I've woken up on another planet

Another night, another overnight bus. Somehow when I was making my travel plans around Turkey, I thought night buses were a good idea, I would save money on accommodation and buses in Turkey are way better than buses in India ......

Anyways, it's stupid o'clock and I've crawled off my overnight bus from Antalya onto a shuttle. I've no idea how long this trip is, so fall straight back to sleep - even with the crazy Aussie dude full of head cold parked beside me.

Next thing I hear a weird low hissing noise, so I open my bleary eyes and am amazed. The sky is full of hot air balloons drifting over a moon-like landscape.


If I didn't know better, I would assume I've woken up on another planet.










The town of Goreme, my home for the next few days, is like nothing I've ever seen before. I just kinda stare around with my jaw hanging open. I'd read about this place but no words can prepare you for the amazing sights of Cappadocia.

I settle into my cave room, yep that's right, my home for the next few days is built into the rocks. It's very cool, in both senses of the word.








The amazing landscape was formed by various volcanic eruptions with the underlying rock softer then the top so caves were formed.

There are houses built in the rocks everywhere and even underground towns, thought to be built by the Byzantines and fleeing Christians between the 4th and 11th centuries.















The colours of the rocks and formations are different across Cappadocia.



















There are loads of fairy chimneys, rock formations created by layers of lava and loads of erosion.















I had an amazing adventure exploring Cappadocia, made even better by exploring with crazy new friends.












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Doing it tough in the south of Turkey

An interesting bus ride through the winding mountain roads had me hit the southern Turkish town of Fethiye around 9pm. Another shuttle picked me up and deposited me in the beach town of Oludeniz. It was quite late by this stage so it wasn't until the following morning that I realized I'd found paradise (well paradise except for the package tourists!)

I spent 5 days hanging out on the beach called blue lagoon with the occasional visit to Paradise Beach. I never take my camera to the beach but think I must start to so I can share paradise with you!

I popped to Rhodes for a bit .... but thats a whole different post.

The next part of my adventure was aboard a traditional Turkish gulet, sailing (or motoring as the case may be) for the next four days.




It's what I call doing it tough .... swimming in beautiful clear water and checking out little villages only accessible by boat.















We had an afternoon break in the small town of Kas. It is such a cute town with winding paved streets and friendly locals ... all trying to sell stuff of course. I had a fresh OJ, my new addiction. I know, who would have thought I'd get addicted to juice!





All too soon it was time to leave the boat and head for the beach and tree houses of Olympos. The cool thing was that everyone from the boat was heading there so we didn't have to say goodbye just yet.







My next stop was Antalya, the third largest city in Turkey. It was strange being back in a bustling metropolis, luckily I was staying in the peaceful old town where the streets are cobbled and there are more cats than cars.






My usual dose of roman ruins had been lacking so I hopped on a bus and headed out to see how the Romans had left there mark in this part of the country. I wasn't disappointed in Perege.










Although I did get a bit bored so got chatting to a dude who was cutting fruit off a cactus. Nothing like a bit of cactus fruit to spice up a ruin or two.










My next stop was Side and was I in for a surprise. This town is part mass tourism and part magnificent ruins (and that's a big call coming from someone who's seen a ruin or 10!) The town is entered through the Vespasian Gate. Very cool.


Then you get through the standard shops selling tourist tat and the Temples of Apollo and Athena (or a couple of columns left from the temples) stand guard over the Mediterranean.









Now that's what I call a ruin with a view.




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Turkey .... heading south

I decided to do a loop around this fabulous country, heading south along the coastal route until I hit the Med. I had loved Istanbul from the moment I landed so was hoping the rest of the country didn't disappoint.



I crossed the Dardanelles and made a stop in Troy. Now the story of Troy - if it is correct - is a great one but oooooooh the famous site is now a tourist trap. A fake bloody horse, what the?And you need a hell of a lot of imagination as the ruins are ruined.





I grabbed an ice-cream, my treat when I've hit a bad tourist site, and wandered around listening to the guide describe what once stood. He tried his best to get us excited about the grand buildings but I was kinda pleased I had an ice cream as the ruins just didn't cut it. And he questioned the legend that is Troy ... at least he could of pretended he believed in Helen!

My next stop was another dip into the land of the bible. Apparently this unassuming cottage (rebuilt from the foundations up) is thought to be the last home of the Blessed Virgin Mary.


There were big signs with various passages from the bible used to try and create a strong argument as to why we know Mary last laid her head here. Whether she did or not, I didn't mind as the area was very serene.


There was also a row of taps dispersing holy water (from the local water supply I think) but cause I need all the help I can get I splashed a bit around.


Feeling very holy and refreshed despite the 40 degree heat, i headed to Ephesus.

Ephesus is said to be one of the best preserved Greco-Roman cities in Europe. It was the capital of Asia minor and had up to 250,000 inhabitants ... which makes for loads of ruins and loads of walking. Perhaps midday wasnt the best time to visit this site. But anyways, I thought I'd give it a shot.
















This site is quite incredible, its up here with Jerash in Jordan as a fav site. God bless those Romans.

The ruins include a large brothel, baths, library, theaters and temples. The large temple, built around 300BC is one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. It's very cool.

I then decided to head inland to a place called Pamukkale. This town was given a Unesco world heritage tag in 1988 due to the amazing calcite shelves leading up to a roman spa city. Wow, I've never seen anything like this.


It's like 400 degrees (well at least high 30s) and i felt like i was looking at snow from a distance. The walk up the hill is through the crystal travertines with water flowing down the paths. Quite a refreshing way to walk up a hill.








And you could stop and have a dip on the way up.

Now as I've told you before, the Romans got around. They discovered this funky natural spa so promptly built a town on the top of the hill.

The ruins of the spa town of Hierapolis founded in 190BC are actually a combo of pagan, roman, Jewish and early Christian influences. The town was destroyed by earthquakes in the early 1330s so not many elements of the town remain but the views are amazing.










As this was a spa town, the focus was on the sacred swimming pool. The pool still exists and today gets very full when the tourist buses turn up. Despite the potential healing powers of the water, and the fact that Cleopatra used to bathe here I thought it wise to stay out of the water.


Who knows what's going on in there!



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