Athens, Greece

After dropping off Chris and Jess, I drove on to Cesme to catch a ferry across to Chios. There are no ferries between Turkey and the Greek mainland so two were in order. I was stopped at the ferry terminal for my routine van check and after the customs officer got their drug-seeking alsation a little over excited, the narcotics dog was allowed to rampage around the van, knocking stuff over with it's long wagging tail and jumping across the bed with it's dirty feet. Once it was in a suitable mess, I was waved along.

Eventually while waiting to board the ferry, I got talking to a rich french traveller called Dominique. As a retired designer, engineer and all-round entrepeneur, we talked at length about his top secret retirement project of a ultra fast one-of-a-kind hybrid boat-plane. It sounds mental and fantastic in equal measure and I look forward to seeing it on the news if it ever works.

Apologies that many of these pictures have uploaded crappy.

After a short ferry crossing to Chios, I was officially in Greece but had another overnight ferry before arriving in Pireaus, just south of Athens. Without sat-nav, and with roadsigns which were largely unhelpful for me, I almost stumbled accidently across my intended campsite - Athens Camping. It has a good central location and clean facillities but expect to pay over the odds to the grumpy and unhelpful little shrew of a woman who runs it.

My first day in Athens was something of a disaster as I somehow managed to turn both my bike wheels into pin cushions and spent the rest of the day fixing up overdue issues with the bike and van. I guess it was quite productive but I didn't intend to have my first day in the city stapling the roof lining back on and replacing headlight bulbs.

The next day was rather more successful as I made my way to the Acropolis on top of the large hill, Sacred Rock, in central Athens. While the ruins of the buildings are undoubtedly stunning, the large sections of not-too-sublte scaffolding bring you right back to the 21st century realities. The Parthenon, Propyia, and Temple of Anthena dominate the hill plateau but the hillside to the south hosts the the two theatres of Herodes and Dionysus.

The stonework is fantastic to view and has a precision of engineering and geometry of architecture well before it's time. You can only fully appreciate this though by visiting the excellent and newly built Acropolis Museum at the base of the hill. Constructed over excavated ancient ruins itself, the museum houses some stunning examples of statues and masonary work from ancient times as well as painting the picture of the Parthenon in it's multicoloured working prime.

On the north side of the hill is the Roman Agora, the best preserved example of the ancient Greek buildings currently free from steel supports. The site also shows the Stoa building's pillar stumps and a few remaining statues which adorned the surroundings.

Sticking with the ancient Greeks, just down the road, and through Hadrian's Gate is the Temple Of Zeus. This is probably my favorite ruin in the city and it's quiet, free from tourists and visually superb. At one end, a collapsed column gives a bit of insight into how they were constructed while native palm trees sprout up along the outside. It is a place which is unpretentious and not tarted up for visitors - it's also free on a Sunday, bonus!

A little to the north stands the one symbol of modern Greece which I found worth visiting - The Presidential Palace. The huge building is not anything special to look at but it is surrounded by the wonderfully bizzare national guards who look like they have been dressed by a drunk Noel Fielding - with one-piece beige skirt, clown shoes with black pom-poms on the toes and a red fez with long tassles.

These guys guard the Tomb Of The Unknown Soldier in front of the palace but their main job (understandably) sems to be to have their photograph taken with the busloads of punters who stop by.

The Panathinaiko Stadium is another old crowd draw, as the birthplace of the modern Olympics. Although still in use as a stadium occationally, it is more of a symbol of Greece's sporting past with the big stone seating, including special space for the royal couple, and acts as a place for countless fat Americans to queue up and run (read jog/walk) the hundred metres.

Finally, I took a trip up to Lykavittos Hill, the highest peak in central Athens and capped by a small chapel. It is a long walk but worth it to see the views out over the city with the mountains crowning one side and Pireaus port (where I arrived) on the other. I was followed along the path by what I thought was a stray tortoise but when I asked a local Greek guy with his two young kids if the the Tortoise belonged to him, he just looked at me like I was mentally unstable. I later realised that tortoises are a common wild animal here and I felt like I might actually be a bit mental myself.

In the morning I left Athens, a city with great ancient history but it seems like nothing really of note since, just 80's tower blocks. Time to move on up to Meteora.

Pamukkale/Ephesus, Turkey

Well Cappadocia marked my furthest destination from home and from this point on I am homeward bound once again. With Chris and Jess still in tow, the next stop was a 9 hour drive west to Pamukkale where we could take our pick from the numerous cheap guesthouses, campsites and hotels. Our choice was the excellent Hotel Dort Mevsim with it's good rooms, bargain camping garden (£3 a night!) and a swimming pool.

The main draw of Pamukkale is the white mineral Travertines formed in Limestone by the hot springs at the top of the hill. The water cascades down the slope as you walk up barefoot and it's busy with people wading through the pools of water which haven't dried up yet. It is a stunning place which has accommodated bathers for thousands of years but is now more of a prime photo opportunity.

At the top of the hill is the source of the spring, the Sacred Pool, which has been classified as a museum and developed into a series of spa-type pools. In the bottom of the water are a number of old roman pillars and stones which have been excavated from the surrounding Roman city (more on that in a moment).

It is relaxing, if a little crowded, but there is definitely something nice about sitting on top of a sunken Roman pillar in a bath of warm mineral water. It is meant to be great for your eyes and skin too ...apparently.

Above the Travertines and beside the spa pool lies the old Roman civilisation of Hierapolis. The wonderful stone ruins include the Basilica, a big graveyard of tombs and a few church buildings. For whatever reason though, there seems to be little interest in the majority of this old Roman city and it becomes a great place to stroll through and escape from the loud tourist hoards. The pick of the Hierapolis ruins though are the huge Ampitheatre and the well preserved Latrine.

One full day is probably enough to see Pamukkale and we were soon on the road again to Ephesus, one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. After stopping for some food in nearby Selcuk, a nice town but of minimal interest, we ploughed on to the ruined site of the Greek/Roman metropolis.

While the remains on show are around 2000 years old, give or take, the settlement goes back to around 6000 BC and has seen plenty of action in that time too. It is amazing that some parts of the excavated site are as well preserved as they are.

Medusa, again.

While I could wander through the old streets all day, there are certainly two areas which stand out from the rest. The first is the huge theatre on the hillside, the scale of which can only really be judged from a distance as it can seat 25,000 people. The second is the stunning front of the Library of Celsus, complete with huge ornate pillars and sculptured panels. It really is one of the most striking sights I have seen on my trip.  

After Ephesus, it was time to find a place to stay for the night and we eventually decided to head south a few miles to the seaside town of Kusadasi. While we quickly found out the town is like a mix of Benidorm and TV series "The League of Gentlemen", we did find a good little campsite with little chalets and, again, a nice pool.

Despite the zombie-like grumpy staff of Yam Camping, we immediately befriended a bunch of nice people on the campsite. The most notable of these were a friendly bunch of retired card-playing cigar-smoking Turkish men who insisted on feeding us everything under the sun from hand-picked hazelnuts from their hometown to a big slice of watermelon to take away.

There was also a friendly touring Belgian couple as well as a British family in their own self-built monster of a campervan which they had been living in for 2 years - complete with tent on the roof!

Turkey has been a fantastic, diverse, friendly and hospitable place so it was sad to finally say my quick goodbyes to Chris and Jess at Izmir train station before I continued on alone again to Cesme to catch my ferry across to Greece. I may be on my way west again but there is still plenty of life left in the trip.