Our take on Turkey--a trip report of 15 days of an active, on-the-go, independent trip
Jun 19th, 2007, 11:03 AM
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Our take on Turkey--a trip report of 15 days of an active, on-the-go, independent trip
Despite my husband’s initial apprehensions about safety issues in Turkey, we made a very quickly planned two-week trip in the second half of May. Turkey more than lived up to our expectations, and we hope to return for another two weeks sometime to see what we didn’t get a chance to see. I’d thought about this trip for quite some time so had done some preliminary research ahead of time, but time from airline ticket purchase to departure was actually less than two weeks.
We evenly split our fifteen-day trip into three different segments—Cappadocia, the coast from Antalya to Dalaman airport, and Istanbul. We flew from Istanbul to Kayseri and picked up a rental car there that we had arranged from www.economycarrentals.com. We had the car for 9 days and dropped it off at the Dalaman airport for our flight back to Istanbul. If we had it to do over again, I think we might have skipped the coastal areas, added another day to Cappadocia, added another couple days to Istanbul and probably would have visited the Black Sea coast area.
First of all, our travel style. We are typically pretty laid-back, adventuresome, budget to moderate travelers who have visited lots of different and off-the-beaten path places on our own. We are middle-aged and enjoy nature, the arts, historical places, just participating in new cultures, active vacations involving hiking or biking or water activities, trying local foods, authentic markets etc. We aren’t shoppers, people who need top-of-the-line accommodations or restaurants, people who want everything to be just like home, people who need their hands held, and we weren’t looking for a relaxing fun-in-the-sun vacation. And, we don’t speak Turkish other than 4 or 5 words; however, we’re very good with pointing and gestures and aren’t afraid of making fools of ourselves
My first caveat about visiting Turkey. Go while you are still young enough to be fairly physically fit and in good shape if you want to make the most out of your trip. If you want to really see some of the best of the best you will need to do a lot of walking, hiking and climbing. Even Istanbul is a lot of walking up and down hills. Second. If you plan to visit Cappadocia and/or some of the ruins along the coast, bring hiking boots or extremely good walking shoes with sturdy soles. There were a couple times we even wished we’d brought our trekking poles from home.
To be continued as I have time.....
We evenly split our fifteen-day trip into three different segments—Cappadocia, the coast from Antalya to Dalaman airport, and Istanbul. We flew from Istanbul to Kayseri and picked up a rental car there that we had arranged from www.economycarrentals.com. We had the car for 9 days and dropped it off at the Dalaman airport for our flight back to Istanbul. If we had it to do over again, I think we might have skipped the coastal areas, added another day to Cappadocia, added another couple days to Istanbul and probably would have visited the Black Sea coast area.
First of all, our travel style. We are typically pretty laid-back, adventuresome, budget to moderate travelers who have visited lots of different and off-the-beaten path places on our own. We are middle-aged and enjoy nature, the arts, historical places, just participating in new cultures, active vacations involving hiking or biking or water activities, trying local foods, authentic markets etc. We aren’t shoppers, people who need top-of-the-line accommodations or restaurants, people who want everything to be just like home, people who need their hands held, and we weren’t looking for a relaxing fun-in-the-sun vacation. And, we don’t speak Turkish other than 4 or 5 words; however, we’re very good with pointing and gestures and aren’t afraid of making fools of ourselves
My first caveat about visiting Turkey. Go while you are still young enough to be fairly physically fit and in good shape if you want to make the most out of your trip. If you want to really see some of the best of the best you will need to do a lot of walking, hiking and climbing. Even Istanbul is a lot of walking up and down hills. Second. If you plan to visit Cappadocia and/or some of the ruins along the coast, bring hiking boots or extremely good walking shoes with sturdy soles. There were a couple times we even wished we’d brought our trekking poles from home.
To be continued as I have time.....
Jun 19th, 2007, 12:07 PM
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I'll look forward to your report also and I need to get mine done at some point ;-). Our trip was not dissimilar (and I note we were both at the wonderful Esbelli Evi) although we traveled with an archeologist on a gulet for 2 weeks on that stretch of the coast and it was really *amazing*--but I have a particular passion for archeology and ancient ruins. We felt 2 full days in Cappadocia was fine althoug another day would have been great also.
Wholeheartedly agree about the rough terrain--several people on our boat DID bring their trekking poles and found them useful. I just got a lot of helping hands up and down the rocks, etc from our archeologist and others in my group ;-). I used a new pair of Land's End hiking sandals and found them to be great--many in our group had Kean's which are similar.
Wholeheartedly agree about the rough terrain--several people on our boat DID bring their trekking poles and found them useful. I just got a lot of helping hands up and down the rocks, etc from our archeologist and others in my group ;-). I used a new pair of Land's End hiking sandals and found them to be great--many in our group had Kean's which are similar.
Jun 20th, 2007, 05:45 AM
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More general thoughts about Turkey. We were quite hot many times in May, so we can’t imagine what it must be like in the middle of the summer. Turkey is more expensive than we had thought it would be. For us part of the issue is that we are from the US, and with the weak dollar all those prices quoted in euros really become expensive. While we sometimes opted for more expensive lodging that we usually choose on a trip, we found lodging prices to be more than comparable places in central/eastern Europe. If you like to drink alcoholic beverages, you’ll be paying a lot. We were told that the current conservative regime wants to discourage drinking so there is a 400% tax on alcohol. Thus, even though we like a bottle of wine with dinner, we usually just had a beer instead (when we were even eating in a place where alcohol was available) because the cost of the wine was about the same cost as the meal itself for two people.
We found a cheap rental car rate of about $30 a day, but the gas added up at $9 per gallon. That said though, the freedom the rental car gave us was well worth it, and we wanted to be able to pick and choose where and when we wanted to move around. It also gave us the opportunity to get away from the bus loads of tourists. For long distances though, flying is the way to go because flights are relatively inexpensive. Because most of our recent travels have been more of the slow travel variety where we rent a house, gite, or apartment for 5 to 7 days in each spot and use it as a base, we hadn’t taken a road trip where we would just wing it for quite some time. But, this is what we decided would work best for us in Turkey, so half of our trip in Turkey was this type. We had room reservations in Istanbul and in Cappadocia for a few nights, but the rest of the trip we knew we wanted to have the freedom to just move about as we pleased. This was a successful strategy for us, and we had no difficulty at all finding acceptable lodging later on in the day (once as late at 9:30) or by calling ahead in the morning.
We always felt surrounded by extremely friendly people and never had any fears whatsoever about our safety. We speak about five words of Turkish and never had any problems at all even though lots of times we were in areas where no one spoke English at all. Writing down numbers, pointing, making gestures, showing the phrase in the phrasebook all worked really well for us. We ate many meals in small, totally local restaurants and, while we probably couldn’t figure out what all of our menu choices were, did fine. We also shopped in small, local grocery stores and were able to get what we wanted by pointing and writing down the number of grams if things needed to be weighed. If you visit, buy this book—Eat Smart in Turkey. It has extremely good menu translations as well as other info related to food.
I took The Rough Guide to Turkey and had copied parts of The Lonely Planet. I’d also looked at the Frommer’s and Fodor’s guidebooks and copied a few pages from them. If you are at all interested in visiting some of the lesser-touristed places, these last two won't do it for you. The Rough book was superb for what we wanted as far as describing in depth lots of lesser known places, but I found the descriptions of lodging to be more detailed in the Lonely Planet.
If you get off the typical tourist path you will discover the authentic Turkey; this is what we enjoy most when visiting a new country and hope to be able to do more of in a future visit. Some of our hosts made suggestions for things we should do and places we should visit so we could have more of an authentic experience, and it helped. As far as people dressed in typical attire, the more rural regions are definitely more conservative, and there we tended to see both men and women wearing more non-western garb. But, for us, seeing women in long dresses and wearing headscarves wasn’t particularly different because we live in a city with a heavy Muslim presence so are used to this.
We found a cheap rental car rate of about $30 a day, but the gas added up at $9 per gallon. That said though, the freedom the rental car gave us was well worth it, and we wanted to be able to pick and choose where and when we wanted to move around. It also gave us the opportunity to get away from the bus loads of tourists. For long distances though, flying is the way to go because flights are relatively inexpensive. Because most of our recent travels have been more of the slow travel variety where we rent a house, gite, or apartment for 5 to 7 days in each spot and use it as a base, we hadn’t taken a road trip where we would just wing it for quite some time. But, this is what we decided would work best for us in Turkey, so half of our trip in Turkey was this type. We had room reservations in Istanbul and in Cappadocia for a few nights, but the rest of the trip we knew we wanted to have the freedom to just move about as we pleased. This was a successful strategy for us, and we had no difficulty at all finding acceptable lodging later on in the day (once as late at 9:30) or by calling ahead in the morning.
We always felt surrounded by extremely friendly people and never had any fears whatsoever about our safety. We speak about five words of Turkish and never had any problems at all even though lots of times we were in areas where no one spoke English at all. Writing down numbers, pointing, making gestures, showing the phrase in the phrasebook all worked really well for us. We ate many meals in small, totally local restaurants and, while we probably couldn’t figure out what all of our menu choices were, did fine. We also shopped in small, local grocery stores and were able to get what we wanted by pointing and writing down the number of grams if things needed to be weighed. If you visit, buy this book—Eat Smart in Turkey. It has extremely good menu translations as well as other info related to food.
I took The Rough Guide to Turkey and had copied parts of The Lonely Planet. I’d also looked at the Frommer’s and Fodor’s guidebooks and copied a few pages from them. If you are at all interested in visiting some of the lesser-touristed places, these last two won't do it for you. The Rough book was superb for what we wanted as far as describing in depth lots of lesser known places, but I found the descriptions of lodging to be more detailed in the Lonely Planet.
If you get off the typical tourist path you will discover the authentic Turkey; this is what we enjoy most when visiting a new country and hope to be able to do more of in a future visit. Some of our hosts made suggestions for things we should do and places we should visit so we could have more of an authentic experience, and it helped. As far as people dressed in typical attire, the more rural regions are definitely more conservative, and there we tended to see both men and women wearing more non-western garb. But, for us, seeing women in long dresses and wearing headscarves wasn’t particularly different because we live in a city with a heavy Muslim presence so are used to this.
Jun 20th, 2007, 07:31 AM
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Hi all;
I am from Turkey, Kayseri and I live in Istanbul. So i have many informations about both of them. As Julies said most of the Turkish people are friendly. If you have any questions about Turkey I can help you. By the way I can help you with hotels and tours.
Best regards,
ahmet
I am from Turkey, Kayseri and I live in Istanbul. So i have many informations about both of them. As Julies said most of the Turkish people are friendly. If you have any questions about Turkey I can help you. By the way I can help you with hotels and tours.
Best regards,
ahmet
Jun 28th, 2007, 07:55 AM
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I've finally had a little more time, so here is the 1st part of my report about the Cappadocia area. I hope to finish this part later on today.
Our flight into Istanbul from the US via Amsterdam arrived around 6:00 pm, and after debating all the equally bad options, we decided to take another flight out at 6:30 am. Thanks to a local on another board, we found a hotel in Yesilkoy, a nice waterfront location near the airport. At least this way we were able to have an evening where we could stroll along the waterfront and the small local town. The hotel provided free airport pick-up service and we just took a cab back to the airport in the morning.
I booked our flight to Kayseri on-line, flying Onur Air. Immediately after booking, I had problems with their website and was worried that I now had been charged for a flight, had no proof of confirmation, and wouldn’t actually have reservations. So, I ended up calling their offices in Turkey. I finally got transferred to someone who spoke English and got it straightened out, but my advice to you if you use Onur Air for on-line booking is to spend the extra few minutes and open a frequent flyer account with them; at least that way you can track all this stuff.
The flight was your typical flight, and we arrived in Kayseri early in the morning and picked up our rental car. We were so happy we’d decided to go with having a car because it gave us so much freedom to do what we wanted and when. After finding a grocery store on the outskirts of Kayseri to pick up snacks and bottled water, we made the hour or so drive to Urgup where we’d decided to base ourselves for three nights. As it turned out, we extended and made it a four night stay.
We typically are not big spenders on lodging and don’t feel we need the luxury, but after reading so many great things about Esbelli Evi, we decided to splurge. We loved the place; I think I would classify it as upscale, causal, laidback. The owner has provided everything a guest could want—charming rooms; terraces to sit on; washing machines; a fridge stocked with soda, beer and wine for reasonable prices on an honor system; several computers with Internet access for guest use; lots of books on the area; a marvelously helpful staff; great breakfasts; and use of the kitchen if wanted (several nights some of the other guests were preparing their own meals in the kitchen rather than going out for dinner). I’d highly recommend Esbelli Evi! Apparently we were quite lucky to get in. As I said, this was a last minute trip during peak season, and I made our reservations only 7 to 10 days out. The owner told me that most people reserve about three months ahead of time. We were even able to extend our stay one night beyond our reservations but had to change rooms for that last night. The only negative I can see for some people who don’t have a car is that it is a long uphill walk back to Esbelli after an evening dinner in town.
After we arrived and got settled in, the owner gave us directions to the Rose Valley to go hiking. It was a beautiful hike in a quite isolated area where we saw no other tourists. This and an early dinner were all we could manage our first day in Cappadocia because flying fatigue, jetlag and lack of sleep were starting to hit. The winds were strongly blowing all day, however, and we wondered if our balloon flight the next morning would go off as planned. We knew ahead of time that we wanted to take a balloon trip (another splurge for us), so we’d arranged ahead of time for a flight through EZ Air Balloons. Just as we were settling into bed at 9:30 so we could get up for the dawn flight, our phone rang and it was EZ Air telling us that because of the strong winds they were canceling the next morning’s flights. This was fine with us as safety is a prime concern. So, we rescheduled for the day. Note: plan your balloon flight for your first day in case you have similar circumstances. When we did go, our flight was quite crowded, and I assume this was due to the fact that all those rebooked customers were with the original passengers.
After breakfast every morning we were at Esbelli we would start out the day be getting advice and a map on where to spend the day. This day we set off to explore the towns and areas surrounding Ortahisar and Uchisar. We apparently made a wrong turn somewhere so approached the village of Ortahisar from the back. This turned out to be a fortuitous opportunity because we parked the car on the outskirts of the town and hiked through the village seeing the parts that most tourists probably don’t see. While in town we visited the Culture Museum (and were the only people in the place) which is basically a series of tableaux of dummies with accessories showing local customs. English signs helped a lot.
Wandering around Uchisar and having our first Turkish pida for lunch was also quite interesting. On our way back to Esbelli we drove through Goreme and decided that we were glad we hadn’t based ourselves there. To us, it was just too touristy, what with the rows of rental 4 wheel bikes and lots of tourist shops. While Urgup definitely had shops aimed at tourists, to us, the atmosphere was definitely more of a local town that also happens to service tourists. This night we found a place we could actually do take-out (food was ok) and took our meal back to Esbelli to have with a bottle of wine on one of their terraces overlooking the area.
Our flight into Istanbul from the US via Amsterdam arrived around 6:00 pm, and after debating all the equally bad options, we decided to take another flight out at 6:30 am. Thanks to a local on another board, we found a hotel in Yesilkoy, a nice waterfront location near the airport. At least this way we were able to have an evening where we could stroll along the waterfront and the small local town. The hotel provided free airport pick-up service and we just took a cab back to the airport in the morning.
I booked our flight to Kayseri on-line, flying Onur Air. Immediately after booking, I had problems with their website and was worried that I now had been charged for a flight, had no proof of confirmation, and wouldn’t actually have reservations. So, I ended up calling their offices in Turkey. I finally got transferred to someone who spoke English and got it straightened out, but my advice to you if you use Onur Air for on-line booking is to spend the extra few minutes and open a frequent flyer account with them; at least that way you can track all this stuff.
The flight was your typical flight, and we arrived in Kayseri early in the morning and picked up our rental car. We were so happy we’d decided to go with having a car because it gave us so much freedom to do what we wanted and when. After finding a grocery store on the outskirts of Kayseri to pick up snacks and bottled water, we made the hour or so drive to Urgup where we’d decided to base ourselves for three nights. As it turned out, we extended and made it a four night stay.
We typically are not big spenders on lodging and don’t feel we need the luxury, but after reading so many great things about Esbelli Evi, we decided to splurge. We loved the place; I think I would classify it as upscale, causal, laidback. The owner has provided everything a guest could want—charming rooms; terraces to sit on; washing machines; a fridge stocked with soda, beer and wine for reasonable prices on an honor system; several computers with Internet access for guest use; lots of books on the area; a marvelously helpful staff; great breakfasts; and use of the kitchen if wanted (several nights some of the other guests were preparing their own meals in the kitchen rather than going out for dinner). I’d highly recommend Esbelli Evi! Apparently we were quite lucky to get in. As I said, this was a last minute trip during peak season, and I made our reservations only 7 to 10 days out. The owner told me that most people reserve about three months ahead of time. We were even able to extend our stay one night beyond our reservations but had to change rooms for that last night. The only negative I can see for some people who don’t have a car is that it is a long uphill walk back to Esbelli after an evening dinner in town.
After we arrived and got settled in, the owner gave us directions to the Rose Valley to go hiking. It was a beautiful hike in a quite isolated area where we saw no other tourists. This and an early dinner were all we could manage our first day in Cappadocia because flying fatigue, jetlag and lack of sleep were starting to hit. The winds were strongly blowing all day, however, and we wondered if our balloon flight the next morning would go off as planned. We knew ahead of time that we wanted to take a balloon trip (another splurge for us), so we’d arranged ahead of time for a flight through EZ Air Balloons. Just as we were settling into bed at 9:30 so we could get up for the dawn flight, our phone rang and it was EZ Air telling us that because of the strong winds they were canceling the next morning’s flights. This was fine with us as safety is a prime concern. So, we rescheduled for the day. Note: plan your balloon flight for your first day in case you have similar circumstances. When we did go, our flight was quite crowded, and I assume this was due to the fact that all those rebooked customers were with the original passengers.
After breakfast every morning we were at Esbelli we would start out the day be getting advice and a map on where to spend the day. This day we set off to explore the towns and areas surrounding Ortahisar and Uchisar. We apparently made a wrong turn somewhere so approached the village of Ortahisar from the back. This turned out to be a fortuitous opportunity because we parked the car on the outskirts of the town and hiked through the village seeing the parts that most tourists probably don’t see. While in town we visited the Culture Museum (and were the only people in the place) which is basically a series of tableaux of dummies with accessories showing local customs. English signs helped a lot.
Wandering around Uchisar and having our first Turkish pida for lunch was also quite interesting. On our way back to Esbelli we drove through Goreme and decided that we were glad we hadn’t based ourselves there. To us, it was just too touristy, what with the rows of rental 4 wheel bikes and lots of tourist shops. While Urgup definitely had shops aimed at tourists, to us, the atmosphere was definitely more of a local town that also happens to service tourists. This night we found a place we could actually do take-out (food was ok) and took our meal back to Esbelli to have with a bottle of wine on one of their terraces overlooking the area.
Jun 28th, 2007, 12:58 PM
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Next morning we were up bright and early for our balloon trip with EZ Air. (All of the balloon companies pick you up at your hotel in a van). We had never even though about a hot air balloon ever anywhere until I started to plan this trip. EZ Air was great, safe and offered a really nice trip at a MUCH lower price than many of its competitors. When asked about the highlight of our Turkey trip, my husband always says the balloon trip.
Since the balloon trips are so early, there is a lot of time left for exploring during the same day. After breakfast we headed out towards the open-air museum in Goreme. While it was nice, it wasn’t one of the highlights as far as we were concerned. The place has been “sanitized” so that those on the tour buses can get in easily. Sorry, but paved paths in a setting like this just didn’t seem to do it for us. Next we headed off to the Zelve Valley area which we much preferred because it was more natural. We like to hike and prefer natural park type places, so Cappadocia was for us. Finally we stopped in the small town of Cavusin where there are more interesting high houses carved into the cliffs and thus lots of exploring to do. (By the end of our trip through Cappadocia and the ruins along the coast, I was starting to feel that my hiking boots had grown on to my feet. Be sure to bring yours if you plan to really do any type of exploring. Headlamps are great in some of the cave churches too.)
We were enjoying the area so much that we decided to add on an additional night at Esbelli. Day four in Cappadocia we took the advice of Esbelli’s owner and headed off towards the Soganli Valley (perhaps an hour’s drive) to do some exploring. This was our favorite day of all in Cappadocia because time seems to have stood still in the valley. We enjoy seeing villages and their inhabitants who live such a different lifestyle than we modern westernized people are used to.
After hiking and exploring the area, we stopped at one of the underground cities. After reading an article by our local travel writer who had mentioned claustraphobia issues when visiting, I was a tad concerned. (I never really thought of myself as a claustraphobic, but when I broke my shoulder I couldn’t do the MRI machine with my head in the tube. I had to reschedule with the open-sided MRI instead.) I had no problems in Kaymakli, the city recommended by our host as being the best. The only thing I can think of that might bother some people is if you were trapped in the middle of a large tour group when going through some of the tunnels that you have to bend over to visit. This was the one place on the trip where we are sure we were ripped off. There was a man who was an authorized and licensed guide hanging around the entrance. We hired him, and he basically ran us through the place, explaining what all the areas were and then told us to go back down more slowly to explore and to take picture is we wanted. So, if you hire a guide, ask how long the trip is.
It was at this point that we realized should have planned to spend the night in Guzelyurt instead of having to drive all the way back to Urgup to spend the night at Esbelli and then turn around the next morning to drive the same route again. Oh well! We enjoyed our additional night at Esbelli anyway; we just lost a couple hours of time to backtracking, and the next day we realized we could have used those hours.
Our plan was to head over the mountains and down to the coast near Antalya and then head west towards Dalaman where we had a flight reserved. But, I had read so many good things about the Ilhara Valley that I wanted to visit that too. So the pan was to drive to the Ilhara Valley and do some hiking there (we really wanted to hike the whole valley) before making the drive through Konya and on to the coast. We got to the Ilhara area and climbed all the long way down into the Valley. It was lovely, but we were at the point where after climbing into a few more of the cave churches, we felt we’d seen enough and they were all starting to run together in our minds. We hiked a ways and realized that the center of the valley was just a nice, natural valley or gorge in the middle of some rather inhospitable terrain. It was getting later, time was ticking away, and we decided to just head back to our car because other than the churches, we could have a nice nature hike at home any day. We climbed back out and found a nice little restaurant beside a river where we had lunch before our long drive.
We had thought about breaking up the drive by stopping to visit Konya but decided against it. There were a few things there that seemed interesting, but we just didn’t feel like putting up with the hassles of a large city to see them. So, we headed on after leaving the plateau and Konya up into the mountains. It was getting later and later, and it was at this point that we started to wonder if we had made a stupid decision to tackle this drive late in the day. But, it was one of those situations where were there were no longer any option other than to venture on. Luckily, days at the end of May are long and we got out of the mountains and down to the coast just as it got pitch dark.
Since the balloon trips are so early, there is a lot of time left for exploring during the same day. After breakfast we headed out towards the open-air museum in Goreme. While it was nice, it wasn’t one of the highlights as far as we were concerned. The place has been “sanitized” so that those on the tour buses can get in easily. Sorry, but paved paths in a setting like this just didn’t seem to do it for us. Next we headed off to the Zelve Valley area which we much preferred because it was more natural. We like to hike and prefer natural park type places, so Cappadocia was for us. Finally we stopped in the small town of Cavusin where there are more interesting high houses carved into the cliffs and thus lots of exploring to do. (By the end of our trip through Cappadocia and the ruins along the coast, I was starting to feel that my hiking boots had grown on to my feet. Be sure to bring yours if you plan to really do any type of exploring. Headlamps are great in some of the cave churches too.)
We were enjoying the area so much that we decided to add on an additional night at Esbelli. Day four in Cappadocia we took the advice of Esbelli’s owner and headed off towards the Soganli Valley (perhaps an hour’s drive) to do some exploring. This was our favorite day of all in Cappadocia because time seems to have stood still in the valley. We enjoy seeing villages and their inhabitants who live such a different lifestyle than we modern westernized people are used to.
After hiking and exploring the area, we stopped at one of the underground cities. After reading an article by our local travel writer who had mentioned claustraphobia issues when visiting, I was a tad concerned. (I never really thought of myself as a claustraphobic, but when I broke my shoulder I couldn’t do the MRI machine with my head in the tube. I had to reschedule with the open-sided MRI instead.) I had no problems in Kaymakli, the city recommended by our host as being the best. The only thing I can think of that might bother some people is if you were trapped in the middle of a large tour group when going through some of the tunnels that you have to bend over to visit. This was the one place on the trip where we are sure we were ripped off. There was a man who was an authorized and licensed guide hanging around the entrance. We hired him, and he basically ran us through the place, explaining what all the areas were and then told us to go back down more slowly to explore and to take picture is we wanted. So, if you hire a guide, ask how long the trip is.
It was at this point that we realized should have planned to spend the night in Guzelyurt instead of having to drive all the way back to Urgup to spend the night at Esbelli and then turn around the next morning to drive the same route again. Oh well! We enjoyed our additional night at Esbelli anyway; we just lost a couple hours of time to backtracking, and the next day we realized we could have used those hours.
Our plan was to head over the mountains and down to the coast near Antalya and then head west towards Dalaman where we had a flight reserved. But, I had read so many good things about the Ilhara Valley that I wanted to visit that too. So the pan was to drive to the Ilhara Valley and do some hiking there (we really wanted to hike the whole valley) before making the drive through Konya and on to the coast. We got to the Ilhara area and climbed all the long way down into the Valley. It was lovely, but we were at the point where after climbing into a few more of the cave churches, we felt we’d seen enough and they were all starting to run together in our minds. We hiked a ways and realized that the center of the valley was just a nice, natural valley or gorge in the middle of some rather inhospitable terrain. It was getting later, time was ticking away, and we decided to just head back to our car because other than the churches, we could have a nice nature hike at home any day. We climbed back out and found a nice little restaurant beside a river where we had lunch before our long drive.
We had thought about breaking up the drive by stopping to visit Konya but decided against it. There were a few things there that seemed interesting, but we just didn’t feel like putting up with the hassles of a large city to see them. So, we headed on after leaving the plateau and Konya up into the mountains. It was getting later and later, and it was at this point that we started to wonder if we had made a stupid decision to tackle this drive late in the day. But, it was one of those situations where were there were no longer any option other than to venture on. Luckily, days at the end of May are long and we got out of the mountains and down to the coast just as it got pitch dark.
Jun 28th, 2007, 01:28 PM
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So happy you decided to continue on!
Ok - couple of Q so far- how much was the Istanbul to Kayseri flight?
Can you describe a little more about the drive from Urgup to Antalya? DH wants to fly Kayseri to Izmer and drive the coast west to east ending at Antalya to avoid that drive because, for reasons he can't really articulate, he has a bad feeling about that drive. I say he is nuts.
Ok, and the last Q for now. I like to walk around, but I am not a "hiker" and have no hiking boots, but can wear some strap on sandals, with the kind of "tire tread" bottom. Is a lot of Cappadocia going to be off limits if I don't have actual boots?
Ok - couple of Q so far- how much was the Istanbul to Kayseri flight?
Can you describe a little more about the drive from Urgup to Antalya? DH wants to fly Kayseri to Izmer and drive the coast west to east ending at Antalya to avoid that drive because, for reasons he can't really articulate, he has a bad feeling about that drive. I say he is nuts.
Ok, and the last Q for now. I like to walk around, but I am not a "hiker" and have no hiking boots, but can wear some strap on sandals, with the kind of "tire tread" bottom. Is a lot of Cappadocia going to be off limits if I don't have actual boots?
Jun 29th, 2007, 04:45 AM
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For now, the answers to questions, and maybe later on today I can continue with this.
1. I think the flight from Istanbul to Kayseri was around $100 per person, maybe even bit less.
2. Driving in Turkey was a piece of cake. There was very little traffic, and roads were good. The drive from Urgup on down to the coast was probably about 8 hours total--nothing at all for those of us from the US. While the scenery was't particularly memorable, it was interesting to see how people lived. We had been expecting there to be just bleak open spaces such as one encounters when driving in places like eastern Montana, but it was much better. The mountain driving was also not at all hair-raising like you'd encounter in the Rockies or certain places in the Pyrenees. In some ways the scenery reminded us of the US southwest or parts of the eastern Pyrenees in northern Spain. The only issue in the mountains was that there were no places to stay. But, then again, that part of the drive was perhaps only 2 to 2 1/2 hours long.
Shoes--I have true high hiking boots with ankle support I use for the mountains. I didn't take those but instead wore an ankle high pair of Chaco boots and was glad I had them. My husband did wear his real hiking boots because they also look okay with trousers in a fancier setting. The kind of hiking we did in Cappadocia, and the ruins we visited along the coast, all demanded a LOT of walking and climbing. A couple places were so steep we wished we'd brought our trekking poles. Only you can decide if sandals will do, but if you go with that option make sure they are truly heavy soled with a Vibrram sole and steel shank rather than just thick rubber alone. I had my Teva sandals along too and wouldn't have even though of wearing them most places we were. Plus when we hiked paths were dry; some of them would have been horribly treacherous when wet. Here's a link to the shoes I had, except mine were low cut rather than ankle height.
http://cgi.ebay.com/CHACO-GARVIN-HIK...ayphotohosting
1. I think the flight from Istanbul to Kayseri was around $100 per person, maybe even bit less.
2. Driving in Turkey was a piece of cake. There was very little traffic, and roads were good. The drive from Urgup on down to the coast was probably about 8 hours total--nothing at all for those of us from the US. While the scenery was't particularly memorable, it was interesting to see how people lived. We had been expecting there to be just bleak open spaces such as one encounters when driving in places like eastern Montana, but it was much better. The mountain driving was also not at all hair-raising like you'd encounter in the Rockies or certain places in the Pyrenees. In some ways the scenery reminded us of the US southwest or parts of the eastern Pyrenees in northern Spain. The only issue in the mountains was that there were no places to stay. But, then again, that part of the drive was perhaps only 2 to 2 1/2 hours long.
Shoes--I have true high hiking boots with ankle support I use for the mountains. I didn't take those but instead wore an ankle high pair of Chaco boots and was glad I had them. My husband did wear his real hiking boots because they also look okay with trousers in a fancier setting. The kind of hiking we did in Cappadocia, and the ruins we visited along the coast, all demanded a LOT of walking and climbing. A couple places were so steep we wished we'd brought our trekking poles. Only you can decide if sandals will do, but if you go with that option make sure they are truly heavy soled with a Vibrram sole and steel shank rather than just thick rubber alone. I had my Teva sandals along too and wouldn't have even though of wearing them most places we were. Plus when we hiked paths were dry; some of them would have been horribly treacherous when wet. Here's a link to the shoes I had, except mine were low cut rather than ankle height.
http://cgi.ebay.com/CHACO-GARVIN-HIK...ayphotohosting
Jun 29th, 2007, 09:36 AM
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Thanks Julie!
I think we are just going to drive it. The flights from Kayseri to Izmir are very limited and they are just not meshing that well with the number of days we want to spend in each spot. We can drive to Antalya at will and drive the coast east to west.
Sounds like my Teva style sandals will not be enough. I do not expect to be engaging in any extreme hiking but don't want to be held back either. I will look for something like the ankle height Chacos you linked. They probably would not take up tons of room in a suitcase.
I am absolutely enjoying the report so far!
Can't wait til you get to the Owls Nest
I think we are just going to drive it. The flights from Kayseri to Izmir are very limited and they are just not meshing that well with the number of days we want to spend in each spot. We can drive to Antalya at will and drive the coast east to west.
Sounds like my Teva style sandals will not be enough. I do not expect to be engaging in any extreme hiking but don't want to be held back either. I will look for something like the ankle height Chacos you linked. They probably would not take up tons of room in a suitcase.
I am absolutely enjoying the report so far!
Can't wait til you get to the Owls Nest
Jun 29th, 2007, 12:08 PM
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Hi Julies:
Super report, Julie. We also have stayed at the Esbelli, and made the same mistake with Suha's (Bill)map directions in driving to Ortahisar. Had the same reaction, the best way to approach that town. (Does he still take pics of each guest?)
We also did some very pleasurable hiking in the region and Goreme was not quite as touristy at that time..paths had not been paved and the tour busses were not so common.
We hiked the Ilhara valley just when the trees were blooming in April'May, and the river was quite full.
Both Roz and I were uncomfortable in the Kaymakli undergound caves and opted to go back...luckily there was no one behind us...(By the way, we had Suha (Bill) send a driver for us at Kayseri Airport(which was then a military base and probably still is....soldiers with automatic rifles everywhere) We rented our car next day in Urgup and turned it in at Marmaris two weeks later. Have sent several people to Esbelli since then including daughter and her husband.
What a find!
Hey Cheesehead, nice to have you responding again.... I have a suggestion for your drive from Urgup to Antalya...take an extra day and visit the rarely visited Lake District. We left Urgup, stopped in Konya for a wonderful lunch at a roadside lamb barbecue grill (with Sinatra records blasting) and continued on to the lakes alongside hundreds of acres of blooming apple trees and lovely pristine-looking lakes, arriving at Egidir late afternoon...stayed at the Hotel Egidir, enjoyed the isolated town...and wouldn't you know, a bus load of touring Texans were staying at that hotel...they were all flabbergasted to think that Roz and I were driving alone.
(I'm sure they must have muttered "Crazy Californians"!)
After a good night's rest and a hearty buffet breakfast, drove south to Antalya through lovely verdant country, snowcapped mountains, picturesque villages and arrived in Antalya in early afternoon. Wonderful way to break it up.
Roads were mostly empty, petrol plentiful (cheaper then) and good signage. By the way, we were 68 and 60 at the time..not phased a bit by the hiking and driving.
Julies
o they still wash you car gratis when filling up??
Above all Cheesehead, have a fun, exotic, educational and fufiiling journey!
Stu T.
Super report, Julie. We also have stayed at the Esbelli, and made the same mistake with Suha's (Bill)map directions in driving to Ortahisar. Had the same reaction, the best way to approach that town. (Does he still take pics of each guest?)
We also did some very pleasurable hiking in the region and Goreme was not quite as touristy at that time..paths had not been paved and the tour busses were not so common.
We hiked the Ilhara valley just when the trees were blooming in April'May, and the river was quite full.
Both Roz and I were uncomfortable in the Kaymakli undergound caves and opted to go back...luckily there was no one behind us...(By the way, we had Suha (Bill) send a driver for us at Kayseri Airport(which was then a military base and probably still is....soldiers with automatic rifles everywhere) We rented our car next day in Urgup and turned it in at Marmaris two weeks later. Have sent several people to Esbelli since then including daughter and her husband.
What a find!
Hey Cheesehead, nice to have you responding again.... I have a suggestion for your drive from Urgup to Antalya...take an extra day and visit the rarely visited Lake District. We left Urgup, stopped in Konya for a wonderful lunch at a roadside lamb barbecue grill (with Sinatra records blasting) and continued on to the lakes alongside hundreds of acres of blooming apple trees and lovely pristine-looking lakes, arriving at Egidir late afternoon...stayed at the Hotel Egidir, enjoyed the isolated town...and wouldn't you know, a bus load of touring Texans were staying at that hotel...they were all flabbergasted to think that Roz and I were driving alone.
(I'm sure they must have muttered "Crazy Californians"!)
After a good night's rest and a hearty buffet breakfast, drove south to Antalya through lovely verdant country, snowcapped mountains, picturesque villages and arrived in Antalya in early afternoon. Wonderful way to break it up.
Roads were mostly empty, petrol plentiful (cheaper then) and good signage. By the way, we were 68 and 60 at the time..not phased a bit by the hiking and driving.
Julies
o they still wash you car gratis when filling up??Above all Cheesehead, have a fun, exotic, educational and fufiiling journey!
Stu T.
Jun 29th, 2007, 08:41 PM
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Happy C.
I'll hunt up my maps tomorrow and give you the actual route to the lakes..
stu t. (want some lake district pics, aend me your e-mail address and I'll scan them and send...pre-digital time).
Stu T.
[email protected]
I'll hunt up my maps tomorrow and give you the actual route to the lakes..
stu t. (want some lake district pics, aend me your e-mail address and I'll scan them and send...pre-digital time).
Stu T.
[email protected]
Jul 2nd, 2007, 05:53 AM
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Hi all--We too had thought about Egidir, but our time was limited and we had to make choices. I wish we'd stopped there. Oh well!
Now back to the trip report and the coastal area between Antalya and Dalaman......
Unfortunately the Turks sold their souls when they allowed their coastline to be so over developed. Once we reached the coastal area just east of Antalya, even though it was after dark, we were able to tell that this appeared to be no different than any well-developed coastal region that could be found anywhere in the world. The coast was okay but the least favorite part of our trip since our aim was to see what makes Turkey unique, not to have a relaxing fun in the sun vacation. But, we met some others who said that in the future they’d return and just stay along the coast. So, it is a matter of personal preference. We tend to prefer unspoiled environments like national parks vs. places with all the well-developed tourist amenities. Fellow travelers had given us a map of the Lycian way part of the coast; this was much better and more detailed than the large map of Turkey we’d purchased, so look for one of these.
It was quite late and our destination for the night was Side. We found a gas station that let us use their phone and called ahead to reserve a room right on the beach in the center of town. As we drove in to Side we became increasingly appalled. This was the equivalent of a totally packed, tacky neon-lit shops, small town carnival experience. Apparently there are a ton of low-cost, all-inclusive package tours that are based on the outskirts of the city; these folks come in after their dinner to walk around the shops.
Our hotel (Beach House Hotel) was fine and had a balcony overlooking the water, but the town did absolutely nothing for us. You couldn’t stop to glance at the menu offerings at the restaurants without almost being strong-armed and dragged inside by the touts. In the morning we took a 20 minute stroll around town and there were a few interesting ruins, but it wasn’t our kind of place, so we were quickly out of there.
We headed over to the ruins at Aspendos, which are a major stop on the tour bus circuit. The preserved theatre itself was well-preserved and a marvel to see, but we also enjoyed just hiking around the larger grounds and visiting some of the other remains. The large groups must just hit the theatre and then get back on the bus because other parts of the site were nearly void of people. In fact, one ruin has a herd of sheep who have made it their home.
One of our guidebooks had mentioned a strip of extremely good local restaurants along the highway near the Antalya airport, so we made that our lunch destination. I’d xeroxed the page from the guidebook and had it out because it told us what to order. The waiter was so impressed they were in a guidebook that he kept taking the piece of paper back to his colleagues to show them. Lunch was marvelous, and they served us our first pitcher of a very cold yogurt drink that is common in Turkey. I was okay with it, but my husband really liked it and finished off the large pitcher. It must be common in some of the kebap type places because we were also given a complimentary glass of this at a hole-in-the-wall place frequented by locals outside of the Grand Bazaar in Istanbul.
After lunch we headed towards the beautifully situated ruins at Termessos. This was a very long, rough hike up to the ruins and then back down again. I’d guess we hiked perhaps 20 minutes straight up just to get to the ruins (bring lots of drinking water). This was one place we definitely wished we’d had our trekking poles. The park itself was nearly deserted, and as soon as we parked we were approached by a very friendly park guard who, of course, was looking to make a little money. He took us off to see some of the tombs that were lower down close to the parking and got his tip for that before we began out uphill trek. We found this to be a common theme throughout Turkey, there always seemed to be someone around who wanted to show you around for a bit of money.
Two sets of ruins took up most of the day, and it was very late afternoon as we got in the car and headed towards our next destination for a night—Cirali. We had no reservation and were just trusting that we’d be able to find a place even though it was Friday night. We’d been told that most Turks don’t have Saturday off so the worry that most of us Americans have about finding a place to stay at the beginning of a week-end were unnecessary.
To be continued as I find the time.....
Now back to the trip report and the coastal area between Antalya and Dalaman......
Unfortunately the Turks sold their souls when they allowed their coastline to be so over developed. Once we reached the coastal area just east of Antalya, even though it was after dark, we were able to tell that this appeared to be no different than any well-developed coastal region that could be found anywhere in the world. The coast was okay but the least favorite part of our trip since our aim was to see what makes Turkey unique, not to have a relaxing fun in the sun vacation. But, we met some others who said that in the future they’d return and just stay along the coast. So, it is a matter of personal preference. We tend to prefer unspoiled environments like national parks vs. places with all the well-developed tourist amenities. Fellow travelers had given us a map of the Lycian way part of the coast; this was much better and more detailed than the large map of Turkey we’d purchased, so look for one of these.
It was quite late and our destination for the night was Side. We found a gas station that let us use their phone and called ahead to reserve a room right on the beach in the center of town. As we drove in to Side we became increasingly appalled. This was the equivalent of a totally packed, tacky neon-lit shops, small town carnival experience. Apparently there are a ton of low-cost, all-inclusive package tours that are based on the outskirts of the city; these folks come in after their dinner to walk around the shops.
Our hotel (Beach House Hotel) was fine and had a balcony overlooking the water, but the town did absolutely nothing for us. You couldn’t stop to glance at the menu offerings at the restaurants without almost being strong-armed and dragged inside by the touts. In the morning we took a 20 minute stroll around town and there were a few interesting ruins, but it wasn’t our kind of place, so we were quickly out of there.
We headed over to the ruins at Aspendos, which are a major stop on the tour bus circuit. The preserved theatre itself was well-preserved and a marvel to see, but we also enjoyed just hiking around the larger grounds and visiting some of the other remains. The large groups must just hit the theatre and then get back on the bus because other parts of the site were nearly void of people. In fact, one ruin has a herd of sheep who have made it their home.
One of our guidebooks had mentioned a strip of extremely good local restaurants along the highway near the Antalya airport, so we made that our lunch destination. I’d xeroxed the page from the guidebook and had it out because it told us what to order. The waiter was so impressed they were in a guidebook that he kept taking the piece of paper back to his colleagues to show them. Lunch was marvelous, and they served us our first pitcher of a very cold yogurt drink that is common in Turkey. I was okay with it, but my husband really liked it and finished off the large pitcher. It must be common in some of the kebap type places because we were also given a complimentary glass of this at a hole-in-the-wall place frequented by locals outside of the Grand Bazaar in Istanbul.
After lunch we headed towards the beautifully situated ruins at Termessos. This was a very long, rough hike up to the ruins and then back down again. I’d guess we hiked perhaps 20 minutes straight up just to get to the ruins (bring lots of drinking water). This was one place we definitely wished we’d had our trekking poles. The park itself was nearly deserted, and as soon as we parked we were approached by a very friendly park guard who, of course, was looking to make a little money. He took us off to see some of the tombs that were lower down close to the parking and got his tip for that before we began out uphill trek. We found this to be a common theme throughout Turkey, there always seemed to be someone around who wanted to show you around for a bit of money.
Two sets of ruins took up most of the day, and it was very late afternoon as we got in the car and headed towards our next destination for a night—Cirali. We had no reservation and were just trusting that we’d be able to find a place even though it was Friday night. We’d been told that most Turks don’t have Saturday off so the worry that most of us Americans have about finding a place to stay at the beginning of a week-end were unnecessary.
To be continued as I find the time.....
Jul 2nd, 2007, 01:40 PM
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Julies - CLIFFHANGER - oh no!
Did you thing that is was worth hiring these rather casual guides? Ddi they show you what you would not have seen or tell you what you would not have known otherwise?
Hey Stu - I read about Egirdir Saturday afternoon as we spent it floating on the boat - these gorgeous summer weekends almost make one forget about our ugly midwest winters - and it seems we would be there during the rose harvest, very interesting!
I am going to email you from home to get the pics and directions. Thanks for the great idea!
Did you thing that is was worth hiring these rather casual guides? Ddi they show you what you would not have seen or tell you what you would not have known otherwise?
Hey Stu - I read about Egirdir Saturday afternoon as we spent it floating on the boat - these gorgeous summer weekends almost make one forget about our ugly midwest winters - and it seems we would be there during the rose harvest, very interesting!
I am going to email you from home to get the pics and directions. Thanks for the great idea!
Jul 2nd, 2007, 02:23 PM
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Happy Cheesehead:
Isparta, the large town near Egirdir, is commonly known as the areas Rose Capital...you can pass near the town en route from the lakes to Antalya. Rose harvets seasom beings towatrd end of May...the scenery from Isparta south to Antalya is worth viewing, too.
Stu T.
Isparta, the large town near Egirdir, is commonly known as the areas Rose Capital...you can pass near the town en route from the lakes to Antalya. Rose harvets seasom beings towatrd end of May...the scenery from Isparta south to Antalya is worth viewing, too.
Stu T.
Jul 3rd, 2007, 09:42 AM
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AND another question Julies, it sounds like you were there on May 19th?? I read that May 19th is a national holiday (sports and youth day), and in our case it is a Monday, making a 3 day weekend - was there much impact on your travel plans because of the holiday?
PS, Owls NEST is a speadable cheese we buy here, OwlsLAND is the B&B I can't wait to hear more about
PS, Owls NEST is a speadable cheese we buy here, OwlsLAND is the B&B I can't wait to hear more about
