An Acropolis, an Asclepion and a Red Basilica

Bergama  is right next to the ancient city of Pergamon or Pergamum which is famous for its Acropolis set on top of a big hill.  We set off from our hostel with the instructions that we could walk to take a cable car up the hill, and the walk would take us about 10 minutes….

In the footsteps of Paul

We had been looking forward to visiting Ephesus since we arrived in Turkey, so we were delighted that the weather was sunny and warm in the morning when we set out.  We had planned to take a bus from the modern city of Selcuk (where we were staying) to Ephesus as it is about 3km…

Swimming in the ruins

After another all night bus, we arrived in Pamukkale before 7am – luckily we found somewhere to store our bags and wait until things opened up! Pamukkale is famous for its hot pools, terraces and the ruins of Hierapolis. After a picnic breakfast of bread and cheese we wandered over to the travertines  – round terraces…

Piako in Wales

Piako took a quick trip to Wales to visit a castle.  It was windy and rainy, so Piako’s adventures in Wales were limited!      

An underground city

We arrived in Goreme about 5.45am, into a clear, cold morning.  As we got off the bus we watched the sunrise and dozens of balloons rise with it – it was simply stunning.     After ascertaining that our hostel was only a few minutes walk away, we refused a ride there for 10 lira…

An unexpected city

We arrived in Side later than we had planned due to some buses going less often than we had thought, but feeling positive.  This feeling was somewhat challenged when we carefully followed the map provided by booking.com only to end up staring at an empty field.  We tried calling the hotel. No answer. We asked…

Roasting marshmallows on Mt Olympos

Our next stop after Kas was the town of Olympos, where we stayed in a “tree house” (actually a bungalow – there is some rule about not building houses with foundations).  A vegetarian breakfast and dinner were included, which we don’t normally go for but made it a pretty good deal.     When we…

Kayaking in Kas

We arrived in Kas (pronounced Cash) a couple of days after they apparently have a big celebration in the middle of town to celebrate the end of tourist season. We wondered…are they celebrating that the tourists have brought money into town and made it a good season, or that they will now be free of…

Dalyan

We took a ferry from Rhodes to Marmaris,Turkey – this one was just a short trip of an hour! From here we made our way by a combination of walking, buses and a minibus to the riverside town of Dalyan.  Our first view across the river when we went to check in at our bungalow…

Rhodes

We managed to take the looooong way to Rhodes…one of the things about travelling off season in Greece is the ferries don’t run as often or as directly.  Our trip to Rhodes took from 3am until about midnight…quite a long time to be on a ferry, but at least it was a fairly comfortable one….