Day 26: Lucerne to Paris

Day 26:  Lucerne to Paris         Wednesday, January 5^th

As we have been driving on our first leg, Victor has been telling us an interesting historial perspective about Switzerland.  The following is what he told us.   Remember dear blog followers that I am writing these things down so that I remember them, so if you are not interested in this history, just skip a couple of paragraphs.

Until the industrial revolution, Switzerland was one of the poorest countries in the world, but now it is one of the richest. The largest volume of trade for any country were products used for food or clothing production:  spices, wheat, silk, wool etc.  Switzerland had none of these products to export: it is mostly mountains and has very little farming land.  The only commodity that Switzerland had to trade was man power.   Every male from the age of 15 had to enter the Swiss Guard.   They remained a guard until the age of forty and so gained the reputation of being high quality soldiers.  They were the guards of choice for all the world’s dignatories: kings, queens and of course, the pope.

While away in other countries being guards to the wealthy who were using all these new inventions, these men became very knowledgeable about the world and as the industrial revolution rolled on, they gathered knowledge and ideas associated with all the new inventions they were seeing and using in their jobs.   Leaving the Swiss Guard at forty years of age, they were still young enough to act on those ideas once they returned to Switzerland.  Furthermore, as Swiss Guards, they were quite well paid and they sent money back to Switzerland.  There was so much money going back to Switzerland that a systemmatic way of handling money had to be devised.   They developed a Western Union type of system for money handling.  Therefore, in the years following the industrial revolution, there was huge potential and ready finance to start industry in their country.   So it is that Switzerland is now one of the most industrialised and wealthy countries in the world.

We travelled through Burgundy on our way to Paris and I can certainly see that it would be a lovely area to poke around in.  Although crisp and very cold out of the bus, it was a sunny day so was a very pleasant trip.

Upon arrival in Paris, most of the group headed off to Moulin Rouge.   This didn’t interest us so we joined a small group which went to the Louvre.  The three hours we spent there just flew by – mind you we spent the first hour grabbing a snack, orienting ourselves and buying tickets.   However, once in the gallery, we were amazed at its size and the immensity and detail of some of the paintings.

No - I'm nott putting in the Mona Lisa - everyone knows what she looks like and I thought she gets a little too much hype!!   I loved this 1823 portrait of a young girl holding flowers by Sir Henry Raeburn.

We have already had a couple of first hand experiences of French arrogance and their negativity towards English but I haven’t time now to write more in detail.  May do so tomorrow.   Right now, I just want to get to McDonalds for the free wi-fi so that I can post the last three days.   We have had a frustrating time with the internet but hope to have success tonight.   I’ll post without photos for now and add the photos later.

Tomorrow we go up the Eiffel Tower and to Versailles, so we are really looking forward to both.

Day 25: Milan to Lucerne

Day 25:  Milan to Lucerne            Tuesday, January 4^th

Leaving Milan at 7:15, we were in darkness for the first hour or so but before too long, we were at the Italian-Swiss border and travelling through the beautiful vista of the Alps.  Tunnels through the mountains abounded, the longest of them being the Gotthard tunnel which is 17km long.   Victor explained that until it was completed in 1982, the Alps completely divided Switzerland, not only geographically but also culturally into the Swiss who aligned themselves with Italy and those who aligned with Germany. 

The drive was absolutely stunning, with frozen waterfalls suspended all the way down the slopes and snow laden roofs on the typical Swiss chalets.   I captured some of it as we drove along and am pleased that the shots have turned out reasonably.   It is frustrating of course, to be in a bus that has no respect for the needs of photographers!  Most of the beauty I will have to try to imprint on my memory.

We stopped at a pretty little town on the shores of Lake Lucerne.  From there, most of the group went on another optional excursion that we declined.  We are not at all popular with Victor that we are not doing all the optional excursions.  It seems that they are really optional in name only – he actually came up and questioned us quite intently as to why we were not going.   He said he was intrigued as he has never had people not go before – what a load of hooey!!  There were ten of the group not going and we had a good time lunching together, each of us joking that we felt like the naughty kids in the class.   It is interesting that some of our fellow travellers are now starting to notice that we are not as tired as they are and I think they realise that our strategy isn’t such a bad one.

We were driven to Lucerne in the bus, arriving just a few minutes before the day-trippers arrived by boat.   I had just enough time to get some nice shots of the lake before the evening mist started to descend. 

Victor took us to see the lion monument which is a very moving sculpture into rock in memory of the twenty Swiss guards who died being trampled by the mob who stormed the Palace of Versaillles in the French Revolution.  The guards were defending Louis XV1 but in an ironic twist,  he was not at the palace at all.   I must read up more on this very moving story.

Having booked into the hotel, we had a short nap before heading out to the shops.  We checked out Bucherer, the multi-storey shop which sells nothing but watches and clocks (and now overpriced souvenirs), however with most of the watches being several thousand euros, we left them where they were!

We have now had a very nice dinner and will soon go to the coffee lounge to get on the internet and post this.

A quick word about our Trafalgar tour.  It is proving to be:

o   very good value – all hotels are excellent standard with good breakfasts and dinners included

o   a good quick whistle-stop tour of this part of Europe

o   a good mix of ages of fellow travellers.  There are no “blue rinse” oldies as I had expected.  We would be amongst the oldest, with a good mix right down to a family who have their 12 year old son with them.

o   Full on – wake up call at 5:45,  cases in passage by 6:30, on the bus at 7:15

o   A good spirit and rapport between all involved.  We are finding Victor to be quite a pain, but he is very knowledgeable and has 20 years experience of the job, so is a very efficient operator.  We just wish he would shut up sometimes!!!

               

Day 24: Venice to Milan

Day 24:   Venice to Milan  ,  Monday January 3^rd

(I’ll again have to post three days – Day 24 Day 25 and Day 26 without photos and I will add them later.)

As we drive out of Venice, heading towards what our guide Victor describes as the ugly industrial city of Milan, we now have a better understanding of Venice.

We have had a fabulous day and are both coming away adding Venice to our list of favourite cities.  Most of the forty people on the bus tour headed off late thismorning for a cruise around the islands of Venice.  We chose to pass the several hours just wandering the  city and we haven’t regretted the decision.

First, before I forget what Victor told us yesterday about the geographical and historical background of Venice, I must write it down.  He explained that geographically, it has been formed as a result of the meeting of the Adriatic Sea with the mouth of several rivers which flow down from the Alps.  Those rivers carry with them glacial morraine pebbles.  The equality of the forces , the sea and the river, means that at the point at which they meet, there is little forward movement of the water.   Therefore the morraine pebbles have dropped to the bottom of the river and sea bed.  Over the millions of years that this has been happening, the buildup of pebbles has become a solid base and eventually islands have formed. 

Until the 1400’s, Venice was in a prime positiion for trade.   Situated as it is at the head of the Adriatic Sea, it was a major gateway for trade between east and west.  Huge taxes were charged for goods to pass through the city and Venetian merchants became very wealthy.  Many of the islands were connected by bridges to  become a city of beautiful palaces, three- or four-storeyed residences, narrow winding streets, narrow canals and one major canal, the Grand Canal.  Each tiny island was a district in its own right and they are all connected by slightly peaked stone bridges.  Dozens of beautiful churches were built, all of them with rich trimmings of marble, gold leaf mosaics, rich coloured  frescoes, intricate stone carvings, mosaic tiled floors and high domes.  The best known of these is St Marks, which has pride of place in the centre of the city.

Then with the discovery of the Americas by Christopher Columbus, new trade routes were established and Venice was no longer a city through which all trade passed.   One by one the merchants left the city and it gradually fell into a state of decline.  By the twentieth century, Venice was a sad shadow of its former self.  In the latter half of the twentieth century, it was realised that major restoration needed to be done to save the city.   All industry was banned from the old part of the city and major works such as the restoration of St Mark’s bell tower were undertaken.   The city’s only imdustry is now tourism and the thousands of people who live in the old part of the city would all be involved with the tourist trade in one way or another.

One of the main tourist attraction is, of course, the goldolas with their famous gondoliers. In summer, no doubt the city is abuzz with them.  However, today, with temperatures struggling to get over zero, very few gondolas were on the canals and we saw many gondoliers standing around chatting together to pass the time.  Another means of transport is by water taxi.  These go on the Grand Canal and on the beautiful lagoon which surrounds the old city.

Dozens of other little islands lie in the lagoon.  Many of these are home to fishermen and their families.  One of these is Burano, where beautiful lace is made by the women.  Another is Murano where beautiful  glass objects are produced.

Before the group went off on their cruise of the lagoon, we went to a Murano glass outlet where we were given a demonstration of the glass blowing – much more involved than I have seen in other glass blowing demonstrations.  For a welcome change, there was no apple tea involved and no high pressure sales team.    It was a team effort between two craftsmen to produce one tumbler with a patterned rim, so we can see why Murano glass has such a high price tag.  With all of it being way beyound our budget, we  did not purchase any, but before I left Venice I made sure that I bought a Murano glass charm for my bracelet.

So, with the rest of the day to ourselves, firstly we went into St Mark’s cathedral.   This seems to belong to the Renaissance period, with walls and dome covered with gold mosaics  but there was not the other lavish gold decoration that belongs to the later Baroque period.  Like Sancta Sophia in Istanbul, the walls are of book-matched marble panels. The floor is marble and mosaic tiles and with the ebb and flow of water over the centuries, it is an undulating surface.  The rising of the water into the city is quite common, especially in winter and indeed, while we were there, there was some substantial water creepage, to the extent that walking platforms were laid out in readiness for the water to rise higher than it actually did.  Roger is fairly certain that a couple of the Renaissance composers were resident at St Mark’s Venice, but we need to consult the internet to confirm this.

Beside the cathedral is the 100 metre high bell tower, the Campanile.  We took the lift to the top and had a wonderful panoramic view over the whole city.   Although extremely cold, it was a wonderful experience, made all the more memorable by the shock to the system when the bell started tolling:   boing, boing, boing….on and on it went for about 20 boings!   It drew my attention to the bell itself (there are several of them but only one was tolling at that time – thankfully).  The bells are all mounted on carved wooden timber cross pieces and then from them, at the top of each bell, are sad looking faces.   They are really quite cute.

We spent the rest of the time before the group returned, wandering the streets, window shopping and a bit of real shopping too.   We were glad to retreat into a nice warm restaurant for lunch and we had the best lasagne we have ever tasted.  It just melted in the mouth! 

When it was time to start making our way back to the meeting point, we found that we had wandered too far and although we both have a good sense of direction, we were thoroughly lost.   Every street looked the same and we seemed to be going around in circles – made worse of course by the fact that we started to panic about time.   However, after saying “San Marco?” at several point s along the way to anyone who looked to be a local – tradesmen, gondoliers, cart pushers etc, we finally found our way back to St Mark’s Square. 

From there it was a boat ride back to where our bus was parked and we were on our way, driving to Milan.  It was jut before 7pm when we reached the centre of Milan and we had just a few minutes to see the unbelievably HUGE “wedding cake” gothic cathedral before the spot lighting was turned off.  Then the interior lights of the cathedral were turned on, giving a view of the wonderful stained glass windows.  Every one of the hundreds of windows  was lit up – something we have never seen before.  Apparently this is the first year they have done it, probably just for the Christmas season, so it was a bit of a thrill.

We then walked through the world’s second oldest shopping mall.   Built in 1883, it is just fabulous.  Not a rabbit warren as shopping centres are now, it is just one very long internal walkway with beautiful shops on each side.   Being Milan, the shops are of the highest calibre – Gucci, Louis Vuitton etc.  The mall has a beautiful dome in its centre.  The dome was illuminated with gorgeous blue lights.  Then from the dome, the roof over the mall’s central walkway is also domed.  It reminded me of the Crystal Palace in London, which was built for the Great Exhibition of 1851.  With this mall being built in 1883, I imagine its design could well have been inspired by the Crystal Palace.  We ventured into a restaurant and suffered the look of disdain from the maitre de when we just ordered drinks.  It was a lovely atmosphere to sip a beautiful red wine.

(Sorry , this is not the best photo, but I am putting them in in a hurry and I haven't yet edited them.)

We still had not checked into our hotel.  With the hotel being quite a way out of the centre of Milan, it was quite a while until we eventually arrived there.    By the time we had had dinner, it was 10pm – well and truly bed time with our early start the next morning.  So I am sorry blog followers, I was just too tired to get onto the internet last night. 

Day 23: Rome to Venice, 2nd January

Day 23:   Rome to Venice    January 2^nd

This is likely to be a short blog as there hasn’t been a great deal happen today.

We left Rome at 7:30 am, ready for the 500km drive to Venice.  All day we drove through heavy fog then fog/smog.   Around the middle of the morning we gained an impression of the beauty of Tuscany and then later of the alps region, but it certainly wasn’t clear enough for photos.

Our guide, Victor, drove both Roger and me absolutely crazy with doing nothing but talking at us all morning.  He had to sell us the extra optional tours and boy did he labout the job!!!   Why say in one sentence what you can spread out to half an hour???    He goes on and on in such a patronising tone.  I most certainly know how my students feel now – and in fact, Victor’s style may well have a lasting affect on my teaching style.   By the lunch break, we decided that we had better take it in turns, one to listen and the other to have a break by listening to music on the MP3 player.

We arrived at Venice by 4pm and went straight to the pre-arranged gondola ride, which we really enjoyed.  Victor then led us to St Mark’s Square, which we will see in more detail tomorrow.  He let us loose for two hours and we had a lovely time, just wandering the streets by ourselves.   Most of the shops were open until 7pm, still with their Christmas wares, so the atmosphere was lovely.   The crowds of course, were crushing.

At 7pm the group met  again and we had a water taxi ride down the Grand Canal.   That was lovely too, with some of the buildings lit up.

We then drove to our very flash hotel, have just enjoyed a very nice dinner and I will happily fall into bed as soon as I have posted this.   Victor has been very informative with a potted history of Venice.  I will write this up in tomorrow’s blog.

The next shot shows how much Roger enjoyed the gondola ride.  It was a real highlight for him.

A mini version of a Myer-like Christmas wiindow in one of the shops.

Of course displays of Venetian masks were everywwhere!!   Yes Robyn - I can see why you love them.

Day 22: 2nd day in Rome 1/1/2011

Day 22:   2^nd day in Rome                               1/1/2011

Our New Year certainly started with a BANG!!  The crackers had been going all evening but at midnight, they really went off big time.    From our hotel window we could hear fireworks all around us and we could see some which were being fired from a nearby building.   One of the men on the tour went to one of the several venues in the city centre and he estimated there were half a million people there.

We toured Rome with our group.  Despite everything being closed, it turned out to be a very interesting day and we returned to our hotel at 2:30pm, thoroughly exhausted.  We  have enjoyed having the rest of the day as down time, ready to have a few full-on days between here and London.

We had a local guide, another one who was very knowledgeable about Rome and who filled in many of the gaps in my knowledge of the history of the city.  We were not able to get into the Forum, but we had a wonderful view overlooking it.  With the help of a very good little book of overlays which he borrowed from a hawker who turned up just at the right time, the guide showed us how it all would have looked in the glory days.  We bought one of the books as it really helps to bring the many ruins alive.  I’ll also find it handy for my teaching.

Our guide explained that once the Roman Empire had fallen, around 500AD, and the “barbarians” from the east had taken over, the former wonderful buildings were simply recycled and that much of today’s Rome is built with parts of the ancient buildings.  We had seen this happen also in Turkey, with the cistern under Istanbul being built from disused Roman buildings.    The guide said that it was only in comparatively recent years that the preservation of the ruins has been a priority and that there are many people in Italy who have parts of statues, columns etc in their homes.

From the Forum we went again to the Colosseum and heard again the stories we had heard yesterday.  However it was good to hear them again and to see the Colosseum with few people there as it was still early on New Years Day.  We were told of the issue of free tickets to Roman citizens – seating arranged by social class, with the lower classes having the higher seats.  The mornings were spent with animal fights.  Apparently the most wonderful collection of animals was brought her e to have staged fights to the death.   The guide just went on and on naming the animals that were brought here.  We all know about the lions and tigers of course but apparently there were also elephants, giraffes, gizelles, crocodiles, rhinoceroses, camels, hyenas…..the list just went on and on!   They were kept in cages under the floor of the Colosseum and were not fed for two days.  Once released to the light and the roar of the 25,000 strong crowd, they became frenetic and fought each other to the death.  This happened all morning and then there was a break  for the execution of criminals :   crucifixion,  skinning alive,  dismembering  by each limb being attached to horses which went in four different directions!!!  Then sand (the latin word is ‘arena’) was spread over the stadium to soak up the blood and entrails in preparation for the main event for the day – the gladiator fights. 

The gladiators were usually slaves but sometimes men who had fallen on hard times and who contracted their lives to a master.  After a specified number of fights, if still alive, they could be granted their freedom.  The decision as to who had won the fight, although made by the Emperor or some other dignatory with a thumb up or thumb down, was at the behest of the crowd.   The guide said that contrary to popular opinion, the Colloseum was not the scene of Christians being eaten by lions.  This certainly happened, but it has been discovered by archeologists that it was not at the Colosseum.   Another interesting discovery has been a cemetery for gladiators which has revealed that between 100BC and 100 AD, females were allowed to be gladiators!

The Colosseum was never the place for chariot races, which were held at the Circus Maximus which had a capacity of a staggering 250,000 people!  We drove past this but I was not able to get a good photo.  We were amazed at its capacity as it doesn’t look all that big – two and a half times the capacity of the MCG.  

The next stop was St Peter’s square – another repeat of yesterday’s travels.  Today however, being New Year’s Day, there were blue peace balloons flying and a Christmas/New Year mass was being celebrated.  I found it a great thrill to stand amongst the huge crowd, watching the mass on the huge TV screens that were placed around the square.  We had wonderful vision from inside St Peter’s Bascilica, with the camera focusing several times on the dome or on other parts of the interior of the church.  It was wonderful to hear and see the choir, with absolutely glorious music – a huge choir and two organs.  A highlight for me was the Alleluia before the gospel reading and another piece which we did not know but which was very Taize in style while the pope received various people before him.   The first of these was a group of three children and he spent quite a few minutes talking to them.  Then came various other small groups, no doubt representative of various orders etc.  The crowd of several thousand people just stood quietly watching and listening to the mass.  It was just a wonderful  atmosphere with reverence and quietness.  Many people, including me, were wandering around taking photos but this didn’t seem to be inappropriate.  There were even guides leading groups, including our group in the first half hour, but again, this was done quietly and without disruption to the atmosphere.

At the Trevi fountain,  Roger threw in his coin, according to tradition. 

We had a delicious pizza lunch and then walked on to the Spanish Steps which were, by that time of the day, so crowded that we really only stopped for a few minutes to take a few photos and then moved on.  The guide walked us through the streets which are lined with exclusive shops and antique dealers and then it was back to the bus and the hotel.

Interesting observation:   we have seen hundreds of the tiny “smart cars” in Rome- obviously very handy for the narrow streets and squeezy parking spaces.

Roger has the pleasure of watching a ‘Miss Marple’ on TV as I write this.  As I have now mentioned a few times on other blogs, Christmas is still alive and well here, with Christmas carols and ads for Christmas gifts still in proliferation on the TV.  Apparently in Italy their main celebration is Epiphany on January 6^th , when the wise men bring the gifts.  However, our guide Victor said that they also cash in on December 25^th and so gifts are often given on both days.

Day 21: Rome Day 1 - half way point

Day 21:   Rome  Day 1,   Friday, December 31^st.

Adventures of travels in Rome

or

How having too much Scotch blood is not always a good thing!

Or

It pays to read ALL the literature!!!!

September 2010:             Booked accommodation for the night in Rome before we join the Trafalgar tour – the hotel used by Trafalgar was about 200 Euro beyond our budget, so we booked a  70 euro one close to the airport – it had transfer from the airport so seemed ideal.

7:20 pm Thursday 30^th:   Had collected luggage and were ready to catch shuttle bus to the hotel – it had just left, so we had until 7:45 to wait for the next one.

7:50                                        Still waitng for the bus, so decided to catch a taxi              15 euro

8 pm                                      Arrived at hotel – very niceroom  - very Italianate, very spacious withvery ample storage but very little else:  no tea/coffee, no breakfast, no minibar.  Informed us that the best way to get to the city tomorrow would be shuittle back to the airport and then the train into the city.   The helpful consierge looked up our hotel address on the internet and told us we needed to get into the city and then get the train out to Cipro (about 6 stations).   Our hotel would be close to that station.

Friday December 31^st”

8.45 am                                Shuttle bus back to the airport                                                   12 euro

9am                                       Train into the city central station                                               28 euro

9.40 am                                About a 600m walk to the Metro (local trains) area, pulling our 20kg suitcases plus other bags behind us.  Carried our suitcases up stairs, walked 20 or so metres further then down stairs again.  Another 20 or so metres then another flight of stairs going up – then more going down!!!  At last, thoroughly exhausted we arrived at the platform we needed.  Managed to work out how to buy an all day public transport ticket                                                                   8 euro

Around  10.30                    Arrived at Cipro.  Roger stayed with luggage while I tried to find out where the hotel was.  After asking in several shops,   one kind trader, who could speak very little English, looked it up on the internet.  Between his little English and my even less Italian, he was able to make me understand that we needed to go one more station, to Valle Aurelia and then out one stop on a different line to Appiano.

Around 11am                     Back on the train, heading for Valle Aurelia

Around 11.05 am              Alighted train at Valle Aurelia and find the way to the next line we needed.  Confronted with a non-operational escalator but were relieved to find a lift -  thank goodness it was labelled as a station suitable for the disabled!  Lift also out of action, so we had no choice but to heft the luggage up another 3 flights of steps – then lo and behold another 3 flights until finally we were on the station.

Around 11.45 am              Arrived at Appiano and asked for the street of our hotel.  We were relieved to find it just a few metres away, and then our hotel only a few paces up the hill.

Around midday:                               Staggered into the hotel, hot, exhausted and thoroughly frustrated.  We had saved about 130 euro but had spent a whole morning and 63 euro getting there!  Checked in and then were introduced to Victor, out tour guide.   We told him of our ‘’adventures’’ and he asked why we hadn’t taken advantage of the free transport that Trafalgar offered from the airport to the hotel.   There had been 3 transfer times offered during the day – the first one leaving the airpport at 9:15 – just after we had left the airport on our eventful trip!!!

                                                *********************************************

Victor told us that tomorrow being New Year’s Day, most things would be closed.  We realised that if we wanted to see the Colloseum, we had better go thisafternoon.   Victor suggested that if we caught a taxi, we might have time to get to the Sistine Chapel before it closed at 1.30, to St Peter’s Bascilica and to the Colloseum.  He called the taxi for us and instructed the taxi driver that we wanted the Sistine Chapel, but hat if the queue was too long, to take us straight to St Peter’s Bascilica.  Well, the queue for the Sistine Chapel was too long – still about 1km long and only 30 minutes before the closed down, so the taxi dropped us at St Peter’s Square.   Got there just as they were closing St Peter’s Bascilica, so didn’t see it either!    Did see St Peter;s Square though and marvelled at its size.

We knew the last entrance tickets for the Colloseum were being sold at 3.30 and decided that we had just enough time to get there if we hurried.  Decided that although we could use our all day train tickets, we would be quicker if we used the hop-hop off bus.    Got a ticket on it and sat there for 30 minutes until it started  - just as we got to it, they changed to the public holiday timetable which causes it to run every 45minutes instead of every 15 minutes!!!  Can you imagine how frustrated we were both feeling by this time???

Finally, the bus took off and we were headed for the Colloseum.  However, because the big Rome New Year’s Eve concert is being held just near the Colloseum, the streets all around it were blocked off, so we had to leave the bus quite a distance from it and walk down the rest of the way.  It wasn’t a huge distance and we didn’t really mind – until we found ourselves in the middle of a HUGE crowd and we had to fight our way through it.

Arrived at the Colloseum about 3pm, only to find a loooong queue there too.  Were immediately met by an English speaking guy who said that for 20 euro extra, we could join an English-speaking guided tour and go straight in.   Sounded a great deal so we paid up.  I won’t go into the next 30 minutes of hassles, but suffice to say that for about 20 of those 30 minutes, it looked as though we wouldn’t get in at all and at one point our guide seemed to disappear altogether and we wondered if we had been duped!  However, he eventually reappeared and we were in.  He gave us a very good tour of the Colloseum,so at last something had gone right with the day.

Travelled by train back to the hotel, through peak hour traffic.   One part of the trip involved a crush on the train such as I have never experienced before – far worse than our Metro’s worst crush.  We gripped hands firmly to make sure we weren’t separated.

Back at the hotel, there was the first of the tour meetings, then we were taken out for a complimentary dinner to compensate for all the things we won’t be able to see tomorrow. 

To end the day on a good note, the dinner was wonderful!!!   We found two Australian couples our sort of age – both couples come from Queensland – ay!    The four-course meal was delicious and from go to woe we were entertained by two superb opera singers – a soprano and a tenor.  They were a treat to listen to and really made it an enjoyable evening.

 

So now, still quite  bit before midnight here, as I am sitting up in bed listening to the fire crackers going off outside, all that is left for the day is to wish all my blog followers a very Happy New Year!!!   I will try to connect to the internet so I can post this.   It is 9am on January 1^st in Victoria. 

Day 20: Istanbul to Rome

(Will post days 20 and 21 without photos for now and will add them later)

Day 20:  Istanbul to Rome,   Thursday December 30^th

We are sitting at Ataturk airport in Istanbul, waiting to fly out to Rome via Athens.  All is right with the world as I am sipping the first Cappucino in a week  (Gloria Jean’s)  and we have successfully passed through the first of two security controls with no hassles.   We discovered the hard way when we flew from Cappadocia back to Istanbul, that at Turkish airports there are two security controls – the first is when you enter the doors of the terminal and the second is when you prepare to go on the plane.  This caught us completely on the back foot at Cappadocia and the hassling of the attendant for Roger to hurry up had catastrophic results – say no more except thank goodness for  the Turkish translation of a medical letter I was carrying!

This mornings’s  trip to the airport was an adventure in itself.  We booked on a minibus shuttle service which left from our hotel door.  It then spent half an hour going around several of the hotels in the Sultanamet region, picking up passengers.  This was a fascinating ride through the narrow lanes -it’s an overstatement to call them streets – of this, the old part of Istanbul.  At every turn there was a traffic jam: horns honking, the bus carefully manoeuvering its way so as to avoid colliding either with another vehicle or with a stone wall and men out of their vehicles directing the traffic in order to clear the way.

This seems a good opportunity to write a few reflections of Turkey.   At the risk of sounding like a writer for Lonely Planet, I will write a few observations of some of the interesting aspects from a traveller’s point of view.   Also, as I have found quite a few differences since I was here last, I will write a bit about these also.

Petrol:  We were astounded to see that it is equivalent to around $3.20 per litre, which of course makes our 6 day tour with One Nation Travel even better value.

Shopping – Markets:      I have talked in some of the recent blogs about our experiences in various markets.  You simply cannot stop to ‘window shop’, which is most frustrating.  The second you stop to look at something, the trader is pointing out the various colours or styles of the item – aspects which are blatantly obvious because of every item there are multiples – not just a few, but a few dozen on display.  Apparently tourists are expected to haggle, but as we are not comfortable doing this, we happily paid the asking price in most cases.   However, at the Grand Bazaar, I had admired a handbag with crewel work on it and was told it was 55 Turkish Lira.  Asing for a smaller one, I was told it was also 55 TL – clearly unacceptable in my mind.  ”Oh no,  too much, ”   I said and was asked how much I wanted to pay.  I said that I would pay 20 TL at the most and he immediately started coming down,  but still not to my price.   Then his offsider said something about liking the lady so let her have it for 20TL.  Having read in Lonely Planet that it is bad form to not buy once a price has been agreed on, I now have a rather nice crewel work handbag which I can use as a tax deduction as I need to show crewel work as a fabric application to my Interior Design students.

Shopping – Leather/jewellery/carpet outlets:  These I have also described in some detail on blogs.  There are common factors in each of these experiences.   Always we were offered apple tea.  There seemed to be a plethora of salespeople, all of whom could speak English.  It seemed that each victim – I meant tourist – had a salesperson allocated to them by some surreptitious signalling system and that person clung like a limpet until either the tourist bought or it was aptently obvious that the salesperson was wasting his/her time and energy.   There was always the offer of a special discount owing to the low season, but I am led to wonder if the same discount will not apply in June because it is the high season.   Wthout doubt however, the goods have always been beautiful and of very high quality.

Drinks:    Apple tea – how many cups of this vile, sickly sweet drink were we offered?  They will sometimes offer Turkish tea, which is just like out tea, drunk black, but they make it so strong!  It seems that noone understands the concept of ‘weak’ when it comes to drinks.  I would often show with gestures that I want a little tea and lots of water, and they would look at me as though I was totally bonkers!!  Roger quite enjoyed the apple tea, so he didn’t have the same hassles.

              Coffee – We were only drinking tea because their coffee is simply undrinkable!  Turkish coffee you can stand a spoon up in.  They obviously realise that this is not a universal taste, so they also offer Nescafe.   The problem is that they make a cup of Nescafe with no fewer than two full teaspoons of coffee in the small cup!  Colin and Bob would both find this fine, but we just went without coffee.

Bread:   Noone does bread like the Turks.  I knew that their bread is beautiful and so all through Austria and Hungary, where the bread was heavy and very doughy, I was hanging out for the Turkish bread.  It is just like our bread – soft and fluffy, with plenty of air through it.   They bake it in large cobs with a beautiful crisp crust.  They don’t offer butter with it, but that doesn’t matter as the bread is delicious just on its own.

Christmas:   Now Christmas and Muslim Turkey don’t really go together I know, but it seems that the rest of the world (at least this part of it) that doesn’t celebrate Christmas, or that celebrates it in a different way or at a different time, really  wants to cash in on Christmas western style.  Everywhere in Turkey, we saw Christmas tree style trees, decorated with baubles, which are there to celebrate New Year.   Then, as I was typing away a couple of nights ago, sitting in the hotel lobby next to the TV, I was amazed to hear ‘Jingle Bells’.  I looked over and there was a sleigh flying through the air, being pulled by reindeer, but instead of Santa in the sleigh, there was a young woman and a smaller figure (child?,  bear? elf?), both dressed in yellow costumes trimmed with fur.

As we went through the airport in  Athens on our stopover today, Santa was wandering around giving out ‘gifts’.  We heard Christmas carols in both Athens and Rome airportsso it seems Christmas hasn’t yet finished.

Toilets:  It was a pleasant surprise this time to find many more western toilets.  In fact, there was only one occasion on which I used an eastern toilet in the whole week we have been here.    The toilet experience is worth writing about as I think the Turks have got it just right!  I may be wrong, but I don’t know of any other place in the world that has this toilet experience, so as delicately as I can, I will describe what happens.

On first appearance, the western style of the toilet in Turkey is no different from what we are used to.  But there is one big difference – the little tap.   This is on the wall behind the toliet and it supplies a small, narrow outlet which sits towards the top of the toilet bowl.  Once one has finished the ablutions, a turn of the tap delivers a stream of water to exactly the right spot where it is needed for washing the affected area.  Toilet paper is always supplied, but this is intended for blotting dry one’s nether region, rather than for cleaning the same.  The used toilet paper is then deposited into a bin beside the toilet, thus saving the sewerage system from being clogged up with paper.  We were amused (and still bemused)  to see signs which requested saving of water by flushing the toilet twice!

Now, for the benefit of those who have not visited Turkey for several years (and for those who are interested anyway), I want to note a few of the things I found to have changed over the last decade.  The Turkish people themselves talk of the great changes that have happened in the country over recent years.  Apparently there was a change of government in 2004 and they talk about pre 2004 Turkey and post 2004 Turkey.

There will no doubt be many things that I have not noticed, but now the tourist experience is quite different.  They are really geared up for western tourism now. 

It’s just a minor thing, but in 2000 there were no kettles in hotel rooms and I relied on an immersion boiler to make a cup of coffee my style.  No need for the immersion boiler this time, as there was a kettle in each room we stayed in.

Turkey seems to be much more western and noticeably less Muslim.  I think it seems as though they have made a deliberate move to distance themselves from Islam since 9/11.  Among the young people, there is a noticeable western appearance in dress and behaviour.   I saw very few pairs of young women in full Muslim dress strolling through the streets of Istanbul arm in arm.  In 2000 this was quite a common sight, but this week, I have seen it only once.  The young women of Turkey commonly wear western clothes, including the tight jeans and excluding the headscarf.  The call to prayer was noticeably less obvious.  Even with our hotel being only a hundred metres or so from the Blue Mosque, the call to prayer did not dominate to aural landscape.  I talked in Tuesday’s blog about the very few men at prayer in the Blue Mosque – only 6-8 of them. 

The queues, even now in the low season, are testamony to the popularity of Turkey as a tourist destination.  Queues were hundreds of metres long at Sancta Sophia and Topkapi Palace, both destinations which had short queues in the height of summer ten years ago.

Speaking of Sancta Sophia, as I wrote in my Day 19 blog, this magnificent church/mosque/museum is now beautifully lit, as opposed to the gloomy light in which I had previously seen it.  I am so glad that they have done this, because the beauty of the building, which is most certainly one of the world’s predominent architectural marvels, can now be fully appreciated.

Smoking is certainly on the wane here.  I saw no women smoking at all, not even the young ones.  Few younger men were smoking and it seemed confined to the older men.  Most venues were non-smoking or they offered a separate smoking room/area.  None of our bus drivers smoked while driving.  I remember Joe in 2000 smoking much of the time he was driving.

When visiting Cappadocia in 2000, evey roadside cluster of souvenir stalls had at least one which sold tacky replicas of the Roman (?) god, Pes.  I think he was the god of fertility and is characterised by an oversized erect penis.  This figure was a good companion for the fairy chimneys in Cappadocia, many of which take a shape much akin to Pes.  I was, of course, expecting to again  be bombarded by this figure at every turn.   However, to my surprise, he was nowhere to be seen!  I can only conclude that at some point  in the last ten years, an edict has been made that Pes was not a good image for the promotion of tourism in Turkey and therefore the sale of this figure has been discouraged or even prohibited.

We have now successfully made it to Rome and have settled in to our very italianate hotel near the airport.  We move tomorrow to a more luxurious one in the centre of the city to begin our Trafalgar tour.