We had an awesome time in Kosovo, making new friends, learning all about Europe's youngest country and drinking macchiato's that may just be some of the best in Europe.
Read all about it here.
0 Comments
Kosovo is a fascinating little country - and one of the newest in the world. We've been asked many questions about Kosovo, so thought we'd put together an article that gives a bit of an overview on things.
Read all about it here. Today's an exciting day, the day we are about to embark on our long awaited journey on the Trans Mongolian, farewelling Europe for a while and saying hello to Asia, and crossing more distance in one go than we have in 4 months of travel already.
It'll be 4 days straight on the train from Moscow, a stop over in Lake Baikal, and then down into Mongolia where we will be heading out for adventures in the Gobi desert, so we'll probably be offline for a while. Hopefully we'll be productive on our train ride, with lots of writing and videos to upload when we're back in civilisation. If we are late with wedding and birthday messages, or slow replying to WhatsApp messages we apologise but we'll be thinking if you :) We had a lot of fun travelling through Serbia. Meeting people, drinking rakija and taking photos of strange architecture - read all about it here!
A few days ago, we passed through the Posof border crossing and headed toward Tbilisi, Georgia. After an inspiring five weeks travelling all over Turkey we left via the east, an area less frequented by tourism, and renowned for the hospitality of the Kurdish people. There are some incredible things to experience in this part of the world. Here are six of them: 1. Sunrise (and sunset) at Mt Nemrut Giant stone heads toppled over on top of a mountain is always going to be an impressive sight - seeing them as the sun goes up (or down) is breathtaking. They mightn't be as big as you think, but the fact they're even up here is as incredible as the views over the surrounding valleys. 2. Hosap Castle A short dolmus (minibus) ride down the highway (which is an adventure in itself) lies the remains of a mud-brick fortification currently being excavated and renovated. It will surely change a lot in the next years, but climbing up a nearby hill to eat lunch and admire the rolling ochre landscape is still one of the best ways to spend an afternoon. Van Castle also deserves a mention - not only for its dramatic setting, but for the ruins of the old city of which modern-day Van has happily moved on from. 3. The hospitality of the Kurdish people We were literally adopted for a day as we visited Akhamar, an Armenian castle situated on a tiny island on Lake Van. Sharing a picnic, chatting when we could be understood and waving our hands when we couldn't, the people of this region are some of the warmest we've come across. 4. The ruins of Ani The former Armenian capital was levelled by an earthquake in 1319 and effectively abandoned, after centuries of ownership by practically anyone who tried. Its history along the Silk Road is a bloody one, and today is a stark reminder of how tense the political situation was - and still is - in this part of the world. 5. Ishak Pasha Palace If there ever was a frontier town, Dogubeyazit is surely it. There's no point investing in a border-towns infrastructure when its changed hands this many times. But under the watchful eye of the enigmatic Mt Ararat lies a palace with the most jaw-dropping setting. Sunset here is bucket-list territory. Just don't take photos of the gigantic military base in the way back into town. There are a LOT of tanks just ready to go... 6. Malatya, the Apricot Capital of the World Where a kilogram of fresh apricots costs 4 lira, Malatya is a surprisingly clean, modern and welcoming city. After escaping the market where sellers kept giving us apricots for free (literally putting them in our bags as we were walking away), sharing these out the front of the Mosque at sunset and chatting/gesticulating/using google translate with moustache'd old men was unforgettable. It's what we call The Apricot Experience.
In the future, you'll more fondly remember sharing apricots with strangers, than the big sights you came to see. Eastern Turkey may be far off from tourist itineraries, and that's probably what has kept the region so special. Hopefully peace prevails in the region so people who do visit can be richly rewarded by all it has to offer. Being locked inside a toilet isn’t fun. All of a sudden the tiny confined space you are so familiar with becomes a claustrophobic prison, where no one can hear your cries for escape and no one knows where you are. We had 5 minutes until we had to jump in the cab to get to our bus, and Pete had no idea I’d run up two flights of stairs to use the bathroom. Luckily for me after about 10 minutes of banging the door down, the lady from next door finally heard my cries of ‘help’ and let me out. With my knuckled red raw from banging, I frantically ran downstairs to Pete, waiting next to the ready Taxi and wondering what was taking me so long. This is how my last day in Turkey begun, and it didn't get much better from there on. Not helping the situation was the fact that Pete was barely able to walk. The previous day he had taken a fall from an ancient wall that crumbled beneath him (he figured if it’d been standing that long it much be sturdy, right?) and had badly sprained his foot. Swollen and bruised, walking was a challenge and carrying his pack was out of the question, so I was the pack horse for the both of us. Click on 'read more' below to see the rest of the story.
We may have only spent a few days in Budapest, but we squeezed in a lot of sights and a lot of cake. Read about our adventure here.
Hurrah! We finally received our Russian visa’s in Istanbul today. The whole process was a decidedly Russian affair - lots of “nyet”'s, plenty of ‘this is impossible’ and the obligatory ‘it is forbidden’. The administration girl played a whole "good cop, bad cop” routine with some conflicting information, but it all worked out in the end.
Click 'read more' to find out the essential details for applying for a Russian visa while in Istanbul... It’s funny how you look at a guidebook and it’ll mention the one thing to do in a town. In the case of Bergama, it’s to visit Pergamon, an ancient Greek city with a tumultuous history dating back to at least 300 BC. This isn’t a 'pile of old rocks’ - it’s compact, easy to visualise, has the impressive Temple of Trajan, a jaw-dropping theatre, and makes for an unforgettable highlight of any Anatolian itinerary. The town of Bergama has more than this though - a 500-year old Hamam, bazaar, and a Basilica which was one of six addressed in the Book of Revelation. It was even the home of Galen - a hugely influential medical professor circa 200AD. But, strangely, it’s the small residential area in the north of Bergama, at the foot of the Acropolis which inspired the creation of this article. Click the headline or 'read more' to hear all about it... If you're feeling the desire for some crisp mountain air, maybe we can convince you to head to Slovakia. Check out our time in this beautiful country here.
|
EMMA & PETEWe're just two Aussie's who met in London, married in Prague and travelled overland back to Australia.
CATEGORIES
All
INSTA-EMMAGRAMPETE'S FLICKR |