Trayle

 
The blog of tolochenaz 
 
 
Portofino
Apr/08/2007 22:31

This is a small village in a natural park not far from Genova, dedicated to tourism since a century. In the 50s Rex Harrison gathered his friends in the famous Splendid Hotel. There is even an imitation in Orlando, Florida.

The setting is nice but the old village has been transformed into a shopping centre, shops like Hermes, Gucci etc and nothing else.

 
Qsports Genk
Feb/24/2007 15:45

 

Stunning new fitness and health club in the C-mine complex in Genk.

This one is top of the top, the most modern equipment, sauna, steam bath, massage, lessons, community, cafetaria.

Modern but cosy atmosphere, probably the best in Belgium. Compared to capaitals very moderate prices.

 
St-Prex
Nov/16/2006 07:55

Small village with nice historic center on the Lac Leman. Features also industrial zones with the European coordination offices of famous international groups active in mining, pharmaceuticals, consulting and financial services.

 
Ankara public transports
Nov/09/2006 22:02

The public EGO has ordered 400 natural gas buses and this is an important improvement for the environment as they replace nearly 20 year old buses which are very polluting. 50 modern diesel buses have been bought as well.

Next year another tender for 450 buses is announced.

For the EGO buses you need a magnetic card which is sold in the metro stations and in some busy places, N.B. you can't buy a ticket from the driver! These tickets are also valid in the metro and you can use several buses with the same ticket within a certain time span.

There are also private buses, they are light blue or leight green and there is written on them "özel halk", in these buses you have to pay cash and you have to buy a new ticket in every bus. The private and the public buses have same line number, so if you have cash and a magnetic card you just take the next bus. On the weekends and in less busy times the private buses tend to stay in their garage and so one has to wait for a EGO bus which will come for sure, but you might wait longer than you expected. 

Important: at the main bus stops in the city centre people cue one after the other, there may be important lines of people when the offices are closing approx between 5 and 6:30 p.m.

 

 
Ankara Airport
Nov/06/2006 12:54

The new airport in Ankara was opened on October 14th which was one year and one day ahead of the schedule. So I saw the airport growing from nothing to finished in about 24 months only. The investment was about EUR 250 mio. Financing is private in the form of a BOT (built-operate-transfer).


The built area is 182.000 square meters and the parking is said to be the biggest multi level parking lot in the world with more than 1000 vehicles.

I hope that more direct flights will be offered to Ankara now avoiding to pass via Istanbul.

Everything is new, staff is under training and although 4 security x-ray tunnels where available at the entrance only one was staffed.

 


 

In less than 8 month the motorway from the city to the airport has been completed, first 8 lanes than 6 with tunnels and bridges, so getting to and from the airport is much quicker now. We will all forget the traffic james during the construction period very soon.

 

Morez in the French Jura, not far away from Geneva, is one of the world centres for the production of frames for eyeglasses. The origin of this craft is the occupation of the poor farmers during the long winters to earn some money and the whole family was producing the frames from metal threads and delivered them to wholesellers in Morez. from their they were distributed all over Europe. The next step was to establish factories in the valley of Morez where abundant water power was available. Business was converted to producing frames of different materials, such as plastics, later on.

After a crisis in the 80ies the business has recovered and many makes and fashion brand gframes are produced in high tech factories and exported worldwide.

A museum in a stylish modern building in the city centre shows the history of local production as well as the examples of frames off all times.

 
Musée Baud, Oberson
Oct/10/2006 08:11

In 1955 the Musée Baud has been opened in Auberson, a small village in the Swiss Jura next to the French border.

Near to St. Croix, the place where huge fatcories where producing music boxes for export to all countries of the world, in every house the families where producing parts and pieces for the boxes. The Baud brothers specialized in the repair of mechanical instruments and organs and became collectors of all types of music boxes, automata, clocks, singing birds, animated pictures and gramophones as well as other accessories, tools and souvenirs of the time period. 

Among the highlights include the famous "Maesto", an orchestra from 1900 comprised of 10 different instruments. Also in this room is the splendid "Phonoliszt Violiona" playing solo violin. Many additional discoveries can be found as well, each one more fascinating than the one before. The collection show all types of mechanical instruments, mechanical pianos and huge organs like the "Violano virtuoso», made in Chicago and operating with punched paper. There is also an Edison of 1877 with wax drums.

During the guided tours the main instruments are played and children love that museum which is laways crowded when the weather is too bad to walk in the mountains.
The website allows to listen to some of the instruments! For opening times consult

http://www.museebaud.ch

 

 
Watchvalley
Oct/10/2006 07:57

Along the Arc of the Jura Mountains from Geneva to Basel, lakes, mountains and valleys lead one into another in a preserved natural environnement, where Swiss watchmakers create the precision movements that tell the time the world over.

Let yourself be charmed by the untamed beauty of Watch Valley, its natural attractions, its lakes, its valleys, its watchmaking museums. A wealth of proposals for excursions await you on foot or on horseback, by bike or by boat.

The journey can start in Geneva (Patek Philippe and others) , passing through the famous Vallée de Joux with its beautiful quiet lake and companies like Breguet and Jaeger le Coultre via Le Locle (Zenith, Tissot and others) and Bienne (Omega, Rolex) and other famous cities and factories.

The landscapes are stunning and there are many museums related to this industry. You can order brochures:

http://www.watchvalley.ch

 

 

 

 
Le Locle
Oct/10/2006 07:46

This city in the Swiss Jura near to the French border is one of the main places in the history of the watch industry. Today companies like Zenith, Ullysse-Nardin and Tissot still have their factories there.

The picture shows the decorated town hall.

 
BAM restaurant train
Oct/04/2006 19:37

In the french speaking part of Switzerland, the region of the lake of Geneva, the  BAM train is liaising Morges, Apples and Biere. On weekends they offer gastronomic voyages in historical trains.
In autumn 2006 you can have transport, food and drinks at Fr. 80 per person.

Reservation: MBC Tél. 021 811 43 43
www.lesmbc.ch

You leave at 11h25 in Morges (stop on trains between Lausanne and Geneva) with a train dating from the 1940's and a bar in a railcar from 1895 and you pass close to the big castle of Vufflens le Chateau, the village where Michael Schumacher is still living.
In Apples you will change into a train of of 1925, with restaurant and while having your meal prepaed by the team of the restaurant Couronne d?Apples, you can admire the landscape between Apples and l'Isle. The train returns to Apple where you arrive at 14.55 and from there you can take a regular train back to Morges.

 

 
Ibis Hotel Centraal Station
Oct/04/2006 10:06
I will never go there again!!!!
 
Echallens
Oct/04/2006 10:04

This large village is situated between Lausanne and Yverdon and features the Museum of Bread. It can also be reached by the LEB train from Lausanne-Flon station. On weekends they offer special tours with steam trains and restaurant railcar.

 
Lloyd Hotel
Oct/04/2006 09:28

This hotel in the part of the old harbour for destinations North- and South America has been established in a historic building of the 1920s which was built by a famous architect to house the European emigrants waiting for the ships of the Lloyd shipping line for their journey to a new life in a different continent. Later it was a prison and thereafter occupied by artists.

You can walk about 20 minutes from the central station or take the tram, 3 stops.

The rooms have been designed by different architects and the hotel comprises 1 to 4 star rooms, although this has nothing to do with the quality of service (there is none) but only to the room size. Most rooms are unpractical and design didnt think of function at all. Free wifi in the lobby which works up to the last floor (quality depending on the actual situation of the room)

The restaurant is special too, you can't order plates but only prepared ingrediants. This has the advantage that you can compose the plate you like. The service depends on the mood of the personnel and can vary from none to excellent.

Overall, the hotel is not bad but much too expensive; they cash on their location with a lot of new office buildings around.

 

 
Fondation Gianadda
Oct/01/2006 13:39

This is a combination of an art museum, a car museum, a parc of sculptures and a concert hall. The family foundation is able to organize important expositions every year:

The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
Chefs-d'ouvre de la peinture européenne
until November 12th, 2006

Edouard Vallet, Novembre 2006 ? 4 mars 2007
Tous les jours de 10h à 18h

Picasso et le Cirque , 2007 

The car museum features many cars before WW 2 and some unique cars of Swiss makes.

Many tour operators organize bustours so you might find yourself cueing before the entrance. Once in Martigny there are indications signs. Parking space is limited.


 
Syracuse
Sep/30/2006 15:20

French native speaker s will know the famous song of Henry Salvador. In this city in Sicily there is the Ear of Dionysius - a cave that amplifies the sounds inside. Upon visiting and noting that whispers could be heard clearly by someone outside the cave, the Italian painter Caravaggio claimed that the cave was used as a prison which let Dionysius hear the plotting of his captives.

There is a nice old town at the harbour and the Grand Hotel Ortigia has a restaurant on the top floor where you have a great view on the sea and the city. the food is ok, the hotel is overpriced but: location pays!

 
Ragusa
Sep/29/2006 21:27

The other Sicily: that's how Ragusa has often been described by artists and literary figures, and it has been declared a world heritage site by UNESCO and, because of its beauty, been used by a number of leading film directors as a film set. Ragusa is a town where ancient rural traditions such as the building of the typical dry stone walls which divide the little farms dotted over the unspoilt landscape of valleys and carob trees, still thrive.

It is also a land of great architecture; that of ancient Greece as exemplified in the interesting museum of Kamarina, and that of the 17th century as can be seen at the Castle of Donnafugata. However it is the Baroque style which most typifies the area in its ornate churches and noble palaces which line the streets and alleys of Ragusa Ibla.

At the top of via 25 Aprile is the centrepiece of Ragusa Ibla, Piazza Duomo. A wonderful row of Baroque palaces is crowned by the Church that is the very symbol of the city, San Giorgio or St. George. The Duomo is the work of the architect Rosario Gagliardi from Siracusa. He is responsible for many of the masterpieces of Baroque architecture that characterises, not only Ragusa, and in particular Ibla, but also the entire Val di Noto. Work began in 1738 on the site of the Church of San Nicolò or rather on the site where that church had stood prior to 1693. It was completed in 1775.

The top windows are in dark blue glass and seen from the upper city look like sapphire gemstones.

 
Musée des Arts Decoratifs
Sep/29/2006 07:34

After many years of being closed for renovation this outstanding museum in a a part of the Louvre is open now. On 9 floors you can see 6000 out of their stock of 150.000 "objects of daily life" from the 13th century until now, from craftsmanship to mass production. To visit the museum will take you an afternoon. Watch out, one of the two lifts is going up to the 4th floor only, don't miss the other 5 floors.

Unfortunately there is not much information and there are practically no signs so you may get lost and there is no cafetaria. In view of the 9000 m2 to visit I recommend to wear senakers rather than high heels.

You can make a virtual tour on their website http://www.lesartsdecoratifs.fr/fr/01museeartsdeco/03visite/index.html

Musée des Arts décoratifs
107, rue de Rivoli (wheelchairs access by a lift at 105)
75001 Paris
Phone 01 44 55 57 50 

Tuesday to Friday from from 11h to 18h
Saturday and Sunday 10h à 18h
Thursday until 21h
Monday: closed

Métro : Palais Royal-Musée du Louvre, Tuileries, Pyramides.
Bus : 21, 27, 39, 48, 68, 72, 81, 95.
Parkings : Carrousel du Louvre,
rue des Pyramides.

 

 
Babylon
Sep/27/2006 13:52

Babylon is about 90 kms from Baghdad and I visited it in 1998. I was rather disappointed about the site because one of President Saddam's palace was overlooking the great throne room of Nebuchadnezzar's palace and inspite of protests from Unesco, President Saddam's department of antiquities and heritage decided to make up for the bareness of the site by building brick walls in 1987 on the original foundations, to provide an idea of what Babylon may have looked like. 

I had been very impressed of the famous Ishtar Gate which can be seen in the The Pergamon Museum in Berlin. German archaeologists worked at the site for 20 years, until the outbreak of the first world war. They took with them many treasures, including most of the friezes, each depicting a golden lion, which lined Babylon's Procession Street. The French took a share of Babylon's treasures to the Louvre and the British helped themselves between the wars, when Iraq was a British protectorate.

The Hanging Gardens of Babylon were one of the seven wonders of the world. The city reached its peak during the empire of Nebuchadnezzar the Second in 604-562BC. When the Euphrates shifted nine miles to the west, the population went with it, and Babylon fell into ruin.

Of course, the locals there are happy about every tourist who buys one of their gift items.

 

 
Unimog Museum
Sep/26/2006 08:12

In Gaggenau in the Black Forest was the factory where the famous Unimog 4x4 truck was built by Mercedes for decades. A museum has been opened in 2006 at the occassion of the 50 th anniversary of this vehicle and it is featuring the only remaining protoptype,  

 

 

 

A true grand hotel, with its historical façade, dating back to 1898,  situated opposite the Kremlin, German management, for some time they accepted the Lufthansa miles & More card.

I had a 100% natural stone bathroom of about 20m2. Very impressive! All hotels in Moscow are crowded and expensive, so why not try this one.

 
Esteghlal Hotel
Sep/25/2006 20:24

In the times before the revolution 1979 this was a Hilton, nearly no renovation since, you can imagine. However, the staff is very friendly and the service is excellent.

You have a magnificient view on the mountains, especially when there is snow on the mountains the view is stunning.

 
Baghdad
Sep/25/2006 20:09

Travel from Amman, Jordan, by luxurious 4x4 on a nearly empty motorway for about 1000 kms/11hours. From Amman to the border you are crossing a deert with black stones, after the border the landscape is mor green and nicer for the eye.

Stay in the Al Rasheed hotel, I think it is the most expensive but once it was a ***** The entrance hall is nicely decorated in different natural stones/marbles.

 
Istanbul Swissotel
Sep/25/2006 19:53

Top hotel with great view, my favourite between the large hotels in the town. Has a cheaper hotel just behind the ***** which is very recommendable as well.

Swissôtel is located near the centre of Istanbul on the European banks of the Bosphorus within a park. The hotel's spacious gardens were previously the gardens of Dolmabahce Palace, the last residence of the Ottoman Sultans.

The hotel's 600 guest rooms and suites offer a wide range of luxurious accommodation, 16 diverse restaurants, bars and lounges Bosphorus Spa & Wellness Centre, an outdoor pool with a separate children's section, heated indoor pool, a jacuzzi, a gym with cardiovascular equipment, a sauna, a solarium and a traditional Turkish bath with massage services.

The Swissôtel The Bosphorus Istanbul also provides meeting space comprising 20 function rooms and three ballrooms.

 
Sep/25/2006 19:41
 
 
Das Breite Hotel
Sep/25/2006 19:36
At first glance, DASBREITEHOTEL appears to be a typical and modern city hotel ***.
However, it is quite different. By providing employment to adults with a disability, it contributes to their integration. Their participation as employees in the productive labour force is an important source of experience, acknowledgment and appreciation.
  
 
Das Triest
Sep/25/2006 10:30

DAS TRIEST has been designed as a counterpart of the standard rooms in most hotels and offers all the exclusiveness and amenities. Ideally situated near to the city centre (Karlsplatz) you can do all the sites by walking.

The building, called STADT TRIEST (city of Trieste) was originally used as the main station and a stable for the horses pulling the stage-coaches between Vienna and Triest. These old cross-vaulted rooms, which give the building a distinctive flair, have been transformed into lounges, suites and meeting rooms. Interior design: Sir Terence Conran

During his professional life Sir Terence Conran combined a huge number of interests; he built up shops, employed himself with architecture and design and furnished restaurants. In 1956 he founded the Conran Design Group with offices in London, Paris and Hongkong. The Conran Shops in London, Paris and Tokio offer modern interior design and furnishing. His restaurants in London are: Bibendum at Michelin building, Blueprint Cafe at the Design Museum, Le Pont de la Tour, Quaglino's and Mezzo.In conjunction with Conran Octopus Ltd. Terence Conran has, among others, published books on design.

It is a designer hotel but the rooms are very convenient so style does not contradict function

 
Pizzeria Dolcevita
Sep/25/2006 10:19

Good Italian food and a nice terrasse, the pizzas are really big. Parking opposite in the Coop centre. Preferred meeting point of some traylers for business lunches.

 
Minuit Soleil
Sep/25/2006 09:52
Modern stylish lounge restaurant with small terasse on the street featuring all types of excellent mediterranean food. Opposite parking Rotillon in the city centre.
 
Eggenburg
Sep/25/2006 07:43

This small town north of Vienna features two museums focused on motorcycles. One covers all periodes and all makes, with a special selection of Austrian made Puch and is one of the biggest of its kind in Europe, http://www.motorradmuseum.at/

the other one on the Hauptplatz is called Rrrollipop and is specialized in the 1950s: Jukeboxes and scooters and a famous collection of "bubble cars". the two only remaining Felber Autorollers are here. Rrrollipop is closed until mid 2007 for enlargement but in the meantime you can have a look at their website and order the catalogue. http://www.rrrollipop.at/

 
Lausanne Palace
Sep/19/2006 20:40

The leading hotel in the city center with a spa and its own parking.

The bar is said to be a place to meet ladies who might be interested in more than a drink (financial interest ???). Not tested!

The restaurant "le jardin" has a superbe terasse with view on the lake and a first class buffet. very recommendable.

 

 
Les Flots Bleus
Sep/19/2006 20:33
Directly on the port, one of the two restaurants there, nice terasse, good food, prices ok, good service even if crowded. Recommendable to reserve a table if the weather is fine.
 
Yvoire
Sep/19/2006 20:29

Yvoire is a touristic small medieval village near Geneva in France directly on the lake. Take one of the historic ships on the lake from Evian, Geneva or Lausanne, visit Yvoire and return with the next vessel. There are also many campings in the surroundings.

There are a lot of restaurants  and shops and it is a very busy spot in summer.

 
Restaurant du Port
Sep/19/2006 20:08

At the beginning of the Rue Louis de Savoie next to the castle this is a japanese-chinese restaurant run by chinese from Hong Kong. The food is ok, the Sushis are fresh and delicious, count about Sfr 100 for 2 persons. reserve by phone if you can, sometimes it is crowded.

 
Taste from heaven on earth
Sep/05/2006 08:08
The Daoud brothers pastry shop for oriental sweets in Damascus is saying that they sell taste from heaven on earth and indeed their sweets are phantsastic, especiaaly their fruit in sugar. The interior of the shiop is nice as well (marquetterie). Its a ten minutes walk from the main hotels so give it a try! 
 
Copacabana Palace Hotel
Aug/24/2006 07:46

This famous hotel is directly on the corniche, so if you cross the street you are on the beach. It's an old fashioned palace, on the first floor there is a gallery of fotos of celebreties and stars which have stayed in this hotel.

Opened in 1923, this impressive stucco-fashioned edifice is Rio's most traditional and luxurious hotel. This landmark was designed by the French architect Joseph Gire who was inspired by two hotels, the Negresco in Nice and the Carlton in Cannes. Since opening the hotel has had only two owners, the Guinle family of Rio de Janeiro and from 1989, Orient-Express Hotels, Trains & Cruises.

I had a room in the back "city view" which was rather deceiving, nothing you would expect from a palace but the hotel has been renovated since, you better you check before you book.

The real plus of this hotel, besides the location, is the swimming pool with live music in the evening. The breakfast is a buffet with a lot of different fruits you can't buy in Europe because they would't survive transportation.

Watch out for criminals on the corniche in the evening, my collegue escaped in the last moment into the hotel when 2 young boys started to run after him while he was going for a walk to the beach.

 
Hotel Sheraton Bar
Aug/18/2006 11:54

Downstairs in the Sheraton is a bar, you can end there after the closing of one of the numerous restaurants in the nearby Arjentine Cad. The pictures shows the stylish entrance

 
Morges
Aug/17/2006 16:26

Nice small town on the Lac Leman between Lausanne and Geneva, featuring a historic pedestrian city centre, a small castle with a military museum and a beautiful park where there are expositions of tulips in springtime and Dahlias in summer. On clear days you have a phantastic view on the Mont Blanc.

The camping is managed by the TCS (Swiss equivalent to ANWB and ADAC) and directly on the lake and about 100 m from the entrance of the municipal swimming pool (heated) and next to a tennis court.

Is a good place to explore the surroundings and the cities Lausanne and Geneva.

View on the Montblanc from the Col de Molendruz, overlooking  the Lac Leman, Morges (CH) and Thonon (F)

 
Mersin
Aug/17/2006 09:32

Mersin has palmlined avenues, a city park and modern hotels and is a good base for visiting the nearby historical sites and beaches. Mersin is also the largest port on the Turkish Mediterranean with a Free Zone. In the Mersin fish market you will find inexpensive fish restaurants which are really enjoyable for those who love fish and "Raki" or wine.
Mersin also has hunting, fishing, picnicking, mountaineering and caving attractions

I  can recommend the Hilton hotel on the seasite with pool.

 On the way from Mersin to Adana there are many factories but you can turn right and there are small villages on the seasite with restaurants with fresh fish and phantastics salads, if you have time turn left after approx 15 km and visit Tarsus, the place where St. Paul was born.

 
Adana
Aug/17/2006 09:21

This city is in the center of large agricultural aerea which made the fortune of some families who then invested in industry. The most known is the Sabanci family who own hotels (Hilton), factories producing tyres,  busses etc. etc. You can easily identify their companies as the names always end with SA. Many of them are on the road which leads from Adana to the seaport of Mersin.

They helped to finance a very big new mosque in Adana and from the new Hilton hotel (Sabanci, of course) you have a phantastic view on this mosque.

There is a dam in the city which creates an artificial lake and on the border of the lakes there are many very good fish restaurants.

From Adana you can travel to the mountains on rather small roads passing through beautiful valleys. I was there in December, we had more than 20C  so I guess that the climate is very hot in summer.

 
Bursa
Aug/07/2006 20:49

Bursa is a historic city on the slopes of the Uludag mountain, very green and featuring a famous bazar. There are soo many textile shops there and the "regional spciality" are towels which are exported worldwide. There is also a beautiful mosque and many nice hotels.

It is also an industrial centre with large industrial zones and e.g. the Renault factory.

 
Tarsus
Aug/07/2006 20:26

This city is halfway between Adana (airport) and the seaport of Mersin. It is of interest as the birthplace of St. Paul.

There is the Roman  Cleopatra's Gate a small museum of excavations with an old church and the St. Paul's Well, a hole in the ground where St. Paul is said to have hided when he was pursecuted, the old city which is used often to turn historic films and the Tarsus Museum housed in a 16th-century theological seminary.  The Old Mosque (Eski Cami) may have been built as a church dedicated to St. Paul.

 
Ankara
Aug/07/2006 15:30

Hotels

There are the Sheraton (very cold white marble atmosphere of the 90ies), the Hilton (brass and carpet of the late 70ies) and the old Dedeman (I would not go there). There are many smaller new 3 and 4 star hotels with good comfort and acceptable prices. As an example I can recommend the following hotels:

Ankara Hotel Midi

Karyagdi Sokak No 40 Cankaya
Ankara, 06540
3 Star (I would give them more)
Recent construction, on the mountain close to the Atakule tower, stylish-European design. Mellow yellow and wood is combined with high-tech illuminations, stainless steel and iron casting in order to blend classical and modern interior decoration.  The hotel is acclimatized for your comfort. Every room has a bathtub, hairdryer, telephone, safe, minibar, satellite TV, fax line, 256k Internet connection, fire alarm and sprinkler system.

Alfin Hotel Ankara

Menekse Sok (sq) 11, 06030 Kizilay/Ankara The Alfin Hotel is a 3 star hotel located at Kizilay, the business and shopping center ofAnkara , satellite TV,Mini-Bar, direct-dial telephone in all rooms,, telefax service for guest,laundry service, and 24 hour private parking.

Compared to other 3 star hotels we got much cheaper rates here, the colleagues didnt object as to cleanlyness and service, some of them muttered about the dark rooms and the "no glamour" atmosphere.

 

 

 

 


 
Giza
Aug/04/2006 19:27

The hotel Mena House is just opposite the pyramids and has a nice garden and pool. However, there is a small mosque opposite the street and the loudspeakers for the prayers where exactly at the level of our room. So we woke up at sunrise everyday without needing a wake up call from the reception.

 

 
Gordion
Aug/04/2006 15:52

Gordion is the place where one of the richest men on earth has lived, the famous king Midas (rich as Midas). Remeber, that in this region coins where invented

The excavations are near to city of Polatli, about 90km south-west from Ankara on the large road to Eskishehir. There is a street sign on the first traffic light in Polatli to turn to the right.

Gordion is now a small village with a museum. At the entrance of the village you can visit the 'mound of Midas', the greatest tumulus, which was excavated in 1957. Its diameter is a little short of 300 meter and it is 43 meters high. In the wooden chamber, which measured 5 x 6 meters, a man's corpse was found, and even the contents of his last dinner could be reconstructed. The tumulus also contained one of the oldest alphabetic inscriptions outside Phoenicia (c.740 BCE).

On chronological grounds, the possibility that the dead man was indeed king Midas can be excluded. He may have been the famous king's father or grandfather.

You have to continue some kms after the big hill covering the grave until you arrive at a small river. Just before the river you can turn left and park the car. You walk up the hill and see the excavations of the historical city. There are no street signs there!

For sure you have heard about the "knot of Gordion". The one who would have the patience to open the knot would become the new king. When Alexander the great came to Gordion he was impatient and cut the knot whith his sword.

I didn't try the small restaurant near to the museum but went back to Polatli where I had a large choice of new and clean pastry shops /coffeehouses.

 

 
Nallihan
Aug/04/2006 15:27

This small city on the old way between Istanbul and Ankara features very few old wooden houses (after a firestorm) and a professional school for textiles/carpets. Inside the school there is a small shop where they sell some articles they produce.

In the area there are artificial lakes which where built for the production of electricity. They are natural reserves with a large variety of wild birds now.

On the road between Nallihan and Ankara you can see landscapes which look like a far away planet where different layers of stones in red and white give phantastic pictures.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
Akcakoca
Aug/04/2006 15:06

This small city on the Black Sea can be easily reached from Istanbul and Ankara because it is not far away from the motorway which you leave at Duzce. Then on a good road you cross the hills which are entirely covered with pistacchio and nut trees and you arrive at the coast.

As a bathing ressort I found this coast disappointing, the buildings are somewhat shabby and you see an oil platform not far from the coast. The sand was clean, however.

Restaurants directly in the port didn't have menus with prices, this made me suspicious and one block away we found a small nice restaurant where the owner did everything to let us feel well at very reasonbale prices.

If you are there with a truck or a campingcar you can buy in several shops pistacchios in 50 kg bags at unbeatable prices .

 
Gaziantep
Aug/04/2006 14:52

This city in Turkey near to the Syrian border is a centre of commerce and industry, there is an airport and several 5 stars hotels with even more hotels under construction.

You should visit the new Gaziantep Archaeological Museum which has been greatly extended. The old building had been somewhat restructured, the new one now houses the excellent mosaics from Zeugma, an antique city that will disappear under the growing lakes formed due to huge dams the government is building to generate energy and for irrigation purposes. The building is well designed and shows the mosaics nicely.

Restaurants are excellent, as usual in Turkey, and locals told me that the food is so good and so rich that the % of habitants with diabetes is by far the highest in Turkey. I can recommend the restaurant at the 1st floor of the Tennis Club in the city centre and the Baklava shop near to the old Bazar which is famous all over Turkey.

Outside the city there are hills where the army has grown a forest over the last decades. On top of one of the mountains there is a restaurant offering a nice view.

 
Damascus
Aug/02/2006 15:45

I visited Damascus end of 2005 coming from Istanbul with Turkish Airlines. Unfortunately this is a nightflight but my seat neighbour was a nice businessman from Aleppo and after custom's procedures without any problems he took me with his car to the city and to the hotel.

Alternative air travel from Western Europe is with Austrian Airlines from Vienna, the flight is leaving about noon in Vienna.

Attention: as valid for many countries you have to apply for the visa in the country where you are living, so if you apply in a different country (e.g. Turkey) the Syrian Embassy may require a letter  from the embassy of your home country explaining why you apply there where you are ....

It was no problem to obtain such a letter from the Austrian embassy in Ankara but it might mean cueing 2 times, especially when you are near to Syria and far away from Ankara where most embassies are.

The government fixes the prices of hotels according to the category so you can find excellent and less excellent hotels at nearly the same price. I stayed in the Semiramis Hotel which is ok, not fancy. There is a outdoor pool on the top of the building but when the wheather is hot the floor around the pool is too hot to walk on and in general it is very hot there so you might not enjoy... There is also a clean mini fitness room. The hotel features a good Chinese Restaurant which may be a welcome change for people who travel in the Middle East for a long time. Free PCs with internet are available in the lobby.

The most luxurious hotels in Syria are the Cham hotels  www.chamhotels.com which are semi private and at international level without being much more expensive then the other better hotels.

When leaving Damascus by air dont forget to look around in the Duty free shop, it is one of the cheapest I know and has a large variety of products.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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