Travelling Runes

Iznik and Bursa

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Originally uploaded by Travelling Runes.

A few pictures from a weekend trip to Iznik and Bursa just looking around really.

Iznik was historic Nicea (as in the Council of Nicea and the Nicean creed). It is a really pleasant and very sleepy little town next to a lake in the mountains - still with its town walls and many ruins. Nothing amazing but so pleasant I spent more time there than I intended.

Bursa is a much bigger place but still with some interesting stuff in the centre. However - the main attraction is Uludağ - the mountain behind Bursa. There is a complex of two consecutive cable cars and an ancient chair lift to get up the moutain from the city - which was fun - and in winter there is a ski resort at the top (although having seen this is summer I am sure that the ski resort in Dubai is bigger and that is in a shopping centre!).

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Rafting the Coruh

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Originally uploaded by Travelling Runes.

The Çoruh is one of the top 10 rafting rivers in the world and one of the fastest. It rips along at a healthy 10 kph and in the Yusifeli gorge you can see the gradient on the river!

There are a number of grade 5 rapids and an even bigger number of grade 4s :)

This was a trip organised by alterntif with one boat with 7 people (including Vedat) and two safety kayaks run by Hakim and Diaa. The other people were Ben and Paal (Australia and Norway respectfully) and Zafer, Eren and Nedim from Istanbul.

We had four unbelievable days of rafting and three nights of camping in the most appalingly bad weather - o well you can not have everything.

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Skiing in Jackson Hole

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Originally uploaded by Travelling Runes.

One week a the end of March and there was still powder falling for some of the week - even if the off pıste was mostly off snow as well.

Wonderful way to spend easter!

Also spent a day on a wıldlife (mostly buffalo and Elk) safari to keep Gwyneth quiet. They do have a lot of very large animals in Wyoming - and I am not just talking about Harison Ford.

Definately a place to go back to.

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