Berlin

I don't think I had ever heard of anyone describe Berlin as anything other than achingly, uber cool, and with another ex-Tasman flat sibling to visit, I had no excuse not to investigate for myself. I have absolutely no plans to start reviewing technology here, however the Easy Jet app is so dangerously easy to use, that after a few wines and a couple of text messages one November night, I found myself with a gmail confirmation of a ten day trip booking to Berlin.

Back in NZ, Tasman Street really did become a home for a consistently excellent bunch of flatmates, and although we never advertised with a keen interest in representing multiple continents under one roof, A-M and I very often found ourselves to be a kiwi minority. Jess from Berlin was one of the lovelies to grace the villa, and gets some bonus points for purchasing my van off me then travelling the South Island in it with her lovely man (before enterprisingly on-selling it to a dude in the Hutt, for at least the same as she paid for it).

Anyway, after an obligatory bretzel on arrival at the airport (time to kill as my hostess would be at work), I followed some excellent instructions to meet her - immediately buying in to the affordability of Berlin in that the bus and u-bahn cost me hardly anything to get all the way to Cool-berg (can't recall the price, or the exact name of the area I arrived to, but it was cool and there was an amazing health food supermarket for more time killing).

As I was there for over a week, I'm not going to go into much detail about activities, just a list and some pictures of favourite/must-do things. There is so much to do there, eat there and photograph there, and as someone who at 17 didn't know what the 'iron curtain' was (shame) and then proceeded to study it at uni, there is so much history to absorb.

1. Started with a walking tour - great way to get bearings and do some touristing without having to make any effort  / look at a map / make any decisions. It wasn't free, those 'pay what you like' ones annoy me, certainly good value though.

Important landmark on walking tour: hotel where Michael Jackson dangled his baby from the window

2. Templehof airport. Make no mistake, this is *just* a big open space of a disused airport. However if you have been living in London yet hail from somewhere far less populated, then like me, you might not know how much you miss big open space until you go here. Well I didn't. Cool architecture too.

Flying kites at the ex-airport

Main terminal of American military during the Cold War.
One of the world's 3 iconic airports pre WWII

3. Christmas markets. Pretty ace that these pop up everywhere. So much delicious food and hot alcoholic beverages. Whatever the Finnish version of gluwein is, we had too much of it one night at the Scandinavian themed market in Prenzlauer Berg, and had to walk quite a number of miles in a vaguely homeward direction before finally finding a taxi.

Jess and I and some hot alcoholic beverages at the Christmas markets.

Currywurst - probably wouldn't have again (fried sausage, ketchup, curry powder)

4. Brunch. I don't know if this is a new-ish phenomenon like in Paris, or if Germany has always been big into brunch, but either way they do so many options and lots of really delicious drinks. Don't mind if I do have a bowl of fruit, a sparkling rhubarb drink, milky coffee and scrambled eggs with bacon and bread..in one sitting.

Cute presentation of scrambled eggs at Suicide Sue

When I have my own café, this is definitely the vibe I would be going for
Suicide Sue, Prenzlauer Berg (Dunckerstraße 2  10437).

5. The Wall and all of its outside exhibitions / galleries / interactive information.
The city acknowledges and informs the public of its own recent history with facts and anecdotes from what different populations went through on both sides of the wall. It is impressive and extremely well curated in my opinion. You can spend hours walking the city reading the info boards and looking at the landmarks of life along the wall.

Wall exhibits

Structural remnants of the wall between former East and West Berlin
 

6. Turkish Markets by the canal in Kreuzberg. Berlin has a significant Turkish population, largely due to influx of workers who came in the 1960s to address labour shortages. The Turkish market by the canal is full of trinkets, fabrics, jewellery and food. Produce is cheap and it is great for people watching and the surrounding area has some funky boutiques and cool cafes.

Textiles for sale and some hipster Fjallraven backpacks munching on a gozleme (Turkish pastry)

Canal

The more I write, the more I remember that I loved about Berlin. Jess and Tim are becoming a family of three in a few months, so hopefully another trip won't be too far away, to see the bump or hold the baby.

To do: Dave's World Famous Kumara Salad

Mum sent some recipes out from Auckland to Morzine over the winter. Anything titled 'world famous' and ending with 'yum yum pig's b............' must be on the recipes-to-do list! Especially when the ingredients contains two of my favourite ingredients: kumara and sesame oil. Yum!

Definitely have to give this a try!
Author / handwriting unknown

Edinburgh and tarte tatin

A weekend in Edinburgh was one of the first trips I did after I moved to London. I remember quaintly wondering if I needed to take a passport (no) and the one-time novelty of getting different money out of ATMs up there (Scottish pounds look funny).

I've been a few times now and love it every time. A weekend to watch the All Blacks play Scotland in November 2012 was no exception. The Friday night train up from Kings Cross was definitely the most fun I've had on a train, the majority of passengers laden with their green M & S bags filled with train picnic and cheap booze to while away the 4-ish hours to Edinburgh Waverly. The great thing about visiting a place several times is that there isn't much pressure to do touristy stuff on subsequent visits. The first time I went, I spent a Baltic half day exploring the excellent Edinburgh Castle, and another afternoon hauling my hungover self up Arthur's Seat before getting into a serious state of hanger on the way back into town for shandies and haggis pre-train.

Grey day view of the city from a cannon at the Edinburgh Castle

Arthur's Seat

The famous haggis, with neeps, whisky sauce and oat cakes on Rose St.
Delicious! But didn't feel like quite such a good idea on the train back home afterwards.
 

The second visit for the rugby uncovered more delights of this wonderful city, especially the fact that we could drink Moet in a student pub for about £18 a bottle, cheaper than Tesco?! and if we didn't have our own supporter gear from home we could buy it here.

Thumbs up for some cheap posh champagne!

Kilt with your AB jersey?

Murrayfield Stadium.

To recover from the weekend, I cooked dinner for Jacque and I on the Monday night using some delicious old fashioned heirloom veges from the organic shop and café down the road that she was also working at on weekends.

Lemon, thyme, rosemary, honey mustard chicken,
with roast veges and rocket.

Made apple and pear tarte tatin after seeing it on a menu a few nights earlier

The perfect pudding with some clotted cream ice-cream!

How to make the chicken:
Mix up fresh lemon juice (zest the lemon first for added zing), fresh herbs (dry would be ok at a pinch), a dollop of whatever mustard you have to hand, chopped garlic, olive oil and some honey and salt and pepper. You want a thick-ish dressing. Rub all over chicken pieces, leave to marinade if you have the luxury of time. Roast until chicken is cooked. Serve with roasted veges (heirloom carrots, aubergine and sweet potato here), which I would cook in their own dish then pour leftover marinade over the lot once plated.

Tarte tatin (upside down French apple tarte):
1. Cut some pre-rolled puff pastry the same size as a baking dish, or more ideally, use a frying pan that is 100% oven-proof, including the handle. It is a good idea to cut the circle slightly bigger than the pan. Set aside.
2. Peel, core and chop apples and pears - enough to fit a single layer across the frying pan.
3. Melt 100g butter and 100g sugar in the frying pan over a high heat until it bubbles. Add the fruit to the pan and cook for about 10 minutes, stirring so neither the caramel nor the fruit burns.
4. At this point, sprinkle in some chopped fresh rosemary (delicious trick ingredient).
5. Cover the fruit and caramel in the pan with the layer of pastry. Squish the overhang of the pastry so that the edges are slightly thicker than the middle, then prick all over with a fork.
6. Put the pan in the oven and bake at 180 for about half an hour until pastry is golden and cooked. Be very careful as the caramel will be hot and may have bubbled above the pastry.
7. USE OVEN MITTS TO REMOVE VERY HOT PAN FROM OVEN. Leave to cool about 10 minutes then very carefully invert onto a serving plate. Serve with cream and icecream.

Turkey 3/3: coast by boat

Just in time for the last week of the coastal season, I spent half a week on a gulet, a Turkish sailing boat with cabins. After the second night bus from Goreme to Antalya and then a mini bus to Kas, I joined Sulaiman, his crew and about 10 other guests on board a gulet with Alaturka Cruises. Everyone had already been on board several days but in order to fit in Cappadocia, I had to meet them half way. The weather was rubbish for the first 24 hours but in spite of it we finally left the port and sailed west to anchor for the night.

I think it cost me about 160 euro including all meals, and accommodation in my own cabin with bathroom. Alaturka were really great to deal with over email and I would definitely book with them again. The boat was in good order, plenty of space for everyone. A cash bar (cheap) was charged at the end of the week and the Turkish crew were great fun, yet really professional.

Rainy afternoon in Kas

Setting sail for the evening

Soggy guests on the back deck where we ate breakfast, lunch, snacks and dinner

Sun setting on my first evening

A similar gulet sailing by

 Waking up for a swim in Butterfly Valley

Morning dip

Our gulet moored off Oludeniz beach

Waking up on the final day in Gemiler Bay

Ancient ruins off the Turquoise Coast

The crew

Last lunch with everyone on deck

Chilling in the shade on the way back to Fethiye

Turkey 2/3: Cappadocia in 48hours + 2 overnight buses

With a one way ticket to Istanbul and no real plans beyond that week, I had a vague idea that I wanted to do some much needed time on the coast while in Turkey. However, with dad and Sue having Turkeyed about a week ahead of me, and several pictures of hot air ballooning appearing on Facebook over the Summer, I decided to mission it to Cappadocia en route to the coast to avoid the FOMO of not going ballooning while there.

After a rather hair raising night bus right from Istanbul, where the front door to the bus flung open numerous times, I arrived in Goreme and checked in to a typical cave hotel, as part of the deal. Although not usually a major fan of organised tours, it was a really practical way to discover the area especially in such limited time. The company I that had been recommended to me for the gulet tour were super helpful (Alaturka) and arranged this detour for me as well. I did 2 different day tours (North, South) and hot air ballooning on the second morning. It was a pretty intense couple of days but well worth it to get a taste of such a different region to anything I have ever seen before, and definitely the way to go since I was solo by this stage.

Day one:


Tourist trapping outside the underground city

Rural town lunch stop

Really old frescoes in a cathedral inside a cliff

Tea stop IN a river

Dwellings and pigeon holes carved out of a cliff

Day two:

Ballooning for an hour cost more than a 4 day boat trip, and was worth every centime.

Early morning over Cappadocia

 

 

 

 

Putting away the balloon

Toasting the morning with Tip Box and sparkling grape juice.
Our pilot (in red) had just had a baby and had been piloting for 20 years.

 

Valley dogs

 

Horseback would be an amazing way to explore this region too