My Big Adventures
Currently: kiteboarding Western Australia
Guest Speaker at Meet Plan Go!
Archive for the ‘Europe’ Category
Istanbul for the weekend
While a weekend in Istanbul is not long enough to fully explore and immerse yourself into the fascinating city, it is possible to see many of the cities sites thanks to a great public transportation system and easy to navigate streets. My good friend Evelien flew from the Netherlands to spend a long weekend with me […]
Süleymaniye Mosque in Istanbul, Turkey
Photo of the week: Süleymaniye Mosque as seen from Hamdi Restaurant in Istanbul, Turkey. To see more photos of Istanbul, Turkey CLICK HERE.
Cappadocia (Kapadokya) in Three Days
The balloon ascended slowly with the rising sun. My sleepy eyes widened in wonder as our immense basket floated across the most unusual terrain I had ever seen. The earth below seemed alien, the scenery surreal. A sprawling lunar landscape of canyons, tall rock cliffs, and curious penile formations among a fertile valley blossoming cherry and […]
Population Exchange between Turkey & Greece
Can you even imagine a day in which the ruler of your country says that you and over a million of your neighbors have to relocate … to another country? That is exactly what happened in 1923, known as the “population exchange” between Greece and Turkey. After WWI, the Ottoman Empire fell apart leading to […]
Lycian Tomb of Amyntas
Photo of the week: Lycian Tomb of Amyntas, built in 4th Century B.C, carved into into sheer rock on a cliff above Fethiye, Turkey. On its walls is written in Greek letters “Amyntou tou Ermagiou”, telling us that Amyntas was the son of Hermagios. This tomb is the largest and highest, so we can assume Amyntas was a very […]
Ölüdeniz NO Butterfly Valley YES
Barfing in a bag on a bus would prove to be a bad omen. I blamed the hamburger I ate my last night in Egypt for my upchuck, and considered once again becoming a traveling vegetarian. Dasha tried to comfort me with the image of a stunning blue lagoon on the cover of her guidebook, […]
Turkey. A new country in an old land
TURKEY Where East meets West Where legends like Alexander the Great use to roam Where the Trojan War took place Where ancient ruins tell stories Where dynasties and cultural legacies are still prevalent in a modern times By far one of the most fascinating countries I have ever visited! Turkey is a new country in […]
Destined for Turkey
“Give your phone to a Turk and I will give mine to one too. They can talk and figure out where we both are,” Dasha suggested in a creative attempt to find me. It had seemed like an easy enough plan to meet each other at the Otogar (bus station) in Izmir to begin our […]
When in Venice …
ride in a gondola! Sure, it may be one of the most cliché, touristy things to do in entire world, but there really is something magical in gliding past ancient palaces and marveling at magnificent Venetian engineering and architecture. A gondola ride through the narrow canals of the floating city has long been romanticized, and […]
Embracing fear on a Euro Motorbike Tour
The red bike leaned sharply as we ascended the winding mountain road. I clung to Thomas, my arms wrapped tightly around his waist. We were near the border of Austria and Italy, approaching yet another mountain pass. So far I had enjoyed myself, despite my initial hesitations to ride on the back of my boyfriend’s […]
What is the capital of Switzerland?
Do you know what city is the capital of Switzerland? I didn’t until my recent trip to the land of cheese and chocolate. If you had asked me, I would have guessed Zurich or Geneva and I would have been wrong. The capital of Switzerland is Bern, a city of about 140,000 people making it […]