Santorini

So we left Ios and took one of the fast ferries to Santorini, a great experience and although it does go nearly twice as fast you're not allowed outside to see the views and also the ride doesn't seem as smooth. Too bad we had already booked another fast ferry to return to Athens from Santorini on. The island of Santorini is essentially a dormant volcano with the centre caldera having collapsed on itself after a massive eruption in 1500 BC. Along with a sunken centre, a massive earthquake ripped apart the remaining ring of the island about 60 years ago and as a result all that remains is a crescent moon shaped island with the interior of the crescent thrust up high in the sky on the caldera rim. So arriving at the island by ferry one approaches the island through a gap in the volcano and docks at the sheer vertical caldera rim wall, truly magnificent to see.

Arriving in Santorini we found an affordable hotel located near the beach of Perissa (one of the more famous beaches on Santorini complete with black sand) and then went out to explore the small town there and grab some food. After lunch we organized a scooter rental for the following 48 hours that we planned to stay on the island and we took off to explore the rest of the island.

Our first destination was the magnificent red beach which is a small beach covered in black sand but completely surrounded with dark red cliffs. We parked the scooter and followed the small path a couple of hundred meters to the beach and then spent the next half and hour or so just admiring it. Unfortunately by this point in the day it was really too late to enjoy the beach so we just walked along it and took some photos before heading off. Our next destination for the day was the light house located at the furthest southwest point of the island. Along the way here we also stopped off at a few view points to admire the rim of the caldera, take some pictures, and let Lianne have a go at driving the scooter (she did pretty well for the little that she rode it). From the lighthouse we went back up the island to the main town of Fira where we wandered around the touristy alleyways that were perched up on the edge of the caldera before enjoying dinner on a rooftop terrace while watching the disappointing sunset. After dinner we just returned back to the hotel where we quickly fell asleep for the night.

The next morning we enjoyed some breakfast before jumping on the scooter again to explore more of the island. We tried to find the site of Ancient Thira, the remains of an ancient town located on top of a hill on the island. However we first ended up the wrong road which took us to a monastery (and army base) located at the highest point of the island. While here we spent some time gazing out over the island with the near perfect views that we had. Afterward we eventually found the site of Ancient Thira and after climbing up the hill for an hour to the actual city we were disappointed to find that it had closed about 30 minutes before we got there. We were able to see some of the ruins through the fence and again the views were phenomenal so it wasn't a complete waste of time. Leaving Ancient Thira we made our way back to Fira where we wandered around the town for another hour or so to see some churches that we missed the previous evening. We then continued up to the most northwest point of Santorini to Oia where we planned to watch the sunset. Oia is a famous spot for watching the sunset on Santorini and we definitely weren't alone as it seemed most of the other tourists on Santorini were there watching it with us. The sunset was beautiful when we finally saw it, much better than the previous night, but it was slightly ruined by everyone applauding the sun as it disappeared below the horizon. After the sunset we returned to Perissa to enjoy dinner along the beach for our last night on Santorini.

The following morning we just had time to return the scooter and grab some food before we left for the ferry terminal and eventually our 5 hour ferry ride back to Pireaus (Athens). The ferry ride thankfully seemed to go fairly fast although it wasn't that pleasant and we found ourselves in Athens in the early evening. Arriving in Athens we quickly made our way to the bus station and caught a bus out to Delphi, our next destination.








Standing in front of the magnificent red cliffs at red beach.















A view along the caldera rim from some point at the southern end of the island on our way to the light house.













A view of Fira perched right on the rim of the Caldera.













A church that we stopped off at in Fira on our second visit there. Most of the buildings on Santorini look similar to this and it makes it quite beautiful.













A view of Oia looking back along the caldera rim the white in the background on top of the cliffs is the town of Fira.














A windmill located in Oia.




















The sunset that we saw from Oia.

Ios

We arrived on Ios after our short ferry ride from Paros and quickly got settled in our hotel in Hora, also known as the village and just a short drive up a hill from the town at the port. Once settled in we went to explore the town and grab some food. We were delighted to find that the streets in this town were just as small and narrow as those on Paros so it made it so nice to wander through the town. After enjoying dinner in a small restaurant we returned to our hotel to start enjoying the night life on Ios. Ios is known as one of the party islands in the Greek islands and the small square in the heart of Hora is almost completely surrounded with nightclubs so Lianne and I went out that night to enjoy some of them.

The next day we awoke late after our late night the night before and went to find some breakfast in the town. After breakfast we made our way down to Mylopotas which is one of the nicest, and also the easiest accessible, beach on Ios. We spent the afternoon relaxing on the rocky sand and enjoying the water before returning to Hora in the evening where Lianne went shopping while I used the internet before our dinner. Again after a really enjoyable meal we returned to the hotel where we planned to start off our night for another big night of partying. Unfortunately we were both kind of drained from the previous evening so we didn't make it very far tonight and instead just had an "early" night.

We had originally only planned on spending 2 nights on Ios but because of our uneventful night the second night we decided to stay for a third. Our second full day on the island was much the same as the previous one as spent most of the day on Mylopotas beach before returning to Hora in the late afternoon to organize ferry tickets to Santorini the following day. Again that evening we enjoyed a late meal and went straight our to a bar after to start our night out which we again thoroughly enjoyed.

The next morning we hauled ourselves out of bed and packed up to make it down to the ferry port for our mid morning ferry out to Santorini. So our adventures on Santorini to follow soon.










The view of the ferry port and out to sea from our balcony at the hotel.

















Lianne on our balcony with the sunset behind her.

Paros

Leaving Athens Lianne and I travelled to the Greek island of Paros which isn't known as one of the more famous islands but it is a convenient point for onward travel and is very nice in it's own quiet way. We arrived on the island late in the evening as the ferry from Athens took 5 hours and we didn't leave until late afternoon. So all we did was quickly find a great room located right on the water front and then went out to get some food and a drink before calling it a night.

Our first full day on Paros we spent the morning sleeping in and wandering around the charming little town that we were staying in after breakfast. The town was quite nice as it spread out along the waterfront with a main road there but just behind that the town was full of little twisting and turning alleyways that only pedestrians could walk through. So the morning was spent walking through some of these alleys and admiring the perfectly white Greek houses and little shops that were tucked back in the heart of the town. That afternoon we caught a small water taxi to take us across the bay to one of the nicer beaches in the area and spent the remaining time lounging on the sandy beach and swimming in the gorgeous Mediterranean. After relaxing on the beach for a while we returned to town to enjoy a dinner and a couple of drinks while watching the sunset into the sea.

Our second day on the island we rented a scooter to tour the rest of the island. We started off by driving down by Antiparos (a small island just off the coast of Paros) before heading down to Alyki, a small town with a nice beach. After lying on the beach for a short amount of time we decided that the wind had picked up too much so we jumped back on the scooter to continue exploring the island. Our next path took us along the southern coast of the island driving through tiny villages and seeing small beaches until we came to Chrisi Akti (Golden Beach). Golden Beach is Paros' best beach so we spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing here and again swimming in the fabulous water. In the early evening we started to make our way back to Paroikia (the main town where we were staying) by driving around the other side of the island to complete the circuit. On the way back we stopped off in Naoussa, the island's second biggest town, for a quick wander around before finally returning to Paroikia. Again the evening was spent enjoying a delicious dinner right on the edge of the sea while watching the sunset, absolutely great.

Our third day was our last day on Paros so we got up and arranged ferry tickets to Ios, our next destination, before checking out of our hotel. The ferry didn't leave until the early afternoon so we had a few hours to kill so we spent an hour or so touring around Paroikia on our scooter before returning it. Finally while waiting for our ferry we spent our last hour on the island using the internet, shopping (Lianne) and checking out the Byzantine church of St. Constantine. Then we boarded our short ferry ride to Ios where we planned to spend a few days enjoying the party life on the Greek islands, but more of that next update.










The little alleyways that are the main streets in the heart of Paroikia and contain several shops and cafes along with the beautiful Greek houses.


















Lianne standing on Krios beach, the beach where we spent the first afternoon relaxing on Paros.















Lianne enjoying the waters of the Mediterranean on Alyki beach, complete with a few local fishing boats in the background.

















The interior of the Byzantine church of St. Constantine.

Athens

So I left mom in Selcuk, Turkey to continue on with my trip and head to Athens to meet Lianne (my girlfriend for those who don't know her). My original plan was to take the ferry from Cesme in Turkey to Chios in Greece and then continue directly onwards to Athens with an overnight ferry. However when I arrived in Chios I was informed that there was no overnight ferry and I would have to spend the night on the island and wait for the ferry that left the following morning at 9am. This was all great although I did have some problems finding a cheap room in Chios as they all seemed to be full, but in the end I found one and met some other American students there. The rest of the night was spent enjoying dinner and having a few drinks with the guys I met before retiring for the night to catch my ferry the next morning.

The next day I spent 9 hours on the ferry to Athens so not a whole lot happened during the day. Upon reaching Piraeus (the ferry port for Athens) I made my way to the metro and was easily able to navigate my way to the hotel in the centre of Athens that we had booked. The rest of the night was spent just wandering around a few streets in Athens and relaxing in the hotel.

My first full day in Athens I headed out to the airport early in the morning to meet Lianne's flight. After taking the metro and the bus I finally met up with her after a long 10 months apart. We then returned to the hotel and spent the rest of the day resting (Lianne was tired from her 11 hour flight) and then trying to plan the rest of journey through Eastern Europe. We planned on leaving the sight seeing in Athens to the following day as I had been told that all of Athens main sights only took 1 day to see.

Our second full day in Athens we started to see some of the sights that Athens has to offer. Our first stop was the Greece Parliament building where we got to see a changing of the guards in front of a war memorial. The changing of the guards was fairly interesting to see as the guards were dressed up in their traditional costume and the movements of the guards seemed to be perfectly synchronized so it was impressive. After the changing of the guards we proceeded to enter the National Gardens and took a quick walk through a nice peaceful and relaxing park before continuing on to the Temple of Olympian Zeus. We didn't actually enter this site to see the temple as all it seemed to be were several columns still standing but the main reason was that the ticket to the Acropolis that we were going to buy also covered the admission to this site. From the Temple of Olympian Zeus we continued past Hadrian's Arch, which was a fairly simple but still beautiful arch standing on the side of a road, and then onto the Theatre of Dionysos. The Theatre of Dionysos is a huge theatre capable of seating 17 000 people that has been built on the southern slope of the Acropolis. This theatre was one of the most important theatres in all of Greece as it held an annual festival that showed some of the most famous dramas of the time. From the Theatre of Dionysos we continued past the Stoa of Eumenes, which was mostly in ruins but being restored, to the Odeon of Herodes Atticus. This theatre has been completely restored and now it is used for performances of drama, music and dance during the Hellenic Festival, which unfortunately we didn't get to see although it appeared as if they were setting it up for a performance. From here we entered the proper Acropolis, what is arguably the most important ancient site in the Western World, which is built on top of a huge cliff in the centre of Athens and our first introduction to it was the Propylaia. This is the only entrance to the top of the Acropolis and it certainly made an impression on you. Initially we walked past the huge Beule Gate before climbing up past the Temple of Athena Nike and through a walkway between several huge columns and under another arch. Upon reaching the top of the Acropolis we were amazed by the impressive buildings here, namely the Parthenon, and we spent a few minutes just standing there admiring all of them. Our first views of the Parthenon were somewhat disappointing though as they were currently doing some restoration work to the structure so the entire front of the building was covered with scaffolding and cranes almost. So our first stop on top of the Acropolis was the Erechtheion and really first we saw the Caryatids which are 6 huge maiden columns that support the southern porch of the Erechtheion. After gazing at the Caryatids we continued on around the building to see the rest of it including the northern porch which consists of several beautiful columns and behind these the open area of the building. After the Erechtheion we continued around the edge of the cliff to get some great views out over the city and to see the Parthenon from the backside. The Parthenon was absolutely spectacular when it wasn't blocked as the building seemed to be almost fully restored to its original appearance and so contained columns all around its perimeter holding up the roof. After slowly wandering around the exterior of the Parthenon and gazing up at its beauty we slowly descended from the Acropolis and made our way back into the city part of Athens to find some lunch.

After lunch our tour of the city sights continued with the Ancient Agora which was the city centre in ancient Athens. Here were the administrative, commercial, political and social activity buildings of the city. Today most of the buildings are only ruins but you can still see their foundations and the general layout of the city. The only intact buildings are the Stoa of Attalos, which now houses a small museum showing some artifacts found in the area, and the Temple of Hephaestus. The Temple of Hephaestus is, in my opinion, the most impressive ancient temple left in Athens. This is because it is fully restored and isn't covered by any scaffolding or other restoration work like most of the buildings on the Acopolis were when we visited them. After the Ancient Agora we continued to the Keramikos which was the city's cemetery from the 12th century BC to Roman times. This place was quite nice and peaceful as there weren't very many tourists here but the ruins were still pretty impressive. There was even a small museum here that showed some of the statues that were found in the cemetery. After seeing the cemetery we were pretty beat and had covered everything that we really wanted in Athens so we just made our way back to our hotel to refresh before going our to dinner by wandering through the flea market (really just a tourist trap). That evening we enjoyed some good quick Greek food before heading back to our hotel to spend the night.

The next day was our last day in Athens as we planned to leave that afternoon for one of the Greek Islands. So our first thing on the agenda was to go and organize a ferry ticket. After getting that all sorted out we wandered past a few more smaller ancient ruin sites before finding a small coffee shop to relax and try to plan the rest of our trip. That afternoon we grabbed our bags from the hotel and proceeded to Pireaus (the ferry port) on the metro to catch our ferry to Paros and the start of our next adventure in the Greek Islands.







The Changing of the guards ceremony in front of the Greece Parliament building.














The Theatre of Dionysos on the southern slope of the Acropolis.















Lianne standing in front of the Erechtheion with the Caryatids columns visible on the building.


















The backside of the Parthenon which wasn't covered in scaffolding (although you can still see a crane in the background). It really was a spectacular building.
















Lianne standing in front of the Temple of Hephaestus in the Ancient Agora.

Selcuk

Leaving Fethiye mom and I traveled to Selcuk, the small town located just outside of the famous Greek ruins of Ephesus. We arrived in Selcuk late at night and were quickly picked up by the pension (hotel) owner that we had booked with and got settled in their fabulous pension for the night. We were welcomed with some amazing leftover stuffed vine leaves before heading to bed.

The next morning we got up and enjoyed a delicious fruit breakfast, a nice change from the standard Turkish breakfasts we were used to, and got organized to head to Ephesus. The hotel dropped us off at the upper entrance to Ephesus and upon entering we obtained an audio guide to serve as our guide through the ruins, that combined with overhearing the hundreds of other guides served us pretty well. The first stop was the Odeon, a small theatre that is fairly well preserved and seated about 1500 people. After the theatre there were a few other smaller ruins in the immediate area that we saw before heading into what appeared to be a region of caves. Inside the caves was really interesting, not only because it was a cool relief from the heat and the hundreds of other tourists, as it contained posters talking about all of the different research projects that had taken place at Ephesus over the past few years. Continuing down the hill from here we entered Curetes Street which was one of the main streets in Ephesus and runs down past shops, houses, baths, and workshops. Also lining the street were statues of gods and famous athletes although now only one statue remains in place. Walking along this street we were able to see the ancient toilet house, houses built into the hills (although we didn't enter the terraced houses), the foundations of shop houses and the Temple of Hadrian.

After Curetes Street we came to the most famous sight remaining in Ephesus: the library of Celsus. The front wall of this library is the most famous structure in Ephesus but also as a result it was always the most crowded. Leaving the library we continued to the Great Theatre, the largest structure in Ephesus, and marveled at how big the city must have been to be able to fill up the 44 000 person theatre. Leaving the theatre we came upon a short play being preformed for the tourists (pretty certain that it was for the hundreds of people on cruises that happened to tour the site the same day as us) and got to see some people act out some dancing, entertainment and even a gladiator fight all dressed in traditional costumes. Our final stop in Ephesus was the church of Mary.

Returning to Selcuk the rest of the afternoon was spent enjoying a relaxing lunch, using the internet and organizing the our onward travel. That evening we enjoyed a fabulous home cooked meal in our pension before retiring for the night.

The next day we spent the morning relaxing in Selcuk before heading out to the nearby beach where we spent the day relaxing on the sand and swimming in the Mediterranean. That evening was again spent enjoying another home cooked meal in our pension.

The third morning in Selcuk was my last day there as I was leaving my mom to continue on to Greece alone. We spent the morning getting organized to head out and then seeing the Basilica of St John the Apostle. This is quite a fabulous ruined church and said to be one of the largest in the world at the time of its construction. That afternoon after a sad goodbye to mom I boarded a bus to Izmir and from there on to Chesme where I would take a ferry across to the Greek island Chios. More on that in my next update.








A view of the Odeon theatre in Ephesus, the smaller theatre in the old city located near the upper entrance.












Standing in front of a statue of the goddess Nike, the goddess of victory.
















Mom sitting on one of the toilets in the communal toilet building.


















Mom and I standing in front of the front wall of the Library of Celsus, the most famous image in Ephesus.












A view of the front wall of the Library of Celsus.














A view of the large theatre in Ephesus.













Some of the trumpet players in the small performance that we got to see in Ephesus.













Mom enjoying the sunset and a glass of wine from the roof of our great pension in Selcuk.

Olympos, our Blue Cruise, and Fethiye

So we left Antalya to head towards the coastal settlement of Olympos. Olympos is a tiny little resort type area that consists mainly of hotels and restaurants near a pebbly beach and some old ruins. So once we arrived there we quickly found a summer camp like hotel (most of the hotels here are set up to handle a hundred or more guests and include dinner and breakfast so it kind of feels like staying in a summer camp while you're here) and got organized for our Blue Cruise starting the next day, a Blue Cruise is a 4 day sailing trip from Olympos to Fethiye that's been nicknamed a Blue Cruise.

After getting all settled in we decided to walk down through the ruins and check out the beach, our first beach experience on the Mediterranean. The walk down to the beach was quite nice and we got to see lots of old ruined buildings along the way which we hadn't expected, or at least not of the quality that we saw. Arriving at the beach we quickly found a nice pebbly spot (the entire beach was covered in small rounded rocks) and spread out to enjoy the day. The beach was pretty windy and so at times it seemed more like we were bracing ourselves from the wind rather than enjoying the beach but it was still enjoyable. The water at the beach was crystal clear as well and fairly warm so it was wonderful for swimming. After relaxing on the beach for a few hours we headed back to our "camp" and spent some time checking out the fantastic ruins on the way.

That evening we joined a tour to the nearby site of Chimaera, which is a place where fire has been burning on the side of Mt Olympos for centuries. The flames here are just points where natural gas is seeping through cracks in the mountain and has been set on fire. So after being deposited at the base of a short walk we climbed a part of Mt Olympos to see the Chimaera site. Here there were about 20 spots that were on fire and was extremely interesting to see, especially at night as it lit up the surrounding area wonderfully. After seeing the flames we returned back to our hotel to prepare for our boat cruise the next day.

The following day at 10 am we were picked up and got to enjoy a nice hour long van ride to Demre, the starting point of the cruise. After enjoying an early lunch and wandering around the town for a few minutes we got to board our boat and we were underway. The first day of sailing we sailed by a little town located on the coast (I think, it may have been an island but I doubt it) and got to enjoy some time to swim in the beautiful Mediterranean then. After our short swim we proceeded to sail over the remains of a sunken city, an old city that became submerged under water after an earthquake, although the water was too choppy to really be able to see anything of note below us. We continued on to our mooring spot for the night and enjoyed another swim in the Mediterranean before spending the evening relaxing on the boat for the night.

The next morning we set sail bright and early to arrive in the port of Kas where we enjoyed our breakfast. After breakfast we were given a few hours to wander around the city which is supposed to be one of the most beautiful cities in Turkey. The city was quite picturesque although because of this it is also very touristy but still an enjoyable stop from the cruise. Mom and I started off by walking around the town for a bit and stumbled upon the remains of an old theater just on the edge of the town. After seeing the theater we spent our remaining time just wandering around looking for some nice beaches and seeing the town. Returning to the boat we continued sailing for a bit and spent the afternoon swimming in a couple of different bays and generally just enjoying the great sunshine and the beautiful waters of the Mediterranean. During one of our stops we caught some sea urchins and with the help of a fellow Japanese tourist we cracked them open and enjoyed some uni.

The third day on the boat we started off by sailing for Butterfly valley, a secluded little bay that's famous for being a stop on the migration path for one type of butterfly. Unfortunately we were there at the wrong time of year for any of the butterfly's, but we did enjoy a walk through the valley to a spectacular waterfall that we climbed up. The climb up the waterfall was a lot of fun as it required actually climbing up where the water was falling using ropes and stuff to pull us up. After visiting the butterfly valley we proceeded to sail to Oludeniz, a beautiful resort town and a great lagoon for swimming. Here we spent several hours swimming and jumping off cliffs into the great water while a couple of guys on the cruise went paragliding. After stopping off at Oludeniz we continued to St Nicholas's Island, an island that houses the ruins of a small town and most importantly was a spot where St Nicholas lived for a few years. Here we enjoyed our last night of being rocked to sleep on our great cruise boat.

Our final day on the cruise we got to finally sleep in and we slowly made our way to the port in Fethiye. Upon arriving in Fethiye mom and I found a hotel and I proceeded to relax for the afternoon while mom went to and abandoned ghost town just outside of Fethiye. That evening we enjoyed a delicious fish meal from the local fish market before retiring to our solid be for the night.

The next day we decided to spend the morning touring around Fethiye before catching a bus out to Selcuk to see Ephesus. As a result I decided to head out to the ghost town that mom visited yesterday as she spoke so highly of it while she did some shopping in the weekly market. So I headed out to the ghost town to see a small village of completely abandoned buildings standing alone on a beautiful hillside. The village had once been an entire Christian community but after the first world war when all of the Christians were deported to Greece the village was forced to be abandoned. As a result today you can walk around the crumbling remains of this old town and see just how much the buildings have deteriorated in the fast 80 years. A truly extraordinary sight.

After returning to Fethiye to meet up with mom, we quickly made our way to the bus station and caught a bus to Selcuk where we were going to see Ephesus and our last stop together in Turkey. More on that next time though.










Some of the old ruins at Olympos.




















The flames at Chimaera, burning out of the solid mountain rock.



















Mom swimming in the beautiful blue waters of the Mediterranean during one of our stops on the Blue Cruise.















The theater at Kars, complete with a fantastic view out over the Mediterranean.
















The guys on the Blue Cruise picking apart the sea urchins to feast on the uni inside.
















A couple of the guys climbing up the waterfall in the Butterfly valley.

















Sunset over another similar Blue Cruise boat on our last night on the water.















A view overlooking the ghost town just outside of Fethiye.

Antalya and Konya

After leaving Cappadocıa we headed towards the coast for our first views of the Mediterranean Sea but first we decided to stop of en route in Konya for a few hours. Konya doesn't have much of a tourist destination but it is the location where the whirling dervishes sect of Muslim originated and where the person who founded it's tomb is.

Arriving in Konya we quickly took the tram downtown and headed off towards the museum for the whirling dervishes and where the famous tombs are. On the way we stopped off to grab a bite of the famous Konya pizza and we enjoyed eating a delicious meter long pizza each. After lunch we continued towards the Mevlana Museum to see it. We entered the museum to find it packed with tourists on bus tours but it was still quite enjoyable and definitely worth the visit. We started off by walking around the complex and seeing the museum parts surrounding the main tomb where inside we got to see samples of the traditional dress and also wax figures showing their traditional way of life. After seeing all the surrounding parts we entered the main tomb and museum building and were amazed at the how beautiful and peaceful it was inside. After examining all of the tombs and museum part which mainly consisted of old copies of the Koran we left the Mevlana museum to head towards Alaaddin Hill.

Alaaddin Hill is a well kept and very green park that contains several tea gardens and the Alaaddin Mosque. We first decided to enjoy a cup of tea in one of the shady tea gardens here and while doing that we met a fantastic old Turkish guy who insisted on giving us a tour of the mosque and the surrounding area after sharing a cup of tea with him. After tea we got a great tour of the huge and well preserved mosque, remnants of an old palace that was on the hill and the entrance of the Ince Minare Museum which has a fabulously carved entrance way. After this tour the guy had to rush home for dinner so we returned to the park to enjoy the sunset and some more tea while playing backgammon. The evening was dedicated to enjoying an absolutely delicious meal at a hard to find restaurant and using the internet before returning to the bus station to catch our 1am bus to Antalya.

We arrived in Antalya bright and early the following morning and after getting into the city centre and finding a hotel we proceeded to take a nap for most of the morning as we were both tired after our overnight bus ride. In the afternoon we proceeded to check out the Antalya Archeology Museum which was absolutely fabulous and enormous. The museum started off by going through all the different civilizations that had ruled Turkey and talking about how they evolved, then it proceeded to show loads of marble statues of Greek gods that were found at nearby Perge. The majority of the museum was dedicated to displaying the statues of the gods as well as sarcophagus's that were found there also. The museum was so large that by the last section we weren't able to absorb too much so their displays of modern Turkish items we quickly passed through. All in all it was a great museum and definitely worth checking out. After the museum we returned to our guesthouse to organize a tour to Termessos the following day. The rest of the afternoon was spent hanging out in the guesthouse and checking out a nearby market that only occurred once a week. The market was really big and sold nothing but fruits and vegetables almost so it was interesting to wander through it and watch all the local people buying their groceries for the next week.

The next day mom, Ben (a fellow tourist) and I got in our taxi and headed to the ruined city of Termessos. Arriving at Termessos, which is just north of Antalya, we proceeded to leave the car park and start the short walk up through the forest towards the ruins. Our first stop once reaching the ruins was the gymnasium and baths which were quite stunning. Termessos has been left to let nature reclaim the ruins and so it hasn't been restored at all and this gave the result of feeling like we were true explorers wandering around the ruins, it also helped that we were almost the only people there (the only fellow people present were a group of graduate students and their prof from the archeology department at the University of Calgary and so they gave us a few pointers of where to find the best sites which was awesome). Leaving the gymnasium we continued to the theater which is the probably the most spectacular sight at Termessos. The theater is in excellent condition considering that it's never been restored and its location sitting on the edge of a cliff makes it just that much more amazing. After the theater we continued wandering around the site and looking at the other buildings but most of them had fallen apart so much that you could no longer tell what they once were, and without the help from the fellow Calgarians we probably wouldn't have ever found out. At the end we made our way back down to the car park a different path following the edge of a cliff face that contained several rock tombs carved into it, an interesting change to the ordinary way down. Returning back to Antalya we had planned on spending the rest of the afternoon on the beach but unfortunately the weather started to change and instead we just spent the remainder of the day at our hotel or wandering the streets of Antalya. All in all it was a great day though as Termessos was a truly spectacular sight and we were very glad that we got to wander around the ruins.

The next morning we got up and enjoyed our breakfast before catching a bus to Olympos, the place where fire shoots out of the rocks and where we were going to catch our Blue Cruise from. But more on that next time.










Mom and our retired economist guide at the Alaaddin Mosque.




















Mom pondering her next move in backgammon while the sun sets in Konya. Part of the old palace is visible in the background too.



















One of the statues of a Greek God that was found at the site of Perge and now resides in the Antalya Archeology Museum.

















A view of the ruined theater at Termessos.













The streets in the old part of Antalya in the evening.

Cappadocıa

So we arrived in Cappadocıa late in the evening after spending most of the day on the bus after seeing the sunrise on Mt Nemrut. Arriving in Göreme (the main tourist town in Cappadocıa) after 9pm we decided to follow Yux, the Japanese guy we went to Mt Nemrut to, to a hotel he had picked from his guide book. We arrived at the hotel and were quickly shown to one of their cave rooms, a specialty of Göreme. Since it was already late we decided to stay there and experience a cave room right away.

The next morning we awoke to an absolutely freezing room and to top it off a nice cold shower as well. We went and sat outside in the sun for breakfast and while warming up we decided to change hotels to something a little warmer and without a cave. We wandered around for a bit that morning looking for one and decided on the Flintstones Hotel, and man was that a gem. We quickly moved over to that hotel and got some advice for checking out the surrounding area of Cappadocıa and then headed off.

Cappadocıa is famous for its landscape and for the fact that people used to live ın hundreds of caves that surround the area. The country side around Cappadocıa is very similar to Drumheller as there are sandstone valleys throughout the area and even a few hoo-doo shaped rocks (although they call them fairy chimneys). While wandering through the sandstone valleys it is extremely common to see tons of caves in the valley walls where people used to live back in the 9th through 13th centuries (and to a lesser extent even before and after that range). So to get an understanding of the area our first stop was the open air museum in Göreme which was more of a park containing several cave churches and houses. The museum was fairly interesting and most of the cave churches were beautiful with very well preserved frescoes in most of them. However the only downside was that the museum didn`t provide any information about the people that lived in the area and used caves as their homes. It just described the caves that we saw so we didn't learn very much. After lunch we decided to go for a hike through the country side to see more caves that people lived in and for the spectacular landscape. We spent the afternoon walking through the red valley and the rose valley, both of which were extraordinary and contained hundreds of "holes" as my mom calls them (caves). After spending the afternoon hiking through the country side and exploring lots of caves we returned to Göreme to enjoy my birthday dinner at the Flintstones Hotel. The dinner was pretty average but the company was great and the staff even surprised us with a birthday cake! All in all it was a pretty good way to spend my 23rd birthday.

The next morning we woke up and decided to spend another day hiking around the country side. We started the day off by heading up the Pigeon valley towards Uçhisar. The pigeon valley wasn't as spectacular as the red or rose valleys we thought but the walk was still enjoyable. Once in Uçhisar we wandered through the town a while and ended up climbing Uçhisar castle which provided some great views of the surrounding landscape but aside from that it wasn't anything special. After Uçhisar we proceeded to walk through Love valley (but we also heard it was called Long valley and White valley so not really sure the real name) back past Göreme and towards Çavusin. Walking through this valley was extremely beautiful and probably the best walk that we did while ın Cappadocıa. Although the valley didn't contain very many caves, the rock formations and scenery were the best we had seen. When we arrived in Çavusin we proceeded to sit down and enjoy an expensive class of orange juice while playing the national game here, backgammon. After relaxing for some time we found out we had to hurry to catch the last dolmus (local bus) back to Göreme and didn't have any time to explore the town.

Our third day in Göreme we decided to join a tour to visit a few of the sights located a ways out from the city and hard to see otherwise. The tour started off with a viewpoint over the pigeon valley looking back at Göreme, something we had already seen so we weren't too excited by that. Afterwards though we stopped at the largest underground city in the area, Derinkuyu, and got to explore it for about an hour. The underground city was really amazing to see how big it was, it seemed to extend for ever (apparently it went 7 stories underground), and how much detail had gone into it. There were several points where they could lock themselves in by pushing a giant stone wheel over a passage and it seemed that each room served a specific purpose. Truly amazing. After the underground city we continued on to Ihlara valley which is more like a canyon than a valley and slightly different then the valleys near Göreme; however we thought that the valleys near Göreme were much better. After a decent lunch in Ihlara valley we proceeded to visit a cave monastery which provided some pretty good views but wasn't anything that we hadn't seen before around Göreme. Finally on the tour we stopped at one more view point and visited an onyx factory (just a stop to try and make us buy jewelry) before returning back to Göreme.

Our final day in Cappadocıa we spent the morning just relaxing around town and getting a few chores done, like updating our blogs and carpet shopping for mom. In the afternoon we arranged to get driven to the nearby town of Avanos to experience our first Turkish Bath. We had arranged it through our hotel and asked for it not to be one just for tourists but we were let down. The bath was fairly nice but we felt kinda rushed and compared to other peoples stories it didn't sound nearly as authentic. The bath consisted of first entering a steam room to heat up for a few minutes before jumping into a cold pool for a few seconds and then returning to the steam room. After warming up again we entered a different room where we got to lay on slabs of marble that were being heated up by more steam. After enjoying the warm marble for a few minutes we got the cleansing part of the bath my being scraped by someone with a fairly rough pad before getting washed with soap and a short massage. To finish off the bath we lay on the hot marble slabs again before drying off and returning to the outside world.

That was about all that we did in Cappadocıa and the next day we proceeded to head off towards Konya where we stopped for a few hours before continuing on to Antalya but more about that next time. More pictures will follow soon but it's taking too long here so you'll have to wait a little while for them.








Our cave room in the first hotel we stayed in.















Flowers in front of some caves in the open air museum ın Göreme.




















Standing in front of some frescoes in one of the churches in the open air museum.




















Mom gazing up at some more frescoes in another church in the open air museum.




















Mom enjoying my birthday picnic lunch on our walk through the red valley.




















Mom standing next to one of the huge stone wheels that they used to cover up entrance ways into the underground city.

















A view of a school in the underground city.
















Mom and I standing at a lookout point over the Ihlara valley.


















A view of the rock monastery that we stopped into on our way back to Göreme from the Ihlara valley.











A view overlooking the Pigeon valley with an extinct volcano in the background. Notice all the small covered up caves in the valley walls where originally people lived and in later times they were converted into Pigeon houses to collect their droppings to use as fertiliser.









The interior of the beautiful (although touristy) Turkish bath that we visited in Avanos. This is the room where we lay on the warm marble slabs (in the center) and were srubbed, cleaned, and massaged off to the side.