Moorish dreaming

Moorish plasterwork and tiling in the Alhambra

View of the Alhambra from the Generalife, and the Patio de los Arrayanes, in the Nasrid Palaces

Next stop - Granada. Probably 'the' sight I wanted to see in Spain was the famous Alhambra of Granada, made up of the Alcazaba (fortress), the Generalife (the architect's garden) and the real highlight - the Nasrid Palaces. One of the design features of Islamic palaces is that the relatively simple and plain exteriors hide the elaborate decoration inside, and this is very true of the Nasrid Palaces. Once you step inside, you can walk through room after room of elaborate plaster and tilework, but it never really seems overdone at all. It was just spectacular.

Patio de la Acequia of the Generalife, and flags flying from the Alcazaba

The Alhambra is one of Spain's biggest tourist attractions, and tickets each day are limited. We had to queue in order to guarantee entry, but luckily, we got in almost straight away. Granada was the city in which we most noted the influences of nearby countries such as Morocco. We spent an afternoon in Albayzin, wandering through the market stalls, reminiscent of my time in Turkey, and stopped off in the Kasbah, for some tea and cakes.

View of Albayzin from the ornate windows of the Nasrid Palaces

A decorated doorway of the Alhambra, and the streets of Albayzin, the Muslim Quarter of Granada

Tea in Istanbul

The Blue Mosque of Istanbul and Whirling Dervishes

The Aya Sofya, originally a Christian cathedral, converted to a mosque on the fall of Constantinople in 1453, and Ortakoy, on the European side of the Bosphorus

So first stop on my travel extravaganza was Istanbul, Turkey. It's a city where sometimes, you feel like you are in Europe, then step off the main tourist thoroughfare, and you feel as if you could be anywhere! I spent hours wandering the streets and looking at all the markets, from pure 'junk' to silk carpets costing thousands of dollars! You get the impression that anything is possible in Istanbul. I ended up spending about a week there, so got to see many of the major sights, the Blue Mosque, Suleymaniye Mosque, Aya Sofya, Topkapi Palace, the list goes on... But some of the best parts of my time in Istanbul, was sitting up on the terrace of the hotel, looking out over the Bosphorus with a good book.

Tea is the drink of choice in Turkey - a range of herbal teas (including the ever popular apple tea) to regular black tea is on offer, and I partook on many occasions. In most places, on offer is Nescafe, or ordinary filter coffee, but where the proper Turkish coffee was available, it was fantastic! The food was also great in Turkey, especially the baklava, which every day was just too irresistable...

The only issue I had with Turkey was being awoken every morning by the call to prayer. The first morning is was exotic and exciting... After that? Well I could have done without the early morning wake-up call.

I took two short trips from Istanbul, one to do the Australian pilgrimage to Gallipoli, on the Dardanelles. It's certainly great to see it first hand, and also get an appreciation for the Turkish side of it. Predictably, my tour group was filled with Aussies and Kiwis. The second trip, was a couple of days in Cappadocia, a 12 hour night bus ride south east of Istanbul - my first ever time in Asia. I had a great couple of days wandering the 'fairy chimneys' and markets of the area - it's quite a beautiful spot.

Cappadocia scenery, and the view over the Bosphorus from my terrace in Istanbul