Unforgettable Turkey..

...and finally we arrived in Turkey, and for the first time also on Asian soil! the first impact is truly shocking, we arrive in that absurd bedlam of a city called Istanbul eheh! traffic everywhere, people popping up from all sides, tourists pounced on by sellers and our camper looking like an alien spaceship in an unknown world..mamma what a chaos!!! once over the shock we had a great time wandering around one of the most beautiful cities in the world in my opinion..maybe also because from the first day we went around, I fell madly in love with the mosques..practically at every mosque (and in Istanbul there are hundreds) I stood open-mouthed..for a moment I dreamed of being a Muslim so I could go every day to those marvels..the 4 days flew by, and the memory of the Blue Mosque will stay with me forever.

Now we set off for my father's favourite destination (and later mine too)..Cappadocia! Before getting there a brief stop in Ankara..which looks more like a western city than an eastern one..lots of big buildings and quite a different structure compared to Istanbul..and yet we're already in Asia! Cappadocia is of quite another interest..a place truly on the edge of absurdity, houses carved into the mountains, thousands of little cone-shaped hills, and hundreds of holes and shelters coming out everywhere..it almost seems absurd to think that in antiquity various peoples lived here! And off to visit Zelve, Cavusin, Uchisar and Goreme, the latter of which I liked particularly..though there's very little to leave out, if anything.

Before turning south, we allow ourselves a quick stop on the Black Sea, which I'd already seen years earlier in Bulgaria; just for a quick dip! Course firmly south..to return to the Mediterranean..with a visit to Manavgat and its beautiful waterfalls and to Aspendos where, besides the aqueduct, we find nothing interesting.

Much more important is the visit to Antalya, the famous southern Turkish port; indeed it was pleasant to wander into it and among its many stalls, to the delight of my parents who didn't take long to raid the local stalls..I console myself with an unmissable kebab that I devoured in the blink of an eye! Having spent these 2 days here..we prepare to continue our journey along the coast to visit Myra, a town famous for its ruins, very pretty..though with this heat the fatigue starts to be felt..the little village of Kas offers nothing unmissable, so we go to Pamukkale...a spectacle!! The hot springs are fantastic..taking a bath, moreover in summer, is a unique pleasure...a shame to spend only one day there! Back to the coast..the visit of the historic part awaits us..in the south-west with a stop at Ephesus, Bergama and Troy...how lovely! Ephesus is very beautiful...ruins everywhere, I don'

t know where to look first..Bergama the same..with the remains of an imposing amphitheatre..Troy well, after climbing on the horse, I think there's little to say eheh! The journey is over..we head sadly home, a wonderful holiday, I really hope I can go back sooner or later!