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Chalki: Less Wind, More Chill
Sophia and her friend, the Greek islands’ answer to Mrs Brown and Winnie McGoogan, are sitting on the steps chatting, as they usually are, as we say our goodbyes and head off to the ferry port. “Always take your key”, she had told us when we arrived, “because I never know what time I sleep”. Such is island life. After the Greece mainland, the large island of Crete, and the pleasant buzz of Karpathos, we are now looking for something more remote, more peaceful, so with our first glimpse of what lays before us as the ferry pulls into the tiny island of Chalki, the smallest inhabited island of the…
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The Road To Alanya
Our second road trip from Side takes us further along the D400 coast road to what will most likely be our most easterly destination, the large town of Alanya. Alanya is just over 60 kilometres from Side, and like our previous Turquoise Coast drives along the D400, the views of the beautiful blue Mediterranean are fantastic. But the drive is noteworthy for another reason too; most of the second half of the journey takes us through an incredible run of gigantic resort hotels. These places are mind boggling, colossal hulking buildings shoulder to shoulder for mile upon mile; for us, the unacceptable face of mass tourism. Their appearance ranges from mock…
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Dover Castle – The defender of England
As we wait for our travel date to arrive we continue our exploration of our local area. One major site which has been on our list for some time is Dover Castle, a familiar site majestically standing proud atop the white cliffs of Dover, keeping watch over the English Channel across to mainland Europe, keeping England safe through the ages, a myriad of underground tunnels holding secrets of days gone by. This site has been occupied in some form since Roman times, the Castle in its present form built by King Henry II and has played a key part in England’s defences throughout many wars, not least of course the…
