There’s no point in beating around the bush. Turkey has been one of our favourite countries. So much so that it’s a very strong contender for THE favourite country of the entire trip. It felt both European and Eastern. I suppose that’s to say that it felt familiar, comfortable, organized and yet was strange, exotic, and welcoming. There’s plenty of culture to experience, beautiful landscapes to see, and the people &#91read more]

Tomb with Ephesus Library.  Just try to get a (nearly) people-free picture like this in the high season… I dare you. For weeks now, we’ve been travelling along the western coast of Turkey and have been hitting ghost town after ghost town after ghost town.  (Note: This post was written in December, when we were still in Turkey).  As we walked the Lycian Way, we were surprised to find that &#91read more]

It was stunning photos like this that brought us to Pamukkale, which literally means “cotton castle” in Turkish. Terraces of Pamukkale This giant white terraced hill has been built up bit by bit since early times made from a mineral deposit called travertine which is deposited from the ever-flowing hot spring. At the top lies the ancient ruins of Hierapolis, a city founded in the 2nd century BC. The closest &#91read more]

Olympos was, in my opinion, the ultimate place-to-chillax-and-catch-up-on-the-blog that we’ve seen. There are two qualifications to be made here however. 1) It was low season. And low season in Turkey means low season. There’s next to no one there. To give you an idea, our hostel alone had somewhere over 300 beds, but the whole time we were there, less than a dozen of them were occupied on any one &#91read more]

Myra was an ancient town in Lycia. Today what remains is the impressive rock-cut-tomb necropolis and the equally impressive Roman theatre. The site is compact, but has some of the most impressive rock carvings we’ve seen in Turkey. Very detailed and clear. Entrance is 15 Lira ($7.50 CAD) per person. Myra was also the home of Saint Nicholas, who was the bishop of Myra in the 4th century AD, and &#91read more]

After reading through our 4 part journal of the Lycian Way and some of the comments we received (thank you by the way, we love comments), it became apparent that our description of the long distance trail may have sounded… well… um… rather unpleasant. And that worried us, because that’s entirely the wrong impression. To clarify, here’s the message we wanted you to take home. All together, we loved our &#91read more]

This is Part 4 of 4. Click for Part 1, for Part 2, for Part 3. Day 11 Kalkan – 4 km before Saribelen 13 km (7hours) Today’s trail was mostly uphill and fairly well-marked and well-defined.  As we climbed, we passed a shepherdess with her sheep and goats.  She had just stopped to sit on a rock and split open a pomegranate.  As we passed, she smiled, and held &#91read more]