city. The 1 hour flight was mad for the cabin crew who served a hot meal then had to clear up straight away. Our hire car was a bit bashed about but served it's purpose. The road signs were dreadful to Cappadocia but Kath was brilliant at navigating for Martin.

We had booked a hotel for 2 nights as a treat so no cooking and I had chosen an authentic 'cave' hotel.

We spent the afternoon at Goreme open air museum which is an area of cave dwellings and churches.

We ate in a typical Turkish restaurant - my meal came in a clay pot on burning charcoal

For pud Kath had a chocolate and banana crepe cooked to order.

On our final day we spent the morning in the Grand Bazaar then caught a ferry over to the Asian side of the city for a walk along the prom and a cup of turkish tea.

Tomorrow we are flying down to Cappadocia for £11 each!

We ate our packed lunch in the square between the blue mosque and the Hagia Sofia accompanied by a stereo and very loud calling to prayer from nearby minarets.

We spent the afternoon on a boat trip up the Bosphorous - plenty of cargo ships coming down from the Black Sea but none going up either during this 3 hour trip nor the following day for some reason.

There are so many feral cats in Istanbul - they are encouraged by the locals who leave cat food out and bowls of water. 

Kath has enjoyed souvenir shopping and the traders have loved her interest. One chap's line to attract us to his stall was to say "lovely family, beautiful daughter" only for Martin to say that Kath was for sale and would he like to buy her....embarrassing dad or what.

Today we went to the Grand Bazaar but didn't check - it's shut on Sundays. Some clothing stalls were open for business outside all selling counterfeit label goods. We decided to try the Blue Mosque again - no queue at all! The gates at the visitor entrance were just about to close as they were preparing for the next prayer session but we just squeezed in. The label of blue mosque comes from the colour of the tiles decorating the inside - my photo doesn't do it justice.

Inside the cistern - queues of people dressing up in Turkish garments to have photos taken sitting on thrones with a tray of tea- not what one would expect down there.

Dried fruits, spices and teas

For our first full day here we caught the tram to the Blue Mosque and wandered around reading the information about the building and Islam. Kath and I donned our headscarves but we rounded the corner to be confronted by a queue an hour long so we didn't see inside. Later in the day we tried at the New Mosque but this time it was shut for prayer! Interesting fact learnt today; before megaphones 16 men used to climb up to the balconies on each minaret to do the call to prayer in all directions.

We walked through the Spice Bazaar which was wonderful - the sights and smells. The power went off when we were deep inside and we were plunged into darkness. I grabbed hold of Martin and got Kath to stick with us - she has had plenty of stares from the men here and I admit I was worried about her welfare in the dark.

The highlight of the day was a visit to the Basilica Cistern complete with huge fish swimming in the water, eerie music and the mysterious inclusion of two large Medusa heads at the base of 2 columns - one upside down and one turned to the side.

Moving on

After a great week we packed up to leave Greece. The owner of the apartment left us a gift of a small ceramic statue which Kath baggsied. We flew to Istanbul and caught the shuttle bus to Taksim Square. Then we had a bit of fun locating the apartment - finally we located it in an authentically turkish area; i.e. no one speaks English! Our next challenge was shopping in the local supermarket and Google Translate came to the rescue again. We are 4 floors up so away from traffic noise but not, regrettably from the Ezan (call to prayer) at the local mosque. Very generous host has left us a bottle of wine, 3 bottles of water, a jar of marshmallows, a bowl of chocolates, 3 packets of biscuits, 2 cartons of juice and a bowl of apples!

Last day in Athens

Today we walked past the Roman Agora, visited Hadrian's Library and explored the north slope of the Acropolis thereby using up our combination6N2443 tickets. We then went back into the Ancient Agora for a sit down in the late afternoon sun. It has dawned on us that, in a week we have only had to cross major roads twice - the Greeks have done a good job pedestrianising the area around the Acropolis.

Today we visited the Kerameikos which is a site containing the remains of the city walls, gates and funerary sculptures. Again we were wanting more information boards. At each site there are plenty of wardens who are whistle happy - so far we have heard them blow up and shout: no flash photography; no standing on particular stones (not always easy to determine as so many bits are strewn around); keep your legs out of the boundary line (if you are sitting on a permitted stone!); no country flags to be held up in photos....

We then walked to the Temple of Olympian Zeus which was impressive in its sheer size. The column lying broken was brought down in a storm.

On Wednesday morning we awoke to find that most of the electrics were off- only the kettle and toaster were working and a few lights. So no fridge, no wifi, we couldn't raise the shutters to the balcony and there was no hot water. There were no trips on the circuit board. The owner of the apartment was out of the country so not answering the phone. I couldn't email as no wifi. 

We knew the owner's mother lived nearby but not which building. I got a translation of her surname from the staff in our lovely local bakery and checked all the names against bells on the nearby apartments to no avail. A very nice greek lady offered to help and after a bit more faffing about she discovered from 2 old ladies that there had been a problem with electricity in several buildings but that it was now rectified. Sure enough, I got back to our place to discover that everything was working again.

We got the metro to the port of Pireaus - there were some migrants by the ferry area. We walked to the marina, chilled with a coffee and cake then walked around the coast to the smallest harbour for lunch.....and some cold Ouzo!

We were then going to chill in the gardens next to the Peace stadium but, like the National gardens the other day, they were full of graffiti and overgrown so not a place to stop. We decided to head back to the city and climbed up Areopagus hill for a good view of the Acropolis and to people watch in the late afternoon sun. 

This chap appeared wearing a long black wig and was swinging his sword around and baring his chest whilst his son took photos.

This is the Theatre of Dionysos and the front row seats had special holes......no need to get up for the loo!

There are quite a few tortoises around and surprisingly moving fast despite the heat

Monday was very hot but there was some cloud cover. We bought the combined ticket which will get us into 8 Greek or Roman historical areas and started with the ancient agora. Bit disappointed with the lack of orientation signs around such a large site.

 After a rest and lunch at home we went up to the Parthenon and explored the South slope of the Acropolis for the afternoon.

In the early evening we walked up Filopappou hill for the view. In a church near the top a christening was just starting. There was a small stall just by the door selling gifts either in blue or pink bags just in case some guests had forgotten to buy something!

We saw the Pnyx which could hold 13000 people - a massive Speakers Corner.

The photo shows the monument we walked to at the top of the hill ( taken from the Acropolis the next day) with Pireaus in the background.

I had read on Tripadvisor that it was a good idea to visit the new Acropolis museum before actually going so we spent a couple of hours there. It has been built so that you can see a great view of the acropolis from floor to ceiling windows on the top floor whilst looking at the antiquities. In the display of the frieze from the Parthenon there are gaps ready for the return of the so called 'Elgin marbles'. The greeks are arguing that there is now no excuse for the British Museum hanging on to them as one excuse was that they would not be properly displayed. Everywhere we go there are mentions of Elgin's 'pillaging' - he took quite a lot.

There was a massive storm whilst we were inside but still muggy when we left so we returned to the apartment for a rest.

Greece and Turkey

Good journey to Athens with Easyjet - lucky we weren't on the other Easyjet flight to Greece which was delayed by 6 and a half hours. We got the metro to Thissio where our apartment is and stopped off for a cup of tea for Martin and a chocolate crepe for Kath!

Yesterday we took it easy and walked round the foot of the Acropolis and got our bearings in the city then did a supermarket shop. Despite the BBC weather app stating 0% chance of rain it poured down and we had to take shelter for about half an hour. 

Thissio is a buzzing part of Athens in the shadow of the Acropolis with a market running all day and evening, lots of cafes and bars and plenty of locals out for a stroll. We are within walking distance of all of the sights we are going to see.

This morning we watched the changing of the guard outside Parliament which is accompanied by a band on Sundays.

There are a few beggars around and a lot of graffiti but other than that no real signs yet of their recent economic crisis.