(As you can see I've given the blog a bit of a revamp. More on this to come. The upshot is I've spent so long faffing around with the design I've left little time for writing. Hence the rather large photo to word ratio in this post. This is a relief to you I'm sure. This will be my last holiday related post. Normal Ramallah-related service will resume shortly.)
Long story short, I decided to skip Syria, stay in Turkey for two weeks and fly to Tel Aviv from Istanbul. Turkey is a wonderful country with stunningly diverse scenery and in Istanbul has one of the most mesmerising cities I've ever visited.
My highlights are as follows:
1) The architecture of Istanbul, capped by the interior of the Aga Sofia. If religion can be credited for anything of merit in this world, this is surely it.
3) The Istanbul tulip festival. All shapes and colours. (Just missing the company of the most important tulip fan in my life.) More tulips.
4) The joyous ability of Istanbul to confound your expectations every time you round a corner. Each time you think you have this city pegged it confronts you with a different face. Flippin' marvellous! More Istanbul.
8) This is Oludeniz, best sampled from this distance due to the unfortunate presence of large numbers of vest-wearing, tattoo-blaring Brits-on-tour. Luckily I was on my way to Faralya via the Lycian Way and got its best side. (By the way if you are going to go to one place in Turkey that is not Istanbul, go to the nearby Butterfly Valley. I'm not saying anymore. You will have to trust me on this one.) More Lycian Way.
In summary:
Cleary, I had a top couple of weeks. After passing through ten countries on the way from London to Istanbul it was a good to have some time in one place. City hopping can be a particularly superficial brand of tourism. It is easy to fall into the trap of just trawling around and ticking off the sites. It took me a while to figure this out but having friends to visit along the way certainly helped. A huge thank you to Natalie, Stijn, Lowri and Alice. You made my trip very special.
As for Turkey - after a stressful first day in Istanbul battling the hordes of tourists, I made my best decision of the entire trip. I tore up my plans and threw away the guide book and began instead to rely on good fortune and the kindness of strangers to direct me. No plans means no plans-gone-wrong which means no disappointments. Most importantly I realised that travelling is about how you feel not what you see and do. There is no point keeping score if you are not enjoying yourself.
So my top three tips for travelling:
1) Talk to everybody (no matter how American they appear).
2) Plan no more than a day ahead (ok, two days if it is peak season).
3) Always carry loo paper (credit Chloe Day).
There is no finer recipe for a splendid (and sanitary) ramble across Europe.
Long story short, I decided to skip Syria, stay in Turkey for two weeks and fly to Tel Aviv from Istanbul. Turkey is a wonderful country with stunningly diverse scenery and in Istanbul has one of the most mesmerising cities I've ever visited.
My highlights are as follows:
2) The beguiling twists and turns of the Beyoglu district, over the Golden Horn from the old city of Istanbul. Add one part Genoa to two parts Shoreditch (minus the skinny jeans and asymmetric haircuts) and you're about there.
5) Getting wonderfully lost in Cappadocia. Some volcanic chicanery a while back has made this place a playground for sense-of-direction deficient amateur climbers like myself. I spent four hours not knowing which way was up and not really caring. More Cappadocia.
6) The bizarre fiery phenomenon of the Chimera at Olympos. Natural gas-fed flames flowing straight from the rock. Would have been rather handy on DofE!. (Olympos also has ancient ruins, beaches, mountains, mosques and beautiful trails. You should go there. Now.) More Olympos.
7) Diving in the Med in a plane in Kaş. In a plane! This was just cool. More diving please. More Kaş.
In summary:
Cleary, I had a top couple of weeks. After passing through ten countries on the way from London to Istanbul it was a good to have some time in one place. City hopping can be a particularly superficial brand of tourism. It is easy to fall into the trap of just trawling around and ticking off the sites. It took me a while to figure this out but having friends to visit along the way certainly helped. A huge thank you to Natalie, Stijn, Lowri and Alice. You made my trip very special.
As for Turkey - after a stressful first day in Istanbul battling the hordes of tourists, I made my best decision of the entire trip. I tore up my plans and threw away the guide book and began instead to rely on good fortune and the kindness of strangers to direct me. No plans means no plans-gone-wrong which means no disappointments. Most importantly I realised that travelling is about how you feel not what you see and do. There is no point keeping score if you are not enjoying yourself.
So my top three tips for travelling:
1) Talk to everybody (no matter how American they appear).
2) Plan no more than a day ahead (ok, two days if it is peak season).
3) Always carry loo paper (credit Chloe Day).
There is no finer recipe for a splendid (and sanitary) ramble across Europe.
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