Istanbul/Greece honeymoon

The trip to Troy will take 6-7 hours by bus, unless you manage to fly to and from canakkale.

Also troy is not a good site because it was plundered finally in the 19th century.

Most of Greek history took place on Asia Minor and you would see much more at Ephesus, Aphrodisias, heraklia, Anemuriam, Termessos, et.

Troy was the biggest disappointment for me, there's just not much left. Please don't tell me you are planning only one full day in Istanbul before leaving for Greece. If you will do a bit more research on Istanbul you'll find there's a lot to see and one full day simply won't cut it.

With your generous one full day in Istanbul, you can see the Greek heritage displays in the Archeological museum (not spending time on the Roman, Hittite, and others), the hippodrome, the Hagia Sophia and the Chora Church museum.

This will be a bit of a rush for a honeymoon.

Also, you can take the one day away from Istanbul to Nicea, only 3 hours away for its importance to Byzantine history.

i still find it strange that you are asking about your visit to Greece on the Turkey forum.

Well, your post is tagged for Greece and Turkey, so it's not so strange to me that it appears on both forums. What I do find strange is that your list doesn't include Athens.

You have, with 10/19 to 11/1, only two weeks for your trip. Surface travel, whether it be by train, bus, or ferry, is time consuming, so don't underestimate the time it will take to get between locations. Thermopylae, like Troy, has little to see, apart from a modern memorial on the side of the road.

Don't be too ambitious - you won't want to spend most of your honeymoon in transit. Recommend you whittle your itinerary down to Athens and maybe two other locations in Greece. I'll leave the Turkey portion of your itinerary to experts of that country.

If you've already planned this, my comments will come too late. But if not, I would suggest re-thinking flying in and out of Istanbul, when what you really seem to want to focus mostly on is Greece. I think you will chew up at least a full day simply getting from Istanbul to Athens, and at least a night and a day trying to sail back. Why not just go in and out of Athens? Yes, you'll miss Istanbul -- which is a great city, and I love it -- but you're barely going to be able to scratch the surface in Istanbul on the trip you've outlined in any case. My advice would be to go back someday when you can do it justice.

With close to two weeks, on the other hand, you can really see some great things in Greece, but again, you'll need to make some choices. My wife and I did two trips to Greece, and this is how we handled it:

Trip 1 -- to Athens for a couple of days -- took a day trip to Corinth, Mycenae, and Nafplio -- then flew to Santorini (unforgettable, one of the great sights of Europe) for two nights -- then flew to Iraklio in Crete for a night or two -- visited the Archaeological Museum, Knossos, and drove to the south coast to see the Minoan sites at Phaistos and Gortyn -- then drove to the Elounda Bay Hotel in eastern Crete, visited Gournia and the Island of Spinalonga and the Lassithi Plateau on the way back -- then to Chania in western Crete, where we did day trips to Rethymnon, Phalasarna, and the beach at Elafonisi on the southwest cape. Then flew on to Rhodes, where we stayed in the old city for two or three days and also motored around the island before returning to Athens by air for our flight home.

Trip 2 -- We again flew to Athens, then gave ourselves a few days in Chania because we loved it so much on the first trip. This time, we also hiked the Samaria Gorge, and all-day undertaking. Then, we flew back to Athens, picked up a rental car, and drove through Corinth to Naflpio where we stayed a couple of nights -- then to Sparta/Mistra -- then to Monemvasia -- then to the Mani -- then to Methoni (massive Venetian fortress) -- then through Pylos (Nestor's Palace) and the temple of Bassae to Olympia, where we stayed -- then drove to Rion, crossed the Gulf, and around to Delphi -- stayed overnight there, then visited the churches at Osios Loukas and back to Athens.

Each of these was a 14-16 day trip. I think Crete is great. Rhodes I like, too, but it's smaller, the range of historical stuff to see isn't as broad, and the beaches aren't as good and the landscapes not as impressive. Santorini is really neat, but is small and doesn't take much time. If you're there other than in June, July, and August, it's possible it might even qualify as "quiet," especially if you stay in the town of Oia.

If you are wedded to going to Istanbul, I would forget about Troy in favor of spending another full day in Istanbul itself. Remember, it will take a minimum of two hours to do the Topkapi Palace alone. Add in some time in the adjoining museums (which you should) and that's a half a day right there. You might also see how much it would cost you to fly from Istanbul to Athens and back.

have you ever thought to pass the agean sea by ferry from kusadasi after ephessus? I think this is best way.