Booking directly with an Airline

Are you sure your airline offers the support you require? Last week clients contacted me because they were stranded in San Jose Costa Rica due to the eruption of a volcano. Their airline does not offer many flights to San Jose so airport services are handled by a local contractor and reservations are managed by a call center located in Mexico City. No staff members were available until departure time and the agents at the call center did not have the ability to reissue tickets. As an advocate for my client I was able to have the tickets exchanged, reconfirm their reservation, verify their insurance coverage and send it all them in an email. Do you wish to take risks when you travel or do you prefer to have qualified backup?

Troy

Trying to imagine the sea lapping at Troy is difficult as the sea is now far out.  It takes imagination to envisage buildings on the site but it must have been incredible. The views are spectacular and the ruins impressive.  It is so old; there are nine layers of excavations. Gladiators pose with visitors wearing rented costumes. A riot!

After Troy we went out for a boat trip and swim in an area of summer houses and ruined monasteries.  Our hotel for the night is a converted Ottoman house for the night.  It is so beautiful. All the stairs, nooks, and crannies are intriguing and the rooms lead into one another.  Huge shared bathrooms with both Turkish and western toilets, tiled shower rooms with lots of pressure and hot water. Baskets of soaps.  Even Turks do not drink the tap water, but there is no such thing as low pressure. Massive amphoras are placed around the house.  Many of the older houses are being redone in either Greek (stone) or Turkish (wooden) style.  They are very expensive to do as restorations have to be done properly or not at all.  No fakes are allowed.  The Government reimburses for work to the facade only. 

Supper was lentil soup with lemon; rice filled squash blossoms with dill and Turkish ravioli.  All of it was incredible especially the soup and it cost $10 for both of us!

Aveylik to Setluk

I was expecting to be eating different food, but not such consistently wonderful fare. Examples include Jellied Turkish Delight covered in icing sugar, thicker Turkish Delight pistachios, soups of tripe, sheep’s head or lentils, olives and salads of lettuce and red cabbage, cucumber and tomatoes and incredible olive oil with every meal. Breakfast today was olives, cheese, bread, tea, coffee, eggs, jams, tomatoes, cucumbers, all served on a terrace overlooking the town.

I ran to a market this morning and bought fresh cherries and oranges. They were probably picked yesterday.  Where we have maple trees along the roads, Turks have orange trees. While touring we went to a carpet co-operative and watched them being woven.  The process takes four to twenty four months depending on whether silk, wool,mixture, carpet or kilim.  Gorgeous work.  It will take about five weeks for my chosen one to be delivered. 

Roses and oleander are blooming everywhere.  There are lots of greenhouses and the tiniest plots outside of apartment buildings given over to roses and veggies.  Huge fields of onions and more peach trees than in Niagara.

Dinner this evening was in the mountain village of Sirince which is full of restaurants, tourist shops, beautiful handmade lace, pottery, dream catchers and fruit wines.  Everyone agreed mulberry was the best.  The setting was incredible.  Wild olive trees are all over the mountainsides with hotels and houses tucked in between pines and olives. Sirince was a Greek village before the great migration of Turks back to Turkey and Greeks back to Greece after the breakup of the Ottoman empire.  

Scenic Tours and Emerald Waterways

Scenic Cruises currently offer an "all inclusive" River Cruise experience to clients and have introduced a new product "Emerald Waterways". One innovation on their ships is a heated swimming pool with retractable roof which transforms into a cinema in the evenings. Accommodations on these ships range in size from single cabins at 130 square feet to the owner’s one bedroom suite at 315 square feet with most cabins being 180 square feet. The variety of sizes allows them to market to clients travelling at different budgets.

Gallipoli

Gallipoli is a long journey through hills and the never ending suburbs of Istanbul.  The apartment blocks go on forever for its 15 million people.  We saw everything from highway construction to hay fields (some already mown), fields of wheat and other crops, tractors and women in long coats and scarves weeding. There are lots of roadside cafes and picnic areas full of trees for shade.

Gallipoli is big, crowded and beautiful.  Monday is a national holiday so there were lots of Turks as well as Aussies and New Zealanders.  The cemeteries are beautiful, full of flowers and well kept. The whole experience was somewhat emotional. Women in the washroom washed their faces, hands and feet to cleanse themselves before praying in the Turkish Cemetery.  There is a monument with the words of Ataturk telling Allied mothers that although their sons are buried far from home, the Turks do not regard them as enemies and they will be looked after as respected and loved comrades and sons.  I found it all very moving.

After visiting the cemetery we went on a ferry to the Asian side and Canakkale.  We walked up and down the seafront with everyone else. The older women were in patterned harem pants and headscarves, some women dressed western attire and others wore long fitted coats or looser chadors, mostly of fine, light material because of the heat. On their heads everything from tight black scarves to hijabs of every colour and pattern making a fashion statements.  For dinner we had Turkish fish and chips with salad which was delicious.

Istanbul

Istanbul is amazing! We feel that the Turkish people are incredibly friendly, kind and helpful.  We waited an hour for our car at the airport and other tour guides offered to help, lent us their cell phones and made the 'Where are you calls?' on our behalf. On the way to our hotel our taxi driver stopped his vehicle, ran to a stall, and then opened the back door to toss bottles of cold water to us. These are examples of the kindness of the Turkish people we have met.

We are in staying in the old city which is full of narrow streets, shops, stalls, roadside vendors of plums and chocolate covered pastries. I do not think our feet have touched the ground and I have eaten plenty of Turkish delight.  Supper was lamb stew with honey, roasted almonds, apricots and I do not know what else.  It was delicious! I did not have the wine, but everyone else said how good it was.  And Turkish tea in glasses.  The best part?  Half the price of a meal in the UK!

Praiano

We really liked the Praiano on the Amalfi Coast: both Sorrento and Positano are larger communities but we preferred the smaller town. While at the villa we visited Paestum: an archaeological that features three Greek temples that are well preserved. Even though the local bus service in Praiano was good we found that organizing tours from that location was difficult in comparison to a larger urban centre like Sorrento.