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Tea at the spice market, Istanbul – Turkey

Written by James Clark on February 3, 2012 · 1 Comment

One of my favourite travel activities is wandering around food markets. I don’t cook, and I wouldn’t know what to do with half the stuff that is sold anyway, yet I still love to see food on display. Neatly stacked food in piles is an artform in itself, and I tend to head to a market over a museum in any new place I visit.

Even though I am a serious coffee fiend, I know better than to be drinking coffee all day. I do enjoy good tea as well, usually in the afternoon after I’ve hit my coffee limit. Seeing this tea on display at the Spice Market in Istanbul made me want to buy a little tea pot and fire up a brew.

Categories: Travel Photos - Tags: istanbul, market, tea, turkey

The Great Theatre of Ephesus, Turkey

Written by James Clark on January 27, 2012 · Leave a Comment

The Great Theatre of Ephesus, Turkey. Ephesus is one of the best preserved classical cities the Mediterranean region. With the excavated streets connecting well preserved/restored Roman structures, such as the Great Theatre, you can get a feel for what a Roman city might have looked like.

Categories: Travel Photos - Tags: ephesus, turkey

Blue Travertines, Pamukkale – Turkey

Written by James Clark on January 20, 2012 · 5 Comments

The terraces of Pamukkale (“cotton castle” in Turkish) are formed by sedimentary rock (Travertine) deposited by water from hot springs which cascade down from a plateau.

Categories: Travel Photos - Tags: pamukkale, turkey

Fairy Chimneys of Goreme – Turkey

Written by James Clark on January 13, 2012 · Leave a Comment

Goreme (Göreme) in the Cappadocia region of Turkey. Cappadocia is famous for the rock formations known as “fairy chimneys“. Goreme is in a valley of fairy chimneys, and some of the houses are even built within the the rock formations.

Categories: Travel Photos - Tags: cappadocia, goreme, turkey

Guard at Ataturk’s memorial tomb, Ankara – Turkey

Written by James Clark on January 6, 2012 · 4 Comments

Guard at Anıtkabir (memorial tomb) of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, Ankara – Turkey. Atatürk was the founder and first president of the Republic of Turkey.

Categories: Travel Photos - Tags: ankara, guard, tomb, turkey

Blue Mosque at dusk, Istanbul – Turkey

Written by James Clark on December 30, 2011 · 2 Comments

The Sultan Ahmed Mosque (better known as the Blue Mosque), Istanbul – Turkey. If you are wondering why it doesn’t look that blue, it is named for the blue tiles on the interior walls.

Categories: Travel Photos - Tags: istanbul, mosque, turkey

A highlights of Turkish food tour in Istanbul

Written by James Clark on October 26, 2011 · 6 Comments

While in Istanbul I caught up with a travel blogger I met in Sumatra. I was on a bus from Lake Toba to Bukittinggi, and as the bus was leaving the ticket man pointed to me and said “you two both the same, sit next to him”.

It turned out that my new found seat mate writes one of the biggest travel blogs in Turkey and was on an epic round the world trip, and he had plenty of interesting tales to tell over the course of the 16 hour bus ride. I said when I eventually get to Istanbul I will look him up.

Basar gave me a little tour of the Galata neighbourhood before taking me on a highlights of Turkish food tour. I really can’t recall the last time I ate so much.

We started off with kokoreç (think Haggis in a bun, which is not as disgusting as it sounds), followed by some mussels.

[A kokoreç van in Istanbul]

Next was Meze, a popular meal of the Middle East, sort of like tapas. Bas,ar (who I suspect might be my long lost Turkish grand mother) kept ordering plates until I couldn’t fit any more. Pleas to stop were fell on deaf ears, as piles of delicious food kept arriving.

[Basar with meze.]

I like to abide the rule that there is always room for desert, but I was questioning my ability to fit anything else in after this. I carried on, and we finished the night with dondurma, the sticky ice cream of Turkey. The place we went serves extra sticky dondurma, which is eaten with a knife and fork.

Categories: Travel Blog - Tags: food, istanbul, turkey

Turkey To Thailand – Kind of going home

Written by James Clark on October 19, 2011 · 1 Comment

Where I’m At: Istanbul, Turkey – 19 October 2011

Istanbul brings me to the end of my European travels for 2011. In addition to completing my annual visit to London, and attending to an offline business in Budapest, I also got to travel around Romania and Turkey.

[James and a camel in Cappadocia, Turkey]

From Istanbul I will be flying back to Thailand, which completes a round the world trip of sorts. I was in Thailand in March and since then I have I have been to Malaysia, India, Australia, USA, Canada, Mexico, Iceland, UK, Hungary, Romania, and Turkey. I can say that I’m ready to put some months in one place for a while.

Thailand

In September last year I left the house in Melbourne I was renting for nine years. I wasn’t there half of the time but it was a great base to leave stuff as I work and travel around the world. I have been without a fixed address since that time, and given that I can work anywhere I’m not compelled to go back to Melbourne yet. For now Southeast Asia is my hub of choice, and Thailand is calling my name once again. After a brief stay in Bangkok I will be heading to Chiang Mai, which is something like a second home. Along with catching up on some much neglected projects I will get to see my fellow location independent working friends who are also based there.

Of course there will be side trips planned in that time to places I have yet to visit, including Myanmar and the Philippines.

See you in Thailand!

Categories: Where I'm At - Tags: food, istanbul, thailand, turkey

In Pictures: Fairy chimneys and churches of Cappadocia – Turkey

Written by James Clark on October 17, 2011 · 4 Comments

After driving across the dusty Anatolian plateau the entry into the region of Cappadocia is marked by a landscape like no other. It starts off with one or two fairy chimneys, then a whole valley will open up to these remarkable rock formations.

[Fairy Chimneys]

[Monks Valley - Pasabag]

In addition to the draw of this unique landscape, Cappadocia has a collection of important church caves dating from the regions Christian era. The most accessable of these is at the Goreme Open Air Museum, where there are cave churches from the 10th, 11th and 12th centuries.

[Nunnery and Monastery - Goreme Open Air Museum]

I stayed in Goreme, which has a good cross section of what Cappadocia has to offer within walking distance. A short walk from the town of Goreme is Love Valley. No guesses as to why it was called that.

[Love Valley - Goreme]

Outside of Goreme there are plenty of other valleys and churches and abandoned cave homes to explore. They are spread out over the region and public transport isn’t really an option, so either hire a car or take a day tour which will cover the best of the area.

[Camel Rock - Devrent Valley]

[Ceiling of The Church of St John]

Cappadocia is also famous for cave dwellings. Even up to the 1980′s many communities lived in caves carved out the hillsides. Most of these are now abandoned, but there are hotels and guesthouses everywhere that are built into caves and rock formations.

[Cave Hotel]

Balloon rides are popular here as well, and on a clear morning ballooons fill the sky.

[Cappadocia Balloons]

If ballooning is out of your budget, no problem – just hike up to the nearest hill and enjoy the view.

[Cappadocia Sunset]

Categories: Travel Blog - Tags: cappadocia, church, goreme, turkey

When is a pound not a pound? When it's Scottish

Written by James Clark on June 18, 2007 · Leave a Comment

Now here’s a crafty little trick that is being employed by currency exchanges in Marmaris. Notice the rate for GBP (British Pound) and SCP (Scottish Pound) are different, even though they are one and the same.

A Scottish pound is the same as a British Pound except that it is issued by Scottish banks. Most British pounds are issued by the Bank of England. Northern Ireland also issue their own Pounds as well. All these notes are of the same value, though you will often get a funny look if you try and spend a Scottish Pound in England.

[Turkish Lira - Exchange Rates]