A couple of Christmas pics. I'm in Edinburgh, staying with my godmother, Marjorie, again. She's a gem for having me!! We had scrambled eggs with smoked salmon for breakfast (YUMMO - talk about non-backpacker food :)) sparkling white, opened pressies, then went for a walk down past the local creek. It was then back to the business of eating and Marj prepared a fantastic roast lamb which was complemented by a great Spanish red.

Merry Christmas all!

It feels like the time is going faster! Does that always happen around Christmas? Johnno, Lei and I are in Croatia now and I want to update on Dubrovnik and Split. Dubrovnik was a great town! We all loved it (despite a few mishaps).

We arrived at night (20/12) and I was happy about that because there were Christmas lights up and the whole city wall (which is 1.94km long, all the way round) had lights up. It was also the night of a charity concert to raise money for clearing landmines in the area. It was right in the main square and it really was special. It was great music - ranging from more folk music to reggae to classical. The vibe was really positive and the ambience was great.
Chrissy lights in Dubrovnik (view down to old town).

Concert rocked!

The highlights of the town for me were the city wall walk and the memorial to those killed in the Serbian-Croatian fighting in 1991 (pic below, showing all the photos of the victims as well as a slideshow of photographs taken of the city and surrounding hillsides burning). Very touching and quite shocking that this was going on so recently. I do recall some TV footage about the fighting in the former Yugoslavia but I was only 11 when Dubrovnik was attacked, so don't remember much.

On the city walls which are apparently quite famous (website about them here).

Somewhat intrusive to have a great big city wall in your garden, all the nosey-parkers can look in.

The major lowlight was the poor Mondeo being kidnapped - technically it was towed by the cops for being illegally parked - but it may as well have been classified as kidnapped. We had to pay a sizable ransom to get it back. 300 kuna to towing bloke and 400 to cop - about 100 euro ($170AUD) all up. We discovered that the traffic cop rides around all day with his towtruck buddies picking up unsuspecting cars. A nice little money earner indeed!

After spending time (a couple of hours) researching road signs, visiting locals to see if this was a common ocurrence, expressing our displeasure to the hostel who had, the night before, told us gaily 'yes, park anywhere', debating with the towtruck office guy, negotiating with the cop, stating that we love Croatia but this type of thing doesn't encourage more international visitors, trying to get a student discount, offering about 412.35 kuna in the hope they'd take that, and a bit of teary-type action (yes, I've discovered I can do this in these situations) - we eventually realised that we couldn't change the outcome. 100 euro down the drain but we then had our ticket to freedom! Off north we went, to a tiny little, blink-and-you'll-miss-it town called Slano. Rented a great apartment from a lady and her son and enjoyed the luxury of having a kitchen!!!! The moment of freedom for the Mondeo.

We stopped in Slano because we knew we were missing stunning Croatian coastline. And it didn't disappoint the next day as we drove north (22/12)!! Stunning views of rocky headlands, mountains, clear & azure water, and picturesqueak villages perched beside the sea. Is this the Amalfi Coast of the future?

Along the way we crossed the border into Bosnia for about 20km. We had to stop. Checked out a local supermarket where Johnno found a whole shelf full of fireworks. He bought an armful of them - rockets and crackers (and who knows what else). So the rest of the joyous and relaxing coastline stops were punctuated with small explosions.
A pretty coastal town.

Oyster and mussell farms (Croatia), plus a fort and city wall on the hill in the background.

Groupie pic in Bosnia!

Johnno planning to test how much a cracker will shift an old plastic bottle... Hmmmm

We made it to Split with glorious sunlight to spare. We checked out the harbour and the old palace, which really only has walls and basements remaining (most of the buildings have been modernised). The next morning Lei checked out the markets as she was 'in the market' for a new jacket and I checked out the markets for the sake of it! They were great!!!!! So much fresh produce and people everywhere, buying up for Christmas I guess. I spent a bit of time enraptured by the flower market. I have never seen such decoration!!! And the scent - walking among the roses, lillies and whatever else was there (I'm no green-thumb) - was just delicious.
A row of gorgeous flower arrangements (starting at around ~$5AUD???)

One of my favourites.

I also walked right into a 'moss market'. The girl in the pic seemed shocked that I was gobsmacked by the idea of slabs of moss for sale. She told me simply 'they're for Christmas' - and I volunteered, tentatively: 'to go under the Christmas tree????'. I have now determined (through particularly little analysis but the realisation that travel breaks through ignorance) that Christmas is a VERY different affair on this side of the world :) :)
Moss anybody? Oh and you can also buy sprouts... meant to be grass-like maybe?

Colourful fruit and veg.

Perhaps this photo is not as 'nice' as the flowers, but I love it. This bloke was friendly and blew me a couple of kisses which made everyone in the vicinity laugh! And that was a mighty big hare!

Our final supper together (as I was leaving Lei and Johnno to head back to Edinburgh for Christmas) was at a share-table place. I loved my dinner of gulash, calamari & veges plus a beer, plus we shared a litre of wine and all for less than 10 euro (~$16AUD) each!

And now it's off to Rijeka, Nth Croatia, where Lei and Johnno will drop me (to get to my flight from Trieste, Italy tomorrow). They are continuing on to Ljubljana, Slovenia and then through Italy, Switzerland and France to get to the UK in the first week of January (fingers-crossed).

Din-dins.

The Split harbour.

Split palace basement halls - now the site of Christmas booksales.

Well we made it out the other side of Bulgaria and through Serbia. We are now in Montenegro!

Sofia, Bulgaria is a great town. Drove from Plovdiv rather late but found a radio station playing hits from the 80s and 90s so a great singalong ensured we got to Sofia awake. All in all, we didn't see too much of the city unfortunately due to it being unappealingly FREEZING (almost - max temps during the day around 2 degrees) and also coz we were trying to organise insurance for the Mondeo for the next few countries (which Lei found out through a phonecall to Pommyland they don't cover). Lei and I also did lots of shopping. Both bought gorgeous leather boots and Johnno and I both got new prescription glasses. Quite a bit cheaper than Australia! We also liked eating in Bularia and Johnno raved about the great Indian we had on the last night, arguably better than the Punjabi Palace, West End (Brisbane). The food is the cheapest I've had so far (for Lei and Johnno, Poland was cheaper still :)). Loved having hot chocolates for the equivalent of about $1.30AUD. Unfortunately Sofia will remain in my memory as the town where I stepped in dog poo twice! Until then, I'd done really well and my (intricately-gripped) shoes were always clean!!
A lion statue - behind is St Sophia church, built around AD527 (Byzantine) and made into a Mosque during Turkish rule before being damaged by earthquakes in 19th C. Restored in 1900s.

Dog poo mishaps meant I was forced to buy some new shoes :)

Check out those pancakes ('and the piggies about to eat them' Johnno would say!)!

(Ladies) Markets in Sofia, check out all those cold bods.

Fantastic Indian restaurant the Taj Mahal!

I also fell in love with the Alexander Nevski Memorial Church - it is my favourite church so far in Europe. It is one of the largest Eastern Orthodox churches in the world and was built in 1912 (in honour of the Russian soldiers who died fighting the Ottomans in the War of Liberation). I just loved the paintings on all the walls and the marble walls and columns. It had a lovely feeling to it and there were people praying and lighting candles.

After Sofia we eventually braved the Serbian border. We had no problems and were in Serbia before we knew it. For all three of us it was a really strange experience. We all felt as if we had been carrying preconceptions of this part of the world and they were finally being checked against the current reality. It is just like anywhere else though, just a bit poorer maybe, is the best way to describe? But the people were really friendly and tried to help us, except the lady at the burger stand who didn't explain to Johnno that he was ordering a liver burger - YUCK. It ended up in the bin.

We drove through so much empty country - agricultural land and open grassed/treed areas. We decided to scoot through Serbia due to the tight timeline so we visited Nis, where there is a Skull tower. This is a tower made (in 1809) by a Turkish commander out of about 900 Serbian skulls as a warning to other Serbs. The tower was closed (and we never saw it, unfortunately, because it was closed Monday as well), chatted to a few skatey youths in between being blown away by the really old public buses! There is no cheap accom in Nis, so we drove out of town and managed to find a really cute little place for about 17 euro (~$27AUD) each. Brand-new!
Frost anybody? (the road leaving Sofia, Bulgaria for Nis)

The border with Montenegro is a very temporary affair it seems (Montenegro split from Serbia in June 06) and we showed passports and rego papers, had our shopping bags prodded (this time I had to bribe little Rob with chocolate to shut his mouth) and we were through.

We were immediately hit by the number of houses and hotels and just generally the extensive infrastructure. Well, not road infrastructure! We did lots of driving at night in the rain, along some of the most notorious road in the Balkans ('Notorious for what Lei?!!!!!!') - NOTORIOUSLY DANGEROUS due to rock falls, traffic, road surface etc. etc. Crazy tourists!!

Anyway, thanks to Johnno's driving skill (& Lei's soothing massages I think), we made it to the capital, Podgorica around 8pm and found a motel room for 45 euro (~$70AUD). It rained all night.

The next day we made the mistake of parking near a huge puddle. Not usually a problem right, puddles really are quite harmless (don't want the Supporters Of Puddles organisation onto me), but I (in the back seat) opened the car door right as a car went whizzing past thus letting a few decent litres through the open door - I got drenched and Johnno, in the driver's seat, copped some too. The Mondeo's poor old interior needed some wiping down too. We then drove around for a while, trying to dry out, getting lost around Podgorica looking for the centre of town (´Was that it?˙). After some yelling at each other, we kicked that popsicle stand and left for Kotor, on the coast. Torrential rain the whole way. And flooding in the small C15th town (capital when Crnojevica feared Ottoman attack) on the banks of Rijeka Crnojevica one of the rivers feeding into the Skadarsko Lake (one of the Balkans' largest). There was also flooding at Kotor: a burst water pipe right at the front gate of the old town, emergency services and TV cameras right next to the town wall. Good fun!!!

My pic - raging torrents of the Rijeka Crnojevica under the unusually non-symmetrical bridge.

Pic from montenegro.com in non-flooding times.

Johnno unable to take the little path beside the lake (behind him and curving around to the left).

Kotor was a nice place, a little more expensive than Bulgaria, however the ABSOLUTE highlight was climbing to the top of Kotor castle the next day (thankfully it was a clear day). It was a huge climb, and Lei and I mourned the loss of the fitness we possessed a few months ago. But GOD the view of Europe's most southern fjord was brilliant. I loved it up there and could have stayed for hours. (Oh and we had the best ommelettes ever in a tiny Noosa-style resort town of Budva.) But of course, this being a LJC tour (just like Contiki) we had to get going, through another border and into Croatia - Dubrovnik. More on Dubrovnik in my next post!

A tranquil moment....

Two beauties and a beautiful view!

Bulgaria now. Took us 2 hours to get over the Turkey-Bulgaria border. First of all we drove straight past the official traffic lane that took us past the passport booths. Turning around we could only find the 'Turkey registration line' - after another lap we were told to go through that lane. So passports checked, then waved through a couple of checkpoints, then got to final one out of Turkey and told 'Sorry, computer problem. Go back'. So back we went to the 'computer' lane (ie. the car registration lane)... Then Bulgaria border - first of all we got roused for taking a photo of the Bulgaria Republic sign then passports were checked. Then we were told we needed Green Card insurance for Bulgaria. We tried to get a few quotes but the first guy, who quoted 30 euro, got annoyed and had a yelling match with another insurance agent (who'd told us 9 euro) who then told us we'd have to go to the other guy coz he wouldn't sell it to us.... We thankfully found another agent who was lovely and it cost us 8 euro. So we were right after that. Well after getting our car checked for abducted children (my bag was the fattest so I had to take it out and open it. I quickly told 3 yr-old Martha to shut her mouth so she wouldn't be found...) we found really cheap fuel - must've been some 'tax-free-no-mans-land' and we were off.

Drove through lots of farmland seeing not much before we arrived in the cute, artistic town of Plovdiv. After getting a bit lost while looking for a guesthouse (mainly thanks to very few street signs and the ones in existance being in the Cyrillic alphabet) we pulled over. Luckily a Bulgarian teacher and his student from London were looking out our UK car. Boris was very helpful and we eventually found which direction to go. We got to another few confusing streets where we just stopped at the intersection and talked about which way to go, waving our maps around. A bloke then knocked on our window and him and his wife asked us if he could help us... They then lead us in their BMW to the hostel on the other side of town - very kind of them!

So Plovdiv - great little town. It's an art and culture hotspot with art galleries, music schools, old poets' houses, and museums all over the place. We had some great gyros for (this was their name in Bulgaria too) and the best icecream in a while (only 1 leve ~ 90c AUD for a huge scoop). There were trendy people everywhere in the main pedestrian mall and I was so happy to see a Christmas tree and lights. There were beautiful Christmas carols playing too (in English). We also had great coffees at a cafe in the mall (1.70 leve = cheap!). Probably one of the coolest things was hearing about a 5-level second-hand shop nearby. We checked it out on our drive to Sofia and Lei managed to find a work outfit (pants and top) as well as a big coat for the UK winter. I picked up an Esprit blouse and a cool jumper... Very cheap and it's going to be great to have some different clothes as I'm getting REAL sick of the ones I have!

Off to Sofia, the capital of Bulgaria next.

Just a couple of countryside photos to start off (and this post has lots of pics, just to warn you).
Photo of a shepherd near tiny village of Avanos. After we took his photo, he handed us a note with his address to send the picture. Yes, Mehmet, we have posted your photos!

Sugarbeet farmers - the old bloke told me to wait for the younger bloke (his son?) who wanted to be in the pic. There are mountains of the sugarbeet piled next to the freeway.

Well we are now back in Istanbul after 10 hours of driving from the famous Cappadocıa regıon. Cappadocia is known for its strange rock formations and is a major tourist-hub. We got ther from driving up over the Anatolian plateau, seeing lots of snow-capped mountains nearby.

We stopped in at an old (12th Century) caravanserai to check out where the traders travelling the Silk Road would go for a break - complete with mosque and Turkish bath. We then stayed in Aksaray for the night - nice little city where we stayed in a Pension with the locals for 10 Lira each (~ 9aud). During our driving time we stopped along the way at an underground city. Now these are apparently dotted around Turkey and I think they're amazing! The locals used to go underground at times of seige and could live there for up to 6mths apparently. Inside there were lots of very small corridors (Mum, you would have hated it) and it was quite funny seeing Johnno folded in half to get through. I particularly loved the rounded stones that would be rolled across entrances to protect from attackers. They have holes in the middle through which the retreating villagers could attack.

Doorway rock with hole

Johnno folded in half

After our night in Aksaray it was another 150km or so to Ihlara Gorge. This place was lovely to walk around but it's nowhere near as stunning as Katherine Gorge, NT. Although it does have a few C11th churches and houses dug out of the rock which Katherine doesn't have (that I know of - Chloe??). We enjoyed the walking and clammering over rocks but in the end all three of us were frustrated by the lack of signage making it impossible to find some of the churches.

Made it Goreme in Cappadocia, found our hostel and relished being nearing a heater. It is a lovely hostel and the host was helpful - providing us with electric blankets thank goodness! We spoke to a shopkeeper in town who said it was -5 degrees. I was shocked!! The next day after a late start and some fantastic bircher muslie, we were off to what is called the Goreme Open Air Museum. It's basically a group of churches cut into the rock - the main museumy-type thing about them is that they're fenced off and you have to pay 10Lira before you can go through turnstiles to get in.

The great crane fights the karate show pony

An example of one of the frescoes in a church. This one in good nick, a lot aren't.

The famous rock formations

View over part of Rose Valley and some funny old houses.

FROST!!!!! I have an obsession with it - I am always asking "Is that snow????" "No!! It's frost, geez" (is the answer I often get).

The pancake makers - these pancakes were great! Spinach, cheese and potato. Lovely.

The pancake van!

Lei and I up high.

Push over damn you!

We went exploring for an old church (St John the Baptist?) on top of a hill full of old cave houses. They have all been abandoned and people are now in the new town. Lei and Johnno got up to a very interesting knob and there was a gap they had to get back across. It was high and the rock sloped away about 100m either side!! I caught Johnno jumping across, just in case they were his last moment.

Spot Lei and Johnno - they are up the top there... Anyway old houses in the rock.

So back in Istanbul. Well, eventually after Lei and I missed the turn-off last night - this is a city of over 20million people - the same as AUSTRALIA's population.... Anyway, our irate driver likes to rub our noses in it :)

We completed some shopping in the Grand Bazaar and the Spice market (much better than the crazy 'Hello, will you be my next customer' 'hello I have this in green, red, blue, orange with pokadots' (hassle-hassle) Grand Bazaar). Lei and Johnno got work shirts and presents for family while I picked up a few scarves and a work shirt also - plus some brilliant Turkish Delight!! So many different flavours and types (with coconut, nuts, plain etc.)

Don't know how I'm going to carry all this stuff on to my next destinations :)