Hello! Just a pretty quick one today to let you know where we are. We’re at the Mediterranean!

Our journey from north to south was now complete and we hit the coast mid afternoon. Our journey was longish but quite different to our past days, with much of it winding through the Taurus Mountains, through the Alacabel pass. We reached close to 2000 metres at one point, but quite quickly made our way downward. Another example of Turkey providing amazing new scenery every day.

So we arrived in Antalya on the sea mid arvo, and it was hot. Real hot. Someone said their weather app was saying 34 degrees, feeling like 43. That sounded about right.

Antalya is a sea resort town that has many tourists visit, but is also famous as an old Roman city. As a result there is a walled old town and some evidence of past times, with the Three Arch gate an obvious one. A quick orientation walk gave us the low down, but by this time many of us were super hot and tired (and I not feeling so well), so some retreated back to the hotel, while some of us could not wait to get to the sea. I was one of the latter.

So off a few of us went. We visited one of the nearby paid beaches so that we would have some space and chair and umbrella. Like many European beaches, it is a rock beach, so it is not exactly super comfortable. But holy cow, when I got in the water everything was amazing. The water, while not the most beautiful colour, was super warm, and my quick dip became almost an hour and a half of floating in the water. It was bliss and just what I needed.

I then took a bit of a breather back at the hotel before heading out for dinner. Kate was still fighting off the remnants of her cold/sinus so decided to take advantage of the nice air-conditioned room. Me, while I was not feeling the greatest (getting the onset of whatever Kate had) I decided I had to try the seafood at a nearby restaurant.

It was a nice spot with great views over the water. Knowing that views like this would be our next few days made me feel alright.

Given we were at the sea, I had to have one of the fish dishes, so went with the Sea Bream, fresh today. It was very delicious, and hit the spot well. This type of eating would be a nice change of pace for the next few days.

And with that, it was 10:30pm and time for bed to see if I could shake the cold. If not, I would be on a boat in the Mediterranean in only 12 hours or so, so life wasn’t all bad! If there are no posts for a few days, it is because sadly (yeah right) I am spending my time on a boat and don’t have the time nor wi-fi to update. But if you were on a boat on the Mediterranean would you take time out to update a blog? Didn’t think so 🙂

Today we said goodbye to Cappadocia proper as we started to head south toward the Mediterranean. In some respects today was mainly just a day of travel and making our way to the coast, however instead of making an epic journey, it was a more relaxed 5 hour drive with a couple of stops along the way and a stay in provincial Turkey.

Our first main stop for the day was in the city of Konya, which is most well known as the home of the whirling dervishes. In fact many Turks apparently make their way to the museum in Konya dedicated to the old school for the dervishes.

Based in the old school house, many of the exhibits were in the tiny rooms the students lived in. It made it difficult to check out everything comfortably, and photos weren’t allowed in many places, so it was hard to capture the essence of the museum. However it was cool to check out and learn more about the ancient practice.

With some more doner in my belly, along with a very strange turnip/carrot juice, it was back on the bus to our other main stop, the ancient city of Catalhoyuk. According to Ibo, Catalhouk is the world’s oldest known city. While other structures may be older, this city was formed in about 7000 BC and is a clear community of people and houses.

 

It was quite incredible to think it was really only discovered in the 1950’s and has been under excavation ever since. As a result, while there is much to jaw drop over, it is still looking like there is a lot more to discover and preserve. It was only awarded UNESCO certification a couple of years ago, so it is only now it is really being acknowledged. I imagine it the coming years it will be given the respect it clearly deserves.

With our days travel about done, it was time to arrive at our accommodation for the night. No, not another hotel, rather a G Adventures trademark, which is the home stay with a local family. Located in a tiny nearby village, we were met by the lovely family who were our hosts for the night.

Their house was spacious and certainly very comfortable. Outside of bing right next to the local mosque and knowing we would hear the early dawn call to prayer, it looked as comfy as anywhere we had stayed.

Our night was having a big group family dinner, which as expected as copious and delicious. There was way more food than any of us could eat and topped off with baclava and tea we were all satisfied. Most of stayed up until late playing crazy group games which kept us all in stitches. Some of the family joined in and it was a fun night sharing and enjoying the hospitality of our gracious hosts.

One of the great things about this tour was that we had a few days to enjoy Cappadocia, rather than only be here for a day or so. So we had another full day to soak up the amazing landscape. And what better way to do that than hike through some of the valleys?

Sadly, Kate wasn’t feeling the best, so while she got some much needed rest, I went out with the rest of the group to hike for a few hours through the Red Valley. We started out on top of a big ridge, and made our way down into the valley. As we walked we would get awesome views at every point and the urge to stop and take photos was high. It had a similar feel to the Grand Canyon in a way and a few people remarked this as we hiked.

We stopped for a breather and a group photo of the group. By this point we were all still full of energy, but for some that disappeared as we made our way up the other side of the valley.

By this point too it was starting to get pretty warm. 1.5lt of water disappeared with ease as the sun beat down. But it was still incredible to be wandering through such an amazing place.

 

We finished up about lunchtime and took a quick freshen up break at the hotel, grabbed Kate, and it was off to another of the local artisans, this time a pottery master. The local area was great for clay and in the area remained a small number of pottery masters. Our host gave us a demo of some pottery making, but the best bit was getting some of our crew up to make some masterpieces. Kate was up for the challenge!

 

She did the crew proud, crafting up a magnificent sugar bowl with a lid that fit perfectly. She certainly showed that maybe there is a little bit of pottery mastery in there! Unfortunately we wouldn’t be able to get it fired and take it home, but that was cool.

We got to check out his wares and pick up some pressies before we left. It’s always cool to support some of the locals rather than all the generic tourist shops you see everywhere.

By this time, we were all after a bit of a breather, and what better way to do this than visit a Turkish Bath? The group seemed firmly split into two camps. The first was “you have to do what?!” and those that were “scrub down and massage? oh yeah!”. I was in the latter camp for sure. So off we went to a local Hamam for an authentic Turkish Bath experience.

Like a Japanese Onsen, it is a bit daunting at first. Not so much stripping down, but the formalities that go with it. There is a definite procedure to it that you need to follow to make sure you don’t upset the locals. First of all it was choosing your options. I elected to go for the traditional Turkish Bath plus a half hour massage. With that decided, it was off to the change rooms to strip right off except for the modest towel, and into the sauna. I love a good sauna and after 15 minutes was feeling great.

With that it is then off to the part most people have heard about… getting on a warm stone and having a dude wash and scrub you down plus a bubble massage. This is what turns most tourists off when they hear it, but it was fine by me. After a long hike and lots of bus travel and lugging backpacks around, it was just what I needed. I felt awesome afterward.

Once that ritual was done it was into the jacuzzi to relax for a while, and then out to chill out and drink some tea. After relaxing for a bit it was time for my massage. While it was a “Swedish” massage, it had a Turkish flavour in the olive oil was used throughout. I am pretty sure he knew my shoulders were cactus when he spent so much time trying to work the knots out. But man it was good.

I wandered out feeling a million bucks, as did Kate shortly afterward. We then just relaxed some more in a nice outdoor coffee house (Coffedocia… ha ha, I see what they did there) before we had our group dinner.

Now this was the fanciest of the lot during our trip, and a lot more touristy than anything else. But what we were off to was an all you can eat and drink with show evening. The show was to be traditional dancing and ceremony, while we ate and drank copious amounts. I started with some Rake, a traditional spirit that is much like Ouzo. It was OK, but not my preferred spirit of choice. I also indulged in some local red wine, which again was OK without being spectacular.

The show was probably what you would expect from a tourist venue. A very long mock wedding ceremony took place that involved lots of dancing, some beard shaving, ad even more dancing. It was fun and our whole group got in the spirit.

The lads especially seemed to love the belly dancer, while some of the ladies just rolled their eyes a little 🙂

A few hours disappeared quickly, and in the end it was just our group that was left dancing into the night. Kate and I called it quits at midnight and left some of the others to drink to the early hours. I figured I had done enough for the day.

4am. That’s a bit early. Especially when you have been packing in stacks of things each day. But we had to get up nice and early this morning for the main thing that Kate wanted to do this entire trip… float high above the Cappadocian valleys in a hot air balloon.

 

It seems hot air ballooning is the thing to do when visiting Cappadocia, as the many many balloons we saw when arriving attested. There were easily over a hundred balloons either ready to fly off or already in the air. And as the sun was coming up, our balloon was being filled with hot air and getting ready for lift off.

What followed was an incredible hour floating over Cappadocia. Not only was the sight of the valley, mountain houses and volcanoes breath taking, but having over 100 balloons flying around you just added to the experience.

It was my first hot air ballooon, and it was much smoother and gentler than I thought. I expected it to be gentle, but it hardly felt as if we were moving, even when ascending fairly rapidly. Our pilot even did a bit of fancy flying, coming close to some of the rock formations (and other balloons).

 

 

 

 

There is not much else to say really. I took A LOT of photos, that obviously will never really capture it all. But here is a bunch more anyway.

An hour flew by (ha ha) and next thing we knew we were back on solid ground. Minds blown by 7am.

Back we went to the hotel for a couple of hours rest before heading out to explore Cappadocia some more. Next stop was the Goreme Open Air Museum. As I have already mentioned, this region is well known for the many houses and buildings inside the sides of the rock formations. The Open Air Museum focuses on the church buildings that were made 1000 years ago. So we spent the next hour or so exploring them

They were a real mixed bag. Some were sparse, others ornately painted, one incredibly so. So it was fun to wander about for an hour, even if the crowds were a bit crazy (everyone must leave their balloon ride and come to the museum).

The rest of the afternoon was visiting some different spots around the local region. There were may great places to explore and climb, and we would drive around and jump out at different spots. This spot was another collection of stone houses we could freely climb.

Tour mate Ryan and I got to the top of one and couldn’t resist snapping Grand Canyon-esque pictures.

It was then time for lunch! We visited a restaurant that specialised in claypot stew. Most of indulged in a multi-course lunch, filled with breads and mezzes and salads and beers. But the main thing was the claypot, which we each got to open up ourselves. Given everyone was having a little trouble opening theirs, I thought I would give it a bit more of a whack. A bit much it seemed, as the evidence above suggests.

With a delicious lunch under our belt, it was some more valley exploring. Above is the Mushroom Valley, named for fairly obvious reasons.

Kate also thought she had found the famous “Fonzie” monument.

And we also came across the stone camel, the result of a legend that resulted in the camel being turned into stone. Hmm… not sure about that one.

The last stop for the day was to a local company specialising in carpet weaving. A common G Adventures thing is to visit local, traditional, businesses. And since Turkey is known for its rugs, this was a pretty impressive place to come.

We got shown the fundamentals of rug making but the highlight was seeing the rugs. I laid eyes on a huge silk carpet that took 2+ years to make. It was one of the most amazing things my eyes had ever laid eyes on. Kate and I both wished we had a spare $50K (at least) to buy it. Oh well, maybe next time.

And with that our day was formally done! An afternoon by the pool awaited to chill out, and then a casual dinner with some of the group. We needed some rest and sleep by this point, both because of the early morning, and the hike that awaited us for the next day.

 

We woke in Ankara, and finally able to see it in the day time. We didn’t have plans to stay in Ankara, only the morning, as there was not too much to see.

Ankara seems to be Turkey’s Canberra… the city most people don’t realise is the capital, and full of government workers. But it is also home to an amazing museum dedicated to the famous Turkish leader Ataturk, as well as his final resting place.

 

So off we all went to check that out before leaving town. The site of the museum was truly incredible… perched up on a hill in the middle of Ankara. We could see the city 360 degrees about us. Just as impressive was the whole grounds. First we were greeted by some small exhibits describing the site. It was flanked by statues representing the Turkish people and their independence in the 1920’s.

 

We then walked the path up to the amazing main building, containing the resting place of Mustafa Ataturk. As well as the tomb, it is also a fairly impressive museum, containing many works of art and artefacts about the man.

Ataturk was responsible for turning Turkey into the country it is today, bringing some peace after WW1 as well as democracy. As such he is revered in the country, and his presence is ubiquitous.

The museum filled in quite a lot of gaps I had about Turkish history and some things began to make a bit more sense. Australia was represented a little in the museum, with references to Gallipoli, however that will no doubt be a more extensive blog entry in a couple of weeks.

With that done it was time to leave Ankara, to head toward Cappadocia. About an hour and a half out of the city we came to an immense dry salt lake. We had a quick chance to walk out into it, having the salt crunch beneath our feet.

 

Of course it was an excuse for sun photos, with every second person jumping around like a loon. So it wasn’t just me for a change. The dry lake looked incredible, and the whole group was in awe of it. Funny how a 15 minute stop at the side of the freeway can capture everyone’s imagination like that.

From then on it was another few hours to finally reach the valleys of Cappadocia in central Turkey. Cappadocia is known for a number of things, the two main ones being the amazing valleys, volcanoes, and formations that surround, and also what is hidden underneath. Underneath are many forgotten cities that were used for centuries, especially during times of invasion. The largest is >Derinkuyu and we visited it for an hour on the way to our hotel.

What lie below the surface was 8 levels of rooms and passage ways that were pretty incredible. Much was still to be uncovered, including tunnels assumed to lead to more underground city. Apparently this city could house around 3000 people. Given we only saw part I don’t doubt… even though it would be a little cosy.

We made our way through, with Ibo giving us the run down of the history and living conditions. Many passages were one way only leading to jams of people. Thankfully I’m not claustrophobic!

With that, it was time to arrive in the nearby town of Goreme, where we would be based for the next 3 nights. A quick bit of rest, and it was off to what is a bit of a G Adventures tradition, visiting a local family for hospitality and food.

 

They used to live in one of the near by stone houses, but when everybody got moved out, they at least kept some amazing views of their old place. Our hosts (whos names escape me badly) made us a great feast of borek, salad, lentil soup, stuffed eggplant, and most importantly baclava. Oh man, it was so delicious! Everyone ate every little bit.

With full bellies, I decided to call it a night rather than go out for drinks. We had a VERY early morning ahead of us…