Turkey is one of the most under-rated travel destinations.
It is ancient, alien, fascinating, inexpensive, and exceedingly friendly. Before starting, you may want to look at this map of Turkey to familiarize yourself with the geography. I'll also share lots and lots of pictures. Links to them are disbursed throughout the text, or you can just go straight to the Photo Gallery section. The two flights and the brief layover combined for a total travel time of about 14 hours.