The Killing Fields – Pompeii to Gallipoli (Italy, Greece and Turkey)

13^th -23^rd February

A slightly morbid title I know but it sort of sums up the last 10 days of sight seeing! When we last left you we were ‘hanging’ on the edge of the Amalfi coast enjoying the spectacular scenery even if the roads were the twistiest and most hair raising we have driven so far, particularly as they were also occupied by the Italians!

However, we survived Amlafi and ventured back towards Naples and up Mount Vesuvius which was hidden by cloud; we wound our way to the top only to find that due to particularly high winds, the last few hundred meters were closed, much to Clare’s relief, as it can only be done on foot and looked pretty steep; still Clare managed to experience her worst toilet so far so not a wasted trip! Off back down to Pompeii which was bathed in sunshine, and certainly a whole lot more impressive! We took a self guided audio tour and had a great experience wondering around the vast site taking in as much as we could, but to do it justice you would need a good 6 hours; however we spent a great 3 hours wandering around and learnt lots ( G particularly enjoyed the brothel!) The area is vast and retains a certain eerie feel about it, almost as though time has stood still, which it sort of has!

From Pompeii we headed south east across the bottom of Italy through the Mountains (thankfully not very big ones!) and had a long drive to the seaside town of Metaponto thinking it would be a good spot to stay…… how wrong could we be! Italian seaside resorts obviously close in the off season and when I say close I mean ghost town! After being followed by a suspicious security guard (the only living thing within 10 miles) we were forced back to the main road and checked into a truckers stop at 9.00pm knackered – another lesson learnt!

The next day being Valentines I thought a night in a cave would be romantic so drove to a town called Matera – boy what a place! Up until the mid 1960’s over 15,000 people (called Troglodytes – sounds like something out of Harrogate!) were still living in a city of caves carved out of the side of a huge gorge – quite an unbelievable place. Now a World Heritage site and much of it renovated, including hotels, we booked ourselves into our very own cave, complete with lights and en-suite bathroom – how much more romantic can you get!

Having explored Matera thoroughly we decided it was time to leave Italy behind, fun as it was we were ready for a new country!

So into Greece we went across the Adriatic Sea by Ferry from Bari, unfortunately Clare was not feeling great so the 9.5 hours sleepless and bug infested crossing was not our best moment (G was scared of the bugs!) but we eventually arrived in Igoumenitsa, northern Greece. As it was early (6.30am) we decided to head straight for a placed called Kalambaka up in the mountains and this time they were proper mountains – the Pindhos Mountains! Good old Bula climbed and climbed until we reached the Karara pass @ 1,700 meters and our 3^rd ski resort of the trip; unfortunately it was completely covered in thick fog so visibility was down to a few feet and we headed back down below snow level and eventually into Kalambaka. Why Kalambaka? Well this is the small town at the base of an area called Meteora, which are essentially a series of very old monasteries (1300’s) built on top of the highest and steepest cliffs you will ever see. We spent the next morning visiting 3 of these monasteries, which are still fully functional today and once again scaring ourselves stupid climbing up ladders and crossing high bridges, though this was nothing compared to how the monks used to get in!

From here we continued east round the base of Mount Olympus, through Thessaloniki and along the Aegean coast, stopping for a night at another very quite seaside motel, though not as deserted as in Italy; and I am sure is very beautiful in the summer. We enjoyed the drive through Greece but did not really find the Northern Greeks particularly friendly, though thankfully most spoke English as our Greek needs a bit of practice!

Sunday 18^th and we decided the draw of the exotic East was too much, so had a long day traveling first along the Aegean coast and then, having crossed into Turkey (our first ‘proper’ border crossing), the coast of the Sea of Marmara. I think we were both a bit apprehensive about Turkey which was not helped by the miserable border officials, heavy military presence, freezing weather and bleak countryside. However, Istanbul proved to be somewhat of a revelation, though finding a hotel on the first night was a tad ‘entertaining’. As we got closer to the city, which is vast and has a population of 15 million, we were quickly into the ‘wacky races’ with vehicles everywhere (and we thought Italy was bad!) We got completely lost in the ‘old’ city because I insisted that every Mosque we saw was the famous Blue Mosque (they weren’t but in my defense the do all look very similar) and eventually had to ask a taxi to lead us to the hotel – all very entertaining, though Clare would say stressful! Hotel was good and perfectly located but unfortunately Clare developed a terrible cold so we decided to stay put for a few days and totally chill! Caught up on e-mails, washing etc and Clare took it easy whilst I explored as much of Istanbul as possible (including a Turkish bath!), which I can only say was a fabulous experience and would highly recommended to anyone who has not been. It is a city full of contrasts with loads of history, with a real mix of East and West; the people are extremely friendly without being a pain and the food excellent; we were also blessed with fantastic weather (bit cold!). I could rabbit on about everything we did but will spare you the details for now, just get on down to your nearest travel agent and book a trip to Istanbul.

By Thursday Clare was feeling better and we decided we should move on so over the B osphorus Bridge and a long day’s drive around the Sea of Marmara to the south western corner to a place called Canakkale. From here we took the ferry across the Dardanelles to the Gallipoli Peninsula and spent a very ‘moving’ day visiting the cemeteries and battle fields where over a 120,000 troops died in 1915 fighting over a bit of scrub land – all very sad & left us wondering how men get into these situations?

So as you can see we have stopped off at a few ‘morbid’ but fascinating places which are ‘on the map’ as a result of terrible tragedies but it has been a wonderful experience to be able to visit these places and learn something about the events.

We are still eating and drinking too much, spending far too much money not had a single night in the tent and generally having a ball, so where is the adventure I hear you ask BUT we still have ten months to go so plenty of opportunity yet & we are now finally heading South so hopefully will soon start to warm up……but what a life!

Bulas has now taken us over 5,000 miles, and is still trouble free (touch wood) and we are now in our seventh country with over 500 photos already downloaded and 100’s of stories to recount, so watch out if you ever invite us over for dinner!