Cappadocia, Turkey: Coming from Istanbul I nixed the idea of another overnight bus because it would have taken 14 hours to this southeast enclave.

Instead, a comfortable night train to Ankara before switching to a five hour bus ride left us pretty alive when we eventually arrived in this area of Turkey known for its strange rock structures.

It's an interesting region. The rocks in this area are volcanic which has spurred-on the agriculture and the wind and rain that has sculpted them now draws tourists.

From sixth century BC the region has been populated by various peoples that have left behind hundreds of churches, homes and monasteries built into the rock structures that are found in what can only be called free-standing gnome hats.

Now these churches are pay-to-enter affairs and hotels have sprang up in the 'hats'.

Luckily for us the town, Goreme, where we stayed, is quite organised and we could call any hotel we wanted from the tourist centre at the bus station.

We found a great place where we could also stay in one of these gnome hats or, as they call it, a fairy chimney. I'm not really sure why the name, so I'm going to call them gnome hats from now on.

The best way to really see this region is by walking or motorbike, so we did both. The first day we rambled through the nearby hikes which could last for days.

At one point we decided to head for a pink-capped area called Rose Valley, but my travel buddy refused to look at the map. Trekking out on his own we finally came to an impasse and the only way down was a rock "slide". He went first, of course. "Oh, it's no problem, Robyn, just go slowly!" Ha!

If anyone knows me, they know I am a complete clutz. (I managed to trip over a plastic tie in the road while running and sprain my wrist, but that's another story).

So, flying down the "slide" my travel buddy tried to grab me, but I just bowled him over and we landed with a thump that left me more than a little um… sore.

After a few deep breaths and taking the lead with map in hand, we continued our hike.

Quickly we decided a scooter was the way to go as we suffered through the sun and heat. With my travel buddy driving yet again we managed a loop around many towns nearby with stranger and stranger rock formations.

Finally we made it to an amazing outpost for watching the sunset before returning to Goreme for one of their food specialities. It is a type of stew that can be made with veg and/or meat in a clay pot.

When they bring it to the table they break the pot and the contents are poured onto rice. It's absolutely delicious and well worth losing some pottery over.

There's not much to do at night, however, and because of the arid climate it also gets quite cold so it was an early night.

The next day we were back on the bike to make it to the underground city of Derinkuyu which goes down about eight levels (or at least that's as far as tourists are allowed to go).

Here is where people would live for months while under-siege as well as use it for underground storage. I don't know how they did it. I could barely breathe and we were the only two people in the city. I'm also a little claustrophobic so was just glad no-one else came down while there because it was not big.

With a deep breath we surfaced after about ten minutes (about all I could take). I was not gung-ho to head to another so we decided to stay above ground and head to the Ihlara Valley.

This is an absolutely picturesque valley with water carving out the banks of rock churches. Unfortunately we didn't have much time to spare there because it was a 200 km drive there and back to Goreme!

After all the sitting (and nearly flying off the back when my careful travel buddy "missed" the speed bumps) we then had to grab our bags and get to an overnight bus to the coast!

Getting back to the Turkish coast was exhausting, but having experienced it when we arrived it was easier to suffer through the painful ride. Nine hours later, we arrived in Antalya, which is a beautiful city that combines history with modernity in a completely clean and tasteful way.

The older area of the city is full of cobblestone streets and Ottoman-era houses that perch on cliffs and centre on a Roman Harbour.

These cliffs overlook the incredible blue turquoise water that leads to the still-snowcapped mountains across the bay. I was thrilled to be on the water again, but my travel buddy wasn't quite as overjoyed.

Unfortunately almost as soon as we arrived the food in Cappadocia came back to haunt my travel buddy and he was laid-up in bed for four days.

I couldn't bare sitting in the room and decided to try and get back into the running gig I am usually tied to when in Bermuda. I think I managed to shock not a few people on the streets of the old city. Even with three-quarter length pants I was the odd woman out.

There were not too many blonde women (or even women for that matter) running around Turkey! There was no hassle though and it felt good to finally get some exercise in.

Just as a side note, though, exercise appears to be an important part of life in Turkey. In a few cities there are outdoor, public gyms at multiple locations.

From places for push-ups to hiking machines, these are fantastic, free places for everyone to workout.

There are at least four or five pieces of equipment clustered in about an area not much bigger than about 20 feet and they seem to be always in use. These would be perfect for Bermuda!

When my travel buddy finally came around we decided we had to see something in Antalya so we rented yet another bike.

While Cappadocia is one thing (a fairly low-key and deserted area) in Antalya in five minutes we saw two accidents!

Drivers here have road rage like I have never seen before (and I lived in New York for two years). Needless to say I was stressed as the map reader on the back!

We made it, however with all limbs intact, to the ancient city of Termessos which was about half an hour from Antalya.

This incredible city was built at a height of 1050 meters in the Taurus Mountains and is known because even Alexander the Great who surrounded the city in 333 B.C. couldn't conquer it!

What did bring it down was economics and in 5th century AD was finally abandoned to the trees and mountains that now form part of a park.

The theatre here has a spectacular view over the mountain range and tombs scatter the hillside.

It takes quite a hike and since my travel buddy was still recovering we managed for about two hours before heading back to town.

It was dinner in the room since my sickly buddy couldn't make it out again and the next day we were up again to battle the Antalyian vehicles to go see the Duden Falls.

These beautiful waterfalls are only about a 15 minute drive from Antalya, but unfortunately have turned into a Turkish Disneyland. As long as you didn't look at the picnic benches surrounding the falls and the men selling everything from cotton candy to T-shirts the falls were beautiful and we could even walk behind them.

After a quick visit to our Disneyland it was back to Antalya for the afternoon.

There was a beautiful stroll along the cliffs with more waterfalls cascading down hundreds of metres before making it to the beach for dinner.

The next day it was an early rise to get the bus to Olimpos a backpackers haven.

Next Stop: Olimpos, Turkey