Istanbul
Istanbul felt unreal, I had plans for the first day, crossing Atatürk Köprüsü for Istanbul morning view, go to the Suleymaniye Mosque, wander in the Grand Bazaar, enjoy the amazing smell of the spice bazaar, visit other mosques but all of this stopped at the Grand Bazaar when I met a man, thinking he was the owner of the coffee place I was at, we start talking after he went ordering a tea for me.
Turns out he was a diamond expert and took me on a free private tour of the jewelry creation ateliers. I had the opportunity to see the different process and treatments. Some was working the old fashion way, some with high tech tools. He showed me some necklaces and diamonds worth thousands of US dollars, he wouldn't leave the different offices we went through without being sure I took good photos.
He then drove me around the city to show me different armenian churches.
This being the first experience in town, I decided to stay one more night and cancel one of the destination. This city is a living constant chaos, filled with welcoming and friendly people.
Cappadocia
Unfortunately, it was bad weather for the first couple of days there. On the first night, someone in my dorm opened the window for the night when it was 7°c outside, I woke up sick the next day, and got fever the following night, did I cancelled my plan and stayed in bed to rest? Of course not. I went on that Bike quad tour, the bad weather didn't tarnish the landscapes of this beautiful area of Turkey. One afternoon, when the sky was finaly clearing up, on a beautiful hike, my camera died. And the next day the time for the dream photo came, but without camera it didn't happened. Still, the moment was magical, those 100 hot air balloon seemed like big colored stars lighting up the sunrising sky. I had the chance to meet a local professional photographer that did everything he could to try end fix my camera, realizing nothing could fix it he offered me to take me on one of his sunrise photoshoot. I got to play his assistant and try his camera in different sunrise spots. It was one of the best experience of that trip.
Antalya
From Göreme I took a night bus, again, to Antalya, the final destination of this trip, on the Mediterranean shore line. So you could think I would go there to enjoy the beach? Nope, more hikes, with a plus : waterfalls.
From Antalya I did a day trip to Pamukkale and Hieropolis. Unfortunately, almost all of the water was gone. Due to the lack of water some places were completely empty from people and felt peaceful, but it made the watered area feel packed.
It felt weird to leave the hostel without my camera everyday, I missed the weight of it. So the following photos won't be the best quality, being taken with my smartphone.
