Istanbul
Trip Start
Feb 24, 2006
1
28
43
Trip End
Feb 24, 2007
Istanbul, Turkey
Saturday, August 5, 2006
Okay, so this is possibly the laziest I have gotten during the past few months, I haven't done an entry for agggggeeess!
So, as I said in my last entry, I was really lucky to get a job almost straight away in London, I will be working as a Sales and Marketing executive but before I started, they offered me a tour to Eastern Europe so I could test out their tours and see a bit more of Europe! So off I went to Rome all by my little self! I thought I would lose too much money getting cash out in London so decided to do it once I landed. Me being me, I forgot to do it at the airport and when I got to Termini train station, none of the ATMs would recognise my card! It was sweltering hot and the bank wouldn't let me in with my backpack on! Even fluttering my eyelashes couldn't help me with that one and believe me, I tried! So, after trying about a million ATMs I finally found one that let me take cash out of my credit card and headed towards the camping ground!
Once I got there I realised I had absolutely no idea who I was looking for so I just wandered until I found someone who looked remotely budget expeditions-ish and ran up to them! Success!
So, I spent just one lazy night in Rome before we drove down to Sorrento and spent a sweltering afternoon at Pompeii. The next day we went to a beautiful island called Capri.
To be honest, the past 2 weeks have just flown and they're a complete blur, so I going to simply squash the basics of what I have done into this entry and hopefully I can be a bit more detailed in my next entries!
So, after Italy we drove to a town called Brindisi and caught an overnight ferry to the island of Corfu in Greece. The area we were staying in was not incredibly nice but the island was small so it was easy to get around. On our second day most of us hired scooters and rode around to the different beaches. It was a fantastic day, with the exception of a slight whoops between me and the road (I have photos on my phone but forgot the cable so cant put them on!)!! I ended up with skin missing on my knees, arms, feet and hip! By the end of the day I was a little bit bloody, very dirty and in a bit of pain, but at least I still have all my teeth and limbs! The next day we took a cruise around the island and went swimming, it was heaps of fun except that my new wounds would sting like hell whenever I would go near the water! Oh well!
So, from Corfu we headed into Athens where we didn't really do very much, saw the Parthenon, wandered the markets and got very very lost trying to find an internet cafe!
We spent the next few days driving, from Athens we went to a town called Medeora where there are monastries built right on top of cliffs. We got to our campsite late in the afternoon, put our tents up and had just sat down for dinner when it started pouring rain. I haven't seen so much water for years! So many tents got flooded because they were set up against the pool wall and there was nowhere for the water to drain! we had just picked up 13 new group members in Athens so it turned into a big rainy pool party for many people. I was soaked but not willing to risk Neumonia so I went and sat in the nice warm restaurant and drank coffee til the rain finished!
From there we went to a hole called Kavalla where there was a nice polluted beach and more rain before heading to Gallipolli in Turkey.
Gallipolli was fantastic, it was really weird to be there, dangling our feet in the water where so many people died. Its a beautiful area, its so peaceful and its hard to imagine how it must have been during the war. The trenches are still clearly there, the Turkish and ANZAC trenches are just a few metres from each other and apparently they used to throw food and supplies between the trenches. It was really emotional to be there and to read the messages on the gravesites of the soldiers, Its such a waste of life but then I guess our history would be so different if it had never happened.
After 2 nights in Gallipolli we drove to Istanbul, where I am now. We have had 2 nights here and we leave tomorrow for Bulgaria. Istanbul is a wonderful city, its got a great vibe to it and most of the people are friendly, but the men are just disgusting. You get hassled everywhere you go, they try to follow you, talk to you, sell stuff to you and they are so persistent and so anoying! I think it is really ruining the city for me, but im still happy to be here!
So, as I said, tomorrow Im off to Bulgaria, then Romania and then somewhere else, Austria maybe? Its exciting and Im really grateful for being given such a great opportunity to see so much, but Im really looking forward to getting back to London and starting work and having friends and all the good things that go with not living out of a backpack! Actually, out of all of that, Im looking forward to starting my job the most, which I guess is a bit tragic but Im just so excited about it!
Many apologies for this boring boring entry, I will try to put some photos on at least to entertain you but im not sure how reliable this internet is!
Ill try to update more often from now, and catch up on my emailing soon!
I hope everyone is well!
Speak to you all soon!
Lots of love
Tennille
