The Last Leg

So tonight is our last night in Turkey, We get up in 5 hours to go to the airport, out flight leaves at 5:55am, so we need to leave at 3:30 in the morning, not fun.

Today we went to the largest of the Princess Islands, it was very cool. One of the only things that wasn't nice were the horse carts. Beause there are no cars on the island, there are horse carts to take the tourists around. It is obvious that the horses are not cared for properly, their ribs are showing and they looked a little unhappy. Other than that it was good, the sun was shining and we were finally able to find mil free popcicles for dad, which were very good.

Yesterday we went back to the Asia side of Istanbul, we wondered around in the fishing area and then went up to a shopping area. And then we went back to the Grand Bazaar. We did a little shopping. We went back today, and did the final bit.

We had our last cup of Turkish tea, watching the last little bit of the whirl of the dervish, while we inhaled smoke fron other people cigarettes and hookahs.

We need to go to bed now, we have to get up early. We land in Vancouver on the 17th at about 3pm, we will miss a whole nights sleep.

See you all soon,
Love Laura

Can we drive yet????

So today was our drive from Bourgas to Istanbul. We left our hotel at 10 o'clock, and drove into Bourgas. When we reached the bus station, we got our tickets and then we had to take out rental car back to the airport.

In Bulgaria, when you return a rental car, it has to be inspected, while the rentees are there, the woman that did the inspection on our car was a little slow. The only real problem was that on our rental agreement, the guy at Europcar put the price per day where he should have put the number of days rented for. We could ahve kept the car for about 24 more days and would not have had to pay anything.

The first taxi guy that we went to see for a ride to the bus station wanted 40 euros, no. They only charged us about 10 euros to go in the opposite direction when we arrived about a week and a half ago. We waited for a while, and then when a second taxi came, working for the same company as the first guy, we quickly told him that we would pay 30 euros for the drive.

We went and had lunch, while we waited for the bus. The bus arrived about 45 minutes late, and then we were off.

The first part of the drive was good, the road was really bumpy though, and we got through the boarder pretty wuickly. It wasn't until the other side that we had to wait. Noboby knew what we were waiting for, there were army officers blocking off the road in both directions. The od thing was that there were random cars coming through from the other side. We waited for about an hour until the people at the front of the line-up got fed up and just went through. After that everybody followed. One of the officers with a machine gun told one of the vehicles to stop, as soon as he turned his back, they were off.

Once we left that the drive was pretty good. Once we got to the main bus station, and unloaded our bags, we got a taxi to our hotel, here. We brought our stuff up to out room and then we went out. We had donnar sandwiches for dinner and then baklava for dessert. We went back to the glass shop that we wanted to go to and did some shopping.

After having a cup of tea we came back to our hotel and now we are about to go to bed.

Love Laura

Nanny: Mum says thanks but no thanks, if we change out mind we will book ourselves tickets.

Busting out of Bulgaria.

Tommorrow we leave to go back to Turkey.

Today, we went to the beach. We went to the same beach that we did yesterday, but later in the afternoon. We just got back, and I showered just so that I could post this O_O. This morning we went for a drive in some of the surrounding towns. The road was really bumpy, as they all are. It is so nice that our car has air conditioning, but it doesn't take long for the car to heat up when it is turned up.

Dad got a pretty bad sunburn on his chest and back yesterday while we were at the beach. Mum and I didn't get burned at all.

Last night we went for a walk around Old Sozopol. We went out for dinner at a street side restaurant, it was not very good. Dads chicken was not fully cooked, so he did not eat any of it. It was too bad, that was the only bad meal we have had on the whole trip.

I think that we have internet in our hotel in Turkey, so I will post when we get there. Maybe not right away, we get in pretty late at night.

We are about to go out for dinner, somewhere close by.

Love Laura

Let's Hit the Beach!!!!!!

We haven't had internet for the last couple of days, well, we did for one night, but had to hold my computer in a certain spot and it was uncomfortable. We are now in Sozopol, about 37km south of Bourgas. We were going to go back Nessebar, to spend some time at the beach before going back to Turkey, but we decided to come here instead. We have an apartment hotel for three nights, and it is only 45 dollars a night. We have a little kitchen, with a living room, where my bed is, a bathroom (no bathtub :'( ) and a seperate bedroom, where mum and dad are. We also have a huge balcony looking out over the beach and water.

In the last few days we have gone to several monasteries and fortresses. There has been a lot of head ducking as the ceilings were so low. We visited the ruins of an old Roman road, and ampitheatre. We have seen numerous butterflies, geckos and one snake. There are countless birds nest, all filled with little birds. The weather is beautiful now, no more rain. In some of the towns and cities that we have visited after the rain, the rivers and streams are at flood height, they are not used to the amount of water.

Today we are going to spend some time at the beach, we will rent an umbrella, and maybe a cot, in the shade. There are two beaches here, one is bigger than the other, and last night we saw the sand man!!! He drives around on a machine that looks like a zamboni, adn it cleans the sand, picking up all of the trash. We have already seen lots of people heading down to the beach this morning, where we get internet in our hotel is downstairs, so we can watch the people.

We have today and tomorrow here, on Wednesday, we take the bus back to Istanbul, we have two full days there, and then on the Friday, we have to get up extremely early in the morning to catch our flight back to Frankfurt. I hope that I don't get sunburned today, we have SPF 60 sunscreen.

Love Laura

We're drowning in stuff.

So, this morning, when we left Balchik, it was raining. At two in the afternoon it was still raining. It poured all day, lightening at times, but it was always raining. It was nice though, all of the trees and sunflowers will be happy, when we got here they were looking a little parched.

We left Balchik, heading for Ruse, where we are now. We drove through the rain, all of the potholes were filled with water, so we hid some good ones. We saw a sign on the side of the road for a stone monastary, one that we had seen in our Bulgaria book. We drove up to the monastary, but we wouldn't find it at first. The sign had said 1km, we had driven farther than that. Just when we were ready to turn around, we found it. We had to climb some stairs, and the stone was really slippery because of all of the rain. It cost a total of 12 leves, about 9 dollars. Just as we had gotten there a large tour bus showed up, so we went up into the caves right away, to beat then there. There are huge caves carved into the cliffs, with stairs in the rocks. Originally, they would have had wooden ladders going up into the high parts of the monastary, now they have metal stairs. Sooooo many stairs. After looking through the monastary, we went down to the catacombs. We had no idea what catacombs were. The sign said that they were 6oom away. Mum went back to the garden area because it was too slippery for her. Dad and I continued on, they were a little farther than 600m away. They were really impressive though. Huge caves carved into the rocks, the only part that you could really go into were the crypts,
they were really cool, you could see where the bodies had been excavated.

When we left the monastary, we continued to drive, it had stopped raining, and we arrived in Ruse at about 4pm. We found a hotel, where we are now, and we went out for cake. It was really good. We took a walk down by the river, there were some tough looking people down there. It took us a while to find a restaurant near our hotel, but we ate at the Happy bar and grill. It is a big chain restaurant here in Bulgaria. It was pretty good though. We got a table inside, and we were glad that we did, as while we were eating dinner it started to pour rain, everybody that were sitting outside came inside, and the restaurant filled up.

Now we are back in our hotel, I have no idea what we are going to do tomorrow, but I will try to post again.

Love Laura

When the sky opens, it OPENS.

We left Nessebar Yesterday morning and drove to Varna. The drive was not too long, about an hour and a half. All trough the hills, up and down, it was very windey. When there weren't mountains, there were fields filled with sunflowers. While we were in Varna, we went on a really good tour of a museum, and we went to two roman bath ruins. It was really cool to see how the baths were heated, underground. They had maps showing what the baths looked like when they were new.

We went to the market in Varma, behind the Opera House. I got some really cool shoes in a shop just outside of the market. Mum bought some really good nectarines and apricots.

We left Varna and came to Balchik, it was cloudy when we arrived in Balchik, and then it started to rain a little. We found a hotel and got settled. When mum and I went out to look around it started to pour rain. When we went down for dinner later, it was POURING. Everybody had gone inside, and the restaurant were pretty full. We watched the national vollyball team while eating dinner with a thunderstorm booming overhead. There were huge bolts of lightening, followed by roars of thunder. All of the dogs and cats were scared. Later when we went inside, a couple of cats had gotten into the lobby, the hotel staff didn't care, they weren't bothering anybody.

Now, this morning, it is still raining,but not as hard, when we went down for breakfast, two cats had gotten inside of the breakfast area, the hotel staff kept bringing them outside, but they kept getting back in, some of them are just tiny, cute kittens, you almost want to take them home with you.

Today we are off to Ruse Bulgaria, and then possibly into Romania tomorrow.

Love Laura

It's too cold for me.

This morning when we got up, we slept in quite a bit, I wrote the blog before this one. After that We went for a walk down to the beach. The beach ws packed with people. There is a string line in the sand, and past the line, you have to pay, 7 leve, to have either a cot or an unbrella, 14 leve for both. There were all sorts of people in the water. Hardly any of the kids were wearing bathing suits, and they were sitting in the sand, it must have hurt!!! We walked along the beach for quite a while. We ran up a sand dune, which almost burned our feet and then onto the boardwalk. We walked alond the street, backtowards our hotel, and stopped to have brunch at a little stall. We had pizzas, and pastries, filled with feta cheese. We went back to our hotel.



We packed up our bathing suits and towels, ready to hit the beach. We took out car, out to where the Bulgarians have summer condos, there are some really nice, cheap all enclusive resorts there, out of the way, with nice beachfront. We changed in a bathroom, and then headed down to the water. At first it was nice, just a little cool, but as soon as you waded in a little, the Black Sea got much colder. It was very difficult to build up the courage to sink in up to my neck,but I did right after dad splashed me. After swimming for a while, we risned off and then went and had something to drink at the beach bar.



On our way back to our hotel from the beach we found a collection of street stalls that were selling the most beautiful hand croched table clothes, um got a nice white one, big enough for out dining room table. After that, we drove up into the counrty side. Mum had found the name of a restaurant in a small village that there were tours to, she wanted to see what it was like to aybe have dinner there. We looked all over and even followed what looked to be a tour bus, it wasn't, and we didn't find the restaurant. We came back into Nesebar a longer sceenic route, and had dinner at a little restaurant, one block off of the main road.



We had really good borsch, and Goulash and a seafood pizza, it was really inexpensive compared to the restaurants in old Nesebar, where we ate last night. It was very good. Before going out for the evening, we came back to the hotel, changed, I have a bit of a burn and wanted to put on a T-shirt, and then we went out.



There didn't seen to be as many people out tonight, and we went up a different way than we had before. There are stalls selling old antiques, like really old cameras and gramophones, ane even older pocket watches. In one, with all of the pocket watches, we four the typr of watch that hangs on a chain around you neck. You wind it up to make it run, and through the glass in theback you can see the mechanism making it run. The man wanted 60 leves for the small one, to go around your neck, but dad got him down to 45, we bought it, and now all I have to do is get a really long chain to put it on. It can share a chain with the pocket watch that I bought in Istanbul. I love it.



We bought popcicles and water at a little corner store and walked back to our hotel. Tomorrow dad wants to be on the road by 10, so we are back a little early to pack up our stuff. I still have sand stuck to my legs, and it is going to be difficult to get it off, it is really fine.



I don't know if we are going to have internet for the next couple of days, but if we do, I will write again.

Love Laura



I forgot to mention that when we were driving to the village where mum thought the restaurant was, the fields on the side of the road were sunflower farms. There were sunflowers for as far as you could see.

Into the Black Sea.

We arrived in Bulgaria yesterday, the bus ride was only 6 hours long, the guy at the travel place was wrong. 6 hours of driving and one hour at the Bulgarian border. You can only bring two packs of cigarettes into the country at a time, and there were a couple people who had cartons of them. Because of these people we had to get off of the bus and open our bags because the gaurds at secutiry suspected that we were all smuggling cigarettes into their counrty (we may be some of the only people in this country who don't smoke). I don't know if they are only allowed to bring two packs because they don't sell cigarettes in Bulgaria, I haven't seen any for sale, and if the people bring more they will sell them, or what the reason is for the limit.

On the bus we met the nicest lady from Bulgaria, I can't remember what her name was. She works more where in Turkey, in a hotel selling her art, along with her husband. She had the weekend off, so this was her second bus ride to go back to Bulgaria. She had some paperwork to do and she is going to visit her daughter in Sophia. A long way to travel for just four days at home.

We thought that there wouldn't be any food on the bus, but they served us, water, coffee and tea, and icecream. The bus was almost full, there were only a couple of empty seats. The road was good in Turkey, but once we crossed into Bulgaria, it was very bumpy. In some places on the main highway, they have dug up patches to fix potholes, but have never come back to fill them in. From the bus station we had to take a taxi to the airpor to pick up our rental car.

There are alot of rental car companies in the Burgas airport, one of the only three airports in the whole counrty. We got our car, a smallish dark blue KIA, and set of for Nesebar, which is only a half an hour away. The drive was good and when we arrived in Nesebar, we found a place to stay, we are going to be here for another night tonight. I have a real bed this time not a cot on the floor. In the room next to us last night they had a bit of a party, but I fell asleep anyways because I was so tired.

We are going to go into old Nesebar today, and visit some of the churh ruins, most of the old churches have been turned into art gallerys now, but they are still nice to look at.

Write again soon,

Love Laura

Just another 10 hours folks.

Tomorrrow we leave Istanbul and go to Bourgas. The bus leaves at 9am and the ourney is 10 hours long. The actual drive is not as long, but we stop for two hours at customs. We have our tickets and confirmed seats and we will be on our way, tomorrow.

This morning we got us a liittle earlier than usual, ate breakfast and then went out. First we tried to go the Hagia Sophia mosque, but it is closed on Mondays. We did a little shopping, we found the nicest store that sells lamps and glass dishes. We are going to go back there when we come back from Bulgaria, we don't want to carry glass around and havve it broken.

We took the tram in the opposite direction that we have in the last couple of days, We decided to get out at a stop that had a museum, but the museum was just a collection of panoramic pictures of Turkey's past. There was nothing else there to see or do, but we did visit the gardens of a cemetary. There were beautiful flowering trees there, with purple and orange flowers.

We came back on the tram, and tried to find the Museum of Archaeology, but it was up a hill, it was about 2 o'clock and we wanted to have lunch. We had really good food at a cafe called Montana's. I had pasta, mum and dad had traditional Turkish dishes. Then we went to the Palace of Topkapi. It was really huge, with collections of clothes and jewelry. In one area there was a gigantic diamond, 86 carats, which was found in a city dump. A peddeler bought is for three spoons. When they found out that is was an actual diamond, it was summoned to the palace, where it was first made into a ring and then into a decoration for a turban. It was beautiful. We looked around there for a while, and now we are back at our hotel, packing and waiting to go and see the whirling dervishes at 8.

I don't know when we will have internet again, but when we do I will post some more.

Love Laura

Along the Straight-Away

We were wrong, the bridge that we went over yesterday did not take us to Asia. That bridge only took us to the other side of the river. The bridge that actually goes to Asia is much larger and more organized. But to get to Asia today, we took the tram and a ferry. Which was quite great, even though the other side looked exactly the same.

This morning when we got up, we ate breakfast and then went to the Blue Mosque. All three of us were given wrap around skirts to wear, and Mum and I were given shawls to cover our shoulders. Inside of the mosque is was quite impressive. The line up outside was even greater. The beginning of the line was an old doorwas, it then went around the corner and then half of the length of the mosque. It then went up a set or stair and around another corner, then through a low tunnel, Dad had to duck his head. After taking our shoes off and putting them in bags, we entered the mosque. There were about three tour groups in the mosque, so it was a little packed. We took alot of pictures and it was very cool.

We went for a walk behind the mosque towards the Hippodrome, but we didn't go in. Instead we went to the cistern. When we joined the short line outside, we had no idea what it was going to be like, there were no pictures, only a sign that said Cistern. Once we went down the stairs we saw what is was all about, the seiling was really high, and the columns supporting it were huge. It was dark, so we didn't get that many pictures, but we did get some good ones. In one end of the cistern there were two carvings of Medusa, they ere amazing. There was also a strange group of hanging sculptures.

This afternoon we went for a boat cruise of the Bosphorous, about an hour and a half, no stops. We had to wait on the boat for about forty-five minutes for it to leave. All ove the hills there are huge Turkish flags flying in the wind, you can see them from a long ways away.

This evening we took a ferry over to the Asian side of Istanbul, we walked around a market, selling all sorts of food. We had chicken and lamb in a three story little restaurant, it was very good. When it was time for us to go home, we took the ferry, but we went to the wrong stop so we had to walk for a while. We caught the tram back to the Blue Mosque, and walked from there to out hotel. We are sitting up on the high terrace of our hotel, in the distance we can see the fireworks, celebrating somethine. It is the 4th of July today, but nobody here is celebrating.

Post again soon.

Love, Laura

Around the First Bend.

So, today was our first day in Turkey, and it isn't even over yet!!! We came back to our hotel about an hour and a half ago, so that we could have a rest. Mum and I both had a shower, and we are all ready to go again. Well, sort of, mum and dad are having a nap. We will go out in about a half hour, to have dinner and see some more great things.

This morning, we got up and got ready to go out. We had breakfast on the high terracce of our hotel, the rooftop. There were olives, yogurt, fruit, juice, coffee, tea and buns with jams. I tried some of the rose jam, it was very good. There was also chocolate spread, not like nutella, it was very good. I didn't have any of the olives, but by the end of this trip I am going to force myself to like them. They have very good tea here, but it is very bitter and strong, you need quite a bit of sugar. While we were eating, we met a woman, from Vancouver, who was travelling in Turkey with her family. They have been here since the beginning of June, and are leaving tomorrow. The fly to Chicago so that they don't have to get up at one in the morning for the flight.

We went and visited a burial place. There were all sorts of big and little tombs inside, with atrifacts in glass cases. To go in, women had to put on a head scarf, and mum and I had to put on long skirts, you have to be covered to the ankle. We got very warm in the scarves. It was very ornately decorated.

We went from there to the Grand Bazaar, where we did a little shopping, not alot, but we got some cool things. We didn't get lost, because one of the shop keepers gave us a map of the bazaar. I finally bought myself a pocketwatch, something that I have wanted for a very long time. After the bazaar, we went and bought some Turkish delight, which is very good, but VERY sweet. We mum and dad had a fish sandwich. After that we went and got a cob of corn, and a chicken sandwich. Now, it seems like all we do is eat.

Over the brigde we went into Aisa, on the tram. It was jam paced with people until one stop, where, about 50% of the people got off of the tram. On the other side of the river, we walked through a fish market, and around the boating supply section of the market. We walked back across the bridge, and saw all of the people fishing. They all had little buckets filled with sardines and other little fish. there are two levels to the bridge, the top being the roadway and sidewalk, and the bottom is full of restaurants and a walkway. We looked around down there, but suprisingly, didn't eat. We went into a mosque, mum and I styed in the court yard while dad went in and looked around. Mum sat in the shade, I did as well, but in a dfferent spot, and wrote in the journal that I am keeping for our trip.

Outside the mosque, there were people selling feed for the birds, there was more bird feed than there were birds to feed. Behind the mosque there was the spice market. In the road leading into the market there were pet shops and plant shops. There were all sorts of pets, animals are very well cared far here, even the stray cats are fed and taken care of. They were selling dogs and cats, chickens, turtles and leeches. Inside of the spice market, everybody was selling a bit of the same thing. We bought some teas and then we left, we were tired.

We took the tram back to the Blue Mosque, which is near our hotel, and found a corner store. We bought some water and sunflower seeds and came back to our hotel.

And now, I am sitting here, having a couple pieces of Turkish delight. Mum and Dad are up now, and we are going out for dinner. Post again soon.

Love Laura

And They've Passed the Starting Gate!!!!!

Well, we landed in Turkey this afternoon, luckily. When we got up yesterday and looked outside, at the rainy Vancouvver sky, we had no idea what we were going to do f0r the morning, so, we went to Ikea. Always a good choice. We had $1 breakfasts and then looked around, with no luck in our search for a new kitchen table. When we left Ikea we went for a little drive through Vancouver, and into the UBC campus. We went and looked at the pools and visited the student union building. Because it was Canada day, everything was closed, but there were still people wandering around. After that we headed for the airport.

When we checked in, we got our seats all the way to Istanbul. We exchanged some money into Euros and then went through security. Whenever we go on summer holidays, we always seem to leave on Canada day. The airport was a little empty yesterday, partly because it was Canada day, and partly because it was mid-week, not many people travelling.

When we got to our gate, our flight was delayed for about a hour, meaning that we might not make our connection, because we only had an hour and a half between flights. We charged up our computers, and boarded the plane. We have never flown Lufthansa, but it was nice. The flight was about nine and a half hours long. I watched some TV and a movie and then tried to sleep. Eventually I did fall asleep, but kept getting jolted awake because of the turbulance. The washrooms in the plane, were down a set of stairs, and there were five stall-rooms. There was also a drinking fountain.

I woke up just before we were to have breakfast, hashbrowns and an omlete I didn't eat, I couldn't tell if I was nasuous or hungry. When we landed, about 45 minutes late, we basically ran off of the plane, through sewcurity and to our gate, where they were just getting ready to board. The only problem was, that we have emailed our hotel in Istanbul, where we were staying, to tell them that we didn't need to be picked up because we would not be on that flight. We sis make the flight, and then we had no ride.

We called the hotel when we arrived in Istanbul, but they said that their driver wouldn't be able to come and pick us up for a long time. We took a cab. We had arrived right during rush hour traffic, and the roads were packed. It took us about 45 minutes to reach our hotel, costing 30 liras. Our hotel, The Grand Peninsula Hotel, is very nice. We have a fridga, and lots of places to hide things.

We went and eandered around the little streets around our hotel. We ate some almonds, some corn, a wrap thing and a folded peice of naan style bread with feta cheese inside, on a benjch just outside of the Blue Mosque. After that we came back to our hotel, where we are now, just getting ready to go to bed. I have no idea what we are going to do tomorrow, but I know that we are going to have fun.

Love Laura

Ready, Set........GO!!!!!

We are about to leave. Our flight from Terrace leaves in about two hours and then we will officially be on vacation. Lucky is looking quite upset, she knows that we are leaving. I hope that we have a wonderful time, talk soon.

Love Laura