Europe and Beyond

Sunday 21 May After a few days on the road, today was a bit more relaxing. Next to Fethiye, where we are staying, is Calis Beach and we had heard that it was popular with the Brits and quite nice. We headed toward Calis Beach, but saw a large childrens playground and decided to stop.  It turned out to be part of a much larger park containing many scupltures, a Turkish garden, exercise equipment, a 2900metre walking track and many seats and a raised area to watch the sunset.  It was very well done, though some of the scupltures were showing their age. We continued onto Calis Beach, but were a bit underwhelmed.  The beach itself consisted of small stones rather than sand - as do many European beaches and the water didn't look inviting (wasn't a clear blue colour).  There was also a 'shark net' thing only about 20 metres off shore, so you couldn't swim out very far.  Don't think there are sharks here so not exactly sure what it was trying to keep out. There was a p...

 Thursday May 18 Time to leave Cappadocia after a fantastic stay and spend the next few days on the road, first heading to Konya.  On the way to Konya we stopped at Selime Cathedral about an hour and a half from Cappadocia.  This cathedral is built inside another Fairy Chimney and dates back to the 8th or 9th century BC  The complex includes the cathedral, a monastery, store rooms, bed and living rooms and a kitchen.  It was far bigger than we expected and more detailed than the ones around Cappadocia with columns carved from the rocks and more elaborate decorations.  We stayed here about an hour wandering around and taking photos.  Apparently Star Wars episode 1 got inspiration for some sets from this area. The drive to Konya took about another hour and we arrived at our hotel around 3:00pm. Our stay didn't get off to a great start as our room was in a mess when we went in and we ended up getting moved to a different room.   One of the reaso...

 Monday May 15th A 3:30am alarm is no great way to start the day, but the end result was worth it. We were picked up from our hotel at 4:00 and taken to the Voyager Balloons office for breakfast  - but mostly to pay the remaining balance for our sunrise balloon flight. We had booked a 'Comfort' ride, which meant a maximum of 16 people, rather than the 20 or 24 crammed into other baskets. It turned out to be an inspired choice as there were only 4 of us - plus pilot. Trace and I in one half of the basket meant we could move around and swap places at will. It was our first balloon ride and we were surprised at how gentle take off was. In fact the whole 1:15hr ride was so peaceful and smooth it was amazing. A balloon ride is a 'must do' in Cappadocia and we were in one of 100 balloons, with another 50 launching half an hour or so later. It was truly spectacular watching all the balloons floating along, but also looking at the 'fairy chimneys' that form a large part...