Turkey 2nd to 13th
April 2014.
Place been to -
Istanbul – Gallipoli – Izmir – Efes/Eephseue – Pammucale- Hierapolis - Oludenez
- Patara – cappedocia- kaymakli- Istanbul
If I have to describe
Turkey in one sentence, I would say, it has got the best of both European and
Asian continents.
Visas: If you have US visa or Schengen visa then you can apply online for the visa otherwise you have to go by usual process of applying it online and then submitting documents. As we had less time we went by an agent who took total 6000 rs and got us visa in a weeks time.
https://www.evisa.gov.tr/en/
1st April: Bangalore to Mumbai: As tickets from Mumbai
are cheaper than from Bangalore or Chennai so we took the flight from Mumbai.
You might want to keep a buffer between your flights but at the same time would
want it not to be so much that you waste time sitting at the airport doing
nothing. If you plan and book in advance you also might get many options from
Bangalore itself.
2nd April Mumbai to
Doha to Istanbul
The flight landed at
Ataturk airport. Just outside the airport the exchange people take 4%
commission. Instead you can exchange some initial amount for 2% commission at a
shop just out of the airport near tourist Information center on extreme right.
Here exchange only minimum for your transport to where you want to reach as
outside you get better rate without any commission. There are multiple options
like Bus, taxi and Metro. We preferred metro as it was cheaper and also gave us
the first look into the city. And actually the first day trip from airport to
Gibi (The hotel where we stayed) in metro was a nice way to get to know the
city.
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| View of the city from Metro train |
We took red line till Zeytinburgu and from
there tram till Sirkeci for 6 lira. You have maps available in all the metros
which can be very handy and are free.
Next we took fairy for
3 Lira to get to Kadukoy. Beware as some private ferries are also there... We
landed up taking private ticket and then got to know that they are different so
their coin to enter is a souvenir for us now J.
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| Private ferry coins |
Ferry was an amazing experience with seagulls on our head and cold crazy
wind. Even though it’s cold, you must sit out to experience the beauty.
At Kadukoy bus 19 goes
to Kayisdegi. As we had a hard time getting bus to Kayisdagi so we took taxi...
Generally the taxi for that distance would cost around 25-30 lira but our taxi took
43 lira so you will have to be careful as language is a barrier and hence
bargaining can’t work.
In Istanbul
There are many
packaged tours available like Big Bus for 30 euros which is quite expensive as
most of the ‘To see places’ are in close vicinity so you can avoid these tours.
Sultan Ahemat blue
mosque has free entry but they have namaz from 1-2 during which visitors
are not allowed hence plan your visit.
Ayefa museum has charges 20 lira
tapoki palace charge 20 lira. Separate chamber in the
palace has extra charges
Arasta bazaar is nice but expensive
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| Blue Mosque Outside |
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| Blue mosque inside |
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| In front of Tapoki palace |
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| Blue Mosque inside |
Above locations are at
walking distance to each other
The grand bazaar is
open only till 7:30 so plan your day accordingly as this place offers many
shops to buy souvenirs, lamps etc.
Just next to the grand
bazaar is an old adda for hukkah. The place is full of people and is filled of
hukkah smoke with different flavors. We sat there for few hours having apple
flavour hukkah and tea. The hukkah is for 15 lira and each cay (chai) for 1 lira.
The place had a beautiful shop for lamps, but as expected expensive. On the
main metro/ tram road, there was a shop on left side where I bought my single
lamp for 25 lira each for a small size. If you plan to buy lamps, you can set
aside a budget of 30-50 Lira per lamp based on the size of the lamp.
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| The hukkah place |
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| The world of lights |
#Food
As for the local
authentic food in Istanbul, I would recommend the grape fruit juice, or any
fruit juice on the main road. On this same road you can also have backalavah
which is a local and very sweet Turkish sweet.
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| Backalavah |
Here you can find many Turkish
ice cream shops and it's a must have , not so much for the chewy texture or the
taste but more so for the magical games the ice cream guys play :).
On the road u get
bread for 1 lira which is fresh and another should have. Tea flows in the heart
of this city. Any petrol pump offers it for free specially on highways and it
is served in a particular cup which is beautiful otherwise you get it for 1 lira everywhere.
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| Freshly made bread |
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| Cay /chai |
Kestane is another
interesting road side food which u must try. For 5 lira you get 100 gm of this
hot local dry fruit which in closest terminology to Indian food tastes like sweet
potato
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| Kestane |
Also by the road near ferry you get mussels filled with rice and lime for 1 lira or 50 cents which you must try. Being a vegetarian turning non veggie, It was interesting for my taste buds but definitely only with lime.
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| Mussels |
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| Rice filling in mussels |
Everywhere in Turkey, you also find Kahavalati which literally translates to 'Breakfast'. Its a sumptuous meal with fruits , vegetables, eggs, jam , butter, breads, beacons and sausages which you can find everywhere all over Turkey.
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| Kahavalati breakfast at Pammucale |
#Stay
In Istanbul: Places to
stay are good in Taksim square u get dorms for 20 lira per day with breakfast.
#car rentals
Next day we went to
Taksim square where we had online booked the car. Now car can be very comfortable
asyou can go around but you must be very careful with things below
1) Money will be
written in euro and transactions might happen in dollars which can create
confusion
2) Additional driver,
insurance is part of your online deal but to us they asked extra money luckily
we were vigilant enough to show them in terms and conditions
3) Insurance is given
but there are many terms and conditions like if u meet with an accident you ve
to get a receipt from police else u can't claim insurance. For a dent we were
asked to give 800 lira and eventually we landed up paying 600 lira.
4) GPS is a must to
avoid confusions
5) Preferably take
diesel car as it is cheaper
6) Left side driving
to the right side of the road
#Gallipoli
Finally we started for
Gallipoli; this is a world war1 sight. The place is deserted and the videos of World
War 1 fights keep playing so you can spend time and get to know more details about
the World War 1. The sunset in Gallipoli
with sea on one side and mountains on other is worth the watch.
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| Sunset at Gallipoli |
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| Gallipoli |
#Izmir
Next we took the ferry
from Gallipoli to Izmir. We got down and drove to the city of Izmir.
We reached at 3 in the morning and hence got a really horrible hotel
named Ankara for 80 lira. Please don't go in this hotel as it has bed bugs, the
toilets stink.
Instead reach earlier
and find a decent hotel to stay in. Much better places can be found online and
booked in advance to avoid inconvenience
Next day, we went to
the beach side which is Aegean Sea. You can walk or rent bicycles and go around
the beach. The place also has good clubs and pubs to offer. And apparently a
good night life and good food! In the market there is a shop to buy local
perfumes. Even though they are local and cheap, they are totally worth buying
as they are good and long lasting, atleast to my taste of perfumes.
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| Izmir beach |
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| Love at Izmir beach |
#Efes
The same day we started
for Efes/ Ephseue. This is a must go place if you are travelling to Turkey. It
has beautiful roman historical monuments like theatre, library. There is also Marymedene
which is a big statue of Mother Mary.
Efes has upper gate
and lower gate. You can take taxi which will take you to Marymedene and then
leave you at the upper gate, from where you can walk down and come to lower
gate. The Efes site is 2 Km long and Marymedene is 10km away from Efes.
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| Library in Efes |
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| Library front view Efes |
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| Theater in Efes |
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| Carvings on stones used in the pillars |
Entry ticket to Efes
is 25 lira and to Marymedene is 15 lira.
#Pammucale
Next we left for Pammucale.
Here we reached in the evening by 8ish and took a dorm named kale for 20 lira
each with breakfast After freshening up we left for dinner this was the most
expensive dinner of 115 lira but the food was very tasty and the local wine was
also smooth. You have multiple options for food in this city.
Next day morning,
after about a 10 minutes’ walk we reached to the cotton castle. The mountain is
made of calcite formations or traventines as they call it. The water was hot
and cold at some places. Though it was written in lonely planet, that bathing
is restricted, we saw few couples taking a plunge in nice warm water. And as I
say that you can, I also say you must and so don't forget to carry your swim
suit :).This place also offers para gliding for 120 lira and hot air ballooning
for 90€... As I wanted to do hot air ballooning in Cappedocia so I didn't do
here but I m sure paragliding here is worth it as you can get the top view of
cotton castle.
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| Calcites : The cotton castle |
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| The water retained in calcites which because of sun rays becomes warm |
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| The view from top of calcites |
At the entrance you
are given polythene to keep your shoes as you have to walk barefoot on the
calcites. After 2km walk over calcites we reached on top which further connects
to Hierapolis. The same ticket can be used to see Hierapolis but as we had
already seen Efes, Hierapolis didn't ve much to offer except a deadly gas zone
told by lonely planet. To see the same, we went to the theatre in Hieraplois
but couldn’t find it. The theatre here was similar to the one in Efes but the
stage here was more beautiful with many statues from the old time. We returned
via calcites to the dorm room picked our luggage and left for Lycian path.
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| Hierapolis theater |
#Lycian path,
Oludenez,Kabak,Patara
First we reached to Oludenez
which is a pebble beach but with clear turquoise blue color water. We didn’t
find many people but being a biking enthusiast what caught my attention was
this lovely couple in leather jacket with their food packed, on their BMW bike.
Next we left for Kabak The
road was mountainous with steep roads and sharp hair bends... In an hour we
reached to the dead end. For Kabak beach the car can't go any further from here
and you ve to walk down to reach Kabak beach. In lieu of time we didn’t walk
down and instead left for patara beach.
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| Oludenez |
To go to Patara, one
has to go to Fethiye again and then take diversion for Patara. We reached by
9-10 p.m. to Patara and stayed in rose pension for 110 lira. As they didn't have
pension, we took an apartment for 110 lira where 5 people could ve stayed. Next
morning after sumptuous breakfast we left for the beach
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| Patara beach |
The ticket to
the beach is 5 lira. This is a sandy beach with calm blue turquoise greenish
all different tinges of color reflecting .The bath near the parking area is
available for 2 lira where you can change also.
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| The author of the blog having fun at the beach :p |
#Cappedocia #Dervish
dance # Hot air ballooning
As it's a long
distance from Patara to Cappedocia, so we decided to halt at Sultanhani.
As it's a small town, in the night by 8-9 everything was closed. Luckily
a jewelers shop was open, the gentleman there took us to a Kavmane pension which
is off road and not easy to find. As it was off season, the whole pension was
free. We took a room for 120 lira with breakfast. Next morning the breakfast
was a nice omelette and kahavalti. And with that we immediately left for Cappedocia.
On the way there is Ihalari
valley which is an underground valley of 3km but we couldn’t cover this.
Finally we reached Goreme/Cappedocia
and the only thing I can say is it’s a must go place! The place is full of
mountains made from volcanic ash which has got hardened due to rain. The sight is
marvelous that even after being there for 2 days, I was still mesmerized by the
place. More interesting for me were the newly built houses in the old rock
formations.
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| Mountains made of volcanic ash (Cappedocia) |
You can get stay information from accommodation information centre
which is in the heart of the city. We stayed at Ali's guest house and I
definitely can vouch for it. It’s a newly built guest house which provides dorm
for 20 lira with breakfast and all day tea, apple tea and coffee. The dorm was very
clean and tidy. At Ali’s guest house we booked our dervish dance which happens
10 km from Goreme in govt known centre for 20 euro. FYI dervish dance happens
in Konya City centre every Saturday at 7:30 for free. As heard from yan ( A fellow
traveler who met us in Pammucale), it was authentic but local people were not
serious hence their phones were ringing and there were loads of disturbances.
The place where we
experienced this mystical dance was a beautiful, quiet and calm old historical
building. The dance went for an hour. The music, instruments, those prayers
were just amazing. The best was the technique of those dancers who kept turning
at the same place for half an hour without spotting, hands in the air and the
head tilted. Outside they gave us a warm cinnamon drink which had a very
interesting and authentic taste. Once back in Cappedocia near our guest house,
we had gozhleme which is Turkish version of our Indian parantha or western pan
cake. The only difference in parantha and gozhleme is that they make it really
long ... It was worth a try especially on the way from Sultanhani to Cappedocia
on the road side hotel where we sat next to their tandoor and ate gozhleme with
chilli in vinegar and hot chai.
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| Top view of Goreme/Cappedocia |
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| gozhleme time : at a restaurant enroute to cappedocia |
#Hot air ballooning
If you aim for hot air
ballooning in Cappedocia then plan in a way that you book in advance and are in
Goreme at 6 in morning because ballooning happens only in the morning.We booked
with Turkish Balloning Company for
160 Euros. The price for ballooning varies from min for 90 € and max for 175€
based on the experience of the pilots and the company brand.
In morning they picked
us up at 5:15 a.m. at Ali’s guest house. After sumptuous breakfast they took us
to the sight and showed us how balloon is filled and then we took off. We went
max height of 800m covered 20km at 15 km/hr speed... It was an amazing
beautiful sight with balloons all around us. It was a great experience but nothing
adventurous. Once down the local champagne was opened, certificates were given
and then we were dropped back to our hotel.
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| The serene view from air ballon |
#Kaymakli
Next we left for Kaymakli
this is an underground city. The entry ticket is for 15 lira. From Goreme take
a local bus to Nevsheir for 2.5 lira. This bus operates at every 1/2 hour. From
Nevsheir take another bus to Kaymakli for 3 lira. The city in my eyes is weird
and haunted. I wonder how people lived there as there was hardly any
ventilation. Initially, I didn't follow signs so I was lost once I came out, I
realized the whole tour can be made easier by following arrows and I went
again, this time following the arrows :p. The red arrow are to go in and the blue
ones to come out. And then we left back
for Goreme. Goreme has many shops where you can buy magnets, key chain and
other souvenirs. In the evening, we took a metro bus from Goreme to Istanbul
for 60 lira. We booked a day before and hence paid 60 lira. If it is booked in
advance, you can get cheaper rates also. We were told t bus will have wifi but
it didn't have and this reminds me that you get wifi mostly everywhere in
Turkey.
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| The Kitchen in Kaymakli |
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| May be the bedroom :p |
Morning bus reached at
6 instead of 7, we slept at the bus station for 2 hours and then took a red
metro to Ataturk airport which is where I have finished writing my blog of this
amazing trip while waiting for Qatar airways flight which is late :).
