Old City shutters
Originally uploaded by bastchild.
a travelogue for a solo cross-country motorcycle road trip from Tampa, Florida to San Diego, California in 2008 and an overland attempt from Singapore to Morocco from November 2004 to August 2006
Plovdiv, Bulgaria, a hilly old town riddled with a few Roman ruins. It is supposed to be Bulgaria's most appealing city according to the LP guide, but I'm leaving tomorrow. There are very nice modern pedestrian zones with cheap ice cream, pizza, and kebab stands (all about a dollar or less). The old city is on a hill with cobblestoned streets and crumbling old buildings being renovated with second floors that stick out (like in Damascus's old city). I did discover that things are cheaper here in Bulgaria than they are in Turkey, including digital cameras. Oh well.
I met three guys in my dorm at the Orient: Nicholas, Daniel, and Andreas (not shown). They had met at Istanbul's train station and I joined them for dinner and a wander through Istanbul at night. Nicholas and Andreas had were graduating from secondary school in a month and were wandering around Europe, getting into trouble, armed with only a backpack and a rail pass. They were Danes travelling as a Mexican and German to avoid hostilities in a Muslim country (ha,ha). Daniel had just used up his year-long working visa for the UK and was returning to New Zealand. The three of them had spent the day strolling around Istanbul drinking from bottles of Efes beer. It reminded me that I was no longer in the Middle East and I had arrived in Europe, where, like Southeast Asia, the backpackers were looking for a good time.
Constructed under Emperor Justinian in 532 AD, the Aya Sofia (Church of the Holy Wisdom), was the largest church for a thousand years...until the Ottomans came and converted it to a mosque. It sits across from the Blue Mosque.
Built in 1619, this beautiful mosque lies across from the Aya Sofia. The two of them combined make up the landmarks of this amazing city.
This is a street around the Topkapi Palace, home of the sultans during the Ottoman Empire, in Istanbul.
This is where St. John is buried. Somewhere in this field is the Temple of Artemis and its one remaining column. It is the only one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World that remains.
The cruise tours brought a show with them with music, costumes, gladidator fight, and the sentencing of a slave.
I was enjoying the lack of tourists at Ephesus for about ten minutes until I looked up hill and saw this mess. Most of them were from cruiseboats that harbored in nearby Kuşadasi.
My Canon Powershot s410 died yesterday so I had to use my videocamcorder for taking photos. The ruins (yes, more ruins) of the city of Ephesus are only two kilometers from Selçuk. Built around the 1st century AD, it was supposed to be second to Athens in beauty. It is a famous Christian site as St. Paul prosetlyzed here (his Letters to Ephesians).
The water was a powdery blue and there was some sand mixed with pebbles. I never even went in because the hotel pool was so nice and devoid of people. From Ölüdeniz you can take a boat to Butterfly Valley, a backpacker haven, but I couldn't be bothered to leave the hotel nor it's buffet table.
After six days in Olympos, I headed west along the coast to Ölüdeniz, a package tourist destination (catering to mostly Germans and Brits as far as I could tell). Even the prices on signs were in British sterling.
Fortunately I was referred to this hotel by a German couple at the bus station. It was only $22 for an ensuite room with aircon, cable tv, and buffet breakfast and dinner. It was awesome. Even the booze at the bar was cheap (cheaper than Olympos).
Strangely, Hussein decided to come with me to Ölüdeniz which was a little awkward. I started getting flashbacks of that wierd Brit I met in Cairns 19 months ago. But I was only there for two days so I left him behind.