Author: Jenia Ustinova

Arrival in Ankara after (another) torturous bus ride. Turkey is really big! and buses take forever. But then again — they are cheap and convenient.

A day hike out to the Ihlara Valley, which is considered to be a remote and unique area of Cappadocia. We didn’t think it was the best attraction – particularly taking into the account the expense and the time it takes to get to the valley, but we still enjoyed it. Take a look at the…

Exploring cave churches in the Zelve Open Air Museum — this one is a bit off the beaten path in Cappadocia, but actually turned out to be a pretty neat and extensive site. Lots of climbing, lots of fascinating dwellings — definitely recommend.

Enjoying our first day in Cappadocia with a 360 panorama of the magical landscape from the Uchisar Castle. Its possible to visit a few of the “rooms” in the castle — which aren’t much more than hollowed out caves. But still – its kind of fascinating ot imagine people carving these, and then living here!

Taking a 10 hour bus, right in the middle of the day from Egirdir to Goreme — on our way to check out the famous Cappadocia region of Turkey.

Just another day, just another Egirdir  hike– absolutely stunning views of the Peninsula. We were staying about midway to the tip. )

Sagalassos was amazing – a remote archeological site not accessed by any convenient forms of public transport (or tour buses!) is stunning. There are hardly any visitors, so we had the ancient “first city of Pisidia” (aka regional Roman capital) almost entirely to ourselves. Along with the restored fountain the massive site contains temples, theater,…

Hanging out on lake Egirdir — this beach is right outside of Charly’s pension where we stayed. A wonderful retreat it was )

A sunrise visit to the travertines of Pamukkle, Turkey – totally outside of visiting hours. We couldn’t help ourselves — we wanted to appreciate the magical beauty of this natural wonder without all the people. Pamukkle literary means ‘white castle’ and is a wonderful area to play around in )

Off to Pamukkale, checking out an RV park, water slides, and tourist trap of restaurants in this tiny village profiting off the travertines.