Istanbul not Constantinople (it's from a song)

Hi all,

Next stop on our trip was a visit to the amazing city of Istanbul, on the very edge of Europe as it meets the Middle East and Asia.

We spent a day seeing all the sights, the huge ornate mosques, the Sultans palace, and an incredible underground reservoir completely preserved from the Roman 6th century which is eerily lit up.  We were staying in the very cool hipster area of Beyoglu right near Taksim square (which was completely safe for tourists by the way) and enjoyed lots of tasty food nearby.  We ventured across the mighty Bosphorus to the 'Asian side', checked out the bazaars, and enjoyed kebab after kebab!

We also had a day trip to Gallipoli to tour the battlefields of the Anzacs which was really interesting, seeing the harsh landscape and sites of huge battles taking place in spaces no wider than a tennis court was very moving.  Our guide talked to us from the Turkish point of view too which was interesting to hear, and we visited some sites important to them not just us which gave a good balance.

We just left Istanbul via train to Eastern Europe, but that will have to wait...

L + D

      The Blue Mosque

      There were hundreds of fish in barely half a metre of water

      Creepy

      Looking up the Bosphorus

      Just a little ice cream for wa-wa

      Taksim square

      The final resting place of John Simpson aka Simpson and his donkey

      The remnants of an original Anzac trench

      The very cool Istiklal St in Beyoglu

       Our cabin on the Balkan Express, more to follow...

Hellas Good!

Hi all,

Our 2 weeks in the Hellenic world went by very quickly, too quickly, but I guess time flies when you're doing nothing in paradise!

First stop was Rhodes where we stayed in the old medieval village built by the Knights Templar during the crusades, and was a little touristy but still nice.  Next up was Kos where we stayed in a fancy resort with pool access from our door, so the relaxing we did here was made much more efficient by cutting down the time taken to walk from room to pool.

Next was Santorini which was pretty damn spectacular and our hotel room was right on the edge of the caldera cliff so views were very nice indeed.  We went on a catamaran cruise around the island and through the middle to the semi-extinct volcano to swim in the sulphur springs then watched the sun set from on board.

We then went to Ios which was ok, the town was a little bit quiet but our hotel was very nice and had some delicious food and drinks there.  Last island stop was Paros which had a cool town at Naoussa where we stayed and we had some nice authentic food and wandered the little shops in typical Cycladic style of whitewashed render.

We made it back to the horrifically hot Athens to check out the Acropolis but that was about it, not too much going on in giant old Athens but was interesting to see the ruins.

Enjoy.

L + D

      Rhodes town

      Greek home cookin', order your meal from the kitchen

      The avenue of the Knights

      A little port town on our way from Rhodes to Kos

      The beach down from our hotel in Kos

      Hippocrates tree in Kos

       The view from our room in Santorini

      Most delicious meal in Greece, Santorini style tomato balls

      The cliff side of Oia town

      Happening Ios!

      The tastiest lemonade drink ever!

      A quiet little alley in Paros

      The Acropolis in Athens