Travelling in Turkey, Bulgaria and Romania - some comments Free Dating, Singles and Personals

Travelling in Turkey, Bulgaria and Romania - some comments Posted: 10/2/2007 5:59:20 PM
I got back last week froma 3 week trip thru parts of these countries and generally had a great time. Soem comments as follows: Turkey Much of my time here was spent doing a trek in the Kackar Mountains (north-east Turkey near the Black Sea) then climbed Mount Ararat. Mount Ararat was not terribly difficult to climb (provided you acclimatized) but was brutally cold at the summit. Still the view from the top is indescribable (the panorama was at least a 200-300 km) and the weather perfect. I also some of the eastern towns (Kars, Dogubayazit and Van) generally disappointly modern places given this area was settled around the dawn of time. Lake Van has the amazing midevil Akdamar church on an island. Dogubayazit has the Ishakpasa palace, amazing views of Mt Ararat and a wild and wooly otherwordly frontier feel to it. You will see very few if any other tourists in this part of the world. Going back to Istanbul is culture shock (a ton of tourists and a liberal western feel to it). Try to get away from the touristy sites and get into the rest of the city, which has a great urban vibe to it. Bulgaria The only place I saw was Velika Tarnovo, a stunning midevil town built on a series of hills with a huge ruined fortress. Despite being one of Bulgaria's main tourist attractions there were very few tourists here. Think of an untouristy Italian hill town. Boasts some of the most stunning women I have even seen. Romania Sighisoara is the highlight here, a midevil town built on a hill and a centre of German culture for centuries. It is also the birthplace of Vlad the Impaler (the real Dracula). Brasov is another old city the main 'tourist' centre in Romania, not that you will be faced with a mob of tourists. The nearby Bran castle is billed as 'Dracula's' castle though the real Dracula had little to do with it. Better sites are the nearby fortified midevil churchs in nearby villages. The locals in Transylvania are exceeding friendly too. Bucharest has a vibe to it but has alot of unattractive Stalinist architecture. Has potential though, they are starting to restore the old part of the City and add pedestrian malls, cafes and such. I posted some photos, go to photobucket (dot com!) and look up reptiliankitteneater.