First Visit To Bugaria (Part 3): Sunny Beach (Slanchev Briag / Slanchev Bryag), the Las Vegas of Bulgaria

If you travel to the Black Sea coast of Bulgaria using one of those last-minute tour service, chances are you will end up in a hotel, either on the Golden Beach or the Sunny Beach. As it turned out, my hotel was in the Sunny Beach area, which is full of high-rise hotels, holiday apartments, casinos, pubs, bars, night clubs etc.; in short, this place is packed with all the adult vice entertainment/fun you can think of, as far as any holiday resorts with lots of cheap alcohol and young holidaymakers of all shapes,colours and sizes from all over Europe go. Little wonder some calls the Sunny Beach 'the Las Vegas of Bulgaria'.

The frustrating thing about Sunny Beach is, most buildings you can see in this mega hotel strip are so bland and soulless, if you are not into all-night partying or clubbing or those kinds of things, you are either bored to tears, or you will end up sleepless while you are in Bulgaria because of all the noises from the clubs and bars outside your hotel windows. And I am not sure if it is really a place for ideal family holidays, given the presence of strip tease clubs all over Sunny Beach.  

Boat Trip around the Island of Zakynthos: Shipwreck, Blue Caves, but No Turtles

If anything, the must-do thing when you are a tourist to Zakynthos is to join a round-the-island cruise so that  you can go home and tell your friends and neighbours that you have seen some of the most beautiful seas in Europe. The scenery off the west coast of Zakynthos is quintessentially the kind of holiday paradise image Greece is keen to promote to the world: turquoise-blue sea with white cliffs, lush green natures, and postcard-perfect coves and secluded bays untouched by modern tourism. 

Although all tour agencies in the resort towns sell tickets for the boat trip, sometimes with slight differences in terms of price, there is actually only one company operating the round-the-island trip from the habour of Zakynthos Town using a big boat with a 5m long plank. Which means no matter from which travel agency you book the boat trip, as long as they tell you the boat they use is departing from Zakynthos and has a 5m long plank, you can almost be sure that everybody will end up on the same boat.  

Indeed that was what happened to me when I boarded the tour boat; it seems the whole tourist population on Zakynthos were on this boat that morning. By the time the free shuttle bus that picked tourists up from their hotels in the region of Alykes and Alikanas arrived at the habour of Zakynthos Town, all the good places on the boat were already taken by tourists from other resort regions of the island. So I had to find whatever place I could on the boat and try to enjoy the views of Zakynthos' impressive coastlines amid all the bodies.   

Zakynthos Town: Not Your Typical Greek Harbour Town

I almost forgot I had been to Zakynthos ....

Actually I had always wanted to visit Zakynthos (also known as Zante in English usage), one of the bigger Ionian Islands, but other plans kept popping up and it was not until 2011 that I finally had the chance to visit this island in conjunction with my trip to Corfu. By the way it took me quite a while to finally manage to pronounce the name Zakynthos correctly.
The reason I almost forgot all about my trip to this Ionian Island is, I visited it immediately after my trip to Corfu. Imagine: after spending one beautiful week on the colourful island of Corfu in spring, my mind is full of the scenic images of Corfu and the neighbouring Paxos. As a result, Zakynthos becomes by comparison to those two islands far too plain and rustic to stimulate my memories. Poor Zakynthos. 

Ünye: Jolly Little Town on the Black Sea

Unye? Where is that? Why Unye?

These are the questions I got from Turks when I told them I had been to this little seaside town on Turkey's Black Sea coast. Some of the Turks I spoke to do not even know where this place is, despite having lived in Turkey most of their life. And they are truly suprised that I was willing to endure more than 22 hours on long-distance buses just to go and see this town for one day. To be honest, I would have preferred to fly directly to Samsun and back to Istanbul, but the visit to Unye was a last-minute decision, all flights from Samsun to Istanbul were fully booked and I had no choice but to travel by bus all the way back to Istanbul. 

Baden-Baden: the Playground of the Rich and the Famous on the Fringe of the Black Forest

There is a local saying in southern Taiwan that translates roughly as 'People who live next door to a temple look down upon that particular temple; they prefer to go and make their offerings at some other temples which are far-away from their own town. Whereas people living in other towns come all the way to make their offerings at that very temple where no locals want to go'. To put it in plain words, it means people are inherently cheeky: they look down upon places of interest near their own doorsteps, but are willing to spend lots of money and energy to travel thousands of miles to visit a place far away from home.    

While some would say such actions are essentially what travelling is all about, I must admit there is indeed some elements of truth in the old saying. For instance I had been living for decades in a town on the fringe of Germany's Black Forest, itself one of the most popular and coverted tourist spots in Central Europe, but it was not until recently that I finally visited Baden-Baden, a kind of Monacosque exclusive spa town (without the sea but with the scenic Black Forest in its background) popular with rich Russians and German millionaires. Although I had passed by Baden-Baden hundreds of times when travelling by train from southern Germany to the northwestern part of the country, it just did not strike me that I should get off the train and have a look what this town was all about. 

Fethiye: Beautiful Harbour but Lacklustre Centre

Of all the big names resorts on Turkey's Aegean coast, Fethiye is on par with Kusadasi to compete for the dubious honour of having the most boring and lacklustre city centres of them all. In spite of the scenic countryside, the beautiful bays and all the historical sites around  Fethiye, I have never been much of a fan of its city centre. Perhaps this has something to do with the feeling that downtown Fethiye is somewhat lacking in character because it is far too modern and a bit short on traditional buildings for my taste.

There are now several newly built luxury hotels along the route leading out of the town centre next to the marina, with expensive dining options, cafes, and open-air bars catering to the rich and the affluent yacht-touring class. For those who are fed up with Turkish food but have no time or place to conjure up your own meal, there is now a place in one of the expensive-looking hotels on the hills overlooking the marina that serves Indian curry. Yes, Indian curry in Fethiye, finally!! As soon as I saw the menu on display outside the hotel, I decided to give it a try. The restaurant is located on the open terrace on the topmost floor, and is very nicely decorated with candle lights, crystal tablewares, nice views of the yachts and the marina, as well as the rolling hills and the bay beyond. As for the food, the chicken korma with rice I ordered is actually quite good considering the fact that it is almost impossible to come across any decent non-Turkish cuisines in Turkey. At least I emptied the plate and all the sauce and left the restaurant feeling rather happy :)  

White Garden Pansion, Antalya: Oasis of Hospitality in the Heart of the Kaleici

Usually I do not recommend hotels or accommodations in Turkey, as it is not uncommon in Turkey's tourism sectors that ownerships or managements of hotels change hands fairly frequently - in some extreme cases,  almost on a annual basis - which means what I find nice and wonderful this year might turn out to be awful and impolite the next. In addition, more often than not young single females travelling around Turkey receive 'preferential treatments' when it comes to room upgrading, special on-the-spot price, room discounts, as well as extra service such as free breakfast/dinner/drinks/tea/snacks etc., which makes it even more difficult to judge if the service of the hotel personnel is genuinely friendly or has other ulterior motives.

But after two visits to this well-run family hotel by the name of 'White Garden Pansion' in the old town of Antalya, I can safely vouch for its standards of accomodation and service. The best thing about this place is, the owner and the people who work there are not pushy at all. They are sincerely interested in running and promoting their own hotel, and not interested in selling you as many tours or other sight-seeing programmes as possible. This makes it a very relaxing experience to stay at this place, as one of the nightmares of staying in hotels in Turkey's top tourist spots is the fear of having to say almost on a daily basis 'sorry, we don't want to book any excursions' to the owners. As a regular visitor to Turkey in the previous ten years, all I want now when I am in Turkey is to relax in a nice atmosphere, and visit some less well-known sights and archaeological digs on my own if I feel like it. After all, once I had been to some of the most remote and unheard of corners of Turkey all by myself over the last decade, it is very difficult for me to return to the modus of joining a day excursion with 20 other tourists.

 

Rushing to Gokceada and Back: a Hit and Run Day Trip to Turkey's Biggest Aegean Island

The island of Gokceada, the biggest of all Turkey's Aegean islands, is located west off the port of Kabatepe on Gelibolu Peninsula, and about two hours away by ferry from Turkey's mainlands. There are regular scheuled ferries to Gokceada from Kabatepe throughout the year, although the sailings in winter are much less frequent (only three times a week) and are often hampered by rough seas. During the summer months from May to September, there are several sailings per day from Kabatepe, which enable tourists from mainland Turkey to visit this unique Aegean island where ethnic Greeks and Turks still live together side by side in the same settlements. 

The best time to visit the island is actually in May-June, as the weather is sunny and pleasant, not as scorching hot as it often is during the summer months. Gokceada has some of the best beaches one could find in Turkey, with virtually no crowd, lots of natural white sands, and an abundance of nature and wildlife seen only on this island. For those arriving from Istanbul or Izmir by bus, get off at the harbour of Eceabat and wait for the mini-buses (see photo below) at the fountain next to the local tea house. The mini-buses, whose departure time from Eceabat is coordinated with the sailing schedule of the passenger and car ferry from Kabatepe to Gokceada, would take you virtually straight to the ferry waiting in the harbour of Kabatepe. 

Gokceada, also known by its Greek name of Imbros, has been on my list of 'must-see' places in Turkey because it is a place of great historical significance, at least for someone like me who is interested in the history of  Greco-Turkish relations in the 20th century. Gokceada, alongside its smaller sister island of Bozcaada (Tenedos) and the province of Thrace, are among the few places within the boundary of modern Turkey whose ethnic Greek inhabitants were exempted from the compulsory popuation exchange that affected more than one million people in the aftermath of Greece's defeat in the Greco-Turkish War of 1919-1922.

Eceabat: Counting Ships on the Dardanelles

My first visit to Eceabat was in 2007, when I happened to find myself in Canakkale by coincidence, and decided to take a ferry across the Dardanelles to have a quick look at the town of Eceabat, the closest town to the battlefields of the Gallipoli Campaign. As I was in a hurry, the first visit to Eceabat lasted less than an hour, and the only impression I had of this smal seaside town is a cluster of houses centred around some kind of a small square that doubles as the town's carpark, surrounded by narrow streets and a few shops and restaurants.

During the next few years, my visit to Eceabat was limited to some brief stopovers around its harbour while on the bus from Istanbul to Izmir. It was not until the winter of 2009 that I finally had the chance to stay in this town and get to know this place better.

Car+Passenger Ferry between Europe and Asia: From Eceabat, Thrace, to Canakkale by Ferry

Quite a few people asked me the following questions when planning their trip to Turkey: How exactly does a car & passenger ferry that peddles between Turkey's European shores and Asian coastal towns work? What happens when they are on a direct bus from Istanbul to Canakkale: Do they need to buy a separate ticket for the ferry? Can they get off the bus during the ferry crossing? Do they need to get off the bus when boarding the ferry? So I thought it might be useful to write an article, with photographs illustrating the procedure of  using the car & passenger ferry from Eceabat on the European side of Turkey to Canakkale on the Asian side, when you trave on board a direct bus between Istanbul and Canakkale. 

First of all, the above photo shows how a car & passenger ferry operated by the ferry enterprise Gestas  (http://www.gestasdenizulasim.com.tr/) that is responible for the route between Eceabat - Canakkale looks like. This type of ferry travels between Eceabat and Canakkale every 20-30 minutes from early in the morning till very late at night. If you are passenger on a bus from Istanbul or Izmir, just stay on the bus while the bus waits outside the embarkation point, in the queue to drive the bus onto the ferry. If you are a foot passenger getting on the ferry from Eceabat, first buy your ticket from the ticket kiosk located at the entrance to the harbour, then wait at the gate until the harbour security guard opens the gate for passenger disembarkation.

Corfu Revisited (Part 2): Kanoni

The view from the cliffs of Kanoni of the island of Pontikonisi and Vlacheraina Monastery, with its cute bell tower, toy-like white-washed walls, and fairytale-sque settings against the backdrop of the misty red and creamy blue of the Ionian Sea, is the postcard-perfect landmark of Corfu. The first time I saw this sweet miniature-like monastery was from the air in 2005, when the flight from Continental Europe was on its final approach to land at Corfu's airport. As the aircaft descended to land, I saw from the windows this little  photogenic monastery on a little island, standing out in the sea like a piece of delicate Lladró porcelain. And that was my first impression of Corfu.

Parga: Day Trip to a Scenic Harbour Town in Epirus

Once you are on the island of Corfu, it is fairly easy to do a day trip to the Greek mainland by ferry. But if you are in a hurry and intend to visit both Paxos and Parga on the same day, then things might get a little bit more complicated, as the ferry connections from Corfu only takes you either to Igoumenitsa on the mainland, or to  the island of Paxos south of Corfu, but not to both at the same time. In other words, there are no direct ferry links between Paxos and Parga, and the only way to visit both places on the same day is to join a pre-arranged boat excursion organized by one of the local tour operators.

As it turned out, in 2011 such a Parga+Paxos tour runs only once a week, on Sunday. Since I was on the island of Corfu for one week only, I immediately booked an excursion to both places on the coming Sunday. If you book the tour at any travel agency in one of the island's tourist resorts or from the tour rep, the price of the boat excursion would include a complimentary shuttle service from an appointed pick-up place near your hotel to the harbour and back.

Corfu Revisited (Part 3): Liston, the Cafe Miles in the Heart of Corfu Town

Anyone who enjoys to see and to be seen while on holiday on the lush island of Corfu should make sure they take some time out and make their appearance felt along the fashionable cafe miles of Liston in downtown Corfu. It is a mixture of beautiful Italianate architecture, with arched colonnade lined with classical yet trendy cafes on the one side, and an English-sque Esplanade, with cricket grounds and an English style summer pavilion on the other side. This is probably the only place in Greece where you get to see a cricket ground in close proximity to rows of stylish cafes under the shades of tree canopy.

No visit to Corfu Town is complete without a sojourn at one of the cafes along the Liston. It is a popular hangout place for both the tourists and the locals. On a sunny day, the outdoor seatings under the tree canopy next to the cricket ground are full of smartly-dressed locals and casually dressed tourists sipping their coffee and other beverages while admiring the beautiful surroundings of this exceptional town. 

Corfu Revisited (Part 4): Benitses

My first visit to the coastal village of Benitses was way back in 2005, during my first visit to the island of Corfu. As the hotel I stayed at was located outside of the village of Benitses, I became kind of familiar with this place after a few days, as the regular municipal bus pass by this village on its way to and from Corfu Town.

For some unknown reasons, I did not take my camera with me during my first visit to Corfu, and my impression of Benitses was a little seaside village with a small town square, a small church, with plenty of cafes, restaurants, and beautiful seaviews, and a lot of English tourists. It was not until much later that I realised Benitses is actually a popular resort on Corfu favoured by the British holidaymakers.

First Visit to Bulgaria (Part 2): The Old Town of Nessebar

As the trip to Bulgaria was a last-minute decision, I hurried to the bookstore in town as soon as the itinerary has been confirmed to find some information about where to visit, what to see and how to do along the Black Sea coast of Bulgaria. As the stretch of coast between Varna and Burgas is a fairly popular holiday destination for the Germans (the former East Germans had been going to Bulgaria's Black Sea coast for holidays since the 1960s, as it was one of the very few foreign destinations that the citizens of the former communist state were allowed to visit), quite a few guidebooks about Bulgaria and its Black Sea coast are available in the German language.

After some cursory readings, I came across a town by the name of Nessebar, just a short journey by bus away from the hotel and casino strip known as the Sunny Beach, which, according to the authors of the guidebook, is worth a visit. The old town of Nessebar, located on an isthmus northeast off the coast of Burgas and connected to the mainland by a causeway, is an UNESCO World Heritage Site well-known for its historical monuments, medieval churches, Byzantine ruins, as well as the presence of large numbers of Black Sea style architectures unique to this part of Bulgaria.

Hasan Pasha Inn, Diyarbakir: Breakfast at Diyarbakir

A few years ago, while watching Turkish TV with a friend, I saw the image of some very beautiful medieval buildings made of black-and-white stones. I asked my friend in which city of Turkey the buildings are located, and the reply is 'Diyarbakir'. 'What? Diyarbakir is so nice? I must go there!!' I exclaimed in excitement, as those beautiful images are certainly not something one comes to associate with that of a city which, unfortunately, has often been labelled as the hotbed of terrorism by misleading news reports in Turkey's mainstream media. And that was my first encounter with Diyarbakir, the medieval city on the Tigris with impressive basalt stone city walls and a long, turbulent history.

It turns out that the beautiful black-and-white medieval building I saw on TV is the Hasan Pasha Inn in the old city centre of Diyarbakir, a very well-preserved caravansaray built by a local Kurdish feudal overlord. Nowadays the entire building is home to numerous cafes and breakfast bistros, where locals gather to have a lengthy breakfast with friends and family members in a leisurely pace when the sun is shining.

First Visit to Bulgaria (Part One): The Botanical Garden of Balchik

Bulgaria has long been on my list of 'must-see' destinations, but I did not manage to visit this country until 2011 (!), when I saw this irresistable last-minute offer for flight+hotel from a certain Swiss airport to Burgas for less than the price of a Furla handbag (!), so I decided the time is right and off I go ...

Once you are in Burgas or nearby Nesebar, it is fairly easy to find a tour agency that can book you on a day-trip from your hotel to Varna and Balchik. The Botanical Garden of Balchik, with its extensive cactus collection and beautiful landscaped garden, is the top attraction of this pretty little seaside town.

Mozart at Aspendos: Die Entführung aus dem Serail in Turkey

I have always wanted to attend an opera performance at the Aspendos International Festival, which takes place every year in the ancient Roman ampitheatre of Aspendos near Antalya in the summer. For two weeks from mid-June to early July, the Turkish State Opera and Ballet organizes a series of opera, ballet and other music performances in the beautiful Aspendos ampitheatre, sometimes even featuring world-renown philharmonic orchestras such as the Wiener Philharmoniker. Programmes change from year to year, and further information can be obtained from Turkish State Opera and Ballets' (Devlet Opera ve Balesi) official website www.dobgm.gov.tr

The New High Speed Train in Turkey: From Ankara to Konya in One and a Half Hour

To travel by train in Turkey was sometimes a pain in the ass. Because of the winding route and the outdated railtracks, the speed of the train often could not exceed 60km/h, which means it would take more than twice the time required by bus to travel from Sivas to Ankara. A few years ago, a series of fatal rail accidents tarnished the already shaky reputation of Turkey's state-owned railways even further. A while ago, when I decided to take an overnight sleeper train when travelling from Ankara to Adana, all friends who heard about that shook their head in disbelief, as most Turks consider travelling by train far too slow and inefficient than going by bus or by car. To make it more complicated, in the last few years many sections of the Turkish rail systems were closed due to rail upgrading works, which makes rail travel even more inconvenient and unappealing to the general public. Granted, train fares in Turkey are much cheaper than bus fares, but given the amount of time required and the frequent delay, unless one has a lot of free time on hand and does not need to be in a particular place at a particular time, it is better to go by bus or air.

Well aware of the fact that the Turkish rail system is seriously out of date and under-invested, the Turkish government approved an ambitious scheme to connect virtually all important cities in Turkey with modern high-speed rail networks. The first high-speed line to be built is the Istanbul-Eskisehir-Ankara line, but for whatever reasons, the construction of the line takes ages and is still going on at the time of writing (January 2012). Hence only the high-speed section between Ankara and Eskisehir has entered into full-time service, operated by real high speed trains. Istanbul-bound passengers have to get off the high speed train in Eskisehir and change onto conventional trains in order to continue their journey to Istanbul.

Churches of Diyarbakir:Surp Giragos Armenian Orthodox Church

The Surp Giragos Armenian Orthodox Church in Diyarbakir is a remarkable building with a turbulent past.  Built in the late 14th century, the church was the only Armenian church in the world to have seven altars. The building was used by the Germans as their military headquarters in Diyarbakir during the First World War. In the aftermath of the deportation of most of Diyarbakir's Armenian residents, the church property was seized by the state and became a storage warehouse of various state enterprise.