This gallery contains 11 photos.
We had another full day around Göreme. This day started with a visit to the Göreme Open Air museum with its rock churches (no photography inside 🙁 ). From the museum we continued to the Pasabaglari Valley with more interesting … Continue reading
After our return from the balloon ride, we had a late (second) breakfast.
After that we were about to get more time with the Cappadocian landscape – this time by foot and much closer. The walk was going into and following the red valley (Kizilcukur) with more great vistas – this time just from terra firma.
In the afternoon I went for a bit of exploration by myself, walking in and around Göreme – with some more nice views of the town and the surrounding landscape. In the evening most of the group joined in for a cultural show along with dinner.
We had a very early start today – to go for what has been THE highlight of the full trip – a balloon ride over Cappadocia around sunrise.
After we got picked up at the hotel we drove for about an hour to the starting point – here we made it into the sky – along with many, many, many other balloons (balloon rides are good business here). We spent about an hour in the sky before we had a pretty unerring landing – followed by a short ceremony, that even included sparkling wine.
The ride itself was simply awesome – fairly hard to put into words – the photos tell the tale.
We had a long driving day ahead of us – all the way from Beypazari to Göreme – more than 400km.
A few stops on the way did help to keep the day interesting and us somewhat awake. We made a first stop at a salt lake – including the opportunity to walk on the lake and to try the salty health products (actually – there was no option to not try the salt peeling before getting out to the lake).
Another stop was at the Agzikarahan Caravanserai, which dates back to the 13th century.
We made it into Göreme just around sunset – and in time for some first nice view over the Cappadocian landscape.
Originally the tour had included a night stop in Ankara – however due to the recent bombing Ankara was replaced by the small town of Beypazari.
Beypazari is a good 1.5 hours (driving) West of Ankara; its historic is nicely renovated in Ottoman style – and is also home to a small museum, that provides a great introduction into the life and customs during the Ottoman time.
According to Lonely Planet the area around Beypazari produces more than half of the carrots consumed in all Turkey – easily recognizable by the carrot monument. Carrots are also part of the local specialty baklava.
It was at the end of my Eastern Europe trip – a good year back – that I had gotten a quick first taste of Istanbul and Turkey – though for a couple of hours only. This time I wanted to get a bit further, stay longer and cover more ground.
The trip started in Istanbul with a quick tour to the Blue Mosque, Aya Sofya and the Basilica Cistern – plus some good walking around Sultanahmet.
On this last evening we decided to have dinner at one of the many stalls at Djemma El-Fna square. We had the usual mix of salads, bread and grilled meat skewers.
After dinner some of us went for another mint tea (or coffee) to one of the balcony cafes – with a nice view over the square.
This gallery contains 16 photos.
This was my last full day in Morocco and Marrakesh; some of us (i.e. of those who had not already left the country) decided to go on a half day guided tour around the Medina, taking in El Bahia palace, … Continue reading
We were heading back to Marrakesh today – however with the bus only leaving in the afternoon, we still had a full morning in Essaouira.
I took it easy, walked down to the port (this time with a view from one of the towers) and then made it into the medina to explore some of the smaller side alleys. Most of the others used this morning for some final shopping.
We met again around lunch time for yet another fish souq based seafood and fish feast – before heading to the bus station and embarking for the three hours bus drive to Marrakesh.
After the tour finished, some of us made it back to the fish souq. Here we bought fresh fish (or squid in my case) and had it grilled to perfection at the grill stands at the Southern end of the market – simple and delicious.
In the afternoon I continued exploring town on myself – this time also leaving the medina and making it to the beach. Around sunset I met again with the others for another good dinner.
