Yasas!

Writing this from Edinburgh having returned from our fabulous three and a half weeks in Turkey and the Greek Islands. We are sad to have to cover up our suntan's as we faced the remains of the Scottish summer!

We had a fairly eventful start to the trip as we got to Edinburgh airport for our evening flight to London (to catch the 6.30am flight to Istanbul) to discover it had been cancelled and our only option was to hire a car and drive to Gatwick! After

We had a great three days in Istanbul doing the sights, enjoying the weather, great food although we did struggle with Raki, the national drink. Visited mosques, palaces, cruised on the Bosphorous (the dividing point between Europe and Asia) and generally enjoyed the hussle and bustle of the city.

The other major reason for visiting Turkey was so Mal could go to Gallipoli to see where his granddad landed, faught (and survived) with the Scottish Regiment and to do all the Aussie memorials as well. We discovered on arrival that the area where Scottish Regiments landed is not easily accessible and had to do some negotiating but in the end got a private guide to drive us to the area. We had to walk through fields and scramble down a hilldside but found the beach and the battle site. We also visited a nearby cemetery filled with Scottish soldiers. It was a unique experience. In the afternoon we joined a tour of the ANZAC memorials (Nat having visited in 2003) and that also was a moving and memorable experience.

Our last stop in Turkey was the town of Selcuk which is near the Temple of Artemis (one of the 7 Wonders of the Ancient World, but now only a few boulders!) and the amazing City of Ephesus (best preserved classical city in the Eastern Med).

From here we caught the ferry to the Greek Isles and after a stop off for a night on Samos, arrived at Paros. As is often the case, we had not fully researched this part of the trip and soon discovered that being the peak of the European summer season, accomodation costs were high. As a result, we stayed 11 nights on Paros in a camping ground next to the beach and had a wonderful relaxing time. We both think we have not spent so long on holiday since we were kids. Many days were spent dealing with the hardship of lying on the beach, swimming in the Agean sea and struggling to get the odd refreshment! We also enjoyed a day hiring a four wheel scooter and took in the sights of the island.

After Paros, we headed for four memorable days to Santorini, enjoying the luxury of a room and private bathroom and spent time on the black lava beaches (due to the it being a volcanic island) which were three minutes walk from our accomodation. We spent time in the unique clifftop village of Oia (see photos!), the place to go for sunset addicts. We also hired a four wheel scooter to tour the island and visit the Red Beach and various towns.

Our final stop was the much more touristy island of Mykanos from where we had to catch our place back to the UK. the cheapest accomodation was still very expensive at 50 Euro's for a steelframed tent with electricity and two beds in a large camping ground full of young drunken English backpackers!! The town of Mykanos itself was lovely with winding whitewashed pedestrian streets (built to confuse pirates in days gone by).

To bring us full circle, our flight from Gatwick to Edinburgh was delayed by five hours on Friday night, which had us getting back to our flat around 2am!

We had a wonderful summer with amazing contrasts in Russia, Turkey and the Greek Isles and did not wear a jumper or trousers in any country for the whole time (almost like at Aussie summer!).

Hope you're all well!