A kiwi in a world of nomads: May 2010

Into day 3 of a 15 day GAP Adventures tour of Turkey. Flight from Zagreb to Istanbul with Turkish Airlines was uneventful. Indeed, I was surprised that they have a relatively new fleet and more leg room than normal these days though I guess this comes as a result of paying more than normal for a short flight.

Istanbul airport is modern, only getting through customs took some time. Public transport into the heart of the old city is really easy and cheap via the Metro and Tram system. The city is huge though you see most of the main sights easily on foot or via tram if you stay in the main tourist area.

Our group is 8 plus a local tour leader. 4 from Canada, 2 from the US and 1 Australian. I am not sure yet if we will end as a happy group as there are some personalities that could develop into irritations. Time will tell and it does usually take the full 2 weeks before tensions ( if any ) boil over on these types of trips.

I was last in Istanbul in 2007 but did some of the main sights again including the Blue Mosque. Then it was a night train to Ankara on which I did not sleep well. The train was modern and comfortable so there was no good reason for not sleeping. In Ankara, we visited a museum and the no.1 sight in Ankara...the tomb of Attaturk, the founding father of modern turkey and still revered by most Turks today. We now have a 14 seater minibus for most of our travels. First stop is here in Goreme in the Cappadocia region. There are all sorts of weird rock formations as a result of uneven erosion of volcanic soils. You will have to wait on the photos to see these. As well, being in the path of maraunding invaders over millenia, the local communities used the relatively soft rock to build extensive towns underground, going down 60 or so metres over 6 - 8 levels. These they would use during emergencies, successfully from the invaders. They were also used by very earlier christians during various purges during the early stages of this religion. Several churches are carved into the rock. However, the whole area is a very popular tourist destination with all the negatives that go with this. Souvenir shops galore. I am going to a "trap" tonight...demostrations of various local ethnic dancing including the whirling dervishes as well as a belly dancer. You can tell what sort of "dramas" these will be when they offer unlimited free alcohol!!!

Eventhough technically a muslim country, it's the light version here. Quite a few of the older women wear a headscarf but the full chador is rare. Beside the call to pray 5 times a day ( the first at about 4:30 am ) and the presence of mosques everywhere, you don't really feel you are in a muslim country. Alcohol is freely available and consumed by many of the locals. Surprisingly large numbers of people still smoke. Some tea houses also double as places where mainly men go to smoke hooka pipes.

More trekking amongst the "fairy chimneys", as the most common rocks formations are called tomorrow and in the evening, dinner with a local family.

On the bright side, weather is delightfully hot and sunny. Probably to early 30's today with not a cloud in sight. A bit cooler at night.

We have 3 nights here before moving down to Konya and towards the Mediterraen coast.

Split

The first tour for the season on this route for Intrepid. I did think I did well to get a 20% last minute discount until I discovered all others on the trip also received this discount...daaa.

To get to the start, I took buses from Rovinj to Rijeka and then another one down to Split. This took about 12 hours. The road follows the winding coast with lots of bends through rough terrain. The only viable industry down the whole coast is tourism with every town, small and large, full of signs for "sobe" ( rooms ); apartmen, restaurants and bars. The land is so hostile that the only crops amongst the karst rocks are olive trees and a few vineyards. Small scale fishing may also assist. The coast though is quite beautiful as the sea is usually calm and very clear, as there are few sandy beaches and almost no wave action. The tides must also be very small as many houses are built right against the sea.

I arrived in Split about 9 pm and was shocked that a local festival was in progress. I have visited Split before so knew where I needed to go to find my hotel, just inside the corner of the ancient palace of Diocletian, one of the crueler Roman rulers. This was his retirement pad.

The holiday was the feast of St Juje, otherwise known as Split day. The promenade area between the palace and the sea was covered with hordes of locals eating, drinking and buying cheap trinkets for the kids. Through these I fought my way to my hotel, getting a bit lost on the way.

Next day was day one for our tour and the weather firmly established a pattern on day one...rain rain rain..get the picture. I moved hotel, just around the corner. I moved around the old city under an umbrella. Even though Diocletian's palace is a world heritage site, it's alive. People still live within the walls and there are many businesses including many hotels and restaurants. Then out to another heritage site, the ancient Roman town of Trogir.

At 6 pm, it was time to meet the other tour group members and my roommate and our first meal. Surprise, surprise a tiny group of just 4 plus a tour leader, Kris ( young male from Slovenia ). The other 3 were all female Australians so I got to have a single room throughout. Turned out 2 of these were on a longer trip starting in Dubrovnik with Kris. That trip also started with 4 so 2 finished in Split and two of us joined for the journey north to Slovenia.

Two of the younger girls, Brody, a dietitian was returning home after spending time employed in the NHS in the UK for the last 16 months and Bianca, had left her job in HR with Cadburys and was starting a trip over a few months in Europe including several weeks with relatives in Poland. Both of her parents were immigrants from Poland. The last member was Anne, also in HR with the Education Dept in Melbourne.

Brody, obviously very serious about food as a dietitian, did supply lighter moments for the rest of us though I doubt she saw it that way. Each morning as we were making our way to the bus station to leave town, Brody would need to stop to get a banana and bread for breakfast, but not just any ol' bread. So she would pop into each bakery until the right bread was sourced. Then at meals, Brody would always be on the look out for leftover vegetables. She ate a surprising amount for such a slight person. And where us mere mortals would binge on bad foods such as chocolate or ice cream, Brody would binge on healthy foods such as strawberries, sometimes with unfortunate consequences!

The two younger girls bonded and spent most of their time together whilst Anne & I went off independently during the day and met up with the others every evening for dinner and sometimes lunch. There was no dramas within the group and all meals were civilized and enjoyable experiences. Kris went out of his way to assist everyone with local knowledge as well as helping with ongoing travel plans. A better than average tour leader.

Zadar

Then by local bus back up the coast to Zadar, another town on the Croatian coast with an "old town" though this one is a bit false. As most will know, wars have ravaged this part of the world for centuries with the last skirmishes during the break up of Yugoslavia in the 1990s.

Therefore much of what you see is reconstructed history and in Zadar, they didn't do a very good job. You could see how most of the old buildings had been roughly reconstructed. The town was beautifully sited on a small peninsular with a surrounding wall. The town was full of young folks on some sort of religious festival. Large groups being lead around by happy nuns and monks!!

Beside the old town, Zadar does have two other claims to fame, both created by the same local architect, Nikola Basic...a Sea Organ and a Sun Salutation

Sea Organ - set within the perforated stone stairs that descend into the sea is a system of pipes and whistles that excludes wistful sighs when the movement of the sea pushes through it.

Sun Salutation - it's a 22m circle cut into the pavement, filled with 300 multilayered glass plates that collect the sun's energy during the day and, together with the wave energy that makes the Sea Organ's sound, produce a trippy light show from sunset to sunrise that's meant to simulate the solar system

Rab Island

Next stop, Rab town on Rab Island. A popular destinations for Europeans seeking sea n sun though the sun part was mostly missing during our visit. Another town with an old town on a narrow peninsular. Lots of churches.

We spent 3 nights here so one day 4 of us did a trek up nearby hills with goods views over the town and on the next, I spent most of the day going around the coastline and forests on a bike.

Bled

Slovenia beckoned. A small country, about 2 million people. So to Rijeka again by ferry and then by private transport across the border and into Slovenia.

A quick stopover at the Postojna cave complex. A 5.7 kM long cavern is first covered on an electric train and then by foot. Lots of stalagmites and stalactites but not the most impressive in the world. A brief view of salamanders without eyes.

Then onto the jewel of Slovenia, Bled beside a lake of the same name. A ski centre in the winter and place of beauty in the summer surrounded by the Julian Alps. On an island in the lake is a church and a castle is sited on a narrow peak adjacent to the lake. Very touristy.

We were here for 2 nights and in between rain showers I hiked out to the Vintgar Gorge with a 1.6 kM long wooden walkway that criss-crosses the swirling Radovna river

Thus ended our little tour

Then, on my own it was off to the Slovenian capital, Ljubljana. A modern city with a castle on the hill overlooking everything. Much graffitti, especially near my hostel. The hostel was converted from a prison and the rooms actually called cells and the surrounding area was suitably very rough/tough looking!!