Istanbul Tour "Im Australias Next Top Model"

21/04/09

1445 (local time)

Day 1 of Tour

Today the tour started. With the sick as girls from Australia (they told me to say that) Karina and Alana. We left our Penthouse in Kusadasi and headed off to Ephesus to have a look at all the ruins there. We saw Theatre, Gymnasiums, the baths and the library. I really couldn’t understand what our tour guide was saying, and there wasn’t enough times to read the boards to see what I was looking at. So this didn’t mean as much to me as the Greek history that I saw the other week. What did impress me was the size of the library and that there was also a brothel just opposite it. The guide told us a story that she said was a bit of a joke among tour guides, she said “Because the library and the brothel was so close together, the men built secret tunnels underground, so that when the men said that they were going to the ‘library’ in fact they were secretly going to the brothel” the ground found this pretty amusing.

After we left Ephesus, we went on a bit of a shopping trip, and we had a look at the diamond/jewelry shop. Because there were only 2 dudes on the bus, we were kinda forced to go. So we pretty just wander around, getting free apple tea, I asked one of the workers (who ended up being the owner) whats the most expensive ring in the shop. He brought me to a counter, opened it and pulled out a massive rock. He said it cost around 13,000euro! That’s pretty huge! I offered him 20 Lira, I didn’t really go down to well… We left after that.

From then, we drove a further 15 minutes down the road, where we arrived at a leather factory. This was pretty cool, we walked in, into this darkly lit room, where we were told to sit down. All of a sudden some cheesy 80’s groove music chimes in, and the room is lit up by several lights. Pretty slick looking dudes are strutting their stuff down the cat walk, in some smart looking leather jackets. Then following the guys the girls came down, these girls kinda… they made my day.

(I might just add here, I had all the girls sussed out by the first walk, there were 2 blondes that were sisters, there was a hot one with amazing eyes, and a not so hot one she was the ugly one of the sisters. There was also a brunette, I just thought I would throw that in.)

They were doing their thing coming down the catwalk, they would turn look at me and wink. I don’t blame them for doing that, because I am ridiculously attractive. Anyway, they did this a few times, and then the brunette took my hand (she really wasn’t that hot, but wouldn’t kick her outta bed if she farted) and also grab Alana and took us into the back room, where they took off my… jacket and gave me a pretty disgraceful black leather jacket. The dude gave Alana some dead ugly red coat thing with fluff, and they headed off first down the cat walk. I followed the brunette, totally strutting my stuff. We then did the turn and headed back. Into the back room, I then took Alana’s arm, and we headed down the cat walk. We did the spin, and did our ‘Thi-ang’ We then bowed to the audience of 6 people.

After the cat walk finished the owner offered me a job, which was pretty cool, and we had a look through his shop. We hung around for 20 minutes and then hopped on the bus and had lunch.

After lunch we then went to the carpet making factory. Look I know that nobody could even imagine me sitting through, some bloke talk about carpet, but I was genuinely interested. I even helped a lady make some carpet. I firstly tried to make carpet using cotton, and then once I had done a few stitches, I was upgraded to the silk carpet, that was totally different the threads were so small, I couldn’t even select a thread to use. Anyway, we all headed home back to the penthouse; we were all wasted after our epic adventure.

We had a good night sleep this day!!!

The Turkey Tour!

Hey guys!
Ive been pretty slack on the writing this week... so because pictures tell 1000's words, i thought i would just put photos up for this blog!

Feel Free to comment! Enjoy!

Turkey Turkey Turkey, Oi Oi Oi!

20/04/09
2244 (local time)
CRIKEY!!!!
I cant believe I have actually made it! What I have done is a feat that only the greatest man could probably do. It feels like the final leg of the Amazing Race (epic show) where, every place I go, it’s a rush and a headache following!

Alright, Let’s Stop, Collaborate and Listen! (ice is back with a brand new edition, something grabs a hold of you tightly… ice ice baby!) I have been on 4 different islands, 2 different countries and in that country (Turkey) about 5 different cities. I have met heaps of new people, which are amazed by Australians. How amazed I hear you ask… well! The dude on the bus that hands you out drinks was asking me only after about 2 hours of knowing each other…’ If I was a chrome dome or an ant eater’, aka If I was circumcised or not. I won’t go into details, but he wanted me to show it to him. Coming to think of this now, I’m not too sure if this was some twisted way to get in my pants, but I did decline the offer.

Don’t worry girls; the Flack Attack is still on the market! (wink wink)

Alright, I’m buzzing at the moment, so I’m going down stairs from my penthouse of a hotel, to have a well deserved beer!!

FIGJAM SIGNING OUT!

Im Dying!!!

GAH!!! its been like a month since i had my last windsurf!!! Im DYING!!!

Not good!

Just thought id throw it in!

Peace

Feels a bit like the Amazing Race!!!

19/04/09
1358 (local time)
What an absolute hectic 48 hours!!! I booked my turkey/ANZAC tour, which starts tomorrow (20th), and after I paid/booked it I realized that there were no ferries to get me across to Kusadasi (Turkey) where my tour begins! So I was properly freaking out because I thought I wouldn’t be able to make it. So the next day (18th) I went back to the travel agent and asked him to do some magic so I can make it over there on the 20th. Well, he did some magic and after sitting on 2 ferries for almost 18 hours, I have made it to Kos, which is a Greek Island about, 25km west of Bodrum, which is about a 3 hour bus ride North of Kusadasi!
If that’s a mouthful, how do you think I feel… Yesterday, the 18th, I have been from Ios to Syros that was about a 5 hour trip, then had a 1.5 hour break, then I got on another ferry and went from Syros all the way back to Athens/Piraeus, then had 4 hours to kill before I got on the 2330 ferry from Athens/Piraeus to Kos, this ferry was an 8 hour one… had a good sleep.
So, now I’m in Kos, on a Sunday, (which is the Greeks Easter) and nothing is open, the streets are dead quite, no one is walking around. But as I sit here a type this, huge bangs are going off, as the family next door let off these super loud firecrackers!
I would love to boost some pictures up of my trip, but every time I find some wireless its terrible and always drops out! So just stay tuned and more photos will be coming up soon!

Chat soon!
Steve

Attempting to Party in Ios!

14/04/09
2058 (local time)
Just got back from a wander around Ios, and I can already see the potential of the place, when its in the prime season. There are pubs and clubs everywhere its awesome. I wandered around for probably 1.5 hours and also played a game of basketball with the local dudes! Pretty awesome stuff, there are teenagers letting off these bomb/fire cracker things and scaring the shit out of everyone! But apparently its normal leading up too Easter.
I’m a little worried about whats going to happen in Easter, and where ill be because appararntly everything gets super expensive. I might still be in Ios, or Naxos or Paros or maybe even Santorini… who knows!
Take it easy!!
Steve

Cheating IOS!

15/4/09
1736 (local time)

Today I bought a ticket to Paros, because I was planning on getting off to travel with some more aussies, but when I found out that this ferry was headed to Ios and Santorini, I was not getting off at Paros, but did the dodgy and stayed on the ferry and got off at Ios. Where I’m currently staying in a cool place with a fridge for 3 nights with only 10 euro a night!!! It’s a bargain. Super stoked with that one. Anyway ill go for a bit of a walk now to try to meet some people!
Peace Steve

Crashing in Mykonos!

13/04/09
1800 (local time)
I will state this now… I am fine and everything is ok : ). Today the girls and I stacked out bikes… quite a funny story actually.
So all day we had been boosting the bikes around the island again, and it was time to get them home, so we were on the final straight till we get home, and we made a deal that we would meet back near the puddle so we can ride in together. So I got to the puddle first and turned around a waited for the girls… I didn’t realize the girls were so close behind me, maybe 100metres, and I don’t think they saw me turn around, they were preoccupied with something else, anyway the girls saw me at the last minute slammed on the breaks and hit me side on at about 15 – 20 km/h. I was thrown off the scooter but quickly got to me feet to make sure everyone was ok. Rikki was ok, but Jen was complaining about her elbow. So we road straight to out room, and strapped up Jen’s arm. The scooter and the quad were looking worse for wear.
Anyway we gave Jen some pain killers and she went to sleep. Rikki was the first person to take the quad back, and there was no dramas, he didn’t even realize that all the screws holding in the body panel of the bike were missing, but we didn’t care. So 20 minutes later it was my turn to take back the scooter, that had a massive big chip taken out of the side of it, the mirror had been like bent around and the dash had come apart. So I took it back and was chatting to the guy and he asked if I had an accident today, I played the innocent card and told him that we were riding around the island all day and we didn’t crash at all. He ended up convincing me that I did have a crash, but it might have not been by me, “maybe someone might have pushed the bike over” never the less we still had to pay to get the bike fixed. He said 36 euro to fix it. I said no way, we have no money and we cant afford that, I said 30 euro then. Which is 10 euro each. We got some money together and went back, I only took 25 because I knew I could get it cheaper, I pleaded my case that this was dinner, and that we would have to starve now etc etc, even though he was as cut as a catfish, he accepted the 25 and left it at that.
Now, Jen was still in a pretty bad way, and was wincing every time she moved it, so we thought we probably should take her to a hospital just to get everything sorted out, she got an x-ray and it confirmed that she had a elbow fracture and a that she has to go back to Athens to have surgery on it and get a pin placed in it. Not cool.

Touring Mykonos!

12/04/09
1840 (local time)
Today we rented some motorbikes, the girls hired a quad bike, whilst I got a scooter to explore the island… took loads of photos and now I am mega tired, but gotta get fired up because we are going out tonight! Woo Hoo.

Boosting to Mykonos!!!

10/04/09
1600 (local time)
Well finally the ferry got in after a long and cold trip. We finally made it, we got off the ferry and saw our person who was going to be taking us back to our hostel/hotel. So we got on the bus, and it was about a 15 minute bus ride to the hostel that was located on Paradise Beach. It was an awesome little bus ride going through the mountains and looking at the awesome view. I had to wait 30 minutes until they got my room ready. The finally had it finished, I walk into my room for 15 euro a night and its not really a room, more of a box. The best way to describe it would be to say “I am staying in a door-bed room, where there was about 1metre each way of room that I can dump my bags! It was pretty average to say the least. Anyway so I wasn’t going to stay in this for more than one night, so I was chatting to the Aussie girls, and they were telling me how shit their room is as well and how they wanted to move out, and upgrade to something bigger and better. So I got chatting with the ‘owner’ of the resort and pleaded my case, he said that he would sleep on it and get back to me in the morning. So off I went to sleep in this shitty box that I was staying in.
The morning I woke to a pretty overcast day, but not to worry I had plans. We again chatted to the ‘owner’ of the place, and he said that the 3 of us could get a 3 bedded room, with a fridge! (epic selling point for me) and a private shower and bathroom… this is proper paradise, for only 15euro a night each… so I would be paying the same, and the girls would be having to pay 4euro each to stay in this ‘penthouse’. I was definitely happy with this deal.
I slept a happy man that night.

The Faulty Alarm!

10/04/09
1230 (local time)
I’m now sitting on the ferry on my way to Mykonos, after getting up at 6am in the morning to get on the ferry at 7am… I was meant to wake up at 530 to pack everything and have a shower, but my alarm wasn’t set right, so I was woken up by the girls at the door saying are you ready to go. So I slammed on some clothes, smashed everything in my bag, and off we went. So even though my stomach is eating itself because all ive been eating is shitty take away food, im pretty stoked to be doing something “cool”
PS: I’m going to ANZAC Day :)
Peace Steve

Off to Mykonos!

08/04/09
1800 (local time)
Had a pretty average day today, after a bit of a drinking sesh, I woke up feeling mega seedy, and knew if I was going to stay in Athens for 20 days I was going to have to find a job, so I asked the hostel people, but they didn’t want to take me on, because I wasn’t going to be there for long enough. So I asked where do you think I would be able to work, I was directed down to the docks, so I hopped on the metro, and made my way down there asking all the ferry crew if they needed an extra deck hand, they all told me I needed my marine passport which I didn’t have, so that was a no go. I then went over to another hostel run by Aussies, called Athens Hostels to see if they had any work for me either. They also told me that I couldn’t work because I didn’t have a Greek Working Visa (bit of a worry). But I was directed over the Athens Studios, which is another part of Athens Backpackers (again run by Aussies). Where I met a guy called Eddy. He was a bit of a character, but could have found me work in a pub if I was keen. I thought about this idea as I was walking home.
When I got back to the hostel, I met some of the girls that I was drinking with the other night, as I was chatting to them, a couple of Aussie girls joined in the conversation, anyway… one thing led to another and I was booking my accommodation and a ferry for Mykonos to hang out with these girls. So the day wasn’t completely a fail!
So im not set to go to Mykonos on the 10th to party, find work at a bar and wait until Anzac day, where I think the Aussie girls have a spare ticket for a bit of a tour of Turkey and the Anzac day… should be awesome.

The Great Wall of Athens!

07/04/09

1600 (local time)

Another pretty huge day, the people that we met last night, invited us out again today, to do a bit more touristy things, so we visited Keramikos. Keramikos is a little cemetery in downtown Athens, just outside of the Flea Markets. It’s a pretty cool looking place, but its also a bit of a mess with sandstone blocks everywhere, but there are a few little turtles or tortoise’s running around eating the flowers, a pretty cool site to see. Around some of Keramikos is this wall, called Themistoclean Wall, this wall travelled 6.5 kilometres around Athens, to protect its people, this wall was built in 479BC and the biggest (still standing) part of this wall is located in Keramikos.

The Marathon!

06-04-09
1100 (local time)
Yesterday (05-04-09), I also went of a bit of a trek, just by myself this time. With the Acropolis pass you are entitled to view all different types of tourist attractions, so today, I went back up near the Acropolis, but instead of going in, instead I walked around the outside of it, and just looked at the size of the walls. It was kinda cool, because I was actually looking up at the wall, that protected the people of Athens, when under attack. I took loads of photos, whilst walking around I found another one of the many theatres of Athens, back in the day when they were used they had reserved seats for the kings and peasants, its pretty cool, looking at where the king used to sit.
After that, I then visited the Zeus Olympiad, which I thought was the coolest thing of the whole trip, it apparently took over 700 years to build. There are 15 huge columns that are 17metres high, unfortunately one is lying on the ground, due to a huge gale that hit the town in 1852. Leading into the Zeus Olympiad you can walk under a huge “gate” that is called Hadrian’s Arch, it was intended to be used as a city gate marking, of the boarder of the roman cities. So on one side of the gate on the North Western Side, it reads “This is Athens, the ancient city of Theseus” and on the other side it reads “This is the city of Hadrian, and not of Theseus”.
After I’d visited the Zeus Olympiad, I was stuff and I we getting a blister from walking so much, so I attempted to walk home, but due to my poor lack of direction, I ended up in, what I think… was Athens first funeral, it as pretty amazing looking at all the graves, but in the end, it just got depressing. So I attempted to walk home, and eventually found my way home and just crashed!!!
That night, I was invited out with the Brazilians to a dinner with some of their friends, we ended up getting home at 4am in the morning and I was totally out of petrol. Had a good sleep though.

The Acropolis!

04/04/09 1600 (local time)

What a huge day!!! I did the whole touristy thing with the Brazillians! We went up to see the Acropolis, which was amazing just realizing that this was created thousands and thousands years ago, and its still going strong!

We took loads of photos, and since the Acropolis is located on top of a “mountain” you have this amazing view of the city of Athens. Because all you see is the cream buildings, and although on top the view of Athens looks so peaceful and calm, you know down below it is hectic!

The Acropolis is the most important ancient monument in the Western World. The Acropolis served as a place of fortress and place of worship. What makes it so amazing, is that the city has ultimately been built around the Acropolis. It is properly amazing!!

The Acropolis from ground level! It just looks over the city!

One of the many theaters.

On the way to the Acropolis, on the right its the Temple of Athena Nike!

A view of the gate going into the Acropolis!

TOURIST!!! With the Parthenon

The Parthenon!

TOURIST! Just chilling Aussie Style!

A really really good looking tourist! Standing infront of the Parthenon

The Olympian Zeus! (visited tomorrow)

Not sure what this is, but looks pretty awesome!

On a HUGE rock, overlooking the City of Athens!

The Brazilians!!!

The Brazillian!

04/04/2009
1431 (local time)
Woo Hoo! Having a pretty cool time, just wandering around Athens with 13.70 Euro in my pocket, I’ve gone down heaps of little ally ways, seen so many different people. Its pretty awesome being totally out of your element, and just walking around checking everything out. The main things im looking out for, are joints with cheap food! Cos im almost ALWAYS hungry, and when im hungry I get grumpy!

The two dudes I spoke about earlier that are on a huge cycling tour, is this guy from Brazil, who is cycling from Brazil for 3 years. He left Brazil on the 8/8/08 and wants to be back in Brazil on the 8/8/11. Its so interesting listening to what he says, about all the different places he has visited, check out his website to see what its all about http://www.homemlivre.com. Its funny cause I thought I was away for a long time. So with him, his dad has joined him for a bit, and his sister has also come down for a bit.

I just did my first bit of shopping in a market super close to the hostel, I bought 1 kilo of Apples for 69 cents (euro) and 1 kilo of bananas for 0.99 cents (euro) apparently it’s a ok price, I really have no idea.

The family is going to go tour around Athens later, and I have just scored my invite to go… not too sure if I’m completely welcome or they wanted me to go, but the sister invited me so I’m happy.

With the average internet that I have here, I have been looking up how to get to Gallipoli, there is not much on the net, so I fired a email to Steveros (Leanne Skaf’s friend) so I’m waiting a reply from him.

EB (Tony) if ya read this, drop me an email of how and what time you got there. Cheers Mate!
Not much else to report other than, the father of the Bikie Crew I’m staying with snores louder than Tony… which means it sounds like a train is coming through the room every 5 seconds.
Counting down the days till I go to Vassiliki though, I’m itching to go out for a sail.

Peace Dudes! Steve