Gule Gule Turkey

Our quick visit to Turkey is almost complete, tonight we start the long bus ride into Syria. We initially flew into Istanbul and immediately noticed how much it has change. Obviously the big push to join the EU has major impacts on the cities infrastructure. The new metro and tram system was very good and made the trip into Sultanhamet simple. It was interesting to be in Istanbul for a 2nd time, and we both noticed how expensive it is now. Probably more so considering how cheap it was in Morocco. We spent a couple days in Istanbul seeing the sights, mainly the Blue Mosque, Hagia Sophia Mosque, Sulyimanie Mosque, etc... I had a very strange experience on our first night, we had a run in with a guy I went to high school with in America. The world is truly a small place.
We next headed to Goreme in the Cappadocia region of Turkey, famous for its bizarre rock formation and caves. We've now spent 4 days here and have enjoyed it. We have seen the underground city that the early Christians used to escape the patrolling Roman Army and walked through the beautiful Ilhara Gorge. We have seen the strange 'fairy chimney' rock formations and went for a walk through one of the nearby valleys. Unfortunately today it is bucketing rain, so anymore walks have been cancelled.
Next stop for us is Aleppo, Syria and the part of the trip I'm most looking forward to. We meet an Aussie guy had just made the journey through Syria and Jordan and thoroughly enjoyed it, so I can't wait to get going.