Making Lemonade in Turkey 2

 

In reverse  order...because  they changed  the formatting on my blog...and it sucks.

Making Lemonade in Turkey

I have a list  of 62 places I planned on seeing in Istanbul.  Yep, 62. I won't  be seeing them all though. Today I had two of them wiped off the list, one because of Covid of course. I'm  sure more will drop off as I try to see them. The first, the Blue Mosque, was "open" but under reconstruction and the tiny  part you could see inside was not really what I was hoping for. Oh well, the second was the Basilica cistern, which you might remember from a James Bond movie...that was one of my must sees...Covid strikes again. Anyway, I should really tell you about  what I could see...

The day started with walking to the Hippodrome, the old Roman area. There are 3 ancient columns, in varying stages of decay. First, the walled obelisk of Constantine, next the serpent column (sans the heads, which are apparently in some museum) and last  the Obelisk  of Theodosius, stolen from Egypt, and reputed to be where the end of the world will arise. No action on that today.

And then I met the "English Student", Fetzmin. He just happened to come along, and just happened to start a conversation with me and he just happened to be going my direction and he was so definitely not doing anything except practicing his English. We walked  to the Blue Mosque, then he took me on a shortcut so he could just show me the best view of the Mosque, and most certainly he was just being kind. I was most certainly interested in the best view, and unknown to Fetzmin, I also most certainly knew what he was up to. We arrived shortly to his family's carpet store, and then climbed 6 stories to the roof and proceeded to climb up the roof to said view. It was indeed a good view and he happily took my picture standing in front of the view of the Mosque. Then we went downstairs and met his "uncle", who most certainly wanted to make me coffee and maybe, most certainly, discuss buying a rug. I politely said I had an appointment and made an exit. I would later turn down at least a dozen offers of "coffee for you my friend". One guy was offended when I declined until I asked him just how much coffee Istanbulites expected me to drink, then he laughed and said "perhaps you have met my friends..." We parted peacefully.

Then it was off to the Great Palace Mosaics Museum, the tomb of the Sultans, the German-Turkish friendship fountain (a bad omen for their future defeat soon after), and then, most magnificently, the archeological museum.  Wow! Hittites and Phoenicians and more fantastic antiquities than you can believe...with the Tiled Palace as the cherry on top. Seriously,  this place is the bomb, and virtually no one was there. There  were enough intricate and amazing sarcophaguses to be absolutely stunning in the sheer scale, let alone in their beauty, Indiana Jones would be awestruck. Apparently  they were found in a cave in ancient Phoenicia, the Kingdom of Sidon to be exact. Totally amazing. And then the Tiled Palace. I was kind of in love with the little place, and I was absolutely the only person wandering its lovely rooms. I'm  pretty happy with how today turned  out, and I can't  wait to see how tomorrow goes...

See Part 2 for the rest of the pics...all of this disappeared once after I posted more pics, and I'm not recreating it again!

A Tale of Two Hikes (or Bushwalks)

It would seem I need to catch up a little. So two days, two hikes. First off was my trip to Alexandria Bay on the Sunshine coast.  I tried to park at the National Park,  but no luck there. Eventually I found a parking spot, the map showed trails to the bay from there, so off I went. It wasn't bad at first, but then became sand, sometimes deep sand. Not my favorite walking medium, going uphill and down. I did see my first Goanna, he was about 6 feet long, but didn't stay for his pic to be taken. It was not a really fun hike, and it was hot.
Made it to the beach, had a nice afternoon relaxing and reading. I decided that no way was I going to do that hike in the opposite direction, so I found a way to avoid it by walking a more scenic route, albeit even longer. Altogether  9 miles of steep hills...and valleys...and more steep hills...you get the idea!

Next hike, I went inland to see some sights near the town of Maleny. First was Gardner's falls, not much water  but a pretty place.  I saw a huge black snake though! Next I went to the Obi Obi creek to try to spot a platypus. They continue to be elusive. I did happen to stumble across a Veteran's day ceremony and stayed because it seemed disrespectful to just walk by. I was treated to bagpipes, a perpetual flame, and the Aussie national anthem. It was a good experience and certainly unexpected.
Next I went to the Mary Cairncross reserve which was pretty great. It's a rainforest and has some really nice walks. Two things to share...first was the "Giant Stinging Tree", seriously that's its

Alexandria Bay Hike

Sand...

Gardner's falls

Aussie Veteran's day

Obi Obi creek

Giant Stinging Trees!

Echidna!!

Cheese!

Ants? Termites?

Lake for lunch

My favorite Aussie tree

My pool buddy!

name! After reading about it I'd reccomend staying far away. The description said that the little hairs on its leaves deliver a super toxin that causes extreme pain for "weeks, months and even years." Yeah,  sign me up. They were all nicely signed as you walked the paths  but later I saw a group of Japanese kids playing with leaves, that probably didn't end well. On a nicer note, and what made my whole day, I saw my first Echidna! And he wanted his picture taken!
After that I went to a cheese factory, had lunch at a lake with no other people (where is everyone?), and headed back to the pool to hang out with the lizards.  Really, really big lizards.