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'The longest part of the journey is said to be the passing of the gate' Marcus Terentius Varro, On Agriculture
Roman scholar (116 BC - 27 BC)

7th November 2008 - Rome, Italy

I am in no doubt that the world is becoming a wetter place as it seems to have done nothing but rain rain rain here in Italy these last few weeks and it's starting to get really boring! Last weekend was however, much more interesting, and especially as it included the wonderful wedding of my sister. We all had a great long weekend with family, at home and yes... no rain. Here's a link to just a selection of the photos I have (mail me if you want any pics of particular people)- just click on the collage below...

26th October 2008 - Rome, Italy

I finally managed to achieve one of my ambitions of visiting the catacombs in Rome yesterday and I was not disappointed. There are basically hundreds of kilometres worth of catacombs under Rome and they contain hundreds of thousands of grave sites - most of which were ruined by grave robbers searching for gold/silver etc. The history of the catacombs are well documented, and I suggest referencing Wikipedia for an overview and some pictures (one of the disappointments was that I wasn't allowed to use my camera!). I visited the 'Catacombe Di San Callisto' and they are located along the 'Via Appia Antica' (the Appian Way), which is one of the worlds oldest roads. The Romans apparently knew this road as the Regina Viarum (Queen Of Roads), and the first 90 km section (it ended up being 540km long!), was laid in 312 BC (yes - BC!). It ran through the 'posh' end of town and along its famous sides lots of historical events are said to have taken place - including the crucifixion of Spartacus and 6000 slave rebels in 71 BC.

Since Christians were banned from burying their dead within the city walls of Rome, they turned to digging graves outside the perimeter and it was in this area that they discovered the fact that the volcanic soil - once excavated and exposed to the air/humidity, set hard like concrete. As a result a whole industry developed digging tombs and burial chambers up to four levels deep - and the catacombs were born. In 313 AD Christianity was legalised by Constantine and from that point, the catacombs started to fall into disuse (people preferring to bury the dead in or near the new churches and basilicas). Eventually they were abandoned and then rediscovered in the 16th Century.

So I picked one of several catacombs available for visitation - you have to take a Bus out from central Rome (#118  from the Piramide Metro Stop!) to get into the general area, and the catacomb tour takes 45 minutes and you visit the second level only - parts of which have been reinforced with bricks for safety reasons. The Temperature drops inside and the humidity is higher than you expect. There are no bones lying around and where the paintings still remain, they have generally been fenced off or covered from tourists prying hands with glass doors. The corridors are stacked high with niches in the walls of all sizes - many of the dead buried here were children - and up to 500,000 people were buried in this catacomb complex. There are carvings in Latin text everywhere, family tombs... if only it hadn't been smashed to bits by grave robbers. Well worth a visit and to see the spot where St. Cecilia was entombed (now moved to the Basilica St. Cecilia), was nice as the sculpture lying on the ground is very beautiful... and if you didn't know, she is the patron saint of music!

I did a couple of other things this weekend also - one of them was a visit to the Basilica Di San Giovanni In Laterno - a Cathedral founded by Constantine in 313 AD as the first Christian basilica to be built in Rome, and until the late 14th century was the Pope's principal residence. One of the best features are the immense bronze doors which were moved here from the 'Curia' in the Roman Forum, and then there are the heads of St. Peter and St. Paul (allegedly).

The last stop was the' Scala Santa' & 'Santa Sanctorum' which contains the staircase which is said to be the one that Jesus walked up in Pontius Pilate's palace in Jerusalem. Brought to Rome by St Helana in the 4th Century BC the marble steps are covered in wood and if you want to climb up them you have to do it - step by step - on your knees. At the top of the staircase is the Sancta Sanctorum which was originally the Pope's private chapel. It's decorated in lots of frescoes and so on, but it's very difficult to see them properly through the reinforced iron bars and plate glass windows - not to mention the usual scrabble of tourists nudging to get a view at the same time. Here are a few snaps:

 Olive Grove near catacomb

 Area around catacomb entrance

 Via Antica

 Basilica Di San Giovanni In Laterno

 Basilica Di San Giovanni In Laterno

The cloisters - marble inlaid columns

Middle Ages Marble Slab supposed to show the height of Christ

Scala Santa

Feeling 'arty' at the Metro station

15th September 2008 - Pomezia, Italy

Only a short entry as I am bushed from a hard days work! Finally I find myself in Italy, and with Rome I am not disappointed. The place is simply amazing and why I waited so long to come and visit I do not know. I've attached some of the photos from our first exploration into Rome proper and I hope they give a taste of the sheer proportion of the place. The Pantheon for me was an absolute highlight - just the mere fact that a building can stand with such integrity for more than 2000 years astonishes me, and add to that the fact that the dome is such a marvel of engineering.. it's simply breathtaking. Here's a link to a few of the photos taken. RomeSept08.

Back in Turkey and more importantly, back on earth! The flight from the UK was fine until we hit either a massive air pocket or what seemed like the centre of a storm somewhere over central Europe that forced our plane into a shocking dive at 30,000 ft. We had about another 10 seconds of 'rough-n-tumble' that had people screaming, people shouting 'no..no...no' and an Iman sat next to me praying into the back of the seat in front. Myself, I sat in stunned silence - so long as I wasn't seeing 'wing' fly past my head I was thinking we were 'OK' but it was a real shock. Needless to say, once things calmed down - the stewardess did a brilliant job of running into the main cabin and shouting out ' is everyone OK' - there were some pretty stressed out faces, and a lot of laughing as we realised we were still in the air! How these things seem to happen to me on flights I do not know.

Anyway, the purpose of this update is to add a link to some photos from my Mum's 60th for family that want copies. Just click on the link here RoseIs60.

Just a quick update to stick some photos on here for friends that went to the Christening of my Goddaughter 'Georgina May'. Was a great day and a really good chance to catch up with some old and close friends. The area around Toaster is simply beautiful - if you were asked to close your eyes and 'think of England' then I think that this is the kind of place you would imagine. Back to Turkey later this week before a later than expected start in Italy (September!)...

What a holiday! Sat at the moment in Dalaman Airport waiting for the flight back to Istanbul, and enough time to pen a few notes on the last weeks holiday while it's still fresh in the mind. The whole trip has been fantastic and I cannot shout loud enough about how much there is to see/do here in Turkey. Műge and I had planned this trip to an extent, and armed with an outdated copy of the Lonely Planet we decided to start in Antalya and drive in a South-westerly direction to Dalaman, taking in the sights and only booking Hotels on a 'budget' basis as we went along. Normally people doing this route would be working from Dalaman to Antalya - which explained why the car hire company was unusually grateful for us driving a car back the other way!

In summary the stops we made were (should have Turkish characters in some places):

• Side - Visiting Side Ruins, Aspendos, Manavgat waterfalls
• Adrasan (2 nights)- Visiting Perge, Termessos
• Kas - Visiting Olympos, Church of St Nicolas, Myra (rock tombs / theatre), Kekova and the 'Sunken City'
• Patara - Visiting Kalkan and spending time on the beach
• Tlos - Visiting Xanthos, Saklikent
• Oludeniz/Blue Lagoon - Boat trip to coastal sites and cold spring!
• Dalyan - Chill by the pool, walk along inland waterways

There is so much to write alongside the photos, so I'm going to put this into a separate page for those interested - Műge & James Antalya Road Trip

It's official - next stop Rome, Italy. After an absolutely great 2.5 years in Turkey - and I still have the exciting prospect of a one week road trip starting tomorrow round Southern Turkey with my girlfriend Műge - I am moving on temporarily to Rome for a six month stint in another of the worlds greatest cities.

So at the moment I am taking it easy and taking a well earned break. I spent a couple of days this week walking the streets of Istanbul and will post some new photos - one of which was a freak shot when a pigeon swooped up from behind me and came right in at the perfect moment:

Although my current time living and working in Turkey is over, my adventure here is not yet complete, and so I am sure there will be plenty more to come yet. Istanbul is a very special place - a city that makes you really feel like the last 2000 years is still all happening at the same time. I know that there is a debate going on at the moment about Istanbul's status as a UNESCO World Heritage site, and you can really see why this is justified, but despite the lack of planning and the misunderstanding that seems to exist between preservation and development, this place will always have a unique atmosphere and a unique location that makes special things happen. 2010 is the year that Istanbul becomes the European Capitol of Culture, so I suggest you keep your eyes open and plan a visit if you can.

Műge and I recently made a visit to a small place on the Black Sea called Kiyikoy (see previous blogs), and we discovered this time the ruins of a Monastery Of St. Nicholas (there is more than one in Turkey). This place has deteriorated in the last 40 years it seems, but carved into the rock-face and with Christian emblems on the walls, open tombs and underground tunnels to the local beaches (now blocked up), it was a real treat located half a mile down a dirt track with not another tourist in site. Needless to say, I am very excited about next weeks trip and the sites we will see!!

Double eggs. Ever heard of that? Shopping in Turkey for food is not usually the most interesting part of my day and this was no exception. A loaf of bread, tomatoes, cheese, olives.. all the things to make a quick Turkish breakfast on a Sunday morning.. and  four eggs from a box in the corner that was full of straw and seemed to indicate that the hens that laid them were nothing more than happy to be of service. I just wanted a few, and considered the shopkeepers gestations of '2' with this fingers, nothing more than an idle attempt to either make me buy more than I actually wanted or that he just had an issue with numbers. Fifteen minutes later and in the relative comfort of my own kitchen  I cracked the first one and was immediately freaked out at the fact that it had two yolks! Alone at the decisive moment I decided... after several seconds of part disbelief and part concern, and thinking that I was either still half asleep or that this was some freak genetic cock-up I scooped the offending weirdness into the bin and picked up the next egg. Bugger me this one was exactly the same! Two yolks just slipped out of the shell and into the bowl and I could not believe what I was looking at...'double eggs'. After now asking anyone and everyone if they have ever seen this before it seems that this was no accident, and a perfectly normal type of egg that I would not have believed existed unless I had seen them for myself... you live and learn!

Another great experience this last week was 3D Cinema and Beowolf. If you haven't seen it and can get to a decent cinema that provides ridiculous looking glasses then this is an absolute must. The images and context/texture of 3D just blew me into hysterics as you end up practically sat inside the movie and subject to everything from the weather to being on the extremely sharp point of a wavering sword. Oh yeah, and you get to see Angelina completely naked and, thanks to 3D, within arms length! One mistake was being just in time at the cinema and parking the car in such a rush that we took absolutely no notice of where we parked in the underground multi-storey. After 30 minutes of parading round looking for a silver Punto, we had to seek help from the attendants who very kindly spent the next 45 minutes wheeling us round over four floors of a vast carpark in a 'golf' buggy waving the keychain around trying to spot signs of flashing lights. Eventually we found the car and made it back, still smiling from an unusually bizarre evening.

Christmas seems to have arrived in Istanbul, and there are Christmas trees and decorations in all the shops which is making me feel pretty excited about being at home next week. The news on the TV from home seems utterly ridiculous at the moment - seems that we have a new winner for a 'Pie Eating' contest and someone else is in court for throwing a snowball at a colleague!?!? Oh how I am looking forward to being frozen cold between the bedroom and the bathroom, a decent pint of beer and sausages!! If I am far too lazy to scribble again between now and 2008 - Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Back at work and trying to think of all the things I wanted to write about from my recent trip to Guatemala I am instantly reminded of my 'greatest hits' of things to do and how good they all were. To name but a few: American Donuts - not as good as they used to be and apparently this is because the company was either sold or transferred from the care and attention of the previous owners that seemed to make every fluffy delight worth travelling half way across the globe for. Sopa Azteca at the restuarant 'Cebollinas' was as good as ever, Entrana Steak (Skirt to us), at the Hacienca Real in Zone 10 and then there is Carpaccio De Lomito at Tre Fratellis.

Guatemala City has not changed one bit in the last 9 years I have been visiting although the traffic has increased noticeably in the last couple of years and new building spring up on what must be an almost daily basis. Antigua has also changed and seems to have somehow lost the almost Bohemian feel that used to make it feel more 'travely' than 'touristy'. Some improvements, such as the padestrianisation of some of the streets on the weekend make up for the loss of 'soul', and it's still one of the best places to hang out for a break from the city.

Thanks to the exchage rate on the dollar prices are pretty amazing when it comes to dining out and there are always plenty of decent gallaries and shops to spend your cash in. One of my favourites is the Art Gallery 'Art In The Americas' in Antigua.

After a great dew days catching up with old friends in the city I eventually made it to the wedding party after a quick trip to visit Jonny's Place for a beer (or seven), in Monterico and we started with a couple of nights at a lovely house in Puerto San Jose and a days Sail Fishing for the boys. We split into two boats and managed to consume an average of 20 beers for every fish we caught. The second night was made notable by the extraordinary game of 'Fuzzy Duck' and the resulting sleep walking adventures of 'Greg' - the prime victim -  who in turn woke me up at 3am, stripped naked, turfed me out of my bed and stole my sheets before being rescued and escorted back to his wife.

Next came a couple of days in Antigua and then I headed back to the city to collect Dave and Hanna (Bride and Groom), and then make the trip to Panachel, Lake Atitlan and the wedding venue. As you will see from the photos the location and the preparations for the wedding were spectacular and we have a memorable few days enjoying the pleasures provided; boat trip, Jacuzzi and dinner at the Circus Bar with Mojitos a plenty back at the hotel.

The wedding itself was amazing with so many old and new friends to have breakfast, get dressed up and then basically get as drunk as possible and dance for something like 7 hours before finally collapsing into a coma after a really great day. There was also some kind of ceremony in the middle of it all, and a cake, and a cigar and al ot of Tequila!

As all great things come to an end we all eventually went our separate ways - some people able to continue the holiday, others like me heading back to the city for a final dinner in the Hacienda Real before departure. I was lucky enough to get a great room in the Marriott on my last night - which incidentally is a bizarre place to stay and if you have any issues with Americans adopting children from Guatemela then it's perhaps not the place to be! That of course is a whole other issue that I have neither the time or the sense to discuss here. At the airport on the way home to Istanbul I spent a last hour with Dave and Hanna before the mystery of the Honeymoon destination was revealed and then I was off to my 'can' in the sky and a gruelling 30 hour trip forwards in time but back to my own bed and Turkish delight.

What I wouldn't do for one of those donuts right now.....

I can't believe it's been two months since I last wrote anything here! So much seems to have happened but trying to put any of it into words feels like a silent car crash in my mind. New York was a real urban adventure and I had a great time visiting the sites, restaurants - Phantom Of The Opera on Broadway was a real highlight and I was blown away by the whole experience. Back in Turkey life ticks along, although with the summer coming to an end there is a tension in the air as people scramble to make the most of the late rays of sunshine. There is always so much going on in Istanbul, and even if you're not up for a big night out then the option of a quite game of backgammon with a hot cup of apple tea, outside under the shade of the local mosque with a shisha pipe or jacket potato - what more could you ask for?

The photos I put here today (left) are one of a place called 'Polonezkoy' (the green field), and the other a picture of one of the Mosques on the European side by the Bosphorus. Polonezkoy is about 25 minutes from the centre of Istanbul and I was shocked at how green and rural this place was compared to the city. If you need a quick break from he urban insanity of Istanbul then this is definitely a good spot to check out. Breakfast outside was great but with the weather getting colder at the moment you may have to head indoors to keep warm. There was a museum and art gallery, but otherwise there is nothing there except open space and places to take a walk. I had a quick look at www.polonezkoy.com (complete with birdsong!), which might give you a better flavour of the place if you are interested.

After a week at home in the UK and the trauma/celebration my Grandma, I was treated to a wonderful night under an umbrella watching the Halle Orchestra in Tatton Park (the annual Orchestra In The Park' festival) - fireworks, free booze (of sorts), fresh air and just great music/company. Next thing I was again jettisoned back into the mêlée of Istanbul and in no time at all found myself on the 6th row of a Norah Jones concert that surpassed all my expectations and from which I have been smiling ever since. She was brilliant and is currently on tour, so if you get the chance and you happen to be in the right spot - I seriously recommend it even if you are not a big fan. We were all sat in the arena in Istanbul which is open air - the wind was whipping down towards the stage and Norah just seemed to be permanently in a state of motion - very 'Wonder Woman'. I never realised that she was also actually playing the piano, the guitar, the keyboard etc. -

Istanbul is still pretty hot, although I came back to be told that there was only 10 days of water left in Ankara and about 80 days left in Istanbul - water shortages seem to be an inevitable result, and I guess supplies will start rotating round the city in the near future. It's a bit of a hassle, but without much rain and around 18 million people to keep showered it's a big ask even if the rain does start in the next few days.

Busy with work but will be in New York for a break in just over a weeks time - should make for some new and interesting photos, and armed with a cheap dollar I will be sure to finally buy some new clothes and bring myself firmly back into the new millennium. I checked out the music on offer in Madison Sq. Garden - I think I just miss the Police, and not very excited by the prospect of Justin Timberlake. I've been loaned a Guide book from a friend - published in 1998 there is a whole section on the World Trade Centre, and ironically it covers in some detail the 1993 bombing of which it says 'for a moment, the nightmare scenario of the destruction of one of the world's largest office buildings seemed possible, but apart from some minor structural damage, the building held fast'. It also comments on how critics of the tower's state that '[the towers] don't relate to their surroundings and aren't especially pleasing in design'. I guess that several years later it was these exact towers that came to define an image of the US known right across the entire globe.

No new photos for August yet, but will update when back from hols!

Again it seems I find myself up in the clouds and on my way back to the UK to say a final goodbye to Grandma after 90 years of life on this earth. Not unexpected but a shock still, and especially so as she has always been such a large part of my life. This is not the time or place for an obituary, but as many of my friends will know she was a great anchor for us all and will be deeply missed. Daughter, sister,  friend, wife, mother, grandmother, great-grandmother, maker of mischief  and of fine biscuits, cakes, flap-jack and chutney - nice one Gran.

 So a new chapter begins and also a new life as my cousin Sarah prepares to give birth for a third time. This probably means another godson to feel guilty about as I inevitably miss birthdays, first steps and whatever else I am supposed to be involved with. I will endeavour to do better - honest.

Thanks for the messages and calls.

So here I am... 32,000 feet in the air.. iPod on and Chardonnay in hand. To my right we have the Alps, and to my left a guy intently focused on the overhead movie which, due to the reflection of the sun, is completely ambiguous to me. I am alive. I am alive despite the fact that my flat in the UK has, at least in my mind, borne the brunt of the recent downpours in the UK and is a festering pit of mould and shite - the walls are bleeding water in two rooms and I am MAD as hell. I am also on my way back to Istanbul, and so right now it's not such a trauma.

I have to say that the sad fate of my aging but beautiful grandmother has to be part of my soulful and reflective outpouring today. She never complains and battles on despite being confined to her bed and suffering her last few days. If anything could ever put a leaking roof into perspective then that is surely it.

So the last few weeks have been an event. I made a trip to Belgium to the Rock Werchter festival - a great weekend with Pearl Jam, Muse, Arctic Monkeys, Snow Patrol, Kings of Leon, Chemical Bothers and Metallica (which I missed!), to name but a few. Very well organised and would recommend it for next year as an alternative to a muddy damp field somewhere in England - and the beer is better.

 OK.. update - distance from departure... 1258KM.. insane. Exodus - we know where we're going, we know where we're from. Exodus, movement of the people..

Oh bollocks... just had the Captain ask if there 'was a Doctor on board'... would you christmas-eve it!!

I'm quite sure buried on the net there will be a hundred facts on the location, its history and its people, but suffice to say I am tired right now, it's late and Istanbul is in the midst of a mini heat-wave that makes sitting at my PC a chore. What I can say is that the area is surrounded by open countryside, punctuated by patches of flowering sunflowers that shine across the landscape like a thousand smiles. A couple more weeks and they will make the perfect picture.

The guys that run the Hotel ( www.hotelendorfina.com ) were very hospitable and they added to make the weekend a really great break. A lazy Saturday with a few cold beers, a snooze, a good book and then a trip to one of several local beaches was just the tonic, and the ice - my first dip in a clear and clean Black Sea. As more of my hosts friends arrived for the weekend the evening was spent outside in a fresh breeze as the sun set over the surrounding scenery - plenty of very good fresh fish from the local port and the by now obligatory Efes Beer.

Sunday was started with a decent traditional Turkish breakfast - cheese, olives, tomatoes, eggs, tea, etc etc - and then we all piled into cars and headed to the dockside where the fishing boat the Hotel owners had organised was getting ready to go. For me this was the best bit of all - as the photos will show this was a fishing boat manned by fishermen. Not a tourist tout or sign in mispelled English to spoil the sense of 'being a local' that I so enjoyed. We left the dock and headed out to a small and secluded spot some 25 minutes away, and here the beach and the sea belonged to us for the day. After a lovely day, complete with BBQ, plenty of sunshine and swimming we headed home and eventually back to the city.

A great weekend. A lovely place to visit and recommended if you are looking for somewhere quiet and unspoiled.

Sunday night, Istanbul on a hot and humid summer night. It's been ages since I sat down and gathered the enthusiasm to write an update on life in general, and after a year and a half in Turkey I sometimes think I have a lot to say and then at other times, almost nothing.

Istanbul is a 'real' city - endless mazes of streets and apartment buildings intertwined with small gardens, crumbling old wooden buildings, Mosques, Churches, museums, offices and just about every other type of structure you could imagine. Linked together by a labyrinth of roads and highways and animated by everything from the car horn to the humble cat - and there are lots of cats - it has uniqueness and a tapestry all of its own. How it all works - just providing the services to keep such a massive city operating alone - is I am sure, a research project in its own right. Every shop is busting with fresh fruit and vegetables, and one of the nicest things are that they tend to be locally produced and therefore much more seasonal than the imported nonsense that we have back in the UK. One week the oranges are good, then the cherries and so on. I really like the variety of things to buy and the friendliness of the shopkeepers as I amble through trying to look competent enough in just choosing what I want, makes it all feel like a home from home..

So with tons of things to do day and night - and this is a 24/7 city with as many bars and restaurants as anywhere I have ever been - it's not easy to get bored. Sure the pollution is bad and there are too many cars, but even this somehow seems to add to the whole experience. It's been hot this last couple of weeks - alleviated occasionally by an almost monsoonal downpour and the cooling breeze that blows off the mighty Bosphorus - a great relief from the humid interior. Weekends almost feel like a holiday and the southern coastal resorts and villages are supposed to be really amazing, although I haven't yet had the time to visit!

The Bosphorus is the gem in the centre of Istanbul. It not only divides and defines the city but is also the dividing line between Europe and Asia. It might only take ten minutes to cross by boat point to point, but that ten minutes is a really special event no matter how many times you make the trip. As the boat leaves the dock you get a full 360 degree view of everything - the Golden Horn, European side, Asian side, the great bridges that span the distance way up above the tallest reaches of the tallest ships that traverse the Black Sea out to the Mediterranean... it's really pretty cool. Remember your iPod and you can zone out into your own adventure alongside everyone else enjoying the ride.

Just interrupted by a barrage of firecrackers... sometimes I do wonder if I am not in fact, in some kind of war zone - these things are seriously loud and totally random. Ray Mears on the TV.... I am in a parallel Universe. Time to go. Ramble over for now.