Turkey trip report

Old Sep 19th, 2005, 12:16 PM
  #1  
Original Poster
 
Join Date: Feb 2003
Posts: 30
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
Turkey trip report

Just back from an amazing trip to Istanbul and Cappadocia and wanted to jot down some tips for other Turkey travelers. This list is by no means exhaustive and we did a lot more than was mentioned here, so if you have questions, feel free to ask!

We didn't use a guide at all but bought tons of books and ended up using three pretty exclusively. Eyewitness was great for Istanbul, while Lonely Planet was good for Cappadocia. We used Frommers and this site for restaurants. Also, everyone in Turkey was really, really friendly. The streets in Istanbul (particularly between the Spice Market and Grand Bazaar) aren't always well market, but people were always helpful in getting us to where we needed to go.

We spent 3 1/2 days in Istanbul which was just about right in my mind (the half day was the day we landed and since we couldn't handle big sightseeing, we just hit the Grand Bazaar and Spice Market). We stayed on points at the Intercontinental and while I would never opt to stay in a chain normally in a foreign country (I like getting some flavor) it worked out nicely. It's a lovely hotel and being situated in Taksim worked out well.

Cabs are everywhere and very cheap in Istanbul -- we took them everywhere. The sightseeing portion of the city is in Sultanamet and is very compact -- everything in walking distance. At night, though, the place to be (at least in the summer) is along the water in Bebek. Tons of bars and fish restaurants in this area. Also, there's a pedestrian boulevard in Taksim that's like the Soho of Istanbul and that's fun to walk around.

So here are some highlights:

1) If you have the time, definitely do the Bosphorous ferry trip. Ferries leave at 10:35 from the terminal but get there an hour early to get one of the prime seats in the back along the lefthand side. It's a day trip up to a village on the Asian side where you break for about 2 1/2 hours for lunch and then return around 4:30.

2) Along with the usual sites, we really liked the Bascillica Cistern (underground water system) and Suleymanlye Mosque -- this was much quieter and more peaceful than the other mosques.

3) Grand Bazaar and Spice Market were fun, but a lot of stuff looked mass produced. There's a pricier market behind the Blue Mosque -- I thought the quality was better here. When haggling over a carpet, counter-offer with half of the original price. The general rule I heard was that it should cost about $20-$23 per square foot and you can haggle over shipping costs too. At the Spice Market, you can sample almost everything you see -- you'll see lots of people tasting nuts and sweets. At some counters just ask what something is and they'll hand you a sample.

4) Pay attention to when things are open and closed. If you're going to a mosque, try to go around 10 a.m. -- Blue Mosque closed around noon and didn't open again until 2. Also, things are closed on weird days -- bazaar is closed Sunday, palace closed Tues., etc. Map out a plan.

5) Restaurants: We ate at two good fish restaurants -- Bebek Balikci (in Bebek) which was very nice, right on the water with the lights of the Bosphorous in the background (We had drinks beforehand at Sunset Grill, which had an amazing view overlooking the Bosphorous -- very cool spot). And Balikci Sabahattin, which has been written about a lot here. Both places were similar in that they started with mezze/salad and then told what fish they had that day. We also ate at 360, a trendy restaurant on the roof of an apartment in Taksim that turned into a nightclub after 11. Sit on the roof terrace -- it's amazing. The food was pretty good too, although not strictly Turkish, more international. Our last night we ate at Hamdi -- make sure you sit on the top floor. The view was fantastic and the food was great. They just bring you courses, but in the end it was a little too much to eat. I loved the pistachio and lamb kabobs. There was a little place near the Blue Mosque called The Sultan Cafe that was a good spot to try a hookah and some Turkish coffee and people-watch.

6) Turkish bath at Çemberlitas hamami in Sultanahmet was very tourist-friendly. Be sure to get the scrub and massage. This was the only place in all of Istanbul where I bumped into other American tourists. It's not for the modest, since you all sit in a room naked together, but it is definitely a great thing after lots of sightseeing. My husband had a massage as well, but said he got "pummelled" and was convinced he was bruised. Later in the trip we met some other people who said the same thing, so I guess be cautious. But I loved it.

Midway through our trip we flew to Kayseri and rented a car at the airport (we needed an automatic and set it up beforehand with Argeus travel -- they apparently are the local reps for Turkish Airlines, so this works well if you're renting at the airport) and drove to our hotel, Esbelli Evi, in Urgup.

I won't repeat the tremendous praise this hotel receives on the board, only to say it is well deserved -- great spot, fantastic owners, lovely room and breakfast on the terrace. We drove around a ton the next few days (most hotels give out the same map) and the only place we felt like we needed a guide was in the underground city of Kaymakli. We hired one for about 20 TYL right outside the ticket booth and he was fantastic -- definitely worth it to know what you're looking at underground. Cappadocia is a very easy area to drive -- there's only a few main roadways and everything is really well marked. The downside is gas is a fortune -- it cost 100 TYL to fill our tank! Amazingly we never got lost. Plus just about the only other people on the road are tour buses, but we liked the freedom of being able to move around to wherever we wanted and loved driving through tiny villages where all the kids walking home from school wave at your car. Plus, we could pull up and wander into caves on the side of the road and met a lot of other travelers in the process. We took a hot-air balloon ride at dawn one morning through Kapadokya Balloons that was easily one of the highlights of our trip. They have a $140 ride that is supposed to be 45 mins., but was actually more like 1 hr. and 15 mins., that was unbelievable. No need to do the longer ride -- it's just more of the same.

There are some decent restaurants in Cappadocia, but I found lunch kind of tough. I was sort of kabob-ed out by this point and ate a lot of pancakes (the Turkish version of crepes) with spinach and potatos. Actually, while I liked the food a lot in Turkey, I found the lack of veggies in most places to be difficult. Often they pureed or boiled there vegetables so long they just turned to mush... however, I absolutely loved the ice cream at the tourist sites. Does anyone know how they make it like taffy? It's so good. And the best baklava I had all trip was in Cappadocia, in Mustafapasa at The Old Greek House restaurant, which is a really cool place to visit.

I'm leaving out a ton (I'll blame the jet-lag for that) but am happy to answer questions and help people plan. In retrospect, I would have spent two more days in Turkey, cut one day out of Cappadocia and headed to the coast to see the ruins for three days, but we couldn't make that work in our schedule. I'm so glad we ended up going to Cappadocia -- it's really an incredible place.
amyknyc is offline  
Old Sep 19th, 2005, 12:22 PM
  #2  
Original Poster
 
Join Date: Feb 2003
Posts: 30
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
Of course the minute I posted this, I realized I forgot to mention the astronomical price of alcohol. I know it's a Muslim country, but this blew me away (and I thought Manhattan was expensive!). A martini cost $30. A Scotch cost $40. Needless to say it took one bar bill before we both learned to just ask for the house wine. If you like licorice (anise) flavor, try Ranik (sp?).
amyknyc is offline  
Old Sep 19th, 2005, 12:49 PM
  #3  
 
Join Date: Jan 2003
Posts: 2,943
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
Did you shop at the jewelry store Maya in the lobby of the Inter-continental Hotel? I bought a beautiful emerald and sapphire ring there.

Per the Sultan Cafe: were you accosted by the carpet dealer who had a shop across the street (next door to Mavi Ev)? Every single day this man told me that he loved my Ferragamo loafers and tried to get me into his shop. Was he ever annoying. My friend, Muffy, almost punched him out.

Cheers,
John G.
ThinGorjus is offline  
Old Sep 19th, 2005, 01:17 PM
  #4  
Original Poster
 
Join Date: Feb 2003
Posts: 30
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
Hi John -- I was an avid reader of your reports right before I left. I wandered into the Intercontinental jewelry shop, but was quickly dragged out by the husband.

The carpet dealers were pretty pushy at Sultan Cafe, but my husband was so intent on smoking a hookah and drinking some coffee in peace, he told them off pretty fast. As an aside, the best sales pitch I heard during the trip was in the Spice Market where some guy selling Turkish Delight said to my husband in broken English, "I can help you spend some money on your honey."
amyknyc is offline  
Old Sep 19th, 2005, 02:37 PM
  #5  
 
Join Date: May 2005
Posts: 10,880
Received 1 Like on 1 Post
Great report. Thanks!
kleeblatt is offline  
Old Sep 19th, 2005, 06:51 PM
  #6  
 
Join Date: Jan 2003
Posts: 1,473
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
Thank you for sharing the info.
JudyC is offline  
Old Sep 19th, 2005, 07:06 PM
  #7  
 
Join Date: Jan 2003
Posts: 1,292
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
oh Amy! It all sounds so wonderful and I am glad you had such a fabulous time. Thanks for sharing the trip!
HappyCheesehead is offline  
Old Sep 20th, 2005, 12:34 AM
  #8  
 
Join Date: Feb 2003
Posts: 1,886
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
the spirit is called Raki and it is an acquired taste... one night I acquired the taste a bit too much !!! The carpet seller across from the Mavi Ev said hello to me every morning and when he found out we were from Australia he asked about his cousin in Melbourne....only we live 2000 kilometres away and hadn't quite run into him . No hard sell but a pleasant smile every morning !
Marko is offline  
Old Sep 20th, 2005, 07:36 AM
  #9  
Original Poster
 
Join Date: Feb 2003
Posts: 30
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
Right, Raki! Thanks Marko. My husband liked it a lot, but I wasn't a fan (and you can smell it a mile away).

Hi Happy! They missed you at Esbelli Evi I asked if they were full while we were there and they were booked except for a last-minute cancellation. I told my husband later that I knew who it was and he thought I was insane when I told him someone named Happy Cheesehead had cancelled. You must make it back there sometime -- it reminded us of a small, very personable hotel we love in Positano, Italy.
amyknyc is offline  
Old Sep 23rd, 2005, 03:43 PM
  #10  
 
Join Date: Aug 2005
Posts: 3
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
Hi - what a great report. I am also just back - we went to Istanbul, Cappadocia, Cesme, Kusadasi, Ephesus and Bodrum/Turkbuku. The entire trip was amazing but I wanted to especially recommend my guide in Cappadocia - Fatih Ayas: [email protected]. He was incredibly knowledgeable, speaks Japanese and English, and took us off the beaten track on a hike to a hidden church that was just incredible. I understand he guides trips all over the country as well if anyone is looking for a group leader.

Also would highly recommend a quick visit to Gumusluk near Bodrum - very small fishing village - and Sirince, a little town up in the hills near Ephesus.
legalbeaver is offline  
Old Sep 24th, 2005, 04:21 AM
  #11  
 
Join Date: Jan 2003
Posts: 558
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
Glad you enjoyed the Dondurma (ice cream)! After our first taste it became our routine to skip dessert at restaurants and stroll through through the town sampling the ice cream from the street vendors. My wife liked Honey Ginger while I liked Black Mulberry. Reminded me of my childhood, relishing the fruit from the tree in our yard. I would recommend that the Gelato lovers on this board try some Dondurma.
CharlieB is offline  
Related Topics
Thread
Original Poster
Forum
Replies
Last Post
Millie64
Europe
10
Apr 26th, 2008 09:22 AM
progol
Europe
4
Apr 28th, 2004 02:16 PM

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Trackbacks are Off
Pingbacks are Off
Refbacks are On


Thread Tools
Search this Thread

Contact Us - Manage Preferences - Archive - Advertising - Cookie Policy - Privacy Statement - Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information -