Blogs from Turkey, Middle East - page 33

We haven't seen the sea since leaving Hong Kong at the end of June. In Xinjiang we were close to the point which is further from the sea than anywhere on earth. In Uzbekistan we'd been to where it used to be. So it was great to come around a bend on the mountain road to see the Med glittering in front of us - a bit of poetic licence taken there as it was an overcast day so it wasn't that glittery, but it was still the sea. We didn't have any particular plans for Antalya. We knew there were plenty of Greco-Roman ruins around but hadn't bothered to research which to visit, so we took the lazy option and did what we rarely do – we followed the Lonely Planet recommendation. Credit to them ... read more

We knew hot air ballooning was popular in Cappadocia so we didn't expect to have the skies to ourselves but there were dozens and dozens of balloons, probably more than 100, and this is the low season! This was a new experience for both us, and it was a fantastic one. The heat and noise when the burner was being used contrasts sharply with the cold and silence when it's not. The incredible views without windows, wings or engines getting in the way. The slow drift in whichever direction the wind takes you – of course the balloon company has a good idea which way it's blowing before take off, these are sightseeing tours. The skill and knowledge of the pilot. The bright, clear, sunny morning with mist still in the valleys. The amazing geology. Everything ... read more

Kapadokya (Cappadocia) is an area in middle of Turkey on the Asian continent. It has snow in winter and we were told some very hot days 35+ degrees in summer. The topography here is interesting. There have been a few volcanoes erupt in the last 60 million plus years and the resulting ash and lava has left the area with reasonably soft sandstone. This sandstone is impacted by the wind and rain over the centuries to leave odd looking structures known as fairy chimneys. In this region, there has been evidence of the Hittites then Romans then Turks from 1071. The Turks came from Central Asia. In 1299 the Ottoman Empire took over the area and in 1453 Istanbul captured and made the Turkish capital. The hills and fairy chimneys have also been used over the ... read more

The time we spent on the Gallipoli battlefields was so informative. I thought i knew the history but until I listened to the tour guide, and reading all the information at the various memorials I did not really have the full story. Our Turkish tour guide told the story with such emotion, he had a few of the tour group in tears. After being in Turkey for a few days and hearing about the last 4000 years of their history I would say that warfare was part of their culture. These people had been fighting for their bit of land for a long time. Their other secret weapon was their general, later to be called Mustafa Ataturk. He ... read more

Slept in this morning and had a slow start before we headed out and started making our way to the Grand Bazaar that is over 500 years old and has appx. 4400 shops inside. This market was immediately different from others we have experienced in the world. First, it's indoors. Second, there are actual store fronts and "shop areas" not booths/stalls. And third, far less aggressive shop keepers than in other countries. There was definitely the haggling for price, but not as extreme as with previous trips. About 2 minutes after walking in, we saw a carpet store with a nice rug in the window Matt commented on. The shop owner was an older gentleman and asked if we knew anything about Turkish carpets and we told him very little. He told us he was 4th ... read more