We are taking a day off in Silifke, south of the Toros (Taurus) Mountains – our next destination.

We are both feeling tired and exhausted from the early morning starts, attending to work and being on the move. We have another week ahead in the Toros Mountains, then we can kick back and relax in Göreme (Cappadocia) for a week or so. From there, we will make our way to the Black Sea Coast for our last 10 days. After that – volcanoes willing – we will be off to Sweden via Germany.

I can’t quiet believe we have only three weeks of our time in Turkey left. We have loved our time here; the countryside is so varied and beautiful. It has ranged from green, rolling hills, to vast, stark expanses of rugged rock (almost 3D in perspective, ready to give us vertigo just by looking at it). We’ve been through landscapes that we imagine Afghanistan to look like. It has been literally stunning – needless to say, a photographers paradise.

Culturally, its also been fascinating, a real merging of east and west, contemporary and ancient. It has the feel of Eastern Europe and Central Asia. In initial meetings with people, there can be a holding back, but once we open up and extend ourselves, the generosity and care is touching.

Language is our main difficulty, as we still have only a basic grasp of Turkish, we are stumbling to communicate. Yesterday I had to resort to my barely-remembered childhood German just to book ourselves into a hotel. It wasn’t pretty, but it got the job done.

Here is a gallery of landscape images from our trip so far. (Mouse rollover will reveal the caption). We’re sure Turkey has more surprises for us yet.

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