Near the Blue Mosque Istanbul

Istanbul was great, a lively cosmopolitan city on the beautiful Bosphorous. You can refer to a a good guide book for the usuaual photos…just sharing a couple  of mine.

Into the Topkapi Palace, Istanbul

We have seen a few of these little guys dressed up for a school ceremony, I think.

I climbed the mountain to get this photo of the Ishak Pasa Palace

Fashion at the Palace

Once over the border and into Turkey everything changed.  It seemed like the world was back to normal. The convoy is no longer the huge source of interest, enjoyment and excitement, to the locals, that it was in The Stans and China. People pass us and may wave, just as they might if we were driving down the highway in our home state, but it is nothing like we experienced in China, and particularly in Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan. It was just incredible the response that the convoy generated in those countries.

The convoy has driven East to West in northern Turkey following the coast along the Black Sea and driving through the beautiful, rugged Pontic and Georgian Mountains. The driving has been good and the diversity of the country is extensive with grain, maize, rice, barley and a huge variety of edible crops for the table being harvested.

The contrast between Turkey and Iran is remarkable. Both have similar size populations, great resources and superb and diverse scenery with lots of inland lakes and mountain ranges.

But that’s where the similarities end. Turkey is a developed country with a per capita GNP just a little lower than Australia. Turkey is keen to get into the European Union as we are told that the country has a view that it can be a bridge between the East and the West.

It appears that one of the biggest problems facing the country is social and political unrest with the PKK, a subversive group, mounting random attacks. Since we have been in Turkey there have been reports of attacks which sadly have resulted in loss of life in Istanbul and in southern Turkey.

The Turkish people we have met are superb. They are happy, sociable and so courteous. Everything seems to be done with a light touch and lots of smiles. The males are charming to women guests in their country.

It has been refreshing to see the personal and religious freedom of people in this country. We have heard the call to prayer five times a day and note that people respond in different ways. Some of the women are in full Islamic garb while others often in the same family are in western gear. I saw one grandmother in full hejab, her thirty something daughter in trendy glitter and slacks and the granddaughter in skimpy shorts. They were walking down the street holding hands. It would have made a great photo. Guess that’s what is possible when you separate the church and state.

The highlights of Eastern Turkey have been the Ishak Pasa Palace, the  Sümela Monastery and the Black Sea.Ishak Pasa Palace out of Doyubayazi is an Ottoman ruin started in 1685. After the Topaki Palace in Istanbul it is the most famous former administrative palace in Turkey.

Situated on a rugged mountain with three sided steep slopes it provided great protection and included a massive complex of administrative office, dungeons, harem , libraries and dining halls all of which were once rich with frescoes and other adornments

The Sümela Monastery stands at the foot of a steep cliff facing the Altındere Valley  approximately 1200 metres and  is a major tourist attraction

 Founded in the year 386 AD legend has it that two priests undertook the founding of the monastery on the site after having discovered  icon of the virgin.

The Monastery was seized by the Russian Empire during the occupation of Trabzon in the years 1916-1918. The site was finally abandoned in 1923.

Today the monastery’s primary function is as a tourist attraction. Its place overlooking the forests and streams below, make it extremely popular for its aesthetic attraction as well as for its cultural and religious significance. Currently restoration works are underway.

Sumela Monastery Eastern Turkey

Frescos at the Sumela Monastery, Eastern Turkey

View from our room. Fatsa on the Black Sea

Spices for the Silk Road

Mr Jeremy Fisher checks out carpets in the Grand Bazaar,Istanbul

Love tea in the Spice Bazaar,Istanbul

The three friends have travelled along the ancient, 8,000 kilometre Silk Road from Xian in China to Istanbul, formerly Constantinople in Turkey. Like the travellers from times long ago, they have experienced heat, rain, a snow storm, dust and sand storms, rugged unmade mountainous roads, a number of break downs but luckily many of the roads have been excellent and provided for a comfortable ride.

They have   listened to guides and heard the team talking about the Silk Road and they learnt that the Romans, the Parthians and the Byzantine empires all sought to control this important trade route.  

 They know that the term the Silk Road was only coined at the beginning of the twentieth century and that there is not a single road but numerous roads and by ways that have been used for centuries as people have moved goods both ways, from east to west.

Unlike the little MG convoy, haulers would often only travel part of the way. There were never single haulers. The camel trains used to travel for about thirty kilometres a day and then arrive at caravanserais which were like permanent haulers settlements along the route. Peter Rabbit and Benjamin Bunny have seen so many serais along the way. Some have even been converted into markets. Serais are marked on every map in the team’s possession the friends noted.

Mr Jeremy Fisher has done some background research and told PR and BB that once sea travel became an option, in the fifteen century, the Silk Road was abandoned as it had become very dangerous with robbers and bandits , so sea trade was much safer.

The caravan tracks of the Silk Road have now been made into roads and highways which  thread through some of the highest mountains and the harshest deserts in the world. Beautiful country but it must have been impassable in winter Jeremy thought.

Anyway the friends decided to check out the bazaars of Istanbul  and would you believe it they found all the things in the Grand Bazaar and the Spice Bazaar  that have been traded for centuries: spices, carpets, silk, silver, gold, porcelain and perfumes.

Benjamin Bunny had a wild time sniffing the essential oils which are the base for perfumes. He was particularly taken with the Istanbul Rose and the old Tea Rose. Peter Rabbit scurried around all the spices and saw lots of saffron, different teas and peppers. A bit heavy on the nose he thought and not much good in his diet.

Mr Jeremy Fisher was drawn to the carpets and was plied with endless cups of apple tea as the carpet vendors expounded the virtues of their carpets. The number of knots, the quality if the silk and wool and the fact that they were handmade. It was all a bit much but these guys do the “hard sell” with such style and charm, plus the apple tea is very refreshing.

Where does this road really end was Mr Jeremy Fisher’s big question and how did folks in the old days get goods back to Europe from Istanbul. This was a question he would have to work on as the convoy travelled into Greece and beyond.

Perfumes and essential oils

Six MGs in Cappadocia, Turkey

Dan just slipped away with no goodbyes or roasts, while Simon’s farewell included a “hat” dinner with an epic poem written by Ken, the Bard, Kerith and Ian M outlining some of Simon’s more memorable moments on the trip. Simon had a number of nicknames, but at some stage he said he was like Teflon. So the “Teflon Man” was ribbed for losing his wallet, credit cards, directions to hotels and his 360 degree spin out. It was all good fun and Simon took it very well.

We will all miss Simon’s companionship, humour and navigation skills; when all else fails or when in doubt ask the locals , not once, twice but numerous times.  I am sure Maddie and the family will be thrilled when he touches down in Melbourne.

We dressed in hats which we were told had to be made and not purchased. Denise won the hat competition with a hat covered in luscious cherries while Dave’s headdress was underpants inscribed with “who wears the pants” written on the back which  may have had something to do with Laurel’s arrival. Joking!! Dave  said that comment was for Kerith and I as we questioned him so much for the first couple of weeks but now it is ”the burghers” who seem to do the cross checking. The dilemmas of leadership.

My hat was a construction of my three friends: Mr Jeremy Fisher, Benjamin Bunny and Peter Rabbit.  Mr Jeremy Fisher even had some Quotable Quotes which he had written down along the way. Most members of the team were quick to recognise their quote.

Dan joined the trip as Dave’s mechanic and he has been generous with his time and knowledge in supporting all of the driver come mechanics. The cars still have a long way to go and according to Dan there are still some interesting idiosyncrasies about the cars, including the Orange Cars need for another wash before it gets to London.

Dan just disappeared. We had prepared an epic poem for him but he was fortunate to be able to procure an immediate and  direct flight home. So best wishes Dan, we will miss you and now there’s no one to monitor the verbage on the CB and when it gets too much turn it off.

We welcomed Laurel and Lorraine to the team. Now we have a balance of males and females. It has been interesting to see the team forming, doing a bit of storming, norming and performing as team theory dictates. With each leg of the trip there has been different dynamic when you consider that there have been people coming and going and different guides bringing a new perspective and influence to the group. All really fascinating and  it is great that the team has been very unified and accepting.

Wearing funny hats.

Ian and Denise are on the road again

 What a relief for everyone and can you believe this. After two days recuperating from the nasty hot air balloon crash landing Ian and Denise are back on the road with the convoy. Today we drove 470  kms from Urgup to Bolu, just 270 kms from Istanbul  which is no mean feat when Ian had a general anaesthetic only two days ago.

Ian is absolutely determined to complete the China MG factory to England MG factory drive. He is focussed and won’t let anything get in the way of his goal. He has the unwavering support from Denise, his wife. They are both full of beans when I asked them to make a comment I could post on the blog this was their response.

Denise says” I am still giving instructions’

Ian says “I am still taking no notice”

You work that out!

Ian and Densie tell us that after Ian was discharged from the hospital he was taken to the Police Station. He and Denise were plied with cups of tea and quite a circus ensued. The head of police and about eight armed officers were extremely attentive to Ian and Denise and interacted with the chief hot air balloon pilot and the staff who were involved in the landing. Lots of handshakes and socializing.

The purpose for the visit to the Police Station was so that the police could take a statement from Ian and complete Statutory Declaration in relation to the hot air balloon landing. Ian was questioned about  the way he had been treated by the hot air balloon company and the hospital.

This procedure took over one half hours and Ian says he felt under duress and that although everyone was extremely friendly and courteous, it was a snow job. He was even invited to one the police officers homes to meet the family.

Basically the company, the police and Ian have a document in Turkish which Ian believes indicates his satisfaction with the way the situation was managed. Ian and Denise are pleased to be back on the road and amazed by the way things were handled in this case. They are pretty philosophical about the event and thankful that they can continue with the drive of a lifetime.

NB: The hot air balloon company waivered the cost of Ian’s ticket for the flight but not Denise’s!

Across the Bosphorous and into Istanbul

Mr Jeremy Fisher examines the frescoes in the ancient rock church

Peter Rabbit and Benjamin Bunny are back at it again and have found bunny Utopia in Cappadocia, Turkey. You know how bunnies live underground in burrows, well imagine their surprise when they discovered not burrows but tunnels and tunnels of underground cities which were built by the Byzantine Christians in the fifth and sixth centuries in order to escape the Persian and Arabic armies who were intent on destroying their religion.

Peter and Benjamin were so excited. These underground cities offered  bunnies safety from ferrets a foxes and all those other nasty   predators. No one could catch a rabbit here as there were so many nooks and crannies. Imagine the space in the rooms of these tunnelled cities and the way you could decorate each room. And the storage, you could stock pile carrots, lettuce, spinach and even pumpkin and it would stay fresh in such a controlled atmosphere. It never got hotter than 16 degrees no matter how hot or cold  it was outside.

The rabbits listened attentively to the guide Arhmed who explained that there are thirty seven underground cities which have been opened so far. These ancient people were so clever, the bunnies agreed, as all you can see from the fields and mounds outside are air shafts which ensured that the inhabitants had fresh air. A pretty nifty way to conceal things.

Peter and Benjamin Bunny had such a fun time scooting through the tunnels. Once underground, the first space they entered was the old stable where the animals would reside when the weather was extremely hot or an attack was imminent.

The tunnel lead past a mortuary, a large communal kitchen with the biggest pestle for grinding spices and seeds and even an arrangement on one rock formation for  making wine.

Each city is connected by a tunnel of many miles and the bunnies were intrigued to know that thousands of years ago fifty millimetre holes between the rock  rooms served as an intercom which gave people warning if there was a likely attack. The people could escape out through the other side of the mountain just like rabbits do when those silly ferrets try to invade their burrows.  

Sadly the bunnies didn’t have time to explore the thirty seven cities as their little legs were exhausted from climbing up and down those steps in the underground tunnels. Luckily they were able to hop back into the backpack for a rest.

Mr Jeremy Fisher spent a lot of  time looking at the frescoes in the ancient  churches located in the rocky outcrops. He was fascinated with all the small openings in the walls and rock formations. He heard Arhmed talking about  the oddest fact of the day really, that pigeons were encouraged to nest and rest in these openings in the rock wall dwellings and then their droppings were collected and used for fertilizer. Maybe that explained the healthy veggie patches that Peter Rabbit and Benjamin Bunny noticed all around the Cappadocia region.

After consultation with Mr Jeremy Fisher they agreed they all needed to do a bit more research about the Hittites who first developed these tunnel cities and used them 4,000 years ago to store wine. They must have loved their wine to build an underground city for its storage. They wondered was it white or red wine and were those grapes fertilized with pigeon droppings?

PR and BB on the grinding stonein the underground city

Cappadocia Hot Air Ballooning

A beautiful ride for the team of twelve, in a hot air balloon yesterday morning almost turned into a total disaster.  After a fabulous ride looking down at this fairy tale region with rock dwellings and mushroom shaped turrets in the rock formation it was time to land. We were the only balloon in the air and the pilot made several attempts to land. First, in a wheat field and then a couple of other spots. We saw the ground crew below driving fanatically to each potential landing spot.

Finally” take your landing positions” and down we all went. The balloon hit the ground with a terrible thud knocking us all about, then up again and down again. It landed on its side, no upright landing. Silence.

 The ground crew pulled or helped most of us from the basked. It was surreal.

We looked around and there was Ian B lying on the ground, unable to move. He was ashen, as was Denise his wife sitting on the ground next to him. We covered them with our jumpers because clearly they were both in shock. Ian knew that his hip was out and dislocated. He could not move and was in great pain. The crew moved Ian on to a mattress and Ian and Denise were rushed to hospital with the support crew managing the situation.

The rest of the team were devastated. Our aches and pains paled into utter insignificance.

An hour later Dave, Kerith, Ken and I headed to the hospital to see if there was anything we could do. Ian and Denise were in emergency and Ian had been told that he would need a general anaesthetic so the doctors could attempt to manipulate his hip back into position. There was a 95% chance they could achieve this. Denise was wearing a neck brace and her neck had been X-rayed. She was OK and thankfully they both had a bit of colour in their faces. Ian was in good spirits and making the best of the situation. The cardiologist had checked Ian out. The air ballooning staff were there translating and managing the situation.

We returned to the group. You can imagine the discussion and debrief that ensued. We were all so lucky. We were confident that Ian and Densie were in good hands. The hospital was good.

The six of us who were in the baskets on the down side that hit the ground: Dan, me Ken. Dave, Simon, and Ian M all received pretty hard head  knocks on landing. It was like being hit twice on the back of the head with a bit of four by two. Ken said he looked at me after landing and thought I was stunned. I looked at Dan and he was more than speechless.

The group that were in the baskets above our basket seemed not to have sustained head knocks but were thrown about more randomly. Kerith has a severely jarred ankle and Mary has a sore knee. Reg has sore ribs and back. Everyone probably has a few aches and pains.

Ian and Denise returned to the hotel at five o’clock and spent the evening resting. They will rest today and then work out what they intend to do. Fortunately we are in a lovely boutique hotel with great staff and gorgeous gardens and we don’t have far, by our standards to get to Istanbul where we have more down time to allow for Ian’s recovery.

The air ballooning staff told that was their worse landing ever as the wind factor was 65 kms an hour at ground landing point. There is some debate in the group about this measure means but that’s what was said.

How did it happen you might ask? Well we were to take a sunrise ride and we were  ready to go at 5:15 am. When we did leave at 6:15 am  our first view on arriving at the area where all the hot air balloons went up from was there were over sixty balloons in the air. It was a magic sight. However as we alighted our hot air balloon all the other balloons had landed and once up we were the only balloon  in the air. No one thought anything of this because the ride was so beautiful. Clearly the balloon company thought they could manage one more ride.  

This hot air balloon ride was my fourth and previously the landings have been up right little bumps, nothing to worry about.

Life is ironic because we have been so careful on the roads and suddenly we are in Turkey which is incredibly developed and familiar with all the signs of civilization that we know so well……the golden arches and the Shell servos to name a few. There are tourist and tourist buses  everywhere and suddenly when we do what tourist do this happens. I reckon we are safer as adventure travellers if you get my drift.

The team spent a happy evening doing what tourists do here. Photographing the sunset, attending a display of dervish dancing and then dinner and a show which saw Reg up dancing with the belly dancers.

Our balloon:Cappadocia

So far driving in Turkey has been spectacular with generally very good roads through  steep, rugged mountain ranges, some of which are  snow capped and vistas of fields and road sides  of  gorgeous wild flowers.

 The cars after an overhaul, on a lay day, at Sarp, near Hopa, are performing well and over the last couple of days we have completed some pretty long  hauls through sun and rain. Usually we do a side trip to look at some significant attraction so that makes for a long days driving.

We all have picture after picture of these dear little, forty year old, cars surrounded by big trucks, lorries and other larger than MG size vehicles driving through valleys, steep ravines and gorges.

We are in the Cappadocia Region complete with lots of cars, tourists and shops that cater for their every whim. We have no local guide, unlike China and Turkmenistan where it was mandated that those driving must have government approved guides. Thankfully we had an approved guide for Kyrgyzstan. We understand that Australians do not need an approved guide in Iran but Americans do. Anyway from China through to Turkey we have had approved guides whose key role has been lead car.

Now Blue Car has taken the position of lead car, as Simon and Ian M seems to enjoy co-driving and navigating using maps, the Tom Tom and if all of the above fails, “ask a local” methodology. Yellow Car has taken the position of sweep car. So far we have been very successful at maintaining the convoy. Interesting because most people we spoke with  before leaving for the trip  said driving in a convoy would be almost impossible. 

Yesterday  morning the roads were wet, slippery and  mountainous. A number of drivers reported poor road grip. While taking a sharp bend Blue Car did a 360 degree spin out and fortunately regained momentum with no damage to person or car. We stopped and Simon and Ian M got out smiling. Thank goodness for those red ribbons on the cars.

One  driver experiencing early morning driving fatigue told the tale of tipping bottles of cold water over himself to stay alert. So even though we are on much better roads and driving conditions, compared to   The Stans have improved, there is still a need for extreme caution.

Hats off to all the drivers. The convoy makes excellent use of the CBs  to keep everyone informed of direction and changes in road conditions. Where possible each car drives with headlights on as this attracts the local  cars attention and makes it easy for each passenger in the convoy to ensure that the MG travelling behind them is in sight.

Dave, Reg, Ian B and Ken are basically doing all the driving. They all have passengers who are prepared to drive but for a variety of reasons it is the “one driver” approach.

As a passenger in Red Car, I would be happy to drive. I was hoping to drive in each country but it transpires that I only drive for about 50 kms because Ken is exceedingly nervous and uneasy when I am at the wheel. His view is that the driving conditions change without warning and that the car is harder to drive than my automatic at home.

 When I have taken the wheel I find it a case  of extreme concentration because of the unfamiliarity of the route and the fact that you are driving in a convoy means that your  speed is predetermined.

It has been fortunate that Dave ensured that there were lay days in the itinerary in order to give the drivers some down time and to provide time for sightseeing and car maintenance. Quite unlike the Peking to Paris which I understand is completed in about thirty nine days we have been travelling for over two months. So far the two blocks of travel, China and the Stans have been very different. It will be interesting to see how the European leg unfolds.