Filed under: Think
Da kommt irgendwo neue Energie her, nennt es wie ihr es wollt. Wir brauchen Geduld. Wir werden getestet. Unsere Sinne trocknen aus, während wir neue Gebiete und Möglichkeiten durchforsten. Einstein hat einmal geschrieben: “Der einzige Grund für Zeit ist, damit alles nicht sofort geschieht.” Dann möchte ich der Zeit danken! Oft merke ich, wie ich ungeduldig mit ihr und meinen Träumen werde, mit der Geschwindigkeit meiner Seele im Vergleich zu meinem alternden Körper. Weil nicht alles gleich so passiert, wie ich mir das vorstelle.
Bescheidenheit, Geduld, Erkenntnis, Vervollständigung. So viel ist in letzter Zeit geschehen. Viele meiner Träume haben sich erfüllt. Und doch bleibt ein ängstlicher Teil von mir zurück – wohin geht es weiter? Es kann überall hingehen. Diese Freiheit ist etwas, was man umarmen muss, austesten muss; sie ist unerschöpflich. Da gibt es so viel Energie, aber auch genau so viele Hindernisse. Wichtig ist, dass man jeder Zeit bereit ist zu klettern. Und das Klettern kostet mich manchmal Überwindung. Hab’ ich Höhenangst? Ja. Eigentlich schon. Ein bisschen zumindest. Wie viel klettern ist dann möglich?
Sag’ du es mir.
Ich spreche zu meiner Seele und rüttle sie wach. HALLO, was möchtest du? Wie weit bist du bereit zu klettern?
Filed under: Think
Momentan in meinem Kopf: Alexander Ebert. Jean Ziegler. Ego abbauen. Ego aufbauen. Zuhause. Buddhistische Mönche. Der Mond. Schreiben was ich will, wann ich will, wie ich will. Schreiben wie ich sehe, wie ich fühle, wie ich bin. Nicht schreiben?
Ausbreiten. Wegfliegen. Die Eleganz des Igels. Schuhe. Next generation. Berge. Ölmalerei. Schutzengel. Schlaf. New York. Overload. Schlagrahm. To Do Listen. Rote Kleider. Zukünfte. Spiegel. Fingerabdrücke. Die Einfachheit und Klarheit, die ich suche; die Zukunft, die ich schaffe. Die Frage, was schaffe ich?
Gute Leute. Intelligente Leute. Entspannte Leute. Beschäftigte Leute. Habe ich einen Doppelgänger? Augenlider. Der Knopf auf meinem Körper, von dem ich geträumt habe, die Angst ihn gedrückt zu haben. Aufwachen und einschlafen. Der Kreis von Gleichem aber doch seltsamerweise immer Verschiedenem. Was kommt als nächstes? Das frage ich mich. Das frage ich mich dauernd.
Außerdem: Milan Kundera. Träume. Zeit. Nagellack.
Filed under: Turkey
Before heading to Istanbul, we had a stopover in Safranbolu and the small town of Amasra at the Black Sea coast. Unfortunately, we were both struggeling with stomach problems at that time and only managed to do the “Must-See-List” of both destinations. However, the terrace at our hostel had nice views and was a good place to lay down, relax and recover.
Filed under: Turkey
The more I travel, the more I realize that places that are famous and full of tourists are often that way for a reason. Cappadocia is such a place. Photos of Cappadocia decorate the walls of every single hostel in Turkey so I kind of knew what to expect. I knew there would be ‘fairy chimneys’. I knew there would be ‘underground cities’. I knew there would be hidden ‘cave churches’ full of treasures & well-preserved Byzantine art and that the region had a long, Christian history.
As it turned out, Cappadocia is not only about fairy chimneys, underground cities or hidden churches. It is greater than the sum of its parts, an amazing combination of natural beauty and human construction that defies imagination. Photos can never capture what Cappadocia is all about. So make sure to visit yourself, as always.
Filed under: Turkey
Here are some photos of our hike from Göreme to Çavuşin, via Red Valley and Rose Valley. Photos from our second hike and more information on our Cappadocia adventures will follow as soon as possible. In the meantime, we hope you enjoy our selection of photos!
Filed under: Turkey
SETTING:
The UNESCO World Heritage Site of Pammukkale
CASTING:
Svetlana (22, thin, tanned) & Dimitry (45, fat, pale)
Elena (25, fit, blond) & Alexei (38, untrained, bald)
Anastasia (21; tall, big boobs) & Stansislav (35, tiny, big man boobs)
3 million similar Russian couples
Katharina (25, summer tan) & Jean-Claude (27, full beard)
ACT 1
Dimitry and Svetlana have just arrived at the World Heritage Site of Pamukkale in the Denizli province in Western Turkey. Their tour bus drops them off right in front of the entrance, together with dozens of other Russian couples. Pamukkale promises hot springs and travertines, terraces of carbonate minerals left by the flowing water. The couple enters the site, catches a glimpse the first travertines and Dimitry gets out his camera as Svetlana starts to do some provocative poses in her bikini.
Dimitry: “Svetlana darling, you look lovely posing in your bikini. Try to stick out your butt a little more; yes! That’s what I am looking for. Great!!! Look at the camera baby, yes, look at the camera! Da! Da! Da!”
Svetlana turns, bends and flirts for the camera. Ten poses later, she moves down to the next terrace pool and repeats the whole thing, supported by her husband’s comments. Elena & Alexei, Anastasia & Stanislav and all the other Russian couples follow their lead.
In the middle of it all, Jean-Claude and Katharina stand a little baffled, blinded by the beauty of Pamukkale, but also by the swimwear catalogue bordering on porn-star poses that all the Svetlanas are doing. Jean-Claude shakes his head, hands the camera over to Katharina, takes his place among Svetlana & Elena and starts to pose.
Elena and Svetlana look over to Jean-Claude sceptically but don’t let themselves be distracted by him at first. Only when he lifts his leg in an akward position and spreads his arms, Svetlana tells Dimitry:
Svetlana: “Dimitry, look! That weird guy right there with the full beard. Look at how ridiculous his posing looks.”
She exchanges looks with Elena, shakes her head in disagreement and walks off to the next pool to take her pose again, Dimitry following her like a dog, his camera ready around his neck.
Despite all the photoshoots surrounding them, Katharina & Jean-Claude really enjoyed their day at Pamukkale and they take home some memorable photographs that will always remind them of it.
THE END.
Author’s note: Unfortunately, the author does not want to publish any photos containing nudity on her blog. For those interested: Search for “Russian girls Pamukkale” on Google and you will get satisfying results 
Filed under: Turkey
After visiting the ancient sites of Jerash and other ruins in Jordan last year, I was a little sceptical about all the Ephesus hype in Turkey. But I decided to give it a go anyways and I was not disappointed – Ephesus is one of the best preserved ancient sites of Europe.
The city was founded around 3,000 BC and was originally used as a place of worship for the Anatolian Goddess Diana. I strolled around the temple of Hadrian, the Marble Way (where the rich people must have lived) and the library of Celsus which still has niches for storing the papyrus roles. The real highlight of Ephesus was the great theatre built under emperor Claudius. It managed to seat up to 25.000 spectators and was first used for all types of theatre including gladiator fights.
There were millions of tourists there (especially Korean tour buses) but the site is still big enough to escape the main crowds most of the time. And after all, all those people give you a feeling of what life must have been like in Ephesus a long time ago – when it was home to more than 200.000 inhabitants.
Filed under: Turkey
Lycia is the historical name of the Tekke Peninsula on Turkey’s Aegean coast. The mountains rise steeply from the shores and small bays, giving beautiful views and numerous, stunning trekking possibilities as the region is home to the so-called Lycian Way, a 500 km marked hiking path around the coast, leading from Fethiye to Antalya. The Lycians were an independent people, influenced mainly by Greek culture, and were later conquered by the Romans. Their graves and ruins can be found around the entire peninsula and the Lycian Way passes many historical sites.
Of course, we could have never done the whole walk due to the fact that we just don’t have enough time and because it is far too hot here right now. But we managed to do a small section of it, walking from Kabak to Faralya, Butterfly Valley and back. We stayed in Kabak, a remote beach commuty seemingly far away from all the tourists that stay in nearby Olüdeniz (and apparently, they also prefer to stay there – we didn’t meet a single soul on our hike to Butterfly Valley). Our bungalow faced Kabak beach and our host Mustafa and his family took good care of us.
Hiking around Lykia was incredible and we will never forget the first time we got to look down the cliffs of Butterfly Valley. What an amazing place on our planet. Enjoy our photos and if you ever have the chance – go and hike this place yourself. It is so worth it. I will definitely come back and do the whole thing one day.
Filed under: Turkey
Antalya: Douze points.
We would have never expected to like the city of Antalya this much and ended up spending more time there than we initially thought. Its image as a package tourist´s dream come true scared us off in the beginning but when we started exploring the narrow, cobbled streets of beautiful Kaleiçi (Old Town) we started to really like it. Plus, most of the tourists stay in big resort hotels out of the city so we never really had the feeling of being in German town (even though almost everyone in Antalya speaks German). We discovered some really nice places where mostly locals hang out, our favourite being the Art Caffee just around the corner of our hostel. It is a nice little bar in an old Ottoman style house where they play chilled-out jazzy tunes, serve fresh fish and cold refreshing Efes beer. The waiter will hand you the bill inside Marx´s Das Kapital.
From Antalya, we made our way to Kaş, a little seaside town especially famous for Kekova island and the sunken city of Dolchiste, an ancient town which was destroyed by an earthquake during the 2nd century. Its ruins are partly under water, covered by crystal clear, turquoise water. We explored this part of the coast on a lovely sailing boat, led by Ahmet and his wife who cooked the most amazing food for us. We especially enjoyed snorkling the deep blue waters of the various bays we swam in. The sunburn after – not so much.
Filed under: Cyprus
Girne is a lovely seaside town on the coast of North Cyprus. With a picturesque harbor in a gorgeous setting below rocky mountains and a huge Crusader castle, Girne attracts plenty of tourists, but nonetheless it remains a pleasant place to spend a few days. I was delighted to meet other backpackers here (for the first time in Cyprus) and spent my evenings on the roof terrace of our hostel playing card games and drinking wine with my fellow travellers. Our hostel Cyrpus Dorms was the perfect place to stay and its manager Naveed from Pakistan is very helpful and genuinely nice – plus, he has some interesting stories to tell
Unfortunately, I don’t have the time to write more about my Girne experience at the moment (off the exlore lovely Turkey now) but I hope you enjoy my selection of photos!
Filed under: Cyprus
‘The last divided capital in the world’ is what a sign says when you cross the so-called Green Line that divides the capital of both South and North Cyprus: Nikosia/Lefkosia in Greek, Lefkoşa in Turkish. The border slashes right through the middle of the old city which is surrounded by the historic Venetian city walls on both sides. The southern ‘Greek’ part of the island is a member of the EU, whereas the northern part has remained under Turkish occupancy since the country’s division in 1974.
The two parts of the city couldn’t be more different, it even seems like both sides are trying desperately to show which side they belong to. In the south, you find traditional Greek restaurants all over the place, a Greek flag hanging from every window while delicious Greek specialities are served. As soon as you enter the northern part, the first thing that greets you is a Kebap shop and an abnormally huge Turkish flag which is placed on a nearby hill overlooking the city (making sure that you can definitely also see it in the south). I know it might sound a little exaggerated but at one point all of this reminded me a little bit of the DMZ border between North and South Korea.
A pedestrian border crossing has recently opened in the city center to enable a fast and easy crossing for tourists. It was indeed not a big deal to cross at all. But if you start to explore the border a little further, the whole situation becomes more and more surreal. I had to remind myself that this, right here, is what one border of the European Union looks like and that the country on the other side hopes to join the E.U. soon. What kind of twisted world do we live in?
Apart from that, I found both sides of the city lovely to explore: The old city is nice with its narrow and cobbled streets – on both sides. People are friendly and open-hearted – on both sides. The food is delicious – on both sides. And it was extremely hot – on both sides.
Filed under: Cyprus
Driving through the Troodos Mountains was my favourite part of Cyprus so far. The villages here are small and traditional and lovely to wander around in. The temperatures are bearable, compared to how hot it is at the beaches right now. The smell of all the pine trees surrounding you is just wonderful. And above it all, the Byzantine churches that are spread around the Troodos Massif are incredible to explore, nine of which are included in the official UNESCO World Heritage list. They don’t really look like churches from the outside, more like old farmer’s houses, but the Byzantine paintings on the inside (some of which are from the 11th century) simply take your breath away.
My favourites included the Kykkos Monastery, which lies at an altitude of 1.300m and overlooks the Troodos valleys. It is still-functioning monastery and you need to be careful not to disturb the monks. Another highlight was the Agios Nikolaos tis Stegis, a small church that is hidden between beautiful pine trees. It really looks like an old farm house that is about to break down. But the caretaker there told me that the roofs are built very well and they manage to hold up to 1,5m of snow during the winters. Keyword “winter” – yes, there are winters with snow in this country and it even has its own skiing area. Who would have thought?
Filed under: Cyprus
First of all, I would like to thank our Cyprus event team that I worked with over the past week, especially Marc for trusting me and giving me the opportunity to work for him abroad once again – thank you!!! It`s amazing to be part of such a big event and making things work as a team. I will never forget the last beach party and our short but sweet after show party in the Presidential suit of Le Meridien – sweeeeeeeeet
I am fortunate enough to now have a car to explore the lovely island of Cyprus (thanks again, Marc). I decided to call it “Agios”, as that is a name that often appears on my road map. A lot of destinations and places are called “Agios Something” or “Agia Something” (Agios Georgios, Agia Moni, Agios Nikolaos, …). Unfortunately, I don`t speak Greek, but my common sense tells me that it has a religious touch and means “holy”. I thought that would be an appropriate name – after all, I am now driving on the left side of the road and it makes me super nervous, I am constantly praying that I won`t ruin Agios and hope that the choice of his name will contribute to my safety. Haha.
I drove along the coast from Limassol to Pafos and then further on to Agios Georgios where I found a small shabby hotel to stay in. Quite a difference to the 5* properties that I have stayed in during the event, but just what I needed. And not cheap either – 25 Euros a night is very expensive for a backpacker soul like me. But it didn`t matter, the surroundings were amazing and I was very close to one of the island`s greatest beaches – Lara Beach. Before I made my way there, I stopped at a small family tavern to have lunch. I asked my very nice host Stavros how long it would take me. “Do you have a reserve tire?” was the only thing he answered me. I had no idea whether I had a reserve tire or not. And even if I did, I wouldn`t know how to use it. Stavros warned me to take tons of water with me, a charged phone and gave me his card, just in case. “Call me when you are in trouble”, he said. I was even more scared. Driving left and then this. I had no idea what to expect and this is what i got: 8km of gravel road in very bad condition, up and down along the coast. I was literally going 5km per hour, sometimes I saw the road in front of me going up and then making sharp bends with large holes in beteween … I just closed my eyes and yelled at Agios to make it up there cause I had no space to reverse the car. After what felt like an eternity, I finally reached the sign of “Lara Area” in the middle of nowhere. I left Agios behind and walked the rest of the path in the hot midday sun. The views I got of Lara Beach were worth all the hassle. I stayed there till the sun was about to set, scared of the car ride back. But I made it. And Agios did too (plus a couple of scratches).
Filed under: Think
Surround yourself with people you LOVE.
CREATE a world you are content with.
Be a successful TRAVEL photographer.
SPEAK your mind but don’t forget to LISTEN to what others have to say.
THINK before you ACT.
Always seek to be INSPIREd and pass on inspiration.
Constantly keep your eyes open and soak up EXPERIENCE.
BE a person people can look up to.
I’ve been a fan of this band ever since they sent me their first song “Disco Biscuit Love” via email in 2007 – even though the quality was pretty bad, I loved the power and build-up in their songs – two qualities that come across even better on the new records. Can’t wait for their first album to be released. Pure talent.
One of their best songs “Little Piece” is used in Danny MacAskill’s amazing new biking video. Watch below, starting at minute 2,45. Skill meets skill.
