Turkey, Cappadocia

Cave houses in Cappadocia. /Pentax

Cappadocia is an area in central Turkey famous for it´s unusual rock formations and underground cities. Being surrounded by four volcanoes, previous eruptions have left a landscape full of high cone shaped cliffs (called fairy chimneys) that have been left unaffected by erosion. This area became a refuge by Christian people from the 4th to the 11th century and being persecuted they used these caves and underground cities to hide away in. Most of the time they lived above ground, but if necessary they could retreat back under ground for up to six months… Cappadocia is full traces from these Christian peoples cave like life style with valley upon valley with underground cities, fairy chimneys, rock houses and decorated rock churches. It makes an incredible fascinating, beautiful and popular place for hiking. Parts of Star Wars were filmed in this out of this world landscape.

We decided to head for Göreme in Cappadocia, and were quite blown away by the view that met us turning that last corner. It´s unlike any other place we´ve seen. Strange rock formations full of windows and doorways everywhere. Some people still live like this in parts of Turkey. We had to stay one night in one of these hostels built into the rocks!

Arriving in Göreme. /Pentax

The next day we moved to a campsite nearby and we all felt the need to just stay for a couple of nights in one place. This gave us a chance to finally catch up on some well needed car maintenance. We went to a recommended mechanic to change oils and some worn out parts. For a tenth of the price in Sweden these guys were a lot more willing to help us than the guys in Montenegro. Everything was fixed in a couple of hours but due to a power cut Lina´s and Richard´s Defender was stuck high up on the lift…

Facing the option of either remaining in the waiting room for no one knows how long with hungry, tired and fed up children (and parents) or to squeeze all eight of us into one car to go to one of the underground cities, our choice was pretty easy. Carefully we drove one very packed land rover to nearby Derinkuyu, one of the biggest underground cities.

Not for the claustrophobic maybe (Milan turned around with Tanja on the third level) but incredible interesting. Almost crawling on our knees through the narrow aisles and steep steps the rest of us finally reached the bottom. (The ventilation shaft gives you an idea of as how deep down you are). Here somewhere deep underground we decided to leave a geocach, for those interested!

Tanja deep underground in Derinkuyu. /Pentax

With the power back on we finally retrieved our car and headed back to the camping. Only to be met by a familiar Toyota Land Cruiser! Our norweigan friends had found the same village and camp site as us. We also met Nina and Gertz, a friendly german couple who had traveled from Germany to Jordan in their Defender and now were on their way back. We spent the evening talking over a couple of beers. (Nina and Gertz promised to be the first ones to visit our underground Geocach…)

Camping next to a fairy chimney! /Pentax

Time to wash some of the road dust off... /Pentax

In the end we stayed four days in wonderful Göreme and fully rested and anxious to move on, on the 24th we decided it was time to pack up and head further east…

Turkey, Pamukkale

In Pamukkale we camped on the drive way of one of the many hotels in town. At this friendly family run place we met our first co-overlanders. A couple from Norway pulled in just ten minutes after us on this tiny drive way and we all managed to squeeze in to put our roof tents up. We had a nice evening with some home cooked Turkish food and exchanged travel experiences. It turned out that the norweigan couple left around the same time and gone pretty much the same route as us. We had followed each others footsteps with just a couple of days in between! Their final goal is south Africa however, so our paths will soon split…

The next day we went to the hot springs of Pamukkale and the ancient Roman spa town, Hierapolis. The hot springs are very rich in calcium and have been believed to have healing properties already in the Roman times. Unfortunately this attractive tourist spot has been exploited a bit too much in the 80´s and 90´s and today the natural springs are closed off for bathing in order to restore them. (They have even demolished a row of hotels on the edge of the cliffs of Pamukkale for the same reason.)

The fascinating landscape of Pamukkale´s hot springs. /Pentax

Richard and Oliver and a great view. /Pentax

You can however dip your feet and, in the children´s case, your head in man made pools containing the same healthy water. And explore the remains of Hierapolis. Which is exactly what we did for half the day but we could easily have spent another couple of hours there. We were very lucky with the weather and these pools were probably one of the highlights of the trip so far, especially for Tuvalie, Luka, Oliver and Tanja! But it was time to move on…

Trying to catch frogspawn. /Pentax

Luka and Tanja happy in 26 degree warm water. /Pentax

Turkey, Ayvalik - Selcuk

From Iznik we continued on towards the west coast and Ayvalik, famous for it´s diving and unusual red coral. We got to a beautiful campsite on an island just outside Ayvalik and had time to go off on our first little off road drive to look for an ancient monastery up on the hills. Unsuccessful in our search we returned to the beach and spent the rest of the afternoon just relaxing in the warmest sun we´ve had so far…

In search for an ancient monastery... /Pentax

Tuvalie on a sunny beach. /Pentax

The next day we woke to a chilly wind and so decided to move on. Our next destination was Selcuk. On the way there we stopped off for a picnic at the Acropolis at Bergama, a very windy but pretty ancient Roman city. In Selcuk we had planned to visit the famous and most extensive remains of a Roman city, Ephesus. But being short of both money and time we left without going in the end. We were looking forward to Pamukkale instead, the natural hot springs…

Acropolis at Bergama. /Pentax

An empty pool makes a convenient playground... /Pentax

Turkey, Iznik

One and a half hour south with boat from Istanbul and then about 60 km car drive there is a town called Iznik. Iznik is a small picturesque town with a long history. In Iznik Christian’s, Roman’s and Muslim’s has ruled in turns.

The tourist information told us to get hold of the tourist police and gave us a description. On the way there we did a wrong turn and ended up at a bus parking. As we have experienced, people in Turkey are very friendly, and this town was no exception. They immediately made space for us to park and gathered around the cars. Milan told some of the locals about the trip and that we are filming (in something between English and Turkish (which he cannot speak)). A guy who spoke german arrived after some time. His name is Timur HATۤۤۤ۠іPOĞLU and he works with selling tractors (a very lucrative business it seems since every second vehicle in Iznik is a tractor). Timur knows the Governor and called him as well as the tourist police. They wanted to show us where we could camp and Milan was shown along the beach of the relatively large lake of a circumference of ninety kilometres. They wanted to show the nicest places, we could camp wherever. It ended with them giving us the opportunity to stay at a house that during summer is used for youngsters learning to sail – the only house on the beach. We got escorted there by a police car with the blue lights on. Talk about a nice welcome! From the veranda of more than thirty square meters we had a view of the lake that lies as quicksilver in the sunset.

The fantastic view from our terrace. /Pentax

The afternoon we spent strolling around the bazaar which we where lucky to time, it is every Wednesday. Clothes, stuff, vegetables, cheese, olives, tobacco and loads of people. Cosy! Milan and Richard bought some tobacco. The kids got kisses, ….., cheese… Tuvalie and Luka sat next to each other in our Urban Jungle saying “dumma dig” to all nice strangers who gave them some extra attention.

Tuvalie and Luka inspecting the famous Iznik ceramics. /Pentax

Lina and Oliver in front of the green mosque

The day after we went to see Aia Sofya. Amazing feeling being in such a historical place. When being there a tourist bus arrived. They, however, were more interested in our kids. Lina, Pia, Luka and of course Tuvalie (who’s always the centre of attention with her super blond hair) ended up in the middle of a ring of about fifty Turkish tourists. We where, at the moment, giving our attention to a small bug. That bug has never seen so much attention =)

Turkish tourists fascinated by our kids :) /Pentax

Iznik was really nice and we definitely recommend it as a place to visit. We stayed three nights.

The day we left we passed by Timur’s office and got an unexpected round tour around the town during which he showed us an old aqueduct, an old gate to the town and a really nice view of Iznik.

Turkey, Istanbul

Entering Turkey is a step that we consider a milestone of the journey. This is because we enter a country with a different culture than what we are used to. Our first impression is formed by driving to a camping 60 km from Istanbul and placed at a very beautiful spot at the coast. We immediately notice that the people are extremely friendly and the owner of the camping spend quite a bit of time suggesting places worth seeing.During this entire time we could see the head of a humanoid doing something in the cold water. When he suddenly decided to come out of the water, I think even Richard must have been impressed by all the gadgets he was carrying. If anyone knows what he might have been doing, please let us know…

Left:Helpful camping owner showing Lina nice places in Turkey. Right: Mysterious man flushed out of the sea. /Pentax

Next morning we drove into Istanbul. We where all struck by the beauty of this enormous city (20 million). Following recommendations from the Lonely Planet we checked in at Bahaus Hostel at a place called SultanAhmet. This hostel turned out to be one of the best we ever stayed at, even before our trip. The entire place is very, very cosy and the view from the terrace overviews the Bosporus in one direction and the beautiful blue Mosque in the other.

Sultanahmet area with view from Bahaus hostel. /Pentax

Outside the hostel a local kebabman presented the first generous trade offer to Lina and Richard. He would happily swap his “wheels” with their Landy. I guess that there will be occasions when they will regret not accepting the deal :)

Man who wanted to swap wheels. /Pentax

The last day in Istanbul we decided to cross the water and visit the Asian side. Here Richard and Lina met a man who proudly stated that two kids is just a starter as compared to him self who have 16. In fact, having the kids around us attracts an enormous attention wherever we go and funny enough everybody think we have two pairs of twins. Having twins in Turkey is something very special and honourable, apparently. A bit less pleasant for the kids is that everybody pulls their cheeks, in particular Tuvalie and Luka find it annoying.

Father of many kids talking to Richard and Lina. /Pentax

The last nights at the hostel we became friends with “Nedzo”, the owner. He is a fantastic character who has travelled a lot. He kindly advised us on “must see” sites in the west part of Turkey. In fact it is not only seeing new places that is going to be an new experience according to him, but also meeting people even more friendly than what we have experienced this far. We don’t know if that is possible and with this in mind we set of to Iznik, the first town on Nedzo’s list.

Greece

Arriving by lake Arissa. /Pentax

Pia and Tanja practicing Capoeira. /Pentax

Lucas and Milan up early cooking breakfast. /Pentax

Our first night in Greece we camped right by the lake Arissa. It was quite warm when we arrived (time for some cold beer and capoeira on the beach) but much to our disappointment the wind turned and out came the dow jackets once again... (We are all looking forward to the day when we can stuff them away for good!) We spent two nights here and then continued along the coast towards turkey.

Agios, off-season. /Pentax

Our next stop (Agois in Chalkidiki) turned out to be a real ghost town this time of the year. Every house was boarded and hardly anyone in sight. We all felt that this part of Greece this time of the year (very much off-season!) was not that alive and we just wanted to move on to get to Turkey as soon as possible. We headed on in the morning for one last cold camp night by the sea (just outside Alexandroupolis) and then we crossed the border...

Montenegro-Albania-Macedonia

We where supposed to leave Kolasin early in the morning and drive through Albania to reach Macedonia in one day. Milan doesn't like the idea of spending more time than absolutely neccessary in Albania. However, Richard and Lina had to many electronical gadgets in use and managed to drain 3 Optima batteries in 2 days, so we had to recharge the batteries using our Honda generator since we by mistake left our jump start leads in Gothenburg !!! That took 2 hours and we decided to drive back to the coast and camp at a beach called Buljarica, since we couldn't reach Macedonia the same day. On the second attempt we reached the Albanian border early enough to possibly cover the distance in time.

Town in Albania./Pentax

Albania, the poorest country in Europe is extremly dirty. Piles of garbage can be found just everywhere and the looks we atracted were as if we landed from another planet, on the other hand that is exactly as we felt ourselves. Parts of the roads where extremely bad and they drive far to fast for our liking. Bunkers could be seen everywhere in the landscape between the patches of chaotic villages and cities. It seems that there are no plans on how to build residential areas. For example in the middle of nowhere, surrounded with nothing but garbage a beautiful house is placed. Houses could be turned to face any random direction.

Children playing on bunkers./Pentax

We managed to get through this country within a day and with only a couple of toilet visits. Milan was really releaved when entering Macedonia, which however faces the same threat concerning clashes between Macedonian (serbs) and Albanians as Montenegro.

We spent three nights in Macedonia in a hotel in the UNESCO city Ohrid. The first day we spent walking around the town, in the market and along the waterside. Richard had a haircut/face and back massage and two hair washes all for about 3 Euros. In the evening we were recommended a well known fish restaurant so we thought we give it a go. It was very nice but possibly the most expensive place to eat we could have found.

Monastery. /Pentax

The second morning we decided that we should stay another day to have a chance to see a monastery 30km away. Overlooking the lake and snow capped mountains in the backdrop, at the monastery the children enjoyed teasing the peacocks. No Monks discovered, we left in search of lunch.

Pia and Luka admiring the view. /Pentax

Tuvalie jumping. /Pentax

Milan asked a seller who told us about a place in his village not far and on the way back to town. When we arrived we were welcomed by locals interested in our "expedition". One such person worked as a local tourist operator and said we should go down to the water where there was a restaurant. In the corner Milan spotted a local brewing his own spirit and the next thing we were invited to try some along with some golden pickled peppers.

Pickled peppers and Macedonian brandy. /Pentax

Stone throwing contest./Pentax

Arriving at the restaurant we were told that the only table left was reserved. The kids went to the beach 10m away and started to throw pebbles into the water. Along came the owner to inform us that the table left was in fact reserved for US and that he was to take good care of us.... it turned out that the tourist man we met had called to book for us! The charcoal grilled fish and greek salad was fantastic.

Kolasin-Montenegro

After a few days in Sutomore we drove up to the beautiful mountains on a road which is extremely beautiful but known as the road on which every corner has taken 5 lives. There are many corners...

The road to Kolasin./Pentax

Finally we reached a town called Kolasin which has a population reaching only 7000 and in which the family name of a person reveals which tribe one belongs to (as in the rest of Montenegro). Milans mother's maiden name is Vlahovic and this is the place where the name originates from. We set of to grounds on which Milan's ancestors lived, to meet family which even Milan has never met before. In a place called Drpe, on the hills above the town is where we found them. We set up a camp, whith a absolutely magnificant view over the town, still on family grounds and only 100 m from where the house of Milans grandfather's grandfather lived.

Our camp in Drpe. /Pentax

Filming and slack lining in the mountains of Montenegro. / Pentax

The unfortunate blessing of its natural beauty, these lands are being bought by foreigners (in particular Russians and Albanians) and the tension building up within the locals is as evident here as in the rest of the country. Montenegro suffers from an enormous contrast between the very few rich, mostly gangsters and Russians, and the many poor.

Milan's Grandfather's brother, Miso, cutting his plumtrees. From the plums he makes Slivovitz (very strong spirit). /Pentax

Montenegro - some photos

All gadgets in place(!) and set to go to Kolasin in the mountains. /Pentax

Sunshine, 17 degrees and picnic on the beach. /Pentax

Sunset in Sutomore. Oliver and Tanja enyoing the beautiful view... /Pentax

Lina enyoing a cold beer at Milan's grandmothers place in Sutomore, Montenegro. /Pentax

Quick map update... / Pentax

Oliver in Dubrovnik. / Pentax

Playing with the doves in Dubrovnik whilst waiting for the pljeskavica to be cooked... / Pentax

Lunch break in pretty Dubrovnik on our way to Montenegro. / Pentax