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Balkan backpack
  • Kate Carrara
  • Kate Carrara

Balkan backpack

A 23-day adventure by Kate Read more
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  • Kate CarraraBalkan backpackTraveler
    1

    Istanbul later

    July 13, 2022 in Turkey ⋅ ☀️ 27 °C

    Hagia Sophia was a museum when we last visited but is now a mosque, with visiting rules very unclear, carpets covering the marble floor, sheets over the Byzantine mosaics of human faces and makeshift scarves on our heads....Read more

  • Kate CarraraBalkan backpackTraveler

    On Galata Bridge

    July 14, 2022 in Turkey ⋅ ☀️ 27 °C

    Wonderful lunch..on Galata Bridge across the Golden Horn, on the lower level in one of the little restaurants. A spicy, creamy dip, an aubergine dip, beer, tea and a water pipe. Views over the sparkling water, busy with boats and ferries, the Galata Tower on the one-time Genoese side, the Suleyman mosque and the Yeni mosque, cupolas, domes and minarets, the breeze, a thousand scurrying clouds, ten thousand scurrying people, all along the upper level of the bridge they are fishing, sardines and bigger catches..the lines shine past us into the water, pulled up with a chain of three, four, six flapping silver fish..every now and again one falls loose and lies gasping on the walkway where we're sitting - Rico nudges it gently into the water, or the waiter, shaking his head, happens every day...puffing clouds of gentle apple shisha amid so much bright beauty..Read more

  • Kate CarraraBalkan backpackTraveler
    Boat tour down the BosphorousWorld's biggest flag..lots of those..Bridge connecting Europe and AsiaSunset on return to GalataHagia Sophia at night

    Istanbul evening

    July 14, 2022 in Turkey ⋅ ☀️ 24 °C

    Horrendous traffic on the transfer to the boat, which was big and loud and wanted to sell us carpets and leather goods on the Asian side of the Bosphorous - we went for a drink instead and tried Churchill, soda and fresh lemon juice and salt..good to settle Eva's stomach if not for the taste buds. Still thrilling to be so near the Black Sea, if strange to think how near to a war we are..The skyline at sunset and nightfall is tremendous..and the mosques lit up like Christmas, much visited, people strolling like a late night party.Read more

  • Kate CarraraBalkan backpackTraveler
    Suleiman's tombAcross the baths to the Bosphorous

    Suleyman's mosque

    July 15, 2022 in Turkey ⋅ ☀️ 24 °C

    So beautiful, especially on a Friday and in full use...picknicking, washing, gossiping, praying..The tomb of Suleiman the Magnificent is here, taller than any other, amongst the immaculate flowers..and the best roof terrace with the best view of the city...Read more

  • Kate CarraraBalkan backpackTraveler
    Our home for the night
    Our roomMy bed, and Arthur, my 35 year old companionChurch of ConstantineIcons...mostly St GeorgeRoman amphitheatre, still in useJust won a folk singing contestOld PlovdivThe Ethnographic museum explaining the symbolism of each colour and designBalkan bagpipesTraditional interior

    Plovdiv

    July 16, 2022 in Bulgaria ⋅ ☀️ 32 °C

    Back to Bulgaria and its oldest inhabited town, on the rolling Thracian plains below the blue distant Rhodope mountains..Thracian then Macedonian (Alexander's dad liked it so much he named it after himself: Phillipopolis), Bulgarian, Ottoman, briefly even French, finally back to the Bulgars...Huge scale Roman remains and a picturesque 19th century old merchant town quarter (our fabulous hostel was one of these houses), plus a buzzing fairy-lit artists' quarter of bars, cafes, restaurants..a delightRead more

  • Kate CarraraBalkan backpackTraveler
    Waiting for the Sofia train, still not sure how to get to Thessaloniki
    Greece!!!The White Tower, Ottoman prison and emblem of the citySomewhere over the bay is Mt OlympusJewish baths..a tiny community remains in city after the Nazi occupationBagoutsa...with cinnamon cream, spinach or cheese..from Smyrna and the Byzantine empireThe Greek marketAristotelos Square..the city was rebuilt with French help after 1917 fire, then earthquake in 1970sForum, baths and stadium from Galerius, 3rd c. ADThe Rotunda - Galerius' mausoleum, then a church and a mosqueEnormous and originally covered in glorious mosaicsHot but happy

    Thessaloniki

    July 18, 2022 in Greece ⋅ ⛅ 25 °C

    So the bus from Plovdiv didn't turn up, or didn't exist, or we somehow missed it despite being there 40 minutes early..lots of possible scenarios to work through, til we ended up jumping on the last train to Sofia, finding a willing taxi driver and heading off through the night to Thessaloniki...crossing the border at 1 in the morning, through the forests and down into Macedonia (Greece..another part of the Byzantine empire, Ottoman overrule and Balkan nationalist tragedy/puzzle). Arrived around 3am, grateful our bike tour of the city was postponed so we could go back to bed for a bit..first impressions of harsh light, massive modern characterless blocks, large and busy and flat - but the gorgeous afternoon light, wonderful Miriam (our guide) and fascinating history changed that - oh, and the amazing food..Read more

  • Kate CarraraBalkan backpackTraveler
    Just add a minaret to turn your ancient church into a handy mosque
    Turkish bathsVenizelos, liberatorGalerius' archThe umbrella installationAt the White TowerDelicious local supper including mussels, sausages, moussaka, meatballs,mastica..

    More Thessaloniki

    July 18, 2022 in Greece ⋅ ☀️ 29 °C

    Thracians, Macedonians (Alex was from this side!), Romans, Byzantines, Ottomans, Jews from Spain, the Greek diaspora, forced exchanges of population, nation state, fire, wars, earthquakes and now financial crisis, Syrian refugees and Covid. Phew..three different markets and quarters (Greek Christian, Jewish, Turk). Bullets in the now defunct Jewish market where so many thousands were rounded up and sent to Auschwitz. So many buildings still empty. Delight at freedom from Turkish rule and paranoia (justified?) about Turkish aggression still very real. Small nation states with big back stories and ethnic/religious identities struggling to stay afloat as pawns of the bigger powers. Nothing much changes.Read more

  • Kate CarraraBalkan backpackTraveler
    AugustusIvy wreath of goldColoured perfume vases buried with high profile ThessalonikianScraps of the oldest papyrus ever discoveredWalking the old walls up on AnapolisValaton monastery..with peacocksSt John'sStunning mosaic of beardless Christ, rivers of paradise, beasts, rainbow, 12cVotive offerings to St Demetrious at his shrineSunken church - Ottoman rule to be lower than mosquesWaiting 2.5 hours for the delayed express to AthensMount Olympus from the train

    Thessaloniki - Athens

    July 19, 2022 in Greece ⋅ ☀️ 30 °C

    Eva and I toured the wonderful archeological museum in the early morning, battles with Amazons and lions, ancient papyrus, very fine gold work, real hair still attached in a thick blonde braid to a 3rd c BC skull, 8000 years of human history and movement from the plains, the mountains and the sea, always a mix of peoples in this prized port city, opulence and war. Freedom from the Ottomans still keenly felt..quiet monastic corners, hidden glories on the hill down to the square-built modern harbour, lunch on the market and off to play cards waiting for the train - burago, we call it, birimba, said the Greek train guard...Athens by night with the treasure trail of address, key box, stairs, door...Read more

  • Kate CarraraBalkan backpackTraveler
    Greek agora
    Statues of the TitansTemple of Hephaiston - god of metal working - Rico's god!View up to the AcropolisDetail on that beard!Nike (statue) v. Puma (shoes)The Stoa walkway, reconstructed to show dimensions and graceRico at Roman forum - a kind of commercial mall extension to the older AgoraRoman forum - builders inspectingMarble colomns of Hadrian's library

    Athens!

    July 20, 2022 in Greece ⋅ ☀️ 27 °C

    A tour of the best of the old stuff, powered by gyros and salad, tzatziki, meatballs, courgette fritters and stuffed aubergines..To the Greek Agora below the acropolis, the later Roman Forum and Hadrian's library, marble and blue, olive trees and cicadas..Read more

  • Kate CarraraBalkan backpackTraveler
    MonasterikiBig chuch, baby churchOld Athens and newChanging of the Guard by the Tomb of the Unknown SoldierPalace gardensHadrian's Arch marking boundary between Roman and Greek citiesArch with AcropolisZeus with his templeLunch in Plaka

    Athens 2

    July 20, 2022 in Greece ⋅ ☀️ 30 °C

    Athens early afternoon - with cats and tzatziki - waiting for less heat and fewer people at the Parthenon..

  • Kate CarraraBalkan backpackTraveler

    The Parthenon and Popi

    July 20, 2022 in Greece ⋅ 🌙 26 °C

    The Acropolis with light and glorious views, white marble and stone, gentle breeze, much joy in beauty. Olive tree of Athena, caryatids, the Elgin fiasco, temples restored entirely since my first visit in..hmm..1989..met up spontaneously with Popi, who left Düsseldorf 15 years ago before Eva was born, sooo lovely..and finished a day of light and culture with a hot date at the 24h laundromat..Read more

  • Kate CarraraBalkan backpackTraveler
    Livadia, with the river, plane trees, oracle, Ottoman defences, Catalan castle
    Cypress trees on the roadWayside shrines, often in the shape of an Orthodox church, mark accident sitesWe did not see any leaping wild boar on the road, unfortunatelyAt DelphiWild boar - 600 BCFrieze from Treasury at DelphiNaxian SphinxOne of several models of the navel of the world- where it all beganDelphi - the Sacred Way to the Temple of ApolloNavel in situAthenian treasury, full of votive offerings to Apollo

    On the way to Delphi

    July 21, 2022 in Greece ⋅ ☀️ 27 °C

    On a day trip to Delphi - Eva and I couldn't exit the metro at the airport where we picked up the hire car, and were helped by a muttering, pass-waving cleaning lady, definitely Hermes coming to our aid...via Levadia, mountains and clear mountain streams, iced coffee by the water, twisted ancient shady plane trees, elegant Ottoman stone bridges, peace and beauty on a small but intensely satisfying scale. Want to explore up the gorge and the Oracle cave, but no time for everything, so tell a little conscious lie that will do it "next time"..met a cotton farmer over coffee and wondered at the rocks (Greece is rocks and sea and sky) and marching dark pencils of the cypresses, like the lances of petrified pagan warriors of old..past Mt Parnassos and plains of olives to Delphi...Read more

  • Kate CarraraBalkan backpackTraveler
    The wall of the Temple of ApolloOn the Sacred WayThe brother of the column in IstanbulAmphitheatre above the templeThe stadium, with starting blocks and finish lineFamous actors

    Delphi

    July 21, 2022 in Greece ⋅ ☀️ 31 °C

    Delphi, major site of classic pilgrimage. A long processional way, steep uphill, votive offerings from cities and towns asking for patronage from the gods, located in the midst of natural splendour. Like religious sites all around the world, the entrance to a big temple in India, a sacred mountain in China, stations of the cross in Lourdes. Stunning setting, an amazing array of classical ruins from the 8th century BC through to Hadrian, Roman emperor, the weight of worship over millenia heavy in the hot, still air, the loud orchestra of cicadas, and just remembering: this is the Oracle of Delphi!! This is the navel of the world, where Zeus's birds met, where Apollo beat the Pythia, where priests interpreted the prophecies of the entranced oracle according to magic and politics and mystery, where the Pythian Games gathered athletes from the pan-hellenic world..where all the heroes came..in colour and confusion and offerings and souvenirs back then, enormous gaudy statues, heat, noise and the eternal beauty of the mountainsRead more

  • Kate CarraraBalkan backpackTraveler

    Galaxidi

    July 21, 2022 in Greece ⋅ 🌙 28 °C

    Back to Athens via an almighty plain of olives, red bauxite mine, bare cliffs and clear water - too inviting for Tony and Rico - to the very lovely Galaxidi, wonderful home cooked supper as the sun set over the harbour of what was once a large shipping centre and is now sleepy with yachts and cats and islands..Read more

  • Kate CarraraBalkan backpackTraveler
    Sea views
    Greek seasWaiting for ferry at PatrasBoardingGood nightBye for now..Train views on coast to Rimini

    Athens to Ancona

    July 22, 2022 in France ⋅ ☀️ 32 °C

    Interrail is great when there are trains...Metro to the main station in Athens, train to Kiato crossing the Corinth canal, another little local train to Aegio (appears on no timetable), where the new line is still being built, a taxi for ten minutes through gardens and villas by the sea, a bus from an unknown town, and another short taxi to the port..on board to Ancona. Lovely wide beds in our cabin, islands all around like a hero returning to Ithaca in the blue and sunset, sails, coastline, wind. Then a final meal in Ancona before Rico left for Rome, and us for Milan and Geneva...Read more

    Trip end
    July 24, 2022
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