North Aegean, Turkey

We crossed into Turkey from Greece. Visas are available at the border. The driving in Turkey is tricky, with cowboy drivers, who love overtaking at any time and on poorly maintained roads. There are roadworks everywhere and in some areas the construction seems to be a permanent state of affairs. The weather is very hot and so often the tar roads have melted, causing a lot of mess and damage to Homer. Diesel is also more expensive than in Europe. Campervans are not very common in Turkey. Campsites, especially those at the beach, cater mainly for working class locals and facilities are generally basic. Turks are very friendly and always happy to try and communicate in English.Service is generally very good and restaurant owners go out of their way to remember your name and make you feel at home. Being South African is a bit unique and Neil's long hair and bracelets make us easily distinguishable from the hordes of package holiday tourists. From the border we headed south to Gallipolli; a well known WW1 battle ground area, especially for Australians and New Zealanders. We crossed the Straits of Marmara and camped south of Canakkale at the coast. The next day we visited the ancient ruins at Troy; a World Heritage site. Of course, Homer, the original, and author of the Illiad and the Oddessy is majorly featured in the museum here. We headed south along the coast for another night of local camping.We visited the quaint but touristy fishing village of Assos and more ruins, at Bergama. The campsite here had a nice restaurant and also happened to be a popular wedding venue. At the outdoor restaurant, we became sideline guests at a 800 guest wedding. It seems that no-one really knows how many people will turn up at the wedding and we watched as more and more chairs were brought out into the garden as the number of guests swelled. The wedding only got underway about 9.30pm and guests were only given glasses of water and and a small tub of ice cream each to eat. There was a band and a DJ and lots of dancing, and some speeches and fireworks. Everything was videoed and relayed to a large screen and the photographers definitely featured highly.When we went to bed at midnight, the party was still underway.We headed on to Foca, a nice laid back fishing village; not too touristy.Turkey is one of the few countries in the world that grows more than enough food to feed its own population. Rural Turkey seems fairly backward and it looks like farmers work hard to earn a living, but the fresh fruit and vegetables sold in markets are wonderful.

Northern Greece

We docked in Patras and headed for the only campsite. The area had loads of waterside bars and restaurants, packed with locals, which was fun, until the club music went on until 5am. We slept with ear plugs. We headed north along the west coast and once again we were reminded that Lonely Planet sometimes hypes things up a little. We stopped in at Ionninia and visited the mountaintop villages of Zagora as well, but we didn’t think it was worth the detour. We then headed to the mountaintop monasteries of Meteora; a world heritage site, which is amazing and worth the long trip. We did a day trip on the scooter; with a lot of hiking and climbing of stairs as well. We continued west, into Macedonia and once again found the guide book recommendations to be sad, run down places. We did, however, get to have some great Greek food and especially enjoyed all the grilled meats. We tried to hunt down the wine route at Naoussa; the premier Greek wine producing area apparently, but also without much luck. Thus, we hastened our trek to the Turkish border.

Munich, Austria,Slovenia, Italy, Ferry

We arrived in Munich in late June and headed back to the campsite in Thalkirchen. We had fun catching up with everyone; but the weather was rather iffy; with a lot of rain. We stayed about 12 nights. Once on the road, we spent the first day of the trip travelling through the Austrian Alps. We then crossed into Slovenia; a small country which has become popular for mountain adventure holidays like cycling, hiking skiing and canoeing. Bled is a picturesque town on a lake and we did do a lot of walking there. The capital, Lubijana, is small with a neat old town centre. Slovenia has only about 40km of coastline squeezed in between Croatia and Italy, and we visited Piran, an old fishing village. We crossed into Italy, camped outside Trieste and headed slowly along the coast for Venice. Here we boarded a ferry bound for Patras in Greece. The trip takes 28 hours and instead of getting a cabin, we opted for Deck Camping in Homer. This turned out to be a great decision. We got an outside spot, so it was as if we had our own balcony, with a view and cool sea breezes at night. We could make our own meals, drink our own chilled wine and sleep in our own bed. Upstairs, the decks were strewn with rowdy backpackers, sleeping all over the place whilst we had plenty of peace and quiet.

West Coast East Coast

We had a day and a half in San Diego with Stephen and Vivienne. It is a really nice city, with mild weather and a good laid back feel to it. We had a great day of sightseeing, including of course, the pandas at the zoo. Down at the waterfront a seagull (big bird!!) crapped on my head. Good or bad luck? I don’t know but that was a first for me! We flew back to NJ to spend a bit more time with Sandra, Rob and Dylan and had a wonderful BBQ with Bob and Jane. All in all, the USA trip was largely about catching up with friends and family; encounters that enrich our travels and confirm for us all that keeping in touch really is worth it.

Vegas Rocks, Baby!

As they say, “What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas” but for the sake of the blog we will have to spill the beans. No, we didn’t get re-married by an Elvis look-alike at the “Chapel of the Bells” and we didn’t win the jackpot on the 5c slots because we don’t like gambling, but we did see a few shows. Three a day for five straight days! Magic! Chris Angel was cool, Penn and Teller whacky, Mac King funny but Copperfield is still the best! We saw magic shows with variety acts and variety shows with magicians. We saw comedy, mind reading, Cirque de Solei, the all-singing all- dancing cabaret girls, lions and tigers too! The best juggler I have ever seen can play the piano with juggling tennis balls; you should check that out on You Tube!
We had enough time to find the best outdoor bar with great live music from noon till two in the morning, oh-so-skilled bar tenders and plenty of tipsy or crazy customers to keep us entertained for hours! Tequila became my drink of choice!! We still had time for a few late evenings of “duelling pianos” – the guys in NY- NY are the best – and a few lunches at celebrity chef restaurants – the Venetian has a few good spots! Vegas is just so much fun! And the Strip – there are a few new casinos since our last visit – like the Cosmopolitan or the Aria – but they are rather boring – classy but boring and lacking zing - like a Singapore shopping mall on Orchard Road. The Over- the- Top themed places like NY-NY, the Luxor or the Venetian are way better and the old style places like the Flamingo or Harrah’s have more atmosphere. Neil has decided that next time we get to Vegas, he wants to stay for two weeks; I don’t think my liver is up to it!

National Parks

We headed to Yosemite, that great national park, and I have to say, the scenery is breath-taking, but oh my, the crowds are not! No getting away from it all in the wilderness here. Neil says he will never complain about the other cars in Kruger Park, ever again! We stayed overnight in a local motel. We did get very used to the motel chains, with their free Wi-Fi and free ice and flat screen TVs, in even the most basic of places. Hampton Inn and La Quinta Inn are best but can be pricier sometimes for no apparent reason. Motel 6 and Super 8 are ok and Econolodge is the last resort!
Back to nature now, we headed to Death Valley. It has a stark beauty, too and far fewer visitors. And it was HOT! The lowest point is 68m below sea level and our car thermometer read 113degrees Fahrenheit. We drove through a lot of desert.
After Vegas (see next entry) we also visited the Grand Canyon. It is just one of those things you have to see to believe and no photo can ever capture the sheer scale of it!
We also drove through a lot of desert to get there and a lot more after that too!

Silicon Valley

We spent five days with Stefan and Andrea. They took us into San Fran to the Ferry Market on Saturday, followed by a walk around town and a couple of touristy drinks down near Pier 39. On Sunday we visited wine farms in the Santa Cruz district.
We headed south along the coast one day, spotting sea otters, sea lions, pelicans and gulls. We also went to Google with Stefan one day. Nice job if you can get it and free food too! That place should be nick-named “Revenge of the Nerds”.
We had some great BBQs, drank some good wines and listened to a lot of cool, old music from our youth!

Long Beach to San Fran

We flew across to California from Florida, picked up another rental car and headed straight for Julie in Long Beach for a couple of days. We hung out like locals, walked on the beach, explored all the beaches of Orange County and had a great BBQ on the deck. What a good lifestyle on the Californian Coast!
We, Gail, Neil and Julie, headed north to San Luis Obispo (SLO) via Santa Barbara, which has a great pier and plenty of good shops and restaurants. We visited the Mission, one of many set up all along the Californian Coast by Spanish Missionaries, notably the peripatetic Padre Serra. Go on, look up the meaning of peripatetic; we had to!
We got to SLO and headed out to the weekly night market for dinner. We met up with George and Glenda, newly settled here from SA.
By the next morning, our travel group had grown again, Stefan and Andrea having caught the train down to SLO. We set off for a day of wine tasting in Paso Robles and celebrated Julie’s birthday with lunch in town.
Then it was the longish drive up to San Francisco.

The Florida Keys

We headed on down from Orlando to the Keys – a first for us! The Upper Keys were rather boring and the towns were pretty run down looking really. We did some good diving at Key Largo and stayed in a dump of a local resort called Sunset Cove. The fresh fish and key lime pie at Mrs. Macs were good though. We arrived a day early in Key West and just as well, because it is so much nicer than anything further up. The atmosphere is laid back and the night life and restaurants are really good. Gary took us to some local watering holes and we decided that we will have to spend more time next time just sailing, fishing, diving and taking advantage of all the Happy Hours.