Jane's post: 18 June 2011

Brisbane girls en France

The France part on the trip involves visitors and meals and relaxing. Can't believe that we've had 7 (soon to be 9) houseguests from Australia. People come and go, and the car tootles to the tiny airstrip or the railway station on a regular basis. The house is plenty big, and the pool is providing exercise options. Not too many people taking up the mountain bike opportunity; but plenty of takers for wine tasting.

Dordogne winding

 We've had mixed weather and some days revolve around going to the daily market, eating and working on a massive jigsaw. Other days we have taken trips to the amazing grottoes and Cro-Magnon cave paintings of the Lascaux region, and the pretty medieval Bastide towns that are peculiar to this region. Aquitaine was given as dowry when Eleanor married the King of England. There followed several centuries of the French trying to get it back, hence all the fortified towns.

Lazy afternoons

It's been great to have my family here as well; the "Ozzie block" have been and gone, and we're in the "UK block" now. Tom has joined us as well, and tonight we are having a 60th birthday dinner in a local hotel for 11! The younger UK cousins will leave us after their long weekend. We've got 4 days remaining with my sister and husband before they go, and then Ian's sister and husband arrive from the USA. Lovely reunions. I feel blessed.

Day 45 - Saturday 18th June

Ian here.

Its been weeks since the last blog.  And we have traveled from Istanbul to the UK and over to France in that time.

The main gates to the Domavachie Palace, can you imagine what the palace was like. So big I could not get it into one picture!

Our last few days in Istanbul were as hectic as the first. We managed to see more  of the "10 things to see in Istanbul before you die" list,  which included Suleiman Mosque, exquisite,  and the wonderful 19th century confection of the Domavatchie Palace and the glowing 12th Century frescoes and mosaics in the Kariye Muzesi, a very old byzantine church.  

Jane inspecting the goods in the Grand Bazaar.

As well, a few good meals, including meals from old Ottoman recipes.  We also walked through the Grand Bazaar 4,000 shops in a 700 year old "mall",  and the Spice Markets,  and whizzed by taxi to the old Roman City walls (5th C) that still largely stand, to the west of the Golden Horn.








 


We also managed a great meal at the Museum of Modern Art which has fabulous views of the Bosphorous from the restaurant deck, but a cruise liner was docked so all we saw was a ship - my are they BIG!

12th C mosaics on the ceiling of the church.

And so the week in Istanbul finished and we hopped on a plane to France via Budapest and London.  In Guildford UK, we had a birthday celebration meal for brother-in-law Nigel in the restaurant Simon worked in last year, (no-one there remembered him - entire staff had turned over!), a quick days shopping, and we managed to fit in a trip to the magnificent Wisley Gardens.

Bonsai tree in Wisley Gardens.

Back on a plane on 1st June to Bergerec airport in the south of France, pick up the hire car and drive to the house Colouma, the middle of nowhere in the Lot et Garone Department.



I will add some more picture later when we have a better connection.

Now over to Jane for the latest update. 

Lunch at the Museum of Modern Art + cruise liner!

In France - Watch this space.

Hi all,

We are now in France in a cottage in the middle of nowhere - so no internet connection.  No blog update with photos possible just now.

We are currently in a cafe in Duras that has some very slow WI-FI - I'm just putting up this post to say we may not be able to do much on the blog in the next three weeks.  But keep watching ..............

Cheers  Ian 

Day 26 - Monday 30th May

This is Ian.

Lord, these holidays are hard work! I need a holiday from this holiday.  We are out there doing stuff every day.  So, since we last Blogged we have done a second days touring in Cappadocia and flown into Istanbul.

Our "cave" hotel room in Urgup.  Jane noted the bars on the window made it more like a dungeon

In Cappadocia we went to one of perhaps 100 underground cities where the christians of the 10th century hid in as the various Persians, Muslims and other armies of central Asia passed through and fought over for a few centuries, before Selcuks and then the Otterman Turks were declared the winners.

In a cave town 50m underground - we could stand in this bit.

Some of the underground cave systems went down 100m and housed 5,000 people for weeks at a time.

Also walked along a beautiful valley floor for miles in the rain, but then had a refreshing meal in the river!

Jane talking to a duck during the valley walk.

Lunch on the river - we had trout!

 And so to Istanbul.  We are staying in an apartment in the residential area rather than the old City so we catch the trams in to see the sight each day.  And what sights!  Photos don't to justice to the Hagia Sophia (built 567AD) or the Blue Mosque.


Sights seen so far:
 - Topkapi Palace, including the Harem.

Iznik tiles (15th Century) on walls of the Hare

- The Istanbul Archeology Museum

The Alexander sarcophagus 5thC BC - beautiful detailed carving - in the marble, not the Russian poseur!

-
 - The Blue Mosque

The tiled ceiling to the Blue Mosque - exquisite!

And now the amazing..........


- Hagia Sophia - built as a church in 567AD!

Hagia Sophia - Huge and in surprisingly good nick for a building 1,500 years old

- Fish sandwich from stall at the Galata bridge

 - The Galata Tower

 - Cruise up the Bosporus to the Black Sea.

We are really loving Istanbul.  It is a very liveable city, lots of medium density all over the place (15m people live here) so lots of shops and cafes all over the place, and the Grand Bazaar is mad, over 4,000 shops in a 10 minutes walk end to end.

The Black Sea behind two expatriate Scots........

Only three more days here then on to France - nearly one month gone already - and I have only managed to read two books so far!

Picture to right shows Jane with a delightful Scot she met in the toilet on the Bosphorus cruise, who grew up in the same small village as her in Scotland, and despite being 18 years older, they still had many memories in common! Amazing.  Jane want to look this good at 78! PS. the Black Sea is behind them.