Night location: Selcuk, Turkey Today we went on a private guided tour of the region around the ancient city of Ephesus. According to legend, in the late Bronze Age, the famed female warriors the Amazons founded the city which has moved in location three times due to flooding and the rising silt. The Aegean Sea is now 7km away from what was a coastal trading hub, but the new plain is fertile agricultural land ideal for fig, olive and peach trees. We started on ...

Night location: Selcuk, Turkey At around 2am this morning a huge thunderstorm rocked Istanbul. The rain was beating on the windows so hard that Amber got up to check that it wasn't leaking inside. By the time we were having breakfast and leaving it was only faintly drizzling, but the remnants of the storm could be still seen in the minor flooding that we drove through to the airport. We feel very lucky that our two days here have been fine so that our exploratio...

Night location: Istanbul, Turkey This morning we decided that our first destination would be the Suleymaniye Mosque. En-route to the mosque we walked straight through the heart of The Grand Bazaar which was actually a lot more grand than either of us had anticipated. It was not yet packed with tour groups so we could appreciate the shop fronts and arched ceiling in a more leisurely fashion. There are clearly different zones of the bazaar set up selling everythin...

Night location: Istanbul, Turkey Today we have seen many of the major sites of Istanbul. Our hotel is in a brilliant location as it is an easy walk to most of the tourist attractions. Under the instruction of Tennille and Robby, we were at the Topkapi Palace at 9am so we were able to enjoy walking up the grand promenade practically by ourselves. The palace was constructed between 1460 and 1478 following the conquest of Constantinople. It covers approximately 700...

Night location: Istanbul, Turkey This morning we bade farewell to Italy and flew to a new country for both of us, Turkey. The monolithic new Istanbul airport is the largest in the world and Turkish airlines proudly boasts that they fly to more countries than any other airline, so we can only assume they are a competitive nation on a mission to be the biggest and the best. David had arranged for a transfer to our hotel and after waiting a few minutes while othe...