Today was an amazing last day in Turkey.
 
I woke up this morning, got dressed for the day, and ate some breakfast. Then I made my way down to the bus and loaded on. It was a lucky day for me because a lot of people didn’t show up for the trip. That meant that I got both seats in my row to myself. I ended up sleeping almost the entire ride to the Ballikaya region. It was a 2 hour drive and it was a lovely nap.
 
When we finally arrived we got out of the bus and got our boxed lunches. I needed to use the restroom and went to the building that had the restroom in it. This was my first experience using a squat toilet which was interesting to say the least. Not my favorite…
 
We then were lead by a local guide through the area. We hiked along a stream. It was very green in the area and covered in shrubs and trees. There were a lot of farms along the way full of all sorts to fruits and vegetables. We then ran into a boy who was herding goats. There were about 30 goats and they seemed to be very surprised by so many humans. The stood there and stared at us as we stared at them. We also had 2 dogs following us the entire hike.
 
We worked our way across a few stream crossings and up some hills. Eventually we made it to a large pool of water with a small waterfall. The water looked very refreshing until we saw water snakes in the water. Me and a few others climbed to the top of the waterfall to enjoy our lunches. It was fun to be able to see all of the other people in the group from above.
 
After we finished lunch we gathered as a group to listen to the biology teacher talk about the fauna and flora of Turkey and the Ballikaya region.
 
We then hiked back to the bus using a shortcut which was a straight uphill climb. We were able to see more of the valley and the amazing limestone rock formations.
 
The ride back was spent sleeping as well. It seemed to go by much faster than the ride back. When we got back to the ship me and a few girls walked over to Starbucks to enjoy a frapachino before the voyage to Egypt.
 
I got back to the ship and turned in my passport. I then took a shower and called my family to share my adventures with them. When we left the port, I headed up to the deck with a lot of people and watched us leave the port as the sun set. I got a good amount of pictures of the sun setting behind the Hagia Sofia and the Blue Mosque.
 
Finally I made my way back to my room to head to bed for the night.
 
Turkey was a really amazing country and I hope to come back and share it with my family some day!