Home again

If only we had  known, we could have come straight to this junk shop in  Istanbul and picked up these snow globes as proof of our travels and forgone the 7000km ride! 

After six months traveling (five on the bikes) and before that a year and a half in Scotland it felt in good time to return home to Melbourne. It felt like we had reached the point where it was hard to take too much more in and we were looking forward to having a base to start our own projects and work from.
We were also looking foward to having access to English language libraries and time to explore below the surface of a lot of places we had visited that remained a mystery on our short visits.

We got the flight from Istanbul to Sydney so as to see family and friends before heading to Melbourne by car. On the drive it was exciting seeing the Australian landscape again with new eyes. Growing up somewhere, it's easy to stop seeing the beauty of a place and what makes it unique. The same went for lots of things we had missed about home. Accents and slang, food and just the general way people interact were all something of interest, which is a strange feeling in your own home. It's pleasant seeing something familiar through fresh eyes. I hope I can remind myself of these impressions after they have faded.

We plan to keep updating the blog as we do some trips closer to home. We have heard Tasmania offers great opportunities for cycle touring. We would like to fit in a short tour there later in the year and report our findings here. Stay tuned.

We hope to build up the blog slowly as a good resource for cyclists looking to make a trip, especially within Australia. We have found other people's blogs to be a huge help when planning our trip and finding good routes so it would be good to give back.

a walk around Cradle Mountain in Tasmania. We hope to return on our steeds soon. 

Haydarpasha station fire

On our last day in Istanbul we took a ferry out to one of the sleepy islands in the Sea of Marmara. It takes about an hour and offers a great view of the city.
 On the way back in the late afternoon we could see black smoke bellowing from the Asian side of the bay. As we neared the shore the sight of a huge Victorian-era building in flames came into focus. Researching afterwards we discovered it is the old train terminal for the Asian side. Called Haydarpasha terminal it was built in 1908 by two German architect in a solid neo-classical style and is usually the busiest station in the middle east.
No one was hurt in the fire and I think only the roof was affected so hopefully they should be able to restore it to its former glory. It was worrying watching the flames to think if anyone was trapped inside but another part of me was just mesmerised by the power of the fire. Does that make me a  pyromaniac?
Anyway I thought the photos were quite dramatic and worth posting. The scene reminded me of the dramatic paintings of the haze of smoke with ships on fire by Turner.

Istanbul Part Two

From Cappadocia, we returned to Istanbul where we would spend the final days of our trip before boarding our flight back to Australia. We felt excited to be heading home but also keen to make the most of our remaining days of travel, and the bustling streets of Istanbul felt like a good place to be ending our journey.

On one day we went to the Archaeology Museum and spent hours roaming the endless rooms which were filled to the brim with fascinating artifacts. One room was dedicated to the museum's origins. It was founded in the late 1880s by Osman Hamdi Bey who was, among other things, an Ottoman statesman and prominent painter. The museum managed to accumulate a huge and impressive collection largely due to the imperial decree protecting the cultural artifacts of the Ottoman Empire. This meant artifacts from regions right across the Ottoman Empire were sent to the capital city Istanbul and added to the museum's collection.

The museum had everything from gigantic sarcophagi to tiny ornaments like the delightful little cows on the left.  Most of the labels and descriptions were in English as well as Turkish. This meant we were able to read fascinating descriptions of things such as the mummification process and the unearthing of sarcophagi. Some of the most impressive sarcophagi in the museum came from a region called Sidon in modern day Lebanon, and these were discovered by a farmer working his land. He stumbled upon a necropolis dating from the 5th century BC which included a sarcophagus originally thought to have belonged to Alexander the Great. The discovery of this necropolis resulted in the transport of the immense sarcophagi, each weighing many tons, via rail, raft and ship from Sidon all the way to Istanbul!

I enjoyed reading about the legend of Istanbul's founder. I think this legend varies a bit, but the way I read about it in the museum was as follows: The God Zeus had a lover Io, the daughter of the King of Argos, who became pregnant with his baby. To avoid Io suffering the jealous wrath of his wife Hera, he turned Io into a heifer and she ran away (over the Bosphoros, which translates to ford of the ox - i.e. oxford!). Next Io (back in human form I assume?) gave birth to a girl, Keroessa, who grew up and bore a son with Poseidon. Their son, Byzas, went on to found Byzantium - modern day Istanbul.

Another day, we spent more time exploring the wonderful Beyoglu district where our hostel was situated. We found an area which was dotted with antique dealers and vintage/retro clothing shops, allowing for hours of amusement sifting through boxes of old Turkish treasures, knick-knacks, curios and junk.

We had a rather quick jaunt through the huge and beautiful Grand Bazaar (above right) which is an incredible labyrinth of a market, stretching on as far as we could peer in every direction and overwhelming us with its endless rows of colourful clothing and vocal salespeople.

On our final day in Istanbul, we caught a ferry out to the Princes Islands in the Sea of Marmara. The Islands are lovely and peaceful, with no cars allowed on the roads meaning that cycling or walking is the main way to get around. Hiring a bike would have been a great way to explore the islands but we went a bit late in the day so only had time for a stroll along the sea shore.

Istanbul drawings

Cappadocia

Cappadocia has one of the most incredibly unique landscapes we have seen. Created by three big volcanoes spewing lava onto the planes below, over time the various materials in the lava have eroded leaving a strange mix of different heights and colours. Added to this is the labyrinth of dwellings and monasteries that date back to ancient civilisation which are riddled through the soft rock like ant farms. It looks a bit like Tatooine (Luke Skywalkers home planet for all you non sci-fi nerds) and I had heard it was the location for filming but have since found out it was filmed in Tunisia. Nonetheless it felt like another planet.

lovely calm wild dog watching the sun set.

We had a limited time before our flight home so we booked a guided tour of the area instead of having to sort it all out ourselves and feel stressed about missing stuff. It worked out pretty well and probably not that much dearer. We also got a free day at the end to do our own thing. The tour guide was quite fun and had a good knowledge of the history surrounding the area. Most of the sites had an early Christian history featuring churches and monasteries cut into rock with well-preserved frescoes. Often the eyes were erased from the religious figures on the walls to conform to ideas against figural representation for icons. Apart from this, considering they were from the 9th to 11th centuries they were very well preserved.  Patterns associated with Muslim art were also mixed in with the more typical figural Christian shtick of saints and angles. Also some church frescoes show drawings hinting at pagan beliefs with animals and natural cycles being represented.

Most of the sites are completely open to wander around which is really fun if you like to explore. We didnt have a torch on our first day so couldn't have a good look around but on our day off we went for a walk through a place called pigeon valley and explored the tunnels and old pigeon roosts dotting the valley walls. The pigeons were kept for their droppings which were collected to fertilize the fields while the whites from their eggs was used to glaze the frescos. 

the lovely colors at dusk

The variety of eroded shapes
 are like clouds for daydreamers

sampling the super sticky goat milk ice cream.

a walk through pigeon valley. Very quiet and a little eerie.

Cramped passage in underground city

fairy chimney houses.

ventilation shaft  in underground city.

underground city

One of the most fascinating spots we visited was the underground city. The tunnels were created initially by the ancient Hittites people and later expanded by Christian communities to use to hide during times of danger from invading armies. They are surprisingly extensive and deep. We went seven storeys down but we have heard some are up to twenty. We peered down one poky tunnel that  we were told joined up to another underground city 9km away. Hunched over and crawling in the smaller tunnels it reminded me of the descriptions of warren life in Watership Down. Like the rabbit warrens in the book these were also built to be defended with sneaky traps and heavy rolling rock doors.

This rock showed evidence of being used by the

 early Christians for punishment.

 Me getting in the spirit of things.

cover image on our new self help book

We stayed in a hostel that is really worth recommending . It has just been taken over by a new owner who is changing its name to the "White Horse" hostel and plans to commission his sculpture friend to create a giant horse from rock to stand over the entrance gate. Its rooms are in caves with carpet and power and are quite comfy. Being dug in the rock we were told the temperature inside remains fairly constant all year round. There is a common part with a pillow area where the owner and his friends are often about and are good to chat with. They can offer good advice of things to do in the area and often can organise good deals through people they know. On our last night there the owner brought out his shisha (They call it a Nargile)  and offered us to try his special blend of fruit tobacco. Nice and smooth for our non smoking wuss-burger lungs. Orange blossom flavour.





On our free day after two days of racing about to different sites we took it easy and went for a hike north of the town to an area called Pigeon valley. It was very still and quite as we left the town. At midday we heard the call to pray echo down the silent canyon. Very pretty.
It was great to be able to explore the different tunnels and caves that dot the valley. We found some wild grapes and just enjoyed relaxing    

Apple tea break.