My first attempt at a trip report...let me know what you think, and how I can improve!
-First 3 days: Istanbul -
I arrived at Istanbul with a little time on the first day to explore. I was staying at the Hotel Poem, in the Sultanahmet neighborhood, which is where most tourist attractions are located. I had dinner at an excellent café with a friend of a friend and noted where some of the places I wanted to see were located. The next day, I set out with a map provided by the hotel to see and photograph the Blue Mosque and Hagia Sophia. I had wanted to also make my way to Topkapi Palace, which I had some difficulty finding because a small sign outside of it mentioned ‘camii’, which means Mosque in Turkish…as well as Dolmabahce Palace, a very ornate marble palace built between 1843-56, which is where Ataturk spent his last days.
Needless to say, I soon found that maps of Istanbul are largely useless, not because they are poorly made, but because there are so many narrow, winding, hilly streets that you can’t possibly capture them all on one city map that you could reasonably expect someone to be able to carry around as a guide. A few turns off the main road and I got lost, crossed a bridge that you could see many people fishing on, and saw what I soon found out was the Galata Tower, built in the 1300s, which stands at around 460 feet high and provides some very nice photographs on a beautiful day. When I came down from the tower, I continued my journey to Dolmabahce Palace. I saw some street signs signaling that I was going the right direction, however, I never found the palace. I did, however, find myself in a very residential area that provided a small glimpse at the everyday life of people who lived in the city, as well as much needed peace and quiet, in that the salesmen that constantly try to lure you into conversation with them in Sultanahmet were nowhere to be found. What seemed like a few hours later, I was ready to head back, and ended up crossing a different bridge to return to the Sultanahmet area, where I wandered through what appeared to be the Egyptian Spice Market, and then found myself walking along the base of the Acqueduct of Emperor Valens, which supplied water to the city from 363 A.D. on.
The next day, I finally found Topkapi Palace and spent a good 3-4 hours there. Various rooms showcase ottoman-era jewelry and clothing, as well as an armory, and the harem, where the sultans lived with their families. I rounded out the day with a trip through the Grand Bazaar, in which, according to a book I have, around 4,000 shops are located.
My time in Istanbul was wonderful. I missed a lot that I wanted to see and will have to save for a future visit. For any traveler, I recommend checking out the Blue Mosque, Hagia Sophia, Topkapi Palace, Grand Bazaar, Egyptian Spice Market, Galata Tower, the Bosphorous (which separates European Turkey from Anatolian Turkey), Dolmabahce Palace, and the underground cistern, which I also missed. There are probably many, many more.
-Day 4: Antalya-
Flying within Turkey is quick and cheap, so I booked a flight to Antalya, on the Mediterranean coastline. I had also prepaid a hotel room at the Alp Pasa, a lovely boutique hotel. I didn’t know what to expect from Antalya, other than it was an area of the country I had dreamed of visiting to check out the beaches and turquoise colored water. The main street near my hotel was lined with palms and shops, and eventually I ran into the Emperor Hadrian’s Gate. I had lunch at a seaside café, walked around the town some more, got some great photos of a sculpture, small theatre, ruins of an old mosque, and scenery at sunset….and checked out of my hotel.
To be fair, there are some excellent opportunities for half and full day trips near Antalya that include going to the waterfalls, other nearby seaside destinations, and rafting. However, I wasn’t planning on staying more than one night, and didn’t feel the need to stay longer to wander around a town that felt a bit too resort-like for what I wanted to see and accomplish on my trip. I planned to use the extra day to make a stopover in Konya, and booked myself a seat on an overnight, 10 hour bus ride into the mountains.
-Night 4/Day 5: Cappadocia - Urgup, Goreme, Avanos-
Take anything to entertain you. Anything. Take your ipod/mp3 player, books, crossword puzzles….and don’t forget a travel roll of toilet tissue, because when the bus takes a break, you will be using a Turkish toilet, which is not bothersome, as long as you come prepared. When the bus trip was over in the morning, I was picked up at the terminal by a hotel shuttle, and soon found myself in tears in the lobby of a hotel a 10-hour bus trip from anything even remotely familiar or more developed. I hadn’t booked a tour with a tour group, which seemed to cause a little confusion when I got to the hotel. The staff got to work, sent me to a room, and called me to let me know they had set me up with a guided tour that would be departing in a half hour. I soon learned why the staff was so confused that I had not planned anything: if you intend to go into the mountains, book a tour. It is the best, if not only way to see what the area has to offer. I would have missed everything otherwise.
The landscape of this region was formed by volcanic eruptions and thousands of years of erosion. Of note in the area are “fairy chimneys”. underground cities, and the Goreme Open-Air Museum, which includes a tour of dwellings and churches with fresco paintings - some better preserved than others over time, but all impressive. When I left, my first, and still, thought was: I’ll have to spend more time here. If I do find myself in Cappadocia in better weather, I will be sure to book a hot-air balloon tour as well. I would love to see the area from a balloon, but do also recommend taking a ground tour so you can climb around the area and go into the cave houses and churches that were inhabited long ago.
-Days 5-11: Trip to Mersin, Silifke, Kizkalesi-
I really did plan on using that extra day I gained to visit Konya, but received a text message from my friend in Mersin while I was in Cappadocia which said something to the effect of: When will you be here tomorrow? So the Konya detour turned into an extra day I would be able to spend with my friend.
Mersin is a city on the Mediterranean coastline not far from Adana, so it is farther east than what is referred to as the Turquoise Coast, which includes Antalya and Marmaris. The first few nights we stayed outside of the city center on the beach. The weather was mostly cool, but one excellent day provided the perfect opportunity to get some good photos, so we went out armed with my digital camera and an extra set of batteries I thought I had gotten a real deal on.
Lesson of the day: Sometimes, you really do get what you pay for.
I had bought the batteries just before leaving Cappadocia for 1 TL - that’s about 60 cents, in US currency. The batteries probably would’ve worked for something, but all they did was work well enough to turn my camera on. Each time I would try to capture an image, my camera would shut off. On our way to the supermarket down the street to buy a new set of batteries, a friend of my friend happened to drive by. Their conversation turned into an opportunity to take a day trip out to the beach at Kizkalesi, and then to the Caves of Heaven & Hell (Cennet ve Cehennem in Turkish). The two caves are located relatively close to one another, and provided a great opportunity for a workout. We descended a whopping 450 steps into the cave of Heaven, which held the ruins of a chapel at the entrance, and beyond that, not much else. A second cave was much more aesthetically exciting, with stalactites and stalagmites. After that trip, we returned to the place we were staying for grilled chicken and bogma raki - a homemade anise-flavored liquor.
After those several days of spending time with and getting to know my friend better, I returned to Istanbul, got very little rest, and then was on my way back home to Chicago. If the entire trip sounds like a bit of a stream-of-consciousness style, unplanned mess - it was. But I believe that is the best way to really experience Turkey, which has so much to offer visitors. It was difficult to return home, and I haven’t gone through a day where I don’t think, at least once, about taking another trip or giving up everything and moving.
