Scottish Rock Garden Club Forum
Bulbs => Bulbs General => Topic started by: mark smyth on December 03, 2007, 04:28:32 PM
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If you are interested in going to see bulbs in the wild in Turkey or Greece during 2009 please reply below. I have emailed Green Tours to find out if they would be interested in putting on a tour for us. They will obviously need a minimum of people. When I get more details I'll post them here
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Let me know Mark...although England and Sicily were the real plans this year...
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oops - either spring or autumn 2009
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Interested, Mark, for 2009
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I would be interested - but these things dont come cheap!
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Tony I think this is the only way for us to see a maxmimum of species
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Here is the reply from Green Tours
"Dear Mark
Certainly we can arrange such a trip. Turkey (which I would favour) or Greece would be very good for all these genera, perhaps best in late Feb or early March with Crocuses particularly varied then. November would be good too but with less Crocus and many more Colchicum. Weather is generally good at either time but with the odd day of rain or snow. Leading by us is no problem, in fact, as far as we are concerned, essential (otherwise we wouldn't know you are going to see target species) Approx cost of a 2 week trip to Turkey between £1695 & £2000 depending on itinerary, hotel requirements this includes flights from London. Now I guess most members would travel from Scotland so we'd need
to discuss preferred departure airport."
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Sounds interesting, Mark.
I'll put in an "Expression of Interest" but it'll be dependent on a lot of factors whether or not I could get there!
cheers
fermi
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Ouch - That is about what I expected for the cost. As a comparison 4 of us had 8 days in Switzerland for £1200 this year - I'm a family man with all the associated costs so £2000 for a one-man trip (no girls allowed!) is a lot. Perhaps I should take a leaf out of Stellans' book and get on my bike :D ... I'm sure Thomas would join me (although he's so fit he'd soon leave me behind!)
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I agree it's a lot of money but how else could we target a long of plants in a short time. Who will drive, who knows the best areas ...
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£2000 for a one-man trip (no girls allowed!)
Tony! I heard that!
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Tony, me and Chris are with you on your bike-trip.
We could push you up the mountains ;)
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Tony, me and Chris are with you on your bike-trip.
We could push you up the mountains ;)
And I could tow you when it was really steep ;D.
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On our trips we either go independantly or take a package holiday to a suitable resort from where we do our own thing. We see lots of plants and miss seeing many more. Does it really matter? Enjoying the holiday is the first priority and then we appreciate the wonders that we discover by using our own initiative. This is much less expensive than the tours and leaves us more cash for wine and bulb purchases ;)
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I have 1/4 or 1/3 saved towards such a trip depending on the end price
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Looks like its a 'two wheels on my wagon' kind of trip then. Thanks for the offer of help guys, maybe I should invest in a 'Mobylette' ... you know, one of those push-bikes with a little motor :)
Maggi - girls are more than welcome if they can come up with the cash - but no-one is pushing you around :D :D :D
Jacinta has offered to dust down her old wheelchair if I need a push!
On a serious note, I do have friends who have experience of DIY crocus trips. It seems you fly to a suitable holiday resort and hire a car. If the weather/season is good you can see many bulbs in the mountains without spending a fortune. (If the season is wrong but the weather good you stay on the beach 8)) Perhaps those of us who are too poor can organise our own trip?
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Joyce Carruthers and Zdenek Zvolanek arranged a Turkish tour for our
rock garden club. They used regular long-distance buses (the equivalent
of Greyhound) and stayed in modestly-priced guesthouses. They had
already done many seed-collecting trips so had the necessary experience.
Joyce is currently in Victoria so I could find out more information.
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I'm certainly interested to participate in a DIY autumn bulb trip to Turkey in autumn 2008. Although organised tours do have their advantages, arranging your own trip and reading in the local floras etc. is half the fun. Indeed it is also much :) cheaper.
It is very easy to organise a trip as long as a group is reasonably small (and participants are reasonably flexible and not too demanding). With a small group you really just need to arrange your own air travel and agree on when and where you meet at the airport of destination.
You can arrange car rental at the airport and accomadation in autumn is usually very easy to find. And of course you should have a general idea of which parts of the country to target, which can be decided quite easily when you have acces to the Flora of Turkey.
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Kees Jan, what you say sounds very sensible andyou have used some of my favourite words..... "MUCH cheaper" !! ::)
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Yes, a country where local people enjoy travelling is well set-up for
foreign visitors also.
Not like the plant-hunting trip that the Czech rock garden club took in
Kamchatka where they rented a truck big enough to carry a barrel of
fuel as there were no filling stations where they were going.
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I think a local guide and a botanist would be an advantage.
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I'm easy either way provided a trip is organised but if it's for 2008 I cant go as all my holidays are now booked
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I've had an email from Green Tours. Is the notion dead and buried?
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OK here goes again ..
Have you looked at the web site belonging to new member Klaas? Anyone fancy going on one of his trips to the Peloponnese?
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I'm told the SRGC celebratory trip to Cyprus (for the SRGC 75th Anniversary... any excuse for a holiday, eh?!!) is fully booked.
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Maggi
I have been on DIY holidays in Turkey and Greece every year since 1997. I speak neither Turkish nor Greek, although a few key phrases are helpful to ensure hot water for example.
They are much cheaper. Generally the best time to see Crocus, for example, is out of season for holidaymakers. A trip to the Peloponnese is best last week October/first week November. Fly Easyjet, book a car and be flexible by not booking hotels ahead as they are always grateful for customers at this time of year. N.B. Be aware of Greek holidays as they can give a problem.
Even the trips to Iran are DIY. Here it is necessary to use a Company to book hotels, arrange transport etc, but the itinerary is planned by us after extensive reading of literature.
Go on everybody "Live dangerously" - that does not sound quite right, but you know what I mean.
Happy to give anyone info for trips to the Peloponnese, and certain ares of Turkey. As a pensioner one has to watch the pennies.
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I am sure you will get lots of requests for info, Arthur... it is so useful to find someone with the relevant experience . 8)
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I heard from Green Tours today
"Dear Mark, just to let you know that we are defnitely running a
crocus based tour for two weeks to the Taurus mountains next
late Feb for the Alpine Garden Society so if you were still interested
in us organising a separate one for you then we'd have to think about
how to accommodate both trips? Best wishes, Ian"
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I have no doubt the tour will be excellent .... now where did I put that lottery ticket. (Oh and 2 weeks away from the family ...... :( :'( :-*)
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Reading Arthurs post above I could not agree more with him.
I have been on my own to Greece and Turkey twice a year for the last 17 years and last year to Chile. Little planning is needed other than getting a flight and hiring a car. Booking hotels is not necessary,there is always some where to stay and if you do not find the flowers you can move on. Sometimes it is good and the flowers are abundant and others times no use. It depends on the season,thats life.