I seem to be in a desatty mood at the moment. Please bear with me...


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As some of you noticed, I deleted my journal last week. And then I undeleted it, because let's face it, life gets pretty dreary without LJ, doesn't it?

( About my little disappearing act... )

Behold... the last instalment of my Turkey Saga. This will be my last text entry for a while; from now on I'll be focussing on photos again.

Most thrilling moment: On our way back from Balık Gölü to Doğubeyazıt, our taxi was attacked not only by enormous Kangal dogs, but also, very excitingly, by a falcon, which shot up from the depths of the ( Read more... )

Yep, you've guessed it -- more Turkey Superlatives. This is the part where it gets exciting!

Nastiest beastie we came across: A live scorpion we were shown by a little boy in Mardin, who proudly announced it hailed from Nusaybin, a nearby town. This didn't mean much to me until I read Tim Mackintosh-Smith's ferociously entertaining Travels with a ( Read more... )

Turkey Superlatives, continued...

Most beautiful building we visited: A toss-up between the eighteenth-century Ismail Pasha Palace in Doğubeyazıt (you were right about that one, mitzimaybe!) and the thirteenth-century Great Mosque in Divriği, both monochrome yellowish buildings with elaborate carvings instead of the more common coloured tiles. As much as I ( Read more... )

Turkey Superlatives, part deux:

Greatest general disappointment: The fact that so many places we wanted to visit were closed for renovation, right in the middle of the tourist season. In itself, this is something I'm fairly used to. Two years ago, I extended my holiday in Egypt by four days in order to visit some of Cairo's most beautiful museums ( Read more... )

And now for the first of the "Turkey Superlatives"... This probably won't be the most exciting instalment, but don't worry, I have juicy stories coming up!

Greatest highlight: There were a number of places I really liked, but if I had to pick one, it would probably be Ani, a ruined city on the far eastern edge of the country which could rival ( Read more... )

I've given the matter some thought, here's what I'll be doing with this journal in the next few weeks. For the next week or so I'll be posting small parts of my Turkey travelogue. I was originally going to post the whole thing in one or two instalments, but on second thoughts, it seems better to divide it into bite-size chunks. I'll try to add a ( Read more... )

In which your intrepid reporter learns all about thistles, nearly dislocates her elbow and falls in love with a daring kestrel.

( Story and photos here )