Athens, Greece - A golden oldie

Despite the endless experiences that have qualified us to become well acquainted with tedious airport routines, one airport run in particular was greatly anticipated and also welcomed with a sigh of relief. There’s a specific feeling of liberation that comes once you have managed to get through customs, without a rigorous pat down, and get to your plane seat without being jostled by the impatient fellow travellers. When that little light illuminates on the dashboards and the familiar “ting” sounds to inform you to tighten your seatbelt, you know you’ve made it and the lead up was all worth it. The excitement kicks in and you realise in a few short, or sometimes horribly long, hours you will be exploring the soil of a new, rich and exciting culture. This exact feeling was what overwhelmed me once seated on our flight destined for Athens on the 26^th August 2013.

Just over one month before this date, I was finishing up my time at the school I was working at, and although I absolutely loved the job there was a hurricane of tasks and checklists to get through over the coming months.  I knew I had to put on my hard capped boots and safety helmet and trudge my way through the extremely busy weeks ahead. For starters, I had to confirm a summer job and quick smart. We also had to coordinate the moving out of our apartment with the departure for our trip. Which then leads to the organising of the ‘Big Epic Adventure.” Needless to say, it all happened in a swift, windswept moment and our last 2 months in London were over too soon. I ended up getting a reception job for exactly one month and the plans for our trip all fell miraculously and perfectly into place. The one last, and most exciting thing to mention, the arrival of our travelling companions and much missed family, Tim’s folks, Maree and Dave!

They flew into London on the 20^th August, giving them hardly enough time to adjust themselves into the opposite time zone and explore the enormous city of London. We tried our best to give them a little taste of our local and lovable London life. A delicious dinner at our local pub, The Green Man, charmed them as well as added to the epitomising picture of an “English dinner”. Of course, we took them to Borough Markets and rolled out a culinary journey for them to excitedly embark on, starting with good coffee, omelettes, paella, Italian panini, fresh fruit juice, almond croissants, goats milk ice-cream, duck and rocket rolls...

After somehow managing to fit in all of this, we celebrated being together with a special night out to see the theatre production of Billy Elliot. I feel that I have been spoilt with the array of theatre productions that I have seen, and honestly, I have never really been disappointed; the standard of each show I have seen has been amazing! Yet, Billy managed to pirouette his way to the top, and absolutely stunned us all with the excellent entertainment it provided. This was a night that I absolutely adored, and I am thankful to have shared it with special people.

Amongst the cramming in of London adventures, Tim, Terri, Mark and I also had to move out of the flat before we each left the country. Somehow, we managed to do it, handing the keys for the apartment over whilst trailing our suitcases behind us on our way to the airport! It really was a whirlwind of a week and so I bring you back to the moment we are sitting in our seats on the plane, with our most wonderful travel buddies next to us, on our way to Athens!

We were forewarned that Athens wouldn’t be much to see and would be quite dirty. For us, Athens was mostly acting as a stop over point to get us to our next destination – Santorini. So, with low expectations in mind, we arrived in Athens and found our Air BnB apartment. It could not have been located in a more perfect spot and it was air-conditioned, fighting the thick humidity that greeted us at the airport. We enjoyed a surprisingly delicious dinner and followed it up with what would become a tradition of gelato for dessert.

The next day was our only day to explore Athens, so we did it in style and jumped on an open-top bus. It was incredibly informative and confirmed that we didn’t need a whole lot of time to see the city. We jumped out of the bus to then climb up to the Acropolis, perching on the top of the mountain, quite close to the city centre. It was a shock how close it all was; it was almost like these ancient buildings and ruins were randomly dropped in amongst the busy city, and the locals had forgotten their attraction and would just stroll right on past. Well, we certainly didn’t “stroll” on… oh no! The four of us crammed into a cart, carried by a horse and rode our way up to the mountain. It was hilariously squishy, as our knees knocked with each stone we travelled over and our driver spoke not a word of English.

Once we reached the Acropolis, even though we’d seen photos and had been told about it, the enormity and ancientness of the site still had me in wonder. It was a bit of a shame, as the Parthenon was tainted with large scaffolding work. But never the less, we were there, seeing all the history and taking in the views of the vast and heavily populated city that was Athens!

In walking through the streets to and from our homely apartment, we were overwhelmed by the amount of shoe shops that were strung together along the roads. So many shoes!!! With a little bit of time for meandering, we did a touch of window-shopping without forgetting to end the day with a good meal! With recommendations from our host, we sought out a local and traditional restaurant, serving up home-cooked moussaka, grilled meat, fresh seafood and Greek salads… the beginning of our food affair in Europe. The accommodating waiter gave us suggestions as to what to try, and when we looked around at the locals enjoying their enormous plates of food, we knew we had found a treasure.

A stellar start to our trip, and we had no idea that it was only going to get better. We thoroughly did enjoy Athens, and whilst it’s not a destination we would think of doing again, it was one of those things that I had to do – a big, satisfying and well worth tick on the checklist!!

Istanbul, Turkey - A Turkish delight!

For the avid travellers and full-time explorers, the next big trip or the upcoming voyage is always something that occupies the mind and determines how any spare moment is spent – planning and organising! For us, it often revolves around school holidays; however, for one of our trips we planned it entirely around the expedition to Turkey for Anzac Day, the 25^thApril. One of our previous blogs attempted to paint the picture of our Gallipoli experience, an experience that has changed our perspective on Anzac Day and will be remembered for the rest of our lives. However, our trip to Turkey also involved a scene change in the bustling, colourful, diverse city of Istanbul.

 

With our trusty partners in crime, Mark and Tez, we set out to explore Istanbul and all it had to offer. Our first impressions were an accurate account of what Istanbul is all about. We arrived at the airport and took a shuttle bus to the main strip of the north continent of Istanbul. A little fun fact for you all… Istanbul is a city that is situated on two different continents, Asia and Europe,with a big bridge joining the city! Arriving in the centre of the town, at around 11pm, we were amazed at the richly livened streets. There were tourists and locals mingled into a pack of swarming explorers, roving the restaurants, bars and cafes, as well as the trinket stores and clothes shops, all still in full operation at this time of night. Music was blaring, lights were blurring and people were smiling – a warm welcome to Turkey!

 

We eventually discovered our hostel, after walking the entire length of the main strip. It was small, but was homely and cosy for the four of us to get a good night sleep, until… in the darkness of the deep hours of the night, with no signal of dawn approaching, I was awakened to a blasting, unfamiliar sound. In a vague state of coming out of unconsciousness, I tried to figure out the situation, unsure whether I was actually hearing something or creating this noise in my head. Mark brought clarity to the situation and confirmed the sounds I was hearing as I hear “what the heck is that!?” (the polite version). A deep man’s voice was being blared from speakers and a monotone, drawn out prayer song violently shook us out of our dreams. As per usual, Tim slept through it all. After it was finished, we managed to go back to sleep, only to hear it again a few hours later. We felt very unholy with our grumpiness of being interrupted by this melody. Going through this ungentle experience, the determination and dedication of the people were quickly evident!

 

Roaming the streets the next morning enhanced the previous night’s experience. The streets were lined with busy shops displaying souvenirs and colourful textiles delightfully decorating the town. We ventured into the southern end of the city, to be welcomed by markets of spices, jewellery and of course, Turkish Delight! Mark and I took our time selecting out delicious flavours, and then took no time to devour it all.

 

Once in the main part of the city, the Blue Mosque and Hagia Sophia

 are clearly visible and quite majestic. As we were part of a tour with the Gallipoli crew, we decided to wait to explore these with the group the next day. When we did so, the size and structure of the mosques were overwhelming and stunningly eye-catching, as were Tez and I in our scarves!!

 

Continuing our tourist check list, we dared to approach the Grand Bazar, an excessively enormous market absolutely full of shops selling leather, gold, bags, spices, nuts, sweets, jewellery, textiles, lanterns, clothes, hats, shoes… It was on the roof of these markets that the scene of Bond driving on a bike was filmed, and the Turkish people were quick to tell us about this, their claim to fame, and rightfully so!

 

Another main attraction in Istanbul is their famous underground passageways that used to be used for the Basilica Cistern.  The structure was quite impressive and the eeriness of the place added to the effect. We did a circuit in the depths of this underground system, with waterways surrounding the pavements and orange lights showing the way.

Walking through the city, we spotted locals accumulating around the mosques, washing their hands and feet before stepping in for their time of prayer. We asked our knowledgeable tour guide, Alex, about the prominence of religion in this city and surprisingly he said that whilst it is a Muslim country, it is mostly secular.

 

As well as getting a feel for the culture and religion of Istanbul, our tour divulged so much about Turkish history and the Ottoman army – what amazing information and a realisation of how huge Turkey was in playing a role in historical events!! It gave me a desire to go and learn more about it all, as I've never really known about Turkish history, as ashamed as I am to admit this.

A stunning trip through the palace garden gave Tez a little taste of heaven as we walked through unending beds of tulips, her favourite flower. Once we reached the palace, and got inside, the flowers continued in a colourful display underneath the dome-shaped structures. The stunning shades of blue tiles that decorated the interiors of the buildings left quite an impression on me, as I had a sudden urge to decorate everything in these beautiful tiles. I was standing, in wonder, in a small room that was covered every inch in these beautiful tiles until Tim declares loudly that I was in the “circumcision room,” along with a hesitation to enter the building too far.

On our last day in Turkey, after the Gallipoli tour, the four of us explored the city one last time, trying more Turkish delight (for good measure), as well as the famous fish sandwiches under the Istanbul Bridge. However, it was a small, humble and unplanned moment that was one of the highlights of our trip. Walking down a more off-the-road track, Mark and Tim were distracted by the familiar and serenating sounds of a soccer ball and the laughter of young boys playing. Tez and I turned around to find them fully immersed into a game of soccer with the local boys, neither understanding what each other were saying but understanding the love of the game. They made good friends that day.

As usual, we laughed so hard with Mark and Tez. Our friendship was proven to be one of adventure, fun and a mutual love for the world around us. We are so thankful to have created life long memories with these two, and a platform to continue making special moments.