November 8 - 28, 2013
Istanbul
Istanbul is an amazing city! It is much more modern than we expected but with loads of history and lots of charm. We hit up most of the tourist attractions: whirling dervishes, Blue Mosque, Topkapi Palace, Aya Sofia, the Harem, Grand Bazaar. We strolled Istiklal Cadessi, enjoyed a Turkish bath, and took a cooking class. We gave lots of love to the cats and dogs that seem to run the city. The food is delicious (except for the roasted chestnuts and grilled corn). We even developed a taste for baklava and Turkish Delights. We had a great view of the Maramara Sea from our hotel balcony. Can't wait to get back to Istanbul!! Or is it Constantinople... ;)
Sanliurfa
This city has more of an Islamic feel to it. Being closer to Syria, Iran and Iraq, this is not surprising. It was maybe 50km from the Syrian border, which we have gotten quite close to on a couple of occasions on this trip (sounds way more intimidating/interesting then it actually is).
We spent the first day wandering around the older area of the city with open markets and secluded souqs and climbed the hill in the south of the town to visit the ruined castle and get a great vista of the city.
Driving in from the airport, the dichotomy of the new city on the northern outskirts, with its new apartment buildings and green landscaped parks is a stark contrast to the cobbled winding streets of the old city, but the money brought in from the surrounding engineering projects (apparently a huge dam is being built) can be seen in both areas. Besides the extremely (and starkly) poorly maintained castle, the park lands and historic sites in the city are well maintained or under restoration, with what looks like a huge new museum and plaza being built in the center of town (although I can't find any information on the project anywhere).
Our second day in the region was our planned tour with Usef, a tour guide recommend by Peter Jones. Although his English wasn't great, he'd love to crack the humorous one liner, or regale us with the story of how he almost lost a Japanese hiker in the deep snow on top of Nemrut. He drove us around (we were joined by a Kiwi traveler) south of Urfa to some historic sites as well as the Atatürk dam and finally to Mt Nemrut which has a 50m man made peak of crushed stone and a series of statues on the east and west faces of the Anatolian King Antiochus (who commissioned the work) and several gods, including Zeus and Heracles, who he figured were his cousins...
Capadoccia
We stayed in Gerome which had a very mountain/ski town feel to it. Maybe because it was freezing at night? Our cave room at Flintstones Hotel was fabulous with a big jetted bath tub. Capadoccia is a great area to visit. We did a tour the first day to visit the underground city of Derinkuyu, hiked through the Ihlara Valley to a small village for lunch, saw the Selime Monestary, and Pigeon Valley. This little fairy tale land is all rock carved churches, fairy chimneys, cave hotels, and hot air balloons. Unfortunately we couldn't go up in a hot air balloon due to foggy weather but they were a beautiful site from the Goreme Open Air Museum at the top of the hill. We had a great dinner at a cozy restaurant called the Orient, with a fireplace and three old men playing traditional Turkish music. Loved it!
The Mediterranean Coast
The coast was so beautiful!! Just like the movies. We stayed two nights in Olympos amongst the orange trees. It is a small backpacker town that was almost empty in the off season. We visited the Roman ruins there, hiked in the hills along the coast, and Devin took a dip in the sea. On the second night we saw the flames of Chimera in neighboring Cirali. Apparently they have been burning on the side of this hill for 2,500 years. It was a nice night to be out under the full moon :)
From there we took a bus to Kalkan, a small town further west along the coast. The town was pretty quiet and they were doing a lot of construction, but we enjoyed the peacefulness and all of the puppies! We took a cooking class at Guru's Place and learned how to make Borek (Turkish pastries). The second night was rainy and we had a fabulous, romantic dinner by the water at Aubergine. We can't wait to visit the Mediterranean again in the warmer months to enjoy the beaches, boats, and diving!
Only spent a couple days in Pamukkale, and it was a bit of a mission to get there. I think it was four separate bus trips and by the end it was pouring with rain. But it was definitely well worth it with the amazing ruins and tombs and the famous Cleopatra Pool and limestone travertines. That evening was another bus trip to our hotel in Ephesus.
By the time we got to Ephesus we were getting a little bit "ruined" out, which was sad since Ephesus was one of the great ancient cities. It is located close to the current city of Selcuk and also the location of the ruins of the Temple of Artemis, one of the Seven Ancient Wonders.
Gallipoli
As an Aussie, I had to make the traditional pilgrimage to Gallipoli, We stayed in the town of Canakkale on the opposite side from the peninsula and caught the ferry across the Narrows on the day of our tour. We visited all the main sites including the beach of the first landing of ANZAC troops, Anzac Cove and Lone Pine. The tour guide was exceptionally informative and I probably learnt a lot more listening to him than all the stuff we learnt in school. I hadn't realised the battle for Gallipoli Peninsula lasted for so long, I was always under the impression that the Turks had defeated the ANZAC troops in a few days, but the campaign actually lasted several months.
The town of Canakkale was a pretty little sea side town that seemed to be quite affluent and we stayed in a nice hotel by the water surrounded by many nice restaurants and shawarma shops. We delved into the tasty food on the two nights we were there and on the second morning we hopped on a bus to Istanbul.
