This week’s challenge asks “Have you traveled anywhere exciting lately? ”
I love travelling.
If you look at my last two posts you will see I’ve recently visited Cappadocia in Turkey.
Khato wandering in Cappadocia
Other responses to the challenge can be seen here: Wanderlust
More about our travels in Cappadocia can be seen here: Cappadocia
The suggestion of this week’s challenge is: “Earth Day is near! This week, let’s celebrate this planet on which we live.”
Other interpretations of this challenge can be seen by clicking on this link: Earth
strange rock formations in Cappadocia
Topps Chewing Gum, Inc started inserting trading cards into bubble gum packs in 1950, cards related to sports like baseball, football and TV characters. My granddaughter likes chewing gum and here, there is a gum called “TURBO” which comes with a wrapper insert of different types of car.
My research suggests “Turbo” was originally manufactured in Turkey (late eighties to 2007) but more recently in Poland (from 2015). The quality of the insert is not great and sometimes they have been miss cut, so the car name and picture do not correspond… but I like collecting car related stuff. (I have an entire blog devoted to my collection and collecting of diecast model cars… My diecast blog (click here) )
This has been cut wrong, the picture is of a Volvo not a Lamborghini
Ana has one piece of gum on the way to school each day, if the car is something like a Jaguar or a Lotus, I get a little excited. Ana just enjoys the gum.
Ana just enjoys the gum
2014 is only the second year of my life, when I didn’t spend any time in England (the first was 1998, the worst year of my life, which I spent entirely in Wales).
We only left Georgia once in 2014, way back in January, to visit Ephesus. If you like ruined cities, Ephesus is a must. We spent a week in the area.
In 2014, I finished teaching at the French School and started working at Opiza school, time will tell if this was a wise decision. I also teach private individuals.
This is me teaching.
2014 wasn’t a particularly exceptional year. I turned 50 (as I grow older the years seem to pass more quickly). In the late Summer we visited Qobuleti on the Black Sea coast, for a beach holiday…if it rains in Qobuleti there isn’t much to do (luckily it only rained on one day of our stay).
When it rains in Kobuleti options are severly limited.
We have a new grandchild, Lazare, born on 1st August. Our oldest grandchild, Ana, started school in September, she still likes it (wonder how long that will last).
Ana ready for school
As the time I spent on the metro increased, so did my reading. 29 books read in 2013 and 47 books read in 2014. Highlights included “Cathedral of the Sea” by Ildefonso Falcones, Istanbul by Orhan Pamuk and “Dumb Witness” by Agatha Christie.
I took thousands of photos, sharing some on this blog and many more on Facebook.
I added around 240 model cars to my diecast collection and wrote about this in my diecast blog.
Three Corgi Cars from my collection.
My Georgian Language skills made some slow progress, but I really need to resolve once again to learn Georgian seriously and consistently.
I posted 266 posts to this blog in 2014, regularly rising to the Weekly Photo Challenge, reviewing the books I have read, sharing my thoughts on the life of a foreigner in Tbilisi and generally writing about what interested me and I hope may have interested you, too.
I wish you all a Happy New year 2015.
Santas cycling.
Ataturk, Turkish flags and a minaret in the far background, typical images of Turkey. If you have been following my blog, you may have noticed a week of inactivity, I had a week’s break in Turkey. I love Turkey, I have now been there 7 times and there is still plenty that I haven’t seen.
Now living in Georgia, it is easy to visit Turkey, as we are neighbours. I have made seven trips out of Georgia with my Georgian wife, three times to UK, once to France and now three times to Turkey.
This time we visited Selçuk, Ephesus and Kuşadası on the Aegean Coast. The journey for us was long, 24 hours each way. On a tight budget, we had opted to take a bus overland from Tbilisi to Trabzon and then a domestic flight from Trabzon to Izmir and finally a train journey to Selçuk.
Here I am just getting off the Pegasus Boeing 737 at Trabzon Airport. An international flight from Tbilisi to Izmir via Istanbul would have been possible but would have cost maybe three times as much as the bus and a domestic flight.
We chose Ephesus for:
We chose to stay in Selçuk because it was very close to Ephesus and we found a very reasonably priced hotel/hostel: Artemis Hotel. The staff were friendly and the accommodation fine. Many of the other guests were from the far east: Japan, Korea and Singapore.
Ephesus is one of the greatest ruined cities in the western world.
The Library of Celsus (behind us), built in the second century by Consul Gaius Julius Aquila and damaged by a combination of the Goths and then an earthquake is the highlight of a trip to Ephesus, the architecture is similar to Petra (but bigger stresses our guide, Turgut).
The House of Mary. According to the Bible, the crucified Jesus asked St John the Evangelist to look after his mother (John 19:26). It is thought that John brought Mary with him to Ephesus in AD 37 and she spent the last years of her life in this modest stone house. The Roman Catholic Church has never pronounced on the authenticity of the house, for lack of scientifically acceptable evidence. The church has however been declared a holy place and has been visited by a few popes, most recently by Pope Benedict XVI in 2006.
Mary is also revered by Muslims with several passages in the Holy Qu’ran related to her.
The Amphitheatre at Ephesus was carved out during the Hellenistic period and later renovated by the Romans. It had a capacity of 25 000.
My wife Khato took to the stage for a much smaller audience (around 30 Korean tourists) and sang a traditional Georgian song, to demonstrate the great acousitcs of the arena. She was rewarded with a round of applause from said tourists.
Kuşadası. The resort of Kuşadası is a short 5 TL Dolmus (Turkish minibus) ride from Selçuk. In January we weren’t prepared to venture into the sea, although we noticed a couple of brave souls swimming. It was nice to walk along the beach and watch the waves lapping on the shore.
Unfortunately all holidays must end and we were all too soon returning.
The Turkish-Georgian border at around 1am.
I wanted to visit EVERY country of Europe by the time I’m 50…I hit 50 next September, so I don’t think I’ll make it, since moving to Georgia in 2009, the only new European country visited is Azerbaijan (briefly), I haven’t even ventured over the border into Armenia, yet.
My passion is travelling: seeing different countries, meeting different people…
I like to visit new places, it seems life is short and there are so many places still to see.
Around the turn of the millennium I had the idea that I would like to have visited every country of Europe by the time I m 50. Every country of the world would be nice but I am, alas, limited by money and time.
What qualifies as a European Country? The EU currently comprises 27 countries, but I chose as my qualification any country with a football team in the European Nations Competition. Thus the UK qualifies as 4 countries (England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland each having a separate team), but some countries like Monaco, Basque Country and Vatican City don’t qualify. Israel and Turkey also qualify as they play in European competitions.
At present by my reckoning there are 54 countries in Europe, the number greatly augmented by the break up of Yugoslavia and The Soviet Union. Of these I have visited 33 which leaves 21 to visit (a number which may change).
Countries visited (year first visited in brackets):
1. England (1964); I came into the world in 1964 in London, England. I have no great patriotism. I had no choice in where I was born, in some ways I was lucky to be born in a relatively free and prosperous country at peace, not somewhere riven by poverty or war or an oppressive dictatorship. With the exception of 1998 when I spent the whole year in Wales (the worst year of my life), I have been in or to England every year of my life. When I visited Australia I found Australians, who knew England better than me (and I knew Australia better than them), so on returning to England I made an effort to explore the country. You will probably find lots of interesting places near to where you live, you don t need to go half way across the world to find somewhere interesting. Lots of great places to see in England and events like Ludlow Mediaeval Christmas fayre. (Rating 4/5)
2. France (1971). My first venture outside England was a daytrip on the hovercraft to Calais, aged 6. I remember the hovercraft more than I remember Calais. I have since been to France many times. I lived in France for 6 years from 1991 to 1997. When I met Khato I told her I would like to take her to Paris, this was achieved in April 2012. On Youtube you can type in “Khato cartwheeling” and you will see her performing cartwheels with the Eiffel Tower in the background. (Rating 3/5)
3. Wales (1972). My first holiday in Wales it rained all week. I later went to University in Wales (Aberystwyth), where it rained a lot, but not all the time. From 1982 to date I have been in Wales every year. I lived in Wales again 1997 to 1999, this was a really low period in my life. 1998 was spent entirely in Wales. I still regularly go to Wales for the beaches (Porthcawl, Barry Island and Ogmore are all less than three hours from Worcester) but I couldn t live there again. I take a lot of foreign students to Caerphilly Castle it ‘s big and much cheaper than Warwick castle. (Rating 2/5)
4. Scotland (1975). I ve been to Scotland 5 times. I picked raspberries by the Beauly Firth for two weeks (near Inverness). One of my best friends lives in Gourock on the Firth of the Clyde. I visited her in April (crashing my car on the way back). Edinburgh has the feel of a foreign city. Glasgow can be a bit scary. The Highlands are beautiful. (Rating 3/5)
5. Belgium (1975). I ve been to Belgium 9 times including my second honeymoon (Antwerp). Bruges is very pretty. I like the dunes on the coast by Blankenberge. (Rating (3/5)
6. The Netherlands (1978). Strangely, I’ve only been twice to the Netherlands, the first time aged 13, at the time of the 1978 World Cup which I remember watching on a black and white TV in a caravan somewhere near Utrecht. Highlight of the week in Netherlands was a canal trip around Amsterdam. Visited a second time in 2008, spending most of my time in the pretty city of Delft. (Rating 3/5)
7. Croatia (1981). It was Yugoslavia at the time, I was on a school cruise around the Mediterranean. We were supposed to start in Venice, but the Italian Air Traffic Controllers were on strike so we began in Split. Didn t really appreciate Split, seemed a poor substitution for Venice, remember the coffee being so strong it was undrinkable. (Rating 2/5)
8. Turkey (1981). I ve now been to Turkey six times. The first time was great, Ephesus was incredible. I returned in 2000 to visit my friend Emre and saw Pamukkale, another amazing place. Then a third visit in 2004 to Bodrum where I had fun windsurfing. I d really like to see more of Turkey as I ve only been to the Aegean Coast, and there is much more to see. Update: visited Trabzon on Black sea Coast and the amazing Sumela Monastery in January 2010. I have also twice visited Istanbul (2008 and 2010), a truly magnificent city. (Rating 4/5)
9. Greece (1981). I really liked Turkey but I love Greece. I ve been there 4 times. Best time was when I stayed with my friend Fenia in Thessaloniki (2002). I find the Greek people very friendly. Lots to see. Good food. Good weather. Amazing cultural heritage. Alphabet a bit tricky. (Rating 5/5)
10. Italy (1981). I’ve been to Italy twice. First time was at the end of the Cruise when we saw Pompeii ,after seeing ruins everywhere else Greece, Turkey, Egypt probably didn t appreciate Pompeii. Whenever I’ve travelled since I have tried to take in a variety of experiences. Even taking a few foreign students to South Wales for the day, I combine Caerphilly Castle with Cardiff and Barry Island. Variety is the spice of life. Second trip to Italy, visited Sicily, best food I d ever tasted until I went to Valencia. Etna is awesome and Agrigento is spectacular. (Rating 3/5).
11. Germany (1987). I ve been to Germany many times now (7). When I visited first it was a divided country. I visited DDR in the summer of 1989, my only real experience of an Iron Curtain country in Communist times…Yugoslavia being somewhat different. Berlin is my favourite city in Germany but I did have a very good time in Frankfurt on my first visit. (Rating 3/5)
12. Luxembourg (1989). Small but pretty. Been here 3 times. The City is very pretty and La Petite Suisse de Luxembourg is very scenic for walking. (Rating 4/5)
13. Austria (1989). This was the first country I visited just to “tick it off”, I took a train from Lindau to Bregenz crossing German-Austrian border, and spending about 15 minutes in Bregenz before taking train back to Lindau. I returned to Austria in 2004 to visit the capital, Vienna. Austria would be a difficult country for me to like, my first wife’s parents were Austrian Jews who fled the country in 1938. (Rating 1/5)
14. Denmark (1990). Very flat compared to other Scandinavian countries. Lots of cyclists.(Rating 2/5)
15. Sweden (1990). Lots of trees. Walked on a frozen lake near Harnosand which was interesting. I returned to Sweden at the end of July 2007, before tended to go through en route to Norway. (Rating 3/5)
16. Norway (1990). Very scenic. My first Honeymoon was to the Lofoten Islands, north of the Arctic Circle. Mountains, fjords, glaciers, midnight sun all amazing. On the negative side rain, rain and more rain. Also very high prices. (Rating 4/5)
17. Spain (1990) Amazing cities. I ve visited San Sebastian/Donostia, Santiago de Compostella, Sevilla, Madrid and Valencia. Valencia has the best food I ve ever tasted (Paella with Garlic Mayonnaise). Sevilla is probably my favourite European City, I was there at the time of the April Fair. Very colourful. (Rating 4/5)
18. Portugal (1990). First time I was interrailing. Covering a lot of miles (Paris – Narvik then Narvik down to the Algarve). Douro valley very pretty. Lisbon has trams going up steep inclines and lots of lovely fish restaurants. Cabo de rocha is most westerly point of Europe. (Rating 4/5)
19. Eire (1990). Been twice to the Irish Republic. To the South East (Kilkenny, Waterford) and to the north (Sligo, Donegal). Weather was good both times, surprisingly. (Rating 3/5)
20. Cyprus (1995). My second favourite Mediterranean Island. People are very friendly. Weather, sunny even in February. Good place for winter sun, they drive on the left which is convenient for Brits. Nice food. (Rating 4/5)
21. Hungary (2001). Been to Hungary 5 times now. I love Budapest and Pecs is interesting too. They really do play chess in the thermal baths in Budapest.(Rating 4/5)
22. Slovakia (2001). I have a lot of Slovakian friends. Only been to Bratislava (twice), small city compared to Budapest or Prague. (Rating 2/5)
23. Lithuania (2003). I went to a hotel in Palanga on the Baltic coast and found they didn t speak English or French, only Russian or Lithuanian! Very flat country like Denmark. Hill of Crosses at Siaulai is surreal. Birzai has a lovely artificial lake. This was the first state from the Former Soviet Union I visited. (Rating 3/5)
24. Czech Republic (2004). I ve only been to Prague (twice), another pretty city. I have some very good friends in Prague (Iveta, Andreia and Tereza). I prefer Budapest as a city.(Rating 3/5)
25. Poland (2004). I spent three days in Poland in 2004, arriving on the night train from Prague in Krakow. I visited Auschwitz (Oswieczim), a very sad place, its true that no birds sing there. I was also disappointed that the guide omitted the gypsy holocaust, not taking us to Block 13, where most Roma and Sinto were interred. Wieliska was interesting, a salt mine just outside Krakow, with a chapel underground carved into the salt. I was invited to a wedding in Poland on 22 September 2007 in Siedlce, Eliza, one of my students got married, there. (Rating 3/5)
26. Serbia (2005). I like Serbia. Very interesting and few other tourists. I ve been to Serbia twice now. The first time I visited Subotica and Palic in the Hungarian speaking part. Subotica has lots of pretty art nouveau buildings, and almost no tourists. My second visit was to Belgrade, cheap accommodation for a capital city and great nightlife. Unfortunately Underground was being refurbished when I was there, so I spent a few nights listening to music and live bands in the cellars of Akademija. (Rating 4/5)
27. Northern Ireland (2005). Last country of UK to be “ticked off” my list. The Antrim Coast, the Marble Arch caves, the Loughs of Fermanagh and the Giant’s Causeway are all worth seeing. The towns and cities are disappointing with all the same chain shops; Coleraine could be Peterborough. (Rating 3/5)
28. Switzerland (2006). Very scenic, possibly too pretty for my liking. I visited Luzern a city by a lake, lots of mediaeval buildings, overlooked by great mountains, Korean tourists taking lots of pictures, it all seemed a bit too much like a theme park. Basel was ok, felt like it was a city people lived in. Lots of Turks, I tried ordering tomato soup in Thun in Turkish, got a Tomato salad, obviously need to practise more. Very expensive, the weather was not good when I went. (Rating 3/5)
29. Liechtenstein (2006). The weather was bad, I stayed in a grotty hotel in Schaan. I wouldn t recommend Liechtenstein. (Rating 2/5)
30. Israel (2007). Not strictly in Europe, but qualifies here as they play football in Europe holding England to a draw recently and beating France in 1993. I stayed in Jerusalem, incredible city…one of those cities you must see before you die (like Rome and Istanbul, which I have yet to see). A lot of tension and soldiers. Staying in Jerusalem is like living in history, so much here. A holy city for three religions, no wonder there is tension. I preferred the quieter Armenian quarter. I ventured out of Jerusalem once, the bus station’s security was like an airport’s, took a bus to the Dead Sea and Ein Gedi National park. I didn t see any trouble. If a Palestinian offers to guide you around the city say no, I made that mistake and ended up £50 poorer. Lots of vendors keen to part you and your money like souks anywhere. (Rating 4/5)
31. Finland (2007). Trees and lakes. Visited Santa Claus village on the Arctic Circle…in August. Expensive country. (Rating 3/5)
32. Georgia (2008). Visiting Georgia changed my life. I met my wife Khato at a wedding in Tbilisi and moved out to teach English the following year. Georgia has a lot of Geography for a country the size of Ireland. The language is tricky not having a Roman or even Cyrillic alphabet. Some of the highest mountains in Europe are here, we visited Mount Kazbek in 2012, over 5000m it is higher than Mont Blanc . (Rating 4/5)
33. Azerbaijan (2011). It doesn t look like I’ll achieve my goal to visit every country in Europe by the time I’m 50. This is the first new European country I ve visited in the last 5 years and this was by accident not design. Visiting the Davit Gareja monastery complex in the South of Georgia, we crossed into Azerbaijan without any passport control. The only border guards we noticed were Georgian and they didn t ask us for any ID. The semi arid landscape was impressive but we didn t meet any Azeris to have a full view of the country. (Rating 3/5)
34. Vatican City (2016). The smallest country in the world. Completely surrounded by the city of Rome. We visited the Vatican Museum with the famous ceiling painted by Michelangelo in the Sistine Chapel. We also visited St Peter’s Basilica, the biggest cathedral in Europe. Very crowded with tourists, very opulent interiors. Doesn’t have a football team playing in the European Nations so doesn’t fit my suggested criterium for a European country. (Rating 3/5)
Ratings: 5/5 my favourite country (Greece)
4/5 I d highly recommend this country (10 countries)
3/5 good (15 countries)
2/5 in no hurry to return to this country (5 countries)
1/5 my least favourite country (Austria)
33 Down
19 to go:
Faeroe Islands, Iceland, Andorra, Malta, San Marino, Slovenia, Bosnia, Macedonia, Albania, Moldova, Romania, Bulgaria, Ukraine, Belarus, Russia, Latvia, Estonia, Armenia, Kosovo, Montenegro
Of these countries currently Macedonia appeals the most, chatting with people in Serbia had lots recommending the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (the Greeks would argue its not the true Macedonia).
Outside Europe, I would love to see Argentina and Chile. China and Ethiopia also look interesting.
My favourite place? Corsica, the French Island in the Mediterranean, if I could live there I would (I tried but there is little work outside tourist season). Sea , mountains and the smell of wide sage. Interesting towns, very different from each other (Calvi, Corte, Bastia, Ajaccio, l’Ile Rousse). Interesting people, not as friendly as Greeks but warm and steeped in tradition.
Outside Europe I have visited Australia (1987), Egypt (1981), USA (2009) and Canada (2009)…37 countries in total.
The map below says 35 because it counts the UK as one country, not four. I also was only in transit in Malaysia, so I don’t really count landing in Kuala Lumpar en route to Australia as having visited Malaysia.
Jim Holroyd has been to: Austria, Australia, Azerbaijan, Belgium, Canada, Switzerland, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Germany, Denmark, Egypt, Spain, Finland, France, United Kingdom, Georgia, Greece, Croatia, Hungary, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Serbia, Sweden, Slovakia, Turkey, United States.
Get your own travel map from Matador Network.
jim holroyd 365 