Author Archives: dipidydoo
Orienteering in Belgrade Forest
Today we had to change mode from sightseeing tourists to elite sports people (well ok forget the elite part). Time to dig out the spikes, gaiters, compasses (thanks to our Melbourne friends for lending us northern hemisphere ones) and SI sticks. Pete and I had to be at the event site by 9am to take […]
The Vengeance of a Mad God
Istanbul 30.10.12 Our first full day out and about in Istanbul showed it to be the result of the mixing of many cultures over several millennia. We “did” the Blue Mosque early to beat the queues and found it as superb as oft reported. Walked several side streets and admired the queue for the Aya […]
Bosphorus Cruising
We cast a wary eye to the skies this morning but they were blue and benign so it was off to catch a ferry up the Bosphorus. This used to be the public ferry run until they realised that all the tourists were catching it because it was so much cheaper than the private cruise […]
Gallipoli – Windswept and (Extremely) Interesting
In the words of my favourite Scotsman Billy Connolly, our tour of Gallipoli was most windswept and very interesting. Having left Pete and Ilze to their own devices in Istanbul, we were luxuriating in our huge hotel room in Eceabat with a panoramic view over the Dardanelles. We think this came about because Ian’s lunch […]
Passing Ships of the Desert
Sultanahmet Sunday 28th. Ilze will write at length about Dubai, suffice it to say at the Non Ian G end of the spectrum, we found it hot and oppressive, garish and crass. Look for Ilze’s photos from the Egyptian themed shopping centre in coming issues and the only camel we saw was in bright yellow fibreglass. […]
Minarets and Trojan Horses
On our second evening in Istanbul we found another very good restaurant where they catered for Ian. Next morning it took a while to get out of bed, and we spent some time on the net trying to find a bigger supermarket or somewhere else to get a better range of food. With the four […]
Istanbul Arrival
It’s been an interesting and challenging couple of days. On Wednesday night we stayed in a tiny but clean and quite comfortable room near Gare du Nord, handy for our train trip to the airport in the morning. Food options for Ian were limited so we just ate leftovers and went to bed. In the […]
If it’s Wednesday it must be Belgium …
The Albion Hotel in Iepers/Ypres was very comfortable and not overheated like most other hotels here. Pete picked us up for our third and final day of touring the Western Front, concentrating on the Ypres Salient area. It was another lovely day so we have been really lucky. First we walked to the Menin Gate […]
Tale of Two Mates
A heavy fog had descended on Amiens overnight, and the air was damp with condensation. As we drove higher the blanket lifted to another sunny autumn day. Something I hadn’t thought about was the foliage – we have seen plenty of leaf colour. They are falling rapidly as the temperature is about to plummet later […]
The Western Front day 1
Rue de la Roquette is certainly a much quieter street at 6.15am, and it was a good time to be trundling heavy suitcases, without the usual endless flow of people and traffic. We negotiated the metro to Gare du Nord then headed upstairs to stand under the huge, old fashioned Departures board, waiting to see […]
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