10 Days in Turkey: Istanbul (3/3)
Posted: September 5, 2014 Filed under: Travel, Turkey | Tags: Istanbul 7 CommentsAh, the final leg of our holiday.
Istanbul was made our last stop in anticipation of the shopping that could be done there — we had a meagre 15kg baggage allowance on the earlier domestic flights, you see. But in the end we surprised ourselves by not buying much at all. This, in spite of the legendary Grand Bazaar that houses more than 4,000 shops!
Firstly, the cost of things weren’t that much different from Singapore, making for an expensive shopping spree. Secondly, there wasn’t actually much to buy, unless you’re talking carpets and souvenirs for everyone and their mom.
I only bought a few pieces of clothing, some jewelry, natural handmade soaps, fridge magnets, a pretty iznik tile notebook — and of course Turkish delights and baklava! The sweets were quite heavy but they unfortunately had to be painfully hand-carried to ensure the boxes didn’t get smashed. My 30kg international flight baggage allowance was sadly and grossly underutilised!
A Hafiz Mustafa outlet selling Turkish delights. How royal is the interior, with all that gold?! They’re one of the better shops, the other one being the Ali Muhiddin Haci Bekir chain of shops. Haci Bekir is said to be the original creator of the Turkish delight back in the Ottoman days. We did pass by one outlet but by then we had bought a truckload of sweets from Hafiz Mustafa, so we gave it a miss.
I was THE kid in the candy shop!
I had wanted to secretly take a pic of this guy who was manning the baklava section, but I was found out and he invited us behind the counter for a photo with him. Can you imagine how happy I was to be taking a photo with all that yummy baklava?!
While Istanbul wasn’t quite the shopping haven for me, it was still a tremendous delight. Whilst popular attractions like the Blue Mosque, Hagia Sophia, Topkapi Palace, Dolmabahce Palace and the Basilica Cistern were marvellous, surprisingly I found even greater enjoyment doing the simplest of things — walking. Strolling the streets of Istanbul, taking in its sights, sounds and smells.
It didn’t start out this way though. One of the first things Faz did upon reaching our hotel in Istanbul…..was to watch Scam City Istanbul! On one hand, it’s good to be aware of the different scams operating there (some examples: carpet scams, shoeshine scams, nightclub scams), but the downside was that it made us feel MEGA PARANOID.
We felt like mice stepping out of the comforts of our sewer for the first time to explore the big city, hoping not to get squashed. It didn’t help that we arrived back in Istanbul on a Sunday — it was so crowded! We got stopped every few metres by peddlers peddling Istanbul guide books, maps, toys and imitation perfumes. We were on real high alert.
It took me a trip to the Grand Bazaar the next day to snap out of it. I had been really looking forward to visiting one of the oldest covered markets in history, but when we reached it, I wasn’t strolling through it leisurely taking in the details of the market like I had imagined. Faz was pulling on my hand and we were walking fast, trying not to look interested so that shopkeepers wouldn’t approach us (therefore reducing our chances of getting scammed?). It was ridiculous because I was interested, and we didn’t stop to enter any shop for at least the first 10 minutes!
Of course you still have to be on guard — someone actually attempted to pick Faz’s pocket while we were in a crowded tram! But lucky for us he was one lousy ass pickpocket because Faz actually felt his hand! Without looking at the guy, Faz immediately turned his body away, putting the guy’s hand in a knot — and he had no choice but to wriggle it miserably out of the pocket. Fotunately there was nothing in there in the first place. Faz didn’t confront him, well, because 1) he didn’t actually get away with anything and 2) he wanted to avoid the possibility of an altercation.
Anyway my point is just do your best to be aware of your belongings and surroundings, avoid dodgy people, avoid following people to places and you’ll be fine, InsyaAllah. No need to be excessively paranoid like we were!
The Grand Bazaar on a Monday afternoon. Great time to go because it wasn’t too crowded. I had a go at bargaining here!
An array of tea and spices.We were lured into the shop by this warm and friendly guy whose English was quite good, offering us Turkish delights that turned out to be pretty damn delicious. He turned out to be a Syrian who had only been in Turkey for 6 months. He told us he left for Turkey to find a safer place to work to support his family back home, and asked us to pray for Syria.It was quite sad and I was immediately reminded of how I should count my blessings because there are other people in worse situations. I just wish Muslims all over the world could just unite and be a force to be reckoned with instead of killing each other — but that’s another story altogether.
We spent more than an hour in this calligraphy shop in the nearby book bazaar to get supplies for my brother, who does calligraphy.
Facetiming my brother to show him what they had. He was practically fangirling behind that screen!
I enjoyed Istanbul SO, SO much after I got over Scam City Istanbul.
I loved people-watching. People from all walks of life seemed to converge there, and it was a challenge to tell the different nationalities apart. Some ladies would have fair skin and light hair, and just when I thought they were Caucasian, they’d start conversing in Turkish. Or just when I thought they were Turkish, they started speaking in some other language.
We found the Turks to be so strikingly beautiful that Faz and I felt like ugly ducklings there. We’d be so sillily over the moon when shopkeepers ask, “Are you Turkish? You look Turkish” although we knew it was probably a ploy to get us to buy from them — we read about this tactic of theirs online. The women, whether in hijab or not, were so fashionable and elegant!
One of our simple indulgences in Istanbul was having balik ekmek on the pier next to the Galata Bridge at Eminonu. Balik ekmek means fish sandwich, and really that was all it was: a simple grilled fish sandwich. But believe me, as simple as it was, it tasted SO good! I think it’s worthy to note that I’m not even a big fish-eater, but we came to eat here twice while we were in Istanbul.
The Galata Bridge. Scores of men line the bridge to fish, and they’re there from morning till night!
One of the boats parked by the pier and customers waiting eagerly in line to receive their balik ekmeks.
This, my dear friends, is how the balik ekmek looks like. Deceivingly simple, right? Typically at every table there is a bottle of salt and lemon juice, which you drizzle over the sandwich as you wish. I suppose most of all it’s the freshness of the fish that makes it so delish!
Just look at the crowd! I like the setup of small tables and stools. Easier for the stalls to pack up and go, I suppose.
The sandwiches were only available in the evenings — I assume they spend their mornings fishing. Eating here felt somewhat like an authentic Turkish experience because even the locals and their families patronised these stalls. I loved the ambience. It was quite laidback despite the hustle and bustle of the harbour because you get to just sit there, enjoy your sandwich and watch the world go by — with the sound of the water and the sight of flying seagulls against the monumental old city as the backdrop to boot.
One of my favourite pics of my favourite places in Istanbul — the Eminonu pier.
I also loved taking a walk down Istiklal Avenue, a pedestrian street in Taksim — the heart of modern Istanbul. It was there that we finally saw some familiar brands like Starbucks, H&M, Topshop and Adidas — we didn’t see any of these in the old city. There were bookstores, cafes, restaurants and pubs with live music there as well.
Taking the underground metro to Taksim.
At Taksim station.
The famed Taksim Square — the place where protests usually happen. Lucky there weren’t any while we were there though it would’ve been an experience. Nobody ever protests in Singapore!
There’s your Starbucks on the left.
At the start of Istiklal Avenue with my delish coconut mocha frap from Starbucks. Have we ever had this here in Singapore? It was sooooooo sedap, I swear!
As evening came, Istiklal became more alive, with some pretty talented buskers performing their music. I’d describe Istiklal as sort of a cool place where people would gather to wind down after work. The buildings were old and weathered European-style buildings, but the shops were trendy and the place was bustling. It was a rather nice contrast.
Istiklal by night. I had wanted to video those buskers on the left but when we came back down the street they were gone! So far the best buskers we encountered the whole night! :(
Istiklal Avenue is mostly a pedestrian street, except for these ultra cute vintage funiculars going up and down every now and then.
It was quite easy to get around in Istanbul, as long as you don’t take a cab — you could either get ripped off or the traffic could kill you. We had printed the rail network map beforehand, and all we did when we got there was to purchase an Istanbulkart (our EZlink equivalent) from a newsstand, usually nearby the station. An Istanbulkart can be used by multiple people as long as you have enough value in it. It’s all pretty straightforward. If not, there’s always the station officer, or the tourism police you can approach for help.
One of the frequent modes of transport for us was these electric trams.
We also found out that the Turks (or maybe just this one Turk) have a mean sense of humour.
Faz and I we were in a park having a lovely time people-watching and munching on our stall-bought corn when a homeless-looking man with a dirty brown bucket and a sinister smile approached us — obviously up to no good. Faz had seen him first. He nudged me urgently and got up to flee — but I, unfortunately, didn’t react fast enough and was by then in direct line of fire.
I could only helplessly imagine what was in that dirty bucket. Pee? Faeces? Filthy drain water? Man, the smell was surely going to be excruciating! The scene that unfolded next seemed to begin playing in slow-mo. The man stopped a few steps away from me and raised the bucket. As he tipped it and gave it a strong jerk to send its contents flying towards me, I shielded my head with my arms — it was the only defence I had left.
A couple of seconds passed, and then in the distance — laughter. I opened my eyes only to see the man looking at me wide-eyed, slightly curling his lips to form a rather psychotic smile, and passers-by laughing at us — HARD. Apparently there was nothing in the bucket and it was all a prank! Without time to waste the man then proceeded to terrorise other people in the park, and looking at their reactions, they couldn’t have been worse than mine!
We turned around to check for cameras in case it was some kind of a gag show, but there were none to be seen. Only an insane homeless man with a bucket and a mean sense of humour — which to be fair, made Faz and I laugh like crazies too. We got punk’d in Istanbul!
Stopping to refuel in a park.
More pics:
The Blue Mosque
Hotels in the Sultanahmet area were pretty pricey compared to other areas. I wanted a hotel that had a great rooftop view of the Blue Mosque that didn’t burn a hole in our pockets, and Spectra Hotel was an excellent choice. It’s a pretty basic hotel but it had what I wanted, and that was all that mattered.
The famed Blue Mosque and the crazy horde of tourists on a Sunday!
The courtyards of the Blue Mosque.
The musollah.
The amount of detail these Ottomans put into their work is crazy!
View from our hotel rooftop of the Blue Mosque at dawn.
The Blue Mosque by night. This was taken on a night a sermon was being delivered, and those illuminated dots you see in the sky were birds flying above the mosque. The interesting thing was that they were only flying over the mosque, and not other buildings. MasyaAllah, a grand display of God’s greatness!
Hagia Sophia
Hagia Sophia, a church of the Byzantine era that the Ottomans converted into a mosque, which Mustafa Kemal Ataturk later converted into a museum. There is a movement in Turkey to have Hagia Sophia converted back into a mosque, and as result of this there have also been people petitioning for it to remain as a museum so visitors can still access this historical building. How complicated.
The corridors of Hagia Sophia. The interior and structure of the former church mostly remained, except for a couple of changes: the Ottomans built a mihrab and minbar, and plastered over the mosaics that depicted faces, just to name a few.
The prayer hall.
A mosaic of the Virgin Mary and baby Jesus were uncovered in the apse during a renovation of the Hagia Sophia mosque.
Silhouette of Hagia Sophia at dusk.
Topkapi Palace
The entrance to Topkapi Palace, the first Ottoman palace that was built in the newly conquered Constantinople — known to us now as Istanbul.
One of my best buys in Turkey was this iznik tile-inspired pants. Love it!
The Ottomans were synonymous with opulence and grandeur. The palace was so lavish to the point I actually felt shame! It was all beautiful but it was simply too much.
A dreamy spot in the courtyard.
Dolmabahce Palace
The gates of Dolmabahce Palace, the Ottomans’ second palace after Topkapi. They had decided they wanted a different “lifestyle”, so they built another palace to move into — this time European in style and WAY grander than Topkapi!
There was this pretty pond in the courtyard….
….complete with ducks!
One of the few statues of lions in their courtyard. This particular one was crushing an alligator beneath it. Intimidated yet?
The palace building. It was a pity we couldn’t take photos inside. You should’ve seen it — it had the largest crystal chandelier in the world, a single handwoven carpet that’s bigger than my 4-room BTO flat, and 14 tonnes of gold leaf adorning the ceilings. The Ottomans really outdid themselves with this one.
Basilica Cistern
I wouldn’t say the Basilica Cistern is a must go, but entry was cheap and we had time, so why not?
One of the largest cisterns that lie beneath Istanbul. Also one of the locations where the 1963 James Bond film, From Russia with Love, was shot.
All in all an awesome 4 days in Istanbul and 10 days in Turkey! Planning the trip definitely wasn’t easy because of the logistics of travelling on our own in a big and unfamiliar country. Also there were so many things to see and do, which made it all the more difficult to choose! We wanted to maximise our time there so we decided the best option was to take domestic flights to the different areas in Turkey. We didn’t want to waste time getting lost, so we had our hotels arrange our airport transfers. With the exception of Istanbul which was easy to navigate, we had booked day tours in Cappadocia and Oludeniz, so we were still going to places and doing things we wanted without worrying about how to get there.
Best of all, Faz enjoyed the itinerary I had planned! Granted, he is an easygoing person by nature, but the worrywart that I am couldn’t help but be a little worried that he would find things like museums and stuff boring. But he didn’t, so it was a relief!
I think planning trips on our own is definitely the way to go for us because I like to be in total control of the choice of hotel, food, pace, places to go and things to do. But I think I do want to experience a tour at least once….just to see what it’s like. Hmm, what would be a good country to follow a tour?
It’s only been 3 months since my Turkey trip, but believe me when I say it feels like 6 months — at least. I’ve been so exhausted planning a work event, and now that it’s finally over I say I deserve a quick getaway.
Maybe I’ll try a do-nothing getaway this time. 4D3N in Krabi, perhaps?
10 Days in Turkey: Oludeniz & Pamukkale (2/3)
Posted: July 15, 2014 Filed under: Travel, Turkey | Tags: Hierapolis, Hotels, Oludeniz, Pamukkale 11 CommentsWe spent the next 3 nights in Oludeniz, a beautiful pebble beach in the southwest of Turkey flanked by the Babadag mountains — and is one of the most popular paragliding spots in the world.
Our accommodation in Oludeniz.
Our room was super spacious! It was a relief especially for Faz, who was like a big bear in small cave in Cappadocia. And it was surprisingly affordable too. I think it may have something to do with the fact that the beach wasn’t within walking distance — and we know this firsthand because we tried! I got scolded for this and I’ll tell you later what happened…
Big tubs are almost like a staple now in our holidays!
Explored the very touristy Hisaronu town centre for a place to have dinner.
Not spared from slopes in Oludeniz either. This was what we had to overcome to get back to our hotel. And the hill is steeper than it looks here!
The view from the hotel room balcony.
Paragliding in Oludeniz
Ever since I saw a photo of a paraglider flying above Oludeniz, my heart was set that that was exactly what I was going to do if I ever made it to Turkey. Well, I made it there, so I went! It was breathtaking. It was the closest I’ll ever feel to being a bird flying — at 6,000 feet, no less!
The scariest moment for me was being up on the mountain seeing other people before me run off the edge of the cliff. That was the moment I started asking myself: SERIOUSLY, ARE YOU REALLY DOING THIS?! I said a little prayer to ask that I reach the ground again safely in one piece and before I knew it I, too, was running off the cliff. It was surreal being so high up with my feet simply dangling in the air but the initial shock quickly passed as I became fixated on how beautiful everything was from up above.
Midway during the flight, my pilot asked if I wanted to do some acrobatics. My inner adrenaline junkie told him yes but I almost wished I hadn’t because we did some spins which made me feel so dizzy I felt like throwing up. I was so relieved when our little performance was over! Nevertheless, it was quite the experience!
Having said all that, my experience was actually tarnished a little by my pilot. I don’t know if he’s just naturally unpleasant or if he got up on the wrong side of the bed that day but he was barking at people from the time we met at their office, and was also on occasion rude to me. I was upset but didn’t want to kick up a fuss (which might result in me not being able to paraglide altogether) so I pushed it aside at the time. But thinking about it now makes me feel quite peeved. I mean, we spent thousands to holiday in Turkey and do all these activities — why does he feel that it’s ok to let people down?!
Faz on the other hand had such an awesome pilot from the same company and enjoyed his paragliding experience to bits. Glad that at least one of us enjoyed the experience thoroughly!
It was a long and winding drive up to the top of the Babadag mountains but we made it.
Setting up
I got lumps in my throat seeing other people running off the edge of the cliff.
Off they went!
Faz having a ball of a time up in the air. Love how colourful his pictures turned out!
Waiting for my turn. I know it doesn’t look like it but I was already upset with my pilot. I’m pretty sure that half-smile of his was just for the camera because he was back to his surly self after this photo was taken. And me? Well, I wasn’t going to look unhappy in photos if I’m going to be paying for them later.
Surly pilot aside, it really was an amazing feeling to be up there. And cold, too! My fingers were freezing!
Pretty sure this was before the acrobatics because I could still smile.
Miniature houses
You don’t get water this blue in Singapore!
Upon landing (and landing was a bit rough — it had quite an impact on my ankles), we were brought back to the office to have a look at the photo and video footage our pilots had taken, and basically got ripped off paying for them, even after playing the honeymoon card (technically there was some truth to that — it was our second honeymoon). I wish we would’ve bargained some more but we had a boat waiting to take us island hopping. We ended up paying something like SGD60+ per CD when I think we could’ve gotten them at perhaps the ranges of SGD40+. But we did feel better about it later on after coming back from Turkey because we discovered that the footage Faz had taken on our own GoPro was overexposed. Damn, I knew we should’ve gotten that LCD BacPac!
Well, better to have expensive footage than none at all….right? =/
Oludeniz boat trip
Our boat was a double-decker with water slides which by default sounds fun — if you can swim. Here’s a “fun” fact about me: I can’t. So there was no way I was going to slide into OPEN FREAKING SEA! The boat took us to about 6 different spots/islands and we’d spend about 30mins to an hour at each spot. In between, we spent most of our time on the lower deck because we didn’t want to fight the sunbathers for space, and plus I wasn’t looking to get a tan. Closing in on 30 real soon, I’m so not looking to speed up the ageing process! All in all it was a relaxing trip, despite the harsh sun. The waters were so unbelievably blue!
All the different boats belonging to different tour operators.
Our boat approaching the Butterfly Valley. Though famous for tiger butterflies, we only saw a few when we were walking up to the Selale waterfall.
After exploring the island, we were delighted to come back to the sight of our chef preparing our lunch. We were famished!
This was at Camel Bay, I think.
Faz going all GERONIMO while the two guys in the water were scrambling to get out of the way. LOL.
Ok a little embarrassed about my bright blue foam noodle, but I wasn’t going to let it prevent me from having my fun. Better to look silly than dead drowning! They said this area was supposed to be a hot spring, but the waters were FREEZING! It was a cold spring bay!
One of the stops we made was at St Nicholas Island, the place believed to have been home to St Nicholas (or better known as Santa Claus) for a period of time, and the original site of his tomb.
Remains of churches from the Byzantine era.
Turned out we did quite a bit of walking during this boat trip as well, exploring the islands we stopped at.
Lovely, lovely view
Back at the Oludeniz beach after the boat trip, we contemplated whether to walk or take the public bus back to our hotel. I suggested walking so that we could see more of Oludeniz, and insisted with 200% confidence that it wouldn’t be that long of a walk. It turned out that my memory of how long the journey from our hotel to the beach took when the paragliding company fetched us that morning was MAJORLY skewed.
We ended up walking for a little over an hour — and before you exclaim “Yek eleh one hour jer”, let me add that it was over an hour of PURE UPHILL CLIMBING. Everytime Faz would ask in frustration “Bila nak sampai ni?!“, I’d say “Lagi sikit jer” but that always wasn’t the case. You should have seen him sulking and trudging along angrily. Man, he was pissed.
I thought I’d try to be positive by asking him to treat it as training for Adam’s Peak in Sri Lanka — to which he responded: “Screw Adam’s Peak!“. That didn’t work, so I tried another method — to motivate him by bruising his ego a little, telling him not to be weak. That actually went down worse.
I started to feel bad, and was hoping we could hail a cab or take a bus from the next bus stop but there were none in sight! In fact the next bus stop turned out to be the one near our hotel!
It was no easy feat, I’ll admit. I felt bad for “forcing” him into walking, but secretly I was kinda pleased that we got a good workout after all that bread we had in Cappadocia.
Day trip to Pamukkale + Hierapolis
On another day, we signed up for day trip out to Pamukkale, a place with beautiful white terraced travertine hot springs. We almost didn’t make it there because we didn’t know how to fit it into our itinerary, but I’m glad we managed to. Pamukkale is a natural phenomenon — a mountain of white amidst the greens and browns. The white looks like snow from afar, only it isn’t. They’re actually terraces formed by calcium carbonate mineral deposits left by flowing hot spring water over the years.
The day trip to Pamukkale was packaged together with a visit to an ancient Greek city called “Hierapolis”. We didn’t know much about Hierapolis, where it was exactly and quite honestly we didn’t even know if we were going to appreciate the ruins, but the trip gave us a chance to find out.
It turned out Pamukkale was within walking distance of Hierapolis (it did actually seem like Pamukkale was within Hierapolis but I’m not sure if it would be accurate to say so), and a ticket gives you access to both attractions. The ruins in Hierapolis were alright, though I would think Ephesus would’ve been a better choice (more impressive) if you had time to visit just one site. But Ephesus was out of the way for us.
Pamukkale from afar.
Look Ma, I’m standing barefoot on snow!
Enjoying a cooling dip in the hot weather. The water wasn’t hot at all for a hot spring.
I’m not sure if going on a weekday would be any different, but we went on a Saturday and it was crowded! It was quite amusing to see on one end of the spectrum bikini clad women and covered Middle Eastern ladies on the other, and all the various permutations in between — all in one place.
Some of the ruins of Hierapolis.
The gymnasium. Without all the equipment we have today, I shudder to think what their workouts consisted of!
Picture perfect backdrop.
Climbing more slopes to see the amphitheatre.
The grand amphitheatre — worth the climb!
It was too much of hassle to go out for dinner with all that walking and climbing, so we settled for dinner back at the hotel.
Quite a romantic ambience, wouldn’t you say? We hadn’t gone for nice dinners like this since Sri Lanka, so this was quite welcome!
All in all I enjoyed the activities we did and the gorgeous views of Oludeniz but truth be told I had mixed feelings about the vibe it exuded. For some reason Oludeniz is very popular with British tourists and over the years I suppose the place had been moulded to cater to them, making the place less Turkish in its ways and more of a British tourist trap. I had read about this Little Britain in Oludeniz prior, but still decided to go mainly for the activities which led us out of town most of the time anyway, so luckily there was no love lost.
However, Oludeniz was the only place in Turkey that we went in which we felt some uncertainty about the “halalness” of our food. Generally all meat in Turkey is halal because majority of the Turkish are muslims, despite it being a secular state. But walking in Hisaronu town we saw a lot of pork in the menus — nevermind that the other meat sold were halal. We had to recce Hisaronu town quite a bit before we found a restaurant that didn’t serve pork.
Alcohol is a separate matter. Muslims in Turkey (not all, but more so in Istanbul and along the Aegean Coast) seem to prescribe to a different belief about alcohol. Some believe it’s permissible, some believe it’s permissible as long as you don’t get drunk, and some just don’t care. In fact, almost all the restaurants we went to in Turkey sold alcohol. We’d still patronise them, but avoided those selling pork and alcohol because that proved to be a bit too much for our sensibilities.
Anyway, since we’d seen so much pork in Hisaronu, we felt doubtful if our hotel food was halal. So Faz went to ask the nearest staff he could find, which happened to be the bartenders, and they were offended! Genuine or feigned, I don’t know but they were like: What do you mean halal? Of course the food is halal! We’re Muslims! And then they happily started singing “Thola’al badru alaina min thaaniyyatil wada’….”
The juxtaposition of the scene was hilarious. I hope they weren’t high.
—
Of course, no trip to Turkey would be complete without visiting the legendary Istanbul — and that’s what I’ll be writing about in my next post!
10 Days in Turkey: Cappadocia (1/3)
Posted: July 7, 2014 Filed under: Travel, Turkey | Tags: Cappadocia, Goreme, Hotels 4 CommentsMerhaba!
So Faz and I returned home safely (albeit a couple kgs heavier) from Turkey last month, and I ABSOLUTELY LOVED IT THERE! Our 10-day trip was quite the adventure — I think I had way more fun in these 10 days than I’ve had in years put together!
I’d always wanted to visit Turkey for some reason. I wanted so much for Turkey to be THE honeymoon destination that even though we opted for Sri Lanka instead due to some circumstances, I regarded the latter as sort of a pre-honeymoon. I realised later what a silly concept that was because it didn’t quite work that way. One, because Sri Lanka was just as awesome. Two, the feeling you get going for a vacation as freshly minted husband and wife as compared to going 6 months later is just going to be different — period. So I suppose I’ll consider Turkey our second honeymoon!
Some of the trip’s highlights were staying in a cave hotel and riding in a hot air balloon in Cappadocia, paragliding and island-hopping in Oludeniz, and soaking up city life in Istanbul where the population is a whopping 14 million!
Because I don’t subscribe to “saving the best for last” when it comes to my holidays, Goreme in Cappadocia was made our first stop. And indeed it became my favourite part of the trip. It took us 4 airports to get there, but the gruelling journey was well worth it. It almost felt like I was on another planet because our time there was filled with nothing but unique experiences, which apart from staying in a cave and hot air ballooning included marvelling at the unusual volcanic rock formations (known as fairy chimneys) unique to Cappadocia, trekking into picturesque valleys and exploring an ancient underground city — things that don’t exist in the part of the world we come from.
The temperature during the day in Goreme was in the low 20’s deg C. I personally consider that to be cold, but with the sun out, it was quite alright — perfect for being out and about. It only felt cold when the wind blew, which was kind of a strange experience for someone who’s never been to a cold place before. Nights on the other hand, were freezing. Temperatures went below 10 deg C. Our cave room didn’t really make for a warm respite, but at least there was no wind in there and that’s probably already half the battle won.
The air was also especially dry throughout our stay in Goreme. The walls of my nose got so dry that part of it cracked and bled. Fortunately it was just a mild discomfort that didn’t get in the way of things.
We stayed at a cosy family-run cave hotel called Panoramic Cave Hotel. The owner said her parents used to live here. Two of the rooms were named after her brother and her because they were born in those rooms.
The room we picked was a real cave room carved out from a fairy chimney. That’s the door to our room on the left.
The medieval-looking room key that was as long as my palm.
After travelling almost 24 hours to get here, we were initially a little dismayed to discover how small our room actually was. But that was probably just the fatigue talking because after a while we came to appreciate this unique experience of staying in a cave.
It was only after we took this photo that we realised there was a winged figure carved into the wall that would look over us as we slept. Creeped us out a bit but once we discovered how comfy the bed was, we couldn’t give two hoots about the figure!
Felt quite like Alice in Wonderland walking through this fun-sized door.
In the morning we woke up to some noises (sounded like something being fired up) and looked out the window. Lo and behold, we had the famed Cappadocian sight of hundreds of hot air balloons rising up into the sky outside our window! I was practically hyperventilating as we jumped out of bed and out the room to get a better look. I think this had to be one of my best moments in Turkey. I’d seen this in pictures and longed so much to witness it for myself — and truly, nothing beats being there in person. Magical!
A panoramic view of Goreme from outside our room.
The cosy breakfast room cum reception area where we’d have breakfast in the mornings.
The way to our hotel from the town centre. I swear, Turkey is all slopes! We had quite the workout there.
Shops like these selling souvenirs, carpets and handicrafts line the streets of Goreme town.
A scruffy lil Cappadocian kitty.
One of the days we signed ourselves up for a guided tour through our hotel. The tour operators there offer standard colour-coded tours (Green, Red and Blue), each covering a different set of major attractions in Cappadocia. We took up the Green Tour, which took us to the Selime Monastery (above), Ihlara Valley, Derinkuyu Underground City, Pigeon Valley and Goreme Panorama.
The rock-cut Selime Monastery, a Christian monastery dating back to the 8th century. You’d be surprised to know that there are many ancient churches in Turkey because the people practised Christianity in the periods before the Ottoman Empire.
It had all the rooms you’d find in a modern day monastery, except they were carved out of rock. Although it was bright and sunny outside, it was dark inside and felt a little creepy. I’d ventured on my own into one of those entrances but almost instantly turned back because I started to get the chills.
The interior of another room.
It had to be the work of Selime Monastery that made the muscles all over my body ache like hell the next day. These monks must’ve been a really fit bunch back in the day!
Gorgeous backdrop.
Contrary to popular belief, Turkey actually has quite a bit of greenery!
Next on the agenda was the Ihlara Valley, where we did a bit of trekking.
The Ihlara Valley, a canyon with a depth of about 100m, runs about 16km and was once home to 4,000 dwellings and about 100 churches with frescoes.
One church we stopped by to see was the Church of Daniel (a.k.a Church of Pantassa) of the 10th-12th centuries which had colourful frescoes depicting biblical stories.
Stopped to rest at a cute lil’ cafe with these tree stumps for tables and chairs. My cousin saw this photo and commented that it looked like a seating area for gnomes haha!
We later stopped for lunch at an interesting restaurant on a stream!
Next we visited the Derinkuyu Underground City, the deepest of 36 underground cities in Cappadocia. These underground cities basically serve as shelter against invasions. This particular one can house up to 20,000 and their livestock — can you imagine?!
Poor 1.84m husband had to crouch through most of the tunnels.
It was quite an impressive complex. The people had everything they needed and life went on as usual down there. They could get water out of a well, kids went to school, men had meetings, women cooked, gave birth — everything.
Goreme in the evening. There were SO MANY cave hotels here it was a real challenge to pick one. But we’re happy to have picked Panoramic Cave Hotel because it was value for money and within our budget.
At the recommendation of our hotel owners, we tried out a open rooftop restaurant nearby the hotel called Koy Evi. Everyone had these cute printed blankets on that were provided by the restaurant because it was about 11 deg C out. Loved the ambience!
Nothing better than having a hot beverage (a tasty Turkish apple tea, no less) in the cold weather!
Faz having a lamb pottery kebab which came in a clay pot that the waiter had to break open. I don’t think these used pots can be re-used, so can you imagine how many of these go to waste everyday? I did see some shops using them decoration, though.
Goreme by night. What a sight!
HOT AIR BALLOONING THE NEXT MORNING!
Our pilot firing up our hot air balloon.
Aaaaand we’re up!
Just. Spectacular.
Everywhere you turned was a photo op!
I don’t usually take selfies, but vacations are an exception!
The lovely people in our half of the basket. One basket could accommodate 24 people.
Nothing but gorgeous views during the hour-long ride.
One of my favourite shots of us!
Faz with our humorous pilot, who made our journey that much more enjoyable. We flew with Turkiye Balloons by the way, which we totally recommend!
Balloons getting deflated in the distance.
Boo, our ride was coming to an end!
As you can see, the balloons were HUGE!
Faz lending his body weight to compress the balloon into that bag — and doing a pretty good job haha!
And so that concludes our out-of-this-world experience in Cappadocia!
Next I’ll be writing about our time in Oludeniz! :)
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