It was easy to see why Turkey has the been called the "Crossroad of Civilization." A three week trip here was not enough time to do more than just uncover a tiny corner of the huge volume of history that has been written here.
The trip began in bustling Istanbul where hundreds of ships jockeyed for positition to enter the famous Bosphorus and every rug vendor wanted to serve you a glass of tea. From our hotel room, the call to prayer was both the last thing we heard at night and the first wake up call in the morning. Islanbul; enchanting, bustling, historic and worth another trip at some time.

The land portion of the tour covered famous sights like Ephesus and but once we got on our wooden sailing gullet, a whole new world unfolded as we hiked through pine scented forests, snorkelled over a sunken city and climbed to hilltop castles and fortresses. On the ship, the pace was relaxed as we moored in quite coves, and easily slipped into the blue Mediterranean for a quick swim before breakfast.

To top off my trip to Turkey, I took a hiking tour through the fairy chimney world of Cappadocia where wind and rain have carved a tufaceous gallery of odd shapes and imagination-defying landscape.
After three days of hiking through the valleys and chasms, it was a relief to take an early morning balloon ride to get a birds eye view of this patterned and colourful region.