I went to my first ballet a couple of weeks ago. I decided to stick with something classical and wanted to see The Nutcracker as that is my favourite but it was sold out so I went with Swan Lake.
It started very slowly with quite a bit of dancing from the corps, a little from Prince Siegfried and almost none from Odette. After the first intermission it got more exciting but as the swans started to come out, a strange image popped into my head - I started to think about the hippos dancing from Fantasia. Then, as things went on, I started to think about the Trocadero ballet troupe - the company of classically trained male dancers who formed because there are so few roles available to men in ballet. So, in the middle of a serious performance, I started to get the giggles (nothing unusual about that!). It finished on a high and I was quite happy with my first foray into the ballet. One thing I did find distracting was the noise of their shoes against the wooden stage. When the music is quiet, the 'clock-clock' of the shoes is very noticeable.
Last weekend, David asked us to go to a performance by the London Philharmonic. It was sold out when we got there with a big queue waiting for returns so we headed towards Leicester Square to see if there were tickets available for a show. On the way, we passed St-Martin-in-the-Fields, where there was an ad for Mozart's Requiem on that night. We went in to have a look and there were tickets for £22 (restricted view), £18 (restricted view) and £6 (no view). Well, as it was an orchestra and a choir, I figured there was precious little to see anyway so I made the decision on behalf of the boys to get the £6 tickets. St-Martin-in-the-Fields is a beautiful church and it has just been refurbished (the outside is still hidden behind scaffolding). Its acoustics are magnificent. I have not heard such tremendous acoustics before. As with Swan Lake, my pop culture showed through. In the middle, I started thinking about the film Amadeus. :-) As to the view, I was ok with only being able to see the people in the opposite balcony but the boys were very uncomfortable that they couldn't see the performers.
This weekend I went to another PLCOCA afternoon tea, this time in Norbury (south south west London). I missed a train, got lost, missed another train and 2 hours later finally made it there. The same ladies were in attendance as last time. It is very interesting to spend an afternoon with a bunch of women who are on average 2 1/2 times your age. They provide such insights into life.
Some clips to enjoy:
Fantasia clips
Hippos dance:
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=kujWSIFoe94
Mushroom dance (my favourites from the film - love their bottoms wiggling!):
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=ddTBeNv9PwQ
Les Ballets du Trocadero clips:
Swan Lake Pas de Quatre - Small Swans:
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=MfKdC6SYcnM
The Dying Swan - Saint Saens:
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=YRp5nE0Hlsc
Sunday, January 27, 2008
Tuesday, January 8, 2008
New Year's, Edinburgh & Stirling
I arrived back in London on New Year's Eve and had the pleasure of watching some fireworks from the comfort of my living room. Apart from all the fireworks across the river, there were a couple of guys letting off rockets right beneath my window. I've never seen fireworks that close. After they were finished with about 8 individual rockets, they brought out a heavy box and looked for somewhere to put it. They stuck it next to the embankment wall and lit it. It shot out rocket after rocket, alternating between coloured fireworks and gold ones that had secondary starbursts. Cool!
On the 2nd, I headed up to Scotland to visit Edinburgh and Stirling. The primary purpose of the trip was to see Stirling Castle, the castle that my house at school was named after. I didn't realise that it had such an important position in Scottish history. James VI of Scotland (James I of England) was crowned at the Church of Holyrood down the road from the castle and spent a lot of time at Stirling, as did his mother, Mary, Queen of Scots and various other Scottish kings. The castle has not been fully restored so the palace is just a large stone house with no ceilings (which have all rotted away), no flooring or wall hangings. There are plans to return some of the remaining Stirling Heads to the ceilings of the palace and also put up tapestries and furnishings as per Mary and James's time.
The Wallace Monument is also in Stirling and has seen the dreaded hand of Hollywood. There is a sculpture at the base of hill, which looks remarkably like Mel Gibson. Very disappointing.
It was very cold up in Scotland, snowing and windy, particularly on the day I went up to Stirling. I asked a stupid question about precipitation as there were small white balls that fell straight down from the sky. These alternated with the snow, which was blown sideways by the wind. Turns out that it was hail, much smaller and whiter than the stuff at home.
Edinburgh Castle was in much better condition than Stirling. There was a big exhibit on the Scottish Crown Jewels, which, I was surprised to learn, have a longer history than the English Crown Jewels as they were hidden during the revolution and were not destroyed. The Stone of Destiny is quite the most boring piece of stone I have ever come across. After learning about its history, you would think that there might be something special about it but no, it is just a rectangular piece of rock. The crown, sceptre and sword, on the other hand, were very nice relics. The Scottish War Memorial in the castle was also done very well, situated in the chapel with light coming in through the stained glass windows.
The Royal Mile has a lot of tourist shops and not much else. It finishes with the Palace of Holyroodhouse, the Queen's official residence when she is in town. The Scottish Parliament building is quite a contrast to all the old architecture. Despite this, it does seem to fit.
Carlton Hill gives good views of the city, though the walk up and down it was very slippery from the ice and snow. I held onto the railing the whole way.
The National Gallery of Scotland is significantly smaller than the one in London but still has a good international, as well as Scottish, collection. I think it is the first time I have seen paintings of people in tartans.
Taffy and I are off to the ballet this weekend. It will be the first ballet for both of us so I chose a classical version of a traditional one - Swan Lake. Looking forward to it!
On the 2nd, I headed up to Scotland to visit Edinburgh and Stirling. The primary purpose of the trip was to see Stirling Castle, the castle that my house at school was named after. I didn't realise that it had such an important position in Scottish history. James VI of Scotland (James I of England) was crowned at the Church of Holyrood down the road from the castle and spent a lot of time at Stirling, as did his mother, Mary, Queen of Scots and various other Scottish kings. The castle has not been fully restored so the palace is just a large stone house with no ceilings (which have all rotted away), no flooring or wall hangings. There are plans to return some of the remaining Stirling Heads to the ceilings of the palace and also put up tapestries and furnishings as per Mary and James's time.
The Wallace Monument is also in Stirling and has seen the dreaded hand of Hollywood. There is a sculpture at the base of hill, which looks remarkably like Mel Gibson. Very disappointing.
It was very cold up in Scotland, snowing and windy, particularly on the day I went up to Stirling. I asked a stupid question about precipitation as there were small white balls that fell straight down from the sky. These alternated with the snow, which was blown sideways by the wind. Turns out that it was hail, much smaller and whiter than the stuff at home.
Edinburgh Castle was in much better condition than Stirling. There was a big exhibit on the Scottish Crown Jewels, which, I was surprised to learn, have a longer history than the English Crown Jewels as they were hidden during the revolution and were not destroyed. The Stone of Destiny is quite the most boring piece of stone I have ever come across. After learning about its history, you would think that there might be something special about it but no, it is just a rectangular piece of rock. The crown, sceptre and sword, on the other hand, were very nice relics. The Scottish War Memorial in the castle was also done very well, situated in the chapel with light coming in through the stained glass windows.
The Royal Mile has a lot of tourist shops and not much else. It finishes with the Palace of Holyroodhouse, the Queen's official residence when she is in town. The Scottish Parliament building is quite a contrast to all the old architecture. Despite this, it does seem to fit.
Carlton Hill gives good views of the city, though the walk up and down it was very slippery from the ice and snow. I held onto the railing the whole way.
The National Gallery of Scotland is significantly smaller than the one in London but still has a good international, as well as Scottish, collection. I think it is the first time I have seen paintings of people in tartans.
Taffy and I are off to the ballet this weekend. It will be the first ballet for both of us so I chose a classical version of a traditional one - Swan Lake. Looking forward to it!
Turkey - the experience
The Tour Group
The tour group was a great bunch of people. Everyone was aged between 25 and 40, with only a couple of people over 35. Most were Aussies and Kiwis working in London. There were also a couple from South Africa (also working in London), a handful of Brits, a Malaysian working in London and a couple of Canadians working in Hong Kong. I had read on the Net that Fez Travel groups were more about seeing the sights and less about the drinking than groups like Contiki and this was true. The people were great fun but were almost always on time for everything and only drank heavily on the last night.
I had decided to take the gamble, not pay for a single supplement and see who I was paired with. I was therefore pleasantly surprised to find that the other 2 girls who were travelling alone had paid for the single supplement and so I got a single room for free. Bonus!
One of the boys had a terrible roommate, who washed his clothes every night and hung them around the room to dry, fell sleep almost immediately after going to bed and snored heavily. One night he opened the balcony door without telling his roommate, who froze all night. What a nightmare!
The only sour note of the tour was the way that it ended. We all filled out feedback forms and gave our tips to the guide and drivers on the way back to Istanbul. Needless to say, we were quite complementary. However, when we got to Istanbul, the guide disappeared and the hotel was lousy. Apparently, some of the group bumped into members of another tour by the same company and they had the same experience. They don't seem to realise how detrimental a poor ending to a tour and poor word of mouth are to their business. I would have happily recommended the tour to others before the last 24 hours but am now not sure.
Health
I was mostly over a cold at the beginning of the trip and had fairly good health for the first 5 days of the trip. After the Turkish Bath, I was quite dehydrated, stupidly didn't drink enough water, couldn't dry my hair and ended the day with a headache and feeling a cold coming on. Got progressively worse on the next day and then that night had diarrhea. Next morning, had some tea for breakfast and then promptly threw up. I ended the tour with a body shaking cough. Despite the illness, the trip was still really good.
Activities
During the Turkish Bath, they scrub you with a salt scrubber. It is amazing how much skin they rub off! Rolls and rolls of it! Skin feels so smooth afterwards. : )
There was the option of taking a hot air balloon ride in Capadoccia. Not being a scenery person (I am the only person I know who preferred the North Island to the South Island of New Zealand - I prefer it because of the history), not liking early starts to days, not liking the price and not liking the cold much, I had decided to give it a miss. Great decision! That was the morning I had the diarrhea and vomiting and when the people came back, they told of how their toes were frozen and some of their cameras were so cold that they didn't work. Not my idea of fun. We were taken to some lookouts later in the day and that was enough scenery for me.
On the last night, we went to a Turkish Folk Night. They did dances from the various regions of Turkey working their way up from the south to the north. They had Whirling Dervishes (not real ones), dances that progressively got closer and closer to Russian style dancing and belly dancers. This is the first time I have seen a great belly dancer who is skinny. She was fantastic. She was able to move each part of her body independently from every other part - her chest, upper abdomen, lower abdomen, hips & legs all moved separately without the sword on her head moving one bit. Cool!
The Turkish People
The Turkish people are, on the whole, incredibly friendly. There are a few exceptions to this. If you ever need a defence line for a rugby team, look no further than old Turkish women. They have the heft and the determination to stop anybody. When I was at the holy relics museum, I was crushed against the Mohammed's beard and tooth exhibit by some very aggressive old women who were not afraid to use their elbows. I got a much better view of the beard and tooth than I ever wanted to along with a couple of bruises. Old Turkish women are also incapable of queuing. They are as bad if not worse than Chinese people (and that's saying something!) They again use their elbows to push their way through and then are ready, planted firmly to fend you off.
Turkish people are also very secular. For a country that is 98% Muslim, there are a remarkable number of people who smoke and drink. My feeling on this is that they adhere to the 5 pillars of Islam and then everything else is just a guideline. The result is a very interesting East meets West country.
The tour group was a great bunch of people. Everyone was aged between 25 and 40, with only a couple of people over 35. Most were Aussies and Kiwis working in London. There were also a couple from South Africa (also working in London), a handful of Brits, a Malaysian working in London and a couple of Canadians working in Hong Kong. I had read on the Net that Fez Travel groups were more about seeing the sights and less about the drinking than groups like Contiki and this was true. The people were great fun but were almost always on time for everything and only drank heavily on the last night.
I had decided to take the gamble, not pay for a single supplement and see who I was paired with. I was therefore pleasantly surprised to find that the other 2 girls who were travelling alone had paid for the single supplement and so I got a single room for free. Bonus!
One of the boys had a terrible roommate, who washed his clothes every night and hung them around the room to dry, fell sleep almost immediately after going to bed and snored heavily. One night he opened the balcony door without telling his roommate, who froze all night. What a nightmare!
The only sour note of the tour was the way that it ended. We all filled out feedback forms and gave our tips to the guide and drivers on the way back to Istanbul. Needless to say, we were quite complementary. However, when we got to Istanbul, the guide disappeared and the hotel was lousy. Apparently, some of the group bumped into members of another tour by the same company and they had the same experience. They don't seem to realise how detrimental a poor ending to a tour and poor word of mouth are to their business. I would have happily recommended the tour to others before the last 24 hours but am now not sure.
Health
I was mostly over a cold at the beginning of the trip and had fairly good health for the first 5 days of the trip. After the Turkish Bath, I was quite dehydrated, stupidly didn't drink enough water, couldn't dry my hair and ended the day with a headache and feeling a cold coming on. Got progressively worse on the next day and then that night had diarrhea. Next morning, had some tea for breakfast and then promptly threw up. I ended the tour with a body shaking cough. Despite the illness, the trip was still really good.
Activities
During the Turkish Bath, they scrub you with a salt scrubber. It is amazing how much skin they rub off! Rolls and rolls of it! Skin feels so smooth afterwards. : )
There was the option of taking a hot air balloon ride in Capadoccia. Not being a scenery person (I am the only person I know who preferred the North Island to the South Island of New Zealand - I prefer it because of the history), not liking early starts to days, not liking the price and not liking the cold much, I had decided to give it a miss. Great decision! That was the morning I had the diarrhea and vomiting and when the people came back, they told of how their toes were frozen and some of their cameras were so cold that they didn't work. Not my idea of fun. We were taken to some lookouts later in the day and that was enough scenery for me.
On the last night, we went to a Turkish Folk Night. They did dances from the various regions of Turkey working their way up from the south to the north. They had Whirling Dervishes (not real ones), dances that progressively got closer and closer to Russian style dancing and belly dancers. This is the first time I have seen a great belly dancer who is skinny. She was fantastic. She was able to move each part of her body independently from every other part - her chest, upper abdomen, lower abdomen, hips & legs all moved separately without the sword on her head moving one bit. Cool!
The Turkish People
The Turkish people are, on the whole, incredibly friendly. There are a few exceptions to this. If you ever need a defence line for a rugby team, look no further than old Turkish women. They have the heft and the determination to stop anybody. When I was at the holy relics museum, I was crushed against the Mohammed's beard and tooth exhibit by some very aggressive old women who were not afraid to use their elbows. I got a much better view of the beard and tooth than I ever wanted to along with a couple of bruises. Old Turkish women are also incapable of queuing. They are as bad if not worse than Chinese people (and that's saying something!) They again use their elbows to push their way through and then are ready, planted firmly to fend you off.
Turkish people are also very secular. For a country that is 98% Muslim, there are a remarkable number of people who smoke and drink. My feeling on this is that they adhere to the 5 pillars of Islam and then everything else is just a guideline. The result is a very interesting East meets West country.
Sunday, January 6, 2008
Turkey - the sights
Istanbul
We started the tour with a walking tour of the old part of Istanbul (European side). First up was Hippodrome Square, which used to be a Hippodrome and has since been converted to a square. There is an obelisk there that was stolen from the temple of Amun in Karnak. It was sawn to 2/3 its original length for easier transportation! I thought it was just the Brits who did stuff like this! Outrageous!
Next up was the Blue Mosque, which was beautiful. It has 6 minarets, which was what the mosque in Mecca had, so to keep the one in Mecca better, they persuaded them to put an extra one there. The inside was spectacular, with blue tiles being the dominant feature. There was the sultan's section and the screens to section off the women from the men.
Hagia Sofia (aka Aya Sofia) was originally built as a Christian church and then converted to a mosque before its final transformation into a museum. When it was converted to a mosque, the Christian mosaics were just plastered over and so were preserved.
We also visited the Byzantine Cistern, water storage facility for Istanbul in the Byzantine period. They used columns from around the city and near the back, ran out of columns of the same height. So, they found a couple of Medusa head carvings and stuck them upside down under shorter columns.
Topkapi Palace, ancient home of the Sultans, is now a museum. It contains one of the largest diamonds in the world (5th, I think), an 86 carat diamond called the Spoon diamond because it was found in a rubbish heap and sold for 3 spoons. There is also a Holy Relic museum, which claims to have amongst other things: Mohammed's sword, Abraham's turban, Moses' rod, John the Baptist's arm (!), Mohammed's beard and tooth. Urgh! All I can say is that the turban and rod look in remarkably good condition for things that are supposed to be thousands of years old.
Gallipoli
After a looong bus ride the next day, we arrived at Gallipoli. We were shown Brighton Beach (the beach the Anzacs were supposed to land on - with a gentle slope up from the beach) and Anzac Cove, the beach they actually landed on with the steep hill rising straight from the beach. There were several very moving memorials to the soldiers, in particular a quote from Ataturk, including: 'You, the mothers, who sent their sons from far away countries, wipe away your tears; your sons are now lying in our bosom and are in peace. After having lost their lives on this land they have become our sons as well.' We visited Lone Pine Memorial, where the pine tree is actually a seedling from the original lone pine. It was brought over to Turkey from Australia after the original died in a fire. There was also a memorial to the 57th Regiment of the Turkish army. This regiment was completely wiped out in the defence of the peninsula. Ataturk was actually the commander of the depleted forces at Gallipoli and he sent the men to defend Anzac Cove knowing that he was sending them to their deaths. What a terrible decision to have to make. The graves had each soldier's name and age and most on both sides were between 18 and 22. Such a waste.
Troy
There are 9 Troys built one on top of each other. The famous Troy is Troy VI. The coolest thing about the excavation was the discovery of the 'secret gate' of Troy VI. As our guide says, you would have to be stupid not to find the secret gate. However, that was not its secret. The gate was built such that there was a second wall on the outside which curved around to the gate. This prevented invading armies from using battering rams to charge the gate as there was not enough room to get the battering rams around the curve. Even to the untrained eye it was quite obvious the differences between Troy I to Troy VI to Troy IX. The advances in stonework is quite amazing.
Pergamon
Pergamon is situated at the top of a hill, which, two thousand years ago was next to the sea. Since then, the rivers have brought aluvial earth down past the hill and it is now 5km from the sea. The Acropolis has been reconstructed from the ruins. Archeologists have cemented the pieces together to show what it looked like. They have done this with quite a few of the ruins, including the famous library facade at Ephesus. I feel a little cheated that these are all reconstructed pieces and not still standing from two to three thousand years ago. There were great archives and libraries at Pergamon and Ephesus but these were taken to Alexandria at the request of Cleopatra and then were lost in the fire.
Ephesus
Ephesus is one of the great old cities with significant amounts of ruins still there. It was once a thriving metropolis of ~250,000 people. There are the remains of a public toilet, what is thought to be a brothel, shops, houses and the 3 most famous parts of the city: Hadrian's temple, the library facade (truly spectacular) and the theatre, which could hold 20,000 people. It was visited by Cleopatra and Marc Antony shortly after their marriage.
Pamukkale
The calcium terraces of Pamukkale are incredible. As one tour member asked stupidly after the guide had just explained the origins of the phenomenon, 'Oh, is that snow?' It is an amazing view from afar, a great white expanse across the hills. I am still shocked that you are allowed to walk on a bit of it (shocked but I still did it). You have to go barefoot. It is very cold and very hard. Just above the terraces are the ruins of yet another city, Hierapolis, with yet another theatre. I was just about ruined out by this time. There are only so many ruins you can see in one hit without them all blurring into each other.
Capadoccia
People carved entire towns into the rock in the Capadoccia region. Many early Christians lived in the area and when they were persecuted, they ran to hide in their underground cities, which have very small tunnels leading to large rooms with heavy, round stones that can be rolled into position over the doorways. In their normal towns they built churches, kitchens and dining halls for everyday use. The rock formations are very unusual and very different from the landscape of the rest of western Turkey.
Ankara
We stopped in Ankara for lunch on the way back to Istanbul and several of us tried Maccas and KFC at the shopping centre. 4 YTL (1 YTL ~ A$1) for a cheeseburger and small fries! What a rip-off!
A very enjoyable trip to a very exotic country.
Photos in the usual place.
We started the tour with a walking tour of the old part of Istanbul (European side). First up was Hippodrome Square, which used to be a Hippodrome and has since been converted to a square. There is an obelisk there that was stolen from the temple of Amun in Karnak. It was sawn to 2/3 its original length for easier transportation! I thought it was just the Brits who did stuff like this! Outrageous!
Next up was the Blue Mosque, which was beautiful. It has 6 minarets, which was what the mosque in Mecca had, so to keep the one in Mecca better, they persuaded them to put an extra one there. The inside was spectacular, with blue tiles being the dominant feature. There was the sultan's section and the screens to section off the women from the men.
Hagia Sofia (aka Aya Sofia) was originally built as a Christian church and then converted to a mosque before its final transformation into a museum. When it was converted to a mosque, the Christian mosaics were just plastered over and so were preserved.
We also visited the Byzantine Cistern, water storage facility for Istanbul in the Byzantine period. They used columns from around the city and near the back, ran out of columns of the same height. So, they found a couple of Medusa head carvings and stuck them upside down under shorter columns.
Topkapi Palace, ancient home of the Sultans, is now a museum. It contains one of the largest diamonds in the world (5th, I think), an 86 carat diamond called the Spoon diamond because it was found in a rubbish heap and sold for 3 spoons. There is also a Holy Relic museum, which claims to have amongst other things: Mohammed's sword, Abraham's turban, Moses' rod, John the Baptist's arm (!), Mohammed's beard and tooth. Urgh! All I can say is that the turban and rod look in remarkably good condition for things that are supposed to be thousands of years old.
Gallipoli
After a looong bus ride the next day, we arrived at Gallipoli. We were shown Brighton Beach (the beach the Anzacs were supposed to land on - with a gentle slope up from the beach) and Anzac Cove, the beach they actually landed on with the steep hill rising straight from the beach. There were several very moving memorials to the soldiers, in particular a quote from Ataturk, including: 'You, the mothers, who sent their sons from far away countries, wipe away your tears; your sons are now lying in our bosom and are in peace. After having lost their lives on this land they have become our sons as well.' We visited Lone Pine Memorial, where the pine tree is actually a seedling from the original lone pine. It was brought over to Turkey from Australia after the original died in a fire. There was also a memorial to the 57th Regiment of the Turkish army. This regiment was completely wiped out in the defence of the peninsula. Ataturk was actually the commander of the depleted forces at Gallipoli and he sent the men to defend Anzac Cove knowing that he was sending them to their deaths. What a terrible decision to have to make. The graves had each soldier's name and age and most on both sides were between 18 and 22. Such a waste.
Troy
There are 9 Troys built one on top of each other. The famous Troy is Troy VI. The coolest thing about the excavation was the discovery of the 'secret gate' of Troy VI. As our guide says, you would have to be stupid not to find the secret gate. However, that was not its secret. The gate was built such that there was a second wall on the outside which curved around to the gate. This prevented invading armies from using battering rams to charge the gate as there was not enough room to get the battering rams around the curve. Even to the untrained eye it was quite obvious the differences between Troy I to Troy VI to Troy IX. The advances in stonework is quite amazing.
Pergamon
Pergamon is situated at the top of a hill, which, two thousand years ago was next to the sea. Since then, the rivers have brought aluvial earth down past the hill and it is now 5km from the sea. The Acropolis has been reconstructed from the ruins. Archeologists have cemented the pieces together to show what it looked like. They have done this with quite a few of the ruins, including the famous library facade at Ephesus. I feel a little cheated that these are all reconstructed pieces and not still standing from two to three thousand years ago. There were great archives and libraries at Pergamon and Ephesus but these were taken to Alexandria at the request of Cleopatra and then were lost in the fire.
Ephesus
Ephesus is one of the great old cities with significant amounts of ruins still there. It was once a thriving metropolis of ~250,000 people. There are the remains of a public toilet, what is thought to be a brothel, shops, houses and the 3 most famous parts of the city: Hadrian's temple, the library facade (truly spectacular) and the theatre, which could hold 20,000 people. It was visited by Cleopatra and Marc Antony shortly after their marriage.
Pamukkale
The calcium terraces of Pamukkale are incredible. As one tour member asked stupidly after the guide had just explained the origins of the phenomenon, 'Oh, is that snow?' It is an amazing view from afar, a great white expanse across the hills. I am still shocked that you are allowed to walk on a bit of it (shocked but I still did it). You have to go barefoot. It is very cold and very hard. Just above the terraces are the ruins of yet another city, Hierapolis, with yet another theatre. I was just about ruined out by this time. There are only so many ruins you can see in one hit without them all blurring into each other.
Capadoccia
People carved entire towns into the rock in the Capadoccia region. Many early Christians lived in the area and when they were persecuted, they ran to hide in their underground cities, which have very small tunnels leading to large rooms with heavy, round stones that can be rolled into position over the doorways. In their normal towns they built churches, kitchens and dining halls for everyday use. The rock formations are very unusual and very different from the landscape of the rest of western Turkey.
Ankara
We stopped in Ankara for lunch on the way back to Istanbul and several of us tried Maccas and KFC at the shopping centre. 4 YTL (1 YTL ~ A$1) for a cheeseburger and small fries! What a rip-off!
A very enjoyable trip to a very exotic country.
Photos in the usual place.
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