We arrived in Rishikesh at around 8am and caught a 15 minute tuk tuk to the Moustache hostel with another backpacker. After checking in, we lazed about and headed out at lunch to the Pyramid cafe, across the bridge. The service here was bad and after picking our meals, we were told the chef was leaving! So, we left and walked down the road to the Little Buddha cafe which was so much better. We spent the afternoon browsing through a few shops before heading back to the hostel and having dinner nearby at a himalayan restaurant, above the Hotel Peepal Tree, which had good food.

The following day, we started a 10 day yoga retreat with Rishikesh yogis yogshala. Therefore, after checking out of the Moustache hostel and eating a really good breakfast at the Frog Life cafe, we walked 5 minutes to the yoga venue at the Prithvi Pal Sadal Catholic Church. We arrived here around 1130am and after a brief tour with Uttam, one of the teachers, we met some of the group over lunch. In the afternoon, we had a brief introductory session in the yoga studio, before having a Hindu fire ceremony on the banks of the Ganges which was really interesting and in a very scenic location with a really good sunset. Following the ceremony it was back to the retreat for dinner and bed.

We were undertaking the yoga retreat with a group of teachers in training doing a 28 day, 200 hour course. Therefore, it was quiet an intense start the next day and consisted of meditation, breathing techniques and yoga between 7 and 930am. This was followed by breakfast between 930-1030am, a theory and meditation class between 1030-1245pm and then lunch. The afternoon consisted of 2 more theory classes between around 3pm to 530pm and one last yoga class between 530-7pm before dinner. As we were just doing the retreat, most of the theory classes were optional and we had organised activities during this time. On the first day, the organised activity was an ayurvedic massage at Shanti Makaan which was absolutely amazing. We both felt so relaxed after the massage and finished the day with yoga and dinner which was a great way to end the first full day of the retreat.

The next day was basically the same as the first day, but in the afternoon, we were taken by Summer to the Sivananda ashram. This ashram was established by Swami Sivananda and was where he undertook all his amazing medical and social works. We also visited his house, hospital and museum before heading back to the retreat for the last yoga class in the evening. Ben did not attend any more of the optional theory classes as he struggled to stay awake on the first day.

The training yoga teachers had no classes or theory on Sunday, but as another couple and us were only doing retreat, we had a yoga class at 7am in the morning. Following this, we had breakfast and headed to the Neer Garh waterfall as a group of around 8. It was so good to get into some cold water and be refreshed here as the outside heat was becoming unbearable. After the swim, we headed the short distance back to the retreat and out for lunch to the Nirvana cafe. It was great food and we enjoyed ourselevs so much we ended up spending around 3-4 hours here. From here, it was back to the retreat for the 530pm yoga class, dinner and then bed.

It was back to the normal routine the next day, and our organised activity was to head to the older part of Rishikesh for lunch, missing out on the morning theory and meditation class. We went to Rajasthani Mishthan Bhandar for lunch and here, we ate the best paneer butter masala and a delicious sweet cheese dessert. All the food for lunch in general was fantastic except for the salty masala drink which no one really enjoyed. We were back at the retreat for Kristy to do the afternoon theory class, before we both did the evening yoga class, ate dinner and went to bed. We also bought some sweets from the restaurant at lunch to share with the other yogis which was a big hit!

The bus from Jodhpur arrived in Ajmer around 2-230pm and from there we caught the 30 minute local bus to Pushkar. We had no accommodation organised in Pushkar, but we walked 15 minutes to the Doctor Alone hostel and got a double room as it was chilled out and had good views over the lake. After a late lunch/early dinner, we took a short walk through the Pushkar markets before returning to the hostel and hanging around for the evening.

The next morning, we lazed around the hostel until around lunch and then walked into the markets and to the Laughing Buddha cafe for lunch. After a delicious meal here, we spent the majority of the afternoon shopping for clothes and other goodies, which was exhausting. It was good to escape the markets and hike the small hill to the Pap Mochani Temple which had great views over the town and lake of Pushkar.

After heading back down the hill, we did some final shopping, had another great meal at Cafe Lake View, before heading back to the hostel. We had another lazy evening, eating dinner and taking in the views and lights over the lake.

We checked out of the Doctor Alone hostel at 10am and headed to the bus stop after breakfast and a coffee. We caught the packed and stinking hot local bus at 1130am from Pushkar to Ajmer, and from Ajmer, we caught the 1230pm bus to Jaipur, arriving around 3-330pm.

 

It was a short tuk tuk ride from the bus station in Jaipur to the Moustache hostel and after checking in, we signed up for free walking tour at 430pm. The “Nomadic tours” walking tour was extremely interesting and amazing. It included one of the best masala chai teas we had to date, through the clothes shopping area, to 2 rooftops with great views, for a samosa and pakora from a street stall, through the local fruit markets, to the Hawa Mahal (wind Palace), for some treats and finally to a Hindu temple as it was the God, Ganesh’s birthday. We finished the walking tour at Albert Hall which was built for an English King in the 1870’s and was lit with a colourful light display. After this, we headed back to the hostel for some drinks with the funny and chilled out hostel volunteers.

 

 

 

It was a slow start the next morning and we checked out at 11am before hiring a tuk tuk and driver for the days adventure. The first stop was the LMB restaurant where we had a delicious thaal for lunch before heading to the Amber Fort.

 

We wandered through this historical site for a couple of hours before heading back towards Jaipur. The tuk tuk driver took us to the Jah Mahal Lake Palace and then to a textile factory which tried to sell us some rugs, clothing and other textile items which we didn’t buy, but it was interesting to see the manufacturing process.

 

 

We headed back to Jaipur to do some final shopping before catching another tuk tuk back to the hostel. After getting back to the hostel, we got some dinner delivered and caught the 9pm overnight bus, which had a double bed in it, to Rishikesh.

We arrived in Amsterdam from Edinburgh at 7pm and caught the included shuttle to our hotel, Ramada Amsterdam, arriving around 8pm. Our flight the following morning was early, so we were in bed not long after arriving.

The next morning, we were up at around 5am to catch the 545am shuttle to the airport. Our first flight of the day was from Amsterdam to Munich, which was slightly delayed and departed at around 830am. Once we landed in Munich, we had to stay on the tarmac in the plane for a couple of hours due to a security issue in the airport. This then caused our next flight to Delhi at to be delayed 12pm to 2pm. We finally arrived in Delhi around 12am where our taxi driver was waiting for us. It was about a 30-45 minute drive to the Moustache hostel.

Due to the big day of travel the previous day, and time difference, we slept in the following morning until around 11am, missing breakfast.  It was only a short walk to the Bhoj restaurant, where we had our first delicious curry of our stay in India.

We then caught a tuk tuk to the train station to organise and buy overnight train tickets to Jodhpur for the following night. Once back at the hostel, we headed out for momos at Dola aunty’s momos and jalebi for dinner, before another early night as we had a sunrise tour to the Taj Mahal in Agra organised for the following morning.

We were up at 230am the next morning to get a private taxi at 3am to Agra. We were both fairly tired, and arrived at the Taj Mahal at around 630am, which was good, as the number of people here was not too crazy.

We wandered through the impressive gardens and around the Temple itself for around 1.5 hours admiring the sheer size (73m), the intricate details and the surrounding red Temples. Even though it was early, it was so hot and humid. After  sitting for one last time and taking it all in, we walked back to the taxi, where we ate breakfast nearby.

It was a short 5 minute drive from here to Agra fort and we spent a good hour here wandering through this also impressive site.

The drive back to Delhi took a few hours and we arrived back around 2pm. We spent the afternoon lazing about and eating a late lunch/early dinner before heading to Old Delhi Station, where we caught the 920pm  overnight train to Jodhpur.

The overnight train arrived in Jodhpur at around 830am the following morning and we actually had a pretty good sleep in the bunk beds and air conditioned carriage on the train. It was a short tuk tuk ride to the moustache hostel and we lazed about until check in at 12pm. We caught another tuk tuk to Ghanta Ghar (the clock tower) where we had some delicious samosas at Shahi samosa and a Lassi at Shri Mishrilal for lunch, before doing some tea and herb/spice shopping. It was back to the hostel from here, and we lazed about until the free masala chai time and walking tour at 430pm.

The walking tour started with a short tuk tuk ride to one of the city gates, before walking through the blue city and fort before climbing up to temple for sunset.

The tour was really good and we learnt some history of the area and visited many great viewpoints along the way. We also tried the local alcohol free “fruit beer” and a dessert/snack before heading back to the hostel, having dinner and finishing the evening with a game of Chinese checkers before bed.

The next morning, we caught a tuk tuk to the bus terminal to catch the 10am bus to Ajmer. It was a local bus (with no a/c) which took around 4 hours. From there, we caught another local bus to Pushkar which was another 30 minutes away.

We arrived in Ardfern in the absolutely pouring rain around 5pm. It was a short 10 minute walk to our Air BNB from the bus stop, and we were absolutely drenched by the time we arrived. We meet the air BNB host, Bridgette, and spent a nice quiet afternoon and evening in the cosy air BNB.

The next day, on Bridgette’s recommendations, we went to the small village of Kilmartin which was about 30 minutes away by bus. Before getting the 1015am bus, we put our names down for dinner at the pop up restaurant at the marina. Once we arrived in Kilmartin, we had breakfast at a nice lookout through the valley, before having a coffee at the museum cafe. From here, we walked down the hill and through the ancient burial grounds and monuments scattered along the valley, finishing at the Templewood stone circle. These monuments were really interesting and were upto 5000 years old!

We walked back to Kilmartin and caught the 130pm bus back to Ardfern, stopping at the Catchacarrot vegan cafe, for cakes and tea before heading back to the air BNB. The afternoon was spent lazing about, before dinner on the marina at 6pm. We ate a delicious barley and vegetable casserole with an amazing chocolate fudge for dessert. We also met some friendly locals from both Ardfern and Tobermory here, who kindly shared their wine with us. We had a short stroll around town before heading to bed.

The following day, we left the Air BNB around 11am and had a big day of walking planned. The first stop was the end of peninsula, near Aird, which took a couple of hours to get to, and we stopped here for lunch and a tea. There were good views from here over the sea and of the surrounding islands, Jura and Scarba. It rained a little on the way back to town, and we headed inland towards, the peak of Barr Mor. We couldn’t find the path to the top of the hill/lookout here, but the views were still good. From here, we headed back into town to get some food for dinner and settling in at the air BNB for the evening.

We were heading back to Edinburgh the following day, and we were picked up at 930am by a local friendly driver, Spike, who took us to Lochgilphead to catch the 1015am bus to Glasgow. The bus trip back to Glasgow was beautiful, and it was a short walk from the bus station to the train station where we caught the train back to Edinburgh, arriving at 230pm. We were excited to explore the Fringe festival this afternoon and evening, and the first live music we saw was a local man outside our hostel, Edinburgh backpackers and he was great.

After checking in, we strolled the streets and soaked in the amazing atmosphere with a drink and watched more free live music from a young acoustic aussie guy and another young man who played some funky tunes on a bass. The next act we saw was a live female comedian, who was quiet funny, in a pub called the labyrinth. For dinner, we had a roasted spud before heading to another pub where more traditional Scottish music was played and we got amongst the fun and energetic line/barn dancing. The last show we saw of the evening was a mystery comedy show which was OK and we headed back to the hostel where we didn’t have such a great sleep due to inconsiderate guests again, or maybe we’re just too old for dorms.

We were up early the next morning, as we were woken by the other guests, and we also wanted to hike to Arthur’s seat. So we left the hostel around 9am and enjoyed the cool weather and great views over Edinburgh from Arthur’s seat. We got back to the hostel around 11am and cooked up a storm before doing some souvenir shopping and heading to the airport by bus around lunch. Our flight back to Amsterdam left at 430pm getting us there around 7pm.

We flew into Edinburgh, Scotland in the early evening and caught the airport link bus into the city and were dropped off right near train station, which was a short walk to our hostel, Edinburgh backpackers. Once we checked in, we walked to the supermarket across the road to buy some food to cook in the hostel. It was unfortunate as we were too tired to see the Fringe festival this night. In saying this, we had a poor night sleep as people in our dormitory room came and went all night with little respect for anyone else! 

The following day, we rushed and just made the 930am train to Glasgow. From Glasgow, we changed trains to continue on to Oban where we arrived mid afternoon. It was a scenic train trip, and yet again, we just made the ferry bound for Craignure on the island of Mull. It was a chilly but beautiful ferry ride to the island of Mull, and once we arrived, we hopped on the bus to Tobermory. It was a short stroll down the main street to our nice cosy air BNB, and we spent the afternoon strolling and browsing along the main street before cooking up a delicious Turkish eggs for dinner. The weather was unreal, so we also spent some time outside in the evening on the wharf admiring the views.

There was a fair racket the next morning as the chimney in the air BNB needed repairing and this was the only time the owner could fit it in. Therefore, we were up early and enjoyed a coffee on the harbours edge before the owner gave us a lift out to the Glengorm castle. We enjoyed another coffee and soup here at the castle cafe, as we waited for the rain to ease so we could walk around the castle and surrounding area. The rain didn’t ease and after a quick lap around the castle, we stopped to see if we could have a look inside. The lovely lady who worked here not only offered us tea, but gave us a quick tour of the bottom castle floor which had great views over the ocean and rolling green hills.

After the quick tour, it was back out into the pouring rain and we headed back to Tobermory via the forestry trail. It was about a 10km walk, and by the time we were back on the main road, we were absolutely drenched. The lovely lady from the castle was so kind and stopped on her trip back into town to give us a lift even though we were soaked. Once back in Tobermory, we showered and warmed up before having an ice cream across the road and settling in to an afternoon and evening in doors. After another delicious Turkish eggs for dinner, the weather cleared and we had a little stroll along the harbours edge.

On our last day in Tobermory, we said goodbye to air BNB owner and walked to a nearby lighthouse. The return walk took around 1 hour all up and after saying a final goodbye to the air BNB’s flat mate, we caught the 1215pm bus from Tobermory to Craignure and from here, the 130pm ferry to Oban.

We had an hour to kill in Oban before our 330pm bus to Ardfern, so we strolled and browsed the main street before leaving.

We landed in Amsterdam at around 2pm and caught the cheap 30 minute train to Amsterdam central. It should have been a 15-20 minute walk to our hostel, Ecomama, but it took us 30-45 minutes as we went the wrong direction. The hostel was amazing, except for the construction work to remove some of the sleeping pods, which was quite annoying. After checking in, we walked to the nearby supermarket and bought some food and drinks for dinner. While waiting for our friends, Frankie and Jake to arrive, we started preparing dinner over a few drinks and some good tunes and they finally arrived at around 930pm. After dinner and a few more drinks, we headed to the nearby Bluebird cafe which closed at 1am.

The next morning, Jake got up early and luckily got us tickets online to the Anne Frank’s museum for 12pm. It was a short walk to the museum and we spent about an hour and a half going through the very interesting museum, finishing with pancakes for lunch at the Pancakes Amsterdam next door.

After the pancake lunch, we headed to the sex museum, before walking back to the hostel, buying some drinks and ingredients for cob loaves for dinner. The afternoon and evening we spent enjoying a lot of drinks and the cobs before hitting the Red light district. It was a big night out and everyone was quite messy by the end.

It was a slow start the next morning, and once up and about, we walked to the Vlaams Freithuis Vleminckx chip shop to get some famous hot chips with their delicious selection of sauces.

After the chips, it was back to the hostel to get ready for the afternoon river canal cruise with Captain Jack Amsterdam. The pick up point was across from the Rijksmuseum, which was about a 30 minute walk from the hostel. The canal cruise was amazing as it not only included free drinks and nibbles, but Captain Jack’s knowledge and history of Amsterdam was fantastic. We were all excited after the cruise, so headed into Sports bar for a couple of drinks before heading back to the hostel for a fun night in.

On our last morning, we were up fairly early as Kristy and I wanted to go to the Body worlds museum at 10am which displayed human plasticized bodies and explained their functions. It was quite good, and following this, we met Frankie and Jake at Vlaams Freithuis Vleminckx chip shop again and had some more chips for lunch, before visiting the Van Gogh museum. Here, we saw the massive amounts of Van Gogh’s art works which included the sunflowers, and learnt about his interesting life. Kristy and I were both pretty tired by this point, and we headed back to hostel before heading to the airport at 330pm. Here we said our goodbyes to Frankie and Jake before getting the 640pm flight to Edinburgh, Scotland.

After returning from our road trip, we spent the morning of the first day lazing about and catching up on some travel administration. We finally headed out at lunch for a coffee with Mitch before he headed home back to Australia. After saying goodbye, we checked out the inside of the Oslo city hall before heading up one of the main shopping streets in Oslo, Bogstadveien, and finally through Frogner Park (Statue Park). We also checked out a second hand store and bought some supplies for dinner, before heading home and cooking up another feast. It was an early night for us and Matty headed out to catch up with a friend.

The next morning, we did a little more travel administration before heading out for a walk along the Akerselva River via a nearby fountain. We stopped along the river in one of the parks for a picnic, to read our books and to soak up the sun. After our picnic, we checked out the waterfalls along the river before doing some food shopping and walking back to Matty’s through some more beautiful parks.

Once back at Matty’s, Ben did some more administration while Kristy prepared another feast. Matty and Brendo arrived at 630pm and 730pm respectively, and after a delicious dinner we headed to the free orchestra by the Oslo Philharmonic, in the Palace Park. It was the first orchestra we had seen and it was amazing. They played a lot of old classics, and the show finished around 11pm. After the show, we walked back to Matty ‘s to say goodbye and grab our luggage as we stayed the last night at Brendo’s as it was closer to the airport. The train to Brendo’s took 35 minutes.

On our final morning in Norway, we had a quick coffee at Brendo’s before walking 5 minutes to the train station and heading to Oslo airport. Before our flight, we did some duty free shopping before boarding at 11am and heading to Amsterdam to catch up with our English friends Frankie and Jake.

We arrived in Oslo around 230pm and it took a fair while to get through customs, whichbwe believed was due to flying from Turkey. We caught the express train to Oslo Central, arriving at 4pm and just buying the tickets, we realised how expensive Norway was going to be. My good mate, Matty from university, met us at the train station and after dropping our luggage off at his, he took us on a quick tour of some of the main attractions of Oslo. Some of them included the Opera House, the Vippa food Court, Revierkaia and the Royal palace and Palace Park. After our tour, we headed back to Matty’s for a massive taco and burrito feast with some pre drinks, before heading out on the town. It was a super fun night outp, despite the $15 beers and there was some solid dance floor action occurring. We finished up and headed home around 2-3am.

The next morning, we were up around 9am, had breakfast at Matts while we waited for another of my university friends, Brendo, and Mitch to arrive. They arrived at 10am and 11am and we then caught a bus to the car rental place, where we had a coffee before heading off towards Odda at 12pm. It was a long, but beautiful and very scenic drive and our first stop was for lunch, followed then by the massive Waterfall, Voringfossen. We stopped a few more times along the way to take in views of the scattered cabins, lakes and waterfalls and arrived at the air BNB in Odda at around 7pm. For dinner, we had a massive pasta with a few drinks, watching YouTube videos.

The following day, the plan was to wake at 5am and leave at 6am to undertake the Trolltunga hike. We were a little late, but still managed to start the hike at 7am. The weather was a little overcast but the scenery was yet again beautiful. The initial part of the hike was around 3km up a fairly steep sealed and windy road, but once this was done, it was a long and fairly flat hike. Once we arrived at the final viewing point, we waited around 20-30 minutes to line up and get our photo taken, before having lunch and admiring the amazing views.

We were all fairly cold after lunch and happy to start hiking again to warm up. The rain poured for the majority of the hike and we arrived back in the car park pretty tired after about 8-9 hours hiking all up. The drive back to the accommodation was about 20 minutes and once we arrived home, Ben, Mitch and Brendo went for a swim in the fjord which was quiet refreshing. We were all hungry and cooked a big curry for dinner with a few drinks and playing dice. We also tried to sit outside to take advantage of the view, but the rain put an end to this.

We left the next morning around 10am en route for Gaustatoppen to undertake another shorter hike. The drive to the start of the hike at Gaustatoppen was around 3-4 hours, but we stopped along the way for snacks, to look at the Latefossen waterfall and the Vemork hydroelectric powerplant which played a significant role in World War 2.

The hike to the top of Gaustatoppen took around 1-1.5 hours and it was quiet cloudy when we reached the top, but this did not block the stunning views too much. We stopped for fresh waffles and tea at the top cafe, before heading down and to our accommodation nearby at Gaustablikk. The accommodation was a hikers/ski lodge, and it was great to take advantage of the sauna before cooking up a massive Mexican feast and finishing the last night with the remaining vodka and baileys.

On the last day, we left Gaustablikk around 8am and arrived back in Oslo at 11am, dropping the luggage at Matty’s before returning the car back by 12pm. We had a coffee near the car rental place and said goodbye to Brendo before walking back to Matty’s. In the afternoon, we hung around at Matty’s, while he went to the gym, before heading out to the Vippa food court for dinner for Mitch’s last night in Europe.

The overnight bus from Goreme to Pamukkale arrived at around 530am after a short transfer on a shuttle bus from Denizli. We waited in the bus company’s office about half an hour, before walking 5 to 10 minutes to our accommodation, Hotel Dort Mevsim. Breakfast wasn’t until 8am, and after this, we lazed about the pool, watching the hot air balloons before checking in.

Yet again, we were tired from the overnight bus, so we didn’t do too much today except chilling by the pool and in the airconditioned room. We walked into the town of Pamukkale in the mid afternoon for lunch, to enquire about buses to Istanbul and to have a look over the Pamukkale Natural Park. Mitch went into the Natural Park which included the ancient Roman ruins during the afternoon, and we all booked the hot air balloon ride for the following morning through the hotel. We had dinner at the hotel which was great, we had fresh sunflower seeds straight from the sunflower and shared a delicious bottle of red. 

The next morning, we woke up at 5am to be ready for a 540am pick up for the hot air balloons. After the 5 minute drive to the starting location, Mitch boarded a different hot air balloon than us and was first in the air. From here he went up 2km, while the rest of us ascended then descended low over the Natural Park. It was an unbelievable morning and the views of the landscape and sunrise were amazing. After a final ascent from the valley, we landed and were greeted with a glass of champagne before getting a lift back to the hotel for breakfast.

During the day, we again lazed by the pool and caught up on some sleep, before Ben and Mitch headed into town to book the bus to Istanbul and have a burger for lunch at Fenomen Burger House, which was awesome. Kristy had lunch at the hotel, and around 445pm, we headed to the Natural Park to explore the Roman ruins and watch sunset with a bottle of wine. We first climbed the white travertine terraces with numerous pools, before walking through the ancient Roman ruins which included an ancient pool with fallen ruins within it, the Hierapolis amphitheatre and the Northern Byzantine gate. We ended the day with an amazing sunset over the pools and a bottle of red wine. It was such an unreal way to end a fantastic day.

On the way home, we stopped at the same burger place as lunch and Ben and Mitch had to head back into town to get some cash to pay the outstanding balance at the hotel.

The following day, we caught the 930am bus from Denizli to Istanbul. After breakfast at the hotel at 745am, we caught the 30 minute cheap local bus to Denizli getting there around 9am. The bus trip to Istanbul was a long one, and we arrived back at the Sultan Hostel and Guesthouse in Istanbul at around 8-9pm after getting a taxi from the bus terminal. The friendly man from the next door restaurant, Babylonia garden and terrace, remembered us from our previous visit, so we thought we better give him our business and had a great dinner and bottle of wine here. Following this, Mitch went to bed, and Kristy and Ben did some final souvenir shopping and enjoyed a Shisha and tea on one of the rooftop bars before getting to bed around 1am.

We were up at 5am the following morning to get a taxi to airport at around 545-6am. We arrived at the airport at 7am and as our flight was not until 11am, we enjoyed breakfast and relaxing until we boarded our flight to Oslo, Norway.

 

We arrived in Goreme, a town of Cappadocia, around 630am and after a short walk to the guest house, Kose Pension, we dropped our bags off and headed out for breakfast. It was a good location for breakfast for the view as we saw some hot air balloons go past, but the food was pretty average (and there was no coffee). We were all pretty tired from the overnight bus, so we spent most of the day lazing around by the pool. It was some much needed relaxing time.

In the afternoon, we headed for an early dinner at our favourite restaurant in Cappadocia, Cafe Safak and then walked up to Sunset Point to watch the sunset. It was an amazing spot with the sun setting over both the fairy chimneys and town and also all the lights from town turning on. It was a fantastic afternoon and we enjoyed a beer here also.

We also tried to book the hot air balloon flight for the following morning, but it was cancelled due to the wind forecast. Therefore, we booked the green tour through the hostel and a company called “Woop woop travel Turkey”, which visited numerous attractions throughout the area.

The next morning, we had the included breakfast at the hostel which was great and a swim in the pool before getting picked up at 915am for the green tour. The first stop of the green tour was at a viewpoint overlooking Goreme and the surrounding mountains and valleys. We stopped here for around 15-30 minutes and admired the great panoramic views.

We jumped back on the bus and drove around 45 minutes to an old underground city, Derinkuyu, which was upto 40-50m deep. The exact history and dates of occupation of this underground city is still unknown.

Our last stop before lunch was at another village called Selime Monastery, which consisted of series of caves and rooms built into the side of a mountain. There was also a Kings tomb at the bottom of this village.

After lunch in Ihlara village, we visited the Ihlara valley and walked along the river for around 3km. There was also an old Chapel at the beginning of this walk which was built by some Christians during a period of exile.

Our second last stop was at a jewel shop which sold the famous stone, Csarite, which changes colour depending on the light colour. The last stop of the tour was at a lookout over Pigeon Valley and following this, we were dropped back at our hostel around 6pm.

It was a great tour, reasonably priced and a good bunch of travellers we did it with. We headed out for dinner to our favourite restaurant again, Cafe Safak, and there was a massive storm in the evening which meant our chances of the balloon ride for the following morning was 50/50.

We woke the following morning at 440am for the hot air balloon ride, but unfortunately it was cancelled due to the morning rain/storm and wind. Therefore, we went back to bed and once we woke back up we ate breakfast and lazed by pool.

Around mid morning, we left the hostel to walk through Love valley, stopping along the way at Cafe Safak again for lunch. The walk through Love Valley was long and hot, but at the same time great as there was lots of fairy chimneys and not many people here.

We were so hot and thirsty by the end, and after an orange juice and 1L of water each at a nearby restaurant, we walked through a small section of Pigeon Valley back into Goreme. Once back at the hostel, we enjoyed a swim in the pool and headed out to a falafel restaurant for dinner before getting the 815pm night bus to Pamukkale.