Terrific Turkey

I am now in the beautiful south west of France, before I delve into the joys that is this region of the world, I thought I'd share some more of my time in Turkey, particularly given the rioting that has been happening in Istanbul and other Turkish cities over the past few days.

As I'm beginning to get a bit sick of traveling alone I decided to join a tour for my time in Turkey.  The  tour route was a fairly standard route, mainly in the western part of Turkey.  After visiting the sights in Istanbul (Blue Mosque, Hagia Sophia and the Cistern being highlights) we departed for Gallipoli which I have already posted about (but here is another photo that I couldn't upload at the time).

From there, we headed to the ancient city of Troy.  While there was a wooden horse, truth be told, the site was a little underwhelming.  We also visited Pergamum which was a little more exciting, especially the ruins of the amphitheater. But, the pick of the ancient sights was definitely Ephesus.  The detail and breadth of the ruins were just stunning.

After Ephesus it was onto a boat for three nights of cruising the Turkish coast.  It was very relaxing and surprisingly the scenery reminded me a lot of the Marlborough Sounds (a good reminder of the many wonderful places that will be on my doorstep when I move back to New Zealand).

Pamukkale was next on the itinerary.  Pamukkale is a crazy limestone terrace formation with yet more ancient ruins.  I imagine it is what the pink and white terraces would have looked like if Mt Tarawera hadn't erupted in 1886 and buried them.  A pretty unusual sight and nice to have witnessed.

From Pamukkale it was on to Cappadocia. The fairy chimneys in Goreme and surrounding areas were so beautiful, but my lasting memory of Cappadocia is going to be witnessing a hot air balloon crash that killed 3 other tourists.  (I knew I had good reason to be nervous about going ballooning.)

I loved seeing all the sights and witnessing the beautiful landscapes of Turkey. One of the most lasting impressions made by the country was the depth of the history.  Turkey has been inhabited since Palaeolithic times.  In contrast, New Zealand apparently has the shortest human history of any country in the world.  Polynesian people are estimated to have arrived in the 13th century and it wasn't until 1642 that Europeans were even aware that New Zealand existed (http://www.teara.govt.nz/en/history/page-1).

I think it is part of the reason why, as a generalisation, that Kiwis love to travel - we all know that New Zealand is 'but a baby' in terms of history and Kiwis want to learn as much about the world as they can first hand.  While I have now traveled through several parts of Europe (with all its incredible history), my trip to Turkey really brought home just how young and isolated from the world New Zealand is.

The tour also gave an interesting insight (at least our tour guide's view) into the current issues facing the nation.  I got the impression from him that increasing conservatism within the government and the potential move away from a secular state was of real concern to citizens.  Accordingly, it was with much interest that I read about the recent riots.  If you are interested in reading more about this, then you might enjoy this blog http://defnesumanblogs.com/2013/06/01/what-is-happenning-in-istanbul/.
I haven't even mentioned a myriad of other interesting things I saw and learnt about, the shopping or the food - I guess you'll just have to go there yourself to discover this enticing country.