Coninuing my update from yesterday
Sept. 14 Another beautiful day in Paradise. A bit after 8 AM & I have showered, done my laundry, packed and moved my pack under the stairs. Internet, coffee, people watching, maybe minor shopping for the coast activities? Shared my breakfast table with Spanish woman who I saw doing yoga before breakfast. We talked of the economic crisis and there was defnitely no meeting of the minds, She saw it as lies of the banks, government and the capitalist system. People should consume less and stuff for people of Spain should be made in Spain.
My trip is changing every day & it feels good. I understand I can take a day ferry from Gethiye to Rhodes and that sounds like fun and then maybe the boat trip from Fethiye to Olympos. I am fighting my urge to consume. Lots of cool stuff here that I don't need. Travelling alone means (1) being lonely sometimes (2) making new friends (3) no one to compromise with when making or changing plans. Liesbeth talked about meeting a German girl who had been travelling for a year or so and seemed lost. She called he girls mother who hadn't heard from her in two months & then helped her on a plane home.
I sit in a sidewalk cafe and a large tour bus goes by with tourists looking at the street scene which includes me and I feel slightly superior as I am out & experiencing & not viewing from a hermetically sealed and air conditioned bus. I make my own arrangements rather than have someone make them for me. A trivial distinction which merits little feeling of superiority. I have a small amount more contact with Turkish people but usually cafe owners, hostel keepers etc. People I meet at hostels sometimes distinguish travellers from tourists & they usually use it to distinguish themselves as travellers from tourists who ride the tour buses and stay in hotels. I'm not sure that the difference would mean much to the turks except that tourists likely leave moe money behind, Tonight I take the night bus to Fethiye which I organized mysefl so maybe I am a traveller but ina larger sense I am a tourist which is not a bad thing as we all, each in our own way, travel to experience other countries. Each of us is a tourist in our own way.
Sept. 15 - Overnight bus & I am in Fethiye. Tiring but Turkish buses and rest stops much better than Canadian. Wifi & multi channels for entertainment screen on back of each seat. I'm in Ferah Pension which doesnt seem all that welcoming. Hostel keeper says he will set up my cruise for best deal. Dont trust him and end up doing it myself for less money. I am relaxing but the hostel doesn't feel as good as the last & I am really feeling the heat. After a couple of hours wandering round town in the afternoon my shirt is soaked. I have a great idea. I will take the boat cruise to Rhodes and visit Greece for the day but can't cause of the ferry schedule which conflicts with the boat cruise to Olympos.
I am sitting here having a yummy chicken casserole with a local yogurt drink (good) and then a bottle of coke (5 oz = 148 mls). I'm on one side of a broad way paved with paving stones. On the other side are many gullets and other boats offering a variety of cruises. In the cafe is a large screen tv showing a soccer game between, I thnk, 2 Turkish teams. It all seems so normal til I remember that I am on the Med. coast of Turkey - not normal for me but it is for the moment.
Sept. 16 - On one day boat tour and enjoying myself. Relaxing, watchign others swim, chatting, wandering around small islands taking pics.
Met the kiwis from the pension again, John & Lorraine. they are also thinking of doing the Lycian Way but like me consider it too hot. Talking to John & Lorraine who have done lots of travelling and thinking of various possibilities. The water here is a beautiful colour - indigo blue ? Met a young guy on the boat who is British & training to fly typhoon jets for the Brit Air Force. Good dinner s/John & Lorraine and lots of travel stories. and so to bed.
Sept. 17 Wandering around doing errands and checking out the town. Do some checking at internet cafe about possible travel options. Fly to Northern Cyprus and walk to Southern Cyprus and ferry to greek islands from there maybe.
Sept. 18 - Breakfast, checkout and p/u by tour group at 10AM. still thinking about what to do after this cruise. last night walked to town w/John & Lorraine for dinner. Ate at a restuarant that Lorraine wanted to return to for their great bacon. Went there & had a fine meal incuding wonderful homemade lemonade. Our host was an English woman who had visited several times & then moved down and started her own restuarant. Said goodbye to John & Lorraine. Didn't say goodbye to silent young Japanese roomate. Not unhappy to be sharing a room for only one night with him. Silent and uncommunicative. Closed winder and door at night.
I'm on the boat in the afternoon. Been for a swim a couple of times. Not my element. Watched amateur cluiff diving. People from our boat swam over to another boat to use their watrslide. Hugo & Vanessa from Montreal gone paragliding & I've told the captain I am interested in parasailing.
Our boat looks like the picture above except that our boat is a bit older and not so shiny.
We anchor at an anchorage where other similar boats anchor. There is an island there connected with St. Nicholas and I and others go exploring but before we do a small boat pulls up next to us and a turkish guy encourages us to buy crepes that his mother is making right there. They aren't too expensive and he is a great salesman so I try one and enjoy it. Wonder if the woman really is his mom?
Most of us went out for a walk on the small island that evidently St. Nicholas lived on before he moved to the North Pole. Lots of interesting ruins and beautiful views.
Sept. 19 - Slept on deck last night. I think everyone did. Got up at 5 AM for toilet and we started moving shortly after. Didn't sleep well after cause of lots of boat motion and noise of boat diesel. Got an anti-seasick pill from Captain a couple of hours later and that helped. Motored about 5 hours. Went into Kas after lunch. Unremarkable town. After Kas we motor 20 minutes & anchor. People swim & tread water & watch each other dive. There is a magnificent yacht nearby. I & Jon try to guess its value. Ilios (captain) doesn't know the cost but says it costs $500,000 a week to rent!
We all had cabins to sleep in but I think we all slept on deck.
Sept 20- early AM - Lots of talk last night around table after dinner about music and motorbikes neither of which I care about so I went to bed early. Think I have parasailing today. Should be fun.
Sept 21 8 AM and I have been up a couple of hours enjoying Turquoise Coast AM. Cruised over a sunken city yesterday. ho hum. Walked up a Byzantine and earlier castle then wandered around some lycian tombs.
Castle at the top of the hill and one of many Lycian tombs below.
And below, in the castle grounds are Jon and Derya from Toronto. Very nice and too hard working people. Derya is originally from Istanbul and they were going on to Istanbul after the end of the cruise.
After the castle I was wnadering around the nearby Lycian tombs looking around & I met and was chatting with a young Brit of Pakistan background. He said there was a death parasailing in the area in the last day or so. May explain why the captain said nothing of my parasailing that was to happen. We motored on and anchored and after dinner a small boat came by and asked us if we wanted to go to the bar. We looked around and saw only a abandoned stone ruin visible but most us said why not and motored off up a small channel to find a bar with a dj at the head of the channel. I gather the bar was quite busy earlier in the season but there weren't many people there so most of us had a drink and stayed a while and left.
Sept. 21 - Found my pension in Antalya. Took the dolmus (minibus) from Olympos & the city bus to the old city where I wandered around lost with a packonmy back. After getting driections from several people and with a great deal of luck I found my Pension. Spend some time on internet making further travel arrangments. Met an older Brit at pension. Very talkative. met another Brit who talked about his trip for 10-15 minutes before introducing his younger, attractive and silent companiion. he gave her name and noted she was a Tatar girl from the Caucasus.
Sept. 22 - more figuring out further travel arrangments.
Random - turks have told me that learning to speak japanese isnt too difficult for them as its grammatical structure is very similar to turkish & is believed by them to be related.
Last night I got tired of reading at my table and I know that there were carpet covered pallets outside my room where I could lounge and read. There was a young German couple there who didnt mind my presence so I joined them & we got into an involved, profound & sophomoric discussion of life. I changed the topic by asking them why so many young people in Europe smoke. Tim suggested cultural influences. I was skeptical. When you travel alone you can not be shy or you will miss the enjoyable casual encounter & the travel friendships which can be quite enjoyable. Woke up early this AM and was down in the courtyard reading while everyone else was sleeping until the morning guy opened up.
SHIT - my flight is screwed up! Ileave earlier than I wanted.
Sept. 22 PM - So life got complicated and then simple again sort of. I used an online service to book flights and that was a big mistake. My plans have changed and I am now flying to Slovenia and then making it up from there for a while. I went to the airport early in Antalya so I could do soem stuff with Turkish Air and I had several hours to kill before flying to Istanbul and then on to Ljubljana in Slovenia. I decided I had stuff I didn't need so I went to the INFO desk and gave them two books and a beach towel which I had bought for the cruise (washed) which they said they would deal with. Suspect that wasn't the kind of request they usually deal with. Fun.
After midnight in airport and I am tired. I could sleep on one of the benches but I don't want to take a chance of missing my flight. Security guy zipping around airport on a Segway. I'd like to try one sometime. Bought a can of Cappy cherry juice which I like. It is vastly overpriced as is everything in the airport.
Get to Ljubljana and clear customs w/no fuss & shuttle takes me to hostel which used to be a military prison.
Hostel is red building to the left.
Figure out where I will go next which is Trieste (Italy) and a short train ride. Decide to go to pizza place for dinner and I only get lost once and have a good walk and a VERY fine pizza (Pizza Foculus). Wander home and early to bed. I'm tired. One of my roomates more beat - overnight train from Belgrad.
Sept 24 - went for a walk before the free walking tour. Found the market, a great cybver cafe & bought some used books. Walking tour was fine. downloaded info on Trieste & Zagreb. Bought bus ticket for Trieste & a new travel alarm. Went on internet at hostel & "f"d up. Couldn't log out of Gmail. Eventually hostel staff fixed it. Yay! dinner is all you can eat BBQ - hmm
sept 25 - laundry done. good. So I think trieste by bus and Zagreb and then Zagreb-Belgrad- Sofia by train. I think I will like train travel. Last night the travellers entering our hostel seemed stranger than nornmal. Somewhat scruffy US servicemen, guys dressin bright yellow jumpsuits, some out of shape martial artists and what was apparently the members of a Guns n Roses tribute bandin full costume! This AM while my laundry was drying I asked one of the G & R guys if it was a tribute band. No. It seems all of the strange people checking in last night were in the Ramshackle Rally. they bought cheap cars in Britain (200 pounds) & drove a course all over Europe ending in Muich for Oktoberfest. Sounds like great fun.
Talking to reception and I am going to leaveflip-flops & bathing suit here.
Quiet overcast morning waiting for the Belgian sisters I share the small dorm room to be finished with the bathroom. Shave shower and chatted with the sisters. I told them I was setting alarm and getting up early next morning. No problem as they use ear plugs.
Very good day wandering around. used internet at info centre. walked up to the castle. There were some pics from the Museum of Contemporary History at the castle that I liked so I walked over to the museum. They had a compuer exhibit but I've lived thru the history of computers & exhibit of sports history ho hum but their history of Slovenia included WWII and the period after when the communists were consolidating power, There was a guy there who expanded on and explained the exhibits. Very powerful. Forcible relocation by occupying powers, conscription of Slovenes into German army, show trials, mass graves. Cdns paid a heavy price in WWII but we never had war in Canada. So lucky.
THe Free Walk Tour guide said yesterday that as Slovenia had no great hero they respect writers, architects etc who produce work that binds them together.
River that runs through the old part of Ljubljana
Public art of which there is lots. You will see many many locks on the side of the bridge in the background. Couples in love place a lock on the bridge and throw the key in the river as a symbol of their love. Saw the same thing in Paris.
Ljublljana is not all old and picturesque but I did like the red building.
Art outside a basement skateboard shop
I think I am the only person in this well populated hostel who is reading a book or at least an old fashioned paper book. I don't know what is happening but there is one room being cleared for a jam night & there are two other events going on - student events. I hang quietly outside the door with a glass of wine & see people, not travellers, arriving and a flock of young people on similar blue bikes gather and then cycle off into the dusk.
Sept. 26 - had a good time last night bsing with Lucy (who turns out to be a psychiatrist) and her sister Catherine who is completing a course in hotel management. I slid out of my room at 5:30 AM, took my bedding to the front desk and checked out. (IF I ever go back to Ljubljana I will definitely stay at the Hostel Celica again!) I put my pack on my back and walked through the waking streets to the bus station. Got a croissant and an espresso and will watch people until my bus leaves.
In Trieste - got map of town, found out where to take the bus to my hostel, bought bus ticket to Zagreb, stashed pack. Now hanging out in central square watching people & guessing nationalities of tour groups. Italians really do double air kiss!
Parking in Trieste
So I am in trieste & I am at my hostel and it is much different than Ljubljana. Out of town several k and I must take the bus to it. Can't chek in til 15:30 and must be in by midnight and out by 10 the next morning. Clean & quiet but with few facilities. No internet computer. There is a restuarant that offers a fixed price dinner & a coffee machine but thats it. Very little on what to do in area - tour a castle which is a rich mansion from the 1800s no thanks. So I will try the fixed price dinner and I have bought a ticket to get back into town in the morning. I will find an internet cafe to reserve at the Chillout Hostel in Zagreb & check into whats to do in Trieste. Get a good nights sleep andmake the best of trieste. (met a couple of Austrain students going to Slovenia tomorow and they are going to take the postcards I put Slovenian stamps on to mail there)
Sept. 27 - Thinking this AM that I have taken many pics but not captured one distinct memory except in my head and that is the call to prayer I heard througout Turkey. Shared dinner with English guy going to Port Said to do some unspecified work on the Egyptian transport system. He was a rail enthusiast and doesn't fly. He was waiting for a freighter to come in that he was going on as a passenger to Port Said. He had travelled all around the world as a passenger on freighters.
Other distinct non-visual memories
Turkey - Aryan the somewhat salty yogurt drink
Cappy cherry drink
Ljubljana - the different & great Foculus pizza
Turkish brekkie
Gelato in Trieste
Smoking the hookah in Istanbul
Sept 28 - into town this AM. Had a good time yesterday evening. Had dinner again w/Luke the English rail planner/enthusiast. Spent time w/the large kiwi family enjoyably, talking and then, after dinner, watching two episodes of the Mentalist with the kids. I'm definiely staying in this town one day, at least, too long. Hostel is clean and quiet and beautifully sited but has few facilities and not very friendly or helpful.
Trieste's Grand Canal
My hostel is on the right
Cruise liner docked in Trieste to unload tons of passengers into buses.
When I go to town I like to walk around but there are no public toilets except the bus & train stations (squat not pedestal) & the explanatory texts at the museums are in italian ONLY. Frustrating. Trieste does not have the charm of Ljubljana.
I've checked out of the hostel and am killing time in Trieste til my bus leaves for Zagreb.
Sept 30 and I'm in Zagreb and liking it. Got off the bus around 10PM, found a place to buy my tram ticket & a friendly Croat helped me with the tram including where to get off. Found the Chillout Hostel easily. Got on internet with a glass of wine. Woman after said it wasn't good wine & she was likely right but she was French. Today I got some Kuna & browsed a street antique and collectibles fair - lots of interesting things including a switchblade but I bought nothing. Went to the rail station but took a wrong turn and went way out of my way. Fine day & no problem. Got oriented & on the way to the RR station saw a parade of traditionally dressed people. Bought train ticket to Sofia which includes a stopover in Belgrad. Went to the Museum of Broken Relationships. Wow. Located Museum of Croatian History for tomorow. Very helpful guy at the hostel helped me locate other places I want to go for tomorow.
I dont really know why they were doing this but it was interesting.
This was a very strange looking dog so I took a picture of it. I was told that it was a French bulldog.
More Croatians in old costume. Interesting.
Various stuff above I saw wandering around Zagreb.
Oct. 1 - A good day. I found a supply of used English books. Went to the Museum of Croatian History that had a good exhibit on the "Homeland War" which was the period 1990 - 1995 when Yugoslavia was breaking up and the various parts of the former Yugoslavia were becoming independent. From the point of view of the people running the museum the violence that occurred was because of the Serbian governments desire for a "Greater Serbia" which meant control of at least large parts of Croatia. this led to violence and war crimes.
((I found out since by more reading that the history of this part of the world is more,much more, complicated than I knew or understood. There is violence that goes back generations and, if the Serbians did not want Serbians in Croat controlled areas they had historic reasons for this. Nothing justifies war crimes the situation and history of the area is much much more complicated than I understood or understand now.))
I found out where I could find the International herald Tribune and where I could get an inexpensive sports bag to carry gifts home but rather than buy the sports bag I mailed them. early morning I went for a walk down Ilica street in the opposite direction than I usually take and passed the store selling Bugatti housewares. The Bugattie housewares were so cool and Italian designed looking that I really liked them but I never went into the store. Definitely not needed.
Ilica Street in Zagreb
Tram on Ilica street. I got used to walking this street to the main square and various attractions frommy hostel.
Oct 3 - woke up with a sore throat. Waled up old tower for great view of town & bought some Strepcil at pharmacy at same location of pharmacy in 1335. Looking forward to the next 10 days and to going home. Couldn't/wouldn't do six months like the Aussie kids. Many of the travellers I meet at hostels are Aussie or from New Zealand and they all seem to be travelling for six months minimum and many for a year or so. I don't know who they leave behind to run the country?
Sept. 4 - so I checked out of the Chillout Hostel
Me with Moira (left) and Lily (right) two of the several people who run the Chillout Hostel in Zagreb with good humour and efficiency!
So I checked out of the hostel, put my pack on & hustled down to the train station cause when I checked my ticket I found out it was for the say before! I would have to get a new ticket and write off the first. I bought a new ticket & then, cause it looked different than the first I brought out the first & found out it hadn't expired when it wasnt used. The ticket agent did a refund. He's the only agent dealing with international trains & I get the impression he gets quite frustated. The train proceded at moderate speeds with several stops thru rural Croatia and rural Serbia to Belgrad. had my passport and ticket checked about 3 times. Got in to Belgrad & a nice young Finnish woman, Emma, who is studying in Zagreb as an exchange student studying Balkan languages & history helped me get my pack stashed at a left luggage place & walked me up to the main pedestrian street in Belgrad. I wandered around through the crowds and to a fine park and then back for some dinner (souvlaki). Took some pics & got back to the train station in lots of time although, as usual, I did get lost.
Some breakdancing street performers in Belgrad looking to make a bit of money. They had a good crowd and were doing some fairly impressive moves
Sunset over the Danube in Belgrad.
Well thats it for this installment. Next and last is Sofia, Paris, London and home. The next installment I relate what happened when the armed men stopped the train before it got to Sofia! Stay tuned.
Oct 8 - still sick & it is a rainy day in paris. Despite my declarations to JB that I wouldn't need to take the Metro but would walk I took the Metro. (JB lives in a fifth floor walkup a block from the Metro and maybe 1/2 an hour walk from the Rodin museum and close to the older historic paris.) I walked over to the Bon Marche which ws a stupid idea as it is a HIGH end department store. Walked towards the site for boat cruises on the Seine. Part way there I saw the Eiffel Tower looming through the rainy mist with its top lost in the low clouds. See above.
Tried taking pictures but didn't feel motivated to go up.
Walking along the pedestrian walk along the Seine two women within 15 minutes find gold ring just as they are passing by me. Amazing (actually the beginning of a classical scam the guidebooks warn you about). Still raining.
I walk over to the other side of the Seine, have a cheap sandwich at Subway and go to Shakespear & Company and buy a book and take the Metro home.
Got my laundry which was washed at his place but wasn't drying & went to the laundromat where a helpful young woman showed me how to work the dryer. Not true that parisians are unfriendly or unhelpful. My guess is that many are just overwhelemed with all the tourists.
