Category: General
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The Big Buddha
Aside from going out to see the famous islands around Phuket, there is not a lot to see on the island itself. However, there are a number of main sights and we finally saw the last ‘big’ one the other day. Up on the mountain overlooking the cities of Phuket is a big white Buddha.…
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Turkey Day 10 – Istanbul
Today was the last of our tour-type activities. We had the same start as yesterday including the bus ride over the sea and back again to first visit the Spice Bazaar, which was quite interesting and colorful to see. There wasn’t just spices there,but souvenir items, scarves, jewelry, etc. [shashin type=”photo” id=”7506,7507,7508″ size=”small” columns=”max” order=”user”…
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Turkey Day 9 – Istanbul Old City
Upon arriving at our hotel yesterday, we had thought that someone from the tour would have contacted us to confirm a pick-up time for this morning; however, we just went off of what our itinerary said. It was very trusting of us and of the tour company to assume we would pay attention to it.…
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Turkey Day 8 – Gallipoli & Istanbul
We had a very early rise again (5am) to be ready to leave on a ferry across the Marmara sea to Gallipoli. Gallipoli is famous from the war for the Australian and New Zealand forces coming to the aid of the British in an attempt to control the waterways and ultimately Istanbul. It was a…
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Turkey Day 7 – Pergamum & Troy
Our last big archaeological tour stops were rather disappointing…. We headed first to Pergamum, which is one of the seven churches in Revelations, but there was not much of that aspect at the site. Mostly, it was a lot of rocks and ruins showing where buildings might have been. The most restored were the columns…
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Turkey Day 6 – Ephesus
We had a little bit of a later start this morning, which was nice. It also meant that we were finished sooner, but don’t let me get ahead of myself. Our first stop was to the Basilica of St. John. Apparently, the body of John is buried still under the ruins, but they have yet…
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Turkey Day 5 – Pamukkale, Hierapolis & Aphrodisias
After our first-off morning dip and such, we were back on the ‘most uncomfortable bus’ for another long day of fun. Our first stop was still in Pamukkale at the Hierapolis Antique City and Pamukkale’s limestone pools. The city was very impressive in terms of wide spread space with ruins from days of old. In…
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Turkey Day 4 – Konya & Pamukkale
We had a very long day in the bus on the fourth day of our trip. From Kapidokya to Pamukkale, it takes about 12 very long hours. Along the way we made a few stops to see a few things. For example, we stopped in Konya for a visit to the Turkish whirling dervish temple.…
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Turkey Day 3 – Kapidokya
Our third day of our Turkey tour started a little later, which was a nice relief after the long bus ride the day before. We had our less than delicious breakfast at the hotel with me barely caffeinated with the coffee. There’s no kettle in the room so I had to make do. Later, we…
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Turkey Day 2 – Ankara and Kapidokya Part 1
It was a very early start as we headed to the Istanbul Sabiha Gokcen airport or the domestic airport. We joined a few more people on the same tour. Once we arrived at the airport we were left to our own devices to figure out how to check in and on the plane. Luckily, we…
