Cairo: "I'm a blonde.....get me out of here!"

After running the gauntlet of the Cairo streets, we are sat in quite a nice little cafe away from the noise outside. We arrived in Egypt 4 days ago and for me we have stayed 3.5 days too long! It is not often I have such a strong negative reaction against somewhere but sadly, Cairo has been one of the worst places I have visited, certainly on this trip.

We flew into Cairo airport from Istanbul and were met by a driver from our hostel. After a hair raising, seatbelt-free 40 minute ride, we arrived at our hostel. We were staying in Downtown Cairo, a stone's throw from the Egyptian Museum and infamous Tahrir Square. Our hostel was in the Yacoubian building which I learnt was where the richest Armenians lived in Cairo in the 1920's and 30's. A lot has changed in the building and indeed the country since then. The room was ok (minus the cockroach I found in my bed last night) but the building is dilapidated at best. It must have been beautiful once upon a time but now the doors to the fancy flats are propped ajar, exposing their interiors full of rubble, waste and families of stray cats. The smell was almost unbearable in the hallway.

Anyway, on our first full day we booked the driver to take us to the pyramids. We arrived at the Giza plateau, home to the great pyramid and the Sphinx, in the morning. I had read and people had warned us, that we would be hassled but nothing could prepare me for this. The ticket desk and entry were amass with men trying to tell you to go this way, that way, buy the ticket here, there yah yah yah....Once we pushed our way through we got a brief glimpse of the incredible pyramids before we were immediately approached from every side by men trying to sell horse and camel rides. I completely understand that every one of those people is trying to make a living, trying to feed his respective family in a city which has seen tourism nose dive, but it was completely overwhelming. To further highlight the lack of tourism in the current climate, we were pretty much the only Western tourists on the complex. It was however full of mobs of Egyptian school kids who all wanted photos with us. Then rolled in a large group of Chinese, suited men surrounded by bodyguards wielding automatic weapons around their chests. The pyramids are very impressive structures and it was great to see the Sphinx, an image I have seen in books so many times. We had a couple of hours here before we walked, exhausted by the hassle, back to the car.

The driver took us to Saqqara, the very first step pyramid, and then to Dahshur pyramids where Yon descended down into the middle of the pyramid. There were pretty much no other tourists and no sellers here so it was a bit more of a relaxed affair. We went back to the hostel to get ready for our Nile dinner cruise....another eventful night.

We were picked up by our driver who immediately said he wanted me as his own and would therefore have to kill Jonny. The first time we laughed, but as he said it the 2nd, 3rd, 4th time on the way to the boat it started losing its charm. We got on the boat and went upstairs, led by our driver. At this point we expected him to say goodbye and tell us what time he would pick us up later. Instead he sat at the other end of the boat just watching us. He then came to take us downstairs to get to the buffet before everyone else- we didn't really want to eat at that point and would rather have waited for the rest of the guests but he was pretty forceful about it. He then proceeded to go up and select our desserts for us and then, the crowning moment, sat down next to me and started tucking into his own plate of buffet. Turned out he wasn't leaving the boat at all! It was very uncomfortable as he sat next to us and stared to the point that Yon and I couldn't even have a conversation.

Then the 'entertainment' began- first up two Egyptian singers who sounded like strangled cats. The whole time, the driver was either watching us from afar or stood behind my chair. Next up was the belly dancer- ok in itself but a strange custom I find in a place where the rest of the women in the room have their skin covered head to toe. I felt particularly sorry for her as she had to go round and take photos with all the pervy blokes and was routinely groped by a few. During the belly dancing I had started to speak to man next to us- he was French speaking Algerian and I was asking him how much he paid as I suspected we'd been ripped off. Our driver was over in a flash, sat at our table with a menacing look and basically told the man he was not allowed to speak to us. After this the man was too afraid to carry on the conversation and I was livid that we were being chaperoned and controlled by this man. For the rest of the evening the driver sat in front of us staring at us. Had it not been for this man, the evening could have been very enjoyable but it was sadly completely ruined :-(  

The next day we visited the famous Egyptian Museum. This involved a walk along the streets down to Tahrir Square, next to the museum. Before every outing on the streets of Cairo I have had to take a deep breath and keep my head down. In many places we have travelled before I, like many female travelers, have been hassled by the local men- I understand that this is just because I look different and it is difficult to hide very light skin and blonde hair. However, the attention has felt very different here- I am sure that some of the Egyptian men are nice, respectable people but unfortunately many of them stare with such intensity and a bizarre mix of sickly perversion and disapproval all at the same time, that it has made it a horrible experience to walk around for me. Anyway, we made it to the museum without too much incident and were struck by the barbed wire blockades, armed men and massive burnt out buildings around the museum- all remnants of the 2011 revolution. The museum itself has been my favourite experience in Cairo- a calm sanctuary where we got to see the royal mummies, Tutankhamun's death mask and all the treasures from his tomb. It was incredible to see how advanced the ancient Egyptians were and the beautiful adornments they created, just amazing. Sadly many items had been stolen and damaged in a raid during the revolution.

We had negotiated hard for some money back from the horrible dinner cruise and agreed with the hostel that we would take the tour of Islamic and Coptic Cairo as compensation. The driver (from the pyramids tour not the cruise!) took us to the citadel first. It had a huge mosque and a terrace where you could look out across the city. We ran into the guarded Chinese tourists again who were allowed to enter the sacred space in the mosque where usually only the Imam can access. When I tried the same I was watched and blocked by the large armed guards! We also visited the first mosque in Africa where I was given a free, translated copy of the Qu'ran which I am going to read through. Our last stop in Islamic Cairo was the huge mosque which also houses the tomb of the exiled last Shah of Iran- a very understated spot. After that we entered Coptic Cairo- this Christian area is completely blocked off from cars with barricades and armed men so you have to enter through a metal detector to get in. We visited some nice churches and a synagogue, made more interesting by the fact they sit right in the middle of such an Islamic city. I imagine at some point the communities mixed and perhaps lived peacefully together, however since the revolution I think things have changed and the area is very much segregated.

After an interesting day, our driver dropped us off at a little restaurant famous for Kushari- a mix of lentils, pasta, noodles, chickpeas, fried onion and strong tomato sauce. It didn't look great but it was absolutely delicious!

Today we fly to Amman, Jordan where we happily continue our journey. We were told that despite regular protests in Tahrir Square by the Muslim Brotherhood, things are improving in Egypt, which is encouraging to hear. Perhaps judging Egypt by Cairo is unfair and other places in the country may be different. I am sorry to say that I will not be rushing back to test that theory.    

Turkey

I am sat in a lovely coffee shop in Canakkale, a port town that was one of the main objectives for capture by the allied forces in WW1. Though we missed Remembrance Day in the UK this year, we have learnt a lot about the war here and went to pay our respects in Gallipoli yesterday.

Since Istanbul we have experienced much more of Turkey and have absolutely loved our time here. It has, like so many places on this trip, been such a pleasant surprise with loads to do and a really easy going feel. The diversity of the terrain was no more evident than when we flew into Kayseri to see the nearby natural phenomena of Cappadocia.

We were taken by shuttle bus to Goreme, where we were basing ourselves to see the area. Even on this ride, dropping various people off at their hotels, we caught glimpses of the crazily unique landscape. As soon as we got dropped off we set straight out to climb up to the sunset spot. When we got up there we could see the valleys all around us and the tall columns of golden rock with doors and windows carved into them. It was like nothing we'd seen before and the red sunset looked beautiful over the valleys. The next day we set off on a tour to learn more about the rock formations and who lived in them- this was the best way to do as the area of Cappadocia is actually huge.

Unfortunately our tour guide was not the easiest to understand so we didn't learn as much as I would have liked to. However, we did visit the Hitit tribe's underground city- this tribe carved down into the soft rock to create a labyrinth of chambers, temples, tunnels, wells and store rooms under the earth. We learnt that this was for protection against invading forces. The structures were pretty sophisticated but not much fun with claustrophobia as the tunnels and spaces got smaller and smaller the deeper you went. After that we walked through the Ihlara Canyon with a lovely trickling stream through the middle. On the steep cliffs above us you could see where the tribes had carved their homes, including pigeon holes to collect poo for gunpowder and fertiliser! We then moved on to a carved monastery where you could still see the Byzantine paintings of biblical scenes on the rock.

To see another area of Cappadocia we took a second tour the next day. This was a lot more informative! The lady explained that the 'fairy chimneys' were formed when volcanic ash fell on top of what was at that point sea in the area. Layers of ask kept falling, forming porous pumice stone, and the final layer formed much harder basalt stone. So, over the centuries, the pumice has been weathered away by wind and rain, carving the thin columns you see today. However, the basalt rock weathers at a much slower rate so the structures end up looking like toadstools. On this tour we visited the highlight, the Goreme open air museum, which conserves a monastery and nunnery complex carved into the stone. In the multiple churches in the rock here, you could see much clearer rock paintings and later frescoes on the walls and ceilings, many with their eyes scratched out by the invading Ottomans. There were also some tombs that had skeletons still laying in them and dining tables carved into the rock. We had to move on that night to our next stop, Selcuk but if you ever get a chance to go to Cappadocia it is well worth the trip.

We flew again to save time (plus flights are very cheap internally here) to Izmir, towards the West coast of Turkey. We stopped for one night before getting the train through to Selcuk, our base to see Ephesus. Selcuk is a lovely small town, littered with incredible ancient ruins and with a very friendly, laid back feel. We stayed in a great hostel run by a Turkish-Australian guy and soon our planned one night turned into four! On our first day we explored the town and walked up to the ruins of St. John's cathedral. If it was still standing, it would be the 4th largest cathedral in the world so the ruins are incredibly impressive. There is an area marked as the burial place of John but it is particularly unremarkable. John is also said to have written his gospel atop the hill behind the cathedral. Now, I am not too hot on my biblical knowledge but I am pretty sure John is quite important in Christianity and could not believe that more wasn't being made of this place and that we were pretty much the only people there. Unless, that is, if Christians don't really believe he is buried there? Maybe someone who knows way more than me can clear that one up for me.....?

We also visited what remains of one of the ancient wonders of the world- the Temple of Artemis. Looking at the one tall but sad looking column left standing in a field, I found it pretty hard to imagine the splendour of this massive structure, but it was cool to see it. Yon wrapped the day up with a Turkish shave- an hour long process of soaping, shaving, spraying, massaging, washing and singeing!

The next day we hit the big daddy of the ruins world....Ephesus. We spent a good few hours mooching around the incredible ruins of this important ancient city. It is incredible how much is left/ has been slightly reconstructed- the enormous theatre that could seat over 20,000 people and the incredible Library of Celsus. That night, our good Aussie friend Joe popped up again and we arranged to all go to Pamukkale the next day.

Pamukkale is difficult to explain- it kind of looks like someone has poured Greek yoghurt all over a big cliff! In actual fact it is the build up of centuries of carbonate minerals cascading down the hills and building up into brilliant white rock rivers and plateaus. In the plateaus natural thermal waters have collected producing warm pools where the Romans bathed. We were on a bit of a schedule so rapidly made our way up the hill, barefoot to the Ancient Pool at the top, which had been recommended to us. It was expensive to get in but the 35 degree spring waters made it worth it....what made it even more special is that you are swimming above ancient ruins submerged beneath the water. It was a brilliant and long day!

Our final day in Selcuk was spent relaxing and visiting the massive market of beautiful fresh fruit, vegetables, fish, dairy, sweets, nuts...anything you can imagine. We were sad to leave Selcuk but had to move on to see another ancient city- Pergamum. We stayed in Bergama and took the cable car up to the ruins atop the hill. We had been a bit ruined by Ephesus so Pergamum fell a little flat as there is not much intact there, however the views were pretty amazing from the top. Also, as is the case with so many of these artefacts of the ancient world, the most impressive part of Pergamum we had seen years earlier in the Berlin museum!

We took a very nice bus further up the coast to Canakkale. The buses are crazy- huge coaches that have had one row of seats removed so they can wheel a trolley down to serve you free drinks and snacks! Canakkale sits on one side of the narrows of the Dardanelles- across the water is the Gallipoli peninsula. I have to admit before we did the tour yesterday I knew embarrassingly little about what happened here during WW1. Especially, compared to the Australian and New Zealand fellow tourists who, as they suffered their greatest loss here, are taught the history at school and remember the events every ANZAC day. The tour was very interesting as it explained that Turkey had allied with Germany (although not enthusiastically so) but the land was considered strategically crucial for the allied troops to be able to reach Russia, via the Black Sea, as the overland route through Europe was now hostile. The allied troops thought they'd very easily defeat the Ottomans starting at Gallipoli which would give them a direct route up through the Dardanelles to the heart of the empire, Istanbul and then they could control the Black Sea. Obviously things didn't work out that way and the allied forces, including the ANZAC troops, were met with ferocious fighting from a people protecting their land. After botched movements and examples of poor leadership, over 100,000 men from both sides were dead, a stalemate was reached and the allied forces were evacuated having made no progress at all. It is a sombre place for all parties and the place from which the Turkish hero, Ataturk, sprung to greatness- a General who led the Turkish forces to push the allied forces back time and time again, later became the first leader of an independent Turkey and is commemorated in images in pretty much every house/hostel/cafe/restaurant you enter here.        

Yesterday we had to stay our final goodbye to Joe, who we will hopefully see again one day in Singapore, and tomorrow we say goodbye to Turkey as we fly on to our next adventure in Cairo....

Bulgaria & Istanbul

We arrived today in the land of fairy chimneys- Cappadocia, Turkey. From the little we have seen today, it is the craziest landscape I have ever seen and we are set to explore it over the next few days...

Before we came to Turkey we spent an unexpected brilliant few days in Bulgaria- we weren't really sure what is was going to be like but the whole experience was great. We had a long journey by bus from Ohrid to Sofia, the capital. We happened to pitch up on Halloween night but had completely forgotten until we opened the door for a couple of zombies in the hostel. We were shown to our separate building by another zombie, who wasn't dressed up but had just been smoking a few too many we think, and headed straight out for food. We had some ok food and took in the freaky sights around us.

The next day we joined a free walking tour with an uber enthusiastic young guy. Sofia is a lovely city with literal layers of history. Every group of inhabitants has built on top of or around the previous group and so the layers have been stripped back and you can see full Roman roads and buildings including 3rd century churches. They even have the second biggest amphitheater found in the world, behind the Coliseum, but have allowed a hotel to be built over it which is sad. We spent the rest of the day visiting some of the churches and the cathedral. The hostel had free dinner which was great for meeting some interesting people in the evening (as well as the standard acoustic musician travelers trying to look cool 'jamming' in the corner). We even ran into Joe, a young Aussie guy we'd first met in Valbone, Albania, so it was  great to see him again and he then featured numerous times throughout the trip until now and no doubt will pop up again before we leave. We would have both happily stayed in Sofia a bit longer as we enjoyed it but had to move on to the centre of the country, Veliko Tarnovo (VT).

VT used to be the capital of Bulgaria centuries ago so is historically quite an important place and a very strikingly set town. Our hostel sat right next to the fortress which was in fact a walled city on a hill. When we went up there to explore you could see the ruined walls of all the houses and churches that surrounded the main dwelling of the royal family. It had fantastic views of the town which sits between strange flat topped mountains and a couple of rivers. Before we ventured up there I took a deep breath and got a much needed hair cut. After asking numerous people we were shown through a shop and into a hair salon- the old ladies (the hairdressers) just looked at us for a good couple of minutes until they got up out of the chairs and signalled for me to sit down. My hairdresser did not have a word of English so all I could do was indicate a length and away she went! She sprayed some water on and then just starting nonchalantly chopping- none of this 'how do you want your layers', 'do you want a fringe cutting in' rubbish. 45 minutes and a shampoo later I had new hair and I have to say I think she did an alright job for a little less than a tenner! We spent the rest of the day exploring the cobbled streets and artists' quarter.

The next day was the real adventure...on our first day in Moldova we had met an American guy (Mr Sheen from Yonna's blogs) who told us that we had to see the abandoned communist building in Bulgaria. I had seen it before in pictures but had never really figured out where it was. Anyway by the time we reached Bulgaria we had decided it was an absolute must. Our hostel in VT ran day tours to it...a few things to note...it is not actually legal to get up to the Communist monument and it is on the top of a very high peak that barely has roads going up to it just mainly track so this wasn't going to be a nice, normal tour. Andy, a Kiwi guy, had been asked to stay working at the hoste after his trip as he was the only person crazy enough to try and drive up to it. We soon realised he certainly had the machine for it as seven of us (including Joe who'd popped up again) piled into what looked like a monster truck! We drove for a little more than an hour and spent some time in an Ethnographic village before the real adventure began. This truck could take on anything- we ploughed our way up the mountain, getting stuck a couple of times, running over full on tree trunks, nearly skidding off the mountain on snow and ice and scaling big rocks. It was a very very rough ride and particularly scary as I was in the front seat so could see everything coming but was well worth it when we reached the first stop to view the monument.

We were told that it was the HQ of the Communist party during their hold on Bulgaria. It was abandoned after the party fell and systematically wrecked and vandalised by the people since, as it was a symbol of oppression. It basically looks like a massive UFO has landed on the peak of a mountain. We piled back in the truck and headed due North up the side of the mountain- another crazy ride. The view from the top was incredible over the neighbouring peaks with clouds below us. After some time exploring the outside we got to do what we were all waiting for....go in! There is a clandestine small hole knocked into one side of the building which you have to climb through, dodging the broken glass and ice that had formed around it. Once in, the eerie space was absolutely staggering- some red carpet fragments still cling to the steps as you walk up into the main conference hall. There are huge 360 degree mosaics showing Communist scenes and figures with a huge sickle and hammer in the centre of the ceiling. The roof is slowly falling in so is open to the elements making it a bit like a skating rink inside. With the damage and the decaying building plus the snow and ice dripping around you it kind of felt like the whole monument was melting. We walked around the perimeter gangway which was at one point glazed, offering incredible views of the mountains outside. All the glass is smashed now so you can stand right up on the window ledge with the winds hitting you- it was a brilliant experience and we have some great pictures. We also climbed the tower which was not my favourite- it was basically 36 vertical ladders designed for workmen in the pitch black and freezing cold- the building was enough for me so I stayed for a few minutes before coming down again.

The trip down the mountain was actually crazier as the Andy guy decided he wanted to see just how 'off road' this truck could go, literally throwing us down uncharted mountain faces. I was pretty happy to be safely on the roads again and a little battered and brusied with ripped jeans but great memories of the experience.

That night we got on an overnight bus to Istanbul. As you can imagine the trip was not the comfiest so we were like zombies ourselves when we arrived in the city at 6am the next morning. After 2 hours of navigtaing the massive city we found our hostel and had a sleep! Istanbul is everything everyone says it is- an incredible mix of Eastern and Western cultures, busy, vibrant and buzzing. We stayed in Kadikoy so were a bit out of the tourist centre which was really nice.

After a sleep we got straight out and took the ferry across to Eminonu where all the main sites are. We spent the rest of the afternoon looking around the beautiful Topkapi Palace and hareem. That night I had the best baklava I have ever tasted! The next day we hit the tourist sights in a big way- we saw Hagia Sofia (which we thought was expensive and slightly over rated), the Blue Mosque, the 'underground palace' (which Dan Brown fans will know from his latest book) and the grand bazaar. A great day marred only slightly by the fact I had picked up a tummy bug again! The next day we visited Karakoy and went up Galata tower to get views of the whole city. We walked down to the waterfront and happened upon an incredible fish market before Yon tucked into two of the famous 'fish in bread'. I was gutted as it's the kind of thing I would love to eat but I wasn't feeling up to it :-( But I sat and took in the sights of the waterside whilst the beautiful call to prayer reverberated around the city from the scores of mosques.  

On our last full day we visited our local hammam. Men and women were separate in this one so we went our seperate ways. With a few pushes, shoves and points, a lady directed me around the baths to tell me what to do before laying me on the central marble slab and scrubbing the hell out of me! Then came the soapy massage and the vigourous hair shampooing- it was a great, if not the most relaxing experience. Still not feeling great, we had a steady day of walking around the local antiques and artist markets before Joe popped up again! We all agreed it would be great to go to a local football match and Yon procured us tickets for Fenerbache. The stadium was huge and as you can imagine, the match was a very lively and loud affair. There was a brilliant atmosphere and the home team won which luckily meant the riot police we'd seen earler that night were not needed.                                                  
This morning we took a very short flight to Kayseri and then a bus to Goreme where we have based ourselves to see Cappadocia. I am very excited to see the crazy rock formations and cave dwellings tomorrow!