World Tour 2012

Plumbing in Istanbul

Fri, 10 Aug 2012 14:18:00 +0100

Lurking just below the central Istanbul tourist-police/information office is a vast hall awash in silky darkness; sort of a flooded Moria (sorry, I can’t help it with the LOTR references) initially used to store much of the old citys’ water. Now the romantically lit columns and vaulted ceilings loom high over tourists and an ancient population of carp who jostle and bump each other blindly in the shallow pools of dim illumination.

Either the original builders were strapped for materials and stole from other monuments of the time (not an uncommon story), or they had a quirky sense of humour, as in a far corner are two columns bolstered at the bases by weirdly orientated Medusa heads. Fortunately the magic seems to have left her eyes; we remained flesh.

An Ode to Baklava

Fri, 10 Aug 2012 13:43:58 +0100

Baklava is definitely my new favourite thing. Sara and I can’t get enough of the stuff at the moment, which abounds in all flavours and colours, so long as it’s walnut or toasted coconut brown, or pistachio green. Mmm pistachios. Honey. And how better to serve baklava than alongside pistachio ice-cream!?

We bought this mixed box at a specialist baklava shop in downtown central Istanbul, it’s good to go in there and look indecisive about what you want to put into it, since the cooks urge you to sample all the flavours first for free :-) Super cheap too, maybe €4 for this more than ample selection (which we promptly scoffed back at the hotel - notice the bites taken before we came to our senses and remembered to take a photo)

Despite all of this decadent dessert consumption, we both seem to be losing the bellies we acquired in western europe. (I’m looking especially at you Portugal) Seems to be down to lots of fresh vegetables and finally some sensible serving sizes.

Blue Mosque

Sun, 05 Aug 2012 19:11:58 +0100

A temple to God but also work of the vanity of men, as it was built to outshine its rival Ayasofya. It is still used as a temple and it closes during praying times; it doesn’t take long to get used to the call to prayer but Istanbul has definitely the most epic callings – they might take up to 10 minutes to complete and the reverb and pitch changes surpass the rivals (well, not exactly rivals) all over the country.

The name Blue Mosque is given by the blue tiles inside but in all fairness, the Palace was far, far bluer. More info about it here.

In case you are wondering about Islam, I recommend a read on it. Allah is the same god as the Christian and Jewish God, Jesus is a Muslim prophet and most of the principles are pretty similar.

Ayasofya

Sun, 05 Aug 2012 18:40:00 +0100

The number of attractions by square meter in Suntanahmet is something unbelievable, and you can spend days wandering around. We do recommend not trying to do everything in one round as it can be terribly overwhelming – there is nothing worse than gazing around due to aesthetic exhaustion.

This church turned mosque turned museum is one of the oldest buildings around, dating from the 4th century. Most of the Christian paintings were covered when the church was converted into a mosque but you can still see some frescos and mosaics from that era. The access to the upper floor done via a ramp - good to know that, at the time, there were already accessibility constraints! More info here.

Topkapı Palace and the Harem

Sun, 05 Aug 2012 18:05:00 +0100

The Palace could be defined, for us, in two words: pattern porn. Jon and I (or me and Jon, as I like to say in my broken english) went all wild when we got in and realized that all over the walls and ceilings were patterns, patterns, and more patterns. Screaming like little Japanese girls, we grabbed our cameras and aimed at our targets, shooting as if the world, digital cameras and tiled patterns were about to come to an end.

What we mean with this is, if you are not interested in patterns, you might want to skip this post ;) We decided to set up a Flickr account (André, dude, thanks for the tip) because we have an outrageous number of patterns photos and they are quite, quite nice (blame ~~Jon’s stupid camera~~ our nice camera).

Shopping for Wedding Rings

Sun, 29 Jul 2012 19:11:58 +0100

I know things have been quiet around here for a while, and we have our reasons for that. Sara and I have been together a while now, and people might think we’re crazy but it seems like the right time* to buy ~~fake~~ ahem ‘un-truthful, sham or fictitious’ wedding rings to avoid unnecessary cultural misunderstandings and associated issues whilst traveling in certain countries. At time of purchase we were still planning on visiting India, which was the primary driver of this important life decision, as we’d been advised that it could be wise in order to avoid friction with the locals.

We dutifully trawled the silver markets in the Grand Bazaar looking for something not too blinged out (not easy, they loves the bling in Turkey), eventually settling on two simple silver bands.

Sara wasn’t able to find a good fit, so a silver-smith took her measurements, pulled out a trusty blow-torch, some pliers and other assorted smithing tools, and whipped one up on the spot for her in a just few minutes while we watched, which was pretty neat, and all for about €9.

As for Sara and I, we’ve never been happier!

*Now that we’re past the character limit of a summary when posted to social networks… ;-)

Istanbul Dance Night

Sun, 29 Jul 2012 19:09:00 +0100

After some deliberation and hesitation between the Whirling Dervishes and a Turkish Dance Night, we finally decided on the latter, partially because it included a belly dancing part. It is definitely worth it for the great live music and the visual show - we were pleasantly surprised with the male belly dancer!

The lady is obviously kamehameha-ing/hadoukening us

Pilgrimage for the perfect pants

Sun, 29 Jul 2012 18:16:00 +0100

Since Spain, we’ve both spent a disproportionate amount of time in shops that feature baggy (AKA Harem) pants (‘trousers’ for those of you in the UK; we still like to wear our underwear on the inside thank you). Sara in particular has been on an on-going mission to find the perfect pair of these loose-fitting marvels forged from cool 100% cotton, engraven of swirling psychedelic paisley patterns.

The quest finally met its end in Istanbul, where not only are the pants of high quality (poly-cotton blends misses the whole loose-breathing-fabric point of these garments) but also designed for shorter (or as I am quick to emphasise – average) people. I even purchased a pair for myself. Oh, the freedom! It feels like I’m not even wearing pants at all, such is the sensation of the gentle breeze brushing my inner-thighs… But I digress.

Despite their empirical awesomeness and practicality of these wonder-pants for this climate, the Turkish seem to have forsaken their superior native fashions for jeans and so, so many tight polo-shirts. People look at the pair of us with some bemused curiosity as we pass by empantalooned, presumably we look like the equivalent of young people in the west using tweed grandpa pants.

Fine, whatever, your loss Turkey – but for your sake I hope that like the aforementioned tweed, baggy pants make a hipster comeback in this part of the world. Maybe one day nike will even make shoes with curled up toes to complement them.

Sara in Harem pants, in the Harem. Ooh la!

Quirkynesses of Istanbul

Wed, 25 Jul 2012 10:05:59 +0100

Istanbul has a very interesting vibe going on: the old stands side by side with the new, and walking through the narrow streets of Sultanahmet – the old city – is quite an experience. We spent most of our nights in a local neighbourhood where cats hung out, kids still play on the streets and ladies shopped in a local food market.

We found an art gallery on a street full of goodness – my baggy pants shop is there and the top of the street has a row of reconstructed traditional wooden Ottoman houses. The studio had a very Shoreditch feeling going on, with the tiny difference that no one was listening to vinyls on a portable turntable and trying to look ironic. Some of the abstract paintings were really nice and would work awesomely on a wall; yes, if you have a free wall, this is a hint ;)

Unfortunately I can’t decode the name of the gallery but the location is exact.

Istanbul

Wed, 25 Jul 2012 09:16:00 +0100

After the packed, touristy Rome, Istanbul was a charming place to land. Turkish fellas are quite nice and helpful – we had a bit of a problem when we arrived, as Jon didn’t have the address or contact number of our accommodation, though we knew it would be nearby. The chap from a snack-bar nearby approached us and asked if we needed help – coming from Rome and Barcelona, this is the kind of thing that freaks you out. He kindly provided us with the wifi password of the café (yes, it’s eeeeeeverywhere) and called the owner of our accommodation, who happened to have a mini-market on the other side of the street. We got some drinks there as a sign of appreciation but our “landlord” insisted in paying for them. Even if the sympathy is there only because tourists bring money - as a young waiter told us - there are gazillions of touristy places in the world where people don’t make any efort - so, thumbs up, Turkish people.

Turks like to have their nightly walks in parks and gardens and walking around after dinner time is a pleasant experience; there are a lot of kids running around and you see a different side of the city. We passed an ice-cream stand where a young man in a funky outfit was performing tricks with a cone, pretending to drop it but grabbing it on the last moment - to great despair of the lady he was serving and great amusement of the crowd. The ice cream is fished using long metal rods and the funky outfit seem to be common to all ice-cream waiters.

The touts are not very insistent and the quality of products is better than in “similar” countries like Marrakesh and Egypt. You pay more but in general it is a worthwhile trade-off. Istanbul has a few bazaars and speciality shops where you can buy clothes, tiles, glass lamps, and jewellery. The amount of gold, silver and gems in some areas of the Grand Bazaar is almost unbelievable, and you better use sunglasses, or you might be blinded by the shininess ;) (♫ Bliiinded by the light ♫, anyone?)

A kedi (cat) chilling out on the entrance of the blue mosque

A post about Istanbul wouldn’t be complete without the mention of cats. They are everywhere, in all kinds, colours and shapes. Most of them are quite young and skinny but the locals don’t seem to mind them and even throw some leftovers at them. As you walk by the streets you can hear people of all nationalities suddenly screaming “Miau!” (or Meow, or Nian, whatever takes your fancy) and grabbing they cameras to take photos of their new found friends.

And a furry eared pisi (kitty)

Colosseum and Palatino

Wed, 11 Jul 2012 10:46:00 +0100

Unfortunately we didn’t have time to visit the Colosseum and Palatino. You can get guided tours to the Colosseum but not to the Palatino which is a shame, as it would be very interesting visiting the ancient ruins and have them explained; they certainly have a lot to tell - Nero was one of its inhabitants. There might me some external companies providing the tours, check online and read some reviews - then you can make up your mind and decide if it is worthy or not.

The plaque was erected later by a pope and it is a memorial to the martyrs that died in the name of an impure superstition, killed by impious people. Something along those lines - that’s how far my Latin goes.

At this point Jon decided to make fun of me and asked if I had enough photos from all sides of the Colosseum

The Palatino area doesn’t have many visitors and it is a good area to run away from the crowds and let your imagination run wild. The ruins can be quite exposed but part of that area was converted into a garden, so you can sit under the funky trees (sadly we don’t know their name, if you do please let us know), grab your snack and chill out.

Nearby there’s also the Hippodrome - also ruins - and the Roman Forum, surrounded by a nice garden where locals walk their dogs and kids play with water pistols.

We were calmly walking back from the Hippodrome when we heard a bunch of sirens; we looked back and there were a few police bikes, followed by police cars vainly attempting to stop the traffic (Roman driving is…interesting). We finally saw what the police was escorting: the bus of the Italian selection, who lost the final against Spain on the night before. The bus was followed by a high speed Maserati, probably with the coach or someone important. Exciting moments during the end of the afternoon

Saint Peter's Basilica

Wed, 11 Jul 2012 09:22:00 +0100

Still inside the Vatican you can find St Peter’s basilica, built in the same “look and choke” style as the surroundings. The basilica is simply huge, and you can only get an idea of its dimensions when you enter it.

See the little ants on the entry?

Vatican – all the weird things

Tue, 10 Jul 2012 15:54:00 +0100

Vatican does deserve a visit, if only to choke at the opulence. It is epic and decadent at the same time. You can appreciate art from everywhere in the world that was kindly “liberated” over the centuries.

If you are almost fainting with the idea of seeing the Sistine Chapel you’ll be very disappointed. Don’t get us wrong, it is probably quite nice but by the time you get there you are already aesthetically anaesthetised by the never ending corridors with rich painted ceilings and decorated with sculptures and paintings.

The Vatican has, however, a few interesting rooms - we speak by ourselves, but after a lifetime seeing classic art all over the place, it gets to a point where it is more of the same. There is an animals’ room full of random statues of animals, and there’s also quite a comprehensive collection of Phoenician art - thumbs up for the awesome pottery. Keep your heads up, as most of the ceilings are pretty damn epic, and in some cases the best part of a room.

Top tip: Buy your tickets online or go during the lunchtime to avoid the massive queues - otherwise you’ll end up paying the touts to get in.

Animals Room

Say wha?

Animals in general - because artists seem to like them

Phoenician Art

~~Cocks~~ Roasters are everywhere

Ceilings

This one is an illusion; there are no protruded elements, it is all painted. You can see a few of those in Vatican, pretty impressive.

Mosaics

Romans like to rip-off everything, including the color scheme of our blog ; )

Statues

Remember those History of Art classes?

Dude with awesome facial hair

Daniel Craig when he went on a mission as James Bond to the past. True story, bros.

The mighty J and the mighty arm

Duuuude, I’m too wasted.

Paintings

Quite liked the animals at the bottom of this painting

Again, the Vatican had some really weird animal related stuff.

And last but not the least…

We’re trying to find words to describe the magnificence of this Photoshop work. Did you ever think you would see Ratzinger like this? Neither did we.

Eating in Roma

Tue, 10 Jul 2012 14:16:00 +0100

The food in Rome is pretty simple, but it’s honest, and good. If you can find somewhere inconspicuous on a side street off the main drag, it’s probably a better bet; the food will be superior and cheaper and they might charge you only 80c for an espresso instead of a downright insulting €2.50 that many touristy places on main streets felt they could get away with. (We’re talking about single shot espresso here)

Typical cold mezze platter - big on the courgette, and large delicious slabs of fresh mozzarella. This picture was taken at La Forchetta d´Oro, just around the corner from our accommodation.

We had this great snack at a little place we discovered while walking back into town from the Vatican - Officina Biologica an organic cafe. We were lucky enough to get some orders whipped up by a top italian chef who was visiting to train some staff as a favour to the owner - best spagetti pesto ever, fresh organic pasta, tons of parmesan, and some thinly sliced raw salmon in olive oil with pink pepper corns was just what we needed, and reasonably priced too!

I think my favourite thing about the italian pizza is the awesome bases they do on them - the toppings range from just mediocre to okay, and hey, at least this one had artichoke. Another found really near from our hotel, the pub/restaurant Black Falcon di Sili e Natale.

Rome – The beer situation

Tue, 10 Jul 2012 13:42:00 +0100

After a stinking hot day in Rome (high of 34°C today, and in fairness, the stink part does seem to be emanating from our own sandled feet) all you can really think of is a nice cold beer. Unfortunately that’s not quite as easy as it sounds in this expensive city. We found the pint index completely off the charts, with many resturants and cafés charging €8 for 0.4L! (That’s about $12.65 for those of you in NZ)
Despite our thirst, we weren’t willing to part with so much of our cash for only a momentary respite, and resorted to buying our beer at McDonalds because we are just that classy. (OH by incredulous American teenager in line behind us “Oh, you can buy beeeer here?!”)

In case the metaphor isn’t clear, we are the donkey, and the donkeys’ throat is our wallet

Rome

Tue, 10 Jul 2012 13:27:00 +0100

Views from the Vatican. Depressing, we know.

Rome has its beautiful spots and quirkinesses but you’ll find out that it takes a while to find them - particularly if you arrive on a hot, smokey day (there was a fire nearby) and take a bus to the city center. Rome has a serious, serious problem with traffic. There are cars eeeeverywhere, which is a shame, because almost all possible street space is road, and there aren’t as many nice piazza where you can sit and chill out.

Rome has also a lot of tourists and viewing some monuments might be a similar experience to being inside a sardine can, or on the tube in rush hour, if you prefer. If you want to see a bit of the “real” Rome, or at least what you imagine as the romanticised version of Rome, walk along the river from the Vatican to the city center and run away from the area around the Spanish Steps and the Trevi Fountain, as they are quite overpriced (Jon has a rant ready about the beer price) and full of tourists.

Before you drop your ideas of going to Rome we have to talk about the good parts: food is quite good for the price if you get it in the right places. Get ready to have loads of pasta, pizzas and anti-pasto. Most of the hotels are around the Termini station, known for being a slightly dodgy area, but if you are used to King’s Cross it is pretty much the same - McDonalds on the other side of the road, token bums and that kind of place where you don’t want to be at 4 a.m. unless you have to take that damn bus that will take you to the airport. Anyway, around Termini there are loads of good restaurants that are not overpriced and that are run by those big, cuddly guys and ladies - the quality of a restaurant, as we all know, is measured by the size of its cooks.

Barcelona in pictures

Sun, 08 Jul 2012 22:08:59 +0100

Here are a few more pictures from Barcelona - we know, not enough yet.

Parliament Park/Zoo

Hemp Museum

We’ve stumbled upon this museum during the lunch hours - when you want to be inside, in a cool, cool place or having a siesta. It seemed interesting so we gave it a go. Definitely worth a visit - who knew that hemp could be used for so many things? If you are curious, apart from its widely known use, it can be used to produce paper, clothes, rope, housing insulation and if compressed it produces a material stronger than fiber glass.

That, dear friends, it’s a pipe. What where you thinking of?

And a few more…

The Barcelona of Gaudí

Mon, 02 Jul 2012 00:55:00 +0100

One of the main entrances of Parc Güell

Parc Güell

As we mentioned before, the words Barcelona and Gaudí go along together. One of our favourites was Parc Güell, originally planned as a housing development but later revamped as a garden. Gaudí’s works integrates quite well with the surrounding nature and shows his concern and search for a balance between man and nature.

At the entrance you can find this curious shaped house, currently used as a gift shop

After the entrance there is a terrace, held by columns reminiscent of a classic (!) style. On the stairs leading to it you can find the most photographed salamander in the world, Also you can find this curious creature on the ceiling of the gallery below the terrace.

That’s Sara, being cheeky, as usual…

And Jon, showing off his massive beard. Yeah, neither of us takes our hair grooming too seriously; some even wonder if we know what that is at all.

The long bench surrounding the terrace, where you can get a nice view towards the city center and, of course, Sagrada Familia

Another picture of Sara (Jon has fun taking those)

If you walk down, you’ll stumble upon these organic columns; they are holding the road on top of them and integrate very well with the surroundings

House Batlló

The first thing that struck me (Sara) was how small it was. I guess you’re used to seeing it in books and you always have a preconceived idea. As far as we could tell the only way of getting in is through a club/bar (bah) which is quite annoying. Anyway, the building on the left was quite nice and the avenue where it is located has a lot of awesome buildings - La Pedrera is only a couple of hundred meters away.

Sagrada Familia

Pretty epic building, and it is not even finished; according to Gaudí, it will be one meter lower than one of the main mountains around the city, since he didn’t want to surpass God’s creation. Dude, we think it might be a bit too late for that.

Gaudí also said that the building could take several centuries to build and that wouldn’t be a problem, because “my client is not in a hurry”. We have a name in Web Development for that kind of client: Client From Hell (bad pun, we know).

Sant Pau's Hospital

Mon, 02 Jul 2012 00:38:00 +0100

During our guided tour through this UNESCO world heritage site: a hospital built by a guy named Pau Gil (or at least, built with his money, since he had a confirmed surplus of the stuff) - we learnt about the modernist architect Lluís Domènech i Montaner. His vision for the place reminded me of a place that elves might live, a real-world fantasy depiction of Tolkeins’ Rivendell.

Rather than providing lodgings for the fair folk, Hospital Sant Pau was built in the early 1900’s to be a general hospital for the poor of Barcelona, and was in fact where Gaudí chanced to end up on his death bed after being hit by a tram, while evidently dressed as a disheveled tramp. It may have just been part of his artistic image, but passers by weren’t to know that, and eventually sent him off for the cheapest medical care available in the day.

Despite perhaps not being the best care money could buy, if I were seriously ill and needed a nice place to recover with plenty of light and beautiful surroundings, I might pick Hospital Sant Pau.

It’s currently under restoration, and we had to wear stylish hi-viz vests and safety helmets around the construction areas. I think it’ll be amazing to see when it’s finished.

If I were an extremely wealthy man, either feeling very philanthropic, or just wanting to ease a guilty conscience for being so rich and keeping it all for myself, I’d want to build a hospital for poor people like this one. If it bought my way into becoming a saint (who presumably bypass the normal system for getting into heaven) I might think that it was money well spent ;-)

Front entrance, outside view

Front entrance to Sant Pau’s (from inside complex)

Part of the tunnels that stretch underneath, connecting pavilions for treating patients, and providing an unobtrusive means of transporting the recently deceased without upsetting anyone

An example of cool ceramic tiles from the period, covering the walls of halls where patients lay in their beds

Barcelona – What to eat

Sun, 01 Jul 2012 23:45:00 +0100

Disappointingly, none of the Spanish food that we had was amazing. Sadly, the best meals we had were Lebanese and Vietnamese. Don’t get us wrong: Spanish food was not bad but it was pretty basic, and it was quite expensive, even on deals. Tapas and Paella were OK but we’re guessing it is pretty hard to get them wrong in Spain. There are probably quite good places but they would be expensive and we were not searching for those.

Worthy to mention, the service sometimes can be bad, bad, bad - i.e., you will be completely ignored by the waiters. We walked away from two places in the same day because we were just ignored, even after the waiters acknowledged our presence. We seriously recommend walking away, as you’ll find a place were the food is better and the service is good just around the corner.

Lebanese place - Aladdin

We have pictures of the food, but by the time we took them part of it was already gone and it didn’t look amazing anymore. Location here.

Vietnamese place

Sadly we don’t know the name of the restaurant and it is not listed on Google maps, but we know that the location is here. Check out the pics (by the way, the decoration inside was awesome):