Pamukkale, and Hierapolis, Turkey 2011

23 June, 2011
Pamukkale was the next famous tourist site on our Tour. Here we were to see the famous hot springs and travertines, terraces of carbonate minerals left by flowing water cascading over the cliffs. Pamukkale means "cotton castle" in Turkish. and is famous for the dramatic scenery and the  mineral bath-spa. It has been a spa city since the Romans built the spa city of Hierapolis around the scared warm- water spring.
Hierapolis and Pamukale  is now a very busy  UNESCO site. It is a great day out and the the photo opportunities are endles!. We spent our day exploring the extensive Roman ruins of Hierapolis , the Roman theatre, the exhibits in the Archeological Museum and splashing along the travertines. It was a fun day and we highly recommend a visit if you are in the area.

Fran and some locals by one of the hot pools.

Tom and some Roman Ruins

Ancient Roman Theatre

Pools and Travertines

Walking over one of the Travertines.

Fran,with our travel mates, Nancy and Burger

We all went for a paddle.

Day Tour of Konya , Mevlana and Catahoyuk,

21 June, 2011
After leaving  Cappadocia we traveled by long distant coach to Konya where we spent the day touring the town, the Mevlana the home of the Whirling Dervishes and the 9000 year old ancient Catahoyuk site.

Cappadocia - Balloon Trip, Turkey- June 2011

14 June, 2011
While in Istanbul we arranged an 8 day tour to some of the most interesting places in Turkey, mainly inland and those which would be harder to reach from the coast. We arranged our travel through Road Runner Travel (Istanbul). They had been recommended by Dave and Kathy on Sunflower. We were extremely pleased with their prices and the services they offered. Actually we booked everything through them including our flight to Cappadocia, bus travel, transfers, accommodation and day tours in each centre.
Our first stop was in the amazing Cappadocia where we stayed in a Cave Hotel in Goreme.

We had a grand tour of all the famous sites. Posts to come. But without doubt the highlight of this tour was the Hot Air Balloon Ride.

Amazing Landscape

Our Pilot

We even received a Certificate

Fran and our Balloon Pilot

We have had a fantastic time in Cappadocia and had hundreds of photos to sort as this area has a very  unusual landscape.If you are planning a trip to Turkey I highly recommend this area (not sure if it's suitable for the younger kiddie pies as there is a lot of walking and climbing steps)

Istanbul-Touring- Turkey 2011

Istanbul June 2011
Tomorrow we are off to do a bit of a tour around Turkey as we make our way to Marmaris. where we will meet Hamamas on her arrival on the transport ship.
First we are flying to Cappadocia an area in Central Anatolia which is famous for it's amazing landscape. We will be staying in a Cave Inn Hotel, next we will travel by bus to Konya, another area in Central Anatolia which is famous for it's Whirling Dervishes and an archeologcial dig site. Then it will be on to Pambukale for it's white travatine terraces and also to visit Heiropolis and it's mineral rich pools. then onto Marmaris to be their when "our ship comes in"
We will spent some of our trip with friends who also have their yacht on our ship. They are our "shipping buddies"
We have both loved Istanbul and would certainly like to visit again as there is just so much to see and do here. It's an easy comfotable city to be in. While here we have visited many of the famous sights, seen the Whirling Dervishes and enjoyed a fun night watching Turkish Traditional Dancing.