Four likely lads travel the planet

Well Melon Anne and Hannah had talked Turkey up and 5 weeks ago it was time to check this place out for meself (that is, Morto flying solo) and see what the fuss was about.

Some random photos to follow for your viewing pleasure

I have come to the conclusion camels are up there with the finest creatures ever to have walked the planet

Running wild and free on a city street, these goats were natural lawnmowers (also high on the finest creature list for mine)

The best tourist information guy ever, but not if you don't want your arse kicked in backgammon (check out the flared jeans and haircut, awesome).

The look on your face when you fear for your camera's safety from some super friendly locals

After 2 days of travel and a hellride on the bus, these stone heads near Syria were all that and then some

These slip on plastic beauties enabled me to trek a gorge in Turkey... I might have to ask the ladies to form an orderly queue again me thinks...

Anyway overall Turkey got 10/10.

Til next time

Morto

OK so I went to Portugal and yes it was totally sweet. But my tale does not begin so sweet, it starts with me setting my alarm but not turning it on, hence making it to Stansted airport at 7:55am for my 8:00am flight. My destionation was supposed to be Santiago de Compostela just north of Portugal, but the next flight was not until the same time the next morning. After discussing with the friendly Ryanair representative I managed to secure a seat on the next flight directly to Porto, at 6:30pm that night. As a result I had to spend the next 11 hours of my life stuck at Stansted airport sleeping, reading, roaming around and bored out of my brain.

So let's get onto the good bit, the cool parts of my Portugal experience.

Porto
My first Portugese stop was Porto the home of the Australian drunks beverage of choice, Port Wine. One day of my days in Porto I hopped on the train and headed to a beach called Espinho for a little bit of relaxation. Turns out the Atlantic was a bit too rough and real cold to swim in, but at least there was a bar on the beach serving the northern Portugese brew with undoubtedly the greatest name for a beer on earth, "Super Bock".

When I was wondering around one day I came across this young lady sitting on her balcony overlooking the street. She was just taking it easy in the warm afternoon sun, aspiring for that "all over" tan.

Whoa easy there, before you all email calling me a pervert, that's just a mannequin. I don't really know what she's doing there, it just looked funny that's all

One final picture of the historic port area of Porto

Lisbon
Lisbon is the pumping capital of Portugal and was a really awesome place. Lots of little streets and a cool bar sort of suburb where everybody just stands out on the streets with their drinks and has a good time. The next picture is the view down a street with a classic Lisbon tram.

Here we have the view of the bay from a hill

Here we have a badass Lisbon guard in front of some government building. Please note the sword, huge boots and tights pants

Lagos
The southern coast of Portugal is called the Algarve. I visited a town called Lagos and stayed at a hostel where the ratio of Australians was higher than any other place I had ever stayed. The entire town itself was completely overrun with english tourists. I don't think there were any Portugese people living there at all.

I went to the beach here as well but rather than swim I just jumped off this huge rock. It was only about 12-15 metres high. I only hit the bottom the second time I jumped off, but don't worry it was really deep.

That really is me about to plunge to the depths, I am such a badass.

Well that kind of wraps up some of the highlights and stuff. Here is one more item for you all. When I was in Seville I checked out this building that had all these small tiled monuments for each of the provinces in Spain. This one had a map on it, I'm pretty sure that I know some people from this town.

Oh and one more quick item. The man asleep in chair is back! This version is entitled "Portugese man asleep on park bench". This old fellas head kept falling back and nearly snapping off.

This one goes out to anyone who loves a beer, and likes that beer to be big, and likes it served by someone in costume.

After Greece, Hannah and I decided it was time to go where the beer flows like wine, and the women instinctively flow like the salmon of Capistrano. I'm talking about Oktoberfest. So we met Bim in Berlin, hired a car and headed south, via Cologne and the Black Forest. After getting through some questionable navigation from the girls, we arrived in Munich, and checked into the "cabin."

It was time for a beer.

Although Oktoberfest is not officially opened until 11:00 on the Saturday, some people still got pumped the day before.

We got up early and headed to the beer grounds. Many people come here in traditional Bavarian dress. It's even more awesome than the photos could ever show.

People everywhere where super pumped, and the first beer didn't disapoint. Served by a wentch, carrying a ship load of beer in litre glasses, it was so sweet.

We found the locals loved their lederhosen's.

Plus they loved a photo with a stranger.

We also found that Beer Wentches were multi-talented. Not only could they serve masses of beer, they could serve masses of chicken, too.

Day two of Oktoberfest started much the same as day one, except we had a slight hangover. People still marched around in full kit.

And locals still loved to be in a photo.

At this stage, I'd like to point out that Oktoberfest is for everyone, even coyboys.

By the end of the day, we found we had met a lot of German people.

So that was Oktoberfest. Bim and I lost Hannah a bit on the last night, so we went on a couple of rides. Needless to say, rides after 7 or 8 litres of beers is not the best idea, but it sure is fun.

I'll leave you with one more picture of some Bavarian people, probably crazy.

Hugs and kisses to all,

Kerr