So now things get interesting. Just under an hour ago, me and my rucksack got shoved out of a moving train onto the platform of a train station somewhere in South Western Turkey station into the late afternoon sun. Aleppo remains about 200km away, and with the train 3 hours late, I’m running out of [...]
“Adana?” he repeated, presumably to ensure there was no confusion with Antakya, Antalya or any of the other similar-sounding places in Turkey. “Erm, yep, definitely Adana” I replied, tentatively fingering the newly-acquired train ticket in my pocket, not wanting to bring it out in public, lest I look even more unsure of my destination than [...]
Istanbul is a hard city in which to say ‘no’. In fact, in Sultanhamet, the tourist area in which I’m staying, it’s near on impossible. And yet, you must learn to say no- and quickly, too, or, by the end of the first day you will find yourself up to your arms in convincingly packaged [...]
So in the afternoon, I got drunk on the train from Belgrade to Istanbul, whilst reading an entire book on the Arab-Israeli conflict. It’s amazing how two litres of special-brew standard Serbian beer makes the time go by, accompanied by the necessary repeated stops to the grubby little toiley on this grubby little train. Staffed, [...]
Accompanied by 4 litres of sparkling water, 2 litres of still, 3 litres of beer and 1 of Coca Cola, some jelly beans, pretzels, pistachios, twix, peaches, bananas and cereal bars, and with a 24 hour train journey ahead of me, I’m now comfortably positioned in my couchette, complete with washbaisin a la Phileas Fogg, [...]
We got into Vienna 40 minutes late, and so was expecting to miss the train to Belgrade…particularly given my embarassing lack of German knowledge, beyond the ability to say my name and count to ten.
We are, however, in the midst of the European Cup in this city, and so, despite the lack of England and [...]
The Rhine was exactly as I imagined it and, regretfully, reminiscent of a ‘Rhineland Cruise’ ride I’d been on at Busch Gardens in Virginia, USA when I was 12. Without the Big Bad Wolf roller coaster. An Austrian would, of course, slap me for saying it and I’m sure the rest of you will be [...]
Point proven. The sunglasses I’m wearing came from Cologne’s branch of H&M, reduced to 3 Euro. For my convenience, the price on the label was also listed in pounds. A pair of H&M sunglasses made in China could just as easily end up in Southampton, Koln or anywhere else, and not even the label would [...]
And so begins my accidental trip to Syria by train. It was going to be Iran, it should have been Iran- I’ve done my research on Iran. Syria, I know very little about beyond a fairly decent knowledge of Middle Eastern history, and what I picked up on at Sunday School.
However. Syria deserves better than [...]
So having found a job for my last remaining month in the UK before the fun begins, I’ve now got the time (and money) to begin the planning of routes, learning some Farsi and buying kit such as a few decent pairs of socks, for starters.
As you may know, onn the 28th of May, I [...]
