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After Rome was destroyed by the Visigoths in 410, Emperor
Constantine the Great chose a small fishing village on the
Bosphorus to become the new imperial capital. This small fishing
village was inaugurated as Constantinople, what we now know as
Istanbul. The Roman empire based in Constantinople is usually
referred to as the href="http://www.turkeytravelplanner.com/TravelDetails/History/Byzantines.html">
Byzantine Empire.

There are many artefacts relating to the Byzantine Empire in
Istanbul, but the Beetle's favourite is the Byzantine cisterns.
If you've seen the James Bond movie, From Russia with Love,
maybe you remember the scene where the redoubtable Mr Bond is
rowing in a small boat through a forest of marble columns - this
was filmed in Yerebatan Saray Sarniçi. src="http://www.globetrotters.co.uk/newsletter/pictures/may-2005-image005.jpg"
class="pic" align="left"/>

This cistern is thought to have been built in 532 AD, using marble
columns recycled from Greek ruins in and around the Bosphorus. The
water was routed from reservoirs around the Black Sea and
transported via the Aqueduct of Valens. It was used as a backup for
periods of drought or siege for the Great Palace. Historians
believe that the cisterns were left largely untouched by the
Ottomans, who preferred running, not stagnant, water, and the
stored water ended up being used to water the Topkapi Gardens. The
cistern was later left to collect silt and mud until it was cleaned
by the Istanbul Municipality and opened to the public in 1987. alt=""
src="http://www.globetrotters.co.uk/newsletter/pictures/may-2005-image007.jpg"
class="pic" align="right"/>

It is just one of many cisterns underneath modern day Istanbul, and
the largest at 70 x 140 metres, (or 2.4 acres), and can hold 80,000
cubic metres - over 21 million US gallons). It is very grand and
there are twelve rows of 28 columns each making an impressive total
of 336 marble columns and you walk between the columns on a large
boardwalk. At the far end of the walkway are two large Medusa
heads src="http://www.globetrotters.co.uk/newsletter/pictures/may-2005-image009.jpg" align="left"
class="pic" /> in the north-western corner, one inverted and the
other on its side; according to mythology, placing her this way
caused her to turn herself into stone. Another theory is that
turning her upside down neutralises her powers. There are some huge
fish too in the water whose function is to aerate the water (and
feed on tourists' handouts). There are signs giving details of
classical concerts that take place in the cisterns. The Basilica
Cistern was restored in 1980 for visitors.

There's also a café with wobbly metal tables and chairs and
orange lighting adding to the subterranean feeling.

Yerebatan is in href="http://www.turkeytravelplanner.com/WhereToGo/Istanbul/Sights/Sultanahmet/index.html">
Sultanahmet Square, at the north-eastern end of the href="http://www.turkeytravelplanner.com/WhereToGo/Istanbul/Sights/Sultanahmet/Hippodrome.html">
Hippodrome, just off href="http://www.turkeytravelplanner.com/WhereToGo/Istanbul/Sights/Sultanahmet/DivanYolu.html">
Divan Yolu, and across the street from href="http://www.turkeytravelplanner.com/WhereToGo/Istanbul/Sights/Sultanahmet/Ayasofya.html">
Ayasofya (Hagia Sophia). Opening hours: Daily 0900-1700.
Admission: $3.50.

As a result of last month's feature on the world's smallest
countries, David wrote in to say:

Ahh, but what about the Sovereign Military Hospitable Order of St.
John of Jerusalem, Rhodes, and Malta, which has diplomatic ties
with 87 countries, its own license plates, postage stamps
passports, and currency, and runs dozens of hospitals and clinics
worldwide. Its sovereign territory is a second floor office suite
in the Palazzo Malta at 68 via de Candiotti in Rome, and an
applicant for UN membership.

Slightly larger, but not as big as Vatican City, we of course have
Sealand, which you probably know–six miles off the English coast,
a WWII antiaircraft tower “liberated” in 1967 by Major
and Mrs. Roy Bates.

What do you think? Let the href="mailto:beetle@globetrotters.co.uk">Beetle know!

For a truly unique experience with nature, you can't beat
Xcarat in the Cancun area of Mexico.

Best known for the swimming with dolphins opportunity they offer,
most tourists flock there for the experience, and it is well worth
it. For a reasonable fee you have about an hour with the dolphins.
The trainers teach you about their habits in the wild and how they
interact with humans. At some point you are allowed to pet them and
feel connected with these incredible animals. The trainers then get
the dolphins to do tricks in the pool and even jump over you in
incredible formation. It is all caught on video tape and photos
that you can purchase after the experience. It was incredible to
me, after viewing the video tape, to see how close the dolphins
came to us before leaping up behind us and jumping over our heads.
When you are in the pool waiting for them to jump you actually
don't feel them behind you. You just suddenly see them over
you. That proved to me how graceful they are in the water and how
they could be inches away from you without you even realizing it.
It was a truly thrilling experience.

The rest of the park is also amazing. We saw an exhibit with
quails, hatching before your eyes, out of their eggs. It is a
credit to the park that before you enter, they supply you with
sunscreen made from only natural ingredients. So you don't harm
the animals with which you interact.

Also available is a wonderful open exhibit with local birds,
monkeys and even baby crocodiles. You walk along a paved walkway
and all the creatures are out in the open, so it's almost like
being in the forest itself, with nothing between you and the
animals. The variety of birds is spectacular and the colours are a
real feast for the eyes. Just when you think you know what to
expect something surprises and delights you. For example, at one
point we were only expecting to see more birds but were pleasantly
surprised to look up and saw a large family of monkeys, directly
above us. The male of the group became territorial and to protect
his family threw branches at us. It was truly an interactive
experience and something we weren't expecting.

There are also guides around that allow you to hold a small
crocodile; still another photo op! You can even walk up to some of
the larger parrots to pet them. Don't try this while they are
eating though, because they think you are trying to steal their
food. But it was really incredible seeing all this wildlife and
actually being able to touch and interact with them.

Xcarat is truly a must see for nature lovers as well as those who
want to experience local animal and bird life.

The Human Development Index (HDI), published annually by the UN,
ranks nations according to their citizens' quality of life
rather than strictly by a nation's traditional economic
figures. The criteria for calculating rankings include life
expectancy, educational attainment, and adjusted real income.

Source: href="http://www.infoplease.com">www.infoplease.com

What is it: hookworm is an intestinal parasite of humans
that usually causes mild diarrhoea or cramps. Heavy infection with
hookworm can create serious health problems for newborns, children,
and pregnant women. Hookworm infections occur mostly in tropical
and subtropical climates and are estimated to infect about 1
billion people — about one-fifth of the world's population.
One of the most common species is found in southern Europe,
northern Africa, northern Asia, and parts of South America.
Hookworm eggs require warm, moist, shaded soil to hatch into
larvae. The larvae are hardly visible and penetrate the skin (often
through bare feet), and are carried to the lungs. Then they go
through the respiratory tract to the mouth where they are
swallowed, and eventually reach the small intestine. This journey
takes about a week. In the small intestine, the larvae develop into
half-inch-long worms, attaching themselves to the intestinal wall,
where they suck blood. The adult worms produce thousands of eggs.
These eggs are passed in human faeces (stools).

How do I get it: you can become infected by direct contact
with contaminated soil, usually by walking barefoot, or
accidentally swallowing contaminated soil. Children in the
countries or areas above are most likely at risk because they often
play in dirt and go barefoot. Since transmission of hookworm
infection requires development of the larvae in soil, hookworm
cannot be spread person to person.

What happens if I get it: itching and a rash at the site of where
the skin touched soil or sand is usually the first sign of
infection. These symptoms occur when the larvae penetrate the skin.
While a light infection may show no symptoms, heavy infection can
cause anaemia, abdominal pain, diarrhoea, loss of appetite, and
weight loss. Heavy, chronic infections can cause stunted growth and
mental development.

Diagnose and treatment: the infection is diagnosed by
identifying hookworm eggs in a stool sample. Hookworm infections
are generally treated for 1-3 days with medication prescribed by
your health care provider.

How can I avoid contracting hookworm: don't not walk
barefoot or have contact with the soil with bare hands in areas
where hookworm is common or there is likely to be faeces in the
soil or sand.

Sally, from Malmsbury, Wiltshire in the UK packed her bags a few
years ago to make a new home for herself in a small village near
Estoril, Lisbon in Portugal. She works as an English as a Foreign
Language teacher and here are some of her latest exploits. If you
have ever thought or dreamt about becoming a TEFL teacher, then
this may provide some inspiration.

I had an interesting job just after Christmas. I was asked to go to
Lisbon to assess the level of English of six candidates for a job
with a large insurance company. As it was 9.00 in the morning I
decided to take the train. So I got up early, got the bus and then
the train into Lisbon. It brought back vivid memories of all those
months I commuted from Chippenham to Richmond just outside London,
except that stood on a chilly platform at Estoril gazing at a blue
sea certainly beat standing on a freezing platform at Chippenham
and gazing at a car park with bored seagulls. The crowds
negotiating train to metro were just like dear old Paddington but
hey, trains coincide with the metro and I was at my appointment at
8.50 - not bad eh?

I really enjoyed the interviewing. They all sat round the table and
I kicked off a conversation asking them what they all did - some
were very good and articulate but there was the usual “I am
better than all the rest” one who got on peoples' nerves.
I then asked them to write a letter of application in English
applying for the job and giving reasons why they thought they were
suitable. This narrowed the field tremendously as although they
could speak English well, their written work let them down. I
managed to shortlist three with one clear contender and then was
very pleased when the HR lady told me I had picked the three she
had thought were right for the second stage. Result!

Teaching is still fun - I now have an Argentinean plastic surgeon
who wants to move to England and has limited English. Joaquim is 33
and has been in Portugal for three years. His brother is a GP in
Patagonia. He wants to have his own clinic eventually back in
Argentina but the timing is not right at the moment. He is very
keen for people to visit the country as the currency exchange is in
our favour and not theirs at the moment. I took him on a practical
lesson the other Saturday - a tour of Jumbo supermarket and Cascais
fruit and vegetable market - he really enjoyed it.

I have also got a new class at a huge toy store. They are a hoot.
They are all in the office and I do two hours with them usually on
a Tuesday night. It's nice when you work on site as you get to
see them in situ. They are very friendly with a wicked sense of
humour and don't want books, just conversation and how to deal
with English phone calls. One of my students has a great
catchphrase when she doesn't understand - “whattee”.
They are very interesting and ask intelligent questions regarding
translations of phrases or as last week, the headings on a
financial spreadsheet. When the Head of HR is not in the lesson,
the questions tend to get more relaxed as in “Miss Sally, tell
us some swear words in English”! Body parts are also of great
amusement.

src="http://www.globetrotters.co.uk/newsletter/pictures/may-2005-image011.jpg"
class="pic" />
Jeronimos Monastery, Lisbon, photo by the Beetle

Jorge, my Siemens student, is constantly keeping me amused - if
it's not the latest scandal in football, it's the problems
at work and the entertaining saga of getting building permits and
planning permission for his new house. He is a real pleasure to
teach because he is such fun. In fact the whole office makes me
very welcome and they all come over and chat and tell me whether
they think he is improving or not. He went to Dresden two weeks ago
that meant a couple of German/Portuguese/English lessons - I seem
to be learning bits of German as well as Spanish these days.

Last week I gave him a crash course in football reporting - three
English articles on Jose Mourinho and Chelsea - very amusing and of
great interest to the other guys in the office that wanted to know
what he was reading. I was very pleased when he told me that he had
tried to read English articles on the plane to Dresden.

Tatiana, my tourism student, is having problems working on essays
so we have been trying to break her block. We did a short one last
week that was basically a précis of a Portuguese legend from
Nazare. I'm hoping that the work we did will give her the
confidence she needs. We started meeting in the coffee bar at Jumbo
supermarket but the smoke was a pain on days when we couldn't
sit outside, so then we moved to Cascais Library, where they have
tables and chairs (and resident cat) outside but that got too cold.
We then found a very nice pastelaria (Lua da Mel or Honeymoon) but
recently she has had problems with babysitters, so we have the
class in her flat with her baby daughter, Ayeesha who is very sweet
and loves unloading my bag and pinching pencils.

Outdoor enthusiasts and holidaymakers planning trips to central and
eastern Europe this year are being warned about a potentially
life-threatening disease.

The 'Tick Alert' awareness campaign urges travellers to 16
named European countries, including many of the new popular
destinations for outdoor tourism such as Croatia, Slovenia and
Slovakia, to protect themselves against Tick Borne Encephalitis
(TBE).

Increased tourism to rural and woodland areas of endemic countries
in Europe is increasing the risk to visiting UK outdoor
enthusiasts, the majority of whom remain unaware of the disease,
how it is contracted or that they are members of a high-risk travel
group.

TBE is a potentially life-threatening viral disease that can lead
to meningitis and in serious cases can result in paralysis and
death. It is transmitted via the bite of an infected tick, found
typically in rural and forest areas up to a height of 3,000ft and
occurs mainly during the late spring and summer months. The disease
can also be transmitted by the ingestion of unpasteurised milk.

There has been a dramatic rise in the incidence of tick-borne
diseases in central and eastern Europe over the last 10 years. TBE
is now endemic in countries spreading from Sweden, across the
Baltics and down to Croatia.

The fact that a number of endemic countries conduct intensive
inoculation programmes for their resident populations should be
heeded by all UK visitors.

“There is a low awareness of TBE, even among people
experienced in outdoor activities abroad,” said Tick
Alert's Lynda Bramham. “The aim of this campaign is to
encourage anyone travelling to TBE endemic regions, and at risk of
the disease through their outdoor leisure activity, to take
effective precautions.”

Official figures show the number of UK tourists to the former
Yugoslavia rose by 40 per cent last summer to 114,000 compared with
the previous 12 months. Similarly, visitors to central and eastern
Europe reached 558,000, an increase of 38 per cent.

Adventure travel, hiking and mountain biking in Europe are all
increasing in popularity as people discover these new destinations.

A 2004 report by Mintel highlighted the growth of agritourism and
countryside holidays in places such as Croatia and Estonia, and the
Association of British Travel Agents (ABTA) lists Slovenia and
Bulgaria among its hot tips for holidays in 2005.

Professor Sarah Randolph, head of the Oxford Tick Research Group at
the University of Oxford said: “In some countries of mainland
Europe the most serious vector-borne disease is caused by a virus
transmitted by ticks, tick-borne encephalitis (TBE), which may kill
one in every hundred people infected.”

There are a number of bite prevention measures that can be taken to
reduce the risk of infection: these include using an insect
repellent, wearing protective clothing to cover all areas of
exposed skin, regularly inspecting your body for tick bites and
carefully removing any that are found. However, the Foreign Office
advises that travellers to TBE endemic regions seek inoculation
advice form their local surgery of clinic - well before travelling.

href="http://www.masta.org/tickalert">Immunisation against TBE is available as a paid-for travel vaccine
from specialist travel health clinics operated by MASTA, the
UK's leading provider, and at GP surgeries and healthcare
centres. For further information and advice for travellers visit href="http://www.masta.org/tickalert">www.masta.org/tickalert

src="http://www.globetrotters.co.uk/newsletter/images/mac-small.jpg"
align="left" height="100" hspace="12" width="64" />We are sorry to
say that Mac is not very well, but he is still e-mailing strong and
recently sent the Beetle a collection of travel reminiscences and
in particular discusses some travel writers. Former Globetrotter
President, Arthur Frommer (Europe On $5 A Day) gave an interesting
interview to travel writer Michael Shapiro for Michael's book,
href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/1932361081/qid=1115019359/sr=8-6/ref=sr_8_xs_ap_i6_xgl/202-0105339-7950264">
A Sense of Place Great Travel Writers Talk About their Craft, Lives
and Inspiration.

In this he writes: “As a G.I. stationed in Germany in the mid
1950s, Frommer had travelled on a shoestring whenever he had a
couple of days off. Early on, he realized an essential truth
pertaining to intrepid travellers. The less you spend, the more you
enjoy. After travelling widely throughout Europe and
self-publishing a slender guide for G.I.s, Frommer wrote his
seminal Europe on $5 a day”.

Arthur Frommer was my hero and his books were my bible for years.
One of his funny stories: “Our first edition of Mexico on 5
Dollars A Day was written by John Wilcock who hates Mexican food.
He spends pages telling you where you can find a decent tuna fish
salad sandwich in Mexico City. I think I wrote to tell them that
place he recommended was now a parking lot! He doesn't like
Mexican food, yet he is the author of one of classic guidebooks to
Mexico. When you read the restaurant chapter you could tell that he
is virtually holding his nose. I never changed that - what he wrote
went into print. In my opinion, a copy editor's function is
grammar, punctuation, consistent abbreviations and the like-
it's not style. A copy editor has no right to impose his or his
style upon the author.”

Close to home here he tells of “A young woman named Beth
Bryant called us many years ago she lived in Washington, D.C. and
said she wanted to write guidebooks. I said write the restaurant
section of a hypothetical guidebook to Washington, D.C. in which
you rate the government cafeterias. And she wrote this absolutely
delightful comparison of the Justice Department cafeteria with the
Commerce Department all of which are open to public visits. We
immediately knew that we had a star on our hands. She was sent to
Ireland where she wrote the first edition of our Ireland guidebook
which is a travel classic. It's one of the best ones we have
ever done.”

I am reading and enjoying href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/060980958X/qid=1115019697/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_2_1/202-0105339-7950264">
A Fortune Teller Told Me by Tiziano Terzani. Here are some
sentences I have copied down. Page 58: it was the Burmese kings
hankering after one of the King of Siams' seven white
elephants, very rare and therefore magical that sparked a war which
lasted three hundred years - the upshot being that Auydhya
(Siam's then capital) was destroyed and the Siamese had to
build a new capital, present day Bangkok.

Page 54. The tie. Originally a Mogul invention for dragging
prisoners tied to the pommels of their saddles. Note from the
Beetle: some people believe that tie originates from Croatia. IN
the 17th century, a huge number of soldiers and knights went to
Paris to give their support to King Louis XIII and Cardinal
Richelieu. Some Croatian mercenaries went too, wearing traditional
costumes whose traditional included colourful scarves tied around
their necks. This attracted the attention of the fashion-conscious
French who adopted it as part of the uniform for French officers.
The description “a la croate” evolved into “la
cravate”. British exiled King Charles II took the fashion with
him from France and soon the tie or cravat spread across Europe to
America.

On Bangkok, page 33. Spirit temples and small shrines. The phii
(spirit) of the plot of land where the old Erawan Hotel (in
Bangkok) was built was so happy with the way it has been treated
that it took to performing miracles and today its temple is still
one of the most frequented and most popular in Bangkok. One of its
specialties is to aid the conception of male offspring and
thousands of sterile women have come to it with all sorts of
offerings; some dance around it semi-nude at night. (Mac: I wish
they would be more specific. At what time??)

Laos, page 27. During the war, every time the Pathet Lao crossed a
river the last man had to turn back and call to a non existent
comrade. The spirit of the river habitually carries off the last of
the line i.e. the last man in the patrol, and in that way the
guerrillas hoped to deceive it.

Tibet, page 2l. The Chinese to facilitate tourist access have
decided to modernise the lighting of the Potala (used to be Dalai
Lama palace-temple) and have installed neon lights. This is no
accident as neon kills everything even the Gods. And as they die,
the Tibetan identity gradually dies with them. This Italian writer
travelled for a year in 1993 without using a plane as a fortune
teller had told him not to travel by plane in 1993. He is the Far
Eastern correspondent of the German newsmagazine Der Spiegel. Since
1994 he has made New Delhi his base.

Interesting times! Happy trails, Mac. Mac can be contacted on: href="mailto:macsan400@yahoo.com">macsan400@yahoo.com

Ryanair has banned its staff from charging their mobile (cell)
phones at work, saying it is an inappropriate use of office time. A
UK newspaper reported that staff were “furious” about the
rule. However, a Ryanair spokeswoman said no-one had “batted
an eyelid” since the rule was introduced about two months ago.
She said the decision to ban the charging of phones was more
related to work ethic than cost-cutting - though “obviously
there is a small saving”. “It's not good for people
to be charging up their phones in work time,” the spokeswoman
said.

If you have enjoyed reading this e-newsletter, why not visit the
Globetrotter website, href="http://www.globetrotters.co.uk/">http://www.globetrotters.co.uk/
and have a look at a copy of Globe, the bi-monthly printed
newsletter sent to members only.

We also send members only a listing of all members, their contact
details and countries visited and any help they can offer.
Globetrotter members network by using this listing to contact each
other in over 27 countries around the world to ask for travel
advice, and possibly even meeting. As a member, you will receive a
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entitle you to have free Globetrotter calling cards to give your
details to other travellers you meet while travelling.

Just US $29 or €24 buys you membership for one year. Contact
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for more information.