Shivering in Stockholm

Some sleek Swedish design

Clockwise from top left: View of the Old Town; The Town Hall; The charming streets of the Old Town

We were very fortunate to reunite with Andrew and Rachel for a long weekend in Stockholm. We had the trip booked in for some time, and Andrew and Rachel were having so much fun on their travels that they decided to nip up to Sweden and join us. It was a win win all round.

We had a fairly low key and chilled out (pun intended) few days of…
> Exploring the beautiful old town and browsing through the classically Swedish shops

> Sipping mulled wine at the Christmas market

> Strolling through the Skansen Open Air museum. Skansen is basically a recreated town that illustrates the different social conditions in which people lived in Sweden between the 16th century and the first half of the 20th century.

> Touring the City Hall – the site of the Nobel Prize banquet and after party

> Checking out the Royal Palace – Europe’s largest with over 600 rooms

Throughout all of this, there were two recurring themes that ran through the whole weekend…

1) It was flipping cold…sight seeing in 0 degrees Celsius is pretty hard work. There were many times that the cumulative warmth of beanies, scalves, thermal tops, long sleeve shirts, hoodies, heavy winter jackets, thermal bottoms, thick jeans, thick socks and gloves just didn’t cut it.

2) It was flipping expensive…we were well prepared and forewarned of this fact, but it is still a shock to see that a meal out is literally twice the price of eating in London (which in itself isn’t cheap). Not to worry....pancakes cooked at the hostel using ingredients found in the kitchen were a good way around this!

Tripple treat...The food, the people and the company

 The people

The company 

The food

Without a doubt, Turkey was one of our funnest adventures yet. Aside from being a really beautiful country full of amazing sights and experiences, three other key variables all fell into place to make it a truly sensational 10 days…

The food…

If we were lacking in protein before this trip, we are now overflowing with the stuff. We may have set a new world record for the number of kebabs consumed in a 10 day period. The food really was a highlight…always fresh, always tasty, and always cheap. The kebabs, the salads, the koftas, and the mezze were a sensation…and the authentic Turkish Delight was revelation

The People

Our experience of Turkey was undoubtedly enhanced by the people. The Turkish were always friendly, welcoming, incredibly good humored, and loved having a chat. It was so refreshing to be able to walk through a town or a market and have a chat or a laugh without being pressured in anyway to make a purchase.   

The Company

It was a real Turkish delight (did you see what we did there?) to share in the experience with Andrew and Rachel. They were wonderful travel buddies, and it was a special opportunity to create memories that we will share for a lifetime. 

Experiencing Paul's Ephesus

Clockwise from top left: The Library of Celsus; Another view of the Library; The Baths

Clockwise from top left: The Amphitheatre where Paul preached; A sculpture outside the Library; Daniel and Monique

Clockwise from top left: Preparing to feast in Sirince; The view of Sirince; A market stall; The beach near Selcuk

The last stop on our Turkey adventure was Selçuk, better known as the town adjoining Ephesus.

We were all feeling a tad worse for wear as we arrived in Selçuk having set a cracking and exhausting pace up until this point. Rather than getting up early and launching into another full day of exploring Ephesus in the baking sun, we decided to take it easy and sample wine and feast at nearby Sirince, have a snooze on the beach, and get an authentic Turkish hammam.

The hammam in particular was quite an experience, featuring full body scrub, bathing and massage in a room full of men, performed solely by hairy and mustachioed Turkish men wearing nothing but a towel. Monique and Rachel may never be the same again.

It was just was just what the doctor ordered and left us feeling fresh and rejuvenated to smash Ephesus and our last day in Turkey.

Exploring Ephesus was remarkable. It was basically just another ancient ruined Roman city, which in and of itself is quite incredible – the theatre, library, shop fronts, streets, amphitheatre, temple and churches were all incredible ancient sights.

But what really sets Ephesus apart is the fact that you are literally walking through streets that Paul would have walked through, seeing houses he would have lived in and visited, stood in the amphitheatre where he preached, and saw a prison where he was held.

Intellectually, spiritually, and visually, it was truly and incredible experience and a real high point on which to finish our Turkish adventure.  

The ancient paths of Hierapolis

Salt travertines overlooking the valley

Clockwise from top left: the theatre; a temple; the Agora (market place) 

We trekked to the top of the salt travertine mountain and gleefully set about exploring the ancient ruined Roman city of Hierapolis that was awaiting our arrival….what could be better?

It was quite quickly evident that those ancient Romans sure had a sense of style (as if there was any doubt). Hierapolis was basically perched on top of a large hill with a glorious view out over a valley below, with the hot springs just a short walk away.  

As far as ruined Roman cities goes, this one was certainly up there with some of the most interesting that we’ve seen. Evidence of the grid-like town layout was still plain to see, with wide and sprawling boulevards giving a real sense of scale as to how big and bustling the city would have once been.

Beyond that, we were literally walking through the pages of the Bible, with a church having been established at Hierapolis during the time that Paul was hanging out up the road at Ephesus, and Philip spending the last years of his life there.

It really was quite a spine tingling experience. Even small things like reflecting on the washing of feet became so much more real through actually walking down a dusty Roman road on a scorching hot day.

By the end of the day, us Londoners were well and truly spent having not seen so much sun for quite some time. Luckily for us we were able to go for a dip in the thermal pools on our way back to the car which was a lovely way to finish off our adventures in Pamukkale.  

Glamour in Pamukkale

The salt travertines and cascading terraces 

The curious pursuits of tourists

It was with a twinge of sadness that we packed our bags and headed on from Cappadocia. Our two-and-a-half days there (significantly more than most tourists) had been amazing and jam packed, but we honestly felt like another week would have been ideal to continue exploring the vast and beautiful region.

But alas, time waits for no traveler.

Not to worry though, we had another exciting destination to head to…Pamukkale.

Pamukkale is best known for its hot springs and salt travertines. The flowing water has created champagne-waterfall style terraces of small pools down the side of a mountain. The high salt content in the water has left the side of the mountain completely white, and has created a clay-like residue on the floor of the pools that is reputed to have special healing properties. The overall effect is quite stunning, creating a beautiful scene when set against the blue sky.

We walked up the side of the mountain – as people have been doing since the 2nd century BC – and sat in the bum prints of the ancient Romans by bathing in the naturally warm pools.

One modern phenomenon that we found highly amusing, entertaining and a tad curious was tourists of all ages, ethnicities, shapes and sizes getting glammed up and having their other halves take sexy photos of them posing in the pools, often after having first smeared clay all over themselves.

It was genuinely strange.  

We couldn’t resist the temptation of having a go ourselves….although the photos are going to stay safely housed  on our hard drive and will not be venturing anywhere near the blog. You’ll just have to use your imaginations!

Floating through Cappadocia

The view from 820 meters 

Our balloon deflating

 Clockwise from top left: Our balloon being inflated; cruising through a valley; pre-dawn luminance

Aside from being known for its stunning landscapes, Cappadocia is also known for as a mecca for hot air ballooning.

We thought that the opportunity was too good too pass up so decided that we would do a sunrise hot air balloon ride.

We were picked up by the company at 5:30am before being driven to their base for a light breakfast and some tea and coffee before driving out to board our balloon.

It was quite eerie driving through the pre-dawn darkness seeing dozens of half inflated hot air balloons dotting the landscape.

We arrived at our balloon, jumped in, and took off just before the first rays of morning light started breaking over the horizon. It all happened very quickly, but the timing was perfect.

The first part of our journey saw us glide majestically through a valley that was full of caves that had been carved into the rock. It was quite surreal to be floating so gracefully through such a rugged landscape.

We then ascended up to our maximum height of about 820 meters….which is pretty high!! The strange thing was that it was almost impossible to feel the balloon moving. It was almost like we were just ‘existing’ in the air. It was only when we took a moment to look over the basket that we realized that we were suddenly a very very very long way from the ground.

It was fascinating to watch the pilot go about his business. We had never really considered what their job would be like, but it was really hard physical work. Our pilot was sweating by the end of the journey from pulling on the many ropes that control balloon.

After an hour or so, we landed on the far side of the Love Valley.  To land the balloon, the support team drove a trailer to the spot where they are landing, and the pilot had to land on top of the trailer. Once safely back on the ground, we celebrated with a glass of champagne before heading back to our hotel to enjoy a second breakfast.

It was an amazingly peaceful, yet exhilarating journey, quite unlike anything we had experienced before. Watching the landscape change shape, colour, contrast and texture as the light changed and our altitude changed was a delight. 

Cave Men (and women!) in Cappadocia...

The Rose Valley

View from the Rose Valley

Clockwise from top left: The Love Valley; a fairy chimney cave; a valley full of caves

View over Cappadocia

Clockwise from top left: Fairy chimney caves; a crumbling multi-storey cave; a frescoed chapel inside a cave

Our next stop was Cappadocia – a beautiful region in central Turkey that is best known for it’s crazy unique geological rock formations, hot air balloons, and caves carved into rocks and cliffs.

We spent three days in the area, and could easily have spent a couple of weeks. It’s that kind of place…strikingly beautiful, but genuinely unique.

As we sit here to write this, we are realizing what a difficult place Cappadocia is to explain…it really is like nothing we’ve seen before.

The region is generally fairly flat, but consists of many shallow valleys in which the unique rock formations have evolved. Over the years, the rock has broken away from the cliffs to leave cone shaped ‘fairy chimneys’.

The most remarkable aspect of all this is that back in the day, rather than building conventional above-ground accommodation, the inhabitants of the area decided that it would be more practical to carve entire cities out of the cliff faces and fairy chimneys.

The scope and scale of the carved caves, houses and tunnels is almost impossible to grasp, but literally valley after valley was full of them, still in remarkably good condition. To this day you can still find dining tables, empty graves, church altars, frescoed walls, wine presses, and shelving, all carved out of the rock.

Not only did they love digging caves above ground, they also dug massive underground cities that were used primarily during the frequent times of war. We were fortunate to do a tour through one of them that descends eight stories below the ground and features over a hundred rooms and tunnels. It was quite remarkable to see the stables, churches, storage areas, kitchens, ventilation shafts, and stone doors that are still visible today.

Perhaps the other unique geological formation worth mentioning is the rather suggestive shaped rocks that are ironically situated in the Love Valley. Between the four us, they certainly provided a bit of a giggle :)

Give a man a fish...

One absolute – although slightly unexpected and unplanned – highlight of Istanbul and Turkey was getting up at 6am and walking down to a wharf where local fishermen were bringing in their catch from the night.

It was with slight trepidation that we walked into a massive warehouse with a few hundred men, thousands of crates of fish, and not another tourist in sight.

It turned out that our nervousness was completely unfounded. They loved the attention, loved having their photo taken, and generally found our unexpected presence in their world quite a novelty.

It was amazing to see the ordered chaos and intensity of bartering, trading, obvious camaraderie, and crates of fresh fish being snapped up and loaded onto trucks.

When we thought it couldn’t get any more intense, another boat arrived with a cargo full of fresh fish. Without exaggeration, about fifty men sprinted to the dock and jumped onto the boat and started unloading the crates of fish directly onto trolleys and then into their trucks…they didn’t even make it to the warehouse. 

While seeing historical sites and popular tourist attractions is an amazing privilege that we would never take for granted, there is something special about stepping into a setting that is authentically local, traditional and completely untouched. 

Istanbul - the city of two continents

Clockwise from top left: The Blue Mosque; inside the Blue Mosque; contrast in the Hagia Sophia

The Grand Bazaar

Clockwise from top left: Inside the Topkapi Palace; Monique admiring a mosaic; Fishermen overlooking Istanbul

It was with a huge amount of excitement and anticipation that we headed to Turkey for a jam packed 10 day holiday. We were particularly pumped for a couple of reasons....firstly, Turkey promised to be a super fun travel location, and secondly we were going to be doing it with Andrew and Rachel (Daniel's brother and sister-in-law)...what could be more fun!?!?!

Our first stop was Istanbul - the only city in the world that spans two continents, Asia and Europe. The city itself had a particularly cosmopolitan flavour, mixing Muslim and Western culture, rich history with plenty to of modern convenience, and incredibly friendly people (more on that later!).

While we were only there for two and a half days, we managed to jam a huge amount in. A few highlights included...

Mosques and Palaces...

One of the first things that strikes you about Istanbul is the jaw-dropping Mosques and Palaces that feature so prominently on just about every street corner. Unlike Morocco, we were allowed to visit the famous Blue Mosque and Hagia Sopia…both extraordinary sights. The Hagia Sophia in particular was quite interesting, given that it was originally a Christian church and then became a Mosque when Constantinople (now Istanbul) fell to the Ottomans. It was quite fascinating to see Muslim symbols next to frescos of Jesus.    

The Grand Bazaar...

Where in Morocco we were quite unprepared for the feast of shopping that was awaiting us, we were much better prepared this time around by taking an empty cabin bag with us. Monique certainly did an amazing job filling it with high quality hand made glass mosaic lamps and ceiling lights, scarves, and hand painted ceramics…all at bargain basement prices.

Culturally, The Grand Bazaar was amazing experience. The shopkeepers were all really happy to have us looking at their goods without putting any pressure on to make a sale, loved having a chat and a laugh, and were even happy for us to take a photo or two. While they were happy to barter to an extent, the prices quoted were always fair and realistic. All this made for super fun shopping experience.  

Battersea Power Station

We were incredibly fortunate to have the opportunity to explore the Battersea Power Station as a part of the London Open Doors weekend.

We (along with everyone else in London) thought it would be prudent to get there early to avoid the queues. By ‘early’, we thought an hour or so before the doors were due to open would well and truly do the trick.

No quite.

It soon became apparent the thousands and thousands of people had the same idea. We walked and walked and walked and walked before finally finding the end of the queue…about a kilometer back down the road.

After waiting patiently in the early Autumn cold for over two and half hours, we finally made our way inside. 

Thankfully, it was worth the wait. The iconic London landmark is due to begin being redeveloped, so we were lucky to see it in all its decayed and derelict glory. While it is hard to tell form the outside, it is essentially just a shell with no roof and no internal walls, just crumbling concrete and jagged metal supporting beams remaining.

While it sounds strange, it really is a stunning landmark.

On our way out, we walked past a lot of angry people who had been denied entry. After planning for 10,000 and not expecting the 20,000 that actually showed up, the Power Station closed two hours earlier than planned. Again, we were feeling very fortunate to have got there when we did.  

Fun times with the parents...The Cotswolds

Clockwise from top left: Highclere Castle; The Uffington White Horse; Rambling

A special father-son moment 

Rambling on classically damp English morning 

Clockwise from top left: Arlington Row; a country lane; Snowshill

We were incredibly excited to have Daniel’s parents come and visit London for three weeks in September. Aside from walking their feet off seeing all the sights in London, we decided that it would be a bit of fun to enjoy a quintessentially English getaway and spend four days relaxing in the Cotswolds.

It was wonderful to be able to spend some quality time together after about two years of living on the opposite side of the globe, and the Cotswolds provided the perfect setting.

A few highlights included…

> Pubs and tea rooms aplenty

> Some long and rambling walks through the countryside

> Exploring Highclere Castle, which is the location used for shooting Downton Abbey

> Marveling at the Uffington White Horse – an Iron Age outline of a horse made created by deep trenches filled with chalk

> Exploring the many quaint little villages
> Daniel treating Arthur to his first ever beer…a true father-son rite of passage.

Notting Hill Carnival MKII

For the second year in a row, the world’s second largest street carnival exploded to life right outside our front door. Over the course of the August bank holiday long weekend, over a million people descended on the quiet leafy streets of Notting Hill and turned the suburb into a massive, pulsating, chaotic mess of drinking, dancing, partying, and revelry.

And just like last year, it was oh so good.  

The masculine and the feminine…Wilderness cricket and felting

One of Daniel's sixes

Daniel was fortunate to be able to play in the cricket match. The festival supplied whites for all the players, cucumber sandwiches and Pimms for afternoon tea, a hilariously pompous British commentator, and a good number of streakers to keep things interesting. It’s fair to say that the play was of a ‘social’ standard, given the number of players who were feeling slightly worse for wear from the previous evenings revelry, and the fact that more players than not were fielding with a can in hand.

Still, Daniel took great delight in walking out to bat in front of the several hundred spectators (in Daniels mind it was several thousand, however Monique thinks it was probably a tad less) and launching four sixes into the crowd on his way to 26 retired (lets not let the miniscule size of the ground, drunk bowlers and children playing get in the way of good story). Raising the bat to the adoring masses on the way back to the pavilion was certainly a career highlight.   

When Daniel and Shaun had finished batting and the Pimms had run dry, Monique and Sam left the boys to it and headed off to do some wet-felting. This involved placing fleece fibers on bubble wrap and agitating it with warm soapy water for what felt like three straight hours. It seemed like awfully hard work for a relaxing weekend, but after having returned a second time the following day to finish the job, Monique and Sam now have very interesting looking felt book covers…now the only question that remains is what the heck to do with them?!?