Category: travel

ballooning in Cappadocia, Turkey

On By Rick McIn travelLeave a comment

Everyone has seen photos of balloons over Göreme.

Cappadocia has some of the best flight conditions in the world. Flights take place just after dawn when the wind is low.

Here are a few of my own photos.

Balloons fly most mornings but not all. One night I set up my tent up high hoping to see the balloons from above at dawn.

No balloons that day. Flights had been cancelled.

I didn’t sign up myself. Did not want to be crammed into a basket with the bus tour suitcase tourists.

There have been three fatal ballooning accidents here over the past several years. Still — that’s fairly safe considering the hundreds of thousands who have done it.

Albuquerque and Marrakech are two other popular locales for ballooning.

Winter Sleep (2014)

On By Rick McIn movies, travelLeave a comment

In Cappadocia I met a U.K. couple who were cycling from England to China. They took a break to visit the region inspired by this film.

Click PLAY or watch a trailer on YouTube.

Winter Sleep is a 2014 Turkish film directed by Nuri Bilge Ceylan, adapted from the short story, “The Wife” by Anton Chekhov and one subplot of The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoyevsky.

The story is set in Anatolia and examines the significant divide between the rich and poor as well as the powerful and powerless in Turkey.

At the 2014 Cannes Film Festival, the film won the Palme d’Or and the FIPRESCI Prize.

Haluk Bilginer as Aydın, a former actor who is now a writer, hotel owner, and landlord is in nearly every scene. He is excellent.

The cinematography is superb.

It’s a very long film. Over 3 hours. Long intimate dialogues reveal the characters. Slowly.

Too slowly for me. I don’t have that kind of patience.

 

 

Antalya Museum

On By Rick McIn travelLeave a comment

On TripAdvisor Antalya Muzesi is #2 of 139 things to do in Antalya.

If you hate museums, you’ll still enjoy this one.

The history of the Mediterranean and Pamphylia regions in Anatolia. From the stone age to modern times.

All good. But my favourite displays were of Roman statues from the 2nd and 3rd centuries AD. Most fairly recently found in excavations at Perge.

Three Graces
Dancing Woman

Antalya, Turkey

On By Rick McIn hiking, travelLeave a comment

My favourite photo from Antalya.

Antalya is the fifth most populous city in Turkey and the capital of its eponymous province. Located on Anatolia‘s flourishing southwest coast bordered by the Taurus Mountains. …

Antalya is Turkey’s biggest international sea resort, located on the Turkish Riviera. … A record 12.5 million tourists passed through the city in 2014. …

In 2015, the population was 2.288 million but it feels small city to the tourist staying in the ancient walled city, Kaleiçi;.

Myself and the rest of the very happy tourists enter and exit most often via Hadrian’s Gate.

Hadrian visited this outpost in 130.

I stayed only two nights my first visit prepping for a week long hike along the coast.

On my return I had more time to enjoy the sights.

They love statuary.

Atatürk on May Day. Plenty of police.

Evening walks are lovely.

Everyone who’s been to Antalya can recommend it. It’s very tourist friendly.

more photos

Turkish flat bread – Gözleme

On By Rick McIn food, travelLeave a comment

Gözleme is a traditional savory Turkish flatbread and pastry dish, made of hand-rolled leaves of yufka dough that are lightly brushed with butter and eggs, filled with various toppings, sealed, and cooked over a griddle. …

Ladies at a hostel in Antalya hosted some sort of family reunion. They cooked Gözleme all day offering it to one and all passing by. Including the hostel guests.

I had a savoury version with cheese, spinach and meat. And a dessert version with honey.

Europe so smoking

On By Rick McIn anti-smoking, travelLeave a comment

Romanians ask me — as a tourist — how I like Romania.

Too much smoking, is my reply.

Eduard Benko. Romania, 2009

Romania did not ban smoking in bars, cafes and restaurants until 2016. A backwards nation.

In fact, here are a few nations with even higher rates of smoking: Montenegro, Belarus, Macedonia, Slovenia, Belgium, Luxembourg.

Europeans are the world’s biggest smokers and drinkers. I couldn’t live in Europe. Aside from second hand smoke, many addicts give me the impression that their main reason to live is to get to the next cigarette. In about 4 minutes. 😦

Africans smoke the least, overall, by the way. It’s a pleasure to travel there.

 

wandering Bucharest

On By Rick McIn travelLeave a comment

Big European cities don’t have much attraction for me. Bucharest is not nearly the best of the bunch.

But waiting on a flight to Turkey I made the best of it.

There are some big, green parks.

Lovely religious buildings.

Vlad the Impaler is one of the attractions.

Parcul Herastrau
Changing of the Guard
May Day long weekend festival in the Park

A wannabe, Bucharest has an Arc. But it’s only about one third as large as the one in Paris.

Pizza is good in Romania. But they tend to undercook it.

Several things I really liked about Romania:

• fast WiFi everywhere. I could even upload photos to Flickr.
• almost every Romanian I met spoke English (TV and films are in English here)
• taxi drivers were honest
• no money problems. They are proud to have their own currency, not Euro.