Amasya - totally worth it

Get into Amasya about 6 in the morning after having a few hours sleep. Find a hotel and book a room for the night. I wonder briefly if they're going to charge me for the rest of this morning and tonight as two separate nights, but for now I just want a bed.

The night receptionist is the weirdest Turk I've met yet. After giving me my room he kisses me on both cheeks and hugs me. I'm all for friendlyness but this seems a little much. Shortly after this he follows me into the bathroom while I'm taking a piss and gives me a pair of sandals.

At this point I feel I would be completely justified in getting the hell out, but a combination of instinct and tiredness convinces me to stay. He is odd, but I think he is harmless. In any case, he is about two-thirds my size and three times older than me. I back myself to be okay if things get worse.

I sleep with the key in the lock and keep my passport on me today.

By the time I get up it's mid morning. I go for a walk and orientate myself before heading up to look at some ancient tombs. They are mostrously huge, visible from miles away. Even the graffiti doesn't make them any less impressive.

The tombs are scattered over a rocky hillside so I climb about for a bit. I find a narrow rail track heading up the hill so I follow it. At the top I meet five Turks who I take to be miners.

This is why Turkey is great; in the UK there's no way I'd have got anywhere near a working site like that, and if I did I'd be shooed away pretty quickly. In contrast, these guys greet me and offer me a cup of tea. Despite no common language they tell be they are archaeologists working for the museum, digging deep into the hillside (down a tunnel not visible from below) looking for Roman and Byzantium artifacts. Once we hear thunder they put me in the mine cart and send me back down the hillside, so I won't have to climb. Turks are amazing.

I walk a long way round to visit the Citadel which has a fantastic view of Amasya, and walk along a country road for a bit. Back in town, I have me first mixed grill of the month - I'm slightly surprised by how long it's taken me, but with all the kebabs on offer it makes sense. When I get back to the hostel the weird guy takes an extra 10 bucks off me. I'm not too surprised. Well, moving on again tomorrow.

Göreme - chilling out and leaving

The weather isn't fantastic so I spend the morning doing some errands - laundry, book hunting, drinking tea and playing backgammon. Stefan (who I met on the bus from Konya) and I walk to the Göreme open-air museum which consists of more churches carved out of rock.

I grab my stuff and leave in the early evening. If all goes well I will not have a fun night - I'm planning on catching a night bus, something I was trying to avoid. Thing is, after Kaş and Göreme I feel like I've done far too much relaxing and not nearly enough travelling, so I need a bit of a kick start to get me moving properly again.

At Kayserai I book myself on the night coach. It leaves at 11pm and gets into Amasya at about 6 in the morning.

What fun.

Göreme - Taking the Tour - April 15th

I'm booked on a guided tour of the area which turns out to be money well spent. We visit the panoramic view of the area, an underground city which is about 4,000 years old and used to be used in times of attack, a canyon and an old caravanserai also carved out of mountainside.





It's a full day.

Göreme - City of rock

Head to the museum in Konya - it's dedicated to someone-who's-name-escapes-me, but is the spiritual home of the whirling dervishes.



Get a couple of buses to Göreme in Cappadocia which is frankly almost indescribable. So I won't make much effort to describe it. About half the town is carved out of the mountainside and my room is a cave.



It is cool enough that I'm happy to plan on spending a few nights here.

Konya - bugging out and getting clean

I must have come to a decision while I was asleep because when I wake up I decide to leave pretty quicky. Antalya just reminds me of Kaş, only it's worse, so there doesn't seem to be much point in staying.



Cappadocia is a bit too far to do in one journey if you don't have to, so I stop off at Konya for a night. I have made one utterly idiotic mistake - I had a bottle of beer in my rucksack which I forgot about, and after the bus journey it had broken in my bag. Thankfully my towel seemed to take most of the damage. Lesson learnt - from now on I'm drinking all my beer as soon as I get it.


Konya is a funky little city. I'm feeling grubby so go to the haman which is fantastic - I get washed, soaped and massaged for about 12 quid. I would like to point out, once more, that being rubbed down by a hairy topless Turkish guy is totally not gay.



I meet a Turkish student waiter Emra who gives me a badge he made himself, and arrange to meet him for drinks after he gets off work. We join a friend of his in a bar for a bit, before I head back.

Antalya - scrambling and rambling

Don't feel like doing much this morning so I sit in the campsite and read a book that I liberated from the communal library. It is called "The Second Wives' Club" and is the most promising title available, which tells you a little bit about the collection. It is one of the worst written books I have ever read.



In the afternoon I scramble about on the valley near the Olympos ruins and see a little bit of wildlife. I get a lift to Antalia with the Turk I befriended yesterday and find the hostel, before wandering about a bit.



First impressions aren't great, but I'll get a better idea about the place tomorrow.