Pergamon - Turkey

Pergamon – Turkey

Post published:24 May 2015
Post category:Asia Europe Southern Europe Turkey Turkey

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One of the greatest cities of Antiquity

Yet again the turn for another of the great ancient cities in the world. Pergamon. Of Greek origin, then Roman as it’s the case for this entire region of Turkey, was of great strategical, knowledge and arts importance. With the steepest theater from the ancient times and once home to the 2nd largest library from the ancient world just after Alexandria, it flourished even further after the Pergamese people discovered a new way of creating paper-like since the administration of papyrus was cut off from Egypt. They named this newly created product pergamenum after the name of the city. This event was a complete success across the entire Roman empire as it meant breaking the dependency from Egypt’s papyrus.

But visiting this place did not come as a simple task on our agenda. Squeezing the time to probably a new limit that we have not done before, while changing upside down the original plans for this entire long weekend trip; we managed to get some room to visit this great ancient city. At only 100 kilometers to the north from Izmir, it was in our heads the days before flying to Turkey yet we preferred to stop thinking and letting it go with the flow. Still… the rush for doing everything possible to get to this place was too high to miss.

As commented on the previous travel guides for Izmir (Smyrna) and Ephesus, Pergamon is also one of the Seven Churches of Asia, known also as the Seven Churches of Revelation or the Seven Churches of the Apocalypse. Mentioned in the New Testament Book of Revelation, it is where Jesus Christ from the Greek island of Patmos instructs his servant Jon of Patmost saying: “I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last: and, What thou seest, write in a book, and send it unto the seven churches which are in Asia; unto Ephesus, and unto Smyrna, and unto Pergamos, and unto Thyatira, and unto Sardis, and unto Philadelphia, and unto Laodicea.”

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Ephesus - Turkey

Ephesus -Turkey

Post published:23 May 2015
Post category:Asia Europe Southern Europe Turkey Turkey

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Best preserved library from the ancient world

Finally achieving one of my lifetime travel dreams; reaching the ancient city of Ephesus. Yet the truth is that I have way too many further travel wishes in the agenda, of course. Coming here was, after all, the main purpose of this entire trip, involving having to fly to Istanbul with an overnight stay at a hotel there, continuing the following morning with a flight to Izmir, and if following the original plan, today we would have been only visiting Izmir while the next day Ephesus. But since our dramatic change of plans on the go, this was brought forward to the very same day after a quick visit of Izmir. And the reason for such change? Well, quite a temptation being that near to Pergamon and not going! Check Pergamon travel guide for more information.

The city traces its roots to the 10th century BC, occupying the place of the former capital of the Kingdom of Arzawa, Apasa, that extended along the western areas of Anatolia. It became one of the twelve cities of the Ionian League during Greek times, becoming a great power when the Romans took control over it after 129 BC.

Once home to one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, the Temple of Artemis, one can imagine how important and powerful the city might have been. Second in population and importance only after Rome, with glorious buildings and large public bath houses, something the Romans mastered at; coupled with one of the most advanced aqueduct system of the ancient world.

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Izmir - Turkey

Izmir – Turkey

Post published:23 May 2015
Post category:Asia Europe Southern Europe Turkey Turkey

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Ancient Smyrna

With what is called in the UK the Spring Bank Holiday of May, what was best than using this chance for a long weekend trip abroad in Izmir without the need to take any extra holiday at work from the yearly allowance, which is already getting to an end almost entirely used spread across the whole of the year. It is quite incredible having to reach the point where I can only rely in the few weekends left this year where I have no trips booked yet to go anywhere abroad! This is the narrow barrier I am between being a “full time employee and part time traveller”, although my friends and colleagues at work prefer to joke in saying it’s the opposite way around, “full time traveller, part time job”.

This trip was anyway, planned a while ago in November last year, and the fact that the main flights were a return with BA to Istanbul was on purpose especially bearing in mind these were in Business Class. So what made the difference for us to get those flights and not any cheaper option?. Easy answer in this case: retaining the Silver membership status (Zephyr) with the One World Alliance. And the trick is this: there are still 3 destinations having sort of a loophole in the amount of tier points and air miles you would collect, being Helsinki, Athens and Istanbul. So a flight to Istanbul in Business Class will give you the same miles and tier points as if it would be a long haul flight, this is, double.

Since we’ve already been to Istanbul before, then we though this could be a great occasion to get to Izmir with the main idea of reaching the ancient city of Ephesus, and Pergamon too as our original plans changed and we managed to squeeze it in too. The good side of it, the internal flight between Istanbul and Izmir with Pegasus Airlines was really cheap, balancing the total cost for all flights after all. And with so many frequencies between both cities and many competitors, flying is one of the easiest and cheapest ways to reach Izmir, unless you are in an overland tour or other cities nearby while in Turkey.

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Cagliari - Italy

Cagliari – Italy

Post published:4 May 2015
Post category:Europe Italy Select by Continent Southern Europe

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Sardinian: Casteddu

Taking advantage of the early May bank holiday and as such giving us a little bit more time at the destination than the usual weekend trips, we decided to book well ahead (and thankfully because this destination popped up at a great price with British Airways, much cheaper than with any other airline) the beautiful Italian island of Sardinia. A very large island in fact where my original plan was starting in Cagliari where our flight lands; then onto the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Su Nuraxi, and end the trip in Olbia in the northern side of the island. Unfortunately due to the long distances in the island and because you will need a bit longer than a day in Cagliari if you want to fully enjoy it, there was no time to drive all the way to Olbia. That will be then for another trip in the future.

Cagliari is the capital and largest city, and the most historical in the island. With traces of being inhabited for over 5000 years from the Neolithic till today, the amount of history can be felt in every corner and at the many sights all around the city.

The city in any case is of medium size and you could potentially visit in one day. Since we had to postpone for another trip the visit to Olbia, we decided to enjoy more time in the city and worked very good. You should therefore plan your stay accordingly and unless you want to just stay here (which is already good enough specially if mentioning the nice 8km long Poetto Beach), then consider visiting other places around the island. There are countless destinations to go to.

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Su Nuraxi di Barumini - Italy

Su Nuraxi and Tharros – Italy

Post published:3 May 2015
Post category:Europe Italy Southern Europe

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Nuragic and Punic Civilizations

Our second aim on this long weekend trip was to visit other locations up to a maximum of 100 kilometers or so from Cagliari. Obviously I did some research previously before to have a brief idea on what other nice places were near that could make a great day out. Of course counting with the Bronze Age settlement of Su Nuraxi as the highlight of the day. For the remaining locations to complete the day is the first time I made use of Instagram and searched for images using hashtags. I must admit the outcome has been very successful and will continue with this technique on trips that are similar to this.

Although you can take a tour from Cagliari or other larger cities in Sardinia that take you here and around other archaeological places, specially in what is called the Nuragic Route; the freedom of a rental car gives you a wider flexibility not to mention you will be able to visit way more places than on a tour. But that’s not all, if you are 2 people or more then is more cost-effective renting a car than getting onto a tour.

Driving towards Su Nuraxi was pretty quick and straight forward. Most of the way was on the highway, with the last few kilometer on a more local road. Altogether the distance is around 70 kilometers and since along the way there is nothing of importance to stop and visit, it will take you around 45 minutes from downtown Cagliari to reach here.
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Corfu - Greece

Corfu – Greece

Post published:19 April 2015
Post category:Europe Greece Southern Europe

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Island of Phaeacians

Finally managed to find a great deal to another Greek island, something that usually is “mission impossible” due to the sky-high flight fares all around. Does not really matter when in the year we look to any Greek destination other than Athens or Thessaloniki where prices to both are acceptable; for anywhere else it seems to always be high season somehow. That’s the only reason why our trips to Greece are coming slower than we wished for, where there are so, so many destination in our bucket list that it’s our big challenge. Perhaps a cruise through the Aegean Sea would be the most appropriate, but for now let’s keep jet-setting.

Although Corfu was not in our agenda at first instance, it is always a great welcome to be able to get somewhere not been before now that incredibly, we are starting to kind of run out of flight routes across Europe! As crazy as it sounds, but it’s a truth. Nevertheless, with that countless cities across 5o countries that form the continent, it is always difficult to run out, especially when returning to plenty others eager to see more.

The city of Corfu has been inscribed as an UNESCO World Heritage Site. The Old Town clearly gives you the idea on why, with the beautiful Venetian Italianate buildings; clear reminder of the past when the island formed part of the Venetian Empire. But this is not all, the British when they took control of the island also left their legacy with Georgian and Victorian constructions. After the first impressions in the island you will not feel this is part of Greece after all, only because of the language.

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Skopje - Macedonia

Skopje – Republic of North Macedonia

Post published:15 March 2015
Post category:Europe Republic of Macedonia Southern Europe

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Roman Scupi

Another weekend and another two new countries never been before ahead of us with new great places to see. The Republic of North Macedonia, also known as the Former Yugoslavian Republic of Macedonia, or under the acronym FYROM, was born in 1991 after the break of Yugoslavia, but of course its history can be traced back thousands of years to what was the Kingdom of Paeonia, inhabited by Thracian people that were a group of Indo-European tribe. Then the Greeks, the Romans, Slavic, Ottoman, Kingdom of Serbia and Yugoslavia; all left their part of history and culture in the region.

Skopje is the capital and largest city in the country. With over half million inhabitants it accounts for more than one quarter of the total country’s population. Despite being a medium size city, the old city center is very small and can be entirely visited in just a few hours. It is centred along what used to be the bazaar during the Ottoman rule, and it is in fact one of the largest outside Turkey nowadays. Across the river and linked by the Stone Bridge, which is the landmark of Skopje; is the new town which highlight is Macedonia Square. Farther beyond there is nothing to see from the tourist point of view. Just ugly commie blocks everywhere. It is for this reason that you can easily include any other city or place coupled with your visit to Skopje. In our case, this was Pristina, capital of Kosovo, just 80 kilometers to the north.

I must be honest in saying that I was not impressed at all with this city, and if at all, I think I was actually shocked for seeing those unnecessary and nonsense statues placed literally on every possible space, with many more yet to come. No wonder why Skopje is known as the city of sculptures, but to this extent it is extremely overloaded.

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Pristina - Kosovo

Pristina – Kosovo

Post published:14 March 2015
Post category:Europe Kosovo Southern Europe

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Capital of the 2nd newest country in the World

Squeezed in between the 2 days we were meant to spend in Skopje, Republic of North Macedonia, this has been by all means one of our oddest destinations ever, probably the weirdest so far to this date for sure. The capital city of Kosovo, Pristina. Yet in the other hand we could not resist the temptation of being so near and not going, specially for how convenient it was to move between both countries of Republic of Macedonia and Kosovo by bus. Skopje to Pristina is barely 80 kilometers far from each other, and the border was in fact very straightforward and quick, not even 15 minutes to pass both sides in either direction.

For us, believe it or not, it was very important to do this trip and to tick another country from the list of countries visited, furthermore knowing that we might not even return here (I don’t see a good reason why); or at least, for a long time and probably only to visit the second largest city which in turn, is the most beautiful and historical; Prizren, and where you can also find one of the four monasteries inscribed in the UNESCO World Heritage Site list as part of the Medieval Monasteries of Kosovo.

Another of such UNESCO monasteries is just 7 kilometers south of Pristina, Gračanica, which was an obvious stop in our journey and one of the highlights in the trip. And with it, another World Heritage Site ticked off the list. (more…)

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