Aleppo - Oldest inhabited city in the world?

Aleppo is together with Damascus supposed to be the oldest inhabited city in the world - that's some reputation. Today it's got a population of around 4 million and is a bustling polluted place.

As I mentioned before I met some other westerners at the border when we had to get off the bus to buy over visas. I met Lisanne, a Dutch archaeology student and Renaud, a French political science student. I had no hostel booked, but had an address of a place that I found on the web. There weren't very many hostels popping up in the searchengine when I entered Aleppo! So we hung around together and stayed in the same hostel.

The souk in Aleppo is much more relaxed than the crazy grand bazaar in Istanbul. You aren't hasseled at all (only in a nice way) and so you can look around in peace. Two very funny locals invited us into their shop to view the silver jewellery that they make. They said they were brothers and they made loads of jokes about where we came from - Ireland, France and Holland and slagged each other off. As we weren't in the market for jewellery we said we were looking for a restaurant, which we were and left to find one.

We found a place overlooking the main mosque that was mentioned in a guidebook. It got a good review in the guidebook and it's well deserved. It was very nice, food was really good and the staff were very friendly. They even had cheap sheesha pipes, must come back later.

On my travels - Aleppo (Syria)

After a day looking around the weird and wonderful Göreme in Capadocia I took a bus to Aleppo in Syria. It wasn't all plain sailing however! I took a night bus expecting to get a bit of sleep on the route, didn't really happen though. The bus made a lot of stops along the way and I had to change buses in some places. Of course the guy who sold me the ticket didn't mention anything about that!
The journey through Turkey was amazing, we seemed to be going through mountain after mountain. You can see some of the views that I saw along the way in these photos. I got to the bus station at Antakya in Turkey early in the morning and had to wait there for a few hours before the Aleppo bus left. I noticed a few other 'westerners' that looked like they would be taking the same bus, but didn't engage with them. The bus left on time and we got to the Turkey - Syria border after a while. Had to get off and get a stamp in the passport - no problem. Arrived at the Syria border control office and I can only describe what happened as SURREAL.

I had no visa to enter Syria, but had read somewhere that I shouldn't have any problems getting in. We (me and the other foreigners) were brought into the office of a big fat general who was eating his breakfast. He asked us where we came from, filled out some form and stamped it. We then went to a counter outside where they stamped the form and we were asked for money for the visa. I was ripped off, as they were looking for $ US dollars which I didn't have. I paid in € Euros and got hardly anything back in the change. Then we went back to the generals' office and money changed hands, but in such a comic way to seem as if I taking part in an amateur play or I was watching a really bad movie being played out. Got to the hostel which was near where the bus let us off and had to have a shower to wash away the dust of travel.

First impressions of Syria - it's not as developed as Turkey. Yes they have motorways in Syria, but the houses along the road look like shacks and it seems to be a poorer country. Aleppo seems to be a big, busy city, a bit dirty and polluted. But I like the place, it's got something about it.

On my travels - Göreme (Cappadocia)

I took a 5 hour bus journey from Ankara to Göreme in the Cappadocia region of Turkey on 14 July 2009. WOW what a journey, first of all the bus was really modern and super comfortable and there was a steward on board who was offering us free water, coca cola, tea or coffee every few hours. What good service, I wasn't expecting that.

The journey was through lovely countryside with lots of hills along the way. The road was like a motorway quality all the way from Ankara to Cappadocia and there was a service station every few kilometres. Turkey seems to have invested heavily in its infrastructure, or got someone else to invest in it for her. Either way, it seems to have worked and the quality of road network would put other countries to shame.

I'd heard something about Cappadocia before and had seen pictures of it, so that's why I decided to stop there. It's a real big tourist destination in Turkey. It's pretty impressive really they have ancient underground cities, villages, houses and churches built in 'caves'. It even featured in a Star Wars film. I stayed in a 'cave hostel' in the small tourist town of Göreme and visited the Open Air Museum which is a collection of monasteries, nunneries and churches made out of 'caves'. Impressive.

On my travels - Istanbul, Ankara

At 22.00 on 12 June 2009 I took a train from Hyderpasa train station in Istanbul to Ankara, the capital of Turkey. It was a very modern train and it was split into compartments of 4 beds. I shared it with three Turks. One passenger wanted to make conversation with me, but couldn't really speak English. I told him I was Irish and he said something about an Irish movie he saw that lasted 3 hours. He made loads of gestures as if to say it was a war movie he saw. Don't know, maybe Michael Collins or something like that? Anyway the train ticket only cost 32.50 Turkish Lira, which is about €15.00, but I shouldn't really have bothered. The city was a disappointment. WHY??

The city has a new (very new!) part and an old part (very old!). The new part consists of lots of modern (1950's & 60's) straight streets and ugly buildings. The old part includes the citadel and lots of really shabby houses beside it. This area around the citadel is depressingly sad, very poor, but having said that, when I was there a stage was set up for some community event or other and some of the local kids were singing their hearts out - a bit of hope in a sad place.

It's a big city of about 4 million people, but I didn't find anything there that I liked. It had history, sure but nothing massive and significant to say WOW, look at this, it's unique, or it's so amazing etc,. Maybe it's because I had come from Istanbul where you've got lots of history and it's pretty unique in its own right that I found Ankara disappointing?

I went to the central bus station (AŞTİ) and asked about buses to Syria, but decided against it. Eventually I decided I'd go to Capadocia...

Blue Mosque - Istanbul

The Blue Mosque is so named because of the blue tiles that decorate its walls. The mosque was built in the early 1600's and still functions as a mosque to this day.

It's absolutely massive inside (just look at the size of the pillar in the photo) and it's in great condition for a 400 year old building. It is in the Sultanahmet area of the city and so it is close to all the major tourist sites including the Basilica Cistern, the Hippodrome, the Hagia Sofia museum and the Topkapi Palace.

Bosphoros - Istanbul

This clip shows a typical scene around the Eminönü waterfront in Istanbul. You can see the Bosphoros which separates Europe and Asia. Lots of ferries travel across from one side to the other and it only costs 1.5 Lira, about € 0.70 - great value. It's a great trip as you get to see Istanbul from a different perspective and relax at the same time.

Grand Bazaar - Istanbul

Here's a few photos of the Grand Bazaar in Istanbul. This place is MASSIVE and very easy to get lost in it, trust me I know.



Every visitor to Istanbul should see it I think, just to get a glimpse of the architecture of the place but also to see the different goods on sale there and to experience the atmosphere of the bazaar where the sellers engage in friendly banter to try to get your attention to buy something. Having said that though it is a tourist trap, you won't see many locals shopping there.

Istanbul

I had been to Istanbul before so I knew what to expect from my visit this time. When I went there in 2005, I was a little ignorant and had absolutely no idea what to expect. Sure I had some preconceptions of what it would be like but in the end I was pleasantly surprised by what I found in Istanbul.

It's a massive city of I don't know, different figures are bandied about; some say 15 million people, some say more. It's a great vibrant city, it's really busy all the time, it's got a nice buzz to it, but it also has a homely feel to it if you venture outside of the touristy areas. There's always lots of people milling around all over the place. Near the Grand Bazaar and in other places in the city, you'll see the men and boys too carrying deliveries on a cart or on their head.

I stayed in the same hostel in the Sultanhamet area that I stayed in in 2005 so that I wouldn't have to waste any time finding me bearings. I only stayed in Istanbul for 3 days before moving on to Ankara, but I got to see lots. Next post will show some photos of what I saw.

On my travels - Sofia, Istanbul

According to my timetable I would have to change trains in Sofia and I would also have time to get some food. Little did I know that Bulgaria is one hour ahead of Serbia and that meant that I was in trouble!!

I ran around the station trying to find out what I could do, because I had missed the train to Istanbul. I don't speak Bulgarian, and they didn't seem to speak much English - so I felt pretty helpless. A taxi driver came up to me and said "I know what happened, you missed your train". How could he have known, I thought. "Happens all the time", he said.

He said that he could drive me to the next station and I would be able to catch the train there - so that my travel plans wouldn't be disrupted. This man is crazy I thought, how would it be possible to drive faster than a train. Anyhow he did it and I caught the train in Plovdiv, Bulgaria's second city. A bit of a crazy driver, he was speeding right up behind other cars so that he could overtake and white lines, what are they for, he just made his own lanes in the road. The cost, €50. Not too bad I thought, as it was a fair distance between the two cities and after seeing the train station I was glad I didn't have to stay in Sofia. A real communist inspired building, it had an darkly lit, ugly, dodgy underground area full of little tiny little 'shops' and lots of dodgy looking people.

I boarded the Istanbul bound train pretty relieved and settled in to my 'bed' for the night. Passed through border control early in the morning and had to get off the train to buy my visa to enter Turkey - €15. Arrived in Istanbul about 1 or two hours late and found the hostel that I stayed in last time, had a little sleep - was knackered.

On my travels - Belgrade, Sofia

So, I left Budapest on this train at 23.00 and passed through the border with Serbia at about 02.00 - it seemed to take a very long time to sort things out, so was stopped there for ages.

It started to get bright between 04.00 and 04.30 and I couldn't really sleep because of the light and it was starting to get pretty warm too.

I got to Belgrade at 07.00 and had to change trains there. The thing I boarded was ancient and in pretty bad shape. The train journey through Serbia was slow but that meant that I got to see lots.

WHAT DID I SEE?

The country seems to have lots of silos - real big concrete yokes. They seem to be all over the place too. It looked like they have lots of heavy industry also - I mean massive big compounds with big factories and chimney stacks and all.

Small boxy cars seem to be the order of the day in the countryside. Probably the only you can buy - if you can buy that is.

The train stopped at lots of stations and whenever the train passed even the tiniest station along the line, the station master (I suppose) was outside their station standing to attention in their uniform to welcome the train.
Serbia seems to be a mountainous country and that's why we passed through lots and lots of tunnels - was a little SCARY at times, because the lights were not working - so when you enter a tunnel the compartment is pitch black!

The train passed through the border with Bulgaria (who's in the EU) and stopped for the passport check. Next stop Sofia, Bulgaria.

On my travels - Budapest

I went on a bit of a mad crazy journey this summer. I started off by flying from Dublin to Budapest and eventually ended up in Damascus in Syria. I'll be writing about this journey over the next few days and will include a few photos and short videos - so that it's not toooooo boring.

Ok - so for starters, I had been really busy leading up to the journey (what with studying for final year university exams, the actual exams themselves and then finishing off my French dissertation). You get the picture - I was a little exhausted even before the journey.

Anyway I flew from Dublin, Ireland to Budapest, Hungary on 8th of June 2009. I went straight from the airport to the city center and to the train station (Keleti pályaudvar). Bought a return ticket to Istanbul costing about € 130.00, not bad considering the enormous distance. Don't know how long it is, but it's long.

Whatever happened to Morph?

would you look at that - Morph, now there's a blast from the past. The English artist and TV show host Tony Hart (1925 - 2009) presented a few different programmes on TV from the 50's up until the 90's and Morph and his mates frequently appeared on his shows.

Morph is a plasticine stop-motion character who has entertained kids from the 70's right up until today. I remember watching it as a youngster and was really surprised to find it on youtube.

Introduction to my blog

OK, here's the story - I'm going to keep this blog as simple as possible. It's in all our interests really!!

I decided to start a blog so that I wouldn't have to store all my photos and short videos on my computer. Cheeky, ha?

So there you have it - I'm not really sure what I'm going to write about or what pictures or videos I'm going to show you. Let's just say it will be entertaining and maybe even educational - well "you never know" (as they say in Co. Clare).

Voyage Voyage

This is a 1986 youtube video of the song Voyage Voyage written by Jean-Michel Rivat and performed by Desireless.

I heard it on the radio recently and somehow recognised it. Could it be that I remember it from my youth? I don't know, I would have been 9 years of age, maybe.