Tuesday 25th of may
Oops, I just realized I have been confusing the dates a little for my previous posts. Ahh well dates don’t matter too much anyway and this is the right date.
Yesterday we had to get up early to catch the bus from Antalya to Egirdir, which took 2.5 hours. Egirder is a military town by a big lake which, despite it’s amazing scenery it not a tourist destination.
It is therefor unsurprising that we stayed in the towns only hotel. We
had lunch by the waterside and met some keen drunk locals, which led to Diane (my adopted Aussie mum) telling them firmly that Simon and I were her children. Very entertaining.
After this we went up a hill to the smallest country town where
everyone was family! We had a look around the town which had an
amazing view of the lake, and then took a leisury walk back. In the
evening we ate by the lakeside with an amazing sunset over the lake!
Today we are on our way to Cappadocia by public bus. This is an 8 hour journey, but they do supply usdrinks and snacks! Definitely think we should adopt this in nz.
Friday 28th of May
So we have spent the last 3 days in Cappadocia which is a region with
the most amazing limestone rock formations and cave dwellings. After
we arrived on Tuesday, I decided to grab some quick dinner by myself
because I wad so tired. However, I got talking to some of the locals,
which gave me a bit more of an insight on Turkish life and culture. I went to bed early to get up at 4.30 am for my balloon ride.
After the shittest night sleep and getting up ridiculously early, I was so glad the weather was calm and I could go up in the balloon. This was soooooo cool! It was a little scary at first, especially considering our take off was so close to this other balloon and at one point I wasnt sure whether we were going to crash or not. But once we took of it was so smooth and so amazing. I just loved it!! And there were so many balloons, but this was cool because it meant there was so much to see! After the balloon landed right on the travel we were served champagne cocktails and cake. Best way to start the day! Then back to the pensione for breakfast!
After breakfast we went the castle and climbed through a 6 story cave house. This is so cool!! After this, we went to love valley, which is called that because of the “penis” shaped rock formations. This was very cool.. can’t wait to post some of the pics as these rock formations called for some great creatice picture opportunities!
After this we moved accomodation because our first place was so shocking. Then we had lunch, we had a pottery kebab, which is like a massive stew with a pastry crust that comes in pottery. The afternoon was free, so I went for a walk and a nap. In the evening we went for dinner at a Turkish family’s home, where the mum cooked for us. This was very cool and I got to try some more homestyle Turkish food. It was delicous.
On Thursday we went for a 3 hour walk in the Red valley, which was very different then the Love valley. The linestone formations here have a pinkish reddish colour and there were more old cave dwellings, which are not in use anymore. On our track we visited 3 churches inside the rock formations. This was very different than anything I have ever seen before and the second church we visited was very big and spectecular. It was just so impressive to step into this space that looked like a rock from the outside and a church with pillars and arches from the inside. I can’t wait to post pictures of this. Overall, the walk was very awesome.
After an average lunch we went to a local pottery place where we got a demonstration of how the traditional handmade pottery is made. After this we took our little van to the nderground city of Derinkuya. This was a 8 level underground city that the local inhabitants built for when they were invaded. I was quite dark and grubby in this city, which made me feel slightly claustrophobic! I just dont see how people could have live in those horrible dark en enclosed spaces for months on end, but at least they did have everything; they even had a winery!
After this we went to the Guide’s home town, Uregub or something, and had dinner here. This town was a bit more upmarket than Goreme, the place we had been staying.
The nest day we went to Pigeon and Monk’s valley. Walked around and took pictures here. afterwards we had the best pide and drove to Ankara, the capital of Turkey. We had a few hours here, so we spent some time in the park, which was cool. After dinner, we caught the night train to Istanbul.
Monday 31st of May
On Saturday, I went to visit the big mosque up the hill by the university, and wandered around the busy streets, but returned to the hotel early to have a nap. We had our final tour dinner and afterwards me and Simon went to town which didn’t end till after sunrise.
The last few days I have been trying to organise myself for the next part of my trip; Berlin! and I have been dealing with the heat here in Istanbul! Oh I can’t handle heat, but at the same time I am not looking forward to the cold in Germany!