See here for Part 1 (Days 0 to 7)
See here for Part 2 (Days 8 to 14)
Saturday 15 October 1977 (Day 15)
Start: Delfi Youth Hostel
Finish: Sleep in car near Litokhoron
Mileage: 233
Cumulative Mileage: 3293
Weather: Cloudy and windy - bad weather
Out of the hostel by 8am, and looking around the antiquities of Delphi before the first coaches arrive. Good ruins. By the time I leave at midday, the weather has improved and the visitors are thronging. I keep bumping into Don and the West German.
Tree creepers, goldcrests and tits seen today.
Delphi - theatre in the Pythian Sanctuary
Above and below: Delphi - the stadium - C4-5
Delphi - the Temple of Apollo
Delphi - the Pythian Sanctuary with Treasury of the Athenians
Delphi - The Three Columns of Tholos in the Marmaria
Delphi - The Three Colomns of Tholos
Mountain road near Amphissa
View from the road to Lamia
A new temple near Farsala
Towards the end of the day, long avenues with red berries. Sunset over Mt Olympus, with a scubby foreground and distant jagged peaks.
Mount Olympus from near Litokhoron
Arrive in Larisa, a town apparently under construction, and find the youth hostel, but it is shut, and the hotels are too expensive. Continue towards Salonica, stopping up a side road at 8:45. Feel rather sad.
Sunday 16 October 1977 (Day 16)
Start: In car near Litokhoron
Finish: Kavalla campsite
Mileage: 131
Cumulative Mileage: 3424
Weather: Mixed - dull, rain, fine
Wake at 7am, leave for Salonika at 7:45, and reach Thessalonika around 8am. I'd been there before on the drive from Skopje to Athens. It's a busy place, I pass a marching band.
Salonica - The White Tower (1430)
Salonica - International Trade Fair
Salonica - an equestrian statue
Get a view of Kavalla after 107 miles, around midday. Prospect of Kavalla and Thasos looks good.
Kavalla, with Thassos
Overtaken by a British vehicle. Encounter a cycle race in rain, then it turns fine. Visit interesting ruins at nearby Philippi, dating from 300BC. Meet two NZ and two Aussies who are good company here.
Philippi - The Public Latrine
Philippi - Basilica B (C6)
Philippi - The Forum (108yd x 55yd)
Philippi - view from the Acropolis
Return to Kavalla, where the Old Citadel and the aqueduct are impressive.The minaret is apparently inaccessible.
Kavalla - The Old Citadel, with Byzantine walls
Kavalla - the aqueduct, from the Citadel
Kavalla seems to be full of people at 6pm, just like Salonica. Went to campsite after failing to find Hotel Atticus, which had been recommended. Worst pitch ever (solid earth/hardcore), but I'm hoping the showers will be hot. Go for a rather poor paella meal. Very 'Greek'. Never mind, not a bad day.
Monday 17 October 1977 (Day 17)
Start: Kavalla campsite
Finish: Kavalla campsite
Mileage: 12
Cumulative Mileage: 3436
Weather: Fine
A rest day around Kavalla. £10 - gets 630Drachma. Considered giving blood for more money, but failed to organise that.
Kavalla - the aqueduct from the east
Kavalla, from near the campsite
Top Deck Travel (buses), Intertrek (lorry), Budget, Kontiki, and others - on the campsite - all heading to Kathmandu. Kavalla is their first decent stop since leaving London. I'm not sure of their route from London - Bob Selig will know.
I chat with the Land Rover brigade, who say they would not have risked the route I took through Pec, as landslides frequently block that road.
I meet another John, and get through quite a bit of Retcina, though I decline a visit to a house of ill repute.
Tuna for tea, and a nice slab left over for tomorrow.
Late in the evening, a commotion as the Longbridge motor plant workers return from their night out and one of them is sick over their taxi driver.
Kavalla sunrise
Tuesday 18 October 1977 (Day 18)
Start: Kavalla campsite
Finish: Kavalla campsite
Mileage: 6
Cumulative Mileage: 3442
Weather: Sunny
Early ferry to Thasos. Met Kate, John and Terry from Budget Bus, who arrived on a later ferry.
Thasos - the coastline near Prino
Thasos - the harbour, Limen
Cooked a big slab of tuna and produced it from a pocket for a shared lunch, much to Kate's amazement.
Lunch on Thasos
[Featuring mother's wonderful frying pan that I used for many years before accidentally leaving it in a holiday cottage in Scotland.]
Nice island, good company, not a bad day.
Thasos - the sanctuary of Poseidon
Wednesday 19 October 1977 (Day 19)
Start: Kavalla campsite
Finish: Istanbul - Kartal, with Tayfun Akkaya
Mileage: 239
Cumulative Mileage: 3681
Weather: Another beautiful day
Up at 7am, left Kavalla at 8am after paying for 3 nights camping. Spent an hour at Xanthia in nice weather. Should have taken more photos.
A street in Xanthi
Picked up hitchhikers Adrian and Gillian and kept playing 'Dark Side of the Moon'. That and numerous other tapes were eventually left with Tayfun as a reward for his hospitality. There is a black market for them in Turkey.
Adrian and Gillian got us through Customs and into Turkey, by-passing lots of coaches. They had done this before. Who knows what they were smuggling in this time!
Turkish landscape near Tekirdag
Smog over Istanbul. Barren but cultivated Turkish countryside. Kept seeing a CZ car a long way from home. Admired Byzantine art. Arrived in Istanbul 5pm, and made our way to the Blue Mosque.
Tayfun and Nijip (his school friend from Ankara) turned up outside Café Aya Sofia at 6pm. Went over the bridge over the Bosphorus and into Asia, reaching Tayfun's home around 8pm. Lovely meal with Tayfun's sister and parents. It's a two bed flat and I have a room to myself. Tayfun's dad has been in the forces, so they are relatively well off.
Tayfun's house: Beyaz Villa cad. Horozoglu apartment no:21/4, Kartal.
Thursday 20 October 1977 (Day 20)
Start: Kartal, with Tayfun Akkaya
Finish: Kartal, with Tayfun Akkaya
Mileage: 0
Cumulative Mileage: 3681
Weather: Lovely and sunny
Tayfun and Nijip gave me a great guided tour. Shame no photo of Nijip. Decided to stay until Monday, then rush back home. Saw many folk heading for Kathmandu. Budget Buses, Top Deck Travel, and many more.
Got 11am ferry across Bosphorus, returning at 7pm. (Train from Kartal to the ferry.) Visited various mosques, including,Blue, Sophia, Suleymaniye, archaeology museum. Plus various fountains. Nice lunch.
Played billiards in a billiard hall. Tayfun is a leading player in Istanbul.
Istanbul - the old railway station on the Asian side
Istanbul - the European side from the Bosphorus
Istanbul - view up the Bosphorus towards the 1074 metre bridge
Above and below: Istanbul - view towards Europe
Istanbul - The Fountain of Wilhelm II
Above: The Obelisk of Theodosius (3000 year old Egyptian Column)
Below: the Byzantine base of the Obelisk
Blue Mosque from the entrance
Blue Mosque - courtyard (Sultanahmet Mosque - 1609-19)
Saint Sophia (Aya Sofya) mosque - 4th largest church in the world, dating from 537
Blue Mosque from the Imperial Gate (outer gate of the Topkapi Palace)
Istanbul - the Archaeological Museum (1880)
Above and below: Suleymaniye Mosque (1557)
Friday 21 October 1977 (Day 21)
Start: Kartal, with Tayfun Akkaya
Finish: Kartal, with Tayfun Akkaya
Mileage: 0
Cumulative Mileage: 3681
Weather: Cloudy
Got in to Istanbul for 11am and went to Tayfun's English class at the University. The teacher, Boyd Johnson, an American, made me talk to the students about 'proper' (not American) English and its pronounciations.
Then we visited various places, including Topkapi Palace, Kariye Mosque, Felhije Mosque and the Bazaar.
Above and below: Main street, Taxim
Above and below: views from Topkapi Palace
Kariye Mosque (pre 400AD)
12 public transports today, hopping on and off, many standing. Another long day. Great food, and I had a good shower. Saw more 'budgeteers' from Kavalla days (including Kontiki).
2 comments:
Superb trip. A fantastic part of the world.
Thanks Alan
I'm really only posting it here because it's a convenient way of transferring text from a spreadsheet into a form that can be copied and pasted into a photobook. An enjoyable exercise though - one of many...
M
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