Dear friends, This last episode from the Turquoise Coast takes us on a long hike with beautiful views, meeting a nomadic family, a visit to the ancient city of Kaunos, and the winding river through the marsh and reeds for a brief stop in Dalyan. After a rainstorm in the night, it was lovely [...]
Dear friends, I will cover a couple more days of action and fun in this episode and include an ancient city or two, a delicious lunch, and a walk through a little village high on a plateau above the coast, an island monastery, a deserted village, and a museum. Never a dull moment, that's [...]
Dear friends, Before beginning this episode, I want to add a little more about Lycia which I mentioned in my last story when showing a photo of the distinctive Lycian carved stone tombs. The earliest references to Lycia can be traced through Hittite texts to sometime before 1200 BC when it is known as [...]
Dear Friends, As we made our way along the Turquoise Coast, enjoying the coves and harbours and hikes up into the mountains, it was fascinating and most enjoyable to visit more historic sites, and learn of each place's unique history through the ruins. First up in this story is Phaselis. Early morning, anchored in [...]
Dear friends, The start of our journey along the Mediterranean Coast, often referred to as the Turquoise Coast, began in Antalya, now one of Türkiye's premier resort areas with a majestic coastline and a backdrop of the towering Taurus Mountains. Although there had been successive habitations at this site, the city was founded in [...]
Dear friends, For the first of several Joanna's Journal stories about my recent travel to Türkiye, I would like to give a short introduction to the parts of this fascinating country my trip took me and a brief note on the remarkable history and geography about which I am now determined to learn and [...]
Dear friends, My final story from Oman comes from the wonderful southern city of Salalah where we spent three days in and around the city, visiting the beautiful coastline where there were more camels than people on the long white beaches, learning about the ancient trade in frankincense, seeing the tombs of holy men, relaxing [...]
Dear friends, This day our voyage in Oman continued with a magnificent and for some, a nail-biting, drive through the mountains from Nizwa back to Muscat. The views were magnificent, the road challenging and the village of Bilad Sayt nestled under the barren crags very charming and photogenic. From one of the highest vantage points, what [...]
Dear friends, We spent a couple more days in and around Nizwa and Al Hamra in the interior of the country and visited the magnificent 17th Century Jabreen Fort, palm plantations and Wadi Nakhr, the hanging villages of Al Aqor and Al Ain on the Sayq plateau, walked along the ancient irrigation (falaj) channels and [...]
Dear friends, After the fascinating morning at the goat market I wrote about in the last blog, we also spent time in the wider market and then visited the Nizwa's Round Tower Fort. Later, we walked through a fascinating hillside village and then settled into a wonderful 'eco-luxe' hotel for the night called 'The View', [...]