Welcome to Turkey!
My original plans for the October half term fell through so I had to make alternate plans. I ended up choosing Turkey and Bulgaria. I couldn’t book a G Adventures tour as the dates didn’t work so I chose Travel Talk Tours. I haven’t travelled with them before, but they are recommended by the teaching agency I worked for. I got the tour for 45% discount, so the 9-day tour with hotel accommodation & breakfast was only £600. Bargain!
Turkey is a place that has several famous places that I wanted to see, like hot air balloons in Cappadocia and the white terraces in Pamukkale. I have been so insanely busy with my new job, that I barely had time to plan the trip. I’ve been at school from 7am – 6pm every day, then I come home and work until 9pm and work all weekend. Clearly, I am in desperate need for a holiday!
School finished at 4pm, and after a bit of paperwork, I headed home to finish packing and head to the airport. I ended up booking an overnight flight, departing at 10pm and arriving in Istanbul at 4am tomorrow morning.
Day 0 London to Istanbul
Given many independent schools started holidays today, and the nightmare situation with airports post-Covid, I wanted to get there 3hrs early so I had plenty of time. Turkish Airlines departs from terminal 2, which I have not been to before. I was very pleasantly surprised that the bag drop queue took maybe 10mins and the security screening took less than that. Awesome, plenty of time for food!
I checked the dining options and settled on a BBQ restaurant. My beef and brisket burger were delicious! No photos because I was starving and gobbled it up quickly!
Then I hung out at the airport until we boarded. It was a very full plane! I had a window seat (my favourite) and after a delicious meal of chicken, mash and vegies (complete with hot baked rolls!) and a banoffee mousse, I tried to take a nap. I wasn’t very successful as it was only a short flight (3.5hrs).
Day 1 Istanbul
The plane arrived early, and overall; the journey was good. Upon arrival, I was one of the first to get to border control. I travelled as a British Citizen this time as Turkey requires visas for Australian Citizens. British just get to walk on in! The lady in the box was very unenthusiastic. Didn’t speak to me other than say ‘camera’, and instead talked on her phone the whole time. It might be 4am but she definitely was not very friendly. I followed the signs to the baggage carousels, and by the time I got there, my bag was ready for me! Definitely winning!
I was completely exhausted, so I found some seats where others were sleeping and went to lay down for a bit. Half an hour later I went in search of the bus to go to Istanbul city. The bus was very comfortable and affordable. 67 TRY which is about £3 or $5 AUD. It took about an hour with the 2 stops along the way. It rained the whole time.
When I got off the bus, I dug out my raincoat and began the 18min walk to my hotel. Far too early for check in but I was hoping to leave my luggage and go explore. Unfortunately, during the walk, I slipped over TWICE and landed one on the ground in mud, and the second time on the footpath in the water. Needless to say, I was very wet, muddy and sore by the time I got to the hotel.
The hotel let me use the bathrooms to change clothes and clean up a bit. Then I did the check in process and went to sit in the lounge. By now, I was sore, completely exhausted and feeling like the trip is off to a bad start. I was scared to leave the hotel again as the footpaths here are very slippery and I didn’t want to fall over and dirty my last pair of pants. I ended up sitting in the hotel lounge until check in time, partly dozing, and watching TV episodes. Customer service in this hotel is not what I expect for a 5-star hotel. Not once, in the 6hrs I sat in the lounge, did a staff member speak to me, offer me a drink or a menu. I ended up buying a coffee and custard Danish from the coffee shop next door.
At 2pm I checked in and went to my room. Unfortunately, there is no laundry service because the laundry is closed on Sunday’s. Therefore, the first thing I did when I got to my room was wash my jeans. I was also surprised to see that I have 1 bed in my room. I didn’t pay for a private room, so single people get paired up with other singles of the same sex. There must not be any other solo female travellers on this trip. Will have to see tonight at the welcome meeting. My room is very nice, which is a huge upgrade to my standard hostel dorm rooms!
Then I decided to go to the Grand Bazaar as it is closed on Sunday’s, so it was my only chance. Took me forever to find it. Google Maps locations are skewed by the buildings, so I think I take the right street, then find out I went past the one I needed! Finally, I found it and boy is it quite impressive! The building itself is very nice, and it is huge. Like Victoria Market on steroids! I spent ages walking around. The lamps are really nice, but they come with a Euro plug (obviously), so it is too annoying to get an adapter EU-AUS) for it. Plus, I don’t really neeeeeed a lamp. They are just very pretty. I did get a shot glass though. Cost me a whole £2.
Then I went in search of a supermarket. I found a tiny one and got myself a small can of Coke Zero ($1AUD) and a 1.5L water (26 cents AUD). That isn’t just cheap, that is ridiculously cheap! Apparently, the water in Turkey is drinkable but tastes disgusting so all the locals drink bottled water. Until I find out about the hotel water, I needed a bottle of water.
Then I went to the Egyptian Bazaar, also called the Spice Bazaar. This was equally as impressive as the Grand Bazaar because there are multitudes of stalls with all these colourful spices, teas, Turkish delight and baklava on display. Before I leave, I have to buy some of the Turkish delight that looks more like a nougat.
Then I dropped my water back at the hotel and went in search of food. As we have a group dinner tonight, and it was 4pm, I didn’t want something big. I set my sights for a donor kebab but ended up getting a packet of Lays salt & vinegar chips. Every food place has people outside trying to usher you in, and the kebabs are not like any I have had in the UK or Aus, so not sure what to get. They don’t look like they have sauce in them, or anything else except meat & chips! I decided to wait to meet my guide and get his advice.
Meanwhile, it has been raining ALL day! So, I have limited photos from today. Don’t worry though, I will take loads on the rest of my trip and bombard you all!
I headed back to my room to chill out and watch TV shows while I wait for the meeting. At 7pm, I headed downstairs to meet the group. I was greeted by the guide Mustafa and asked to fill in a registration form. Then I got told that the meeting had been pushed back to 8pm so I went back to my room to try and stay awake for another hour.
At 8pm, I went downstairs again and took a seat. I have never been with this company before, and don’t know a lot about their tours, combined with mixed information online, so I was surprised at how big the group was (there will be around 40 of us!) and the mixture of ages (looks to be low 20’s to a couple in their 80’s). Mustafa went through the whole tour, explaining a lot of things.
Then some of us went out for dinner at a nearby rooftop terrace restaurant. I ended up sitting with 8 solo travelling females, and we had a delicious meal. Mine was a pistachio meat thing. Not completely sure but it was like mince (half veal, half lamb) formed into a long flat sausage type thing, and has flatbread, tomato flavoured rice, condensed yoghurt and very spicy grilled onions. Apart from the chili, it was really nice.
The view from the terrace was amazing. We were in European Istanbul, right next to a mosque, and looked across the river at Asia and the Asian Istanbul. Of course, we took plenty of photos. And yes, it was still raining!
As we hadn’t even come to the restaurant until 9pm, it was now 10.30pm so it was definitely time for this tired girl to head to bed.
I opened my door to discover the belongings of my roommate on her bed, and housekeeping had pulled the beds apart. I got ready for bed and then came a knock on the door. My roommate was being moved out and a Scottish girl was moving in. Turns out the original roommate is travelling with her friend, so they were meant to be rooming together.
And now, it is 11.25pm and I am completely wrecked. It will be a bright night’s sleep because the curtains only cover half the windows (what kind of weirdo designs curtains like that!) but I will probably be completely zonked in 0.5 seconds!
Day 2 Istanbul
This morning I was jolted awake by my roommates’ loud alarm. We certainly won't miss any early morning wake ups! I feel like I definitely did not get enough sleep.
After getting ready, I went upstairs to breakfast. The restaurant is on the top floor (6th) and has some nice views over the city. Breakfast is a buffet. There was a huge selection of cheese. Like 8 different types of cheese! Some awful neon pink calf ham (processed stuff that looks like devon mean but bright pink), hot chips, fried onion rings, cheese pie, powdered scrambled eggs, ‘sausages’ (aka canned hot dogs) in a tomato sauce, roast carrots, zucchini & capsicum, boiled eggs, lentil soup, about 10 different bread rolls, several types of lettuce, olives, yoghurt, dried fruit & nuts, coffee and juice. The range was extensive, but most was not to my taste. Wonder what tomorrow will bring!
After breakfast, we met the group in the lobby at 8.30am and began out adventures. First, we walked to the Topkapi Palace. This is a paid museum palace, so we went early before the crowds. Our guide showed us the 4 courtyards and gave us info about each section. Then he gave us free time to explore. I took loads of photos, of course! Everything is made from marble, so it is very pretty. I went into the armory exhibition (allegedly, no photos permitted), a clock exhibition (again, no photos permitted, however the guards didn’t seem to care that people took photos, so I took some too!) and the multiple kitchen exhibitions (photos definitely permitted). I also went into the few open buildings.
We then headed to an area near the Hagia Sofia, where we had an excellent photograph location. We spent some time taking photos and enjoying then view.
Afterwards, we met up and walked to the Blue Mosque. Officially, it is called Sultan Ahmet Mosque, but apparently it was too hard for tourists to say so it was nicknamed Blue Mosque because the interior is covered in blue mosaic tiles. Unfortunately for us, it is almost completely covered in scaffolding, inside and out, so the blue tiles are hidden. A very big disappointment. Rules for mosques are that women have to be covered from top to toe, including the hair, and no shoes are permitted. I took a few photos of the roof, the only visible place, and then we joined the queue to leave. It took about 15mins to actually exit the place, which was a very long walk of 15m.
Next up, we went to Hippodrome Square. This used to be a huge hippodrome stadium but was filled in and is now a public place. There are some large monuments in the middle, including one 20m high Egyptian obelisk.
Next was lunch. Yes, because I was hungry! I wanted a kebab, so I ended up going with the Bulgarian girl to a small kebab place. I got one that had lamb doner meat, chips and cheese. It was nice, but Turkish people don’t seem to like sauce. The only sauce they have is bottled mayo & tomato sauce for tourists. It was also quite expensive for Turkey.
We walked around for a bit then joined the group and went to join the huge queue for Hagia Sofia. There were probably over a thousand people in the queue! Fortunately, the queue moved quite quickly to begin with, and then they closed the gates due to too many people inside. We had to wait about 15mins before they opened the gates and let people in again. It took about 40mins in total, which is quite quick for the size of the queue. Once we got through the x-ray scanners & metal detectors, we put head scarves on again and went to the mosque. We were given plastic bags to put our shoes in so we could carry them instead of putting then in the designated boxes (people tend to lose shoes in them), then went inside. Boy was it impressive! It was huge and has multiple domes in the roof. Apparently, the huge central dome is so big & heavy that it was pushing the walls outwards, so they had to build a secondary wall to support the whole structure. There were lots of mosaics inside, and big flower shaped candelabras. It is suggested that you put the phone camera on selfie mode with a timer, put it on the floor facing the ceiling, and then you lean over the camera to take a photo with the roof. So, we did that! I also got a photo which shows my halo very clearly. Here’s the proof I am an angel.
Then we got kicked out. Had no clue what the man on the speaker was saying but turns out all women were being removed so the men could pray. A few of us walked back towards the hotel, with a stop at a supermarket on the way.
We also stopped at a Turkish delight store. They give you free tastes so you can try before you buy. We tried 2 chocolate ones (I know, chocolate Turkish delight!), a pistachio one and a mango coconut one. Ooh the mango coconut was my favourite and one of the chocolate ones was second best. It is absolutely bizarre seeing all these flavours, when the only Turkish delight I have really ever known is the Fry’s Turkish delight bar and Cadbury Turkish delight block! I plan to go back next Sunday and buy myself some to take home.
At 5pm, most of us met up again in the lobby. This time, we were going on a boat cruise on the Bosphorous River. We had a private boat, which was a big 2 storey boat, and it was a 1hr cruise. The Bosphorous River divides the city of Istanbul and is also the geographical border between the Europe and Asian continents. The first 30mins of the cruise was along the European side of the river, and then we turned around and returned along the Asian side of the river. You can definitely tell the difference. The European side is much more crammed in, with all the buildings of flats joined together, no green space or trees. The Asian side has space between the buildings, and lots of trees and greenery. We got to see a beautiful sunset on the return section too, which was lovely.
Our guide took us back through the back streets to the spice market, then back to the hotel. A big group of us went for gozleme. These are flat savoury filled dough, and they are made by the lady sitting at the front of the restaurant. I had a mixed one, which had feta, spinach, mushroom, potato and minced beef. It was alright, but dry so I had to ask for sauce.
Then I headed back to the hotel with one of the girls, stopping to buy some bananas on the way. I had a shower and packed, then settled into bed to write this and watch a tv episode. I am very much needing sleep. Tomorrow we have a VERY long day in the bus: 8hrs plus stops, so looking at about 11hrs travel. Turkey must be huge, or the roads must be crap!
Day 3 Istanbul to Cappadocia
This morning we had to be up early for an early departure. At 6.30am my alarm went off and we got ready before heading upstairs to breakfast. This morning, I must have been very tired because breakfast was terrible. Roasted zucchini, weird bright red sausages, cheese pie (different to yesterday), scrambled eggs, pikelets and the rest was the same as yesterday. The best thing was the boiled eggs.
At 7.30am we boarded the bus, which was a really nice, luxury 50-seater coach. Leather accent seats, personal TV screens, curtains, USB sockets and actual power points for each pair of seats. Several of us single travellers were able to sit on our own as there were a couple of spare seats.
We drove out of Istanbul, heading east across the north of the country. After 2hrs we had our first stop. This one was 20mins at a big servo. It had a restaurant, coffee shop and market. Most of us recharged with a coffee, which was quite good.
Another 2hrs and we had a quick toilet only stop. Then we continued to our lunch stop. Between the first and second stop, we got lots of information about the next few days, and then everyone had to stand up the front of the bus and use the microphone to introduce ourselves.
Lunch was at 1.45pm at a restaurant on the side of the road in some town just past Ankara. I had a meat & cheese Turkish pide, which is basically Turkish pizza. It was quite good. They gave us free bread & dips, which was nice. Bread is free and unlimited in Turkey. It cost me 100 TRY for the pide, a sparkling water and the tip, which is £5. Pretty good.
We boarded again for the last leg. Apparently, it is just over 2hrs to Cappadocia. If we make good time, we will visit an underground city. If we don’t, then we go straight to the hotel and visit the city tomorrow.
After another toilet stop, we were too late to be able to visit the underground city so we will go straight to the hotel. The staff at the servo ripped me off so I got the guide to fix it. They charged me for 2 little blocks of chocolate instead of 1! That 20 TRY can go a long way here!
We finally arrived in the Cappadocia region around 5.30pm. Cappadocia isn’t a town; it is a historic area so there are several towns here. We are staying in a town called Avanos. We were told today that the hotel is overbooked for tomorrow night so some of us are being moved to the Hilton for the second night of our stay. My roomie and I were one of those people. When we pulled up to the hotel, there were 4 other tour coaches in the parking lot. Clearly, this is a tour hotel! We checked in, paid the hot air balloon man and went to our rooms. They were quite nice. We have a window seat overlooking the pool which is nice.
Then it was dinner time. The hotel serves a buffet and when you walk in, there is a huge selection of salads. Like 30 different things! There were also 2 chicken dishes, roast potatoes, pasta with a tomato sauce (it was awful, tasted like tinned crushed tomatoes & tomato sauce nixed. Very sweet and weird), freshly cooked fish (eww), a vegetarian section (cauliflower and broccoli with cheese sauce!), soup, bread and a huge dessert buffet. The chicken was nice, as was the broccoli & cauliflower, and I had a big plate of dessert. Don’t worry, I didn’t eat ALL of them! We didn’t know what anything was, and we still don’t. The crème caramel brulee looking thing was cheesecake, which was yum, the fluro pink thing was a nutty, jelly berry thing, the white thing was a bubblegum marshmallow type thing, the other white thing was like a sweet polenta and the stuff in the glass was different flavoured instant pudding style things. I left a few things and shared them with others.
After dinner, we chilled for an hour before going on a walk into town with our guide. We walked along the river which was nice. It seems like a nice town. Our guide told us that local Turkish people don’t eat out much, because they prefer to cook at home as it is cheaper, and they don’t have much money. Restaurants are mainly for tourists and domestic tourists. This place is definitely a tourist place so there are lots of restaurants!
After our walk, we headed back to the hotel. Tomorrow, we have to be up at 5.30am because we are attempting to go hot air ballooning. Fingers crossed all the conditions are perfect so we can go!!
Day 4 Cappadocia
5.35am and the alarm blares! Urgh, so early and I slept very badly. I woke up frequently all night and couldn’t get comfy. We got ready and headed down to breakfast. We had been warned breakfast was crap, and our guide was right. Tons of salads and cheese, mini hot dogs, boiled eggs, hot chips, cereal and toast. I was not feeling like much, so I just had a 3 mini hot dogs and 1 boiled egg. Not very appetizing and certainly not satisfying.
At 6.30am, we were all sitting in the lobby waiting to be picked up. We waited, and waited, and waited. At 6.35am the company called the guide to tell him they needed longer to assess flying conditions. 6.50am, same thing, asking us to wait 20mins. They are very strict here on flying conditions. Wind must be under 10km/hr and good visibility. Not too hot, colder is better, no rain, low humidity etc. They will cancel 600,000 Euros worth of bookings without hesitation if the conditions are not perfect. At 7.15am the company called and said they will pick us up in 10mins because they have started filling the balloons so flying will go ahead.
We were driven in 2 really fancy minivans to the launch location. There are 150 balloons from 18 companies. No more companies are permitted. Recently a company with 5 balloons was sold for 12 million Euros! It is only 10mins from the hotel which is good. We did miss sunrise, but there wasn’t much of a sunrise anyway since it was quite cloudy. As we approached, we began to see hot air balloons in the distance, and we got more and more excited. This is a world-famous tourist must-do activity and is the number one reason people come to Cappadocia. There were so many taking off as we got closer, and it was very exciting.
Other than the balloons, one of the first things we noticed was all these girls who had hired fancy ballgowns and photographers to get those perfect Insta-pics. There were maybe 20 of them, and we also saw several weddings taking place. We pulled up to our balloon and we all jumped out and began snapping pictures left right and centre. It was very, very exciting! It was a stunning sight! The sun was rising behind a hazy cloud, which looked quite eerie. The balloons were amazing! So many! We took photos for half an hour before we were able to board our balloon. The baskets are huge. There are 9 sections: 1 in the middle for the 2 pilots, then there are 2 sections for 3 people on either side of the pilots, and on the outer edge are 2 sections on each side for 4 people. In total, the basket fits 28 passengers. I was in a basket with my roomie and 2 Kiwi guys.
When we finally took off, we rose so quickly. We all cheered as this was what we had all come for! If you haven’t been in a hot air balloon before, it is a wonderful feeling, lifting off and floating ever so gently up, up and away! It was an incredible sight, seeing all the balloons on the ground, lifting off and floating away, with the sunrise and the fairy chimneys in the background.
At one point, the pilot brought us so close to the top of one of the chimney stacks we thought we were going to crash! The video of that moment is below:
We floated up and over the mountains and fairy chimneys, and over the top of the village of Göreme, for almost an hour. We reached a maximum height of 750m, which was very high! It was absolutely incredible. The 4 of us kept rotating, to allow each person next to the edge (1 corner of our section had no edge views) and taking photos of each other.
When it came time to land, we had to crouch down on the bottom of the basket. It bounced a few times and then some of the crew came and sat on the edges to hold it down while they deflated the balloon. It took a bit to deflate, and then we were allowed to climb out.
When the minivans turned up, which did take a while, they served us some 0% sparkling wine, which I am pretty sure was hot pink (literally fluoro pink) sparkling water with a touch of berry flavour. We were also presented with certificates to celebrate our flight.
We boarded the minivans and headed back to the hotel. We had just enough time to change clothes and pack our suitcases before heading out for the day’s activities. My roomie and I were off to the Hilton tonight, so we put our suitcases on the bus and checked out.
First stop was the Derinkuyu Underground City. This is a city that was built underground, below the city, to keep the townspeople and animals safe when enemies came through the lands. There are over 100 underground cities in Turkey. This one is 4 square kilometres in size, and I think 7 levels down. This place was busy unfortunately. The corridors are narrow, often shoulder width for people my size, and very short. In some, I, at a tiny 162cm, was bent completely double to get through them! The rooms were big and spacious though. It was really interesting, seeing the city. We were stuck in an extremely narrow downwards stairwell for a while. This was narrow enough that we could not turn around. Lucky I am not claustrophobic!
Next up was lunch. We drove back to the town of Avanos and most of us went to a restaurant. A special dish of the area is a testi kebab, which is a meat casserole, baked in a clay pot. You then have to break the top off the pot to access your meat. When they were served, the restaurant was full of the sound of knives banging on terracotta. I had beef and it was delicious. Here is mine being smashed open:
After lunch we headed to a lookout point in Pigeon Valley. It is called that because it is home to thousands of pigeons, who live in the mountains & fairy chimneys. This lookout had some heart shaped frames, swings and other frames for you to take photos of the view through. The fairy chimneys are really fascinating looking things! People don’t live in them anymore, but it really looks like they do! Some of them have a rather rude looking shape, whilst others are triangular.
Next up was getting up close and personal with the fairy chimneys. This stop allowed us to walk around below some of these huge structures and take some photos. They honestly are massive. I took some pictures, then went back to the gift shop.
Yet another stop on our massive day trip was a local jewellery store. This shop has been around since the 90’s and is our guide’s favourite. They sell turquoise and zultanite. We had a short info session on these stones then had free time to shop. Zultanite is only found here in Turkey, and there is only 1 mine. It is a stone made from aluminium hydroxide and has the ability to change colours in different light. They gave us a demo and the colours we saw were yellow, brown, bright green, red and royal purple. It is a magic stone! They had some silver jewellery so after a lot of umming and ahhing, I bought a silver zultanite ring…. half price though so that is a win.
By now, we were all flaking as we had been up since 5.30am. We went back to the hotels, and I was dropped at the Hilton along with the 7 others. Our room is nice, the beds are sooooo soft! Once I checked in and dropped my stuff, my roomie and I went to the indoor pool and spa. She swam laps while I sat in the spa relaxing. It was a real luxury!
Then it was dinner time. It was a buffet, and our companions were already there. The range here was better for meat eaters. My roomie, being a vego, wasn’t fussed though. I had rice, beef casserole, chicken casserole, meatloaf, noodles and some salad. Then I had a big plate of desserts. Some of them were nice, some not so nice. By the time we were done, we were so full!
We went back to our room to shower and pack. Tomorrow, we have 2 activities in the morning before a long 8hr drive to Pamukkale. We ended up chilling in our room and having an early night. Tomorrow, we have to be up at 6am. Early starts suck!
Day 5 Cappadocia to Pamukkale
Yet another early morning today. The alarms went off at 6am today, and we went to breakfast at 6.30am. There was a big Asian tour group checking out today, so the restaurant had opened specially for them. This was lucky for us as it meant we got early breakfast.
It was good breakfast too. We got freshly cooked omelets, French toast, pancakes and several other Western style breakfast things. I had an omelet and pancakes covered in Nutella.
At 7am 6 of our group were on the bus waiting for the last 2 people. They were adamant they were leaving at 7.20am, so we had to wait 10mins for them. Then we went to pick up the rest of the group at the original hotel. They were ready and waiting, loaded their suitcases and we were off. Unfortunately, we missed sunrise and many balloons because we needed to be there at 6.45am to catch that. We were driven to a spot where we took a few photos (not great but ok), then we went to another spot. This one was very busy with individual tourists, tour buses and a couple of bride & grooms.
This spot was called Ihlara Valley and is clearly very popular. There were a large number of balloons in this area, with some floating over our heads, almost close enough to touch. It was a stunning sight. We took loads of photos (of course!).
We then walked around a bit to another viewpoint and got plenty more amazing photos. Whilst we missed the sunrise, we did get the sun in our photos, behind a hazy sky. Here is more hot air balloon spam:
Afterwards, we headed to the Goreme open air museum. Most of the group went in, whilst about 10 of us chose not to. We got a coffee at the café (awful dishwater stuff), then I took a few photos and sat in the sun to edit some balloon pictures. During the drive, the news spread around the bus that yesterday morning, while we were flying, another balloon crashed upon landing and 2 Spanish tourists were killed and 3 more in hospital. How terrifying! It happened about 10mins before we landed. I asked our guide about it, and he told us that when they were landing, the tourists did not assume landing position (crouched on the floor of the basket), they were still standing & taking photos. When they hit the ground, the basket bounced with the wind gusts, the tourists fell out and then the basket hit them. I am glad we didn’t know what had happened at the time, and it is very sad for the people they were travelling with and their families.
We left later than our allocated time (our guide was not at the bus at the departure time so not our fault this time). We began our drive to Pamukkale, which is 8hrs non-stop driving time. Obviously, that will be 10+hrs in a bus with toilet & lunch stops.
1.5hrs later, half the bus needed a toilet stop, much to our guide’s annoyance. We stopped at a Shell servo and then continued on our way. As we were behind schedule, we could not go to the restaurant the guide wanted to go to, so he decided we would stop at a shopping centre with a food court. This would give us everything we need: 10 food options, ATMs, free clean western toilets and a pharmacy.
By the time we stopped, half of us had to pee again so we dashed to the toilets, then went in search of food. I ended up having Burger King. A nice, western style meal, which was a nice change from the Turkish options. Then I went and got cash from the ATM because we have to pay cash for everything from now on (annoying!). After being charged an extortionate amount of commission by the ATM, I went to the supermarket to top up on fruit, snacks and drinks.
It's 7pm and we are still on the bus. It has been such a long day of travelling, and we still have another hour to go. We were just told that the hotel we are staying at tonight have free thermal pools for guests, but unfortunately, it doesn’t look like we will get the chance to use them. Once we arrive, we will have dinner, then we are having Turkish baths and/or massages (mine is at 9.30pm!) so by the time it finishes at 10pm, it will be bedtime because I have to be up at 5.45am tomorrow morning. I feel like today could have one without the open-air museum stop because it is turning into an extremely long day and we can’t use the facilities of the hotel, which is the point of this particular hotel.
We finally arrived just after 8pm. We went straight to our rooms, dropped our bags and headed to dinner. This is yet another tour group hotel, and there were 8 huge coaches out the front of the hotel already. This meant dinner was very busy. There was a range of casserole type dishes, rice, tons of salad stuff and a few cheeses. It was quite good. It was nice to have some semi-western style food. Desserts were not bad, and I particularly enjoyed a chocolate instant pudding.
After dinner, I went and got a robe from the spa and headed back to my room to get ready. I put my bathers on and at 9.30pm went to the spa for my Turkish bath. I was allocated into a group of 3, but I was the only one there at the time. I was taken into the room, which is a room covered on all walls and the floor with warm marble. There is a huge marble slab in the middle, marble benches around the outside and taps with big marble basins under them. I was told to take my bathers off my top half and let them hang around my waist. Then the other 2 girls came in to join me. Then I laid down on the marble slab on a towel where the lady poured hot water all over me. Next was a scrub. She used a coarse mitt and scrubbed my whole body, top to bottom, front and back. After another rinse, the covered me in bubbles. To do this, she had a fabric bag in a soapy bowl, pulled it out and swung it back and forth to fill it with air, then squeezed it over my body which produced thick foamy bubbles. She did this on my back first, then massaged my back/legs, and then repeated the process on my front. She then also shampooed my hair and gave me a head massage. Normally, I love head massages, but she was a bit too hard on my poor head. Then it was time for a final rinse. She poured hot water all over my body, which was nice. I was taken back to the waiting lounge and a face mask applied. 5mins later, it was cleaned, moisturising oil applied, and I was free to go. It was lovely!
I headed back to my room where I had to dry my hair. Then my roomie and I packed our things and got ready for bed.
Day 6 Pamukkale to Kusadasi
Urgh, 5.45am. So darn early! I am really over these early mornings! The reason? Paragliding. We got ready, packed and went down for breakfast. I was so exhausted; breakfast was very unappetising. I had 1 mini hot dog and 1.5 boiled eggs.
6.45am we were picked up by the paragliding company and driven about 20mins to the hills. There were 14 of us, 13 participants and 1 spectator. We were told that when we arrive, we will be jumping straight away, no time wasting. Our guide was right. We got out of the van with just our phone and money and headed to the crew. We were told to pick up a selfie stick, and this chooses our pilot. My pilot harnessed me up with this hanging seat strap and gave me a helmet. One by one, we lined up to go. They lay the parachute across the launch pad, you stand in front and the pilot straps you to him and both of you to the parachute. There is another crew member in front to help you. You have to hold the selfie stick to film your take off, and then you run. Run, run, run. Down the hill and over the edge. It is hard to run when you are strapped to someone else, have a hanging seat under your butt, holding a selfie stick and have your arms below the parachute straps. Soon, we were up, up and away!
I’m flying! Holy moly, the feeling was absolutely incredible! The pilot takes your helmet off so you have the wind in your hair and you just float/ fly through the air. It was completely surreal. We flew over the ruins of Hierapolis, with the ancient theatre, and then over the stunning white terraces of Pamukkale. My pilot was taking loads of photos and videos of me. It was amazing! There was a hot air balloon flying over the terraces too, so I waved to them.
The flight lasted for 7mins. We began the descent, with a few zoomy circles. We were told to do nothing until you are told to stand up and walk. I was quite nervous about the landing, worried I would end up with a broken foot or something. Touch down went smoothly and by the time I landed I had a huge rush of adrenalin. It was so exciting!
I joined the rest of the group and took some photos of the balloons and sunrise. We were served a tea and then our pilots showed us the videos & photos they took of us. We all paid for the photo/videos, so they transferred them directly to our phones. Definitely worth the $40 USD!
We watched the rest of the group land and then went back to the hotel. We changed our clothes, loaded our suitcases and headed to Pamukkale.
Pamukkale is famous for the white terraces and blue pools. Fortunately, the haze was lifting, and the sun was out. Our guide took us to a lookout point on the side first. This was an excellent idea as there were far less people, and the water was flowing. It only flows in certain sections each day, and they change it every day, due to water rationing. The flowing water is warm, the still water is cold. These terraces gave you a stunning view across the terraces, with the sun on your face. It is recommended to wear contrasting colours, so I ended up wearing my denim shorts and bright red bathers. We spent about 45mins here taking lots and lots of pictures. A lot of people were respectful and didn’t walk into people’s pictures, however there are always the rude & inconsiderate ones who just do what they want and ruin photos.
Hundreds of photos later, I walked to the main part where most of the tourists were. These ones are usually the only one that is accessible for people to walk/swim in. There are about 5 large pools here for people. It was way too cold, so people were only standing in them, not swimming. The view was amazing.
I had enough photos, so I went to the gift shop and got my shot glass. Then I headed to change into normal clothes.
Next up was a visit to the ancient pool, which provides the source water for the terraces. This pool requires payment to swim in, so I just took photos and bought a coffee.
1hr later, we arrived at a restaurant for lunch. This restaurant is known for its tandur lamb, which is what I ordered. I got a plate with very tasty lamb. Nothing else. Just lamb. It cost 100 TRY, which is £5. Very nice!
Yet again, we boarded and began the 1.5hr trip to our next ancient city, Ephesus. This is a large site with some impressive ruins that are several thousand years old. At the bottom of the city is the huge front entrance to an ancient library.
One thing that intrigued me the most is that the current medical symbol, the entwined snakes, was used back during ancient times and is carved into one of the rocks. A symbol that has been around for thousands of years.
When we left Ephesus, we went to Kusadasi to our hotel. This place is definitely not 4 or 5 stars, it would be 3 at the most. Not up to the advertised standard of hotel for the tour. The one good thing about the hotel is that we have a balcony overlooking the sea. Kusadasi is a beach resort town and a lot of British people come here for a summer holiday.
On our way to the dinner buffet, we got a message from one of our group saying ‘chicken nuggets for dinner’. We couldn’t tell if they were joking or not, but when we walked in…..chicken nuggets for dinner! I was rather excited as the food has been pretty average so far, so something semi-decent would be good! There was a really nice beef & mushroom dish as well. Dessert was also really good for once!
After dinner, 5 of us girls went out for a drink. We went to a sports bar in town. We chatted and hung out for a few hours.
Then I decided to head to bed because I was completely & utterly exhausted. This trip has been the most exhausting trip I have ever been on. I have constant headache every day at the moment, and a few people on the tour are sick with a cold. I hope I don’t get it!
Day 7 Kusadasi to Canakkale
The alarm went off at 6.45am and it was way too early. Another headache, still feeling exhausted. We got ready and headed down for breakfast. I had a good breakfast today. Freshly cooked pancakes with Nutella and raspberry sauce, boiled eggs and mini hot dogs.
We said goodbye to a few people who were leaving the tour today, then boarded our bus to head north. Our first stop is 2.5hrs away, an ancient hospital called Asklepion. Another girl and I decided not to visit this place, so we stayed on the bus. She slept and I watched a TV show whilst doing some schoolwork.
Next up was lunch. We drove to a restaurant called Ramiz, which is a chain restaurant. Prices were cheap, so I had BBQ chicken which was served with some creamy pasta and salad. It was one of the best meals I have had in Turkey. And it only cost 80 TRY, which is £4.
After lunch, we continued to the Ancient City of Troy ruins. There is a huge Trojan Horse statue when you walk in, which was built in the 70’s. We took a few photos then began our walk around the ruins. I learned that outside the walls of the city there used to be a big bay/port, which is why the city was built in that location. It became filled with silt and the sea is now 5km away. It also turns out that when the original city of Troy was destroyed, they built a new one, bigger than the original one. Each time the city was destroyed, they kept building a new bigger one. There are 9 rings (layers) of fortification walls, which means there was 9 Troy cities. We walked around the ruins while our guide gave us information. Most of the ruins we saw were from Troy II, III and IV. Troy II is over 4,000 years old! There is a ramp, which was a paved road, which is in good condition and was built around 2,500BC. There are also some sun-dried bricks, made from mud and straw, and lots of walls.
By the time we were done, we headed back to the Trojan horse, and took more photos. The place was closed by now, so we were the only people left. We looked in the gift shop and made friends with one of the resident kitties.
Our hotel tonight is in the city of Canakkale. It is located right on the water, so we have sea views from our windows. It is a very nice hotel, and our room is lovely. My roomie and I freshened up and then went down for dinner. The buffet was extensive, with a wide range of hot, cold and sweet dishes. I had a beef stew, rice, stuffed chicken roulade, corn, vegetables, potato pastry thing and potato wedges. Then I went back for seconds on the chicken, wedges and corn. There were 8 different cheeses on offer. It was delicious! And then it was dessert time. For ones, I enjoyed all the desserts I chose, and ate everything on my plate. And went back for seconds. This was definitely the best dinner we have had on this trip.
After dinner, I sat talking to an American couple with my roomie for a bit. Then I headed across the road to the supermarket. This is a huge Migros that has absolutely everything. TV? Sure, ironing board? Yep. Fresh whole fish? Absolutely! Anything you want! I spent a while walking up and down all the aisles, checking out prices. I got a bag of chips for 50 British pence, which is less than $1 AUD and a pack of bag clips for the same. I also got 3 Starbucks flavoured coffee sachets for just 30 pence each. Bargain!
Then I headed back to the hotel and got ready for bed. We are all exhausted, but sleep is very elusive. Hopefully, this super comfy bed will enable me to have a good sleep tonight.
Day 8 Canakkale to Gallipoli to Istanbul
Another early start. I am really over these early starts! We had to depart at 7.30am so our alarm went off at 6.15am. We got ready and headed down to breakfast.
We were hoping that it would be a great breakfast, given how good dinner was last night, but it was the same standard as the rest of the places. I had 2 boiled eggs, a piece of sausage, a piece of cheese and a spinach pastry. I admit I am looking forward to a western style breakfast when I get home.
We departed the hotel on time (for once!). We were spending the morning at Gallipoli. We crossed the Dardanelle Strait back to European Turkey and onto the Gallipoli Peninsula. The first stop was the ANZAC memorial near Anzac Cove. Fortunately, there were no other tourists around when we arrived, so we had the opportunity to take photos without people in. We had some information, then free time. We took a group photo, a Kiwi/Aussie photo and individual ones. This is the location of the Anzac Day dawn service every year.
The view from the memorial was beautiful. I went down to the
beach and took some pictures of the water too.
Next stop was a beach side cemetery for Aussie, Kiwi, Indian & UK soldiers. There is a message carved into stone for the families of the fallen soldiers.
The beach side cemetery also has a beautiful view. Very peaceful.
Next up was a memorial cemetery for Turkish soldiers. They are all unidentified and were found by a farmer. The headstones are all place randomly around the field and a monument was erected.
Then it was off to Lone Pine. This is the largest Australian war memorial cemetery here in Turkey. There is a huge marble monument at one end, and a huge pine tree in the middle, surrounded by headstones. It is a quiet and sombre place, and fortunately there were no other tour buses when we were there. Lone Pine is where all the Aussie walk to from the ANZAC memorial (5km) for a second service. The Kiwis have to walk 7km to the NZ monument.
Which is where we went next. This monument is at a site with other monuments as well. This place had about 10 big tour buses, with kids running and screaming, people posing and taking lots of Insta-pics. Compared to the other sites, the tourists here were not respectful at all. It was complete chaos.
There were some trenches from the Turkish soldiers, although they have been modified for safety reasons. They used to be 2m deep and covered but now they are shallow (<1m), open air, and the pine logs are replaced every few years.
This was our last stop in Gallipoli. We then headed to a restaurant for lunch. This was an odd place. It was called a buffet, but it is more like a cafeteria. You go to the counter, pick the food from the chafing dishes in front of you, then you pay at the end. I had a chicken with bechamel sauce, which was nice, but expensive. Cost 80 TRY and I literally got a side place with some chicken & sauce. Yesterday, for the same price, I got a big plate with chicken, creamy pasta and salad.
This place is at a Shell servo, so we bought some supplies for the bus trip. I got a Starbucks bottled iced coffee and some Nutella biscuits. We all sat in the sun outside the servo for a while before we were told it was time to go.
After another 1.5hrs we made our last toilet stop. This was just a short 10min stop before we continued on our way. We were making good time, but we still got caught in the traffic jams. We had to leave the bus at the Spice Market and walk to the hotel. Check in took a little while, as they only code the door cards after you arrive. All the others we have stayed in have the cards pre-coded and ready when we arrive.
My roomie and I were on the 4th floor this time and facing the street. Fortunately, our curtains cover the entire window this time! Our room is also bigger than the last. My roomie went straight to the Grand Bazaar as she had a big list of things she wanted to buy. I went with a group to the Grand Bazaar a bit later. The streets were absolute chaos! It is about 15mins walk to the bazaar from the hotel. I walked around for a bit with one of the girls, then we went to the Spice Market so she could buy a Turkish towel.
At 7.45pm a group of us met in the lobby and walked to a rooftop restaurant for dinner. The views were great, and we ended up with about 20 of us. The Turkish food was very expensive, but the western food was cheaper, so I went with a chicken burger. It was quite good, far more appetising than it looked!
They had these huge sparklers for some guests, so one of the boys asked if we could have some and they brought us 2!
We stayed for a while, chatting and hanging out before we paid and left. A few of us went back to the hotel while others went to a bar.
I hung out in my hotel room until my roomie came back. She had packed most of her stuff, so we chatted and then went to bed.
Day 9 Istanbul
My roomie got up early as she had an airport transfer at 8am. She got ready very quietly, while I slowly woke up. Breakfast is served until 11am and check out is 12pm so I planned on having a nice, slow, chilled out morning. I stayed in bed, watching TV shows, writing this blog and just having some downtime to recover from the last week.
My bus to Sofia, Bulgaria, is departing at 10pm tonight, so I have the whole day free.
I spent a lazy morning in bed sorting some things out, then showered at 9am and went for breakfast. A few of the remaining group members were up there already. Breakfast was not great, same as last week. I had boiled eggs, eggy toast, mini sausages in tomato sauce, braided cheese (my favourite) and a few apple pastries. While I was eating 3 more people came up and joined me. We sat talking until 11am!
I went back to my room, booked myself some day trips for Bulgaria and checked out. My first stop was the Turkish delight shop from last week. I chose a whole stack of different and unique flavours and got them in a small box. They even vacuum seal them for transport.
Next, I walked across the river to another side of the city. My goal was to visit Galata Tower, which is a pretty tower on top of the hill with views across the city. I was knackered by the time I got to the top! The streets were very pretty though. The queue for the tower and the ticket queue were both huge, so I decided not to go up and just admire from the ground. It isn’t very tall and has Rapunzel vibes. Then I walked around the streets for several hours. I found a huge shopping street, full of thousands of shops. I saw a big teddy bear outside a food court place too. Super cute!
Then I decided to make my way back via a different route. I walked down the hill to the cruise port, and then along the river. At the cruise port were some super gorgeous little puppies. It was a gorgeous day, so it was lovely to be in the sunshine. Fresh air would be nice too, but the air in Istanbul is thick with cigarette smoke.
I walked back slowly towards my hotel and when I got to the lobby, I saw 3 from our group leaving. They are all staying in Istanbul a bit longer but in different accommodation. I collected my suitcase and went and sat in the lobby bar next to a power point to charge my laptop. I planned to take the tram & metro train to the Forum shopping mall to hang out for a few hours before going to the bus station but finding a definitive answer on the tickets is a challenge! They have a card, called Istanbulkart (like a Myki or Oyster), but they also have single fares. Buses only accept the Istanbulkart, however I am not sure about trams and trains. Since I am leaving, I don’t want to spend the 50 TRY on a card I will only use for 2 trips. Worst comes to worst, it is a 10km walk.
Just before 5pm, I left the hotel and went to the nearby tram stop. I needed to buy either 2 single tickets or a 3-ride ticket. Oh. My. Gosh. What an absolute shemozzle that turned into. First, I couldn’t find the ticket machines so had to ask the tourist police where to go. Then I tried to use the wrong one (multiple different yellow machines, how annoying). Then I found the right ones, but some creepy guy was trying to help me but was trying to give me some card I didn’t want, so I walked away. Asked the tourist information staff for help, who directed me to the trains, but they were more than double the tram price, so I went back to the tram machines, but the single ride pass wasn’t working and the machine selling 3 ride passes would not accept the money to pay for it! I went back to the tourist information staff who came to the machine to help and it ended an hour after it began with her using her card to swipe me into the train station to begin my journey. So frustrating! I finally got on the train and went the 1 stop to the interchange station.
Here I was able to buy a single ride pass for just 15 TRY and take the metro to the Forum Istanbul, a large shopping centre. This place is only a 15min walk to the bus station that I needed to be at for my bus to Bulgaria. This mall is big and very busy. I went in search of food first. I found the food court and chose a Sbarro pizza. The food court was so full that I asked for a box in case I had to walk elsewhere in the mall to sit. I got the box for the XXL pizza, for my small BBQ chicken pizza. It was really nice and only cost me 70 TRY. I managed to find a seat near the cinema and shared my chicken with a local kitty.
I went to the Carrefour supermarket for a walk around and a drink next. This is my favourite supermarket when travelling because it is huge and has everything. This specific one, for example, has restaurants, any and all groceries, TV’s, washing machines, clothing, kitchen appliances, toys, anything you want! Fresh produce in Turkey is cheap too. Check out these prices. 20 TRY = $1.60 AUD for reference.
I walked around a little more before sitting and finding some free wifi. Then I began my walk to the bus station. Unfortunately, I went the wrong way, so it took me a lot longer to find the place. Well, I found it, because it is ginormous and lit up like a Christmas tree, but I was on the wrong side of a big fence and couldn’t find a way through!
There are over a hundred platforms here. It is crazy! Someone pointed me in the right direction for my platform and I found my bus. I was able to load my suitcase straight away, and not long later, board the bus. I had chosen seat 8, which is second row from the front, and I was super lucky that the bus was half empty. I ended up with 2 seats to myself! This is awesome because I can stretch out and try to sleep on the 9hr drive.
And thus, my departure from Turkey begins. Here are some of my pros and cons from my trip, and the country:
Pros – some incredible sights and activities on offer, generally it is a cheap place, well setup for tourists, lots of super cute cats everywhere and apple tea is delicious.
Cons – cigarettes, I stink like an ashtray and I think I have lung cancer now, there is a tourist tax in some places, the food wasn’t great, the hotels we stayed in were full of tour buses & tour groups, traffic is insane, and road laws don’t apply (zebra crossings mean run like a zebra, not cars give way to pedestrians).
I have enjoyed my time in Turkey, and my tour. Being my first trip with Travel Talk Tours, I have pros and cons for the tour company as well and will have to definitely consider whether to use them in future or stick with my trusty G Adventures.
I definitely recommend visiting Turkey. There is so much to see and do, especially for history lovers. Make sure you spend at least 2 nights in Cappadocia, because the hot air balloons only fly 50% of the time, so you need extra days as a backup.
Stay tuned for my adventures in Bulgaria!