Prague!

Here are just a couple of photos from our incredible world wind tour of Prague. First off, sincerest of thanks go to our most generous hosts Brenda and Mark. Friends of Amie's aunt, these two ex-pats greeted us at the airport, gave us keys to one of their luxurious apartments, and showed us the finer parts of the city. I was here 10 years ago (almost to the month) and saw less in 10 days than I did with Mark in 2. We cannot be grateful enough for your generosity!

Prague remains one of my favorite cities in the world. We came back because this is somewhere Amie always wanted to see, and needless to say, she loved it. The diversity in the architecture and the charm of every building makes you feel as if you are on a movie set or are living in a fairy tale land. Its that beautiful.

Our discounted flight landed at 6am and we hit the sites before the restaurants opened for breakfast. Mark and Brenda know their city and were sharing some very interesting details as we toured around old town square. It was so nice to visit a place with a friendly tour guide at your disposal!

We spent the rest of our first day on Charles bridge and exploring the old town before turning in around 5pm and watching a movie in the apartment (hey, we were up at 2am to catch our 4am flight!). Our second day in Prague had us touring the largest castle in the world and enjoying a few beers in the old town square. For dinner it was traditional Czech food with our hosts before turning in for the night.

Our trip was far to short, but with Mark and Brenda we were able to make the most of it! This is definitely one of the few places we look forward to returning to!

An example of the Prague-look

Two tired love birds on Charles bridge around 7am

8am, a bit more alert

Mike's favorite Czech band, seen here 10 years ago!

Characteristic wood door carving

Amie on the tower overlooking old town square

Prague is full of incredible architecture

Amie's favorite piece of art

New town, same outfits

Charles bridge and the castle (no tourists at 6am)

Thank you BRENDA AND MARK!!!

Greece Road Trip

Our 10 days in Greece were great. We spent a couple of nights in Athens to tour around Plaka and the Acropolis. Along with plenty of walking, as we are now in a country who's currency is the Euro (and our dollar is doing TERRIBLE comparatively) and so we are back to staying at cheap hotels which aren't in the most convenient locations, we enjoyed many great Gyros and Greek ambiance.

I was determined to see Greece without having to take any ferries. I discovered how bad I feel on ferries in South America, and didn't want to spend anymore time of our trip on one if at all possible. After talking with Linda in Istanbul, we discovered there was plenty to see on the mainland and the large island of Peloponnese (connected to mainland by a bridge). We rented a car from the Athens airport and set off North towards Delphi and Meteora.

Delphi is a very ancient site (~600BC - one of the oldest sites we have been to) which was home to an Oracle. It is set up along a very steep mountain with amazing views, cobblestone streets and friendly locals and cafes. Great spot. We camped that night to save a little money. Mike got to gawk at a bunch of old vintage cars that were stopping through the town on a race through the mountain roads. This gave him so much joy, he still hasn't stopped talking about the 'swan' he is going to make out of his rusty Corvair when he gets home!

The ride around Delphi was up, around and down steep and dramatic mountains. We definitely were surprised by the diversity of the countryside. The mountains continued for quite a few more hours before arriving in Meteora. We've always seen photos of this amazing location, but actually seeing it for yourself was absolutely breath-taking. The huge granite-looking steep and pointy mountains were topped with old historic Monasteries. There used to be ~26 of them, but now only 6 which you can actually hike up to and explore. Even though it was quite a bit of extra driving to get all the way up to Meteora, it was definitely worth the drive as it was a completely unique site.

From Meteora, we made the big drive all the way to Olympia which was the original site of the Olympics back about 2,500 years ago. We didn't explore the ruins, just enjoyed staying in the nice little town for the night on our way down to the Mani region of Peloponnese.
As soon as we arrived in the first town of the Mani region we knew we needed to stay more than one night. It was amazing. No tourists, quiet, laid-back, cobblestone street and houses, wild flowers and some of the best Greek food we had discovered. It reminded us a lot of our favorite region in Italy, the Amalfi coast. Same feel, but Greek. What a discovery. We spent our time laying out by our lovely infinity pool (all to ourselves), eating too much Moussaka, exploring the small stone villages and basking in the ambiance or Greece.

Even though we wanted to spend a third night in our great find, we thought we better explore the town of Nafplio as it was stated in our guide book to be one of the most beautiful Greek towns. It was another gem, but of course with that title came many more tourists.

We have plenty more photos, but they are on our other camera. Hopefully we can post them soon!

When going to Prague, it's important to look the part. This is Mike's best attempt. I'm impressed.

Exploring the lovely town of Mani

Pelopenesse is absolutely beautiful

Lots of cats in Greece

Enjoying our pensione to the fullest

Mike couldn't stay out of the pool

Amazing small towns along the whole island

I'm feeling pretty good about our view of Meteora

Our Turkish Road Trip

We flew from Istanbul to Izmir then rented a car and drove to Ephusus and Selcuk as well as Marmaris and Datca, then back up inland to the sulfer pools at Pammukale. It was a great trip. We saw alot in 4 days, and not without hassle. First our internet-reserved rental car was no where to be found. Not the car, the company itself. No one had ever heard of them, and the phone number we had did not pick up other than a fax. Glad we didnt pay ahead on that one! We booked another car at the airport and it was about $80 less than the cheapest we found on line! Our first thought wasn't "SCORE," we are much to travel savvy at this point, it was alot more like "lets see the contract first" and "please read me the fine print in english."

All checked out ok to our surprise and we were back on the road! Ephusus is an awesome Roman site from 200BC or so if my memory suits me. The small town next to it, Selcuk was also very nice. We got a good feel for small town Turkey there. Next we drove about 4 hours down to Marmaris. I thought it was like a dumpy middle eastern Nice. We stopped for lunch and pressed on with a recommendation to go to Datca by our waiter. This place turned out to be great. Classic small Mediterranean sea-side town. We loved it. Even though our hotel was right next to the mosque, we still didn't mind. Being next to a mosque is significant because there is a call to prayer 5 times a day from a loud speaker. Its nothing as polite as a "hey everyone, prayer time" its more like 5 minutes of someone howling at the moon with hiccups. Like I said, we didn't mind, our room was spotless and cost us 30 Lira (about $22).

After relaxing for two nights in Datca we drove back towards Izmir turning inland and stopping at Pammukale. The site wasn't quite as impressive as the postcards, but still completely unique and amazing. It is a giant mountside of calcium deposit clinging to the hill like a scab. The best part is, the way the water carrying the calcium runs down the hill creates these incredible patterns and pools as it goes. Really alien looking stuff! BUT, when we got there, there wasn't much water flowing so the pools were very dry and not quite as picturesque.

After a short flight we were back in Istanbul, and not having had any luck finding a reasonably priced hotel online we decided to wing it for our last nights accommodation. Big mistake. We were assailed by rip off hockers at the terminal, and were not helped much at all from the information booth (they called one of the hockers over). Eventually we found our way to a hotel that offered to pick us up for the reasonable price of 75Lira. Well, long story short, in the morning they told us it was 75 Euro (about 150Lira)! We told them to get stuffed and left in a hurry.

At the airport, our flight to Athens was cancelled. Beautiful. Did I mention we(I mean me) got a speeding ticket too! And the best part is, we've got to find a hotel again!! Its not all mangos and sunsets out here!

Turkish men are almost as lazy as Italian men!

Turkish coffee gave Mike a tick

Have a closer look, it really is mud!

Turkish boat in Datca harbor

More of the fine harbor
Amie enjoys a Kabap

The ducks enjoy a cookie
This guy's gal enjoys a side-saddle ride
Turkish country home
Turkish dog
Turkish boy
Turkish pizza

Mike after a Turkish Bath
Turkish man (note moustache)
Amie likes Turkey!
So does Mike (hair by salon selectives)

Istanbul, Turkey

After travelling for over 24 hours (Sydney to Singapore, Singapore to Bahrain, Bahrain to Istanbul) we were obviously exhausted when we finally arrived. Needless to say, we were overwhelmed when we stumbled off the plane. Istanbul is a city of nearly 20millıon people, sprawling in all directions, and overflowing with very few folks that speak any english (or spanish or italian). The alphabet is similar, but not the same, and the words are not based on Latin. The keyboard is very different (we have to hunt and peck) so this will be short.

Amie about snapped as some Turks were yelling at us at the airport in a language for the first time the entire trip neither of us could understand (turned out we needed a visa to enter the country, luckily they could be bought on site). Our savior from this maddness was a lovely lady by the name of Linda who is the Manager of the Hilton Istanbul. Her sister is a good friend of mine from my days at XP Power. Completely exhausted we checked in at the Hilton, and enjoyed luxury like nothing we have had since we left home (maybe even long before that!)

Linda not only "hooked us up" with a suıte, she also hilighted an Istanbul guidebook for us with a proposed itinerary which would make the most of our time in town. Linda we cannot thank you enough! After some much needed sleep we went through her list and were amazed and delighted by the city. Our expectations for İstanbul and its people were shattered. We absolutely loved Istanbul.

Sultanhamet Square

The Blue Mosque

Haya Sophıa

A secret Turkish Tea location with the best views in town

Turkish tea is much better than Turkish coffee

Baklava anyone?

Fishing off the bridge
Thanks Linda!
Tulips are from Turkey (not Holland!)
Smoke break

Turkish folks

Grand Bazzar
What you can expect to fınd ın the Bazzar

Great cıty!