To the left, to the left...

(The alternative title to this blog post was 'Left, left, gulp', but we weren't sure if the language of Going Live is still an accepted means of communication.)

Anyway... Since leaving Georgia, we've done A LOT of westbound travel. First to Cappadoccia by overnight train (highly recommended - a compartment with just 2 beds and a minibar (!) and a lovely restaurant car). There, we stayed in the fairy chimneys (www.kelebekhotel.com - very cool rooms), hired bikes, visited an underground city (less cool than Terry Pratchett would have you believe) and lay by the pool.

(Goreme village)

(Inside a fairy chimney church)

(Cappadoccia)

(Our cool hotel room)

Randomly running into Chris Byrnes (of Delhi whisky fame) and his lovely lady friend resulted in an evening of rather over enthusiastically sampling the local raki.

Then on to Istanbul by bus and ferry, which was a huge shock to the system in terms of number of tourists (is there anyone left in Italy?) and the existence of a real backbackers' ghetto. Nevertheless, the city was great. The highlights were a trip up the Bosphorus to a fishing village for lunch (thanks, Jim, for the recommendation) and dinner on a terrace overlooking a strip of tavernas in the centre of town. Both excellent meals. The Blue Mosque, Aya Sofia and Topkapi Palace were pretty good too, but they'd have to go some to beat those grilled mussels!

(Blue Mosque, Istanbul)

(Trev in the Harem at the Topkapi Palace)
(Inside the Aya Sofia)

It certainly feels like we're back in Europe: buses have timetables (which they stick to) and tickets (of which they only sell one per seat), restaurants have menus (even in English), ATMs are everywhere and we have a choice of English language paperbacks... All good things! On the flip-side, prices have skyrocketed, some of the sights have resembled a tourist circus and we had a couple of pretty inedible meals in Backpacker Central.

As ever, photos to follow when we're off the bus and somewhere with a decent connection.

Gem.

PS. Jamie - you can consider all offers of babysitting WITHDRAWN.