There are a few downsides to a short, intense tour like this though. The photos in the photo gallery below should give some indication of the beauty of the landscapes that we encountered and the majesty of the ancient cities we visited. It was an absolutely incredible week where we saw the physical remnants of ancient history, learnt a lot about Turkish history and culture from our highly knowledgable guide, shed a few tears at Gallopoli, made snow angels for the first time, and in an absolute highlight of the whole tour, saw the otherworldly landscape of Cappadocia from the heights of a hot-air balloon.Įphesus is an incredibly well-preserved ancient city, the Pamukkale travertines are a stunning reminder of what nature can create, and the remains of Troy are a warning against the consequences of indiscriminate fortune hunters carrying out excavations rather than trained archaeologists.
Day Six: We started the day with a sunrise hot-air balloon flight over the lunar landscape of Cappadocia, before visiting an underground city, a gem and mineral shop, and the Goreme Valley Open Air Museum and the fairy chimneys.Day Five: We travelled the ancient Silk Road visiting Sultanhani Caravansary and the Mevlana museum in Konya along the way.Day Four: The morning started with a display of locally handcrafted leather goods before heading to the magnificent white calcium terraces, known as Travertines, in Pamukkale where we also toured the ancient city of Hierapolis.We continued to the former Greek village of Sirince, famous for its fruit wines. Day Three: We started the day with a visit to the carpet village where Turkish carpets are made by hand, and continued with a guided tour of Ephesus, the ancient city.
Its impressive temples and library made Pergamum a renowned cultural and political centre in its time. Day Two: We visited Troy, home of the famed Trojan horse, and then toured the magnificent acropolis of Pergamum.
We visited the WW1 battlefields of Gallipoli including the Long Pine and Chunuk Bair Memorials, ANZAC Cove, Johnston’s Jolly, original trenches and tunnels, and The Nek. Day One: Departed from Istanbul in the early morning to one of the most emotionally touching places in Turkey, the Gallipoli peninsula.Here’s a brief snapshot of what we did each day: After all, a holiday can actually be quite hard work – researching and booking accommodation, transportation, planning public transport routes, figuring out where to eat, trying to learn the basics of a new language…it can be quite stressful! For that reason, we joined a Fez Travel seven day Turkey Classics tour, where all we had to do was follow instructions about what time to get up and be ready for the day’s activities – everything else was taken care of for us!Ĭagman (pronounced Charman) our guide, and Erim our minibus driver, took our small group of twelve tourists around some of the most beautiful sights in Turkey. Note – photo gallery at the bottom of this post.Īfter nearly four months of travelling and all the organisation and planning that that entails, I was about ready to hand over responsibility to someone else.
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