Catherine & Shaun in Europe: May 2014

Well, after nearly seven months of silence on the blog front, here is the first instalment of our adventures in Europe!

It's hard to believe that nearly seven months have gone by since we arrived in London. We have both managed to find work, and are finally set up in our own apartment in trendy Shoreditch. We love exploring all the different things that London has to offer, and are very excited for the summer sunshine! We have also done a few shorter trips around the UK, including Bath and Edinburgh for New Years. We also went to Brugge (Belgium), but you can check out the pictures from those trips on Facebook. Also, apologies for the low res pictures here, but it would take a hundred years to upload otherwise!

Our trip to Turkey was a 12 day whirlwind trip with great friends, great food, great sights and a moving experience at the 99th commemoration of Gallipoli.

We flew into Istanbul on Wednesday the 16th of April, and spent two days exploring the majestic sights of the bustling old town.

Enjoying a beer from the panoramic hotel

A traditional recipe cooked for the Sultans at Topkapi Palace in the 1800's , lamb, almonds, figs, etc. delicious!

Turkish tea and baklava, some of my favourite Turkish cuisine!

Topkapi Palace was built in the 1400's and was home to Ottoman Sultans for around 400 years. The grounds cover 7km! The detailing in the buildings, the mosaics and gold are spectacular, and give you an idea of the immense wealth of the Sultans.

We then went to visit the Aya Sofia (or Hagia Sofia), the Pink Mosque, with it's exquisitely decorated ceiling (my neck got sore from looking up so much!).

A stray cat bathing in the spotlight!

One of the most iconic sights in Istanbul is the Blue Mosque, and it is as grand on the inside as it is on the out.

We then spent a morning in the Grand Bazar, spending far too much time in carpet shops (Shaun having to play bad cop to get us out again), and being overwhelmed by the selection of beautiful pashminas and ceramics (I even bought myself a couple for my birthday). We also walked through the colourful spice market.

Turkish coffee

Next stop, was Kayseri, where we met with Mitch, Tam and Sara and squeezed into a compact rental car and made our way to the small town of Goreme, Capadoccia. It only took us 2 1/2 hrs trying to navigate our way around road blocks...
Goreme is an cute little town, nestled amongst the fantastic rock formations eroded out of ignimbrite, which people have further carved dwellings into for centuries.

We spent two days exploring the area, driving to see the underground city of Kaymakli that the first christians built to hide from the Romans - over 5000 people living in 8 stories of caves underground. We also stopped at the hidden Monastery carved into the hill side at Selime (where they filmed some of the sand people shots in Star Wars) and had a great lunch over a stream in the Ihlara valley.

We indulged in local cuisine including the savoury pancake, Gosleme, and the sour yoghurt drink Ayran. I would not recommend the latter. You'll see why if you ever watch the video I took of Shaun skulling one!
We also had an amazing home cooked meal in a small restaurant set up by a local Turkish family. The food was delicious, and they were great hosts.

The highlight was definitely the hot air balloon ride at sunrise.

Oh, and following a failed attempt to get dust out of my good camera, I was down to my pocket camera and iPad for the rest of the trip after the balloon ride, so the quality unfortunately isn't as great.

Panoramic view over Goreme

View from our hotel at Goreme

Underground city at Kaymakli

Monastery at Selime

Shaun being one of the sand people

Sand people country...

Mitch being a sand person

Sham Ca completed a balloon flight!

Whirling Dervishes. Not traditional dancing, but a religious ceremony. Interesting, but probably not an ideal evening activity to sit through if you got up before 5am to take a balloon ride...

Our home cooked Turkish dinner a local family's lounge.

We then flew down to Antalya on the southern coast. We stayed over night at a small beach side village called Chirali, where we climbed up to see the Chimera, or the eternal flames, where ignited coal seam gas escapes from the hillside.

The next day we set off up the Lycian coast, stopping off at Patara beach and stumbled across an ancient city. We also stopped at Dalyan, a place I would like to visit again to take a boat ride to find the nesting sea turtles!

We then reached our stop for the night, Kusadasi, a very touristy seaside village (when asking where a good place to have dinner was, we were asked if we'd like British, or Turkish....).

Patara beach

Amphitheatre at the ancient city of Patara

Daylan

Yum!

Fresh juice

Dinner in Kusadasi

This guy broke my heart. I gave him some of my dinner, as by the look of his condition (and that he could barely walk), it might have been his last meal. I asked if there was such thing as Turkish SPCA, but apparently not. The number of stray cats and dogs, and even homeless children in Turkey was really shocking.

Next stop was the grand city of Ephesus. We took a 'shuttle' (i.e. some guys shitty old sedan), to the top, making a detour at a carpet weaving school, which actually turned out to be really interesting.

Ephesus is truly spectacular!

Preparing the silk

The silk rug this lady is weaving will take seven months, and sell for ~ $20,000

Exquisite! (also $40,000!)

Mosaic tiles

The library

The marble road

That afternoon we drove for a few hours to Pamukkale, to see the geothermal travertine terraces. If we had a bit longer, a swim would have been perfect!

Next on the itinerary was ANZAC day. We joined a tour in Istanbul and took a six hour bus journey to Anzac cove where we joined the thousands of other Kiwis and Aussies camping out for the night waiting for dawn parade. We managed to get some sleep, but throughout the night was a great program of music, documentaries and speeches.

After the dawn service we walked 8km up the steep hill to Chunuk Bair, where the New Zealand ceremony was. Chunuk Bair is the highest ridge, and was the prize for the ANZACs on their quest to capture the Dardanelles. While a few got close of the first day, the Turks drove them back and after nine months and thousands of lives lost, they never captured Chunuk Bair. On the hike up we passed the site of many bloody battles and cemeteries where hundreds of brave men still lie, with only a handful of headstones. There are still the remnants of old trenches. Being at the site where it all happened made it very real, and easy to imagine the horrors that men on both sides endured.

The New Zealand service was very moving, and Jerry Mateparae spoke from the heart, his grandfather had served here.

An interesting end to the day was when TJ, our tour leader nearly drove us back to Istanbul while nine people has been left behind up at the service site! Luckily some passengers alerted him or he would have never noticed! He deserved the bollocking he got when the missing passengers got back!

View of the service site around from ANZAC cove. You can see the steep terrain that the men faced when they landed on the beach 99 years ago.

Dawn service

Laying of the wreath

The Nek. Site of a very bloody battle on a narrow stretch of land where many Australians and some kiwis died. My basic understanding is that they were forced to attack in waves, the first and second waves of men getting slaughtered, and the third wave knowing what they were walking into, but ordered to proceed anyway. The Turkish even came forward and asked to please stop the slaughter, but the people in charge wanted to finish the assault and sent the fourth wave of men to their deaths. What a waste.

Remnants of trenches

Turkish boy scouts

The New Zealand ceremony

After an exhausting couple of days (both emotionally and lack of sleep), we headed back to Istanbul to explore the new side of the city before flying home.