If you have done all the Istanbul sightseeing and still have some spare days in your agenda then you should consider taking one of the day trips from Istanbul to Edirne and pay a visit to the impressive Edirne Mosque called Selimiye. Nowadays a sleepy little town full of history, but once the capital of the Ottoman Empire, Edirne, Turkey lies only a few kilometers from the Bulgarian and the Greek border. I admit it was pretty tempting to make a little detour and cross into these two countries, as I had never been to any of them. But as we were toured around by the Turkish Tourism Board it would have been a little inappropriate to leave the country. ;) Surely some day I will end up there again!

After two months in Indonesia my visa was unfortunately running out and I had to leave the country. As part of my Trip of Wonders with the Indonesian Tourism Board I could choose a flight out of Indonesia to any given destination in the world. I made me think to finally start exploring Africa or may be Southeast Europe. When I thought about Europe, I though about my friends and family in Holland and then it was an easy decision!

We were already half way through our Trip of Wonders Culture Trip and were about to board flight number 6 from Makassar in South Sulawesi to Palopo in central Sulawesi. We spent the night at the airport hotel and had to be presentable at 7.00 am that morning because we were getting up close and personal with the walking dead of Toraja. After our adventures in Java and Sumatra I was really looking forward visiting the central highlands of Sulawesi and its ethnic groups.