Holiday!
Just a week to go now, and it's mostly all arranged, just need to sort out a hotel in Aleppo (my first choices were all booked up) and chase up a Turkish travel agent to make sure they've bought me a ticket from Istanbul to Aleppo.The itinerary is roughly as follows:
Wednesday 6th September - Train to London. Meet up with family for Mahler's 2nd. Overnight in London.
Thursday 7th - Eurostar to Paris
Friday 8th - Spend the day in Paris, chomping on onions and going "hoh-hee-hoh-hee-hoh" (that's not racist). Overnight train - The Orient Express (what's left of it) - to Vienna.
Saturday 9th - Swan around Vienna, maybe catch an opera in the evening (Puccini or Wagner seems to be the choice).
Sunday 10th - Train to Budapest where I have four hours to kill before catching the overnight train to Bucharest.
Monday 11th - A day and a half in Bucharest. No idea what there is to do there.
Tuesday 12th - Catch the overnight train from Bucharest to Istanbul.
Wednesday 13th - 24hrs in Istanbul
Thursday 14th - Train from Istanbul to Aleppo in northern Syria.
Thursday 15th - Monday 18th: Aleppo
Monday 18th - Wednesday 20th: Damascus
Wednesday 20th: Fly home.
Thursday 21st: Back at work :-(
Kind of wish I was spending more time in Syria as it looks great, so I hope I don't regret my deliberate decision to have so many stop overs en route. Time will tell.
7 Comments:
What are your thoughts on visiting a country with such publicised links to terrorism? Do you feel that it is safe to travel here alone in the current political climate?
Well, the way I look at it, my own country carries out acts of terror against innocent civilians, its citizens carry out acts of terror against innocent civilians, and it has acts of terror commited against it, so the whole "terror" issue is a bit of a non-issue to me. In the UK, we terrorise and are terrorised. It is part of our life.
It is day to day crime that is of the more concern to me, will I get my bags pinched or whatever? Syria is apparantly as safe a place as you could visit from that regard.
If you get captured by terrorists and forced to make a video, say hi. :-)
Chris, sounds blooming marvellous to me, and I'm sure you'll have a fantastic time. Really looking forward to the photos.
Rach and I are in early stages of planning 2 weeks in Japan next year... very exciting.
Cool. I watched a documentary on rail journeys in Japan last night as it happens, and it does look like a fantastic place to visit.
Budapest is the cream cake capital of the world. (or so I thought when I went as a 14 year old) As you only have 4 hours there I would make it your goal to find an amazing cake shop and sample the delights.
The other thing to watch out for if eating a meal in Hungary is their innocent looking pale green peppers. Some of them are sweet, like the red and green ones we get here. They are eaten for breakfast.
However some of them are the hottest thing EVER, and yet look EXACTLY the same as the sweet ones. You never know until you bite. Adds a frission of excitment to every meal.
My brother-in-law is from Bucharest, but he left. Even so, I'm sure there will be lots to see. Continuing on your French 'hoh hee hoh hee hoh' non racist theme, I thought perhaps you could indulge in a little vampire-esk blood sucking, coffin sleeping, garlic fearing behaviour while in Romania.
Just a suggestion...
Your trip sounds fabulous - all those different cultures in 2 weeks. Enjoy.
I had one of the best nights out I have ever had in Bucharest but unfortunately due to it being the best night out ever the whole thing is a bit of a haze in my memory. The city is quite interesting with lots of scars from communist times. The bars and restaurants are bountiful and very cheap!! Romanian food is surprisingly good with lots of polenta and mushrooms for the veggies! Hope you have a great time.
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