It couldn't have happened anywhere but in little old New York

DUMBO - Down Under the Manhatten and Brooklyn Bridge Overpass

Clockwise from top left: Movement in Times Square; Radio City Music Hall; A rainy day

Clockwise from top left: The Brooklyn Bridge; View of Manhattan from the Brooklyn Bridge; The Manhattan Bridge

The People

Without a doubt, New York was one of the most incredible cities that we have had the privilege of visiting.

In typical American style, everything was bigger than we had experienced before. The food, the lights, the shops, the buildings, the attractions, the bridges, the prices, the skyline, the queues…all big. And that’s not to mention the actual city. After 11 days of solid sightseeing, it felt as though we had just dipped our toes into Manhattan, never mind the surrounding neighborhoods. 

With that said though, we did feel as though we were there just long enough to scratch just below surface of the big exterior. It was amazing to experience the city changing pace and feel as we explored different areas. Amazing to connect with local New Yorkers who were always incredibly warm, friendly and hospitable. Amazing to experience the city in both rain and shine – the vibrancy of the yellow taxis and bright neon signs reflecting off the rain soaked ground and contrasting against the dark buildings was an absolute highlight. 

The other curious thing was that the city so often felt eerily familiar. Aside from having so many ubiquitous sights, it probably had something to do with the fact that more movies and television have been shot in New York than anywhere else. It was genuinely strange to walk through Central Park and feel like we’d been there before. 

Christmas in New York!

 

Merry Christmas!

Clockwise from top left: Team New York; Lost in the West side; Classic NY Pizza

When making the decision to stay in London for a second year, Daniel kept joking to Monique that it would be fun to do Christmas in New York.

A seed was sown.

A year or so later after much saving, planning, and a fair amount of cajoling to convince five friends to join us, we were on our way.

We set off with a rare sense of excitement and anticipation. On the one hand, New York promised to be a jewel in our traveling crown - an amazing way to finish off our adventures before heading home in a few months time. On the other, spending 11 days with some of our nearest and dearest friends would see memories created that would last a lifetime, and be balm for our souls after spending almost 2.5 years living away from home.

Needless to say, we were pretty excited.

Thankfully we can now report that not only were our lofty expectations met, they were comfortably exceeded in every imaginable way. 

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!