Dear friends, Probably the best-known of all the ancient sites in Türkiye is Ephesus, so of course we had to visit. Unlike most of the sites we visited along the coast, where we were often the only visitors, this place was pretty busy with tourists, many 'selfie' occupied. Historical accounts and archaeological remains of [...]
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, This will be my last blog from the Antarctic Peninsula, as after this day we just had the long way north across the Drake Passage to Ushuaia before disembarking and heading back to Buenos Aires. Having travelled only a short distance north from the day before we had a morning excursion to the [...]
Dear friends, We had a fairly rough passage up the west coast of Adelaide Island overnight and through the morning, so it was quite exciting to spend a little time up on the bridge and watch the waves breaking over the prow and often splashing right up over the windows. But when we came into [...]
Dear friends, A recap on where we have got to on our Antarctic adventure - the last blog was about Red Rock Ridge and Stonington Island which was the furthest south we venture into waters at 68 degrees south. We then travelled north for two more stops - Horseshoe Island and Bourgeois Fjord, marked 4 [...]
Dear friends, After our transverse of the Lemaire Channel and our zodiac zipping through the Iceberg Garden, we traveled further south overnight and all through the following morning. We passed more and more huge icebergs and even witnessed a few calving. A chunk of this iceberg cracking of the left end, and creating a dramatic [...]