So we left Corfu. Lost our people & got new ones. The new ones seem to be pretty cool & are quite comfortable with the rest of us that had already gotten to know one another. As we were leaving Greece we stopped in Thermopoli, saw Mt. Olympus & slept as much as we could on the bus. We drove thru to Kavala, got there pretty late & set up camp. Dinner, a wander, and then I went to bed. There are a few people who are drinking & up late most every night, but I am trying to get rid of this darn cough. The rest of the cold is pretty much gone, but the cough is very persistent! So fairly early to bed & then early to rise.
Packed up camp & hit the road. Headed out to Cannakele. We crossed through the border into Turkey & it was fairly uneventful, but Canadians had to pay the most for our visas, and that sucked. We rode on a Feribot & had some Turkish Tea. Stopped & saw the city of Troy & got photos inside of a wooden horse. Pretty cool, had a great guide for the tour. Then onto Cannakele - and our first hotel during our camping tour. There are a few countries here in eastern europe where camping isn't the best idea, so all in all we get 5 days in hotels. At the hotel we went for a swim in the pool, a walk along the ocean, had dinner & then some conversation until bed in a BED!
The next morning we packed up again & went to Gallipoli. Very cool place that I knew nothing about. But it was a pretty historic place for the Aussies & Kiwis in our group. And a very beautiful place for such horrible fighting to have occured, but the monuments & cemetaries they have are beautiful & definitely do the fallen proud. Then we headed into Istanbul. Beautiful & amazing, I cannot wait to spend more time in that city!!! The first night I did laundry & then we all headed to this little bar type place where we lay in the street on pillows & drank our drinks & smoked Shisha. It was pretty amazing & fun. Didn't help my cough, but I had to do it anyway :) I still called it a pretty early night, bed in the hotel by 12:00ish.
Next morning was a full day in Istanbul. We started with a walking tour, saw the Blue Mosque and hippodrome- pretty cool. The Grand Bazaar - which was disappointing & insane. Mostly shops, not very market-like. And then we went on a hunt for the turkish bath with the most bang for your buck. We found one, 4 of us girls & 1 guy that tagged along. WOW! This was so amazing! We paid the money & went to a room to get undressed & put on our towel/sheets. Then we were led into the Women's area & told to undress & sit on our towels while soaking ourselves with warm water in a marble sauna environment. So cool. So bizarre. Very relaxing. Very funny for a North American to be lounging around naked with a bunch of women. After about 20min they came to get us & they lay you down on your towel on a marble slab & rinse you, scrub your whole body & then soap you up. They give you a soap massage, flip you over & repeat. You get fully groped by a largish turkish woman in a bathing suit & it's hilarious, strange & so amazing at the same time. Then they sit you up & wash your hair. A final rinsing & back to the sauna area for more relax time. And then the 2nd bit was they dry you off with towels & bring you back out into the main area. And then into a massage room for a full body massage with essential oils. It leaves you feeling slightly violated & very rubbery. It was amazing & I would do it again in a second!!!! After the baths we headed back to the hotel. A bunch of people went out to a dinner thingy & I did not. I went to a place that sold turkish delight & baclava & I bought some from the guy - Mr. Delicious. :) And then another woman from our group & I went out to try & do some late night shopping. It was unsuccessful, but nice to see Istanbul at night. Another fairly early night for me.
The next morning we packed up & loaded up the bus & then we had a 2 hour delay, so we wandered the Spice Markets. It was very fortuitous because I found a dress & have been feeling sorely lacking in the summery clothes department & was very excited to find a sundress!!! Then back on the road And into Bulgaria. No issues with this border either. It's been excellent! Arrived in Sofia in a gorgeous hotel, had dinner & then some people went out clubbing & some of us just went into the city to see a bit of it & then to bed. Still have a cough. Trying to kick it in the butt before Croatia!!!
Yesterday we were back on the road bright & early. Another driving day! I haven't gotten any flag patches or postcards because we're seeing some of the country, but mostly just there to sleep. That part sucks, but it's very cool to see them! We left Bulgaria & moved into Macedonia. It is SO beautiful in Macedonia. Stopped in Skopje for lunch, and had huge portions & it was a pretty neat city. And then onto Ohrid & our campsite. The campsite was such a sh*t show. That is literally the only way to describe it. So insanely busy & so many people & so little organization, and so dirty. We were very happy it was a one night experience. But Lake Ohrid was pretty cool. This was again a pretty mellow night for me. Dinner & then relaxing with friends. There have been a few people that have gotten a stomache bug on top of the regular cold that has been going around & so I sat with a pukey friend until she felt well enough to head to bed. It's pretty unfortunate, but I think it's good timing during our little hotel stretch for everyone to get it out of their systems. LOL I'm trying to hit the bed early & stay germ free so that I don't get it.
Today we were back on the bus, out of Macedonia & into Albania. It's pretty gorgeous here too! And we are now in Tirana. It's the capital. it's an interesting city as well, very colourful - but again, dirty. And tonight is our last night in hotels.
I thought that I would have so many comments on my last blog.. :( Thank you Brenda for making me feel loved ! hahaha
Hope everyone is well - I am doing great & loving this trip. Though I dont' think I'll be going thru withdrawal like Luke was. ;)
Shelle
Packed up camp & hit the road. Headed out to Cannakele. We crossed through the border into Turkey & it was fairly uneventful, but Canadians had to pay the most for our visas, and that sucked. We rode on a Feribot & had some Turkish Tea. Stopped & saw the city of Troy & got photos inside of a wooden horse. Pretty cool, had a great guide for the tour. Then onto Cannakele - and our first hotel during our camping tour. There are a few countries here in eastern europe where camping isn't the best idea, so all in all we get 5 days in hotels. At the hotel we went for a swim in the pool, a walk along the ocean, had dinner & then some conversation until bed in a BED!
The next morning we packed up again & went to Gallipoli. Very cool place that I knew nothing about. But it was a pretty historic place for the Aussies & Kiwis in our group. And a very beautiful place for such horrible fighting to have occured, but the monuments & cemetaries they have are beautiful & definitely do the fallen proud. Then we headed into Istanbul. Beautiful & amazing, I cannot wait to spend more time in that city!!! The first night I did laundry & then we all headed to this little bar type place where we lay in the street on pillows & drank our drinks & smoked Shisha. It was pretty amazing & fun. Didn't help my cough, but I had to do it anyway :) I still called it a pretty early night, bed in the hotel by 12:00ish.
Next morning was a full day in Istanbul. We started with a walking tour, saw the Blue Mosque and hippodrome- pretty cool. The Grand Bazaar - which was disappointing & insane. Mostly shops, not very market-like. And then we went on a hunt for the turkish bath with the most bang for your buck. We found one, 4 of us girls & 1 guy that tagged along. WOW! This was so amazing! We paid the money & went to a room to get undressed & put on our towel/sheets. Then we were led into the Women's area & told to undress & sit on our towels while soaking ourselves with warm water in a marble sauna environment. So cool. So bizarre. Very relaxing. Very funny for a North American to be lounging around naked with a bunch of women. After about 20min they came to get us & they lay you down on your towel on a marble slab & rinse you, scrub your whole body & then soap you up. They give you a soap massage, flip you over & repeat. You get fully groped by a largish turkish woman in a bathing suit & it's hilarious, strange & so amazing at the same time. Then they sit you up & wash your hair. A final rinsing & back to the sauna area for more relax time. And then the 2nd bit was they dry you off with towels & bring you back out into the main area. And then into a massage room for a full body massage with essential oils. It leaves you feeling slightly violated & very rubbery. It was amazing & I would do it again in a second!!!! After the baths we headed back to the hotel. A bunch of people went out to a dinner thingy & I did not. I went to a place that sold turkish delight & baclava & I bought some from the guy - Mr. Delicious. :) And then another woman from our group & I went out to try & do some late night shopping. It was unsuccessful, but nice to see Istanbul at night. Another fairly early night for me.
The next morning we packed up & loaded up the bus & then we had a 2 hour delay, so we wandered the Spice Markets. It was very fortuitous because I found a dress & have been feeling sorely lacking in the summery clothes department & was very excited to find a sundress!!! Then back on the road And into Bulgaria. No issues with this border either. It's been excellent! Arrived in Sofia in a gorgeous hotel, had dinner & then some people went out clubbing & some of us just went into the city to see a bit of it & then to bed. Still have a cough. Trying to kick it in the butt before Croatia!!!
Yesterday we were back on the road bright & early. Another driving day! I haven't gotten any flag patches or postcards because we're seeing some of the country, but mostly just there to sleep. That part sucks, but it's very cool to see them! We left Bulgaria & moved into Macedonia. It is SO beautiful in Macedonia. Stopped in Skopje for lunch, and had huge portions & it was a pretty neat city. And then onto Ohrid & our campsite. The campsite was such a sh*t show. That is literally the only way to describe it. So insanely busy & so many people & so little organization, and so dirty. We were very happy it was a one night experience. But Lake Ohrid was pretty cool. This was again a pretty mellow night for me. Dinner & then relaxing with friends. There have been a few people that have gotten a stomache bug on top of the regular cold that has been going around & so I sat with a pukey friend until she felt well enough to head to bed. It's pretty unfortunate, but I think it's good timing during our little hotel stretch for everyone to get it out of their systems. LOL I'm trying to hit the bed early & stay germ free so that I don't get it.
Today we were back on the bus, out of Macedonia & into Albania. It's pretty gorgeous here too! And we are now in Tirana. It's the capital. it's an interesting city as well, very colourful - but again, dirty. And tonight is our last night in hotels.
I thought that I would have so many comments on my last blog.. :( Thank you Brenda for making me feel loved ! hahaha
Hope everyone is well - I am doing great & loving this trip. Though I dont' think I'll be going thru withdrawal like Luke was. ;)
Shelle
Whatever dude - I know when I\'m on vacation I feel overwhelmed if I log in to a zillion comments, so that\'s where I was coming from. The trip sounds amazing, if a little rushed. Gives you a good idea of places you want to stay longer in and places to avoid entirely, so that\'s good. Miss you!! Let me know what date you\'re coming home - if it\'s before the 19th, we can hook up for a day or a half day while we\'re in Van on the way to Hawaii. Lots to catch up on!!!
ReplyDeletewow. sounds like your having awesome time. and lots of traveling. now u know how i feel when im always on the road. weeks left until kelowna. cant wait. will take alot of pictures for u.well take care & miss u.derek
ReplyDeleteholy mama--you are careening thru the countries. So amazing how you are seeing so much history. I actually knew about Gallipoli---I watched a movie about that with a very young Mel Gibson--way before he went weird with alcohol---you will have to watch that when you return and what you saw will make sense...too bad you are battling a cold and cough...be sure not to wear yourself out and make it worse. Wash your hands as much as you can despite being in all these places---my mothering side. Too bad you can\'t get as many mementos as you want--I love postcards to remind myself where I was. I take lots of pics but the postcards sometimes are so much nicer. We are still basking in hot weather and the Aug long weekend is upon us...where did the summer go. We have been hearing about the fires in Greece but you never mentioned it so I guess it has not impacted your trip. We had our neighborhood block party last Sat and we were sitting outside til midnight and it was gorgeous...the mosquitos finally drove us in but it took awhile for them to find us. With all the hot weather, the little pokers haven\'t been able to breed--lucky us!!! News for you...they fired Gillies...last day was just last week...he just couldn\'t handle the branch. Nice guy but...Mark McNeill is now the President of SFI so life is changing drastically for alot of people. If you don\'t recall him....he was the VP at MF so he is at the top of the chain now and running a tight ship. We are all in transition---proving to be very interesting. Karen Wells quit at the beginning of Jul--she was travelling from Cochrane and it was wearing her out. She used to be my assistant in Edm then when she moved to Cochrane she transferred to SFI Calgary and helped them with AR issues. You should have been dealing with her while I was away last year. I was glad to see her go...she drove me nuts when I returned back to work in Sep. So lots of new things to deal with. Well I best get my butt to bed as you may surmise, it is late for me--what\'s new?? I will head to my comfy bed and hopefully you will have a soft clean place to lay your sweet head. Keep safe--you are doing an awesome job of sharing your experiences--we all wish we were there...not necessarily on a contiki tour but in the locales....chuckle!!! I am watching an old movie "The Game" with Michael Douglas---strange flick and I think I remember the ending but it keeps me watching and it isn\'t even that good of a movie...LOL....ciao for now little traveller!!! Brenda
ReplyDeleteHey, finally got caught up on your blog again... sounds like you are having a great time even if it is a little quick. Really looking forward to your scrapbooks when you are done... Chantal and I have been down in the basement working the last few days, some of the layouts are looking good. Sorry to hear that you caught a cold on your adventures, glad just a cough is left and you aren\'t puking... apparently vicks on your feet makes a persisitant cough go away... I haven\'t tried it but Tammy swears it works on her boys... Was checking out some of the photos on your facebook profile, love the backgrounds! Hope we get to Europe one year. Have been planning our trip to Kauai, thinking February might be a good month to go.... Ben\'s good, eatting an entire big bottle.... it\'s crazy! 8 oz. ! Have a routine check up for him tomorrow, and I\'ll know how much he weighs for sure, but the other day I weighed him myself and he was 15.5 pounds! Love picking him up in the morning all big smiles and giggles, and snuggles right into a hug on the way to the nursery. He\'s extremely chatty these days! The other day he said a perfect "hey", Dean and I just looked at each other, and he said too bad he doesn\'t know what he\'s saying... was cute just the same... Violet\'s a little cutie too, loves her soother and to cuddle... and Jess\' water broke yesterday, so she\'s in the hospital waiting to find out what\'s happening, C-section tomorrow maybe or bed rest to wait it out as long as possible, she\'s 36 weeks I think so a little early for our hospital. Lots of babies!! Other than stuff around the house changing not much else is new... Just thought I\'d send you a longer note than facebook will let me post... I know you are busy and catching up with just your blog is hard, so you catching up with all of us must be crazy... Miss you! K
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