The Brel Chronicles

As avid Brel Chronicles readers, you probably already know that Mel had surgery 2 weeks ago in Athens. Well things have not gone as planned, and we’ve been dealing with some serious post-surgery complications in Santorini, with daily doctor visits and a lot of drugs. Unfortunately, the prognosis, while good, will require months of rest and recovery.

While Greece and the rest of Europe are beautiful places to visit, it’s tough to recover without the support of friends and family and the comfort of home. And while Nurse Powell has been amazing, he probably wouldn’t mind some help from the Canadian medical system.

And so we have made the extremely difficult decision to end our trip and return to Canada.

This journey has been incredible: we’ve seen great places, met wonderful people and experienced life to the fullest. And yes, we found the perfect beach, drank great espresso and consumed our body weights in wine.

Who knew that the Brel match wasn’t really Vacation vs. Travel. It was Life vs. Travel, and in the end, they became the same thing.

Final Score:

Life: 1 Travel: 1

Welcome to the crazy and wonderful city of Istanbul. It’s been a long road to get here – nearly 4,000 km in fact.

Istanbul is famous for many things, not the least of which is the great nightlife. Of course, it wouldn’t be Turkey unless there were some great ancient sites: the Blue Mosque, Aya Sofya and of course, the Grand Bazaar.

Unfortunately we had to cut our Istanbul trip short, deciding to get surgery in Athens rather than here, so we didn’t get to experience nearly as much of it as we wanted.

But fear not Istanbul… Brel will be back.

Troy The lost city of Troy was discovered in the late 1800's, along ... [Continue reading this entry]

As we continue our journey through Turkey, we're becoming more familiar with the culture, people and maybe even a little bit of the history. (Ugur, our tour guide: if you are reading this, ... [Continue reading this entry]

It's been a week since the surgery, and things are progressing well. Nurse Powell has been diligently carrying out his tasks with much love, and Mel is definitely on the mend. The drainage tube (yuck) is finally out, the drugs are ... [Continue reading this entry]

We interrupt your Turkey blog reading to bring you real-time news from Athens (our blog is usually a week behind our adventures). In an unfortunate twist of fate, Brel have found themselves ... [Continue reading this entry]

Come, come, whoever you are. Wanderer, idolator, worshipper of fire Come even though you have broken your vows a thousand times. Come, and come yet again. Ours is not a caravan of despair. -Mevlana Rumi We had the opportunity to ... [Continue reading this entry]

While it may not be as well known as Greece for it's coastal towns and islands, the Turquoise Coast is gorgeous. We spent some time in Kas, a beautiful town set amidst cliffs on the Mediterranean. ... [Continue reading this entry]

We have seen some fabulous sites in Turkey. Some highlights:

• The underground city of Derinkuyu, an extensive city that housed upwards of 10,000 inhabitants, thousands of years ago.
• Chimaera, home of the eternal flame. For ... [Continue reading this entry]

Happy Canada Day from Brel!

As we continue our 4,000 km, 14 day road trip, we have fallen in love with Turkey. Food: The food here is delicious. Our options (thankfully) are more varied than meat-on-a-stick (though shish is available everywhere). And ... [Continue reading this entry]