DAY 9 Began the day with another lovely breakfast - this time it included a freshly made mushroom & cheese omelette :). Forgot to mention the cats last night. Gorgeous cats (probably wild) hang around at meal times hoping for a feed. I want to cuddle and pat them, they're so gorgeous, but I'm wary of rabies in countries like this so I didn't - I did feed them though :). They were here at breakfast also. One tortoiseshell cat particularly liked my spicy sa...

DAY 7 Wake up call at 4:10am for our balloon ride through Cappadocia with Voyager Balloons. A stop off for payment and breakfast, then on to our balloon. Ours wasn't overly colourful (just orange and grey), but you can't see your own in the air so that didn't matter. We had booked a small basket (as previous visitors recommended) and we had 13 guests + 1 pilot in our basket. A very chilly start to the morning but it didn't take long to warm up. The basket w...

DAY 8 Today we drive west to Aksehir, then south across the Taurus Mountains into the luxuriant green forests, orchards and olive groves on the hills sloping down to the sparkling blue Mediterranean Sea. Before we arrive we stop for lunch at a local restaurant while other members of the tour do an excursion of Perge and Aspendos. Sitting on a balcony overlooking a river (who's name escapes me), we ordered Chicken Cic (pronounced shis). Basically a chicken keba...

DAY 6 Wow! What a day! We saw so much today, got on and off the bus more times than I can remember.... But it was great! First visit was to the Rock Chapels 'Uchisar' with it's gorgeous panoramic view, complete with chair under an "evil eye" tree. Then on to Pigeon Valley with yet another photo opportunity. These places are simply amazing to look at and the fact they have stood the test of time is incredible. I hope the photos do them justice. Then we visi...

DAY 5 A bit of history on Ankara this morning before leaving. We learnt that Angora is the old name for Ankara and they have 3 indigenous animals in the region - Angora Goats, Rabbits & Cats. We started today with a visit to the Museum Of Anatolian Civilizations to see the unique collections of Hittite sun discs, stag cult figures & reliefs and Phrygian metalwork. Our favourite was a 4,000 year old letter written in stone and encased in a stone envelo...