EDITOR’S NOTE: The Black Sea region of Turkey is what you’d get if you crammed the American Northwest, the Swiss Alps, the Italian coast, the Big Sky of the Canadian Rockies, the deserts of Egypt, and Versailles into a single strip of land on the Anatolian peninsula. Matador’s team of filmmakers spent just a few days there this past fall, and in that time got to visit Ataturk’s palace, go whitewater rafting, watch traditional dancing at Akçaabat, and visit waterfalls, tea plantations, and monasteries.

This timelapse encapsulates the trip to the region. Keep this in mind while you’re watching: It was a four-day trip. There’s no other place on Earth where you can see so many different amazing things in so short a time.