Wednesday 23 September
An early departure from Istanbul to the airport for a flight to Kayseri in Cappadocia, central Turkey.

After lunch of meze platter and apple tea, we visited the Goreme open air museum.

The landscape is amazing with natural rock formations which have been produced by weather effects over many many years and where we visited at least three Christian churches which were carved into the soft rock and painted with frescoes including St Barbara church, Apple church and Snake church. We could have spent all day exploring there and it is a must-see with so much history attached amidst the landscape which could be on another planet or on the moon.

In the afternoon we visited a government run carpet weaving centre. From past experience, I realise that having group in such a place is a distinct advantage to avoid any hard selling.

By chance it was an important religious ceremony called Eid.Bayram which we were told relates to a bible story of Abraham choosing to sacrifice his son and today animals are sacrificed, although we didn’t see any sacrifices. It was very busy with Turkish holiday makers.

Unfortunately it meant we needed to change hotel and we missed out on staying in a cave room hotel. We stayed out of Urgup at a new hotel called the Hill hotel. It was still experiencing some plumbing problems but the staff were very friendly (so that made up for the plumbing), the room was big and comfortable and they put on a big banquet for the group that night.

Tuesday 22 September
Today we got a public ferry on the Bosphorus to the end of the line near the Black Sea which took about 1 hour.

From the ferry there was a view of the restaurant under the bridge where we had lunch the day before, along with all the keen fishermen with their lines hanging over the bridge into the Bosphorus. It was a beautiful day to be cruising on the Bosphorus with views to the east and west as we crisscrossed to each ferry terminal. Lunch again, there was a choice of sardines, sea bass and gilt head bream. I chose gilt head which was delicious. Desert generally does not interest me but we had a desert ?? kana feh (not sure if this is correct but check the photo) which tasted of sesame seeds and was like a baked custard. At the top of the hill was the ruins of a Byzantine castle (Yaros Kalesi) with a view to the Black Sea and near the fishing village of Anadolu Kavağı.
Dinner was in the rooftop restaurant in the hotel next door and we had a vegetarian Turkish meal. Afterwards we lounged on the big cushions in the outside smoking area with a beautiful view across Istanbul and the Bosphorus, chatting to guides Genghis and Erica.

Monday 21 September 2015
We flew to Singapore and needed to change planes from Qantas to Turkish Airlines but we both fell asleep in the lounge and woke to find that our second flight was already boarding. It was a bit of a hike to the gate but we luckily managed to get on the plane before it took off with a couple of others just behind us!!! We arrived in Istanbul on Monday morning at around 6am. We were stragglers (again!) to get to the luggage pickup and by the time we got there our two suitcases were standing alone beside the carousel. And everyone from the plane had gone but luckily our airport pickup was waiting patiently as we hoped.
Breakfast was ready in our hotel (Sirkeci Park Hotel) and we felt like we might have stepped into the last Marigold Hotel. The hotel was in a great position in the old part of Istanbul near the Spice market, the Blue Mosque and other sites and the staff very friendly and helpful. When other guests arrived for breakfast we were guessing who might be on our tour as we knew other tour participants were staying there as well. Our tiny room and ensuite made us think that getting out would be best… So we headed off to get some money and a ticket for the trams. Having conquered the ticket vending machine we got the tram to the end of the line and reached the Bosphorus which is the strait dividing Istanbul into East and west.

We were walking back and a shoe shine man dropped his brush. When we told him about it, he was very pleased and offered a free shoe clean but when we offered him some money instead he insisted it wasn’t enough!!
We then got the tunnel tram to the top of the hill and the Galata Tower. We wandered back down the cobbled streets with lots of cafes and small shops.There were lots of fruit stalls offering freshly squeezed fruit juice including pomegranite juice, all offering various advantages for your health.

On the return trip we found lots of restaurants sitting under a bridge and had our first Turkish lunch of octopus, calamari and yoghurt dip with Turkish beer. After we took the tunnel tram up the hill to the tower. Heaps of little streets, all mostly cobbled with dozens of shops, restaurants and cafes.
That night we met our group and guide, Genghiskhan. We had dinner with the group had food cooked in terracotta pots called testikebap. The posts were brought flaming and then the bottoms were sliced off, the contents removed and the pots smashed on the ground. Turkish food is yummy .