September 2023
To-date (30/09)
Trip duration: 35 days
Countries visited (exc UK): 6
Locations Visited: 11
Distance Travelled: 5,453KM
Steps Walked: 553,477
This month
Countries Visited: 5 (Albania, North Macedonia, Bulgaria, Greece, Turkey)
Locations Visited: 10
Distance Travelled: 3.175KM
Days moving: 10
Longest stay: Ohrid, North Macedonia; Kavala, Greece (both 5 days)
Steps walked: 493,826
September has been all about slow and steady travel eastwards, whilst taking the time to explore the destinations we visit, and trying to stick to our budget! This was blown for a while as we skipped through Kavala in Greece, and three of Turkeys major tourist attractions - but we can get back on track with Georgia.
1st to 4th
We've deviated from the original plan quite a lot, as that would have had us in Istanbul by something like the 6th. As I write this on the 19th, we are in the middle of a few days in Greece, having abandoned Istanbul completely, and planning to enter Turkey on 21st through Kusadasi. We'll then head east to Pamukkale and Capadoccia.
We started September in Lake Shkoder, Albania, moving on quickly to fabulous Tirana. We'd had a few days poor health in Shkoder, forcing us to stay an extra day as we were literally too ill to move, and thus our two days in Tirana were very much about gentle exploration, and getting some appetite back.
4th to 13th
On Monday 4th we moved on to North Macedonia, with 5 days in Ohrid. This is another town named after the lake it sits on, and is a favoured Balkan tourist destination, being described by some as a cut-price Lake Como. We enjoyed it very much, gtting up into the hills surrounding the lake on a hike, and taking a boat trip the length of the lake to visit St Naum's Monastery.
With a plan to head to Sofia, Bulgaria, and catch a sleeper train to Istanbul, we decided to break the journey to Sofia with three nights in Skopje, the ancient capital of North Macedonia. We had an intriguing few days here and learned much about the history of North Macedonia, as well as the modern-day city of Skopje.
13th to 20th
Heading to Sofia on the 13th, we planned to stay only as long as we needed to get the sleeper train to Istanbul. This journey has been massively publicised recently, and we met two other british couples who were planning to, or had recently taken the trip. Unfortunately we were out of luck, and no tickets were available for several days - so we re-planned.
An important tenet of this trip for us is that we have set little in stone, aiming to take each leg of the jourrney as it comes, and be as flexibe as needed in our plans. With this in mind we re-visited an initial thought we had had to call at the hot springs in Pamukkale, in western Turkey. On our initial itinerary, whis would have required going back on ourselves by quite a distance, and spending two full days on busses without making any eastward progress, wo we have abandoned it. What we subsequently decided to do was to head south (and East) to Greece, spending a few days in Kavala, and then sail down to Samos, Kusadasi, and ultimately reach Pamukkale by train from the west. This also allowed us some unexpected time in Greece, as well as a potential stop at the fabulous ruins of Ephesus.
Due to ferry timetables, we ended up booking 5 nights in Kavala, which is quite expensive, but we have absolutely loved every minute in this part of Greece. We've swum in the Aegean, taken a day trip to the Island of Thasos and climbed to its ancient Acropolis, and visited the fantastic archeological site of Philippi, following in the footsteps of Philip II of Macedonia and St Paul. Did you know Philippi is where Brutus (of Et Tu? fame) was defeated and the Roman Republic ended for once and for all? Neither did we!
We left Kavala on 20th on an overnight ferry, sailing via Samos to ultimately enter Turkey through the port of Kusadasi.
21st to 30th
Following our decision to travel via Greece and enter Western Turkey, we then spent a few days working eastwards across Turkey visiting three of the countries major tourist attractions en route:
Ephesus with it's mighty theatre and sheer scale;
Pamukkale, with it's Cotton Cloud travertines and equally impressive ruins;
Capadoccia, with it's crazy geology and stunning, almost alien landscape.
In visiting these three, we also spent varying degrees of time in less touristy places, although the town of Egerirdir (again on it's eponymous lake) had a substantial domestic tourist trade. We visited the massive city of Konya, and briefly called at Denizli - another large metropolis.
It was Pamukkale and Cappadocia that won our hearts though - and I will write more about both of thes experiences in the near future.