As a country, Turkey was right up there in terms of places I was most excited to visit. It had been saved for the end of our Europe trip (in hopes of cooler temperatures) and boy, what a note to go out on. It was chilled out, cheap, completely new to both of us and all round, a pretty easy country to navigate. But yeah, it was still pretty hot! We flew into Bodrum, worked our way up and across to Cappadocia, before flying and finishing up in Istanbul.

After landing in Bodrum, we fumbled around looking for a bus before ending up in a taxi with a Turkish couple from London. Their chatter filled us with excitement for what was to come. Around 40 minutes later we arrived at our hotel. We checked in, got settled and ventured out to explore.

There are lots of swanky resorts around Bodrum, although that’s not to say there is more affordable options as well. Naturally, this means that lots of the shops are touristy, which was the perfect pairing for the seaside nature of the town. The car-free, undercover market near the castle was a personal favourite – cute, fun and comparatively cheap (especially with London, which is where we’d come from).

There was a bit to see: not just the castle (with its underwater archeological museum), but also the Myndos Gate, ancient theatre, and the Mausoleum- one of the seven ancient wonders of the world. I think the main attraction of Bodrum is the ocean and the boat trips available for exploring the islands and coastline. Pretttttty!

We had some food highs and lows during our time in Bodrum. My least favourite meal of the entire trip (yes you read right) was comprised of two slices of ‘pudgy’ bread with a thin layer of shredded chicken and sauce. Only minimally mitigated by the price, I was appalled to see this called a kebab! The fresh fish at DAYI BALIK Restaurant & Market the following night more than compensated for this meal though, as did the milkshakes we had at Pelo Cafe. Our few days in Bodrum were a relaxing start to our time in Turkey. But now, backpacks on and time to lace up the adventure boots as we head off to see some of Turkey’s more famous sights.