Greetings from Turkey... — Glen and Rob's Big Adventure

Hi there all of you.I thought I would take this opportunity to fill you in on Turkey. We had only planed to visit Istanbul but were tempted by all the travel agency’s pictures to extend our time here. Istanbul was a fantastic city. It was similar to Cairo but with both a European and an Asian feel to it. Of the highlights, the Blue Mosque was high on the list along with the Grand Bazaar and Aya Sofya (originally a church, then a mosque and now a museum). It was fun simply walking the streets and taking in the atmosphere. We then headed east to Cappadocia, an area of central Turkey that is known for it’s unique landscape. Basically its looks like another planet. The whole landscape is made up of hardened volcanic ash that has been washed away by thousands of years of erosion leaving behind colourful cliffs and amazing mounds known as fairy chimneys. Some have been carved by ancient people to make houses, churches, underground cities (some 9 levels deep) and other places of use and were simply awesome. We were able to climb around inside and explore. We met a Canadian who shared our enthusiasm for climbıng and together we lifted each other through the roof ınto a 2 metre hole to clımb even further. It was awesome! After that we headed to Olympus to stay in tree houses by the beach and explore ancient ruins. There was also a natural flame that burns eternally which we visited at night. From Olympus we headed to another natural attraction (Turkey has plenty), Pamukale which is a natural spring that has a high calcium content which has left behind some cliffs and pools that are stunningly white. Tomorrow morning we head to Greece (It really is a hard life being a traveler) which should be fun. Till next time, Glen and Robyn