Jun 17, 2013 - Göreme Open Air Museum

This afternoon we visited the Göreme Open Air Museum which was 10mins walk down the road from Kaya Camping. Entrance fee was 15 TL each which we felt was excellent value; this included the Buckle Church outside the complex on the other side of the road but did not include entrance to the Dark Church within the complex which was an extra 8 TL per person. The Museum is easily covered in two hours and includes several different churches which date back to 10th, 11th and 12th centuries.

Jun 16, 2013 - Balloon flight over Cappadocia

The alarm went at 4:15am! This was a bit of a shock for us who were both struggling to remember the last time we had got up at this hour deliberately. We got ready and headed to the camp gate to be picked up at 4.40. From there it was a short drive down the road to a large area where the balloon flight was to take off. We were offered tea or coffee with bread and biscuits while we watched the balloons being prepared. At around 5:30am we got airborne and started our 60min flight in one of the world’s best locations for scenic ballooning....

Jun 15, 2013 - Göreme

Today we explored Aynali Church which is opposite our campground. The charge was 5 TL each and we were given torches. We realised why when we had to crouch or crawl through dark passages linking upper rooms with the church and monastery below. We marvelled at the engineering of the excavated spaces and the large stones carved in-situ which were intended to be rolled to protect against invaders. The decorations in the church are 1200 years old and original; no restoration has been done. We were offered çay by the custodian which we shared...

Jun 14, 2013 - Serbie,Bulgarie, Roumanie

Les destinations qui font l’objet de mon discours ici, sont toutes des villes de l’Europe de l’est, conséquemment assez différentes de celles visitées précédemment. Je ne devrais pas avoir de grandes surprises, ayant visité plusieurs autres pays de l’Europe de l’est tel que la Hongrie, Croatie, Russie, Géorgie, etc.. J’ai écrit le texte après chaque destination afin de ne pas être influencé par celles qui aillaient suivre. Belgrade, capitale de la Serbie est la plus grande ville du pays avec une population de 2 millions d'habitants. C’est...

Jun 14, 2013 - Göreme, Cappadocia (and Paxton's first birthday!)

We loved it so much at Atçakil Camping that we stayed for four nights instead of our intended two! The water was just gorgeous and we swam before breakfast and several times during the day. We only walked as far as the point one day, and under the motorway to take a look at the little village there. The rest of the time we were very lazy! We started having water pump problems in Homer while we were at Anamur and although David has checked the filter and tried the troubleshooting tips in the manual we still have no water. It is not a great...

Jun 9, 2013 - Anamur to Taşucu

Yesterday we spent a few hours exploring Marmure Castle just along the road from our campground. For 3 TL each we were able to wander around the ruins for as long as we liked. The moat around the castle was full of small turtles. It was hot roaming around the ruins so it was lovely to jump straight into the sea when we got back to camp. We met Helen and Lewis, from Manchester and Birmingham respectively, who are staying in a small tent and are about to finish up a 3 month trip in Turkey, bussing and hitch-hiking. We did a swap of English...

Jun 7, 2013 - Alanya to Anamur

We have met new friends in the past week, Teresa and Bob from Norfolk, UK with whom we enjoyed a night of cards, and Doris and Beda from Zurich, Switzerland. Both couples are travelling in the direction we are heading – we may meet up again. Yesterday we said goodbye to Koray and Veronika who have been so friendly and helpful to us during our stay. Today we were sad to leave Perle Camping where we have had such a lovely time for the last 2 months. We will miss the puppies and their mum, and the chickens, peacocks and guinea fowl running...

May 27, 2013 - turkey

Landed in kusadasi went and seen epheus ruins I'm over broken things now. Being sea sick is no fun at all everything rocks even when you get of the ship bigger but having fun anyway. miss home and the dogs hot at the moment we land in rodes tomorrow so more walking.hopefully I will lose a bit of fat off my ass hope all is well feel free to reply as it would be nice to hear from home love robin and rod

May 27, 2013 - Jeep safari in the Taurus Mountains

Today we went on a Jeep Safari, kindly recommended and organised for us by John. We thought we were going to Sapadere Canyon – in fact we went to Dim Cave but the mistake didn’t matter a bit! We were picked up this morning at the entrance to the campground and taken to the tour office in Alanya. There we left in five 4x4 jeeps heading for the Taurus mountains behind Alanya. We were the only “English” on the trip – though we were divided into Russian and English speaking groups for the guide instructions. The roads the jeeps take are winding...

May 26, 2013 - Alanya

Hello everybody! No messages from anybody thinking we might have been kidnapped/hijacked!! Perhaps no-one is reading our blog any more :( The last several days have been more of the same, mostly lovely sunny days we have spent lazing around on the beach, with the occasional walk or dolmuş trip to the markets or just to see the sights. One day we were invited to Koray and Veronika’s house for coffee and cake; they live in a terrace house on the hill with a stunning view overlooking the beach. We made new friends John and Marja from Rotterdam...

May 25, 2013 - Tistanbul

went to hagia sophia museum yesterday it was a church but now a museum the mosiac in the pictures is real gold very impressive that they can build something like that 1600 years ago, went to the underground cister that the romans built very interesting, got on the ship in the afternoon and stayed the night we will be sailing this afternoon, starting to get a little sea sick. i know im not one to complain, i know dont say it lol, but the hotel we stayed in the night before was $300 a night i had to hold onto the side of the bed so i didint...

May 23, 2013 - turkey

Yesterday we went to the war museum in canakkele, it showed everything that happened on anzac cove i have a better understanding about it now bloody winston churchille should have been shot himself for sending our troops somewhere he didint know the landscape our troops where like leading lambs to the slaughter.Today we went to troy, you know the movie about the soldiers hiding in the horse that was very interesting shit im becoming knowledgable, having some interesting food not sure whether i like it or not but trying different things hope...