February 2010 Archives

After flying in late to Cairo airport and taking a late train into the city, we opt to spend a night in a dingy overpriced hotel next to the train station. The following morning is spent organising a trip to the Pyramids at Giza.

We opt for a taxi to and from the hotel. We meet our driver, a humble guy by the name of Farouk who seems almost shy and just eager to please. Farouk tells us throughout the day just how much he loves travellers, especially Australians and shows us some of the gifts other Australian tourists have given him.

We’re driving along the highway, it’s two lanes wide but there are four (and at times five) lanes of traffic. Rules are more of a guideline and we stop on a bridge so we can get out and take photos against the backdrop The River Nile.

Dad, myself and sister (and fellow travel blogger) Dasha with the Nile in the background, cheap apartments with great views while illegally stopped on a bridge in Cairo. Tourists get away with anything in Egypt!

As we’re getting close to the pyramids, Farouk asks us if we’d like a free coffee. The saving of 40 cents is too tempting, we take him up on the offer.

We get our free coffees, but they lead us to a shop where the sales people try and sell us Papyrus artwork. The demonstration of how they do they go from Papyrus plant to finished product is interesting to watch. Farouk was sneaky in getting us into a shop where he makes commissions on the sale. We let it slide.

We get to the site of the pyramids and Farouk takes us to a tour agency that can organise horse and camel tours to the pyramids. We hear the selling points:

1. It’s very hot outside.
2. It’s a long way to walk (twelve kilometres).
3. You’re only at the pyramids once, may as well splurge.

We haggle for fifteen minutes, on several occasions pretending to walk away, and are offered a semi reasonable price. We take a quick bathroom break, and while looking for the bathroom, we end up on the roof of the building and see the pyramids barely 500m from the office. We laugh at the ridiculousness. We return to the group, tell them our discovery and renegotiate a lower price.

Camel and horse tour of the Egyptian Pyramids at Giza. For those that have never ridden a camel before, I assure you, it will be a once in a lifetime experience. It is incredibly uncomfortable, feels unstable and yet the strange authentic-ness we associate between camels, desserts and the Pyramids means that it won’t ever put the camels out of business.

Yes, that is the Sphinx. No, you can’t see the huge crowd that you have to battle through  to get the photo. Yes, it seems that most of the tourists at the pyramids are Russian.

After seeing the Pyramids, Farouk offers us to visit a museum, for free (warning bells go off, but we ignore them). The museum is really a perfume shop, and although the Egyptian perfumes really do smell amazing, we don’t make any purchases on the grounds of being tricked into visiting.

On the way back to our hotel, Farouk asks us if we had a good day. We can’t really complain, we had fun and we tell him this. Farouk tells us that we can tip him if we want, but it’s not an obligation. We thank him for his suggestion, we have no intention of tipping him for taking us to shops where he was hoping to make a commission on sales.

We arrive at our hotel, once again,

Farouk asks “You have a good time?”

Our reply “Yes Farouk we have a good time!”

Farouk asks “I do a good job yes?”

Our reply “No major complaints, though we’re not fans of surprise shopping.”

Farouk mentions “If you like today, you can give me a tip. It’s optional but appreciated.”

Our reply “Thanks for the suggestion.”

All in all, a fun day as we headed to the Pyramids and had a taxi driver try and take us into his friends shops and buy things. If you want to avoid taxi drivers wasting your time in Cairo, tell them up front, you just want to go to the Pyramids and not make any stops along the way. Also, you can skip the horse and camel tour, though it is fun to do.

Cyprus gained independence from Britain in 1960, after heavy violence launched mostly by the Greek Cypriot military resistance organisation, EOKA (Ethniki Organosis Kyprion Agoniston). Greek Cypriots make up a majority of the population, while Turkish Cypriots comprised a sizable minority.

Cyprus was granted independence, it’s government was to comprise of both Turkish and Greek Cypriots. Independence was granted with two main prohibitions in the constitution:

• Enosis – Preferred choice of Greek Cypriots, favoured by 97% of the Greek Cypriot population, calling for the union of Cyprus with Greece as previously occurred in Crete.
• Taksim – Preferred choice of Turkish Cypriots, calling for the partition of Cyprus into Greek and Turkish portions.

In 1963, fighting broke out between the two communities in Nicosia and spread around the rest of the Island. The Turkish Cypriots say they were forced out of government, the Greeks say they left to start their own government.

Fighting continued and it was the Turkish Cypriots that suffered the most.

In 1974, the Cyprus National Guard launches a coup to overthrow the President Makarios III. Turkey orders an invasion of the Island, capturing 37% of the territory and agreeing to leave only after a settlement is reached.

The UN came in to act as a peace keeping force, recognising the Greek cypriot government as the government presiding over the island.

In 1983, the Turkish Cypriots unilaterally declared independence (as have Kosovo, Abkhazia, Nagorno-Karabakh, South Ossetia, Transnistria and East-Timor), proclaiming itself the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus. The country was immediately recognised by Turkey and the Government of Nakhichevan (exclave of Azerbaijan), however Azerbaijan (one of Turkey’s greatest allies) decided not to recognise the independence as that would prompt Cyprus into recognising Nagorno-Karabakh.

Since the global community recognises the government of Cyprus (Greek/Southern Cyprus) as the sole legitimate government over the entire island, Northern Cyprus is effectively under an embargo from the world:

• Turkish Cypriot addresses and phone numbers are not internationally recognisable, and all must go through Turkey.
• Turkish Cypriots have not competed in any Olympic Games or Commonwealth Games since 1963. It is not allowed for the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus to compete in the Olympic Games.
• All ports (airports and seaports) are closed to international travel. Only Turkey travels between these ports as Cyprus claims that the northern half is illegally occupied.
• Many countries do not recognise the passports of Northern Cyprus.

The border crossing at Ledra street in Cyprus, the Northern/Southern Cyprus border crossing.

On the Northern (Turkish) side, there is an immigration office (according to them, you are entering/exiting the country at that border crossing). On the Southern (Greek) side, you merely show your identification (according to them, the north is part of Cyprus and as such there’s no point having a land border crossing in the middle of the island).

Northern Side, looking at the green line.

United Nations building, conveniently located in the green zone, outside of the Greek and Turkish sides of the island.

Greek Cyprus side of the green line.

Larnaca is our last stop on the Island of Cyprus. We arrive to find that every second person speaks Russian, a lot have migrated from the Baltic countries to find work, others who have come in to money have purchased holiday apartments in the area.

Nice name for a kids clothing store.

First order of business, sightseeing:

Church of Saint Lazarus. Lazarus was a follower of Jesus, who lived in Bethany (near Jerusalem). Jesus hears news that Lazarus is ill but decides to wait it out a couple of days before heading over.

By the time Jesus gets to Bethany, he finds that Lazarus has died and been in his tomb for four days. Martha, Lazarus' sister is upset that Jesus was too late to save her brother. Jesus replies "I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die".

Jesus then proceeds to visit the tomb, has the stone rolled away and calls for Lazarus to come out from his tomb. Lazarus is miraculously alive again.

According to the legend, after the resurrection of Christ, there began in Judea, the persecution of the Christians; then Lazarus sought refuge in Cyprus, in ancient Kition (modern Larnaca), where he became the first bishop of Kition. Here he lived for about thirty years and here he was buried for the second and last time. Over his tomb there was erected, 1100 years ago, the magnificent Byzantine Church we see today.

Looking out from Larnaca Castle. Built in 1625 by the Ottomans, and located in the Turkish quarter opposite the mosque (pictured later). Originally used to defend the Turkish harbour, then converted to a prison. Acted as a German outpost in WWI.

Buyuk Kebir Cami

We head to the airport for our flight to Cairo, Egypt. The plane is delayed by twenty minutes and a storm breaks out. All hell breaks lose and for the next couple of hours, we contemplate the idea of having to spend a night at the airport.

The airline hands out food coupons to the value of $3 per person and between myself, my sister and my dad, we have $21 which we spend on a great dinner.

Eventually the storm stops and we take off, four hours later than we should have.

Crossing from Northern to Southern Cyprus is quick and easy. We get in, take out some Euros from the ATM and are greeted by the following graffiti Santa.

We checkout the sights of Nicosia:

The Classic Motorcycle Museum

Freedom Monument

National Struggle Museum

Caption reads: Georgiou Andreas

Born in 1937, Anarita.

Killed in the explosion of a bomb which he was about to throw at the British at Anarita on 30.10.1956

and St. John’s Cathedral before taking a bus to Larnaca.

The final day of the Northern Cyprus Road Trip kicks off with seeing the sights of Famagusta, namely a whole lot of churches, some of which were damaged in the Cyprus war:

For good measure, there’s also a cannon:

We drive down to Nicosia, the capital of Northern Cyprus and park the car. The owner’s are late to arrive, so we leave the keys with the valet and head out on a sightseeing tour of Nicosia.

Looking out from the city walls.

A community housing project.

Next door to the museum in Guzelyurt lies the Monastery of St. Mamas, dedicated to St. Mamas, the patron saint of tax evasion. The bishop of Morphou was arrested one Easter after crossing into Northern Cyprus to perform a liturgy in the church.

From Guzelyurt, heading towards the north east tip of the country and the Monastery of Apostolos Andreas we make stops at various churches.

There is much upset and protest in Greek Cyprus over the destruction of many of the churches, the theft and sale of the icons and other religious artefacts from within the church.

Paraphrased from the adjacent sign:

Panagia Kanakaria Church, built in the Byzantine period, most likely late 5th or early 6th century. The church was destroyed by Arabian pirates in the 8th century and later rebuilt, only to be destroyed in an earthquake in the 12th century.
The church was rebuilt once more in the 14th century. It is guessed that the monastery was built later, most probably in the 18th century.

The monastery, dedicated to St. Andrew - who according to the bible was the first person called to priesthood by Jesus Christ - became a popular pilgrimage spot after the following miracle:

The shrine only became a popular sanctuary with the miracle of Maria Georgiou in 1895. 17 years after the disappearance of her son, she received a dream in answer to her unceasing petitions to St. Andrew, which instructed her to go from her native Cilicia to the neglected shrine of Apostolos Andreas at the tip of Karpas, Cyprus. On the boat over she explained her journey to fellow passengers and particularly excited the attention of a young travelling dervish. He asked Maria how she would identify her lost son, so she told him of the peculiar pair of birthmarks he bore on his shoulder and chest. The dervish threw off his woollen cloak to expose the same marks and fell on his knees before his mother.  - Source

Some of the damage we had seen on the churches in Northern Cyprus:

Graffiti on walls.

Churches stripped of all icons and wall murals. These aren't the original icons of the church.

Campfires lit in empty churches.  

On occasion, they would smell like someone had used them as a toilet.

This isn't however only something that's happened recently, there are plenty of examples of churches and cathedrals converted to mosques several hundred years ago.

In Famagusta, Saint Nicholas Cathedral was built in the 14th century AD. The Ottomans captured Famagusta in 1571 and converted the cathedral into a mosque, the Saint Sophia Mosque of Magusa and later renamed to Lala Mustafa Pasha Mosque.

There's also the former St Sophia Cathedral in the Northern Cyprus part of Nicosia (Lefkosa), which was converted to Selimiye Mosque in 1570.

Inside the mosque, one interesting thing to note is that, in Islam, prayer always faces the Kaaba which is on an angle to the walls of the cathedral. Because of this, worshippers pray at an angle to the walls (you can see this by the run of the prayer rugs) as shown in the following photo:

It's also good time to mention that the largest cathedral in the world (at the time), Aya Sofia, in Constantinople (now Istanbul), was converted to a mosque of the same name at the order of Sultan Mehmed II, upon capturing the city. This was the cathedral where Cardinal Humbert, representing Pope Leo IX and Michael I Cerularius, Patriarch of Constantinople excommunicated each other in 1054, setting off the Great Schism, the biggest split in Christianity where the Eastern Orthodox (Greek) Church and the Roman Catholic (Latin) Church separated and to this day have not reconciled.

Aya Sofia: Cathedral, Mosque, Museum.

In the Greek part of Nicosia, in Greek Cyprus (to distinguish it from Northern Cyprus), the icon museum contains an exhibition: "Hostages in Germany" (PDF), outlining how a police operation in Germany stopped the sale of looted icons from Northern Cyprus. The icons, however have yet to be returned to the Cyprus Orthodox Church.

It’s day two of the Northern Cyprus road trip. First on the day’s agenda, seeing the sights of Guzelyurt (Morphou):

Museum of Nature and Archaeology

Former palace of the Bishop of Morphou, the museum contains a collection of stuffed animals (reminding me of Kyrgyzstan) and archaeological finds. Altogether unimpressive, except for the sheep…

… with TWO HEADS.

Following the stay in Guzelyurt, we stock up on fruit at the local market and head north. Along the way we see a sign marking an alternate route to one of the churches we want to visit. Thinking it’s no big deal, we decide to take the alternate route, leaving the nice sealed road for a dirt road.

The dirt road is reasonably flat at the start and proceeds to get rockier and less flat. After passing through a small stream and almost rolling backwards down a hill, we come across a group of hunters out with their beagles. They look out of their jeeps and are almost in awe when they see our ‘09 Ford Fiesta with barely 10cm of ground clearance. We honk and carry on, only to reach a dead end, a large ditch in the rocks that will do serious damage to our little rental.

Thinking we should turn back, we sit and wait as one of the hunters drives past us in his jeep, up and over the small roadblock. We make up our mind then and there to fill in the ditch, making a small bridge for the car to cross. So there we spend the next twenty minutes building the bridge, a great family bonding exercise.

The only thing left to do is to get in the car, say a prayer, hold our breaths and gun it over the bridge. The water, mud and rocks don’t do much damage to our little rental so we carry on with the trip and visit Kantara Castle high in the Kyrenia Mountain Range.

Kantara Castle was built by the Byzantines as a lookout post against raiding Arabs. The castle was used with other castles in Cyprus as a network of lookout/defence posts, the others being Kyrenia Castle, St. Hilarion Castle and Buffavento Castle (not visited)

Dasha (sister) and Dad are on donkey scouting duties from their respective windows while I focus on the road. Every few minutes Dad is telling me to slow down, his eyes can’t keep up with my driving and he swears to have seen the bushes shaking, indicating the presence of donkeys.

Our intrepid adventurer, yours truly is the first to spot him, only because the donkey is standing in the middle of the road, eating carrots that another driver is feeding him.

Mr Donkey goes crazy for all the fruit we feed him, and shows his appreciation by standing in front of the car, with orange juice dribbling down his donkey chin. Dasha closes the window and the juice leaves a trail.

Tree in a field, spotted while driving. Stopped the car in the middle of the road to take the shot.

Final stop for the evening, the ancient city of Salamis.

Salamis traces its roots back to the 11th century BC. The legend tells that the city was founded by Teucer, the son of King Telamon - who accompanied Jason as one of his Argonauts in the quest for the Golden Fleece.

Teucer fought alongside his half-brother Ajax in the Trojan war against his cousins Hector and Paris, children of King Priam of Troy who is Teucer’s uncle. Teucer  was disowned by his father Telamon following Ajax’s suicide.

The Temple of Zeus in Salamis was built in the time of Teucer, however was improved during the Hellenistic period.

It’s expensive travelling Northern Cyprus by taxi and takes too long by the inadequate public transport system. On the plus side, we manage to rent a car for 20 Euro per day, a shiny new 2009 Ford Fiesta.

Read on to find how the shiny new fiesta went off-road and started making funny noises.

The car at the end of the trip.

Day one starts with a trip out to St Hilarion Castle aka Richard the Lionheart’s Castle aka any Walt Disney Castle. I drive, my sister navigates, my dad sleeps. We reach the castle without any major dramas, probably because it’s well sign posted.

Next stop, Bellapois Abbey. After half an hour of random directions, we realise we’re lost and decide to skip the abbey.

Next stop, Guzelyurt (Morphou), a friendly police man tells us there are only two hotels in the area. We stop next to an old man to ask for directions. He starts speaking Turkish. We ask how to get to a hotel, he keeps speaking Turkish, opens the door and gets in the car. He says the town he’s heading for, thinking I’m a taxi driver and proceeds to tell us a story… in Turkish. He’s very drunk.

We continue along the road with our drunk friend, and eventually drive past the hotel, when we stop to turn around, the man realises he’s not going any further, despite his protests… in Turkish. Gets out, steps into a big puddle and walks off… into the night.

The hotel is expensive, a short and uneventful drive later and we’re at the other hotel which is also expensive. We try and negotiate a cheaper price and the owner calls one of his staff to translate; Kyzl-Gul is from Turkmenistan and speaks Russian and most of the Turkic languages. She tells us his lowest price (higher than our highest price), we feign that we’re leaving. They offer us some pastries for the trip. We sit and share them with our new friend.

The conversation continues on for a couple of hours until we realise that we’re staying, Kyzl-Gul offers to give me an invitation letter to enter Turkmenistan. This makes me very happy.

Falling asleep in Antalya, the bus attendant wakes us at 7am in Tasucu (Tash-oo-joo) and after hopping off I realise my laptop is still on the bus, though I manage to retrieve it before the bus leaves.

A taxi driver spots us and offers to take us to the ferry ticket office for five Lira. Instead, we go for three, on a bus, that wasn’t scheduled to start its rounds for another hour.

We buy tickets for the ferry, pass through customs/immigration several hours later in Turkey, arrive in Northern Cyprus two hours later and take a dolmus to the centre.

My sister leaves her BIG backpack on the dolmus (DOLE-moosh), and although I’m a fast runner, I’m unable to catch it. Ten minutes later, it returns on its route and drops off the backpack.

We check into a hotel and walk around the old town of Girne (Kyrenia).

Marina of Kyrenia from the top of  Kyrenia Castle, a 16th century castle built over a previous Crusader castle.

Church of St. George within Kyrenia Castle.

We arrive into Antalya and find the bus to take us into town. A guy hops on the bus and I overhear him ask in English if the bus heads to Kaleici (the old town). Great, another tourist to head to the old town with, I invite him to join us and we get talking.

Firas is from Syria, from one of the few Orthodox Christian  towns and is currently studying medicine in Chicago, he says he’s staying in the cheapest guesthouse in the old town and is happy to take us there.

In the morning we decide to take a two hour boat tour in Antalya to the big waterfall and head down to the pier to begin negotiating. The starting price for the tour is 40 Lira each (20 Euro) and we watch as Firas works his magic.

Turkish Tour Seller (TTS) #1: 20 Euro each.

Firas: No thank you, that’s too much.

TTS #1: How much do you want?

Firas: I am a  student, I will see if that guy can offer cheaper.

TTS #1: Ok, for you 15 Euro.

Firas ignores the offer and approaches the next guy.

Firas: We would like to take a boat trip.

TTS #2: Sure, for you 10 Euro for 1 hour or 20 Euro for 2 hours.

Firas: Yesterday we paid much cheaper.

TTS #2: Ok, for you only 10 Lira for 1 hour, 20 lira for 2 hours.

Firas: We’ll give you 30 Lira for all of us (remember it was 160 Lira to begin with).

TTS #2: *decides against haggling any more* Ok sure, hop on the boat and wait five minutes for another customer or for 40 we go now. 

We decide against paying the extra money and against waiting on the boat, so we wait on the dock. Five minutes later the guy gets two clients who he claims are paying 15 Euro each for the two hour tour, we offer 28 total, take it or leave it. He’s pissed off but decides it’s extra money anyway so he takes it, we climb on the boat and he decides to wait for some more customers. No one shows, the couple are pissed off at having to wait so long and leave, taking their money. We climb off the boat and take our money back.

Eventually we negotiate with another tour seller as a boat had just left, they get it to turn around and we pay 30 for all of us (half the price that the other people on the boat had agreed on).

We also visit the Antalya Archaeology Museum, where some kids happen to be on excursion.

How can the kids resist taking a photo with the tourists? I had the ugly kid take the photo so he wouldn’t ruin it.

Fethiye is another coastal town that’s popular with tourists for its temperate climate and for the remains of the Lycian city of Telmessos. Telmessos was the most important Lycian city and an old legend explains the naming of the city as follows:

The god Apollo falls in love with the youngest daughter of the King of Phoenicia, Agenor. He disguises himself as a small dog and thus gains the love of the shy, withdrawn daughter. After he reappears as a handsome man, they have a son, whom they name 'Telmessos' (the land of lights).

Read more of the history of Telmessos.

Most notable Lycian tomb in Fethiye, dated to the 4th century BC, dedicated to Amynthas, who is believed to be a king or governor of Telmessos during the Hellenistic period.

Additional smaller tombs are dotted throughout the landscape. Fethiye has grown around the ruins of Telmessos. These tombs happened to be in the yard of some local residents who were very happy to have us take a look around.

Ancient amphitheatre of Telmessos.

Bodrum is a Turkish coastal town located not too far from the Greek Island of Kos and is built over the ruins of the Ancient Greek city of Halicarnassus. Halicarnassus was home to the Mausoleum of Mausolus, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.

Settled in the 7th century by the Carians and the Dorians, the city then fell to the Persians until Alexander the Great came and took it from them. The Crusaders came and used some of the stones from the now destroyed Mausoleum of Mausolus to build Bodrum Castle.

Amir Timur (for those that remember Uzbekistan) comes along, destroys a similar castle in Rhodes which the Knights Hospitaller later rebuild thanks to Ottoman Sultan, Mehmed I. Suleiman the Magnificent conquers that castle, forcing the Crusaders to retreat and surrender Bodrum Castle to the Ottomans.

In the 15th century, the Crusaders built Bodrum Castle and want everyone to know that giant's are prone to falling off rooftops.

Bodrum marina, including some of the MANY accommodation options. Given the place's popularity with British tourists, this is one of the few places in Turkey where you can find a traditional English breakfast with bacon.

In the 15th century, the Crusaders built Bodrum Castle and want everyone to know that giant's are prone to falling off rooftops.

The remains of the Mausoleum of Mausolus.

View of Bodrum's sail and fishing boats, perfect for weekend trips out to Kos.

Ephesus, not far from Selcuk, in Roman times had a population of 250,000 people, not only the second biggest city after Rome, but also the second largest city in the world.

Ephesus is home to the Temple of Artemis, one of the Seven Ancient Wonders of the World, which was destroyed by a mob led by St. John Chrysostom as well as one of the seven churches of Asia from the Book of Revelations. It is popular opinion amongst scholars that the Gospel of John was written in Ephesus.

Main Street of Ephesus, leading to the harbour.

Temple of Hadrian, erected in 118 AD and dedicated to Emperor Hadrian, considered one of the Five Good Emperors by Machiavelli. Above the inner doorway, a relief of Medusa, to ward off evil spirits.

Library of Celsus contains the tomb of Gaius Julius Celsus Polemaeanus, governor of Asia minor. A statue of Athena, goddess of wisdom stood across from the tomb. Up to 12,000 scrolls and manuscripts were stored within the library, which also contained an auditorium for lectures during the time of Emperor Hadrian.

Tomb of John the Apostle, in the Basilica of St. John. The story goes that John wrote the gospel at the request of the other disciples and eventually lay to die in the church where he wrote the book. The Basilica was built over the tomb, replacing the church.

Pamukkale, Turkish for “cotton castle” is a city with two amazing draws for any visitor, hot springs and an ancient Greek city.

Hierapolis (Holy City), is an ancient Greek resort city, built in the 2nd century BC for medical treatment of patients in the hot springs. The main street and main gates still remain, along with a necropolis for burying the patients that weren’t quite healed (pictured above).

The theatre of Hierapolis, with seating capacity of 15,000 is currently being restored to its former glory.

The hot springs bubble out onto travertines, white terraces that look like snow fall from far away.

The springs bubble around some of the buildings of Hierapolis, enveloping them in a fog.

Konya, in Central Anatolia is one of Turkey’s more religiously devout cities and is best known for being the city where the 13th century, Persian poet and mystic, Rumi spent most of his life.

Mevlana Museum/Mausoleum of Rumi, known fully as Jalal ad-Din Muhammad Balkhi-Rumi.

Following Rumi’s death, his followers founded the Order of the Whirling Dervishes.

One of the many mosques found in Konya.