The Ephesus Archeology Museum is closed for renovations. Thank heavens! After five straight days of wandering through ancient ruins, I think we've all hit our saturation point. It's not that I'm uninterested in seeing the few remaining relics of this former Byzantine capital that are not housed at the British Museum. Quite the contrary. It's just that my brain is simply full. I realized this yesterday when I forgot my own shoe size - a fact that hasn't ch...

When I was a young man, I carried my pack, and I lived the free life of a rover From the Murray's green basin, to the dusty Outback, I waltzed my Matilda all over Then in 1915, my country said "son, it's time to stop rambling, there's work to be done" So they gave me a tin hat and they gave me a gun, and they sent me away to the War And the band played Waltzing Matilda, as the ship pulled away from the quay And amidst all the cheers, flag waving and tears, w...

Although the tulip is widely considered to be a Dutch flower, its origins are Turkish. They were exported to Holland from here in the 17th century. We arrived in Istanbul at the start of the annual two week tulip festival. The streets, monuments, parks and shops are floating in a sea of purple, white, orange and yellow flowers that, from a distance, look like the icing of a colourful cake. The air is rich with their perfume. I feel like diving into one of th...

Unusual things remind us of the passage of time on a trip like this. Empty toothpaste and shampoo containers, haircuts, holes in socks and, this week, the comings and goings of eagerly-anticipated rendezvous with friends from home. In terms of the latter, we've managed to cross paths with friends from home every six weeks or so. Each and every one of them count among the absolute highlights of our trip. Our recent visit with the Pontin/Harris family in Turkey...

Veni, Vedi, Vici. Julius Caesar wrote these words to the Roman Senate not far from here fifty years before the birth of Christ. Three hundred years before that, Alexander the Great cut a path of destruction along the southern coast of Turkey then headed north to slice open the Gordian knot with his sword before conquering the rest of the known world. In addition to being lovely, friendly and warm, Turkey is an absolute gold mine for history junkies. We are s...