Our
final days in Asia have finally arrived after an incredibly short, experience-rich,
five months! We flew through Kazakhstan, jet through Georgia and rocketed through
the wonders of Turkey. The Earthbound Astronauts are preparing to briefly part
but not before completing their time in Asia with style. The adventure
continues!
To
listen to the podcast click here!
Almaty,
Kazakhstan - June 1st – June 6th
We
arrived in Kazakhstan from Kyrgyzstan really unsure of what to expect.
Unfortunately the movie ‘Borat’ had tainted our ideas about this formidably
mysterious country. When we arrived in Almaty, the biggest city in Kazakhstan,
we were incredibly surprised. Almaty was originally the capital of Kazakhstan,
and for some unknown reason, the government decided that a city in the middle
of nowhere, Astana, would be the capital. Coming from the concrete jungles that
were Mongolia and Kyrgyzstan, we were amazed to see that Almaty was one of the most
revitalizing cities we’ve visited yet. A city that was beautifully positioned
beneath snow-capped mountains, a sight that was becoming increasingly familiar
throughout our travels in Central Asia.
We
used our time in Almaty to recharge our depleting motivation. Originally we had
big plans to venture away from the city into the surrounding wilderness,
however these were ‘dampened’ by a torrential downpour, flooding both the city
streets and our ambition. Seeing this as a sign, we decided to spend our
remaining days exploring the city. This involved visiting the museum to
discover that Tuesday was the only day it was closed, determining Kazak kebabs
were a godsend and realising vodka was the most prominent and possibly cheapest
beverage available. Finally feeling rejuvenated; we were ready to progress onto
the newly founded capital.
Astana,
Kazakhstan - June 7th – June 10th
Arriving
in Astana by train, we were completely disorientated by our lack of city
knowledge and the resulting sterility produced by a patchwork of contrasting
architectural styles. After catching a public bus and arriving in the vicinity of
the only hostel we knew about, we spent the better part of an hour deciphering
the hostel address, a highly elusive residential apartment. Exploring the city
with a maniacally peculiar Ukrainian character, we gawked at the conflicting
architectural anomalies that are precariously placed around the capital. A very
peculiar aspect of the city was the lack of street based restaurants replaced
by a large number of malls and their subsequent food courts. We were lucky
enough to make a Kazak friend in our hostel, a relationship that was purely
based on our mutual use of Google translate, a very interesting and
surprisingly lucrative medium for building a friendship. A few days in Astana
were more then enough for us to comfortably farewell Kazakhstan. We boarded a
plane to the capital of Georgia, Tbilisi, which afforded us the melancholy
experience of staying a night in an airport during a layover in Almaty.
Tbilisi,
Georgia - June 11th & 12th June
Casey
and I fearfully observed Tbilisi reveal itself through the plane window,
another potential concrete abyss. Wondering what we’d gotten ourselves into, we
nervously caught the bus into the city centre towards our hostel. Probably due
to our partial prejudice, we mistook the grand ‘Freedom Square’ for a random
roundabout that had a very similar symmetry to the actually phenomenal
attraction. After searching for our hostel for two hours we eventually realised
we were on the wrong side of the river, obviously our navigational abilities
hadn’t improved. When we found our hostel, it was positioned in a surprisingly beautiful
cobblestoned area of the city. It turned out that Tbilisi was a very westernised
city with a very good mixture of both modern and historical buildings, our
first true introduction to Europe. The city didn’t have too much to see from a
tourist’s perspective, the two main sights revolved around an old fortress,
which acted as a city viewing point, and Freedom Square, which we used as a
place to observe everyday people. Whilst in Tbilisi, we also met Paul who is
travelling the world… on a bicycle, which completely puts our journey to shame.
It was at this point we started to notice tourist numbers were on the increase,
especially annoying ones…
Sighnaghi,
Georgia - June 13th – June 15th
Hearing
that Georgia was known for its wineries, we felt obliged to travel to the wine
region to see for ourselves. We arrived in Sighnaghi, a town that was contained
within the walls of a well-preserved fortress. Our guesthouse had a spectacular
view of surrounding vineyards, acting as a placebo to improve the taste of the
local wine, which was stored in a recycled plastic coke bottle. We organised a
winery tour the following day, which turned out to be more of a monastery tour,
lacking the copious amounts of wine we were hoping for.
Batumi,
Georgia - June 16th – June 18th
Preparing
to cross from Georgia into Turkey, we headed to the town of Batumi, next to the
Black Sea. Batumi acts as the port of Georgia from Eastern Europe acting as a
funnel of tourists from Europe into Asia. As we attempted to orchestrate our
arrival into Turkey we explored Batumi, which did not seem to have that much to
offer on a sightseeing basis. Georgia was definitely a small preview of Europe.
Cappadocia,
Turkey - June 19th – June 21st
We
arrived into the Cappadocia area in central turkey ready to start our fast
paced Turkish adventure. Cappadocia is a very famous tourist destination due to
ancient houses that were hollowed out of volcanic stone, setting a fantastic
ambience. After trying to stay at the Flintstone Cave hotel, which inevitably
was the name of numerous establishments in the area, we settled in a hotel that
had a fantastic rooftop view of our surrounding landscape. After seeing the
price of tourist tours, we decided to see the main sites ourselves. Whilst
walking around a deserted area of caves, we decided to rest in a blissfully
shady cave that was actually a centuries old church, which just helps describes
the immense majesty of the area. We slowly started to see an increase of
Australians, which was highlighted by the number of Australian themed hotels
and restaurants.
Selçuk,
Turkey - June 22nd – June 24th
We headed to
Turkey’s west to see the largest Greek ruins in the Mediterranean, Ephesus.
Ephesus was fantastic! We walked along a marble pathway that was once the
thoroughfare of an incredibly vibrant and ever-changing city. Ephesus was a
true architectural spectacle, complete with an enormous amphitheatre and surprisingly
well preserved sculptures. The weather we enjoyed whilst in Turkey on a whole
was perfect, even though we did get a taste of what the sweltering heat of the
Mediterranean was like. As we continued speeding through Turkey we readied
ourselves for the Australian pilgrimage to Gallipoli.
Eceabat,
Turkey - June 25th & 26th June
We arrived in
Eceabat, the town where we’d access Gallipoli. Unbeknown to us both, whilst on
the bus, we actually crossed from the Asian continent to Europe an exciting
milestone to reach after our four and a half month adventure. As soon as we’d
arrived at our Australian themed hostel, we booked our Gallipoli tour for that
day. The tour took us to all the important sites starting with ANZAC cove. It
was difficult to imagine that this beautifully tranquil piece of coastline was
the setting for such violent bloodshed only a century ago. It was great to see
the amount of respect that was obviously poured into maintaining the memorials
and the sites. The Gallipoli area is also an important site to the Turks. This
is understandable because, to them, this campaign was a success, even though
they lost approximately ten times the number of soldiers as the ANZACS.
Istanbul,
Turkey - June 27th – June 30th
We’d finally
arrived at our final destination together, the Turkish capital, Istanbul. This vibrant
metropolis was incomparable to any other, so historically rich yet refreshingly
modern. It was easy to see how this city had acted as a centralized point of
trade throughout suceeding civilisations. We visited Taksim Square hoping to
observe some of the tensions, yet the heightened police presence seemed to have
dispelled the majority of the drama. Even though we wanted to visit the Hagia
Sophia and Topkapi Palace, the exorbitant entrance fees convinced us to enjoy
them both externally. A sight that couldn’t be missed was the Blue Mosque. The
mosque was colossal yet equally as exquisite. The majesty of the Blue Mosque
was rivaled by the Basilica Cistern, the site of water storage for the ancient
city. It was amazing to see the multitude of pillars that had been taken from
various sources through out the ages.
The fabled
Grand Bazaar was a sore disappointment for us both as we expected a much more
raw experience and were ultimately confronted with a glorified shopping mall.
However, the Spice Market, next to the Bosphorus, exceeded expectations. The
Spice Market is just what it sounds like, exotic spices, dried friends, tea and
every type of Turkish delight imaginable. I was not a fan of Turkish delight
before this experience, but my opinion has completely changed! Istanbul was a
fantastic place, but you can feel a bit lost in such an active city.
Casey and I
said our goodbyes in Istanbul, both heading into Bulgaria, but I’ll leave that
for the next blog. As we part, to continue our journeys separately, our
appreciation of the places we’ve been, the places we’ve yet to visit and the
inevitable impact that this opportunity has had on us both, as one of ongoing
self-discovery, continues to grow.
Keep posted.
