Veliko Tarnovo, Bulgaria

June 1-5,2009
Nice fort on a hill complete with light show... but only on nights where enough tourists pay $12 each to have it happen... usually a bus tour group. My backpacker friends and I had to wait a night or two ;)
Used cool open source (free) panorama software called hugin. Google it...

Sofia, Bulgaria

May 28-31, 2009

Great Hostels... too much noise at Hostel Mostel but still one of the best hostels I've stayed at. If only they'd keep the RyanAir weekend bachelor partiers away!

Plovdiv, Bulgaria

May 24-28, 2009
I had planned to go back to Istanbul but as I was wishing a friend a good journey to Bulgaria I realized I'd be just as well off going to the Russian consulate there... and I wouldn't be backtracking. 30 min later I was on my way to Bulgaria.
In Plovdiv at Hikers Hostel I had an interesting discussion with a local about women she knew who were having their U.S. green cards revoked after investigation by U.S immigration authorities. They were cracking down on sham 2-year marriages used to gain residency.

Selcuk and Ephesus

May 20-22,2009
Selcuk, Turkey: Toured Ephesus and Temple of Athena.
Pics: 2xEphesus + ghost town near Selcuk.

Canakkale with a visit to Troy!

May 23-24,2009
Can you guess whch horse starred with Brad Pitt?

Pammukkale, Turkey

May 19, 2009

Kas and Fethiye

Caught a ride with a father son team from Britain with their rented jeep. They got me halfway from Olympos to Kumluca, a city of greenhouses as ar as the eye can see... amazing! I took a bus the rest of the way to Kas.
Kas is a neat little coastal diving tourist town where I got 'stalked' by a guesthouse manager from the bus station.. I ended up not even looking at his place. The place I did stay had heard about the episode.. funny.. glad I handled it well . small town! There was a girl from Calgary, Canada in my dorm.

Fethiye was interesting. Beach is a not-too-cheap 20 min bus ride away. Stayed in 'Ideal' hostel... just missed some friends who turned out were down the hall and probably checked out just after I checked in... met up a stop or two later with Ari (22month traveler who I first ran into in Cappadocia, then Olympos). Made new friends including catching Janika dropping out of the sky on her first paraglide... fluke pictures! No.. I didn't paraglide.. a few reasons including the price.