"You Can Leave Your Ham On"

He He Bulgarian tom foolerie in the supermarket! None of the staff wanted to dance though, i dont know why not : (

Popovo

This lake is just down the road from where we were staying. One day Sheleen took us to a traditional Gypsy market! To us that sounded fab and we got all our money ready to embrace beautiful things but heck it was WAY different to what we expected. The majority of the stalls were equiped with every kind of gun you have ever heard of. These markets also specialised in Shuriken, so throwing stars nuckle dusters and what not. HECK! bit scary. Then we went to a few shops where they sold stuff made by the Babas (grandmothers). These shops were a bit more to our liking, lots of beautiful rugs and other hand made trinkets.

goaties and doggies

We had a fun time walking the dogs around the lake and playing with the goats. We also picked one million walnuts which Beth then obsessed over trying to come up with the ultimate walnut dish, potato salad works well.

Bulgaria

Got the overnight train to Popovo in bulgaria. Bulgaria is feakin stunning. The train ride to Popovo was so amazing, huge mountains covered in lovely Autumn coloured forrests. We followed a river for a large part of the journey. Popovo is a small town of very friendly people and Gypsies (not so friendly as they love a five fingered discount). We stayed with Andy and Sheleen from Liverpool. They have lived in Bulgaria for 2 years and their neighbours bring them food and help out with stuff with the animals. It had a very good feel about it and we all want to explore Bulgaira more.

This is us helping to build a mud brick wall. We are machines!

Gallipoli

Gallipoli is a beautiful town. Stayed in a great hostel and watched the mel Gibson movie the night before going on a Gallipoli tour. It was pretty emotional but we learnt a lot. The one stand out thing of the day was the good relationship Australians still have with the Turkish. Everyone here has been so friendly and kind to us : ) We all felt very proud to be Australians. Had our last Turkish kebab before heading to Bulgaria.

Hotel Erenler, Istanbul

Hotel Erenler, Istanbul

Hotel Erenler, Istanbul

Selime Monastary

Here is some photos of where we walked through a canyon next to a river that runs out of a mountain. This was a beautiful walk, all very green which is a contrast to the rest of the landscape here. The top images are of Selime montastry which is gigantic. There is a church, chapel, confessional, watch tower and other rooms too. Great views from the top too. This day we also went to the Onyx museum and learnt where Turquoise got its name: it means Turkish gold.

Chillin in the Underground City

This is an underground city that was built so the people here could hide if they were attacked. It goes down for eight floors and all the paths are very little and windy. It was a lot of fun, they even have stables for animals. It can house up to 3000 people but Ben wouldnt be one of them cos he got claustraphobic. It was fine though because it is all really well ventilated and the temperature is stable between 11 and 16 degrees all the time (the 2nd and 3rd phots are of air vents). The top pic is of the school where beth.B taught Beth.M some interesting life skills.

Exploring Cappadocia

Rose Valley

This day we made a picnic lunch and set off, after a scrumpious brekky to explore the Rose Valley. First we went to the open Air Musem and had a look at some churches that were carved into the rock formations that were a result of volcanic activity and erosion. These were made from the 5th to 11th century. They painted religious scenes on them in the 9th and 10th centuries. After that we walked on little trails through the valleys. Its just nuts. Here is Ben with his two wives, around town he is known as "lucky boy" or "rich man". hehe

Cappadocia, Goreme

holy mac took an over night bus here, 13 long long hours, but so glad we did. Have ended up spending almost a week here because it is just incredible here. The landscape is enough to keep you fascinated for a very long time, but the town, Goreme, is very relaxed and the people are very friendly. Have had tea with nearly the whole town now. This is our fave restaurant and the man who works there. We had pottery kebabs the other night, oh the brilliance of it all. They cook meat or veggies in a clay pot in a fire, then you crack it open and the stew bubbles over. It is delicious, as is the beer.

Also some crazy trees, the blue eyes ward off evil and pots just look rad.

Kusadasi, Turkey

Woot we made it to Turkey via a few rocky ferries and a few lovely Greek islands. Here we are in Kusadasi on the coast of Turkey. Explored around Ephesus, ancient city, which was great, especially when there was a reinactment of the Roman Empire and a gladiator battle. We also had a great Turkish feast and went to an awesome rug shop where we learnt how to identify the genuines from the pretenders! Have fallen in love with the rugs here.