Athens - Greece

We had heard that the Acropolis is over run by tourists by about 9:30-10am so we had planned an early morning, but didn’t hear the alarm, opps! We did however manage to be down for breakfast at 8am and out and up to the Acropolis by 8:30 and thank goodness! The rumors’ were correct, the whole hill side was overrun by 10am. It was difficult to walk some of the paths let alone get good photos, luckily we were just ahead of the masses. We were disappointed by the information sign’s at the acropolis, as it only explained about the restorations that took place rather than why the various monuments were built and how they were used. Also the fact that most of it is covered in scaffolding and roped off was disappointing. Luckily Damien decided to lug around the Lonely Planet so we had a short story time in front of each monument. It is a very cool place, despite the crowds and scaffolds. We found the best way to enjoy it was by picturing ourselves in toga’s and sandals, walking around when it was all looking pretty and being peeled grapes by our servants and slaves. We are also glad that we visited the British Museum to see all of the stones that have been removed from the site. Despite the Greeks wanting their stones back, I am glad the English took them and looked after them. If it had been left in Greece chances are that they would also be in a state of ruin. The Acropolis ticket includes some of the other archeological sights around the city so we planned our day around what we could get into for free. Our first stop was Hadrian’s Arch (one of our favourite Romans, he built the wall in England) and The temple of Olympic Zeus. The arch was dedicated to a Roman guy named Hadrian for all the public buildings he contracted around the city. It was a gateway between the old Greek part and new Roman sections of the city and represented this with a large arch for Rome topped by a three square Greek arches. The temple of Olympic Zeus was huge but not much remains of it. The frontage was very impressive but most of the rest of it has fallen, one column which is lying on it’s side was actually topped by the wind. This was very interesting as you could see how all the pieces of marble are stacked to form each column. From there we headed through the Gardens towards the main square for a Greek style of the Changing of the guards. We were a bit early so we found a cheap souvlaki for lunch then headed back to enjoy the show. It is very different to the English changing of the guards and looks a bit like dancing but without music. They would hold their legs up in the air and touch pom poms which were attached to their shoes, hilarious. Once we had finished lunch we had a walk through side streets trying to follow a walking tour from the lonely planet. This was a bit tricky but we did manage to find a small village of white washed houses behind the Acropolis. These were built by workers who were employed from one of the islands to make one of the temples. It was a maze of tiny alley ways, some as narrow as about 40cm. We made our way to the Roman Angora, another archeological site then headed for the Ancient Angora site only to be told it closed at 3pm which was a bit annoying. Our touristy day had finished early with the sites closing at 3pm, so we headed to the tourist information to get our ferry tickets to Milo’s organized only to discover it was closed. We managed to book tickets at a travel office then started to head home. We stumbled across cheap coffee and felt this opportunity had to be embraced. Just as we sat to enjoy, we spotted some lost Frenchies without a map or accommodation. In true backpacker style we had Samual and Marie follow us back to our hostel. After some down time in our room we headed to the flea market which was like a flea market anywhere and then had a fantastic cheap Greek salad. To finish our day we met our new friends Samual and Marie in the roof top bar at the hostel for happy hour and were soon joined by Jordi from Canada. Our ferry ride did not depart until 2pm so we had the morning to have a last look around Athens. We had a look around the Ancient Angora site along with the museum which was quite good as it ran through some of the basic developments of Greek art. Gyros for lunch, picked up some fruit for the ride and we were on our way. I am currently sitting in one of the deck lounges, scoffing a half kilo of fresh cherries, as Damien has a nanna nap trying to think of things to do for the next 3 and a half of the 7 hour trip to Milos. I might have to play Solitaire.

Istanbul, Turkey

After a fun last night in London, with some of our closest London friends, we were up early for a final bacon and egg breakfast and to finish our packing. We were out of London and on our way to Luton Airport in no time, we thought we had left heaps of time, but it still felt like a bit of a rush to make our 2pm flight.
We arrived about 7.30pm local time, in Asia! It wasn’t that easy, at the baggage claim we were waiting for Christine’s bag but it didn’t appear on the conveyer belt, even after everyone else had cleared out. Asking at lost and found, it is there with the oversize luggage as the zip holding the little pack onto the big pack had split and jammed. Unable to separate the two we leave it dangling off the back of her pack and head out to find a map.
The airport was a long bus ride from the city so we ended up sharing a taxi with Jake and Rachael, an English Couple we met at the airport. They were staying near us in Sultanahmet, and after the hassle with the bag we didn’t feel like taking several buses. We checked in to our hostels and then the English couple met us for a drink at our hostel in the rooftop bar. We then headed down the street and found a nice Kebab. Our first morning in Istanbul we went for a wander around Sultanahmet (old town), to get our bearings. This is the part of town with most of the tourist attractions so we found the Blue Mosque, Topkapi Palace and Ayasofya Muzesi without any problems.
Our first stop was a visit to the Basilica Cistern which is a 6th century Byzantine Cistern. It is beneath the city and has fine brick vaulting that is supported by 336 Corinthian Columns. It was dark inside with quite nice lighting. There was a photography exhibition inside which all the photos having a water theme. There are also two Medusa stone heads attached to two of the columns which were huge. We enjoyed our first Turkish Coffee and Dips for lunch, sitting in beanbags in the sun. In the afternoon we checked out the Hippodrome, which is the site of an Ancient Roman Chariot Racing track. They are currently paving the oval track with bricks so it takes some imagination but it still has Obelisks in the middle. The most famous sight in Istanbul is the Blue Mosque. It is large and has decorations on the inside, although it was not as blue as the name suggests. As you enter you are violently struck by the smell of feet, everyone has to take their shoes off. 80% of the mosque is sectioned off for men to pray, the rest is divided between sections for women to pray and tourists to visit. In the evening we met up with Jake and Rachael for dinner and drinks again. They had found a nice restaurant nearby to try which was built into an old print works building. It had great food so we all headed home very happy. Struggling to get out of bed as early as we had hoped, we rushed breakfast and headed down to the Topkapi Palace. Not our favorite palace that we have seen (so spoiled) but it was nice and quite big, but had a lot of areas not open to public. There were lots of antiques, clothing, crowns and jewellery (gold, diamonds, jade, emeralds, ivory) etc. Christine was really impressed by some of the headdresses that were decorated by 50+ caret diamonds. The long queues and big crowds did not exactly enhance our palace experience. Walking through town and along sea front Damien had a fresh fish roll from the docks (4 lira!). We checked out the Spice market for a look, lots of spices, Turkish sweets, rugs, clothing, plates, handbags etc. The markets in the streets continued through the city all the way, to the Grand Bazaar. The Grand Bazaar was bigger but had similar goods, 4000 shops, 400 products! Lots of stalls with same products, bit more hassle from shop keepers. The Bazaar seemed to have more gold and jewellery than spice market, but no food or spices.
We had hoped to visit Taksim, the main square in Istanbul for dinner, however we both fell asleep for an hour or so at the hostel, so ended up eating locally at Doy Doy, nice food and a bit cheaper than the touristy places near our hostel. Next morning we took a river cruise along the Bosphorus River. This passed a number of the local sights including the Galata Tower, Dolmabahce Palace (which has of 600m river frontage), Ortakoy Mosque, The Bosphorus Bridge, Beylerbeyi Palace (summer house sultan), fort and small towns. After about 1.5 hr we arrived in the town of Anadolukavagi. Here we had lunch in fish restaurant by the water and walked up a hill to Yoros castle (from the Roman Period). The walk up the hill took us through various shops and cafes, and past signs saying “castle this way, free entrance” however, when we got to the castle, there was a sign saying “Closed for restoration”. Luckily there was a nice view of the Black sea and the castle wasn’t unimpressive from the front. After taking the boat back into town we visited the Spice market again this time buying some Turkish delight and cushion covers. We then had to stop for Turkish coffee and Turkish delight! Continuing to walk we crossed the bridge and watched local fishermen. The Galata Tower was our next stop before finding another friendly local who was super keen to sell us dinner in small back street. After dinner we continued along a major shopping street to Taksim Square which is one of the main squares in Istanbul, before catching the tram home after a long day.
We had breakfast at our hostel (Antique Hostel) with our Mexican roommate David on the roof top bar/café. It had a great view over town and the water. It was a nice clean hostel, with quiet bar. The staff were very friendly especially once they heard we had some vegemite!
We only had half a day in Istanbul as we had our flight to Athens to catch in the afternoon. We headed for the Museum of Turkish and Islamic Art. This was quite good with lots of stuff to look at with the highlights being a set of big wooden doors decorated with intricate metal work, small sculptures and ceiling to floor carpets. There was a very interesting ethnographic collection downstairs which showed how the nomadic tribes of Turkey live as well as how home life in Istanbul has changed over time.
After the Museum we headed to a cheap restaurant for lunch which ended up being expensive when Damien accidently ordered 2 mains. He wanted a bit of the chicken and a bit of the beef from the canteen style restaurant and ended up with a lot of both. So to sum up Turkey, the locals are very nice, when they are taking your money!
We headed back to the hostel to collect our bags and were then on our way to airport via the metro. We arrived at airport nice and early, since the flight to Athens was delayed 2 hours which just meant we could take full advantage of the free samples of Turkish Delight in the duty free shop.

Wedding’s Parties Anything – Final week in London!

With Christine at work, Amy gone and Lucy spending time getting her London stuff in order I was free to do as much, or as little as I wanted! I wont say which I choose, but the day went quickly! I was soon cooking up a fishy feast for Lucy, Christine and Mel when they had finished work. Well I’m not sure if anyone outside of London heard, but there was recently a royal wedding over here. Surprisingly, it was kind of a big deal. Not keen on joining the diehard royalists (not really wanting to sleep out overnight) or muslim terrorists (who of course were protesting), we watched most of the ceremony on the tv at home. After this we headed down to the park where there was all sorts of entertainment going on, big screens, bands and DJ’s. Once again the booze kept flowing and what started out with minimal expectation, turned into quite a good afternoon. In her drunken state, Mel decided to cook us a BBQ, which was great, even if it was just sausages in a fry pan, as were not actually allowed to use the BBQ at the moment! While we have been talking about lots of being lazy, we have actually been sorting out as much of our stuff that we need to before we leave. This was the case again, mainly working out what to pack and what to ship home. In the evening we had some farewell drinks at a pub near Little Venice. This was nice, sitting by the canal in the sunshine, and great to see a few of our friends for one last time. Being a long weekend some people were out of town, so will have to catch up somewhere else, some other time. Our last week, our last pancake day! Sad for Christine, however Damien abstained, knowing what was coming. For lunch we were heading to The Victoria pub, another good local. Our last (London) Sunday roast, we were joined by Mel and Lucy. The food was great, everyone enjoyed it. After lunch Damien and Mel headed to the cricket at Lords. It was Middlesex verse Netherlands, but the main reason for going was to see Lords again. Knowing the system now we stopped off at the bottle shop on the way. It was a one day match, Middlesex batted first and made a big score. Most of the afternoon it was nice to just be sitting in the sun at Lords, with Netherlands Struggling early and then trailing along behind most of their innings. However 120 runs in the last 10 over’s, after half the crowd had left, got the remaining crowd involved and saw Netherlands fall 1 run short on the final ball.
When we got home we ate the huge salads that Christine had prepared, and were considering an early night, when Pinks and Gemma dropped in. The girls are never shy of a drink, so shortly after eating we found ourselves in a pub on Queensway for a beer or two.
Monday was May Day, another public holiday! We walked up to Little Venice as there was a boat festival on there, but without a boat, it was kind of uninteresting. From here we headed down to the British Museum for two reasons. The first was there is a temporary exhibition on in the grounds, by Kew Gardens, which is a native Australian plant display. The main reason was to re-visit the Greek Section and in particular the Elgin Marbles, which are a series of stone carvings taken from the Acropolis in Athens. Since we are going there shortly, we thought we should have another look so that we can imagine them still being in their original location. Too much culture in one day can be bad for one’s health, so the next destination was Damien’s choice, Hamley’s Toy Store here we come! Along the way we wandered along Regent Street which was still covered in British Flags as part of the wedding celebrations. We hadn’t been to Hamley’s before but had heard it was a multi storey toy store where the toys are out for you to try before you buy. While not as much fun as we had hoped, there was plenty to keep us amused. Christine got shot by an ‘air gun’, we raced slot cars and watched various other demonstrations by staff. There is also a big section for Harry Potter including a wall of wands.
Tuesday we were back to work, Christine had school, while Damien was left with the daunting task of collecting the boxes and starting to pack all of our belongings into two boxes to ship home. This task was made even harder by the sun shining outside, although there were other tasks to be done involving a walk down the street.
The highlight of the day was the evening when we had a night tour of the London Tower to witness the Ceremony of the Keys. Before this we met Jade who Damien worked with in his first London job. She works in the area so we thought we would take the opportunity to see her again and have dinner together. After dinner, we headed to the London Tower, where we were met by Mel, after she finished her shift at work. The Keys ceremony is free and the tour only lasts about an hour. For the last 800-900 years the same ceremony has taken place at the same time, with one exception, during WW2 when the tower was heavily bombed, on that night the ceremony took place 14 minutes late. It is basically the locking of the two sets of gates on the tower. This is of course performed with the assistance of an escort by the royal guard. It was something different and a great way to see the tower without the crowds of tourists.
Thursday morning our shipping boxes were collected at 8am. This was a relief as it had been a late night getting it all ready to go. After a well deserved mid morning nap, Damien headed to the Tate Britain which he had only partially visited once before. The last time we were there, there was a massive plane hanging in the foyer gallery, but this was gone and replaced by some limbless sculptures. It was good to return and see the parts that were missed last time, some of it was interesting, however a lot of it was old English works including a number of Turners, which are all a bit the same.
Rushing home, Damien’s night had only just begun. Christine had invited Tunde from her school over for dinner and we were joined by Lucy also. Since Tunde will be meeting us in Vietnam, we figured an Asian stir fry might be a good choice with marinated chicken pieces. There was heaps of food which was all very tasty. Tunde has just returned from New York so we were happy to see her before we left as she missed our farewell drinks.
Well believe it or not, for all our bemoaning of the place, our last night in London has come around quite quickly. We were up early, for another free tour, this time of Parliament and the Houses of Common. This was a stunning tour, for a year and a half we have passes the outside of the Westminster buildings and admired them as our favourite in London. But to see the inside was a completely different experience. The interior is decadent, covered in portraits, frescos, red carpet and antiques. At one stage on the tour the guide casually mentioned that “that clock is worth about 3 million pounds and the table underneath it is worth about 1.8 million”. We saw the House of Lords and the House of Commons, which is where parliament sits, debates and laws are passed. Its amusing as despite them being the leaders of the country, there is still a line on the carpet that they are to stay behind, ensuring the two parties keep their distance. It’s also amusing that when there is a vote the councilors only have seven minutes to be in the House of Commons from when the speaker rings the bell, after this they are locked out and cannot vote. The amusing part about this is that these bells are not only located around parliament but also in the nearby pubs.
After the Parliament tour we walked along the Thames to the Tate Modern. Christine wanted one last chance to say goodbye to some of her favourites. Having been there a number of times it was nice just to breeze through the rooms, stopping occasionally at our favourites. It really is an amazing gallery with so many interesting works. Finally we crossed back over the Thames and up to St Pauls to catch the bus home. Mel was cooking us a dinner for our final evening which we shared with Chris, Kirst and another friend Mel. Mel and Chris have been at DC since before we arrived so we have got to know them both very well. It was a great dinner, but more importantly, was nice to have an evening with some of the people that have made living in London enjoyable. Sadly the nature of the place we were staying, so many of the people whose company we have enjoyed have already moved on to bigger and better things. Finally Saturday morning rolled around, as sad as we are to be leaving some very good friends in London, some part of us has looked forward to this day since we arrived 18 months ago. After breakfast and some final goodbyes, including Frank the old bloke we have been living with at DC, we headed to our room for the last time to finalise our packing. Lifting our packs was no easy task, despite everything we have shipped home or thrown out they are still extremely heavy.
And then we were off… out the door, for the last time, excited to leave, excited to be headed back to Melbourne and most of all, excited about the next four months on the road home!

Random Memories from London

Abbey Rd

Lords Cricket Ground