"Merhaba! Dia Duit! Hej! Ciao! Sut Mae! HELLO!" Lyndra's Profile

I got married in April 2010 and so I have had very little time to spend on VT...but I shall try to keep my Turkish pages updated when I can!

"The World is a book, and those who do not travel read only a page." St. Augustine

I am blessed to have a job that allows me significant time off for exploring the planet.

Thank you to anyone who has taken the time to rate my tips - I can talk the hind legs off a donkey so there is some quantity of tips to come yet.

Not every one will agree with my opinions about the places I have visited but the advice is genuine and the love of recording my adventures is very real ;0)

Hello all and welcome to anyone who has stumbled to this neck of the woods. Welcome to my very small but developing site. I'm hoping it will grow as I find more spare time to add my memories and stuff!! Times like this I wish more of my trip photographs had been stored digitally but I have finally gotten to work on strategies to get around this although it can be fairly time consuming :-)

I am really enjoying my visits to VT so far, it really is as addictive as everyone warned me when I joined. I love looking at other homepages for inspiration - lots to live up to and so many ideas, everyone approaches their sites differently but that is what makes VT so unique. It is definitely the best travel information internet site available!

I love sites with few words to say what needs to be said - as you can see this is not going to be my skill, I can always use 20 words when 5 will do!! If you look a little further you will see that it is finally starting to take shape...a work in progress and progressing quite nicely I think.

Be warned I'm well boring - but ones mans boring is another mans fascination I suppose. I like my beer (and wine as I get older), have an obsession with Turkey (which feels like the place I belong and I'm not sure why) and adore Archaeology (no particular order!).

Apologies therefore for regular references to drinking and ancient relics all over my pages ;-)
(watch out for references to ancient relics drinking - that will be me!!!)

Gule Gule

Travel Completions for 2007
* Florence DONE
* Bodrum: DONE
* Istanbul: DONE

Travel Completions for 2008
* Sligo: May 2008 DONE
* Brecon: May 2008 DONE
* Kusadasi: May 2008 DONE
* Bodrum: July & August 2008 DONE
* Istanbul: October 2008 DONE
* Ireland: December 2008 CANCELLED

Travel Completions for 2009
* Amsterdam: April 2009 DONE
* Groningen: May 2009 DONE
* Bodrum: July & August 2009
* Marmaris: August 2009
* Rome: October 2009

Travel Completions for 2010
* Sweden: May 2010
* Sligo: January 2010
* Rome: April 2010
* Cyprus: July 2010
* Somewhere on honeymoon: August 2010
* Prague: December 2010

Travel Completions for 2011
* Seville: April 2011
* Ireland: May 2011
* Bodrum: August 2011
* Somewhere: October 2011

Anyone notice a recurring Turkish travelling pattern yet...
3 times in one year is still a record for me though!

Read about some of my great loves below :-)

Helen, me and Robbie - part of my family

My family mean a great deal to me (even though we all drive each other mad at times) and they have experienced many of my travels with me. I have 2 sisters and 1 brother.

One of my sisters has banned all use of her image on VT (misery!!) but the others are shameless and don't really care!! Bob has joined VT too - so if you have been here you might like to pay her a visit too (she's bob75). She doesn't have many tips yet and she may never build a Bodrum page (competition you know and me having all the pictures may cramp her style slightly!!) but the picture she has posted of herself on her homepage is worth the visit on its own.

Bob likes to grimace and gurn at cameras after a certain quantity of alcohol...don't take my word for it, go have a look! :-)

This picture was taken on one of our family adventures to the homeland, County Sligo. We are at the Sligo Park Hotel in Sligo Town, having a family get together - it's a very nice hotel. We try to get back to Sligo as often as our schedules will allow - it's hard for us all to get time off together. They have lovely weddings at this hotel and the reception area is really nice with leather sofas to chill out on.

Our Irish upbringing and heritage is very important to all of us so there may be sporadic references to all things Celtic through my pages!

My little brother is now a VT member too!

Tollund Man, Silkeborg Museum Denmark

“Archaeology is our voyage to the past, where we discover who we were and therefore who we are.” (Camille Paglia)

I love all things archaeological. I have been interested in digging around the past since I began my A Levels many years ago. Archaeology is an element in all my travels and I have been lucky enough to study some of the scientific methods that archaeologists use during my degree and since then when I have done additional qualifications. It is a science that suits my logical mind while entertaining the storyteller in me!

My ideal job, if money was no option, would be as an archaeologist - they do not get paid well so this is a dream that may have to wait a while. Till then I shall annoy my travel buddies with the things I have learned! Check out my Copenhagen pages for a tale of woe about Tollund man...Copenhagen

Best Archaeology so far:
So many sites but...Herculaneum (Italy), closely followed by Ephesus (Turkey) and Masada (Israel). My Ephesus page is coming along slow but sure - too many photographs to organise... My home grown favourite archaeological site is Pentre Ifan in Wales. I hope to explore more archaeology North of the Border soon too.

Worst Archaeology so far:
Some of Rome, which I loved so much but... They have so much they don't always take care of it properly.

Archaeology to see soon:
Catalhoyuk (Turkey), Machu Pichu (Peru) and Knossos & other Minoan sites (Crete)...the list goes on...

To quote the immortal Indiana Jones...
"Archaeology is the search for fact, not truth."

The green, white and gold of my beloved Ireland!

The land that I belong to and what more can I say than that. Everyone should visit Ireland once in their life to experience the history, the people, the craic...they say if you dig deep enough there's as little Irish in everyone!

May the Irish hills caress you.
May her lakes and rivers bless you.
May the luck of the Irish enfold you.
May the blessing of Saint Patrick behold you.

Go n-éirí an bóthar leat
Go raibh an ghaoth go brách ag do chúl
Go lonraí an ghrian go te ar d'aghaidh
Go dtite an bháisteach go mín ar do pháirceanna
Agus go mbuailimid le chéile arís,
Go gcoinní Dia i mbos A láimhe thú.

May the road rise to meet you
May the wind be always at your back
May the sun shine warm upon your face,
The rains fall soft upon your fields
And until we meet again
May God hold you in the hollow of His hand.

Check out my Ireland pages:
Sligo

Flag of Turkiye - most wonderful country

My homepage would not be complete without paying homage to Turkey. It is such a wonderful country (Read my Bodrum pages for more Turkish gushing!!). There is not a single part of Turkey that I haven't enjoyed seeing but a country so large has so much more to offer me yet.

istanbul finally visited in October 2007, again with bob75 in October 2008 and I do believe I will return in 2009!!! Cool City :o)

Ankara is my next big city and looking to the south coast resorts too, hopefully next year.

People have lived in Turkey since approx 10,000 Byears ago, since the Paleolithic period. It has been inhabited by many major ancient and modern civilisations and this has helped to creat the magnificent diversity that exists in Turkey today.

Did you know that the oldest human settlement found is in Turkey - Catalhoyuk has the first recorded real paintings (recording an earthquake) and dates from approximately 6500BC.
Did you know that St Paul and St Nicholas were born in Turkey and the St John the Evangelist and the Virgin Mary came to Turkey after the death of Jesus!
Did you know that Noah's Ark most likely landed on top of Mount Ararat in Eastern Turkey!
Did you know that the worlds first proper coins were minted in Turkey!

It is not a perfect place - where is? For me though Turkey comes pretty close. Rumbles about accession to the EU continue and the debate has plenty of life in it yet...will it? should it? Who knows what the next 10 years have in store for this fiercely independent and proud country.

Ataturk said: "Teachers are the one and only people who save nations."
I do like that!
I feel that teachers are so undervalued in the UK (and maybe still in other places) and it is nice that in some parts of the world to be a teacher is still special and a privelege. I'm not saying we save nations but we are partly responsible for the values and attitudes of the children who will shape the world.

Check out my Turkey Pages:
Bodrum
Ephesus
istanbul

Venezia!

I have been blessed to spend many great breaks in Italy and continue to love the food, the scenery and the mix of people who live there. As a student I worked in Venezia, for two long summer vacations, as a tour guide in the Basillica di San Marco - what a great job for someone who loves to talk and talk, loves art and archaeology and wants to get to know a place from the inside out!

In addition I have been lucky to see Rome, Florence, Naples, Sorrento, Capri, Amalfi...

I am hoping to do a Francesco da Mosta style trip from North to South when I get the time and also find someone daft enough to loan me a swish convertible!

The Rotunda, Birmingham City Centre

Birmingham is the city where I live and grew up. It has a mix of cultures and this diversity makes it such a brilliantly vibrant and exciting place to be. It has some of the best shopping to be had in the UK and the night life is excellent. The main downside - the horrid accent that people who live here are lumbered with! It's great to be a brummie!

My Birmingham pages are shamefully empty as yet but I promise to get them filled with the wealth of local information I have to spare.

Daniel Craig...yummy!!!!

Everyone seems to use their homepage to talk a bit about what they are really like or what their philosophies are - no such intellectual material here I'm afraid just a little insight into...well everyone needs a space to share their fantasy...

My celluloid hero is currently Daniel Craig but I'm a little fickle with my choice of fantasy man so it's hard to say how long this smitten state will last ;-) Oh who am I kidding, he's great isn't he. His image may pop up all over my pages...

I like Daniel in a range of films not just Bond although I have to say, and I know this may cause great consternation, but I think that his Bond is on a par with the great Sean Connery - there's a debate to be had I think!
He is gorgeous too :-)

Enjoyed Quantum of Solace earlier this year but it was not nearly as good as Casino Royale. Daniel has quite a few films coming out in 2009 - bring them on!!

Can't wait :o)