Cappadocia to Trabzon

Last night we arrived in Trabzon after a grueling journey through endless mountain passes and twisty roads. What was expected to be a four hour journey turned into a ten hour expedition, through mountain passes of 3200m, in the mist, clouds, and hill sides covered in pine trees. There was even snow and a flock of very woolly rams.

The landscape changed dramatically from the dusty rock scape of Cappadocia. We passed through lush green plains, next to poppy fields and inland lakes until we reached alpine scenery. I took many photos along the journey as the mountain roads provided breath taking views. Unfortunately I felt very dizzy, but thankfully I survived with the help of several motion sickness tablets. Eight hours of those roads was exhausting and I was very glad to arrive, even if Trabzon is possibly the ugliest town that I have ever seen! The weather here is pretty similar to at home. It's cold and grey, with stormy looking clouds. Not quite the Turkish seaside resort that I was expecting. However, I went to see an old church this morning with some of the group and then wandered around the town. There were streets of brightly coloured clothes shops and market stalls with fabric and fresh fish. I tried to buy a silk head scarf but I couldn't find a colour scheme that suited me. Most of them tended to use floral prints in bright colour and I decided that the choice of head scalf represented the wearers personality. There are times when blending in is really useful, but when I walk around on my own I don't seem to have many problems since many of the local girls have curly brown hair and western style clothes.

Despite there being not a lot here for tourists to see, it's an interesting place with lovely fresh bread and great fish restaurants. I enjoyed walking through the narrow streets, which showed a very honest representation of the way of life here, in industrial Turkey.

This afternoon we took a trip out of town to the Sumela Monastery which is built into a cliff face, hidden in the forested Karadaglar mountains. It was incredibley atmospheric, covered in mist, with a vertical rock face that continued as far as the eye could see. Inside the monastery were religious frescos that covered the entire surface area. Although the visibility was pretty bad, and we weren't able to see the building from the valley, it was still an interesting trip.

Cappadocia, Turkey

Today a few of us went for a wander from the campsite to the town of Gerome, passing several rock formations along the way. I tried to take a fairly slow walk in the hot sun as apparently today the temperature reached the mid thirties. I think that I am beginning to get used to it, as I'm feeling a lot better.




The people on the tour are all really nice and its been fun just chatting and trekking. For lunch we stopped off at a restaurant and I had lamb kabab and rice which was nice. My idea for being vegetarian really doesn't work out here, as I feel so much better for eating meat.



Tomorrow we are leaving and heading to the North East of Turkey. We have our first bush camp in the evening and then we arrive in Trabzon the following day.

Istanbul to Cappadocia

After a slight mix up with the group meeting point, we were directed to a different hostel, where I met the rest of my travel companions. There are nine of us in total plus two drivers. This provided much relief as the group combines a range of ages, a fairly balanced male/female mix and so far, the people seem pretty nice. The group leaders seemed like great guys too. For the rest of the day we went off to explore Istanbul and I found myself mostly ignoring various forms of hastle from Turkish men as I walked to the Blue Mosque. Although this part of town had some great architecture, it felt quite sleazy as it had many obvious tourist shops and cafes. I preferred the area around Taksim Square and its happening main street.




The following morning we left our hostel at six am and took a tram to the edge of the city. From there we met the truck for the first time and the drivers negotiated grid locked roads as we made our way towards central Turkey. They drove for thirteen hours, with frequentent breaks at service stations along the way.

After a few hours the countryside changed into a landscape of rolling hills with scattered villages and uniform housing blocks, to dry, arid mountains. I managed to sleep for quite a lot of the journey due to such an early start as well as the continual rocking of the vehicle. We watched the sunset against the mountains and a few hours later we turned up at a campsite. We were given a quick demonstration in putting up tents and fed a meaty pizza. I found this disgusting as it had been ordered for our arrival, by which point it was warm, greasy with a scattering of minced meat and possibly some vegetables. I tried to satisfy the rest of my hunger with a packet of crisps.



The night was cold. Very cold. It felt like I woke up every hour and put on another layer of clothing until three am, when I decided there was still enough of the night left that I couldn't stay as I was until morning. By this point I was in the sleeping bag wearing a full set of clothes with thermals, a fleece and a coat with a hood. I began to wonder whether I had the sleeping bag inside out, and had to get out into the cold tent, turn it the other way and in desperation I grabbed all the clothes that I had with me, to stuff into the sleeping bag around me. All our tents were so close together I was slightly concerned about waking the others, since every movement sounded so loud, but I became too cold to think about that. I awoke to hot morning sunlight and realised that I was sleeping next a mesh layer without a cover. In the morning I was set up with a different tent which I shall try tonight.

Today we went on a tour of the Cappadocia region and encountered great rock structures, referred to as fairy chimmney, where people use to live until the ninteen fifties. We went inside one of the buildings but I found it far too claustrophopic, with narrow tunnels and low ceilings in the darkness. The rest of the group explored the underground city, where people use to live, their existance completely undetected by those above. The group were told to leave their backpacks behind to ensure that they could fit through some vary small spaces. After seeing the photos from the rest of the group, I think that I made the right decision in staying above ground.



On the way back, we stopped off in a large town and I bought duvet to put over the top of my sleeping bag and a towel, since I think my travel towel is back in England, in a different backpack. I am hoping that with a warmer tent, being fully prepared with thermal clothing and a duvet to cover the sleeping bag, I should be able to feel warm.

I feel that I am starting to get to know the group a bit more tonight and we had our first evening dinner at the camp which was a fun experience.

Istanbul, Turkey

I've arrived in sunny Istanbul. I'm staying at a hostel near Tasksim square in the modern part of the city. The streets here are bustling with people and everything is very colourful, from the shop fronts, to the clothes that people are wearing. It definately has that feel of Europe meets Asia, with a very happening yet chilled atmosphere.



So far Istanbul seems like an interesting city, which I shall see a totally different side to tomorrow, when I go to the old part of town to meet up with the Dragoman group and start the tour. There's a small supermarket next to the hostel so I'm going to head back and relax. So far so good...