Almaty, Kazakhstan to Istanbul, Turkey

Antics of Earthbound Astronauts

Our final days in Asia have finally arrived after an incredibly short, experience-rich, five months! We flew through Kazakhstan, jet through Georgia and rocketed through the wonders of Turkey. The Earthbound Astronauts are preparing to briefly part but not before completing their time in Asia with style. The adventure continues!

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Almaty, Kazakhstan - June 1^st – June 6^th

We arrived in Kazakhstan from Kyrgyzstan really unsure of what to expect. Unfortunately the movie ‘Borat’ had tainted our ideas about this formidably mysterious country. When we arrived in Almaty, the biggest city in Kazakhstan, we were incredibly surprised. Almaty was originally the capital of Kazakhstan, and for some unknown reason, the government decided that a city in the middle of nowhere, Astana, would be the capital. Coming from the concrete jungles that were Mongolia and Kyrgyzstan, we were amazed to see that Almaty was one of the most revitalizing cities we’ve visited yet. A city that was beautifully positioned beneath snow-capped mountains, a sight that was becoming increasingly familiar throughout our travels in Central Asia.

We used our time in Almaty to recharge our depleting motivation. Originally we had big plans to venture away from the city into the surrounding wilderness, however these were ‘dampened’ by a torrential downpour, flooding both the city streets and our ambition. Seeing this as a sign, we decided to spend our remaining days exploring the city. This involved visiting the museum to discover that Tuesday was the only day it was closed, determining Kazak kebabs were a godsend and realising vodka was the most prominent and possibly cheapest beverage available. Finally feeling rejuvenated; we were ready to progress onto the newly founded capital.

Astana, Kazakhstan - June 7^th – June 10^th

Arriving in Astana by train, we were completely disorientated by our lack of city knowledge and the resulting sterility produced by a patchwork of contrasting architectural styles. After catching a public bus and arriving in the vicinity of the only hostel we knew about, we spent the better part of an hour deciphering the hostel address, a highly elusive residential apartment. Exploring the city with a maniacally peculiar Ukrainian character, we gawked at the conflicting architectural anomalies that are precariously placed around the capital. A very peculiar aspect of the city was the lack of street based restaurants replaced by a large number of malls and their subsequent food courts. We were lucky enough to make a Kazak friend in our hostel, a relationship that was purely based on our mutual use of Google translate, a very interesting and surprisingly lucrative medium for building a friendship. A few days in Astana were more then enough for us to comfortably farewell Kazakhstan. We boarded a plane to the capital of Georgia, Tbilisi, which afforded us the melancholy experience of staying a night in an airport during a layover in Almaty.

Tbilisi, Georgia - June 11^th & 12^th June

Casey and I fearfully observed Tbilisi reveal itself through the plane window, another potential concrete abyss. Wondering what we’d gotten ourselves into, we nervously caught the bus into the city centre towards our hostel. Probably due to our partial prejudice, we mistook the grand ‘Freedom Square’ for a random roundabout that had a very similar symmetry to the actually phenomenal attraction. After searching for our hostel for two hours we eventually realised we were on the wrong side of the river, obviously our navigational abilities hadn’t improved. When we found our hostel, it was positioned in a surprisingly beautiful cobblestoned area of the city. It turned out that Tbilisi was a very westernised city with a very good mixture of both modern and historical buildings, our first true introduction to Europe. The city didn’t have too much to see from a tourist’s perspective, the two main sights revolved around an old fortress, which acted as a city viewing point, and Freedom Square, which we used as a place to observe everyday people. Whilst in Tbilisi, we also met Paul who is travelling the world… on a bicycle, which completely puts our journey to shame. It was at this point we started to notice tourist numbers were on the increase, especially annoying ones…

Sighnaghi, Georgia - June 13^th – June 15^th

Hearing that Georgia was known for its wineries, we felt obliged to travel to the wine region to see for ourselves. We arrived in Sighnaghi, a town that was contained within the walls of a well-preserved fortress. Our guesthouse had a spectacular view of surrounding vineyards, acting as a placebo to improve the taste of the local wine, which was stored in a recycled plastic coke bottle. We organised a winery tour the following day, which turned out to be more of a monastery tour, lacking the copious amounts of wine we were hoping for.

Batumi, Georgia - June 16^th – June 18^th

Preparing to cross from Georgia into Turkey, we headed to the town of Batumi, next to the Black Sea. Batumi acts as the port of Georgia from Eastern Europe acting as a funnel of tourists from Europe into Asia. As we attempted to orchestrate our arrival into Turkey we explored Batumi, which did not seem to have that much to offer on a sightseeing basis. Georgia was definitely a small preview of Europe.

Cappadocia, Turkey - June 19^th – June 21^st

We arrived into the Cappadocia area in central turkey ready to start our fast paced Turkish adventure. Cappadocia is a very famous tourist destination due to ancient houses that were hollowed out of volcanic stone, setting a fantastic ambience. After trying to stay at the Flintstone Cave hotel, which inevitably was the name of numerous establishments in the area, we settled in a hotel that had a fantastic rooftop view of our surrounding landscape. After seeing the price of tourist tours, we decided to see the main sites ourselves. Whilst walking around a deserted area of caves, we decided to rest in a blissfully shady cave that was actually a centuries old church, which just helps describes the immense majesty of the area. We slowly started to see an increase of Australians, which was highlighted by the number of Australian themed hotels and restaurants.

Selçuk, Turkey - June 22^nd – June 24^th

We headed to Turkey’s west to see the largest Greek ruins in the Mediterranean, Ephesus. Ephesus was fantastic! We walked along a marble pathway that was once the thoroughfare of an incredibly vibrant and ever-changing city. Ephesus was a true architectural spectacle, complete with an enormous amphitheatre and surprisingly well preserved sculptures. The weather we enjoyed whilst in Turkey on a whole was perfect, even though we did get a taste of what the sweltering heat of the Mediterranean was like. As we continued speeding through Turkey we readied ourselves for the Australian pilgrimage to Gallipoli.

Eceabat, Turkey - June 25^th & 26^th June

We arrived in Eceabat, the town where we’d access Gallipoli. Unbeknown to us both, whilst on the bus, we actually crossed from the Asian continent to Europe an exciting milestone to reach after our four and a half month adventure. As soon as we’d arrived at our Australian themed hostel, we booked our Gallipoli tour for that day. The tour took us to all the important sites starting with ANZAC cove. It was difficult to imagine that this beautifully tranquil piece of coastline was the setting for such violent bloodshed only a century ago. It was great to see the amount of respect that was obviously poured into maintaining the memorials and the sites. The Gallipoli area is also an important site to the Turks. This is understandable because, to them, this campaign was a success, even though they lost approximately ten times the number of soldiers as the ANZACS.

Istanbul, Turkey - June 27^th – June 30^th

We’d finally arrived at our final destination together, the Turkish capital, Istanbul. This vibrant metropolis was incomparable to any other, so historically rich yet refreshingly modern. It was easy to see how this city had acted as a centralized point of trade throughout suceeding civilisations. We visited Taksim Square hoping to observe some of the tensions, yet the heightened police presence seemed to have dispelled the majority of the drama. Even though we wanted to visit the Hagia Sophia and Topkapi Palace, the exorbitant entrance fees convinced us to enjoy them both externally. A sight that couldn’t be missed was the Blue Mosque. The mosque was colossal yet equally as exquisite. The majesty of the Blue Mosque was rivaled by the Basilica Cistern, the site of water storage for the ancient city. It was amazing to see the multitude of pillars that had been taken from various sources through out the ages.

The fabled Grand Bazaar was a sore disappointment for us both as we expected a much more raw experience and were ultimately confronted with a glorified shopping mall. However, the Spice Market, next to the Bosphorus, exceeded expectations. The Spice Market is just what it sounds like, exotic spices, dried friends, tea and every type of Turkish delight imaginable. I was not a fan of Turkish delight before this experience, but my opinion has completely changed! Istanbul was a fantastic place, but you can feel a bit lost in such an active city.

Casey and I said our goodbyes in Istanbul, both heading into Bulgaria, but I’ll leave that for the next blog. As we part, to continue our journeys separately, our appreciation of the places we’ve been, the places we’ve yet to visit and the inevitable impact that this opportunity has had on us both, as one of ongoing self-discovery, continues to grow.

Keep posted.