Photos

Just a few of them for now...
Am back in Germany for now, leaving again on Oct 12 - see you there

Still in Turkey, waiting for the lock to get repaired as we cant open the door to our room in Selcuk.
We had some great walks in Goreme, Capadocia, on which we met a donkey and horses, we found Barle on the way (which is a kind of salad that is really good tasting) and peaches and figs. We walked and walked and ate and slept and had a good time. After we had enough of all the tourists and the lazy life we left......to go to another touristy but beautiful place at the sea: Olympus.
Here there are ruins of the old city Olympus right next to a beautiful (but still really crowded) beach. We stayed in a tree house. Rabih was sick and I was on my way to get it aswell. Still it was a beautiful (yet another not really turkish) place.
The busrides were also another interesting thing as there are no local long distance busses as in lets say East Asia. Its more like in Germany with lots of different bus campanys that go anywhere but are quiet expensive. Still you get a lot of service: The first bus from Antakya to Kayseri was deadly, with a service man looking like a Leprechaun with a constant smile on his face. He was cleaning the bus all the time. We didnt see any traces of dirt but he was still always using the broom and his little sponge to clean carpet and tables. We got cake and tea.
The second bus was just another tourist rip off with some overbookings which was the reason for the two young service people to sit on the ground (for about 12hours). They were pissed and told everyone to not take off their shoes (why??) and to put on their aircon and were just really pissed. The last one was great with ice cream, cake and lots of drinks. Hehe. Its cool how people here drink tea everywhere and everytime, even on one hour bus rides. Usually black tea with lots of sugar or Apple tea.
After Olympus we went via Antalya to Pamukkale, a town where there are a few curative calcium terraces (something like that). As both of us had our cough and cold we really wanted to use that ancient hamam which even the Romans used back then. But another tourist rip off wanted 20Lira (10Euro) for the entrance and another 20 Lira for the bath. We didnt go and went to Selcuk instead. Thats where we are at the moment.
In the morning we went to Ephesus which I actually did like a lot.
In Selcuk there is also one of the seven World Wonders, the temple or Artemis. There is one of the I think 120 colomns left. We will check that out probably tonight.
Tomorrow we will keep going, Bergama is on the list. We will stay for another 1 or 2 days and then go to Bursa, the last stop on the list.

Ein paar Fotos aus Aleppo, Syrien...

The SouqDead animals hanging around, ready for dinner...

The great Mosque
Today early in the morning we arrived at Goereme, Cappadocia, a beautiful but really touristy place. We will stay here for another one or two days to relax and wander around nature...
We definitely arrived in the West again. After the border crossing we could actually see the difference... Everything was so clean and tidy, and this wasnt Istanbul...
Anyway, we will put on more clothes as we arent used to the cold nights anymore. We want the 30ies back...
We will definitely go to Syria again.

Syria

Marhaba,
we arrived in Aleppo today.
Our two weeks in Lebanon are already over... With lots of sightseeing, lots of family and lots of eating. We went to the "Tropfsteinhoehlen" in Jaita, to the old roman ruins in Baalbek and Byblos, to the islands which were paradise... Got a pretty good tan already. Went to Beirut where we went to a beautiful mosque, I had to cover myself up, comfi...
The busride from Tripoli to Aleppo took us about 7 hours for around 200km, plus border crossing. I guess all of the people on the bus hated us as they had to wait for us for ages. Rabih says they didnt really. Lebanese and Syrian Bureaucracy, uhlala!
What we've seen of Syria so far seems very beautiful. Lots of farmland and lots of sheep, with a donkey instead of a sheppard. Lots of Beduins (probably they were), lots of all-covered women. Its incredibly hot (between 30 and 40 C), Im still wearing a scarf.
We got a think-pink room, made for Barbies and us. We like it.
Tomorrow we will wander around to see all these beautiful houses, the citadel, maybe some churches and mosques.
Beautiful days!