November
(Click here for September's photos or here for October's photos)
Weeks 10 - 12: Syria & Turkey
Cappadocia
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Larking about in caves
Crossing the Taurus mountains
 Our highest pass yet: 1720m  |  Rolling down the valleys  |
Bread and nutella pit stops
Crossing in to Syria
 More punctures |  A strange but appropriate sign pointing us in the right direction |
Mosques
Emily the elf in mandatory modesty-protecting robes
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Aleppo and Damascus
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Street food Syrian style
 Shwarma |  Assorted 'stuff' |
 Dried fruit - from kiwis to tomatoes |  Fuul - breakfast beans |
 Sugar and spice . . .  Pomegranate juice |  . . . and all things nice |
Ruins
 Qala'at Samaan - a church built to honour St Simeon who lived on top of an 18m pillar. It was the biggest church in the word at that time (500AD)  |  Apamea  |
Dead city of Al-Bara (plus our hosts)
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Crac des Chevaliers - 1000 yr old crusader fortress ("The finest castle in the world" according to TE Lawrence)
Syrian hospitality
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One of our many olive grove campsites, and one of our even more many roadside cups of tea
 The Baroum family and their mysteriously ginger baby  |  The walking jedi teddy - our favourite host  |
Desert road
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Weeks 8 & 9: Turkey
 Underground Roman cistern featured in a Bond film!!  mmmmmmm kebab meat  |  Wiling away the hours with backgammon and sheesha in Istanbul  Blue mosque  |
Inside some of Istanbul's many mosques
 Back on the road after a (dry) week off, and we hit a spot of rain |  Taking a respite from the rains in a village tea house, and being plied with sweet tea and biscuits, and oversized mens clothing |
  Sunset over the valley after we climbed up to 1300m, but it was a bit nippy for camping . . . |   the Kangal - a bad bad bad dog |
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Beautiful valleys in central turkey - do not be fooled in to thinking it was flat!
 Tea and puncture repair stop |  |
 Our lovely hosts that let us 'camp' in the village school |  Coming in to Cappadocia with the Taurus mountains rising up in the background - our next challenge |
 Byzantine frescoes in the cave churches of Goreme |  Picnic in the Goreme valley with more cycle tourers |
Hot air balloons over Cappadocia at sunrise
