Max in Turkey

Max left Patmos in Greece and travelled by ferry to Kusadasi in Turkey. He was on the ferry for 4 hours. He was so tired, he had a sleep.

Max went through Customs where people check your passport. Some of the people travelling with Max got a beautiful stamp in their passport. Max didn't get one because he was too excited.

After meeting the guide, Alp, Max went to the motel where they were staying.

The next day they went to Ephesus where there are ruins of ancient Turkey and Troy. There is a special story about Troy...a very large horse and lots of soilders. Can you see the photo of Max with Troy?

Max caught the ferry from Cannakkale to the other side where he got on a bus to ANZAC cove. This is a special place remembered by Australian and Turkish people. We remember ANZAC Day every year in Australia on April 25th.



Max got on another bus and travelled for a very long time to Istanbul. Here he saw lots of churches and "The Blue Mosque".

Here is Max near a very famous place where people stored water a very, very long time ago.

He went to "The Grand Bazzar" where there are over 3000 stalls!!! Max felt a little frightened with all the people around him. He stayed very close to his friends Roz and Ann.

The next day, Max went to the train station where the famous train, "The Orient Express" arrives . Unfornately, the train was not there that day!!!

That night Max went back to Istanbul airport to fly back to Athens (Greece) to catch another plane to Rhodes (a Greek Island) before flying back to Sydney

Read about a tour just like Max went on...

Max in Greece

Come follow Max as he journey’s through Greece and Turkey in ….the footsteps of St Paul.

ATHENS
Max set out on his tour of Athens to visit the Ancient Agora the Parthenon and the Plaka (the meeting place) the Acropolis, the Aeropagus - Hill of Ares, where Paul preached one of the most memorable sermons recorded in the Bible Acts 17:22-31.


OSSIOS LOUKAS
Max got on the bus and they headed northwest to the magnificent monastery of Ossios Loukas. It was very beautiful, Max thought. It was also very old.

DELPHI
The bus drove another 176km northwest of Athens to Delphi. Max saw some very old buildings that were missing walls and even a roof! Max decided to go into the Delphi Museum where he saw some pictures and some old sculptures from the site.

METEORA
When Max got to Meteora he was amazed to see the buildings high up on giant rocks. He wondered how anyone could build places so high up!! He found out that monks lived in the buildings Max found out that monks lived in caves within the rocks during the 11th Century. They got people to bring all the things they needed to build the monastery.

KALAMBAKA to PATRAS
Today Max left for Kalambaka. One the way he stopped at Patras, one of the busiest cities in Greece because of its cluster of University faculties, is the capital of Achaia Prefecture. It is named for Patreus, legendary chief of the Achaeans.

It is the largest city in the Peloponnese, and has the fourth largest population in Greece (160,000), following Athens, Piraeus and Thessaloniki. That is a lot of people, Max thought.


PATROS to SAMOS via ANCIENT CORINTH
Today Max explored the Ancient Corinth where the apostle Paul lived for almost two years teaching the people the word of God and converting many. He visited the Peirene fountain and the 6th Century BC Temple of Apollo.

The ruins of Ancient Corinth are spread out at the foot of the huge rock of Acrocorinth. Ancient Corinth derived its prosperity from its position on the narrow isthmus between the Saronic and Corinthian gulfs. Transporting goods across the isthmus, even before the canal was built, provided the shortest route from the eastern Mediterranean to the Adriatic and Italy.

Until the 5th century BC, Corinth was the biggest and wealthiest classical Greek city-state, with two bustling ports, a famous ceramics industry and distant colonies in Syracuse in Sicily and Kerkyra on Corfu.

The town was prosperous until it was razed in 146 BC by the Roman general, Lucius Mummius. In 44 BC, Julius Caesar rebuilt Corinth as a Roman colony. Consequently, the remaining monuments are mainly Roman; only a few are Greek. Attaining a population of 750,000 under the patronage of the emperors, the town gained a reputation for licentious living that St. Paul attacked when he came here in 52 CE. Excavations have revealed the vast extent of the city, destroyed in Byzantine times by earthquakes.
The ruins constitute the largest Roman township in Greece.

SAMOS to PATMOS
Max travelled by boat this morning to the island of Patmos which has an area of 34 sq. kilometres and a coastline of 63 kilometres making it one of the smallest inhabited islands in the Aegean. With an approximate population of 3000 persons, Patmos forms part of the Dodecanese Islands and lies between the islands of Leros, Fourni and Ikaria.

Famous for its religious past, the island is where Saint John wrote the Book of Revelation. Also known as the "Jerusalem of the Aegean", Patmos was formally declared a Holy Island in 1983 by the Greek government. For many years now, Patmos has been an island of pilgrimage for Catholic and Orthodox faithful who come to the island to absorb the spiritual heritage and bask in its beauty and serenity.

Monastery of St. John or in Greek, the monastery of Agios Ioannis Theologos, is the first thing you will notice when arriving on Patmos, sitting high on the hill above Chora it is visible from every part of the island. Established in 1088, it has remained the most significant religious and cultural centre on the island.

As you enter the gate you come to the main courtyard inlaid with local pebbles and stones. The eastern side is dominated by an arch with four curves and many frescoes representing the miracles performed by Saint John. In total, the monastery houses ten chapels, and the most impressive part of the monastery is the main chapel with a beautiful wood-carved icon stand, marble floor and rich decoration.

Learn more about Greece

Max Leaves East Timor

One morning Max got a phone call from the Australian Embassy to let him know that there was a possibility that there would be some unrest in Same and that it may not be safe to stay. So the Australian Embassy arranged for the United Nations and the Army to bring Max safely out of Same back to Dili so that Max could fly home. Max and Erika quickly packed their bags.

They had to say good bye to all their dear friends in Same, especially their good friend Senor Basilio and his family.

No sooner had they said goodbye when the UN arrived with a convoy of vehicles to help to take them out of Same. There was one United Nations vehicle that led the way and the rest followed.

They drove through forests and across mountains all the way to Dili.

Max was sitting in the back seat and kept checking out the back window to make sure that everyone was following safely.

There was a quick stop every hour so that the drivers could have a short rest. Here are the drivers having a short rest along the way.

At last they arrived in Dili safe and sound. Here is the United Nations Police (UNPOL) Headquarters in Dili.

While they waited in Dili for a flight back to Australia. They stayed in a very interesting Hotel called the Timor Lodge Hotel.

The rooms were actually shipping containers that had been divided up into lots of little rooms and there was a big fence all around the Hotel so that it was very safe. They even painted the walls and planted small trees to make it look very pretty!

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A lot of United Nations people stayed at the hotel and it was close to the airport so Max and Erika could easily get on the plane the next day.

Here they are in the plane looking down over the mountains and the sea and waving "thank you" and "good bye" to East Timor. "Until we meet again."

Max in East Timor - Transport

In Same people do not have cars and people usually walk everywhere. Walking does not cost anything, is good exercise and it also helps you meet lots of people and make lots of friends. In Same everyone you meet says "Bon dia, diak ka lai?" which means "Hello, how are you?"

Sometimes when Max needed to travel further away to visit a school, he had to look around for transport. Here are different types of transport that Max found in Same.

First he tried the motorbikes. It's amazing how many people you can have on a motorbike. In Same the whole family rode on the motorbike together. There even was room for Max!

People who live out in the country, away from the village, sometimes need to ride into the village to come to the market for rice and food. They need their horse to help carry the food back home.

Here is the local police car. They wear very smart uniforms and have to hang on carefully so that they do not fall off the car. How many policemen do you think can ride on a police car?

If you need to go a very long distance, for example when Max had to travel from Dili to Same, you can take a bus. Here is Max on the bus before it got crowded.

Then the bus filled up with passengers. There are sacks of rice and a passenger on the roof.

Another bus had sacks of rice and bananas on the roof. Often the bus gets very crowded and people ride on the roof. There’s a long queue for the yellow bus, but it is already full inside and on top! These passengers will have to wait for the next bus.

The roads in the mountains are sometimes full of holes and very winding and sometimes very muddy. Sometimes the bus got stuck and all the passengers had to get off and push. Max didn’t help to push this time because he was taking the photograph!

When Max needed transport in-between villages he sometimes took a ride on a local mini bus called an “Angguna.” An "Angguna" is a small open truck usually with a canvas roof that provides shade from the sun and shelter from the rain. Max made lots of friends when he traveled on the "angguna" because they could get quite crowded at times.

One day Max and Erika were visiting a school far away from Same. When school finished it was a quite late and there were no more buses or anggunas so Max and Erika traveled home in a big truck.

Some days it was very noisy early in the morning. That was because the United nations were flying over the mountains in their helicopter to watch over Same to keep the town safe.

Max in East Timor - Same and Mt Kablaki

In Same the rain was fun. It was the rainy season while Max was living in Same. During the rainy season it is very hot and the sun shines in the morning. Then at about 2 o'clock in the afternoon the rain pours and pours for about an hour and then the sun comes out again. The children in Same love to play in the afternoon rain.

Max and Erika liked to stay dry.

Here is a photo of a statue of Dom Boa Ventura that stands in Same's town square. Dom Boa Ventura is Same's hero. He defended Same against Portugese invaders many years ago.

At night in Same Max often heard a strange voice calling "Tockay! tockay!" in quite a loud voice. One night he spotted the little creature that made such a big noise. It is a Lizard called a tockay and that is what it says. "Tockay!" It only comes out at night.

A few kilometres away from Same lies Kablaki Mountain. One weekend they set off early in the morning when it was a bit cooler to climb the mountain.

Ulick the mountain guide came with them to show them the way.

First of all they had to visit a Kablaki village to ask the village chief to ask permission to climb Kablaki Mountain.

For the people of East Timor Mount Kablaki is a sacred mountain and the village chief must give his blessing to people to climb the mountain. Here they are approaching the village. All of the houses in the village had thatched roofs.

Here are some of the children in the village.

They climbed higher and higher. At the top of the mountain it was awesome to see how beautiful the land was. At the top of they mountain they prayed for peace for all the people of East Timor.