We had been to Turkey before, but it was over 30 years ago. I still had memories of Europe meets Asia and everything being cheap, the last bastion of cheap holidays on the border of Europe.

It is still a very special place with a very rich mix of cultures. Listening to people talking, you could hear words that seemed to come from many languages mixed together, and when written down there were even Scandinavian-looking letters within the words and sentences on billboards.

So here is a quick checklist of what we found.

Prices and cost of living

The myth about cheap food was busted as soon as we got on the flight to Istanbul. Onboard trolley grub was twice the cost of EasyJet. Initially, I thought I hadn’t grasped the currency conversion, but after a couple of hours in Istanbul I realised it wasn’t my mistake.

They used to be self-sufficient in food, but global supply chains have put an end to that caper.

Istanbul was particularly expensive. Eating out was more expensive than in the UK and on a par with capital cities across Europe. The cost of entry to anything a tourist would want to do was exorbitant, for example, museums.

It was definitely cheaper in Cappadocia, probably 30–40%, and I guess the further you get from the tourist centres, the cheaper it will get. The good news is they still have high-quality rip-off goods at bargain prices.

Speaking to locals, the cost of living has increased substantially and they are very vulnerable to exchange-rate fluctuations.

Food

I have to say this was a tad disappointing. As a lover of kebabs, I was really looking forward to the food, but it was a disappointment in terms of variety and flavours, which is ironic considering how much spice is on sale in the bazaars.

The menus have a strong base in general European dishes, especially Italian, with pizza and pasta. I love their own pide, but only saw it a couple of times on the trip. You can’t compare it to somewhere like Greece, where the variety and tastes are good reasons for a holiday.

People

Generally, they were great fun to be around, a lively bunch who enjoyed late-night music and tried their best to help wherever they could. They are a lot better at speaking English than I remember, but they weren’t very good at understanding my poor attempts to speak Turkish.

So generally, their warmth and kindness are good reasons to look forward to a visit.

The best night of our holiday was spent with our Uber driver and his friends, hanging out at a Latino dance evening. Strange things happen to us.

Places we went

We went to three places and each was very different, and not necessarily in line with our expectations.

Istanbul

Istanbul was a bit disappointing, probably because I expected to see a mix of East and West. In reality, the city is dominated by stunning mosques and life around the Bosphorus, the strait that separates Europe and Asia.

The historic defences have been overwhelmed by human habitation. The walls still exist, but they are often masked by developments, so you don’t get a feel for how powerful it was, in my view. I was expecting something akin to Rome, where you can feel the history. That wasn’t the case here.

We were in Istanbul for four nights and, to be honest, would have done it in three or maybe even two. Once you have toured Sultanahmet, you have seen the main stuff.

Cappadocia

Cappadocia is in the middle of nowhere, and the term describes a large and ancient region that the historic Silk Road used to pass through on its way between Europe and Asia.

So, the area we are really talking about is Göreme, a tourist town around which many of the main attractions radiate. The balloon rides fly over the surrounding area and most of the tours leave from here.

We stayed just outside at a place called Ortahisar, which was 10 minutes away, because we wanted to stay in a cave hotel. We could have done that in Göreme and had a lot more options in the evening, but, being there for only two nights, it was fine.

It is a dry, stark landscape, surrounded by strange volcanic structures. It is hot in the summer and cold in the winter, and we enjoyed clear skies, warm days and crisp nights in October. The history is everywhere around you and the main attractions were stunning.

Antalya

Antalya was our final destination, a very well-known holiday destination, and probably the only surprise was its size. It is a major city and the traffic certainly feels like it.

There are three main areas where people stay.

The Old Town – congested and historic, with Hadrian’s Gate and plenty of Roman structures and walls, the kind of thing I was expecting in Istanbul, I guess. This is a good base and, given the chance, I would have stayed a couple of nights here before heading to the beach.

Lara Beach – this is the home of all the big all-inclusive hotels, many of which have been built to a theme, like Venice or the rather intimidating Kremlin Palace. This is to the south of the Old Town and is convenient for many of the tours, and there are tourist bazaars everywhere.

Konyaaltı Beach is to the west of the city centre. It has a long seafront promenade with bars and coffee shops along it. This is where we stayed because we wanted to be on the seafront, and we were very happy with it. There are plenty of other bars back from the beach, so it had everything we needed, but it was quieter than we expected. It felt a lot more residential than touristy, but that might have been the time of year.

The one downside of Konyaaltı Beach is the tours. You have to add about an hour to each tour compared with being at Lara Beach. As we wanted to do tours, this was a real pain, as you were the first pick-up and final drop-off, but it was worth it when you sat in the beachside bar at the end, listening to chilled Ibiza vibes.

If you go to Turkey, I am sure you will enjoy it. I hope this information will be helpful.

The big day arrived for our balloon ride. This is what people come to Cappadocia for.

Anyone who has been up in a balloon will know that the weather is everything. The forecast was good, but a storm was on its way for the week ahead, so it was today or never.

A 0445 alarm call, so we could have a cup of tea in our cave before being picked up at 0540. We had been concerned about how cold it might be in the desert, so we were wrapped up warm as we headed up to reception.

0540, no bus, but not to worry, as most things are late in Turkey. I was standing outside reception taking in the morning sunrise. At 0550, I glanced at WhatsApp and found a message saying the driver had been and gone because we weren’t at reception and that he would not come back to get us. They hadn’t even tried to ring before abandoning us.

Our hotel was in a tight lane, and the lying shit clearly hadn’t bothered to walk up to reception and check. I was apoplectic. We had lost over £400 for the balloon flight thanks to an idle driver from Skyways Travel. The terms of the booking stated that if we weren’t at the pick-up point, we would lose our payment.

As you can probably imagine, there was a rather frantic exchange of WhatsApp messages and calls, and then a bus turned up out of the blue. It turned out not to be our bus, but a bus picking up two other passengers for the balloon ride from our hotel.

At this point, we discovered there are dozens of companies launching balloons. A stressful call with our company and this bus driver led to us hopping on the bus and off we went, but not too far, as the bus stopped outside another hotel and told us to get off.

So we stood there, with no idea what the plan was. I felt like we were in some sort of hostage exchange process in the middle of the desert. Wooksie was starting to lose her patience with everyone and everything.

Our company didn’t seem to know where the hotel was, so more frantic messages, calls and sending of locations on WhatsApp, and eventually a calm and friendly cab driver turned up, explained what was going on and dropped us at the flight park.

We were then connected to our original lazy bus driver, who appeared offering us our breakfast box. He got a very dirty look, but I decided giving him a mouthful wouldn’t help.

He was genuinely an idiot or simply didn’t care. He locked the bus doors, so the people inside staying warm couldn’t get out and those outside freezing couldn’t get in to warm up.

It was then that we discovered the flights were all delayed because of the weather forecast. On the one hand, if it hadn’t been for this delay, we would have missed the launch, so there was some relief. But now there was anxiety about the possibility that we wouldn’t go at all, and a new wave of frustration and anxiety.

How much stress can any human take before 7am on a Sunday morning?

Eventually the “Go” came from the Turkish aviation body. The gas burners were ignited and started to pump heat into the balloon canopies. The conditions were changing and every company wanted to get airborne and get on their way. Refunds for non-flights weren’t their priority.

The balloons rise out of a big bowl in the valley, and the ridges were covered with spectators watching and filming the extravaganza.

The balloon baskets were huge; ours took 28 people plus the pilots, and as the balloons rose around us, it was majestic. I’m used to seeing balloons, as Bristol is the balloon capital of the UK, but this was genuinely spectacular.

As our balloon rose, we climbed above the ridges and were greeted by a view across the valley, with dozens of balloons rising from every nook and cranny around the town of Göreme. In every direction, the sky was filled with colourful balloons, all drifting at different altitudes, above us, beside us and below us, filling the space up to 1,000m altitude.

The balloons drifted serenely down the valley, over the town of Göreme, with the highlight of the flight being the fairy chimneys in the valley. Surprisingly, they don’t belong to fairies; they are weird toadstool-shaped structures that erosion has created from the volcanic rock in this valley.

After the trauma caused by the moronic bus driver, it was thankfully a tranquil experience. An hour later, we reached the landing site. The landscape was filled with minibuses and 4x4s towing trailers, tracking their company’s balloon.

The pilots even managed to land the giant baskets onto their trailers. Not an easy trick to pull off, but one that I suspect they pull off every day. So we were back on the ground and it was only 0930.

So, after a glass of champagne, presumably to celebrate still being alive and not crashing, we piled back into the bus to head back to bed.

Once again, it didn’t last long, as we were chucked out in Göreme and directed to another bus to take us to our hotel, which he didn’t. He took us to a completely different hotel about two miles away.

So, having got the pick-up wrong, Skyways Travel managed to cock up the drop-off as well. It was less stressful this time, but still annoying. Mysteriously, my review isn’t visible on their Tripadvisor page.

So, that is it. Cappadocia done. We’ve seen the best and don’t really need to see the rest. Time to head to Antalya and hopefully a bit of rest and recuperation.