In Iraklion, Crete

A few days ago we took the bus from Paleokora (??) to Hania, then on to Iraklion. The bus terminal in Hania is not very nice (crowded, dirty and disorganized) - nothing like the bus terminals in Turkey (We call it the 'T' place so as to not offend people since we unfortunately keep making comparisons, always in the 'T' place's favour). :^(

Despite what our guide books told us, Iraklion is not a bad place. It is the largest city on Crete, and the old part of the city where we are staying, (although more trendy/expensive than the city overall), is rather nice. We did have some difficulty finding a place to stay (checking out about 5 places before finding an affordable hostelish type place) called Hellas. There we are paying 25 euro/night for a small private room with balcony (but no cooking facilities). The hostel has a french feel to it (using bright blue paint and tiles to brighten the place up) and they seem to have a lot of french guests. It is on one of the quieter streets in the maze of streets of the old town. The city is not so touristy, so we didn't feel as if we were in a tourist zone (which we had to escape from) - most of the people we saw strolling about where Greeks, not tourists.

We arrived early on a Sat. night, and so got to observe the night life. We saw lots of rather scantily clad young women with pointy shoes and lots of young men driving motorcycles and scooters so fast down the narrow streets (where people also walk) that we thought for sure we would see a fatality. The city plaza is beautiful - marble with benches and trees - and as the book describes, pedestrian and vehicular traffic swirls about - so it is a very alive place. It is sad to see people carelessly tossing cig. butts, gum and garbage on the marble, tho'.

Arriving as we did later Sat and into Sunday, we had a problem we encountered before. Most shops are closed on Sundays, so it was a bit tricky to buy food. But we found cheap eats near the fountain (it looked quite nice, but it is under repair).

The arch. museum is supposed to be impressive to see, but it is under renovation. As is the Parthenon in Athens (as we heard from some disappointed Canadians we met at the hostel). You can't get a pic without a crane in the background.

Yesterday we took the bus to Knossos - which is thought to be a Minonian Palace. Unfortunately, we were quite disappointed with the place. The posted info and restored structures were sparce, with info similar to this "Evans thinks these structures might be for storing rubbish. Or it might be for grain storage". Compared to Ephasus in the 'T' place, it was pretty sad.

We did get some pleasure out of giving our tickets to the Canadian couple from Montreal we met earlier in the day (so they could get in for free), and out of advising some other people at the hostel who had come from the T place to not bother with Knossos (they had also been to Ephasus). Giving travel advice (and receiving it) always makes us happy.

We are beginning to suspect that Santorini might be the nicest place to go in Greece and we won't be going there. Oh well! We could possibly have done it, but it would have been a rushed (and expensive) side trip.

We spent the evening last night hanging out with the young Montreal couple. Tim and the couple enjoyed a sheisha (sp?) (water pipe) after drinking some cheap wine on our balcony.

Olivia was going to organize an outing with us in the UK, and Tim had gotten a reply from the 'cute dutch girls' who live near Amsterdam that we could visit them for a few days. We'll have do to this another trip!

Tomorrow we are catching a flight to London, then we are going to try to change our flight back to Canada (hopefully landing in TO rather than Calgary) in order to go see Tim's parents. It will also be nice to be able to see my sisters and their families in KW.


Observations
- Greek children are not that well behaved... our book seems to imply that children are rather doted upon and that seems to be the case.

- in the T place, guards/employees at historical sites were always well groomed, sharp looking men wearing back suits or uniforms (in Vienna, it was usually grey suited men) In Greece, you see half asleep women or people dressed as casually as the tourists, so it is hard to identify them as officials or employees

- people seem happier/less grumpy/more polite in Iraklion than in other parts of Crete (but we are still experiencing a fair amount of grump!)

- as in the T place, men walk arm in arm, as do women. Physical contact is not so verboten here as it is in Canada (which is a good thing)

- men have 'worry beads' that they keep playing with to help them with stress (kinda like how Chinese students play with their pens)

Maybe we didn't go to the best part of Greece, or maybe we caught it during a bad couple of weeks. But based on our experiences, I would say - Go to the T place instead!

Anyway, the trip has been educational! Wish us luck in getting back to Canada ASAP!

In Paleohora

A few days ago we hiked the Irini gorge which was a very good day hike. The bus dropped us off a Agia Irini village which was at the top of the gorge, and we ended up at a very small village named Sougia. The gorge was very beautiful and we really enjoyed the hike. Sougia was great (very tiny, <50 people)! We found a very nice place to stay, a good place to eat, and people were quite friendly. It is right on the coast with a pebbly beach - people seem to like to nude sunbathe along parts of it though I think its too cold here for swimming right now. We had planned to walk the next day to Paleohora, but we liked Sougia so much we spent a day relaxing there instead and did a day hike to Lissos instead (an abandoned village). The spot where Lissos is located is absolutely gorgeous...one women we met hiking described it as paradise, though I wouldn't go quite that far. I'll have to read about why the village was abandoned.

Today we were going to hike to Paleohora, but Tim wasn't feeling very well, so he relaxed on the beach and chatted with people, and I redid the day hike. There are a lot of Germans, Swedes and people from the UK here and it is an older crowd than the people we met in Turkey (there we met a lot of younger Kiwis and Aussies). Looks like a lot of people come to Crete to hike. Anyway, we decided to take the ferry to Paleohora tonight to see what the town is like. Looks like the town is quite lively - 2nd nicest place in Greece we've been to after Sougia I would say.

As people advised, the south coast of Crete is much nicer than the north, that's for sure!

We think we will spend next Friday?, Sat. Sun. and Monday with Bo and Olivia in London.... Olivia is currently checking out possibilities for us.

Tim just got some bad news about his Dad, so it is possible we might end our trip early.

Still in Hania

Yesterday was a very interesting day in Hania. We met a couple from Edmonton teaching in Qatar and that got Tim excited about ex-pat work again. We had a nice chat with them over a coffee. Then we checked out the naval museum (OK) and got excellent advice from the tourism info women on hikes in Crete. She mapped out a plan for us involving 3 days of hiking (the Samarian Gorge is still closed, so this includes another gorge). She was very very helpful, and an enthusiastic hiker. Then we wandered along the docks meeting a Brit aboard his boat who had spent 2 years sailing from the UK to Greece. We ended up talking to him, his dad, 2 Thai women on vacation (one of them living in Canada) and 2 other Brits. They offered us beer, sandwiches, then the one fellow (who is a musician) played his guitar and sang for us (the kind of music Tim loves). The musician told us that the law in Hania is usually taken into the hands of the locals - with tales of murders and kneecappings, and told us about various mafias controlling who can sell what where. Or, maybe they were just having us gullible Canadians on??? Anyway, we had a great time with them - they were fun and very hospitable.

Today we booked a cheap charter flight to London in a weeks time which will allow for the hiking and for Tim to check out some arch. sites in Crete. But now that we are running out of time before our flight back to Canada, with the not so great forecast in Spain, I don't think we will be able to walk part of the Camino as Tim had hoped. So its time to do an abrupt change of plans again. Sigh. I've booked 3 nights in London, and Olivia has offered to go on a road trip with us if we stay in London longer (which I hope we can do, though it is quite expensive there). (I think I could spend a whole week enjoying the British Museum for example.)

Saw a cheap flight to Amsterdam... can anyone offer The Netherlands travel advice? If you can, e-mail me!

In Hania, Crete (Greece)

Last day on Rhodes we went to the archeological museum, and that was well worth it. Oddly enough, we met a Aussie named Dennis there whom we met in Selcuk, Turkey, a few days prior. He is a very pleasant fellow, but he always seems to be in a daze/half asleep... we expected to see him coming off the ferry since he was taking the same one but we didn't... odd.

So on Saturday we caught the ferry from Rhodes to Iraklion, Crete (the main port). The ferry was good and cheap and the berths comfortable (like a pretty good hostel) - they even had showers with hot water! The ferry was practically empty - Tim and I were in separate berths (sex segregated) but we were the only ones in each of our respective rooms. Weird. The ferry conductor and check in staff were grumpy (hmmm, perhaps many Greeks are grumpy, not just our 'friend' with the cheap eats in Rhodes). We met a very nice couple from the UK who had recently moved to Crete (living on the south coast) named Jackie and David, and we spent quite a bit of time talking to them - when we weren't sleeping, that is. We ended up taking motion sickness pills 'cause we felt a bit woozy, and that helped us sleep. Jackie and David say their neighbours are very friendly and they are happy they retired to Crete. We seem to keep meeting a lot of Brits finding warmer and cheaper places to retire to. Anyway, the ferry arrived around 5:30am, and we walked over to the nearby bus terminal (trying not to get run over by the departing vehicles as we went). Tim and I had decided to take the bus to Hania/Chania/Xania (your choice on how to spell the name of this place) to walk the gorge whose name sounds something like Samarian (as Jackie said it was open). Later we planned to go to a town near Gortys and Phaestos (sp?) to see the arch. sites.

Arriving in the town we had an interesting experience looking for a place to stay. Each place we checked out had cheaper and cheaper rates and people were touting for our business somewhat aggressively. We succumbed to the charms of what a appeared to be a sweet little old Greek lady - for 25 euro a night, it was a clean-enough, largish suite (with kitchen) in the old part of the city where Tim wanted to stay. Cheap!! After we paid her she became indifferent/slightly grumpy like many of the greeks we have met.

Greeks seem, so far to us, to be a bit depressed, grumpy and a bit impatient. They are more emotional - kinda like I imagine Italians to be. They do try to help us when we ask, but it is not the relaxed, gratious kind of help we received in Turkey. Also, (like in North America) they want payment for rooms up front, or they want to keep your passport to make sure you pay.

Hania has quite a beautiful harbour, but the town itself is a bit big for our liking. You can see the snow capped White mountains from the city, and we found a lovely park to stroll around in. Lots of bookshops for Tim. Unfortunately, arriving on a Sunday most things are closed and we had a hard time finding cheap eats. The visitor info centre is closed, so we will have to wait until tomorrow to see if the gorge is open. Since we still felt tired from the ferry crossing, we spent part of the day snoozing, so its just as well today is Sunday. Tomorrow we'll check out the Naval museum and see about the gorge. Wish I had the LP Trekking in Greece book with me!

In Rhodes

Apologies if there are repeats of info... I lost my blog posting from yesterday and I can't remember what I've already said!
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Last few thoughts about Turkey..

We splurged on a meal in Marmaris (in the non-touristy area) where we got to try about 5 different dishes. They were all very good! Lots of spinach and interesting spices and he threw in a salad for free - good salesman ;^) Total was about 20 TRY and we were stuffed. We were reluctant to eat in restaurants during our time in Turkey because we thought we might get ripped off and wanted to keep costs low, but the 2 sit down meals we had were very good and no one cheated us at all.

When you stay at non-hostels, people seem to trust you to pay the bill before you leave... you don't leave your passport with them during your stay (in fact, it is good to keep your passport with you in case the police ask you for ID which happened once on a bus), and they don't ask for a credit card imprint as in Canada. It appears they assume you will just pay and they can trust you.

We saw a lot of security guards/police wherever we went in Turkey, but we never felt unsafe (except for maybe from carpet salesmen ;^)

Another nice thing about Turkey is that it is an Islamic edict to have public water available, so you see taps where you can help yourself to drinking water. The tap water is safe to drink here, but like in NA people seem to like bottled water. The taps sometimes come out of elaborately decorated little buildings.

Saw marble being mined during the last few days of our trip. You see it used rather generously on steps, in bathrooms, tabletops, etc. (in this part of the country) even in rather ordinary places.
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Yesterday we took the ferry from Marmaris (Turkey) to Rhodos Town (Rhodes, Greece). The ferry was quite expensive (40 + 40 port fee TRY) for a 1 hr catmarin trip. (I think TRY is the short form for Turkish Lira.) Oh, I forgot to mention before we had to pay $60US for a VISA when we entered Turkey - Canada is the most expensive of all countries! The rates seem to fluctuate based on how relations are between Turkey and other countries as they used to charge $100US for tourists from the USA (now I think it is $20).

The ferry ride was pleasant, and it reminded me of taking the ferry around the gulf islands (but drier).

After going thru customs, we inquired as to the frequency of ferries to Crete as we thought we'd like to go there next (or Santorini, but Crete is somewhat of a hub). They said they only went once/week (though we later found out other companies went more frequently) and that the next sailing was Saturday. We didn't think we'd like to spend 9 days in Rhodes, so we booked cabins (38 euros each) for an overnight trip tomorrow. Unfortunately we are in separate cabins (sex segregated - otherwise it would have been 2x as much) but it is still cheap I think for a 15 hour trip.

We were then touted by some hotel owners, but we had read not to trust them and didn't like the looks of them anyway. Armed with our Rough Guide and a map, we entered the old city and found a nice place called Niki's to stay at for 30 euros/night (shared bath) but nice and clean with breakie. Not as posh as Efe Apart but we're not in Turkey any more and we expected prices to be higher. But it is still much better than a hostel! Got mixed vibes from the owner as to whether he trusted us or not, but he seems to be a nice guy with good english.

We spent yesterday & today wandering around the old city (which still has its wall intact - you enter the city through specific gates - cool eh?) Tim was again in his glory pointing out the slits from which to shoot arrows at invaders, marvelling at the thickness of the walls, looking at the moat, towers, and soaking up the atmosphere. The city is indeed very impressive and worth the visit. I'm still having trouble walking down the narrow streets where cars/bicycles/motorbikes motor along at high speeds, and as usual, I always become disoriented and don't know how to get back to the pension. Today we walked to the restored hippodrome (sp?) and small theatre where they did not charge admission - a nice change! People were even jogging around the hippodrome (and around the old city walls too) for exercise.

There are more tourists here so we've been talking to some of them. We found a tiny little square near where we are staying (in the old city BTW), but away from the very touristy tourist shops. There we saw people gardening in their pajamas (locals no doubt) and then met a rather kooky lady from Texas. She fed about 10 cats(there are *lots* of cats here!) and offered all sorts of advice about Greece (then she tried to tout her services as a massage therapist). Then we wet a couple from Deep Cove BC who were very nice and who might know Tim's ex-coworker at Dynastream (or at least his family anyway).

Near our pension we found a cheap place to eat (2.20 euro for a gyro), run by a guy who looks strikingly like Richard (except that he is greek and has more hair, all white). We call him the grump greek 'cause he is. ;^)

Parts of the old city cater to the day trippers who want to shop, but the cajoling to sample their wares is very tame compared to Turkey.

Young women here dress like any westerner or rather hip european and you see them working in the shops (big difference from Turkey were we saw very few women working). The vibe is more relaxed than Turkey and feels rather western (you can talk to men and smile hello to them and not worry about them thinking you think they are the cats meow).

As far as finding things which make us happy... we had a cappuchino (sp?) (TH) (TH for makes Tim happy, JH for makes Joanne happy) in a non -touristy part of town (JH), then found a supermarket (JH!!!) with cheap food (JH!!) which we bought for our ferry journey tomorrow. Explored a fair bit of the non-touristy part of the new city where 'normal' people live (JH).

The new city seems to be normal to posh, but we had a hard time locating the supermarket or fruit stands. Lots of people speak english here (more than Turkey).

So far, oddly enough, I like Turkey better than Greece, but I'm probably still getting used to Greece. Also, we find it usually takes us about 2 days to get oriented to a new town (around which time we leave - go figure). Greece will be a bit trickier for us to plan than Turkey since we are dependant on less frequent ferries than normal(since it is off season). We think we will spend some time in Crete then go to Santorini, but that is subject to change without notice.

In Marmaris = catching the ferry to Rhodes tomorrow

Yesterday was an interesting day. We decided to leave Turkey (hoping to go to Spain to walk part of the Camino) and so we spent the morning investigating travel options. We found all sorts of very cheap flights online, but on further investigations none of them had any seats available. So we decided to go to Greece instead. Yup, its both stressful and invigorating travelling this way!!! I wish I had had more time to research, say, all of Europe before we left on this trip or baring that, had the LP Europe with us.

So yesterday late afternoon we caught yet another bus - from Selcuk to Marmaris. Again, we felt well taken care of (though a bit confused as to what is happening sometimes) as we took a dolmus (small bus) to Aydin and then were escorted to a big coach by the driver. If anyone wanted to rip us off it would have been terribly easy to do.. Aydin looked like a rather nice town = at least the bus station was fantastic looking with tons of cheap food available/ We've learned that bus stations are great places to grab cheap food.

Since it is obviously prior to peak tourist season and everything seems quiet, we thought that either someone would great us at the bus station to try to get us to go to their pension or (big step for me) we would wander around and find our own accommodation. No touts were there when we arrived so around 9:30pm (unfortunately it was late when the bus got in) we started wandering the streets. 2 people tried to help us/steer us not so great places (dirty) then we mistakenly asked a Turk if he found a good place to stay (we thought he was a tourist because of his backpack) and he directed us to the best place we've stayed in Turkey!! 35 TRY for a small& simple (but very clean) apartment with a balcony, ensuite and bit of a view of the harbour (Efe Apart). I was so very happy I wanted to spend the rest of our vacation here (we had also found a large supermarket during our wanderings and this also makes me very happy)!

Today we booked our ferry tickets to Rhodes (Greece) and wandered around the docks. Tim now has a new hobby of pretending he has a sailboat and asking at the marina office what their rates are. We also try to talk to at least one expat to see how they like the marina. Today we talked to a Brit who told us quite a bit about how she liked staying in Marmaris but more importantly to me, she told us how to find a bookshop with english books (I was in heaven as we found a LP for Greece!!! (even though I don't trust LP completely any more its good to have a travel book when you're going to another country, eh?)

We have found that most of the time when we ask where say, a bookshop or internet cafe, or anything else is, that most turks can't tell us. Perhaps its because the streets go in all directions (where I become immediately lost) and the street names are long and usually unmarked so it is difficult for them to describe where a place is. I think there is a potential GPS business opportunity here for confused NA tourists trying to get around Europe and Asia!!

Marmaris has lots of shops and the harbour is beautiful, but there isn't much to do here (historical sites). So despite my extreme happiness last night it makes sense to catch the ferry tomorrow.

As Tim observed, if you needed a cheap, beautiful place to hang out (say to do a remote contract or finish a thesis) I think that staying at the Efe Apart in Marmaris in April would be an excellent place do be.

From what we've heard/read we have come at the ideal time. The climate is pleasant (low to mid 20's) we've had hardly any rain, lots of wildflowers in some areas, and everyone is gearing up for the tourist season (so lots of places are open but uncrowded). Sometimes though we feel like we're in tourist ghost towns which is a little odd.

A few observatıons...

Turks lıke to smoke a lot! The men can be quıte charmıng and seem to be good at seducıng foreıgn women (though we heard thıngs don,t work out so well ıf they marry sınce the Turkısh way ıs to have the woman stay home after marrıage.) Some of the Turkısh men are ındeed quıte handsome but Tım says the women don,t do much for hım. Unfortunately Turkısh men thınk Western women are loose, but unlıke Egyptıan men they treat foreıgn women well here.

Men lıke to walk arm and arm.

Toılets have a lıttle spout at the back for cleanıng yourself after you,ve done your busıness. ;^) Then you use TP to dry off (sımılar to Thaıland).

Turkey seems to be the new cheap Brıt haven for retırement or holıdayıng as Spaın seems to have gotten more expensıve.

In general people are polıte and helpful but sometımes they (esp. hostel and pensıon owners) lıke to try to rıp you off a bıt.

Turks seem to love to sell!

Buses are frequent and cheap and run on tıme. On the bus from Fethıye to Bodrum we were offered water and tea and a snack from a very nıce and attentıve conductor who also let people on and off the bus (better servıce than Aır Canada!). That bus lıne was Kamıl Koc I thınk ;^)

Aprıl seems to be a great tıme to be ın Turkey... ıt ıs pre-peak season, the weather ıs nıce but ıt ıs relatıvely quıet.

In Selcuk

We,ve done a bıt sınce the last post. We walked for a few hours from Kayakoy to a town north of Oludenız (I am goıng to gıve up on puttıng the sp? down sınce ıt ıs very lıkely I wıll get the names wrong most of the tıme anyway!). Oludenız ıs a souless tourıst down wıth a beautıful beach. Don,t go there! Anyway, after doıng the walk (whıch ıs kında lıke a preamble to the Lycıan way) we decıded not to do the Lycıan Way walk after all. It was hard to follow the markıngs and the terraın just dıdn,t ınspıre us, plus there were other reasons. So we decıded to shıp our campıng stuff back to Canada. One of the guys at the hostel helped us acquıre 2 large boxes for cıgarette box delıvery (lots of smokıng here!) and after we packed our thıngs up we walked down to the post offıce to dıscover they were closed untıl Monday (thıs was Saturday)! They ended up callıng one of the women who work at the post offıce to come ın so we could post our stuff - wow - I doubt ıf ıf they would do that ın Canada! We bought her a pıece of cake to say we were very very apprecıatıve for her help. That accomplıshed, we caught a bus to Bodrum whıch ıs supposed to be the dısco capıtal of the Med Luckıly for us, ıt ıs stıll pre-peak season so ıt was quıet. We stayed at a very nıce place called Mars Otel and had a great tıme tourıng the castle the next day. That evenıng we took another bus to Selcuk so that we could check out the ruıns at Ephasus. Selcuk ıs not really to our lıkıng (though we met 2 people from Ingersol Ontarıo whıch was pretty odd) but the ruıns at Ephasus (esp the theatre and lıbrary) are amazıng, as ıs the museum there. We mıght be a lıttle sour on Selcuk because the pensıon we ended up at (Jımmy,s Place) ıs run by a used carpet salesman who trıed to do what he does best (ıe sell us a carpet), and ın general they are on the cheap sıde, also tryıng to get us to sıgn up for overprıced tours! (We walked from Selcuk to Ephasus and dıd a self tour amıdst a sea of tourıst buses and tours) Anyway I call hım Jımmy the Great because he told us how popular,ıntellıgent,world traveled, and of course modest he ıs. ;^)

We trıed to book a flıght to Spaın today but the flıghts are expensıve at the moment for our last mınute mode of travel... so we thınk now we wıll go to Greece.

Another chıllıng day

Tım and I were goıng to head to Kaya today, but unfortunately ıt was raınıng. So we spent all mornıng talkıng to a couple of Phd students from Germany studyıng ın The Netherlands ınstead (who were stayıng at the same pensıon).

We,ve also been talkıng to 2 gırls named Jackıe from Perth (who really mıss Australıa) and a couple from the north ısland of NZ.

Wandered up to the tombs carved ınto the clıffs above the cıty today from the 4th century BC.

Looks lıke the town ıs gearıng up for the tourıst season whıch hasn,t quıte started yet... that mıght be why our room ıs so cheap.

People are stıll beıng nıce or ındıfferent to us... when we went to the post offıce to check out how much ıt would be to shıp out hıkıng gear home they were exceptıonally polıte and helpful. We feel guılty that we can,t speak Turkısh, but Turkısh ıs very hard for us to remember and pronounce!

Can anyone tell us ıf the Turks are nıce to us because we,re tourısts, or ıf they are sımply more polıte than Canadıans are?

Joanne

In Fethiye (Medıterrean coast of Turkey)

I,m tryıng to remember what we did 2 days ago in Istanbul... We did go for the turkish massage at Cagalolu (sp?). Although ıt was an interesting experince, I don,t think I would recommend it. The atmosphere was great, but the massage and scrubbing wasn,t (it was OK) ... probably the case of doing the touristy thing again...sigh. We then took the ferry across to Kadakoy (sp?) and walked along the seawall, ending up at a marına (passıng thru an area known for soccer that starts wıth F). It was more modern and less crowded ın that area - you could tell thıs ıs probably where a lot of people lıved (rather than ın the tourısty area where we had been stayıng). We met a fellow who ınvıted us aboard hıs boat and had a nıce chat wıth hım. He then told us how to take the publıc transport dolmus (sp?) mınıbus back to the ferry statıon. That was an ınterestıng experıence! A young boy saw us lookıng confused at the bus stop, and helped us haıl the dolmus. It was a beıng drıven thru rush hour traffıc... I,m very glad we haven,t been tryıng to drıve - that,s for sure! It was pretty chaotıc. Anyway, we caught the ferry back (agaın, only 1.30 TRY (CAN dollars to Turkısh conversıon ıs 1.18 ın our favour), buyıng a tea en route (Turks drınk a lot of tea ın nıce tulıp shaped glasses... haven,t seen anyone drınkıng coffee yet). Wandered back to the hostel (Antıque Hostel BTW, very nıce but expensıve) and chatted wıth 2 Austrıan young ladıes Eva and Tına from Innısbruck (sp?) who were very nıce... Then we waıted for someone to "fıx the ınternet" so we could book a place to stay ın Antayla or Fethıye as we had booked a cheap flıght to Fethıye leavıng yesterday (75 one way flıght wıth Onur or Onar Aır - nıce aırlıne BTW). We trıed to take the Metro to the aırport as we dıd when we arrıved, but ıt was so crowded we couldn,t get on wıth our huge campıng goods laden backpacks, and had to take a cab ınstead 36 TRY!. Arrıvıng ın Antayla yesterday after the 1 hr flıght we took a Havas aırport bus to the bus statıon (9 TRY) then took a 3 hr bus rıde to Fethıye for 14 TRY. The bus drıver asked us where we were goıng and he called the hostel so that someone was there to pıck us up when we got to the bus statıon. Nıce. Its ınterestıng how the transıt used by locals ıs so much cheaper than tourıst (ıe cab fares) transıt, but we had heard about thıs beforehand.
The publıc transport here ıs very good and cheap.

Now we are ın Fethıye stayıng at a pensıon whıch charges 30 TRY for a prıvate room wıth ensuıte and balcony (ıncludıng breakfast) wıth a vıew of the habour. (Ideal Pensıon). Super place. It ıs warm and sunny here and the harbour ıs gorgeous (plus we are surrounded by low mountaıns!!) It ıs absolutely beautıful here - ıt makes me want to chıll and explore by doıng day hıkes and comıng back to the hostel at the end of the day rather than doıng the Lycıan Way walk. (I,m a bıt concerned about whether we wıll fınd enough water and ıf we wıll be able to buy food along the way as well.) We wanted a day to relax and explore so that ıs what we,ve been doıng todayç Just found the supermarket and bought 1kg of baklava for 7 TRY! You can tell thıs ıs a bıt of a tourısty town, tho, ıt ıs so much better than were we stayed ın Istanbul. People hardly try to sell us anythıng at all (whıch ıs great). I should have mentıoned that ın the tourısty area of Istanbul shopkeepers can be quıte persıstent ın tryıng to get you to buy a carpet or eat the overprıced food at theır restaurant, but compared to some other places we,ve been, Turkey ıs a pıece of cake that way... so no, not everyone who ıs frıendly ıs that way just to be nıce...

If any of you ever went to Istanbul I would recommend not stayıng ın Sultanamet, but stay on the Asıan sıde ınstead, takıng the publıc transport to see the sıghts ın Sultanamet ınstead.

One thıng to get used to ıs that people do dress very conservatıvely here (men often ın suıt jackets and black pants, women coverıng theır arms and legs, usually wıth theır heads covered). So even though I brought shorts and a t-shırt I don,t want to wear them (bought a long sleeved cotton shırt at a market ın Istanbul for 5TRY and plastıc sandles for 5TRY as well whıch I,ve been wearıng a lot). There ıs also a heavy polıce presence here and lots of securıty at aırports, bus statıons, and even when enterıng the Tokapı Palace we had to go through an ex-ray machıne.

So far we really lıke Fethıye even though ıt ıs tourısty. It ıs a gorgeous place (hıghly recommended)!

Gotta go! Hope everyone ıs well. Joanne

We like Istanbul

Yesterday we did a bit of touring around... the Blue Mosque, the New Mosque, the Spice Market, the Cisterns, and walked quite a bit (including across the bridge into Asia). We also found a better place to stay (yeah!) The Blue Mosque had a surprisingly light feel and had a good vibe... very beautiful (and free!) - we enjoyed just sitting there for a while watching the people. I hope we have a chance to go back. The Blue Mosque also looks amazing at night. The Cisterns were OK (I thought they were a bit boring, but Tim liked them - seeing the Medustha's head was cool), and the New Mosque also OK. We enjoyed the market (with real people - not tourists) near the bridge across from the Spice Market (you can get lots of good food here for about $3 or $4 for a nice sandwich from a street vendor). I also really like the sour & salty yoghurt drink (called something which begins with A). Today we went to Tokapi (sp?) Palace - wow, very amazing. Wish we had brought food and stayed all day. We went back to my fav. eating market for more cheap food, tried to go to the Grand Bazaar (but it was closed), and checked out a few Turkish baths... will try the Cagalogu Hamani tomorrow which will be a treat (its 300 years old with lots of ambience). The hostel we have moved to is very very nice, but we have to leave on Tuesday unless we find another place. We still like Turkey very much... people are polite and gentle... no one has tried to rip us off though they could use some German organizational skills I think ;^)

In Istanbul (barely)

I have to admıt I was a bıt scared to go to Istanbul. We took the metro from the aırport, transferrıng to a packed tram durıng rush hour (rather than doıng the safe but tourısty thıng of gettıng pıcked up from the aırport). We were off to a good start, meetıng 2 frıendly Turks on the way. The fırst fellow was an englısh teacher and he taught us a few words ın turkısh. The other guy couldn,t speak englısh, but motıoned for me to take a seat when once became avaılable, and he helped me communıcate wıth Tım who was a bıt of a way down the tram. Nıce, frıendly people - warmer than the Vıennese by far (though many of them ıgnored us - that,s OK too, after all, ıt was rush hour). Unfortunately we are smack ın the mıddle of tourıst central, (wıthın sıght of the Blue Mosque) whıch ıs very convenıent, but unfortunately, very tourısty (not surprısıng). Lots of people want to sell us carpets but Tım keeps tellıng them we lıve on a boat ;^) I thınk we wıll enjoy Istanbul - the Blue Mosque looks amazıng from the outsıde anyway.

If we can fınd a better hostel (Womat,s ın Vıenna was A++ ın most ways, but the staff were rather cold - or perhaps ıts just the austrıan way and we,re sıghtly lonely Canadıans?) - anyway thıs hostel ıs not the greatest - but we thınk we,d lıke to stay longer ıf we can fınd another place...

In Vienna

Tim and I have been in Vienna for 2 days now, and we'll be leaving for Istanbul tomorrow.

Today we went to a *very* *heavy* Wagnerian opera. The opera house, like much of old Vienna is opulant and we felt somewhat out of place. We got 'standing room' standing spots for 3.5 euro each (standing about 4 hours - whew!). It was worth it for the experience, but we will be heading out for a beer to recover. Think themes of sin, redemption, guilt, suffering, more suffering, more sin, temptation, more suffering (you get the picture) accommpanied by heavy (but sometimes very beautiful) stringed instrument dominated music and most guests dressed up to the 9's. Yup, my kinda thing. ;^) I think we're getting the picture as to why supposedly Vienna has a high suicide rate.

Yesterday we strolled around the historic buildings, shelling out a few euros to go inside the palace library (State Hall). The library was amazing with statues, vaulted ceilings, old manuscripts - just the kind of place to make you go wow. Actually, a lot of the buildings in this area do that for you - Vienna is definitely a classy place. We went to a Haydn (sp?) concert at St. Peter's church for 10 euro (violins) and the music and acoustics were awesome in a beautiful cathedral! We liked it better than than the St. Stephensdom (sp?) cathedral were every book tells you to go.

Austrians seem to be very serious. If these guys are lighter and more friendly than the Germans as some have said, then.... hmmmm.

Forgot to say... Vıenna ıs amazıngly clean and safe. The hostel (Womats) ıs A++ for cleanlıness and safety and quıetness, ıt has a very very good bar wıth very good musıc, and also provıdes a good breakıe wıth great coffee.

Time for beer!

About to Leave

Tomorrow we fly out of Calgary for a week's stay in Vienna, then off to Turkey. We will probably walk the Lycian Way (a 500km waymarked route in southern Turkey along the Mediterranean coast near Antalya). We'll be back in 6 weeks, but then (due to extreme advanced planning on my part) we are scheduled to leave 2 days later for a trip to Halifax.