We walk parts of the St Paul Trail through the countryside of Central Anatolia, taking in history (Roman routes and ruins), geology (limestone columns) and the canyons, rivers, and lakes of the Taurus Mountains. To make the most of the Spring Bank holiday and the flight routing via Istanbul, Hazel and I are tacking on a couple of days in Istanbul on the way back, staying at the Turkoman Hotel.

Itinerary

Day 1: London - Istanbul - Antalya
Day 2: Antalya - Balkiri - Akpinar - Lake Eğirdir / Eğirdir
Day 3: Eğirdir - Mt Davraz
Day 4: Mt Davraz - Yukari Gokdere - Kasimlar
Day 5: Kasimlar - Kesme - Asar hill - Caltepe
Day 6: Caltepe - Selge
Day 7: Selge - Altinkaya - Tevfik's House
Day 8: Tevfik's House - Eurymedon Roman Bridge (Oluk Köprü) / Köprüçay River - Aspendos - Antalya
Day 9: Antalya - Istanbul (tour ends)
Day 10: Istanbul
Day 11: Istanbul - London

Yes, we climbed those three high passes and two high peaks (mainly) in great weather (from the Renjo La to the Kongma La at least) and definitely in great company, so a big thank you to fellow trekkers Dave, Steffi and Jake, and also to Sirdar Gopal, assistant Daa Waa (who was the Sirdar for Hazel and I on our additional week walking in from Shivalaya to Namche) and porters Mingma, Kumar, Nonda and Uberach for their excellent guidance, support and patience.

The trek itself is firmly in the magic memory box (TM Dave), notwithstanding the patches of cold, cloudy weather at either end, the Lukla flight shenanigans, and the diversion to Manchester due to fog at LHR, which meant it was 3am on Monday morning before I got back home....

I've no idea how many photos I took in the end, but they will be showing up in my Three High Passes to Everest set on Flickr over the coming weeks. Here's a taster:

The rucksack unpack eventually tackled, the post trip washing bonanza begins. Farewell to the aroma of yak dung stoves.

This is our actual itinerary:

DAY 01: Depart London (24m/79ft).
DAY 02: Arrive Kathmandu (काठमांडौ, 1,400m/4,593ft). Transfer to hotel.
DAY 03: Drive to Shivalaya.
DAY 04: Trek to Bhandar.
DAY 05: Trek to Sete.
DAY 06: Trek to Junbesi.
DAY 07: Trek to Traksingo.
DAY 08: Trek to Kharikhola (2,069m/6,789ft).
DAY 09: Trek to Surke.
DAY 10: Trek to Phakding.
DAY 11: Trek to Namche Bazaar (नाम्चे बजार, 3,440m/11,286ft).
DAY 12: Acclimatise in Namche. Meet the group (their arrival delayed by 1 day due to bad weather)
DAY 13: Trek to Thame.
DAY 14: Acclimatisation day in Thame.
DAY 15: Trek to Lungden.
DAY 16: Acclimatisation in Lungden.
DAY 17: Trek to Gokyo (4,790m/15,720ft) over Renjo La.
DAY 18: Ascend Gokyo Ri (5,357m/17,575ft), walk to lake 4.
DAY 19: Trek to Dragnak.
DAY 20: Cross Cho La (5,420 m/17,782ft) and descend to Dzongla.
DAY 21: Trek to Lobuche.
DAY 22: Trek to Kala Pattar (5,545m/18,192ft). Return to Lobuche.
DAY 23: Trek to Dingboche via the Kongma La.
DAY 24: Trek to [small place 45 mins above the river].
DAY 25: Trek to Namche Bazaar (नाम्चे बजार, 3,440m/11,286ft).
DAY 26: Trek to Phakding (Gopal's lodge).
DAY 27: Trek to Lukla (2,860m/9,383ft).
DAY 28: Lukla (2,860m/9,383ft) (flight fiasco).
DAY 29: More waiting in Lukla. Self-financed helicopter to Kathmandu.
DAY 30: Fly Kathmandu-Delhi, Delhi-Manchester. Coach to London Heathrow T4. 490 bus to T5. N9 night bus to Trafalgar Square. Walk to Aldwych. Cab home.

Our final bundle of documents and kit arrived from Mountain Kingdoms on Friday, and yesterday Hazel and I did the third and last of our Saturday riverside strolls, which is what counts as preparation for the trek (add "gym visits" for Hazel).

The walks have been lovely - we've been blessed with amazing Indian summer days weatherwise, and the routes have all been interesting:

• Walk 1: Barbican to Tower Bridge then Claire Tomalin's Pepys's Progress on to Greenwich (from the Time Out London Walks vol 2), which provided views of Canary Wharf and a route through the varied boroughs and developments on the south side of the river. A little over 2 hours (flat) door to door (of the Gipsy Moth Pub in Greenwich).
• Walk 2: Another walk from the London Walks book, this time Simon Hogart's Tales of the Riverbank, which led us along the Thames Path from Richmond train station to Teddington Lock where we crossed to the north side of the Thames and turned back towards Richmond, initially strolling though suburbia before returning to the river bank. We covered the flat 9 miles in 2 hours.
• Walk 3: For our final walk we covered 11 1/2 miles of the Lea Valley walk, heading north from Limehouse to finish up at Ponders End, to catch the train back to Liverpool Street Station. En route we passed the surprising and stunning Three Mills, saw the Olympic Park through electrified security fencing, breathed in the fresh air of the great green expanses of Hackney, Walthamstow and Tottenham Marshes, tucked into a lovely light lunch at the Pistachio's in the Park Cafe where Markfield Park runs alongside the Lee Navigation. The whole route follows the reflective waters of the Lee / Lea in its various guises - from the Limehouse Cut, to the Lee Navigation, to the River Lea. The hardest thing about doing any of the Lea Valley Walk is working out how to get onto it - last Sunday Phil and I had found ourselves strolling along the stretch from the Counter Cafe in Hackney Wick to the point where Commercial Road crosses Limehouse Cut, so I knew that the No 15 bus could get Hazel and me to the start of our day's walk - but try working that out from the WalkLondon descriptions....

(This looks handy: I've just stumbled across the London Walks section of Time Out's website, which provides some of the book's routes in PDF.)

Kit-wise, I've been using the walks to test out / break in my new Salomon boots, and last Christmas's Karrimor daypack. I snapped up a couple of bargains in the Cotswold sale: Julbo sunglasses and a reduced Icebreaker top in last season's style. I've also bought a pair of Rab winter walking trousers. Otherwise, it's a case of working out what to leave behind.... Oh, and getting to grips with my new digital camera.

After lots of reading of Digital Photography Review's Compact Camera Group Test: Travel Zooms and Amazon user reviews, Flickr mining, plus visits to Jessops and PC World to handle the two GPS-enabled travel/compact size cameras I'd narrowed down to, I settled on the Sony Cyber-Shot DSC-HX9V. Having been a faithful Canon user to date, it was the simple matter of the flash location/behaviour that put me off the Canon PowerShot SX230 HS.

I've also treated myself to Jamie McGuinness's Trekking in the Everest Region - a reassuring and informative read. Continuing with the Himalayan (and walking) theme, on Friday I walked from the Barbican through Smithfield and along Holborn, along Long Acre and through Leicester Square, along Piccadilly and then through Hyde Park to reach the home of the Royal Geographical Society where I took a look at their exhibition on Rivers of Ice: Vanishing Glaciers of the Greater Himalaya, which:

"Depicts the work of photographer and mountaineer David Breashears, Executive Director of GlacierWorks. Since 2007, David has led eight expeditions to the region, retracing the steps of the early photographic pioneers Major E.O. Wheeler, George Mallory, and Vittorio Sella. The exhibit matches Breashears' contemporary photographs with historical images, revealing dramatic glacial loss in the Greater Himalayan region."

And last, but not least, I've been keeping an eye on the GBP:NPR exchange rate, and the weather in Kathmandu....

Hazel and I have booked onto Mountain Kingdoms' Three High Passes to Everest trek, with an extension to walk in from Shivalaya to Namche Bazaar - partly motivated by giving ourselves that opportunity for training/acclimatisation (I'm sure that helped us on the Annapurna Circuit) and partly (on my part) to avoid the scary flight into Lukla! We have to fly out, but I think landing there is meant to be worse....

Itinerary

DAY 01: Depart London (24m/79ft).
DAY 02: Arrive Kathmandu (काठमांडौ, 1,400m/4,593ft). Transfer to hotel.
DAY 03: Drive to Jiri (जिरी, 1,905m/6,250ft) and on to Shivalaya.
DAY 04: Trek to Bhandar.
DAY 05: Trek to Sete.
DAY 06: Trek to Junbesi.
DAY 07: Trek to Traksingo.
DAY 08: Trek to Kharikhola (2,069m/6,789ft).
DAY 09: Trek to Surke.
DAY 10: Trek to Phakding.
DAY 11: Trek to Namche Bazaar (नाम्चे बजार, 3,440m/11,286ft). Meet the group.
DAY 12: Acclimatise in Namche. Views of Everest and option of visiting Everest View Hotel.
DAY 13: Trek to Thame.
DAY 14: Acclimatisation day in Thame.
DAY 15: Trek to Lungden.
DAY 16: Acclimatisation in Lungden.
DAY 17: Trek to Gokyo (4,790m/15,720ft) over Renjo La.
DAY 18: Rest day in Gokyo (4,790m/15,720ft)/Gokyo Ri (5,357m/17,575ft).
DAY 19: Trek to Dragnak.
DAY 20: Cross Cho La (5,420 m/17,782ft) and descend to Dzongla.
DAY 21: Trek to Lobuche.
DAY 22: Trek to Kala Pattar (5,545m/18,192ft). Descend to Lobuche.
DAY 23: Rest day at Lobuche.
DAY 24: Trek to Chukhung (4,730m/15,518ft) via the Kongma La.
DAY 25: Trek to Pangboche.
DAY 26: Trek to Namche Bazaar (नाम्चे बजार, 3,440m/11,286ft).
DAY 27: Trek to Lukla (2,860m/9,383ft).
DAY 28: Fly to Kathmandu. Overnight Hotel.
DAY 29: Half day sightseeing in KTM, rest of day at leisure.
DAY 30: Fly to London Heathrow (25m/83ft).

Tomorrow, a trip to Cotswold Outdoors in Spitalfields to stock up on trek boots and thermals!

We're reusing our kit bags from the Annapurna Circuit trek we did with Mountain Kingdoms in 2009, so they're sending us a free microfleece each instead of the complimentary kit bag. Thumbs up for Mountain Kingdoms customer service.

Croatia was fantastic: excellent day hikes, stunning scenery, fab food, a fun group and a great guide - Edo - courtesy of Exodus' Croatia: Islands & Mountains trip. Berlin started off rather damp, but got better once the weather did, and Michael - our Man In Berlin - provided two fascinating guided tours, of Berlin and Potsdam. Paris was, well, Paris! Expensive with the Euro:Pound exchange rate though, and checking in at the Gare du Nord on Sunday for the Eurostar to London was hellish. I'd be tempted to fly next time - seriously.

Here's the super summary:

• Sunday 26 June - Sunday 03 July 2011: Croatia - Exodus' Croatia: Islands & Mountains trip
• Sunday 03 July 2011: Split to Berlin: Germanwings (Split-Köln-Bonn)
• Sunday 03 - Wednesday 06 July 2011: Berlin - DIY, staying with Michael and Katja
• Wednesday 06 - Thursday 07 July 2011: Berlin - Paris on Deutsche Bahn's City Night Line sleeper train (the Man in Seat 61 comes up trumps yet again)
• Thursday 07 - Sunday 10 July 2011: Paris - DIY, staying at L'Hôtel des Grandes Ecoles
• Sunday 10 July 2011: Paris - London via Eurostar.

... and here are the photos* and memories ...

Sunday 26 June 2011: Fly Croatian Airlines from London to Zagreb and transfer to island of Krk (photos)

We spent the first 3 days of our fabulous Croatia: Islands & Mountains trip based at the eponymous Hotel Krk on the island of Krk, a short stroll along the seafront from Krk old town.

Day 1 was the getting-there day. Cat and I rendezvoused with Hazel at LHR T3 and took Croatian Airlines flight OU 491 to Zagreb. At small scale Zagreb airport we were met by our Croatian walking guide and all round expert, Edo-The-Man-Vričić, and said hello to fellow walkers Lina, Paul and Helen. The minibus to Krk town took two and half-ish hours, but en route we passed through forests and mountains before hitting the coast and crossing the amazing Krk bridge onto the island itself. All stunning.

After a drink and info session with a beer on the shady terrace of the Vila Lovorka, our part of the Hotel Krk complex, we walked along the waterfront into the old town to get our bearings and for dinner al fresco and another beer or two....

Monday 27 June 2011: Obzova Peak ridge walk, Krk (photos)

Day 2 - and our first walk: a short climb to Veli vrh peak (541m) then along the windy, rocky ridge to Obzova peak, the highest point on Krk at 569m. We dropped down to Zminja peak (537m) and then down and back up to Veli Hlam (482m) before our final descent back down to sea level and the resort town of Baška.

Our day started with a minibus drive along the coast via Krk's out of town Konsum supermarket (I love mooching around other countries' supermarkets...) for lunch supplies, then on around sheltered Puntarska Draga bay - home to a marina and suspended wire water skiing centre, plus the circular island of Košljun, which hides a Franciscan monastery founded centuries ago.

We parted company with the minibus up in the hills above Punat, which meant the minibus had done a chunk of the day's climb for us. As we slapped on the sunscreen we caught sight of a team of farmers shearing sheep in the shade of the trees; Edo told us that usually they just throw away the fleeces because there's no market for them - the shearing is simply to keep the sheep cool - but that this year someone's provided a skip to collect them.

As we walked we got fantastic views back towards Krk town and its neighbouring island of Cres (closing in on Krk for the title of Croatia's largest island, as sea levels rise), of to the moon plateau (tomorrow's destination) on our left, and more islands on our right. Ahead of us we could see the Velebit mountain range over on the mainland and Goli Otok (Nude / Naked island - there's not a tree to be seen), where political prisoners were incarcerated in a hard labour quarry camp until as recently as 1988.

Beautiful flora and fauna too - wild flowers, metallic green flying beetles and grasshoppers galore.... and the strange white stone circles proved to be sheep pens.

A little after Veli Hlam a steep zig zag descent brought us back into welcome pine tree cover and we lunched in the shade before strolling along a quiet island road and into bustling Baška.

After a cold drink at a seafront bar, a paddle in the clear blue waters of Baška bay (proving that we Brits aren't very good with pebbly beaches) it was back in the minibus to Hotel Krk to dump our stuff and head out for a swim in the crystal clear waters of the Adriatic. Beautiful. And for Mary, Hazel, Cat and Lina, an aperitif of beer and crisps in our hotel suite...

Dinner in Krk town at a lovely waterfront restaurant over by the Bishops Palace and the harbour, then back through the old town - armed with magnificent ice creams.

A fab first day for the simple-photo-laughter-grasshopper group!

Tuesday 28 June 2011: Hike up to the Moon Plateau and down back to Baška, afternoon/evening in Krk Town and celebrating Lina's birthday! (photos)

After another of the Hotel Krk's spoilt-for-choice buffet breakfasts, and a better-prepared stop at Konsum for picnic lunch supplies, we headed off back along the Baška road to the hamlet of Jurandvor. After a bit of background and history at Crkva svete Lucije (St Lucy's church), which is famous for being the original home of the Baška Tablet, we followed Edo through the village outskirts, fields and orchards and up an old track and the start of the walk up to the Planina Mjeseca - aka the Moon Plateau - and the high point of Hlam (461m). Much more of a slog up than yesterday (no minibus assisted ascent today!), but we were walking in pine forest shade for large parts of the way up and down.

Up on the limestone plateau it was a very stark lunar landscape, with more stone enclosures and walls and plenty of flowers, grasshoppers and beetles to keep me happy. We loitered over a lovely picnic lunch in the shade of the pine trees soaking up the beautiful views out over the bay and over towards where we'd been yesterday, before a surprisingly speedy descent into Baška by way of its old yellow church and winding up at the old town harbour and promenade - the perfect location for a drink followed by a sea level stroll.

Back in Krk we succumbed to a dip in the blue waters of the Adriatic, and then went for a stroll around the old town to take photos of the Frankopan castle, the Bishops' Residence, Krk Cathedral and Kamplin square. After a wash and brush up, we all gathered at the Titanic boat bar to start the evening's celebration of Lina's birthday with a bottle or two of Ožujsko beer, followed by homemade pasta (šurlice - Krk's speciality) at a very civilised rooftop restaurant - complete with a fantastic surprise birthday cake organised by Edo.

Having cleared the chill out bar on the rocks at the foot of Frankopan castle, Hazel and I decided it was time to head back to the hotel to pack, leaving Lina and Cat to their Ivan and Luka encounter.....

Wednesday 29 June 2011: Drive to Senj and up into Northern Velebit National Park. Walk to Zavižan mountain hut, on to the Velebit Botanical Garden and up Veliki Zavižan (1676m). Sunset over the islands (photos)

Day 4, and time to say farewell to lovely Krk. Hazel and I took an early morning stroll back to the Titanic Bar spit for some photos from the water front. Total tranquility. Breakfast and then off in the minibus back to Krčki most (Krk bridge) and the mainland. The drive down the Jadranska magistrala coast road was fabulous, and after stocking up with supplies in Senj, we turned inland and zig zagged up into the Velebit mountains.

At the entrance to Northern Velebit National Park we said farewell to the minibus (which took our bags on up to Zavižan), donned boots and day packs and headed off into the Park's forests and high mountain meadows. A lovely walk - lots of flowers - brought us to Zavižan (1597m). From the mountain hut there are fabulous views out over the mountains and forests of Velebit and back out over the coast to the islands and the Adriatic.

After lunch, and a taste of the warden's rakia, Edo led The Ladies down to the Botanical Gardens - a bowl-shaped depression (technically a sink hole or - given the karst terrain - a doline) where examples of Velebit flora have been gathered together, with many also labelled. I had a field day. Part way round the Gardens, we turned left and climbed through the woods and on up through the scrub pines to the peak of Veliki Zavižan (Great Zavižan) at 1676m. A steep climb, and worth it for the views. Edo got his "this is why I love my job" photo; and in honour of *that* Mamma Mia evening, Hazel, Cat and I did our interpretation of Abba's Waterloo.

Back at the mountain hut, we sampled a bottle of two of the Velebit range of beers before mucking in to make salad, chop cheese and generally prepare for dinner. In between starters (Tomato-cucumber-pepper salad, bread, Krk goats cheese) and mains (bean stew and sausage), we took ourselves up the small hill opposite and watched the sunset over the islands - beautiful. Back for beans, then bed.

Thursday 30 June 2011: Premuziceva Trail from Zavižan to Alan mountain hut; transfer to Karlobag (photos)

We woke to low cloud and rain! What a shock to the system. Not a mountain peak or distant island to be seen.

A tasty breakfast of scrambled eggs (so yellow!!) perked us up and donning waterproofs we bid farewell to Zavižan and headed off downhill to the start of the Premuziceva Trail (Premužićeva staza). Built in 1933, the trail takes you through the heart of the Northern Velebit National Park, remote and protected, with beautiful wild flowers every step of the way, and weird and wonderful water carved limestone rocks interspersed with spruce and beech forests. The Croatian National Tourist Board's Premuziceva Trail pages provide an excellent account of the route as well as the history of the trail.

We lunched in Rossi's hut, which looked like it was undergoing a spot of renovation, but at least it provided shelter from the rain. The afternoon leg of the trail included some steep descents and stretches through forests and long grass alpine meadows, eventually bringing us to the Alan mountain hut.

After changing out of wet boots (this was the day I decided my new Merrell Outbounds were Definitely Going Back), we met our new minibus and driver who ferried us down the switchback road leaving the Velebit mountains behind us and continuing south along the Jadranska magistrala coast road to Karlobag.

After checking in at the Hotel Zagreb, and luxuriating in the power showers of our newly refurbished block, Lina, Hazel, Cat and I headed off to explore Karlobag and - most importantly - to find coffee and cake, which we did with great success. We returned to the old town/village for dinner, in a lovely restaurant tucked away on a first floor terrace overlooking a courtyard. Everyone ate well, and we could hardly refuse the buy-one-get-one-free offer on the litre carafes of local white wine...

Friday 01 July 2011: A circular walk via the three valleys of Crni Dabar, Ravni Dabar and Dosen Dabar; then on to Starigrad-Paklenica for the night (photos)

Today's walk started with in another stretch of the Premuziceva Trail (Premužićeva staza), through woods and meadows before rejoining the tarmac, where we turned off left towards the sea views, and more exposed and water carved karst. Climbing up through woods, we emerged into a clearing with the remains of a house where we stopped for a break and butterfly photos before climbing up to Visibaba peak (1160m) for superb 360^o views - out to the sea and the islands on one side and of the famous kuks (hips) of the Velebit mountains.

Retracing our steps to the abandoned house, we continued on through forest and across meadows with paths of leaves and paths of karst, and after a thankfully-not-too-close wild boar encounter we arrived at the Ravni dabar mountain hut, and the end of the (almost) circular walk through the three valleys of Crni Dabar, Ravni Dabar and Dosen Dabar (I'm afraid I couldn't tell one from the other...).

Today's lunch came courtesy of the warden, who had prepared two huge cauldrons of local speciality stew for us, plus bread and beers on the side (Velebit beer, of course....).

Replete, we drove back out to the coast and on to Starigrad-Paklenica which stretches along the Jadranska magistrala for a few miles.

We were staying the Hotel Rajna, a small family hotel with views out over the Velebit channel to the island of Pag, and of olive groves and the ruined Venetian watch tower/fortress on this side of the water.

In the still hot late afternoon sun, Hazel, Cat, Lina and I walked out to the pebbly beach but our attempts to swim in the calm waters of the Velebit channel were foiled by shallow water and sensitive feet.... Leaving the others to head back to base, I pottered on round to the ruin and read for a while. Lovely.

Back at the hotel, we gathered for a home-cooked dinner on the terrace. Another lovely evening.

Saturday 02 July 2011: Gorgeous gorge walks in Velika Paklenica N.P., the off to Trogir for our final evening together (photos)

The final real day of the trip :( But at least the sun was shining for our walk in Velika Paklenica N.P., at the southern end of the Velebit mountains.

The Hotel Rajna's owner gave us a lift in his Land Rover to the start of today's trek - the end of the tarmac road at the edge of Starigrad-Paklenica.

Even with that helping hand, today's walk was hardest of the trip (of course!), a long slog climbing up through the trees to the site of the atmospheric Mirila graves, then upwards again to the col and our last views of the sea.

An undulating path brought us to the abandoned houses of Tomici Village - some of which are being restored with a view to eco tourism/"getting away from it all". Surrounded by Velebit's limestone karst and low trees and shrubs we undulated onwards to Vidokov kuk, and thence to Ramići village where we zigzagged steeply down to the river in Velika (Big) Paklenica gorge, which we followed north to the cafe at Lugarnica - a great place for our final picnic lunch.

The paved path through Velika Paklenica made for an easy stroll back to our walk's end - allowing ample opportunity to admire the rock climbers making their way up what looked like sheer rock faces.

Back in the minibus for our penultimate transfer - speeding along the motorway to Trogir. The whole of the old city is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and it provided a very different place to spend our final evening: staying in an old hotel inside the town walls, eating in its courtyard restaurant, and treating ourselves to One Last Ice cream as we toured the town sights for a final time: the Cathedral church of St. Lawrence, the Kamerlengo Castle. A place to come back to.

Sunday 03 July 2011: Goodbye simple-photo-laughter-grasshopper group. Gutenabend Berlin (no photos!)

The final day of the trip started with a very early morning transfer to Split airport to catch the 06:45 Croatian Airlines flight to Zagreb Airport and on to LHR. We'd said our farewells to Paul and Helen last night, so at the airport it was time to say goodbye to Edo, and for me to wish Lina, Cat and Hazel bon voyage back to Blighty, and then to wait until my Germanwings flight to Köln/ Bonn and an early afternoon onwards flight to Berlin Schönefeld.

A long day of airports. It was grey and cold in Köln/ Bonn; rainy and colder in Berlin. I'd left Split bathed in hot summer sun.

After a bit of to-ing and fro-ing on the S9 and S3/S75 train lines, I arrived at the Hauptbahnhof with half an hour to spare before Phil's train from Munich was due to arrive. It was all a bit weird to see Phil, plus Michael and Katja appear .... and to actually be in Berlin.

Monday 04 July 2011: Berlin in the rain (photos)

A wet and overcast first full day in Berlin dampened our first impressions of the city somewhat....

We spent the day out and about, exploring on foot, walking from Michael and Katja's to the river and Museum Island, on to Alexanderplatz, following the skyline to find our way to key sights.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Germany
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berlin
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Museum_Island
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ampelm%C3%A4nnchen
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexanderplatz
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fernsehturm_Berlin
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_clock
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Synagogue_%28Berlin%29

Tuesday 05 July 2011: Berlin in the sun (photos)

A sunnier day all round!

Michael - Our Man in Berlin - spent his morning showing us the sights, on a personal guided tour - fascinating.

After lunch with Matt Biddulph close to Checkpoint Charlie, we meandered through the Tiergarten and back along the other side of the Spree, soaking up the sun and reading for a spell before walking back for dinner with Michale, Katja and Soeren.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Germany
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berlin
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berlin_Wall
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bundestag
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reichstag_building
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unter_den_Linden
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soviet_War_Memorial_%28Tiergarten%29
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brandenburg_Gate
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pariser_Platz
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memorial_to_the_Murdered_Jews_of_Eu...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hitler%27s_bunker
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Checkpoint_Charlie
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trabant
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiergarten

Wednesday 06 July 2011: Potsdam tour with Michael, catch a final beer and the sleeper train to Paris (photos)

A scorcher of a day out of Berlin, taking another great walking tour courtesy of Michael - this time out and about in Potsdam. My favourite bit? The Glienicke Bridge - top Cold War spy swop spot.

Back to Berlin Hauptbahnhof to rendezvous with Katja for farewell beer, and then the DB City Night Line sleeper train to Paris.

Thursday 07 - Sunday 10 July 2011: Paris (photos)

Staying at the delightful L'Hôtel des Grandes Ecoles near the Sorbonne, a final few days pottering around Paris.

Highlight: Albert-Kahn musée et jardins.

Lowlight: Checking in at the Gare du Nord for the Eurostar back to London. Chaos, and no one cared.

* For the full set of photos on Flickr, visit Croatia - Berlin - Paris, June/July 2011.

• Persia: Paradise Lost, an exhibition of Georg Gerster's aerial photographs of Iran on show at the Wilmotte Gallery at Lichfield Studios
• Reel London: Are the streets all paved with gold? Archive films of the Square Mile of the City of London at the London Metropolitan Archives

Persia: Paradise Lost

... was stunning. A small selection of Georg Gerster's aerial shots of late 1970s Iran, enlarged to poster size. Beautiful images, an amazing backstory.

In case the blurb on Tristan Hoare's website disappears, I've reproduced it here, and added in some wikipedia links:

Between April 1976 and May 1978 Swiss-born, pioneer of aerial photography Georg Gerster spent over 300 hours crouched at the back of a twin-engine light aircraft above Iran. Accompanying him wherever he went was Dr Dietrich Huff, a distinguished archaeologist and an expert on Iran. Dr Huff would sit at the front while Georg would sit behind him next to a gaping hole where the cargo door should have been, pointing his Nikon camera down to the ground below.

'There was no sensible way of conversing with my archaeological guide in the cockpit - trying to shout over the noise coming through the open doorway was no use. So the captain would simply switch off the engines. Thankfully the Islander, with its broad wings, can somewhat glide for a while.'

Commissioned by Empress Farah herself, Gerster's expeditions have provided a unique record of the Persia's amazingly diverse landscapes and of its most significant archaeological sites. We fly over mountains, deserts, gardens, lakes, salt plains, seas and cities. We fly over the spectacular site of Takht-e Soleyman in the north east, where newly anointed kings would make a pilgrimage to humble themselves at the holy fire; we fly over Sistan, a place of legends where Rostam, the hero of the Book of Kings, is said to have been born - in this image the shifting sands look likely to cover the city again; south of Tehran, we pass a camel caravan on the way to the ancient Zoroastrian heartland of Kerman, later famed for its silk and visited by Marco Polo in the 13th century.

Gerster's stunning images have captured the amazing and varied beauty of Persia. They create a sense of wonder at the scale and magnificence of the country and highlight the relationship between man and land - men shape nature but are also shaped by it.

Somehow the higher perspective conjures up a timeless world with the wind as only companion, and gives the viewer a rare opportunity to contemplate civilisation from a different angle. 'Altitude', said Gerster, 'provides overview, overview provides insight, while insight eventually, I hope, leads to respect and consideration.

I'm glad I made the effort to catch the exhibition, which closes today; the photos of Takht-e Soleyman and Sistan in particular have convinced me of the need to pay Iran another visit.

Reel London

Taking the Hammersmith & City line back east from W10, I made for the London Metropolitan Archives in Clerkenwell. Their woefully advertised Reel London series has been vicariously touring London using footage from the archives.

Compared to Barbi-topia, which Phil and I went to see last year, Reel London: Are the streets all paved with gold? Archive films of the Square Mile of the City of London was rather amateur in organisation, but served up a great collection of documentaries and promotional films providing "... a look at the City of London over the decades from Tower Bridge to the Bank of England, Mansion House, Guildhall, the Barbican and many other famous City buildings and streets."

In between, lunch in sunny Spa Fields (a hidden gem!), tucking into a veggie salad box from Seed's stall in Exmouth Market. Marvellous.

Next Friday Focus

The Travel Photographer of the Year exhibition¹ at the Royal Geographical Society, and a screening of Khyber² at the British Museum.

1. inspired by the Travel Photographer of the Year slideshow on the BBC News website and the Guardian's Travel Photographer of the Year - in pictures
2. part of the BM's Afghanistan: Crossroads of the Ancient World exhibition, "...[t]his film looks at the history of Afghanistan up to the Soviet invasion in 1979 from the perspectives of both British and Pashtun, with fascinating parallels to today's conflict. Introduced by director André Singer."

• Persia: Paradise Lost, an exhibition of Georg Gerster's aerial photographs of Iran - Wilmotte Gallery at Lichfield Studios, London W10 (ends 20 May 2011) (Guardian article: Photographer Georg Gerster's best shot)
• Sony World Photography Awards 2011 winners - Somerset House (ends 22 May 2011)
• Hoppé Portraits: Society, Studio and Street - National Portrait Galley (ends 30 May 2011)

... plus a couple of relatively local exhibitions about London for later in the summer:

• This is Whitechapel - the Whitechapel Gallery (ends 04 September 2011)
• London Street Photography - the Museum of London (ends 04 September 2011)

We're travelling by train all the way back from Berlin, using Deutsche Bahn's City Night Line sleeper train for Berlin-Paris, and then the Eurostar home. The Man in Seat 61 comes up trumps yet again.

How:

• Croatia: Exodus' Croatia: Islands & Mountains trip
• Split to Berlin: Germanwings (Split-Köln-Bonn)
• Berlin: DIY, staying with Michael and Katja
• Berlin - Paris: Deutsche Bahn's City Night Line sleeper train (the Man in Seat 61 comes up trumps yet again)
• Paris: DIY, staying at L'Hôtel des Grandes Ecoles
• Paris - London: Eurostar

Itinerary (Days 1-8 are the Exodus trip)

• Day 1: Fly London to Zagreb; three hour transfer to island of Krk.
• Day 2: Walk from Punat to Obzova Peak on island of Krk.
• Day 3: From the pretty town of Baška we walk through the stunning 'Moon Plateau' to the peak of Hlam (461m).
• Day 4: Free morning; transfer to Oltari Pass on mainland. Walk in North Velebit National Park ascending to Zavižan mountain hut where we overnight.
• Day 5: Walk famous Premuziceva Trail from Zavižan to Alan mountain hut; transfer to Karlobag.
• Day 6: Circular walk via the three valleys of Crni Dabar, Ravni Dabar and Dosen Dabar; drive to Starigrad.
• Day 7: Velika Paklenica N.P. gorge walk via the Mirila graves and Tomici Village; transfer to Trogir (UNESCO World Heritage Site 810).
• Day 8: Transfer to Split airport. Fly to Berlin.
• Day 9: Berlin.
• Day 11: Berlin; DB City Night Line sleeper train to Paris.
• Day 12: Paris.
• Day 13: Paris.
• Day 14: Paris.
• Day 15: Paris.
• Day 16: Paris; return to London on Eurostar.

Google map

Further information

• Paris by public transport: RATP travel planner and Archi Bus routes
• Albert-Kahn musée et jardins is the only "Must Do" on my list for Paris

My visit was made all the better by attending the curator's introduction (the joy of being able to go to weekday events); St John Simpson provided context to the exhibition before homing in on a small number of exhibits representing four key sites: the bonze age gold and silver vessels found at Tepe Fullol, the Hellenistic city of Ai Khanum, the stunning hidden storerooms at Begram (aka Bagram) and the super high status nomadic burial mound at Tillya Tepe.

As St John Simpson says in Showing Treasures on the British Museum blog:

In the exhibition title we describe Afghanistan as the crossroads of the ancient world and I think that the 200 objects spanning 3,000 years will show exactly why that's an appropriate description.

Its geographical position, on the edge of central Asia with India and China beyond to the east and Iran, the Middle East and the numerous cultures of the Mediterranean and the rest of Europe to the west, it was criss-crossed by ancient trade routes. In many ways then as now it was a hub and meeting place for diverse cultures and neighbours, both near and distant, over thousands of years.

In the modern world it's all too easy to think of Afghanistan solely as a place of conflict - and indeed the objects that will feature in the exhibition tell that story as well - but taking the long view we can see in the rich materials and ornate craftsmanship of these objects a far broader story.

The Afghanistan portrayed in this exhibition feels a million miles away from the land of the Taliban and the Surge, and has whetted my appetite for the Wild Frontiers trips to Afghanistan...

But before then, I'll be heading up to Oxford to visit the Ashmolean's exhibition Heracles to Alexander the Great - as mentioned by one of the audience at the talk (what's the equivalent of name dropping for events?) - to see treasures from the the royal burial tombs and the palace of Aegae, the capital of the ancient kingdom of Macedon in northern Greece.

Afghanistan: Crossroads of the Ancient World - signage on the steps of the British Museum

A lovely, long holiday courtesy of the Easter and Royal Wedding / Early May Bank Holiday weekends, plus 3 days off work. One of our best holidays at the Gyford caravan, Walton on the Naze.

Blue skies almost every day, and very breezy as we headed towards the Royal Wedding.

Lots of reading, a stroll along the beach to Frinton for a fry up and second hand books, a walk along the Backwaters and the Naze to visit the new coastal defence works and the excellent Naze Tower cafe, and a lot of time at the beach hut. All lovely.

Highlights:

• Sunsets

  

• Strolling around the Backwaters

  
• Pints at The Victory
• Cakes from Lilley's Bakery and Wright's the bakers
• Walking further along the edge of Walton Mere boating lake to the marinas and locating the Martello Tower inside the caravan park
• Getting the VIP treatment at Curiosity Garden

• Sheltered reading, lunching and snoozing at the beach hut

  
• Walking from Walton to Frinton, taking photos - beach hut-tastic. A lazy fry up lunch, followed by ice cream. Finding a short cut back

• Local beers, courtesy of the Grape & Grain off licence in Frinton

  

BUT .... the Co op has stopped stocking Nik Naks, and that's *rubbish*.

PS Here's what I read on my holidays:

• Oracle Bones: A Journey Between China and the West - Peter Hessler
• One Day - David Nicholls
• Sacred Hearts - Sarah Dunant
• A Question of Blood - Ian Rankin
• The Burning Land - Bernard Cornwell
• In Search of Kazakhstan: The Land That Disappeared - Christopher Robbins
• About Face - Donna Leon
• Sharpe's Devil - Bernard Cornwell
• Learning to Talk: Short stories - Hilary Mantel
• Granta: Travel Writing 10
• Tiger Hills - Sarita Mandanna (started in Walton, finished in London)

Taking the train out on Friday afternoon meant we arrived in time for tea. In fact, we arrived with plenty of time for pre dinner drinks, dad-style.... with TJBR joining us around 7/8pm and driving on the the cottage after dinner.

Saturday featured the usual familiar faces, and a stroll to The Neville Arms *, but sadly no sign of Buster. The weather today has been gorgeous, and we had aperitifs while reading the papers and soaking up the sun just outside the porch.

The Newport route home was its usual depressing experience - all the more so as our Arriva Trains Wales 2 coacher got shunted into a siding which meant we missed our connection. All accompanied by a glorious sunset.

* You know, I didn't expect them to have a website!

Periodically I've put "migrate fotopic to flickr" onto my to do list... and with Friday's having become a non working day I felt inspired to invest the time and effort into recreating my fotopic collections as Flickr sets.

So today I sat down to start the task.... only to find that fotopic appears to have disappeared, without warning and (initially) without trace:

Phil pointed me in the direction of a Google Group, but having joined it seems to be more of a shouting shop than anything more constructive.

So I've resorted to a Loosemore bodge, using the wondrous Wayback Machine from The Internet Archive, to track down their copy of mary.fotopic.net:

I've then copied/pasted the data into a simple text file:

which I then use to profile freshly uploaded photo files on Flickr:

Luckily, I've always kept the file name as part of the photo profile, and the files are organised into event folders, dated and grouped by year on my computer, so recreating the collection hasn't proved to difficult, just time consuming.

Today, I've reincarnated Intrepid Cambodia - December 2002 (formerly http://mary.fotopic.net/) on Flickr. Next week I'll see what echoes remain on the Wayback Machine of my much larger collection that was at sparklytrainers.fotopic.net

As anticipated, Saturday evening featured wine, takeaway and in lieu of Any Dream Will Do we sangalonga Mammia Mia.

Plans for a Sunday stroll in the great outdoors were foiled by laziness and the inclement weather. I was introduced to the wonders of Dinner Date and Jamie's 30 minute meals....

We pottered around town (shopping and sightseeing) on Saturday, took a leisurely late lunch at the fabulous Bill's, celebrated Anno's birthday at Cafe Koba into the wee small hours....

Beautiful blue skies and bright sunshine made for a glorious Sunday stroll along the seafront.

Brighton House hotel, Brighton

Blue sky, blue tents - our camp site 50 km north from Domar, Tibet

The satellite photos Google maps of the main, Tibetan, part of the journey are astoundingly clear. And so much better than Flickr/Yahoo maps (I know I do go on about that....). This Google Map shows, broadly, our route -
it's missing the side trips to Rongbuk Monastery/Everest Base Camp, Peiku Tso and Zanda:

View Larger Map

Also, picked up Allgemeine Informationen Western-Tibet Highway, Kashgar-Lhasa (height charts) from Peter Quaife's Occupied Territories: A ride from Kashgar to Lhasa.