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Day 47: The only way to beat the heat here is to get up early. Rising at 5.30am we set off from Kose Pension on a walk through Rose Valley, with the pension’s dog Spot (and two of his friends) to guide us on the way.
An unexpected surprise was that Cappadocia’s hot air balloons had […]

Day 46: With one day only in Cappadocia, we decided to take the sights at our own pace by renting a car. Heading east from Goreme towards Urgup, we encountered some of the strange mushroom rock formations by the side of the road. These odd outcrops were formed when a hard layer of rock was […]

Day 45: The Goreme open air museum, about fifteen minute’s walk from the centre of Goreme, was a collection of ancient (12th century) churches and monastic complexes dug into Goreme’s striking sandstone pinnacles.
Built at around the same time, the monastries of Meteora, Greece came to mind as we walked from spot to spot. I hope […]

A restful spot, well-run by Dawn, who came to Cappadocia some twenty years ago and never apparently left, we were extremely happy at the Kose pension. On our final morning, we took Dawn’s dog Spot out for a walk through Rose Valley and he acted as our guide. Highly recommended.

Some travel experiences are good; others are character-building. Istanbul to Goreme by overnight bus is a very popular trip in Turkey. It’s just that, when you buy your ticket, there are many factors beyond your control. We knew that our seats, second from the back of the bus, would be poor. Travelling behind the rear axle, no matter how big the bus, can never be recommended.

Eagle-eyed correspondents have rushed to point out a remarkable physical similarity between two of the recent subjects of this blog. Is the figure on the right a distant relative from ancient Roman times of the figure on the left? Readers, you be the judge.

Everyone was out for a fish, dropping over the side of the bridge (past the restaurants on the bottom deck) and reeling in little biters that looked to my untrained eyes like a cross between a pilchard and and a mackeral. A bucketload of these 12 centimetre whoppers and you’d have enough for a family feed.

Day 43: It’s a short boat ride from Istanbul up to the Black Sea via the Bosphorus Strait and a popular and inexpensive day trip.
We clambered on board the ferry at Eminonou at about 9.45am for 10.30am departure. Getting there early was important to ensure that we had a seat on the deck with […]