Day two, Ankara to Urgip

G'day gentle readers and followers
This morning fought our way out of Ankara, and headed off to Cappadocia region featuring troglodytes and cave dwellers.  We followed the nominated route down to the salt lake  (Tus Golu) and then headed off main roads thru small villages where no GPS has gone before.  Our intended road was quite some way off the main highway and eventually we found a sign in Turkish at an intersection which seemed to be making some point or another about the road ahead.  Us being totally ( non ) fluent in Turkish, pressed on to find that since our map had been publishesd a Dam had been built and the road therefore was no more.

At this point a number of locals all turned up to give advice.  This was in the middle of nowhere with acres & acres of mown hay. One of the locals looked under our car and indicated that the road ahead may be a problem. We eventually turned back and found various other roads which got us to where we wanted to go. 

One good aspect of this was that we came across a mountain city of caves which was only discovered in 1975, and opened to the public in '91. We were the only people there apart from the "keeper".  There was an 11th century church with exceedingly well preservedfrescoes and also an underground city complete with ancient toilets, with a couple of bends in the passage, allegedly to deal with odours!

Underground church and city at Tatlarin

The WC,   Underground, don't fall in !!!!!!

Arrived at our Urgip hotel around 3.30pm by engaging a local hire car owner & his young daughter to lead us to it. Only been open a few months and up twisty lanes etc.  The lap of luxury, could spend some time here indeed.

Day one Istanbul to Ankara

Left Istanbul around 8,30 this mornıng and arrıved at Ankara Hılton hotel around 4.pm
Stayed off the motorway as much as possible, end of Ramadam holiday so roads fairly quiet once out of Istanbul.
Now adaptıng to Turkısh city drivıng. Push and shove, blow horn ıf car ahead waıts half a second after light turns green and just generally push in and change lanes often. Form a new lane if you can.

Istanbul, ready for the start of The Great Game

We are currently in Istanbul Turkey after a ferry trip from Ancona, Italy, to Igoumenitsa, Greece.

The motorway across Greece was fantastic, it is to be a future

Toll Road

, but the toll stations have not been built apart from in one small stretch.  Stayed on the Greek coast at Asprovalta before driving on to Turkey. A few hassles at the border with the authorities having trouble comprehending the small number of digits in our chassis number & making us pay for a Green Card insurance when we already held comprehensive insurance from the UK. Once we entered Turkey the roads deteriorated along with the standard of driving.--- appalling is the only way to describe both. Very erratic driving and very enthusiastic gestures & sounding of horn when they pass us.

 Greek Lunch stop

Kavala, Greece

We intended spending a couple of additional nights on the Greek and Turkish coasts but had trouble finding anything suitable, undeveloped tracts of land or overdeveloped holiday / residential areas without what we would call a hotel.  We finally settled for a large new glitzy hotel on the highway, with the back facing the Sea of Marmaras and nothing much else around it.  Cost was only $50 . Laurette reckons it was a brothel as there were suspicious activities and “painted” girls leaving by taxi early next morning. I can confirm that it was not as there was no such activity in our room !!!

Arrived Istanbul Sunday 21^st, a day early. Our hotel is the Pera Palace Hotel, which was built in 1895 and was owned by the company which ran the Orient Express.  This was used for their guests at the Istanbul stopover.  Oppulent and has just been totally restored.  Agatha Christie wrote Murder on the Orient Express whilst staying here and various other writers / celebrities have stayed over the years. Attaturk also had a room here which is kept as a museum with some of his things.

We’ve done a lot of strenuous walking as Istanbul is very hilly.

Yesterday we went to the Dolmabahce Palace built for Sultan Abdulmecid between 1843 & 1856…285 rooms, 44 halls, 68 toilets & 6 Turkish bathrooms. Stunning chandeliers, mostly English with one weighing 4.5 tons & a magnificent staircase with crystal balusters. Also toured the harem part of the palace, which was just as grand.

Dolmabahce Palace

We then caught a ferry across to the Maiden Tower which has a panoramic view of the city.

Maidens Tower

Simit seller

Galata Bridge

Today we went to the Spice Market with fabulous aromas & all sorts of interesting mixtures of tea.

Spices at bazaar

10 minutes after we arrived, Jim and his land rover pulled up after completing the route recce for the rally in reverse.  Our Morgan is parked in the very small carpark attached to the hotel and I did a service on it the afternoon we arrived.  A bolt or two fallen out, adjusted rear brakes, greased front end and that was about it apart from a check over.  Now ready to start the rally. Hotel staff very interested in coming by & asking questions.

Servicing the Puce Goose

Speaking of the Rally, with the distance, time and altitudes, there have been numerous withdrawals and the group now consists of :

Morgan Plus 8

Porsche RS

40’s Bentley

2006 Landrover

Organisers Landrover

So we will be a small group, more about the people and cars involved in a later post.

All have now arrived over the last few days and we depart Friday 26th.

Phil defeated at dinner -- update

Hello dear followers and readers.

There has been a rumour that I was defeated by a recent dinner.
Those who know me well will be aware that I enjoy my food and generally get stuck into meals with great enthusiasm.
A couple of nights ago we went to the nearby township restaurant as recommended by our landlady.
That restaurant which as Laurette has pointed out was decorated with "roosteranalia", ie models, pictures and the like of roosters everywhere.

Anyway, we sat down, first to arrive for the night, and the waitress ( one of several ) asked in broken English if we wanted the antipasta.  We initially said no, and asked for menus.  No menus so we said yes to antipasta.  It is often joked that anti pasta is anti food, but this was a large plate of cheeses and vegetables, along with the usual bread.  The meat and cheese were on large platters and you cut and ate what you wanted.

Next course was pasta, two large plates of gnocchi and tagliatelli.  Both of us feeling rather full by now, assisted by a litre jug of house white wine and a litre of water. Pasta eaten to say 60% only

Next course was the "carni" which according to our waitress was a small portion of chicken, lamb or pork.
It turned out to be a quarter chicken each with a plate of roast vegetables.  Both struggling valiently by now.  The wine jug has been refilled and the restaurant is filling up with dozens of locals who all get much the same food.  I am looking over my shoulder for my mate Dallas to rescue me & help out, but no appearance.  Managed to push sufficient around to make my effort look respectful.

Dessert was selected by my good wife on my behalf, meringue, strawberries & cream.  Managed to knock that one off.

Finally, expresso and a drive back up the steep dirt hillclimb to our lodgings for the night.

As I believe that this was an ambush by the locals, I wish to reassure all that I will continue my dedication to my food and take this minor defeat as a temporary setback only.

Yours toothfully
Phil

 

Stelvio Pass and Modena

The Stelvio Pass: 16 August 2011

An early start to reach Bormio. Lots of other cars & bikes doing the same thing as we were told yesterday was not good weather to drive the Pass but today is brilliant sunshine. Funny that we had to reach the Alps to get some good weather. We were amazed to see the large number of cyclists also travelling the route. Must be very fit as we reached 2,500 mts at the summit. 48 hairpin bends in all in one section & with our large turning circle some of the bends made for some tight corners.  Managed to get the tyres squealing ( along with the wife ) on several corners

Many long tunnels too on this day, up to 10 kms, particularly the tunnel to Livigno.

.

Magnificent views of the snow capped mountains.

Next headed for Lake Garda which was lovely but so packed with tourists all around the lake that it was difficult to find a parking space let alone a hotel.

A long day on the road so stopped the night at Modena, south of Verona.

Modena: 17^th August 2011

(Adventures with a GPS ) If your name is Blunden, please log out !!

The further we have travelled from UK, the more erratic the performance of the GPS has been, from turning left in the middle of an autobahn to asking us take the fourth roundabout exit when only 2 exist, ahhhhh, we could go on and on. Despite following the GPS directions we have seen rather more of Germany, Switzerland and Italy than we had intended.

After some argument with the GPS which always wants to take us on motorways, we found Maranello, home of the Ferrari Museum. The colour red springs to mind!

Next stop was Lamborghini Museum which was interesting for the cars on display which never made it into production.

Ferrari museum was a bit of a let down, a fairly sparse collection of cars, lots of focus on F1, also their shop was a fairly poor offering.  Lots of enthusiasts, none of whom looked like ever owning a Ferrari, a bit superficial I felt.

Lamborghini was on the outskirts of an industrial rural town and only a few visitors. Much more restrained but more dignified.

We headed for the coast to look for somewhere to stay but everything crowded and booked out. Can’t believe how all Italians go on holiday at the same time & many places close for the month.

We decided to head inland and lucked upon a great B & B high in the hills just below Urbino. It even had a swimming pool (which was great after a hot drive) & we may have been the only guests. The proprietor suggested a restaurant in a small village about 5 kms away. A character filled place full of all types of roosters, ceramic, drawings, etc  A beautiful part of Italy, think the yellow glow of the Umbrian hills with sunflowers growing everywhere but now seeded & ready for harvest.

I see a great need to return to here but not in the company of several thousand newly found Italian friends.

Ancona & Igoumenitsa, Greece: 18 August 2011

Arrived Ancona about midday & booked on overnight ferry to Greece. If you’ve been on the Tassie ferry, this is exactly the same. Funny how we found the bar so easily. 

Progress to date    4,800 kms since collecting the Puce Goose in UK.

More Museums

Jewellery & the V8 Hotel: 13 August 2011

From now on, you will find Phil’s comments in blue.

A short drive this morning to Pforzheim for the Schmuckmuseum (jewellery); the most fantastic collection of jewellery we’ve ever seen, including one man’s collection of pocket watches, and stunning Art Nouveau pieces. You will notice that the jewellery museum is called “Schmuck”, that is most appropriate as only a schmuck would take his wife to a museum showing the best examples of world class expensive jewellery  Plenty of ooh’s and ah’s as Laurette walked from display to display, actually, even I was impressed and thought it well worthwhile.

Pforzheim was also the destination for Bertha Benz when she set off on her historic 

journey to visit grandma in 1888 in the Carl Benz Motorwagen.

Next stop was outside Stuttgart ( at Boblingen ) where we stayed 2 nights at the V8 Hotel, an old Zepplin airfield building which is now a car centre for high performance and collector vehicles. Cars of all eras including 5 new / nearly new Morgans for sale or lease.

We are in the “drive in” room, foot of bed is a red Cadillac, complete with working headlights & other drive-in memorabilia.   There’s a large flat screen on the wall opposite the foot of the bed to complete the “drive in” experience.

A wonderful dinner at the complex where Lamborghinis and Ferraris drive in and out as you dine.  It’s also a storage facility and service centre for your” toy” car

Still more Museums:  14 August 2011

First stop was the Mercedes Benz Museum. An interesting shaped building where you start at the top and curve around the floors following the history of the company. Interspersed amongst the cars lots of original documents & memorabilia was on display. To put everything in context, the displays showed what else was happening around the world at that particular time. One of the best museums we’ve ever seen. Next stop was the Porsche Museum. What can I say…..a museum for boys & their toys but not much of interest to anyone else, whereas the Mercedes one was family oriented. 

Mercedes museum, fantastic, really well done, building cost $280m euros.

Porsche museum also good but focused solely on cars, not placing them in historical and social context as per Mercedes.;  I was disappointed that the early 911 was not represented.

By the way, weather is still not good with rain or drizzle most days.

Bosch Archives: 15 August 2011

Thanks to Dietrich we had a wonderful tour of the Bosch exhibition & the archives and were also presented with a copy of the book published for the 125^th anniversary taking place this year.

For those who are not aware, my late father worked for Bosch Australia for 30 years or so and we have been collecting Bosch garagenalia etc for Garage Mahal.  Bosch are also now collecting and we need to be careful not to bid against each other on ebay  We will keep in touch with Bosch archives and have their invitation to swap with them if either of us have duplicates etc.

It was still raining and we travelled across 4 countries today, mostly in drizzle: Germany, Switzerland, Austria & Italy. Stayed the night at Scuol in Switzerland up in the alps. The hotel had a wonderful view.

STELVIO PASS

Further posts to come re Stuttgart incl Mercedes, Porsche and Jewellery museums.
Also visited the Bosch Archives & had a great tour with Dietrich & were presented with limited edition book for the 125th anniversary of Bosch.
However, for now, until better connection....................

15th August, stayed  somewhere up in the Swiss Alps, after starting in Germany, lunch in Switzerland, into Italy, thru Austria & back into Switzerland.

Next day, drove over Stelvio Pass, many corners, some of which the Morgan only just got around in one go.
Then down east side of Lake Garda, tourist season so tourists everywhere, all booked out.  Continued on to Modena.

Visited Ferrari museum, them Lamborghini.
After trying to get accommodation on the coast, gave up & headed inland. Found a lovely B & B in the hills complete with swimming pool. Weather is now hot, hot, hot (up to 37 deg).
Proprietor recommended a restaurant 3kms away (full of roosters of all kinds: ceramic, painted etc). Dinner was excellent & so much even Phil was defeated.

Now at Ancona ferry terminal to cut to Greece (Igoumenitsa) on overnight ferry. Italy is too busy at this holiday time of the year.  What is not shut is overcrowded.

A bit behind in posting

G'day All,
We're a bit behind in posting.
11 hour day in the Puce Goose today, Stelvio pass and a drive down lake Garda. (big drive)
Now in Modena
Back on the air soon

German Museums

Museums: 12 August 2011

First visit this morning was to the Technik Museum at Speyer. We could have spent a day here: Space exhibition with space shuttle, space food & clothing, walk-in submarine U9, vintage & classic cars with corresponding fashions, all sorts of aircraft to walk through, steam & fire engines. In the same museum there were 3 fantastic floors of automated musical instruments (Museum Wilhelmsbau).

Space Shuttle at Speyer Technik Museum

Speyer Museum

Coming out of the U9 submarine at Speyer

At the controls of the U9 submarine

A short drive & on to the Museum Sinsheim. Similar to Speyer but with supersonic aircraft (Concorde & Tipolev) which we could walk through. Another 300 vintage & classic cars plus a huge range of tractors.

Overview inside the Sinsheim Museum

Outside the entry to the Sinsheim Museum

Inside the cockpit of the Concorde at Sinsheim

Stayed the night at Baden-Baden amongst the beautiful trees in the Black Forest.

Chocolates to white wine

From Belgium into Germany and a lovely drive alongside the Mosel River. Grape vines everywhere, up the hills and down the dales. Interesting upright vines in some places. Called at Dr Loosen winery at Bernkastel for a tasting at the source of one of our favourite Riesling wines but it was only open by appointment. We then headed for Speyer (and another very quick drive on the motorway). Now that we are in Germany, the driving is even faster, travelling at 140 kmh, being passed like we are standing still.

Dr Loosen's vineyard at Bernkastel in the Mosel Valley

Mosel valley and river

Dover to Liege & Eupen, Belgium

After a quick ferry trip across the channel & getting used to driving on the other side of the road, we made it to Liege for our first European stop. If we thought the drivers in the UK drove fast, the Belgians drive at 130km an hour. It was a funny experience at the first petrol stop where everything is done by the user, ,pre-paying & getting a receipt.

Just to prove that it’s not all car museums, I found a chocolate Museum. ( everyone knows that chocolate, shoes and jewels are high on a woman’s list ) Our first stop just outside Liege was at Eupen and the Jacques Chocolate factory (the makers of Guylian chocolates). Interesting tour of the premises & viewing all the memorabilia, including beautiful chocolate boxes from the turn of the century. Phil got his face onto a segment being made by a film crew. ( and if I do say so myself, it was a stellar performance of taking merchandise from the shelf, inspecting it and passing it to Laurette, I was however let down by the restrained performance of herself ) Lots of sampling & purchases (not so wise to carry in the Morgan!). Laurette fell headfirst into a vat of chocolate and three workers tried to rescue her. She fought them off for 10 minutes until they finally got her out.

Choc Advertisement

Then we headed for Germany. We made a detour to Spa & Francochamps to see the Belgian Grand Prix track. Lots of bikers there.

 Hotel at Spa circuit

Goodwood & Ace Cafe

Last night we had dinner at the Ace Cafe as it was "Classic Cars Magazine" night there.
Had good talk to Mike & Sam from the magazine

Below are a few pictures from Goodwood and last night

Goodwood

Goodwood

Ace Cafe

Ace Cafe

Now in Liege, Belgium after a quick trip from Wembley today.

Still in UK

Still in the UK.

Mainly about Family and Morgans

Since collecting the Morgan from Felixstowe, we have travelled to Hinkley Liecestershire where we stayed with relatives, Roger & Kathleen .  Roger being the same generation as Phil, descending from another of Dr John’s children, Jean Abigail.

Next 2 days were with Ali & Andy in Edinburgh.  Ali is the cousin of Sally who we spend time with whenever in UK. Sally’s husband Mick and Phil share the same great grandfather, James McKillop Macwhirter.

We drove across Edinburgh to

4 Ainslie Place

, which was Dr John’s home after his return from India.  We photographed the Puce Goose and ourselves out side No 4 and Phil then decided to ring the doorbell for the top apartment ( the house having been divided into flats coincidentally by Ali’s grandmother back in the 1930;s ).

The owner who we met back in 1985 happened to be home and we spent an hour or so with her. At age 89, she has lived there since 1941.  Her father was the chief superintendant for the British government in India.

After our time there, we called at Warriston Cemetary where Dr John Macwhirter is buried.

Leaving Edinburgh on Thursday 4 August in rain as we had experienced travelling up there, we drove down to Newcastle on Tyme where there is the “Discovery Museum” containing regimental records of the 19^th Hussars, being the regiment to which James McKillop Macwhirter belonged.  We found amongst their records, the original of a photo of James, which we had seen before but only as a photocopy.  The museum is scanning a copy for us and sending it home.

Later on 4 July we arrived at Malvern, home of the Morgan Motor Company.

Next day we called at the Morgan Factory and collected a new door lock to replace a broken lock on the driver’s side door.

Afterwards we drove a short distance to Stoke Lacy where we had lunch with Mary and John who own the Rectory where HFS Morgan built the first Morgan car in the small detached garage.  John and Mary are great friends of Mick and Sally from the days when Mick and John were in the British army together.  We photographed our car in the garage where it all began.

We continued on to Wylye where we caught up with Dawn (Roger’s daughter) and her partner Mervyn inspecting progress on the almost completed renovation of their 16^th century house which we saw 2 years ago in its original state.  We finished the day at West Wittering at Mick & Sally’s country house.

This morning, Sunday 7^th, we attended “Goodwood Breakfast”  Hundreds of cars of all sorts, from Austin 7’s to late model Ferraris and a Noble.  Also a half dozen Ford Anglia’s, plenty of MGA’S and only one other Morgan.  Noticed Billy Connolly wandering around which was interesting as Phil is distantly related to his wife, Pamela Stephenson.

Yesterday, serviced the Puce Goose.  Have had 3 problems to date, the first being the wiper mechanism coming loose due to the extent of rain, throttle cable breaking, and an indicator wire coming loose from the new wiring loom.  Each issue easily solved in 20 mins or so as they occurred.

We leave West Wittering on Tuesday and attend Classic Cars Magazine Night at the Ace Café at Wembly.

The Batmobile

Out of the container and the Batmobile

When collecting the Puce Goose from EUF at Felixstowe, there was another car being unloaded.  See photos below.

This road registered car was for display purposes and was alleged to be the world’s lowest car.  Obviously the Morgan is not a particularly tall car but the “Batmobile” was certainly lower.  Note the spark plug in the exhaust presumably to ignite fuel in the muffler for extra effect.    Certainly not Istanbul to Calcutta material!

On the road

G'day All,

Collected the Morgan yesterday and are now in Edinburgh following overnight in Hinckley.

Got quite wet today, heavy rain but looking better for next few days.

Next objective is to photgraph the Puce Goose outside Ainslie Place as the beginning of the real journey

A personal perspective on "The Great Game"

Our personal interest in the Great Game.

For the background and sentiment behind this rally, go to either of the following links,  

http://www.roarrallies.com/future_rallies/background.html?rallyId=6

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Great_Game

Phil’s ggg-grandfather, Dr John Macwhirter went out to India in 1799 as a marine surgeon.  He married Harriet Anne Reid and took over his father-in-law’s medical practice in Calcutta, becoming the personal physician to the Governor General of India.

In 1808, Mountstuart Elphinstone was sent on a so called “Embassy” to Kabul to gain the favour of the ruler as a measure of shoring support for British India in the event of attack or invasion by Russian or French forces.  Dr Macwhirter was appointed as the chief medical officer for the expedition.

This was one of the earliest moves in “The Great Game”. The expedition was away for almost a full year and Dr Macwhirter maintained a longstanding friendship with Elphinstone, even when back in Edinburgh many years later.

Dr John Macwhirter resided in Calcutta until his return to Scotland in 1822.  Whilst in Calcutta, he resided at “

Tank Square

”, now known as

Dalhousie Square

.  His residence was next door to the East India Company dispensary which we believe to have been located at

4 Wellersley Place

, being the street which ran between Tank Square & Government House.  That street is now called

Red Cross Place

and we hope to identify where his residence actually was.

When Dr John Macwhirter returned to Scotland, he purchased a house at

4 Ainslie Place Edinburgh

, for the sum of 3,600 Pounds, a huge amount in the early 1820’s.

We are going to officially start our journey at

Ainslie Place Edinburgh

and finish at

Tank Square

in Calcutta, a reverse pilgrimage to the memory of Dr John Macwhirter.

Whilst in Calcutta, we will tend to the grave in the South Park Street Cemetery, which contains the relics of three of Dr John’s children who died at an early age

Dr John’s only surviving son ( out of 15 children ), John Peach Macwhirter was killed in the Indian Mutiny on 11 May 1857 and his son, ( Phil’s great grandfather ) who was a young child, was smuggled to safety by the family servants and brought up back in Scotland.