We sadly had to leave Goreme early as we had a long day of travelling ahead of us in order to reach Istanbul. At about lunchtime we reached to outskirts of Ankara, which Ataturk chose as his capital. The bus stopped at a large shopping mall in order to allow us to have lunch. After passing through metal detectors upon entry, I am a little ashamed to say I had a Big Mac. Turkish food is delicious but after a week I was ready for something different, plus my tummy ...

After getting up early to watch the balloons over the surreal landscape of 'fairy chimneys' we left for a tour of the Southern region of Cappadocia. Our first stop was a lookout point. From here you could see the 4 volcanic mountains that surrounded an inland sea, over millions of years earthquakes, eruptions and the heating and cooling of rocks sculpted the landscape. The area has been inhabited for over 7 000 years. Next we went to the Ihlara Valley, a 14km lo...

Wednesday We left our Kusadasi hotel early and stopped first at a leather factory and then a ceramics workshop. Despite endless choice I finally settled for a small bowl. Our next stop was Pammunkale where we had lunch and then ventured up the hill into remains of the city of Hierapolis. It was a resort town built due to the calcium springs and the healing properties of the waters. After walking through the necropolis (city of the dead) in oppressive heat, we a...

Our first stop today was the site of the Temple of Artemis, one of the 7 Wonders of the Ancient World. All that remains today is a single column with the nest of a stork on top. Most of the temple is in the British Museum. We then travelled to Ephesus, one of the best preserved and largest ancient cities in Turkey. Ephesus was the Queen of the Amazons and Turkey's local beer (Efes) is also named for her. The most famous features are the latrina (the communal dunn...

After an early breakfast we headed to the Trojan horse that was used in the movie Troy. It is near the harbour in Cannakale and was given as a gift by the producers of the movie. We then headed to the actual Troy (Troia). The settlement dates back 5 000years, however the horse it is famous for is more myth than reality. A more likely story is that the people worshipped the god Poseidon (who rode a horse and caused earthquakes) built the horse as an offering to Po...