Perugia, Florence, Siena

After leaving Rome I traveled by train to Perugia, a student town in Umbria. The town itself is on a hillside, with the historic centre at the top, the bus station in the middle and the train station further down. The town is in a wonderful location: the view from the historic area over the surrounding landscape was magic.
























It was much colder here in Rome, given that the town is up in the hills. The people I met in the hostel were students from other parts of Italy rather than fellow backpackers. My hostel was interesting in that rather than giving each guest a key to their room, they simply asked you to leave the key in the door if you were inside or at reception if you were away. It worked fine as a system though.


I stayed one night in Perugia and sampled the local wine and chocolate, both of which were excellent. Perugia is famous for the latter. I wasn't sure whether to head to Siena or go straight up to Florence: the issue was resolved by the fact that there was only one bus a day to Siena and it had left before I got to the station. So, I took a train to Florence.


I hadn't booked anywhere to stay and all the hostels recommended in the guidebook were full, so I ended up staying in a slightly bizarre place where all the rooms were pre-fab type things lined up right next to each other and back to back in a large room. Privacy was adequate though and the staff were very helpful.



This is the Arno river in Florence. There are a number of bridges over it, one of which (the Ponte Vecchio) has a number of shops on either side. It's a very beatiful river but I was surprised there were not more cafes, restaurants, etc down by the water's edge.







Both of the hostels I stayed at were on the other side of the Arno river from the major attractions but it didn't take me long to get there each day. I went inside the Duomo, climbed up to the top of the Campanile to get a great view of the city, and went to the Galleria dell'Academia to see Michelangelo's David. Luckly it was cultural week while I was there so admission to the Galleria dell'Academia was free. I didn't book ahead for either the Duomo or the Galleria dell'Academia (you do it via a website and it costs extra per attraction) so I had to wait in some pretty impressive queues


On the other side of the river from the Duomo is a place called Piazzale Michelangelo, which offers an amazing view of the city. This was possibly the most beautiful sight I had seen so far on my trip:






While in Florence I took a day trip to Siena, a small town in Tuscany. It is a neat little spot, well worth a visit. It is famous for a horse race that is run every year in the Piazzo del Campo, the main common area of the town.








Florence is an amazingly beautiful city in the spring, I really loved my visit there. Here's a photo of one of its more interesting buildings:

Rome

After returning to Istanbul from Goreme, I flew to Rome. I had read on a blog that it was really easy to find Gluten Free food because Coeliac Disease is a nationally recognised condition. The blog also said that Coeliacs in Italy get two working days off every month to go and find food. I was quite excited at this news, but sadly I did not have quite as easy a time of things as the blog suggested I would. There were gluten free products in the supermarkets and the pharmacies, but most restaurants did not have any special gluten free options on the menu. So I didn't get the chance to sample the wide variety of pasta or pizza that was on offer. Risotto was available in some places, and most of the main courses (like roast chicken and potatoes) were gluten free. There was some interesting food on offer, especially the dried meat, the cheese. and, of course, the icecream At a stall near the river I saw cheese with pistachio nuts embedded in it. Lunches in Italy consist of 2 courses (e.g. a rice/pasta dish followed by a meat/fish dish) if done correctly. Shops and hostels shut down at lunchtime (12-2 or 1-3) and then stay open later into the day.


Motor traffic in Italy included a large number of scooters and smart cars. Pedestrians didn't seem to have right of way so one had to be careful when walking along the narrow streets. It was not uncommon to see smart cars parked in parallel parking spaces with their headlights, rather than their side, facing the kerb: evidently anything goes for them parking wise.


On my first full day I went to the Forum and the Colosseum. It was great to finally see the heart of the Roman empire and the famous monuments. While at the Colosseum I learned what the gladiators used as a substitute for Red Bull:




The next day I went to Vatican City to visit the Basilica of St Peter and the Vatican Museum (which includes the Sistene Chapel). These were some of the most opulently decorated places I have ever seen, everywhere you look there is amazing artwork. The Vatican Museum is so big and has so much great art that by the time I got to the Sistene Chapel at the end I had almost overdosed on it all! Truly a great collection. This is the ceiling of one of the corridors in the Vatican Museum, to give you an idea of the scale of what was on offer:




That night I went to the Trevi Fountain, a local landmark that people visit to sit and have a drink or two before heading out to restaurants, bars, etc. It is traditional to face away from the fountain, throw in some coins and make a wish: apparently every year thousands of euros end up there. It was a great spot to have a drink.










On my final day in Rome I visited a castle near the Tiber River, which was amazing because you could climb right up to the top and look out over the city. Here's the view:






















The hostel I stayed at was called Alessandro's Palace. It was really great: the staff knew where to go to see the sights, get food, etc and the hostel has a bar inside with cheap drinks from 8-9 and 10-11 every night. You had to buy tokens from reception and then buy drinks with them rather than paying cash to the barman directly: I wasn't sure why. The hostel also offered free pizza every night at 8:30. It is really close to the train station so we had easy access to the Metro, which accessed the main sights but not much of the city itself.


All in all I enjoyed my visit to Rome but did not find the city itself quite as vibrant or fascinating as Istanbul.

Goreme: Easter 2010

Goreme is a town in the Cappadocia region, which is an amazing place! It is fully of ferry chimneys, rock spires in which people have carved cave dwellings. It is astounding to be walking around and see glass windows set into the rocks.


To get to Cappadocia I took a 12 hour overnight bus from Istanbul. I didn't know it at the time but it is also possible to fly there. Bus trips in Turkey are similar to plane flights in that there is an attendant on board who wanders around every so often offering people tea, coffee, soft drinks and such. There are a few TV screens on board each bus and movies are played. On the trip to Goreme they started off showing Slumdog Millionaire but before much of the film had shown it was replaced by Transporter 3. I have no idea why.


I took a day tour on my first day in Cappadocia. The tour guide was planning to take us to places other than those on the itinerary and had to be pushed to stick to the schedule. It was a great way to see some of the region and go to places that you can then walk to yourself and explore in more detail. The best place I went to on the tour was called Uchisar Castle. It overlooked an amazing forest of ferry chimneys that I went back to later.


There are a couple of underground cities in the region but I didn't manage to get to them as they were far from Goreme. There are a number of different day tours and some of them go to these cities: if you have the time it could be worth doing a number of different tours to see the whole area. It is also possible to take a ride over the region in a hot air balloon. I couldn't afford that but I did get to ride a camel as it was led around a car park by its owner: they are very gentle creatures to ride at slow speeds but I don't think I would fare too well trying to gallop one across the desert. I didn't manage to get a photo of me on the camel because my camera battery ran out of juice near the end of the tour.


Like much of the accomodation in the region, my hostel had rooms set into the caves. I also went to a nightclub in a cave called Flintstones Bar, which was full of tourists. The music was all Western Songs than had already been around for a while before I left: music seems to take a while to work its way over to Turkey.

While in Goreme I ate a dish called Testi Kebab. Its a stew type dish that is cooked in a clay pot which the waiters break open at your table before serving you. Tasted great and was a good sized portion: it was also cheaper here than in Istanbul.


I've put the best photos from Goreme on Facebook, to give an idea of just how majestic the region is. It is simply amazing, one of the best places I have ever been.

Istanbul

I flew to Istanbul from Denver via Chicago. I had been in Denver for about four days and mostly just mucked around in the cıty, although I did do a tour of the Rocky Mountains whıch was amazıng. The hıghlıghts included the Red Rocks Amphitheatre and a trip to the top of the Continental Divide. You feel the effect on your body of being that high (11,000 feet or so) almost straight away. just a vague physical sense that something ıs not quite rıght.

Apparently it is also very hard to make gluten free bread at that altitude: we went to a bakery in one of the mountain towns on the tour.

There was an exercise group up at the Red Rocks Ampitheatre when we were there. Having tried to race another guy from the tour to the top and found it really hard I have extreme respect for them.

Istanbul is an amazing cıty, great contrasts between the modern buildings, billboards etc and the mosques and cobblestone streets. The maın streets and the trams are usually packed wıth people at all hours: it is a crowded city and the traffic congestion reflects this. The photo below was taken at 4PM on a Friday.




The day of an average Istanbullian seems to extend well into the night. I was wandering around Tunel wıth a friend from NZ at about 10PM and there was a fish market in full swing.

I stayed in Sultanahmet: the touristy, old part of the city where you find the Blue Mosque, Aga Sofya, Basilica Cistern and Topkapi Palace (all of which I visited, and recommend). These are all buildings of a scale that just doesn't get produced anymore. I think it takes a certain arrogance and daring to even think about building these sorts of structures, given their high size, the materials they are made of and the way they are decorated. It is inspiring to consider that each of the many columns, mosaics, etc inside would have been someone's long term project.


Many times I left Sultanahmet to go and grab food: it was cheaper in suburbs like Taksim and Tunel. The Turkish diet gıves a lot of prominence to bread but some of the widely available dıshes include rice. I ate many a doner kebab. Apple tea and Turkish coffee are also widely available.

Our hostel had a rooftop restaurant/bar which was a great place to hang out and think about all the things that people must have done during the thousands of years the site has been ınhabited by humans. The long history of the city was in full dısplay when I took a ferry tour up the Bosphorus, the waterway separating the European side of the city from the Asian side.

I wrote most of this blog entry on a Turkish keyboard, which was a challenge as I am unfamiliar with the dıfferent layout. The "i" keys are especially strange: there is one key for capital i and another for little i.

One of the most interesting thing about the city was the contrast between the old and the new, like a massive flat-peaker hat atop a lamppost in front of a mosque.




Things like that really illustrated just how old the cities are here compared to New Zealand. It is a fascinating place: many of the buildings have shops or restaurants at ground level but bars on the upper stories, so you never know what you might find just by exploring.

Here are some of the more interesting sights I saw in Istanbul:

More from Cave Junction

I met someone who told me that UFO's were real.

I told them I didn't agree, but that Bigfoot really does exist ......




and that dogs are taking over the world .....




but I couldn't convince them I was right.

The Oregon Caves

The caves are the main tourist attraction in the Cave Junction area: the caves give the town its name. It is well worth going to them if you get a chance.


I'm not quite sure why there were vents in the stone walls, but I did think the sticker was well positioned.









Here are some photos from the caves:

The Californian Redwoods

We borrowed a truck from Ray's friend Daniel and went down to the Californian Redwoods.


The soil changes between Oregon and California, which is why the redwoods only grow in their area. During the drive there is a quite sudden change in the vegetation.


Here's some photos to give you an idea of what Northern California looks like:

























We only had a day so we didn't get to see all of the redwoods. We went to stout grove which is one of the northernmost groves. Apparently the trees get even bigger as you head further south.


These trees were simply amazing to see - its best to let the pictures do the talking here:






























































I even found a new home! Its a bit draughty, but I got some great tax breaks because of how eco-friendly it is.