A short flight from Bucharest to Istanbul took us to Turkey. We joined a Luxury Escapes tour of the country that began from here. The first stop was the Shangri-La Hotel on the Bosphorus river.

We joined our tour group and spent the next three days in Istanbul. This included a cruise along the Bosphorus river, which is the border between Asia and Europe. There were many mosques and palaces along the way. Istanbul is a city of mosques. There are more than 3,000 there and minarets litter the horizon.

We had a fantastic time getting to know the other people on the tour at a rooftop bar where we watched the sun setting over the minarets of the city. It was spectacular. In an amazing coincidence, one of the Turkish waiters had been to Australia only once for two days and happened to spend it in Geelong. Weird.

During our time in Istanbul we drove over a bridge from Europe to Asia and saw some incredible old mosques, one of which was called the Hagia Sophia. This enormous mosque was converted into a church at one stage and then later back to a mosque. It is now a museum and the Muslims had laid plaster over all of the walls. When they started to remove the plaster, they found ancient Christian mosaics underneath. Incredible to see a building which had both Christian and Muslim features.

After the mosques we stopped off at the spice bazaar. This frantic market sold all sorts of bits and bobs, including many stores selling Turkish delight. Our tour guide, Tolga, worded us up on the best stall to buy the Turkish delight and most of us headed straight there. They had plenty of taste testings of all different sorts of Turkish delight, including some rolled in dried rose leaves. They were delicious and we walked out with two boxes. One for home and one for the road. We thought we would eat the one for the road over the next two weeks in Turkey. It lasted two days.

After exploring Istanbul we took a short domestic flight to Bodrum, which is a seaside resort town on the Aegean Sea. When we arrived at the airport for our domestic flight, the check in guy started blabbering something to us in Turkish. We had no idea what he was talking about, so we called Tolga over. Turns out that the 20kg luggage limit was wrong and we were only allowed 15kg each. We thought we were clever getting our suitcases down to 19kg each, but this guy wanted us to pay excess luggage. We definitely picked the wrong counter, because everyone else on the tour (besides Nicole from New Zealand) checked in without any worries, even though some had up to 23 kgs. Anyway, after much yelling and arm-waving between Tolga and our check in friend, Tolga sorted it out and we took our bamboozled butts onto the plane.

Bodrum was a stunning town right on the coast. All the buildings are white and they tumble down the mountain to an ancient fort, perched right on the shoreline. Our hotel gave us a panoramic view of the town and harbour.

While we were there we went on a boat cruise around the area. We stopped at a few places along the way. We anchored and jumped into the pristine, cool waters with the white cliffs and beaches as a backdrop. It was very hot day so we found the waters to be invigorating.

Bodrum was a very cute town with a meandering pedestrian street winding through bars, cafes, restaurants and shops. We were walking through this street by ourselves when Lidia mentioned that she would like to buy some Turkish tea cups. One of the ladies on our tour, Di, was particularly good at haggling and Lidia said it would be great if we ran into her so she could bargain for us. We found some tea cups she liked walked into the shop and who should be standing in the same shop but Di. She asked the shop boy how much the tea cups were and he said "1,000 lira". Di said "You're very cheeky." And then she went to work. She got him from 1,000 down to 55. I think the guy was a bit shell-shocked when we walked out of there.

After Bodrum we drove to the magnificent Pamukkale. This amazing natural wonder is a mountain made up of terraced, white pools that are naturally formed by calcium carbonate. Our hotel contained a thermal spa which was a pool filled with 40 deg mineral water. You couldn't see the bottom of the pool and when I touched the side of the pool and saw green muck hanging off my fingers, I hot tailed it out of there.

We left Pamukkale and drove to Ephesus. This ancient city dates back to 3,000 BC and was largely built by the Romans. The ruins are spectacular with an ancient 2 story library and a huge amphitheatre. The day was scorchingly hot and there was no shade so our brains were boiling by the end of the tour.

From Ephesus we hopped another domestic flight to the stunning Cappadocia. This area was like stepping onto another planet. Over centuries the people built their homes by carving caves into the mountains and the rock spires that littered the landscape. There were massive, panoramic valleys containing thousands of these spires. An incredible sight.

We woke on the first morning at 4:30am and took a van to a hot air balloon. We rose with the sun silently up into the sky and floated amongst 100 other balloons in a multitude of patterns and colours. It was truly a once in a lifetime experience.

After our landing Tolga took us to an underground city that dated back hundreds of years. They are located all over Cappadocia and the one we saw once held 25,000 people. The city was organised in a labyrinth of tunnels and caves and some of the group had to turn back when the tunnels became tight.

When we got back to our beautiful hotel we had a wine tasting of a variety of Turkish wines. Although Turks are over 80% Muslim they still drink alcohol and their wines are really very good. During our tasting we tried a white called Emir and we enjoyed it so much we went up to the terrace overlooking the valley and enjoyed a bottle of it.

The next morning we woke early, opened the curtains and were confronted with one of the most incredible views of our lives. The hot air balloons were floating in front of our room and seemed suspended in the air with a bright orange sun rising behind them. Truly awe inspiring.

Then it was back to the airport for our flight back to Istanbul. We arrived at the Shangri-La just after lunch and we caught up with another couple from the tour, Bryan and Glynda for a quick drink before heading out with them to see the Grand Bazaar. It took us 45 minutes to travel only about 7km to the bazaar.

The bazaar is huge and is located inside an ancient converted mosque with beautiful painted arch ceilings. We spent about an hour there begore we decided to head back to the hotel before our farewell dinner. Finding a way back to the hotel was not so easy. It had cost us 30 lire of get there, but the first taxi driver we found offered to take us back for 200 lire. We obviously refused him and another driver offered us 130 and then came down to 100. By this stage we had to get back so we agreed and hopped into the cab.

It took us 40 minutes to get back to the hotel and when we arrived I gave the driver 100 lire as agreed. He took the money and before I got out of the cab he stopped me and said my money was a fake. He asked me to give him another 100 so I did and he gave me my first note back.

That night we went out for a farewell dinner to say goodbye to four of the people on our tour. The rest of us had booked a two day extension to Troy and Gallipoli. It was sad to say goodbye, particularly to Boon and Werner. They were a lot of fun. We met a lot of wonderful people on this tour and hope to remain friends with them. It was one of those rare tours where there was absolutely no Gregs!

The next day we headed off to Gallipoli. Halfway there we stopped for a drink and I gave the shop owner the 100 lire note. He wouldn't accept it, saying it was a fake. I paid with a different note and then went to show Tolga. He confirmed that my note was counterfeit. I couldn't work out how I had a counterfeit note when I had only got my 100 lire notes from an ATM. Then Tolga asked if I had accepted any notes from a taxi driver because they are notorious for handing out fake notes. The penny then dropped. The taxi driver the day before had switched my note for a fake and then had me change it, thereby passing the fake onto me. Mongrel.

It took us 6 hours of driving to arrive in Troy. This ancient city is associated with the famous story of the Trojan horse and is now only a bunch of ruins.

The next day we drove to Gallipoli. We saw Anzac Cove and the various monuments that the Turks have erected in honour of the Turkish, Australian and New Zealand soldiers that gave their lives in World War 1. It was a sobering experience and one I will never forget. It is a true testament to the Turkish people that they can forgive and mend fences when at the end of the day it was their country that was invaded. There is a beautiful monument from Turkey's first President, Mustafa Ataturk which reads "You, the mothers who sent their sons from far away countries, wipe away your tears. Your sons are now lying in our bosom and are in peace. After having lost their lives on this land, they have become our sons as well."