This morning we had a leisurely start and just did about 1.5 hours walking around the area near the hotel (although cooler in temperature than previously it was very humid so not particularly pleasant). We returned to the hotel to meet our transfer to the airport around midday (for our 4 pm flight). The traffic congestion in
We arrived at Santorini about 8.15 pm so didn’t get to see much in the dark but had a lovely view to wake up to. We have a balcony room just up the stairs behind the pool 
and lovely view of the Caldera 
This little chapel is right next to our hotel. 
There are currently about 3 cruise ships anchored just below us so its interesting just watching the comings and goings of the boats. 
At night they are all lit up so add a different aspect again to the landscape. I can see that 4 days here is going to be tough!!!
There is so much colour and "some" of the smells are lovely (the spices, teas, figs, dates, etc).
There were still a lot of boats ferrying up and down the river
and we had a "near miss" with another boat who was reluctant to give way (not the boat in the second picture as I think almost any boat would have given way to it!). When we returned to the wharf we met up with the rest of our tour group and went to a waterfront restaurant for our farewell dinner. Although not an authentic Turkish meal it was still very nice. We have enjoyed the company of the others on the tour and seemed odd all going our separate ways (although we encountered many of them again at the airport).
Around 1pm we arrived in Ankara where we first visited the Attaturk Mausoleum. 
Attaturk (who was the leader in establishing Turkish independence in 1923 and many reforms in the country until his death in 1938) is revered by the Turkish people 
and has been honoured with a massive memorial along with a museum commemorating his war-time exploits and the changes in Turkey during his time as leader. We still do not know who the visiting dignitary was for whom we were shunted out of the mausoleum building but based on no information, we are going to say it was either Hilary Clinton or Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. In reality it might have just been a couple of oldies from the local equivalent of the RSA.
to personal items like these Hittite prototype safety pins 
to large relief sculptures in stone. 
Out in the gardens were more artefacts covering the next 500 years, mostly in the form of Roman sculptures. It would have taken many more hours than we had to take in all the information available but it helped me clarify a few questions about the role of the Hittites in Turkish history. The museum was carefully organised in chronological order which made the development of the civilisation easy to follow.
We were served tea and biscuits while we waited for the balloons to be set up and get our flying instructions. As it began to get light, a number of balloons rose up from behind the nearby rocks and floated over our heads. A line up of maybe 10 balloons in our portion of the area were laid out along the ground and the sound of fans filled the air as they were each inflated to the point of beginning to lift vertically.
We were loaded into the basket (19 of us) and drifted slowly upward to join approximately 50 other balloons. 
It was a truly amazing experience and felt like a slow and peaceful (except for the occasional burst of hot air into the balloon) drift across the valley. 
The sight of all the other balloons was quite lovely and although directional control is only up and down, balloon operators kept in touch with each other via radio phones and indicated what they intended to do to avoid each other. 
We had almost an hour in the air and then descended to land which went quite smoothly although at one point we were heading straight for this (red and white) balloon and had to go up in the air again to avoid it. 
We celebrated with the ritual of a glass of champagne and by this stage it wasn't even 8 am!!!
where traders in camel trains on the Silk Road used to spend the night as a point of safety and replenishment. 
This photo shows the small mosque (without minarets) that was located at the centre of the accommodation where people could worship. These caravansary were spaced at a distance where it was considered that they could be reached (one from the other) between sunrise and sunset allowing for the terrain. This encouraged traders to use the route as they avoided being targeted by bandits along the way and also gave them somewhere to rest, eat, and sleep under the protection of the caravansary guards. In the camel storage area of the one we saw it was said that up to 600 camels could be cared for at a time.
One valley (Pigeon Valley) had a series of pigeon boxes set into caves in the rock face to give them shelter and encourage them to congregate there. 
Evidently the pigeons are considered sacred birds and their droppings were also a good type of fertiliser for the type of soil in the area. Farmers would put lots of food in the boxes so that the birds ate, and then deposited the manure they needed as fertiliser. At one location there was an incredibly grumpy camel (you could pay to have your photo taken sitting on it if you were game enough) who tried to bite a couple of people who got too close. I kind of felt sorry for it though and was more on its side!
It could seat about 12,000 and is still used on an annual basis to host the Aspendos Opera and Ballet Festival. This was by far the best preserved amphitheatre we have seen so far and this is due to the ongoing maintenance it has had over the centuries which has meant that much of the original construction has been retained.
is of our lunch, a "Gosleme" which is a thin pancake spread with cheese or potato, folded and cooked on a rounded hotplate. Less than a km away was an aluminium smelter as the mountains are apparently rich in the ore used in aluminium extraction. Over the course of the morning, the landscape changed from crop plantations and hot-houses to pine forest, then to enormous rock faces with almost no vegetation 
and then back to pines with some cattle and goat farms. As we came back to the lower hills, the landscape was strongly reminiscent of the McKenzie Country in NZ. 
Previously a mosque and now the resting place of the person who originally created not only the school but several other buildings that helped others less well off).
However, it helped us gain some perspective on how impressive the city would have been in its time when you integrated the remains of the city we saw yesterday with the statues, the tiles, carpets, etc which we were viewing today. One of these looked remarkably like a Hellenistic version of Lisa Simpson don't you think? 
but seriously the statues were quite memorable. 
(which was built in 1244 and marked the upper limit of the Old Town) and the fluted minaret (a 13th century minaret dating from the reign of Seljuk Sultan Alaeddin Keykubad and which has become the symbol of Antalya). The red bricks were evidently once decorated with turquoise tiles but at the moment most of the minaret was encased in a covering as it was undergoing restoration. 
which was built to honour the visit of Emperor Hadrian in AD 130. It has three arched gateways fronted by four Corinithian columns and has also had restoration work done on it. The area between the arches now has a glass covered walkway so that you can see through to where there is clear signs of wheel ruts cut into the stone.
to the hotel 
and by the time we arrived we were quite grateful for our air-conditioned room!