Photos

Finally, a good internet connection! Before I post about the last 2 days, I want to share some photos of Ephesus and my time in Kusadasi.

First, a shot of the main street in Ephesus.

A fountain dedicated to Emperor Domitian.

 A close up of a temple dedicated to Fortuna - the goddess of Fortune

The Library - such an impressive building!! I managed to trip over the front steps and fall off. Sigh.

I love this shot. It was such a beautiful day!

The theater where St Paul preached (and also where Elton John and Sting, among others, have performed). I like St Paul more though.

The house where Mary allegedly spent her last days with St John.

The surroundings of the house - it was such a peaceful place.

The only column left of the 122 that made up the Temple of Artemis. It's actually made up of all the different pieces though!

The view from my hotel room in Kusadasi.

The view from the little village where my guide took me. Most of the villagers work in the fields.

Some of the pillars left of the Basilica of St John the Evangelist. This is actually the tomb of St John, though his relics have long been removed and taken to Europe.

The Basilica looks down on the mosque that was built in the 14th century when the Ottoman Empire conquered Turkey.

A shot of the tombs in the mountain side where the Christians buried their dead during the Roman persecution.

Just a little snap shot of the views in the area. To make you jealous :)

I'll post more about my time going to Troy and Gallipoli today, but tonight I have to get some rest. I have an early flight to Barcelona tomorrow!

Kusadasi

Well I did end up with another male tour guide today but this guy was great – really friendly but totally professional. No issues there. It was just us so I was a bit nervous at first but relaxed as the morning wore on.

Alas, no pics again. The internet doesn't like me.

First we went to a little village up high in the mountains – I actually can't remember the name of it – but it was beautiful. During the tourist season apparently it is full of people, but being winter now and quite early when we went, we got to see the real village life. As we walked through the village the guide was telling me about how hard it is to afford a house in Turkey now. People are resorting to using companies who lend a lot with little interest, but when they want the money back and you can't pay within 48 hours, they just kill your son instead. Scary stuff.

We also went to see the Basilica of St John the Evangelist near Ephesus, where St John's body was originally buried but later on the relics were removed and taken to Europe. However, there is still a tomb there and the ruins of the church show it would have been a very large and very beautiful place. There was a baptistery at the side with steps going down, so it was a full immersion baptism.

Down further on the hill, so that St John's Basilica overlooks it, is a mosque that was built in the 14^th century. When the Ottoman empire took over Turkey, many churches were destroyed. The ones that survived had all the religious icons hacked off the walls. In this case, the mosque was built right next to the church and the church closed. The mosque is still used today. Just a point of interest, all of the tour guides, when referring to those muslims who go to the mosques five times a day, as is stated as an obligation for men in Islam (the women pray at home), refer to these Muslims as extremists. Turkey is far more secular than I had thought before I came here. Many of the younger generations, particularly revere Ataturk and are very supportive of him making Turkey a secular country in the 1920s.

After this we had lunch. Well I say we, but actually it was just me in this huge function centre that caters for tourist groups. Because I was the only one on the tour it was just me, and a really large American family at the other end of the room.

After lunch we went to the Sleeper Caves – these are old Christian tombs were people were buried during the times of the Roman persecution. Many Christians lived in the mountains (and I mean, literally 'in' them) so when they died they were also buried inside the mountains, as they were afraid of the bodies being removed from normal graves and abused as a warning to those Christians still alive of the perils of not worshipping the emperor.

And lastly we went to the museum of Ephesus, where many of the statues and monuments were stored after the excavations at Ephesus. Many are also in Vienna, as it was the Viennese who led the excavations. This statue is of the Emperor Domitian, a particularly nasty guy. It's notable for its size. His arm is taller than me.

This afternoon I had time to myself so after being dropped off at my hotel I went exploring. This place, Kusadasi, is very touristy but I was left to myself so I walked along the promenade and along the streets. It's very beautiful.

These are 2 posts I wrote yesterday about the previous 2 days. No photos unfortunately - the internet is being very tempermental!

Tuesday 18 January 2011

Yesterday I had another tour around the Cappadocia area. The day before, our tour guide was a very nice woman while yesterday it was a very nice man – a bit too nice to me in fact! Because I am travelling alone, in these larger tour groups people pair up with their travel buddies so I'm always left with the tour guide, which is fine, except when they take a special liking to you and and want to take your picture every five minutes and get way too close. I backed away a few times but it didn't matter with one guy - always popping up and making comments about me. At the end of a tour when he was giving me my bus ticket and made a huge deal about how we would be forever parted, I'd had enough. I'm afraid I wasn't very polite.

The day itself was amazing though. We started off by going to see what the locals call the 'fairy chimneys' – they are like mushroom capped rocks. It's hard to describe them so here's a picture. They were quite beautiful – there was a church inside one so I climbed up the top to see inside. The sky yesterday was clear so the photos came out quite well.

After this we went to a valley that has rock formations that look like animals and people – all natural I'm told!

Before lunch we went to a terracotta workshop in a village called Avanos. This village is situated right on the Red River, one of the longest rivers in Turkey and gets its name from the red clay at the bottom of the river. This clay has been used for thousands of years to make all sorts of objects and we were shown a demonstration of how the ancient 'kick-wheel' method is used. The guy made it look super easy, but when they asked for volunteers one of the Spanish guys showed us it's not so simple. There was many a joke cracked about the famous pottery scene from the movie 'Ghost' while the other Spanish guys sang the song in that scene.

We were of course shown to the room with all the finish products that we could buy. The work was beautiful, but I just don't trust getting back home with anything like that still intact in my bag, so I didn't get anything.

After lunch we went to see some more panoramic views of Cappadocia, where you could see the highest mountain in Turkey. There's quite a ski trade there apparently. And lastly we went to a town called Goreme, which has an open air museum because there are many 10^th century and earlier churches in the tall rocks. You'd think that these churches would be pretty spartan and unsophisticated in design, but the frescoes inside some of them rival any church you would find in Italy from the Renaissance. Unfortunately when the Greek population left Turkey as part of the forced population exchange during the 1920s, no one was left to use the churches and many of the faces of the religious images have been hacked away by Turks since that time.

The tour ended up finishing quite early and as my bus didn't leave for another 4 hours and I had already checked out of my little cave hotel, I found myself at liberty. However, this is where the Spaniards came through for me – they were going to be on the same bus so we all found a really nice Turkish lounge/bar where they put on a fire for us and we lazed around chatting for a few hours. One of the Spanish guys, whose girlfriend was there too, has applied to work in Australia, in Melbourne no less! And piled me with questions about life there. He was telling me that the working conditions in Spain are very bad and economically it doesn't make sense to stay. We exchanged details so if he and his girlfriend come I can show them around. Likewise, when I am in Madrid in a few weeks his girlfriend offered to take me out. So, a profitable afternoon for both groups!

The overnight bus was painful but I arrived in Selcuk in one piece and am now waiting to be picked up by our guide for our tour of Ephesus – I am very much looking forward to seeing this town – it's over 8,000 years old!

Tuesday 18 January 2011 in the morning

I am really feeling the effects of the night bus this evening – nothing like being jolted around for 12 hours while getting bits and pieces of sleep to make you appreciate sleeping in a bed!

Today was really beautiful weather wise – I actually felt the sun burning my face at one point – the first time it's happened all trip! Our group today was about 9 people and we toured the ancient city of Ephesus, which was really cool. The Ephesus that stands (figuratively speaking, most of it is rubble) today was built in around 300 BC, but the city's origins are actually much older – dating back to 6,000 BC. During the Roman Empire, Ephesus was one of the largest and most thriving cities in Asia Minor. Our tour today took us past the main gate where there are Roman baths. Travellers had to wash themselves before entering a city – this was a fairly common Roman custom. Then we walked along the marble path through the city street, ruins of beautiful buildings all around us. Some of them have been restored so that they stand as they would have back in the day, while others lie in bits and pieces on the ground. The best preserved building is the Library. This has been restored and is very impressive. Right opposite it was the city brothel and there was in fact an underground tunnel that led from the library to the brothel, so men could tell their significant others they were studying, while off pursuing other interests!

One of my favourite monuments was the huge theater, where St Paul preached when he came to Ephesus. Of course, after he spoke, the people there wanted to kill him so he escaped through the tunnel exits. It was surreal walking through these same tunnels thinking he was once there. The theater itself is quite amazing – I climbed to the top and got a great picture of the surrounding area.

The area around Ephesus is very different to Cappadocia – Ephesus has very fertile soil and there are many fruit and olive trees everywhere. It's absolutely beautiful countryside – probably the most beautiful place I've been all trip. You just can't not feel relaxed when you're in such countryside, the birds chirping and the sound of sheep baahing and the cow bells clanging as shepherds move their flocks around.

After lunch, during which I sat with a couple from the US who were very nice, we went to the house where the Virgin Mary is said to have spent her last days. There are a number of sources as evidence for this, scriptural and historical and the previous three Popes have visited the site and declared it to be a holy site. There is also a spring there, which people have claimed has healed their various maladies. The area where the house is is absolutely beautiful – my idea of perfect serenity. The house is quite small and inside (where no photos are allowed) there are simple rooms, the main focus being an altar with a beautiful statue of Mary on it. I stayed in there for some time, then made my way around the corner to where the spring water was. It actually comes out of taps, so my romantic notions of a Lourdes like moment were squashed, but the water is cold and cleaner than most of the water here.

To the side of the spring was a wall where there was some kind of mesh and there were thousands of bows tied to it – all different colours. On closer inspection I saw that they were prayers, handwritten by people who have come on hankies, tissues and paper and tied to each other. It was quite lovely to see such a physical reminder of how many thoughts and issues we bring forward in prayer.

My tour mates had long gone by this time back to the bus so I had to get back there. I could easily have passed the whole day in the gardens.

After this we went to the Temple of Artemis, which is one of the Seven Wonders of the World. To be honest I was expecting a bit more than one column, which is basically all that is left now. But the temple had over 120 of these marble columns, so if you're good at using your imagination, it's easy to see how grand the temple must have been.

We also had some more 'presentations' today. One was blatantly a sales pitch, where we went to a leather factory and they played seedy music while teenagers came out on a small catwalk, modelling the goods. The Americans and I found the whole thing so hilariously crass so we laughed and at the end managed to escape without buying anything, but there were so Mexicans in the group who weren't so firm in saying no. Of course, this when you get pounced on so we waited while they bought some things. I just can't keep a straight face when some Turkish guy holds up a jacket that only Donatella Versace could get away with and croons, “So pretty, just to match you my lovely one” as he strokes it and looks at me suggestively. I think they realise pretty quickly that I'm not a serious buyer! Especially at 600 euros a pop.

I did enjoy going to the carpet weaving place though, because the people there actually showed us how carpets are made and how much effort goes into it, especially silk carpets. It's an amazing art form but there's no way I would spend thousands on a carpet. I just like it because we always get free Turkish apple tea, which I am fast becoming addicted to. Like Turkish food, it's the bomb.

The hotel I am staying in tonight and tomorrow night is actually right on the sea, so it looks a lot like St Kilda. I went for a walk this evening on the bank wit the waves crashing around me – such a nice change from all the time I've spent in cities these past few weeks!

Tomorrow there's been a change of plans in my itinerary – instead of going to Pamukkale which is a 3 hour bus ride each way, I'm going to stay local and explore more around here. It's only me on the tour so I am really hoping that I don't get another tour guide who likes to get too close. It's a shame that it's like this. I have been really surprised that whenever I am out on the street I never get hassled. The only time anyone addresses me is when I am walking past a restaurant and they ask if I want to come in. But I have had 3 male tour guides so far and two of them have taken far too many liberties in their behaviour towards me. I don't like having to have a confrontation with them so fingers and toes crossed tomorrow is ok.

Cappadocia

Going to the Grand Bazaar again yesterday was lots of fun. The place is huge – and a maze! Most of the shops sell jewellery, from glass bead things right up to emeralds the size of a small country. I love emeralds but they are hideously expensive. If I one day have the money, I think I will come back to Turkey – I've never seen such well cut ones!

I actually managed to spend around 2 hours there with spending very little money in the end! Often when you go to these places the amount of beautiful things can be a little overwhelming – it's hard to now where to focus your attention! And the Western style of shopping where you browse and have to have a brain aneurysm in the shop in order to get noticed doesn't happen at all. In fact, I've never been called so many pet names in order to get my attention. Everything from “Miss! Madame! Lady!” to “Honey, Sweetheart, Baby, Gorgeous!” and then finally just “You! Hey You!!”. I found that walking around with one hand on my bag and the other in my pocket, while keeping a determined step (though looking around at everything of course) it was fine. It's when you look uncertain and touch things that they pounce :)

Some of the more unusual things people tried to sell me were birds – a little boy had a cage he was carrying around with them tweeting inside, a plastic stencil thing that made geometric designs but could have been made with gold for the price they wanted and finally, I saw a man who had a big bucket of ferrets he was trying to offload! Whenever I see animals like that overseas the word “Rabies!” flashes across my mind. They are most likely all fine but I did a subject at uni about diseases humans get from animals and it's not pretty.

I caught the overnight bus in the evening, praying that I would end up in the right place. However, although most people can't speak English, they are very helpful and polite and don't demand money when helping me out. Tipping always makes me anxious – I never know how much to give and no one it seems can break notes into smaller change around here so I can either give a paltry amount or a huge amount. I go the former with sincere thanks added :)

Needless to say I didn't get much sleep on the bus but I was sitting next to a really nice South Korean girl and we chatted for a few hours. She is making her way around Turkey by herself with no agency, which takes a huge amount of guts! There are lots of South Koreans here travelling – they love the mountains, I am told.

I am in the region of Cappadocia now, which is known for its mountainous valleys and stunning formations of rocks, due to this area being under water and full of volcanic deposits millions of years ago. Everything is built into the caves, including my hotel so as I sit and write this, I have cave walls surrounding me! It's very cosy and I quite like it. This morning at breakfast I sat up on the terrace and took in the views around me while eating a traditional breakfast of dried fruits, roasted chestnuts and Turkish tea. I could get used to this!

It's also quite cold in Cappadocia – usually at this time of the year there would be about 30cm of snow everywhere but it hasn't happened this year. There's a layer of frost everywhere though and we walked down a river today that had frozen over.

So, today we covered lots of ground and got to see the landscape. We went for a walk in the Rose Valley, which gets its name for the colour of rocks that surrounds the area. The rocks are beautiful because they are made up of quite a few different layers so you can see all the colours. It was a beautiful walk – but it was 4km mainly uphill so we warmed up very quickly in the cool air. At the top there is a very old church built into the rock – getting up there was quite a feat. There's no such thing as OH&S here so when climbing up the almost vertical rock to get to the church I was doubly glad I had taken out travel insurance!

But once inside, wow. This church would dates from before the 10^th century and the frescos on the walls are still so bright and beautiful. I wasn't able to make it to Sunday mass today – finding a Catholic church is near impossible in Turkey – so I was happy I at least made it into a Church.

Most people will have seen parts of Cappadocia whithout realising it – this is the area that Star Wars was filmed – with the Jawas and Jabba the Hut. I had a very nerdy moment where I felt like I should be hearing Jabba's laugh but it didn't happen.

After this walk we went to Cavusin, which is an ancient city – here all the original Greek and Roman houses are still there, clinging to the mountain side. We walked through them and along the side of the mountain, where one wrong step and you could easily fall 50 metres down. But the views from up here were stunning and it was amazing to walk in a city that is over 1500 years old!

For lunch we went into a cave resturant. Turkish food is the bomb :) Though unfortunately my place at the table was in the couples section – where they only spoke to either other so I watched on as further down a group of Spaniards got very merry and looked to be having much more fun than myself!

After lunch we stopped at an old fort, which is the highest part of Cappadocia – there was a camel rider here who brought his camel with him. A girl in the group really wanted a ride but then she saw the camel bite some Japanese woman who was poking it so she lost her enthusiasm. And then lastly we went to an underground city called Kaymakli – there are around 100 various cities underground in Cappadocia but this is one of the biggest. It goes down over 80 metres, though we can only go down around 50. It was tight fit though! Mostly the cities were used as storage spaces and also in times of persecution when the people had to hide. It got warmer as we went down, following the maze of turns and tight squeezes. Here's a pic of how dark it was.

It was late evening by this time and the tour ended. I was having trouble staying awake on the bus back to the hotel so when I got back I had a glorious nap in my little cave room. Tomorrow will be spent again in Cappadocia seeing more and then I have another overnight bus to a place called Selcuk and will get to see the ancient city of Ephesus.

Istanbul

Big post coming up!

Just before I get into my day in Turkey, I want to share with you a picture of the people whom I spent Christmas with in Rome. Eddie, the guy on the right in the picture, send this to me just a few days ago. Sorry it's not very big.

Good memories.

Now, I got in to my hotel quite late last night after a day of travelling so was pretty tired, but was up early this morning as I had a very full day of sight-seeing in Istanbul. I was picked up from my hotel at around 8 where myself and an Indian family were taken to the main tourist area of Istanbul.

I actually don't know where to begin to explain what we saw – it is far too remarkable to describe in a blog post! I'll try to paint the picture. First of all, Istanbul is full of cats. And the cats aren't like the ones in Egypt, where I went a few years ago, where they are thin and full of wounds. No, these cats are well looked after so they lord around the place, preening their glossy coats in front of the tourists. The only thing stopping me from being a crazy old cat lady is the fact I am not old, so I was so, so, so tempted to sit in the middle of the cats and pat them all. Kind of sad, I agree!

Istanbul is also full of road works and renovations – I asked my tour guide about it and he said that every winter the city is full of work to make it better for the spring and summer, when thousands of tourists descend on the city. Indeed, I saw many gardeners and maintenance people throughout the day planting bulbs and fixing things.

I must admit here that I had imagined that Istanbul would be something like Cairo, with its crazy traffic and piles of rubble on the street and being constantly hassled to buy things. But I couldn't have been further from the truth. For starters, even with all the work going on, Istanbul is kept very clean. The gardens are meticulously cared for and to be honest, this city was far cleaner than most of the places I went to in Europe. Also, traffic is relatively calm – it's a welcome change after being in Italy, where I think because of keeping me alive as a pedestrian for 3 weeks my guardian angel is now ready to retire :)

Also, I feel far safer in Istanbul than I thought I would. In fact, again I feel safer here than I did in many European cities, particularly after nightfall. I went out to get dinner this evening and have not been treated so well by people on the street. I'm not talking about people being nice to me because they want me to buy things or eat at their restaurants, but I mean the men here make way for the women, people don't push you around and when I had to ask for directions, I had not been spoken to so courteously for many weeks.

So, it's pretty obvious that I am really impressed with this city. And I haven't even got to its history yet. Let's just say that when I get back home, all the books on Byzantine history be missing from my uni library. Istanbul, or Constantinople as it was called when it was founded by the Roman Emperor Constantine in the fourth century AD, has seen at least three distinct periods in history – the Byzantine times of the Eastern Roman Empire, The Ottoman Empire of the Middle Ages and the Republic of Turkey, founded by Ataturk in the 1920s.

So, this morning we started off by looking at some monuments that were brought to Istanbul in the times of Constantine, like obelisks from Egypt and monuments from Greece. What was interesting about these, apart from them being fascinating in their own right, was that they show how much lower the ground level was in Constantine's day. Today Istanbul is about 3 metres higher than it was back then, due to earthquakes that flattened many buildings and new foundations being laid on top.

We continued on into the Blue Mosque, which is certainly the largest mosque in Turkey and one of the largest in the world. From the outside, it kind of looks like a castle with its six minarets, from where the Imam calls the people to prayer. It looks very regal. On the inside the decorations are absolutely stunning – in Islam no icons are allowed either of Allah nor Muhammad so this is one of the reasons that the writing style of Arabic in mosques became so decorative – so it would become like a picture. Everything is symmetrical and floral – just beautiful.

The Blue Mosque functions as a mosque for Muslims today, so there were people there praying when we went in. Of course we had to remove our shoes and I had brought a scarf with me so I could cover my head.

From here we crossed the park and went to the building I was most looking forward to seeing – the Haghia Sophia (or Saint Sophia). This was built by the Roman Emperor Justinian in the 6^th century AD and was the centre for the Christian Roman Empire when it was completed. In 1453, when Constantinople was conquered by Mehmet, he turned it into a mosque and covered much of the Christian iconography and replaced it with Islamic writing. Nowadays it is a museum.

My first reaction when going in was to be awestruck by the Byzantine style mosaic decorations on the roof. The Venetians totally ripped off the Byzantine style with San Marco in Venice!! The mosaics are beautiful – and 1500 years old. Simply breathtaking.

My second reaction was a bit of a pang in my chest, to be honest. I run the risk of becoming politically incorrect here, but I want to be honest – to see the mosaics of various Christian saints and angels covered up, or the faces painted out and then giant paintings of Islamic calligraphy with the names of the Islamic Ottoman emperors placed over them, stirred a feeling of deep sadness in me. I will say no more than that I simply cannot view these actions of Mehmet and the successive Ottoman leaders with historical objectivity – my own identity is too much a part of what they attempted to destroy.

We spent quite a bit of time here. It was actually kind of funny because the Indian family I was with didn't know much about Christianity and were asking our tour guide who, bless him, not being Christian didn't know much either so I became a bit of a mini tour guide for a time. Not that I minded – I'm a microphone hog from way back.

After the Saint Sophia we went to the Topkapi Palace, which was where the Ottoman Sultans lived. This is an amazing complex. It's remarkably well preserved and still maintains all its beauty. One of the most amazing parts we saw where the jewels and precious objects of the Ottoman empire. If you've been reading for a while you'll know how much I love these kinds of things, so when we saw the famous Spoonmaker diamond, the largest diamond in the world, our tour guide laughed at my excitement. This diamond is 85 carats and is the size of a pear – I challenge anyone to look at this thing and not get excited!

We then stopped at a local art school that was founded about 500 years ago and still has lessons in traditional Turkish arts – calligraphy, mosaicking and such. They have a room there where we ate the most delicious lunch of Turkish delicacies. It was here we also had a great conversation about Turkey and its bid to become part of the European Union. I've heard a lot of Europeans' views on this on my trip – the vast majority don't want Turkey to be a part. And judging from the tour guide today, there are definitely Turks who don't like the Europeans' attitude, so there's a powder keg waiting for a spark. We also talked lots about Australia – I love my country more than ever and love to answer questions about it, but I swear if one more person remarks how humbling and unusual it must be for an Australian to be around beautiful and older (thus therefore better) cultures, I may not be so courteous in my response.

This afternoon we went to the Turkish and Ottoman Fine Arts museum where we saw beautiful Turkish carpets up to 800 years old. This museum is also known for its collection of richly decorated Korans too. So I think I saw over 200 of them in about an hour.

By this time I was feeling a little tired but was a bit skeptical when our tour guide suggested we take a break for a 'presentation' of 15 minutes and a drink before continuing. Never, never believe that there is anything such as a mere 'presentation' on these tours. Sure enough, we were shown to a luxury carpet factory where for the next hour the guys there tried to sell carpets to the Indian family in our group. They didn't bother with me – I certainly didn't look like I had $5,000 to spend on a rug. So I sat back and watched the scene unfold before me. It reminded me of that time in Egypt with the guys with the spices – my family will remember this!

As I predicted, we left with nothing but the tea they had provided us with in our bellies and a disappointed seller :) We then made our way to the Grand Bazaar, where there are over 3000 stalls of various beautiful things. We didn't have much time here but I actually have a free day tomorrow so I am going to go back to have a proper look. I can foresee that my purse may not like me for this!

So, all in all a jam-packed and fun day today, along with a huge dose of history. Tomorrow should be more relaxed – I'll go back to the bazaar for a little while and then tomorrow night I have an overnight bus to Urgup, for the next stage of this Turkish adventure!

Here's some pics.

The Blue Mosque

Inside the square of the Blue Mosque

 The roof inside the Blue Mosque

Inside the Saint Sophia

The view from the back of the Saint Sophia

Lunch time.

 The Palace with its gardens

I was in transit for most of yesterday – I caught a flight from Milan in the morning and had a stop over of a few hours in London Heathrow waiting for my flight to Istanbul. I must say it was a great feeling to be back in a English speaking country – even if it was only for a few hours! I'd missed being able to understand what the heck is going on :) And I can sit down when having my coffee – I don't have to skull it at the bar! Small pleasures :P

I really enjoyed my time in Milan – it certainly has more of a business feel to it than any other place in Italy I have been. Even in Rome, it did not feel like a city in the sense where people go to work because of all the reminders of its ancient past as well as there being the Vatican. So yes, while there are many banks in Milan and even more shops (the latter which I tried to avoid as much as possible) I found Milan to be interesting and in certain areas, quite pretty.

For me the highlight was being able to see friends I have made in the past few years from Italy. For those who don't know, I am part of a Catholic movement called Communion and Liberation (the name always gives the wrong idea to Anglo Saxon minds - we are not Communists nor Libertarians!) which originated in Italy about 60 years ago. I joined this movement in high school and we are a very small group in Australia, especially when compared to the size of the movement in Italy today.

Apart from the benefits of understanding my own life and faith better, my experience of the movement has given me the chance to meet many wonderful people, particularly from Italy. So it was very special to me to be able to come overseas, thousands of kilometres from home and see friends, who have been very kind and welcoming to me.

My second night in Milan I caught up with friends who I made in Sydney during World Youth Day and have been charged with finding them jobs in Australia so they can come back :) And my last night in Milan I went to a meeting with the leader of the movement today – Fr Carron. The talk was obviously all in Italian, but my friend translated it for me so I was able to understand some points that I can think further on in the next few weeks. After the meeting, I met Fr Carron very briefly. It always strikes me when seeing Italian priests, in how affectionate they are. Certainly in Australia, the idea of a priest being physically affectionate with people, especially teenagers, is frown upon. But, as in Sydney when I watched the Italian priests with the teens, last night with Fr Carron it struck me how much they behave like actual fathers to people. It's heartening to see, although I don't think such behaviour in Australia would ever be seen in that way without some real shifting of our mind-set.

But, for all my friends back in Australia from the movement, I have it from Fr Carron's mouth – he will come to Australia. When, where, how – I have no idea. But he said he'd come!

Now I'm in Turkey. I arrived late last night and spent the day in Istabul today, which was no less than breathtaking and deserves its own post so check out the next post, dear reader!

I got to Milan yesterday afternoon - the city put on a lovely show of grey skies and constant rain to welcome me. My bag is now very heavy with the culmination of souveniers and gifts so it's not much fun to carry around with me when trying to read a map and make my way to each hostel. Right now everything fits, but there's not much room and I have been dumping some clothes I don't need or really care to keep along the way. I could send some things home but am worried about the cost of posting it. I'll have to investigate this if it gets much heavier though!

After getting to the hostel and dumping everything, I ventured out to see what the city had to offer. From my hotel it's around a 45 minute walk to the Duomo (or else you can take the train) but I wanted to see the city so walked in the rain that really wouldn't let up. It's funny becuase whenever I told people I had met along the way that I was going to Italy, they always told me to not bother with Milan. "It's boring", they said. "Just a city of banks and high end shopping".

I can imagine the squeals of protest from all my Italian friends back home, most of whom come from Milan, at this! Rest assured guys, I don't think it is boring at all. I certainly can smell and feel the pollution around me, I will say that, but it's not boring!!

I met up with a friend (as I had mentioned before) in the early evening and he took me on a little tour around the Duomo area. Then he, his girlfriend and another Italian guy and I had dinner together, which was really nice. Dinner with Italians is always a lively affair :)

The four of us - Giovanni with his customary beer :)

This morning I returned to the Duomo area to have a look properly - unlike many churches in Italy, it is not of Renaissance or Romanesque design but much more like the Cathedrals in France and Germany. Needless to say it is very impressive. And very beautiful inside - the stained glass windows of the saints bathe the Cathedral in soft light. Towards the back of the Cathedral is where the tomb of St Charles Borromeo and you can see his body there.

I also did some more exploring of the Piazza Duomo and the various buildings around it. They are all very beautiful and again impressive!

The entrance to Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II, next to the Duomo.

 The Piazza Duomo, with the statue of Vittorio Emanuele II (the first king of Italy)

I forgot to mention that when I was back in Melb a friend worked out a few routes for me to discover Milan, which have been so helpful - cheers Seba :) I followed the red tour which led me along Via Dante, up to the Castello Sforzesco.

Here I spent a few hours in the castle making my way through the rooms the various artefacts and museums it houses. Then afterwards I kept going on my tour and went through the Parco Sempione, kind of like a botanical garden, where I saw the Triennale and the Arco Della Pace.

All in all, a very enjoyable day. I had to return early to my hostel to do some preparation for my trip to Turkey in the next few days. But I am again meeting up with friends for dinner tonight - these ones I made in Sydney in 2008 for World Youth Day.