Gate 1 Affordable Turkey Trip Report
 

As promised here is my trip report from my 14 day Affordable Turkey Tour with Gate 1. It will be in several installments due to the fact that I am writing on my lunch hour. Just a warning I will occasionaly digress into things I found interesting.

Dates: Feb 14, 2008 - Feb 27, 2008

The tour was "sold out" and had 3 busses. Originally I was concerned about have 100+ people on the tour, but that quickly proved unneccessary. The guides were well organized and stagered the buses so that it was an extremely rare occasion when all three were at the same place at the same time.

I flew KLM from Chicago via Amsterdam to Istanbul. The flights weren't full and the service was wonderful.

Before going through passport control you'll need to purchase a visa. This was quick and easy. For US travelers the price is $20. Just give them your money and passport and the clerk puts on the stamp. You then move about 150 feet to the side and go through passport control. Your luggage and the meeting spot for the tour transfers is just on the other side.

It was easier to move around Istanbul's airport than many US airports. (DFW and Dullas come to mind)

Our transfer guide was right out front and after collecting our bus load (3 flights were arriving with in 30 minutes of each other) we were read to load and head into Istanbul.

Istanbul as we found out is actually a very large city (12-15 million) and covers a good about of space. The ride from the airport to the Hotel Oran was about 40 minutes. We did have to walk the last block because the bus couldn't make the turn on to the very small street at that time of day.

The hotel is on the edge of the univeristy area so the nightlife around the area was readily available. It is also near the Suluymet (I so didn't spell this right) Mosque, which I took a stroll over to before our orientation tour. After 11 hours worth of flying that was just enough.

The guide on the bus also explained how to exchange money and use the local ATMs (they do have english) before we got to the hotel.

The hotel also had a Turkish bath. Since we were staying there on our return to Istanbul, I had mine at the end of the tour.

The welcome speech included all of the thing you need to know and really demonstrated our guides experience. He had and entire system worked out for luggage and meals and stops. It took care of all those niggling little questions.

The meal that night was included and was tasty, except for the chocolate pudding. As I recall it was a cream soup, a salad of shredded red cabbage, corn, carrots, and lettuce with a dressing, roast chicken, mashed potatoes, green beans, fabulous bread and that dreadful pudding.

It is worth noting that drinks at the hotels are EXPENSIVE. I believe the glass of wine that the woman across from me had was $10 and wasn't that good.

From Istanbul - Canakkala

Our first full day of the tour started with an included buffect breakfast. Compared to what I had experienced in Greece and Italy it was quiet extensive. There were cereals, yougurt with fruit to stir in, 3-4 chesses, tomatoes, cumbers, 3-4 meats, boil eggs, scrambled eggs, pastries, and bread. Plus a couple things I can read in my journal. But I do remember everything was tasty.

I also remember the snow. Turkey had a rare severe winter storm move through while we were there. In old town Istanbul it was just great big fluffy flakes, but as the day went on it accumulated and accumulated and became the leading story on the news across the country.

We started our journey out of Istanbul heading south and west. Around the coast of the Sea of Marmara and on to the Gallipoli peninsula. With the snow and ice the road our speed was reduced, but our bus drive was skilled and while other trucks and cars were spinning and getting stuck, we just kept steadily moving south.

One item the tour didn't include was a visit to the battle grounds on Gallipoli. According to the guide it takes about 4 hours to see the loop (it is set one way) so that wasn't a practical trip with our itinerary.

So we arrived at the village of Gallipoli at lunchtime. Being a little motion sick I was looking for the plainest looking food I could find. I thought I had plain rice and beans. What I had was a wonderful bean and tomato stew with a side of rice. About $4.

From there it was on to the ferry to cross the Dardanelles. Blessedly, Dramamine made sure I wasn't conscious for that crossing. The sea was rough do to the storm and the ferry was a rocking ride (so I'm told).

From there we drove through Canakkala to Troy.

All my life I've read about Troy so this was a major milestone moment for me.

The excavations of the site are ongoing so there are different projects going on. There are at least 9 layers of city that have been uncovered. I wish I could describe the layers and the importance of them but that would be a book. Suffice it to say a city survived into the Roman era on that site. There are more ruins from that time than others, but walls and other pieces remain from the earlier cities.

Leave Troy we headed back into Canakkala. Unfortunately the roads were quite icy and we had to put on chains and wait for multiple vehicles to be cleared from the road. The police certainly earned their keep during this storm.

Our night ended in Canakkala with an included dinner. Tomato pasta soup, chicken chunks with rice, picked mushrooms, artichokes, salad, bread, good chocolate pudding made it on to my plate, but there were many more dishes that I didn't have room to try.

Di I'm always getting the Gate 1 tour books, and I have to admit some of the trips seem like a deal. I'd love to take one. So I'm really digging your trip report.

Thanks, Theresa in Detroit

Di, so far so good! Please continue and digress all you want. This is on my to do list, so I'm curious to hear more.

Di: I'm so glad to hear about Gate I Travel. Their trips seems too good a value to be comfortable. So I'm really looking forward to more of your report.
I went on an Elderhostel Trip to Italy which ended up to be three buses and 90+ people. At first I panicked, but it turned out to be one of our best trips ever

Istanbul is known for its rice pudding, not chocolate, but you could have found mouth-watering desserts on Istaklal Caddesi.

I am waiting for your opinion on the Topkapi Palace and the Blue Mosque. Did you go to the Grand Bazaar?

Thingorjus, author of "Turkey in the Straw: Thingorjus Sleeps in Istanbul."

Thingorjus, you are a treasure :))

Diane, I also am very interested in your Gate 1 tour. I think it would be especially good for someplace out of my personal comfort zone (like Turkey).

Actually I had many mouth watering desserts, just not the first night.

Also about the Oran hotel. It is a hotel in a building that wasn't originally a hotel. I would guess the building to be 150+ years old. So the rooms are very odd shaped and small. But the location is great.

You asked about the Blue Mosque, etc. We came back to Istanbul for the last few days of the trip so those places will be at the end. You'll just have to keep checking back.

So on with the trip....

Canakkale to Izmir

After the buffet with the jet lag and cold weather it was a delight to head off to bed. In general I was pleasantly surprised by the accommodations through out the tour. If there is any worth noting I'll share as I go along. The Akol was a nice hotel near the waterfront. In the summer it would be a lovely stroll, with the storm of the winter it was buffeted with strong winds. Didn't shake the buildings, but you did hear it howel.

All of the hotels has spacious bathrooms with tubs. No mini showers like Italian hotels. I did think they were a little narrower and higher than their American counter parts, but you didn't have to worry about spraying the entire bathroom.

So on the road we go. It is still snowing and slow going out of town as we head inland through the hills. We had to stop for chains again as we left the city.

The countryside in this area rather reminded me of the hill country of Texas, some steep hills and some rolling hills, lots of agriculture and little towns.

This is going to sound odd, but one of my favorite times in Turkey was riding the bus between cities. Our guide was a fountain of knowledge. On this particular morning as we were heading to Pergamum was Turkish family structure and social welfare. That lead to an entire discussion on traditions, marriage, military service, child rearing. Etc.

Before you knew it was time for lunch. We stopped at a truck stop. It really reminded me more of a Stucky’s (if you are familiar with that chain) food and tourist bits. I order the lamb kabobs. They were wonderful. Just right. It came with a side of rice and salad of tomatoes, cumbers and bread. Under $7.

From there we wound up the hill to the Acropolis of Pergamum. By now the storm was thinking of blowing itself out. The snow had stopped and the sun was peaking out. The wind didn't stop.

Pergamum was founded by one of Alexander’s generals. It expanded from a city state to having three or four major cities under its control. At the height of its power it had a library that rivaled that of Alexandria. To the point where Egypt cut off papyrus export to Pergamum. That didn't stop those scholars. They developed new techniques to write on preserved animal skin, heard of parchment. That is where the name originated.

The acropolis itself was largely rediscovered in the early 1900's (if I read my notes right) by a German engineer in charge of putting the railway line in. He needed stone and the local workers starting bring in cut marble. When he saw it he wanted to know where it came from. They lead him to the ruins of Pergamum. The railroad project was completed (with out the Pergamum materials). But the engineer then became the person who coordinated the dig of Pergamum.

In a way it is very proper that an engineer would be working on the dig. There are two fairly substantial works of engineering there. One was the aqueduct work. How do you get water from a lower level to a higher elevation without a pump? They figured that out. They also figured out the arch and barrel vaulting necessary to level out the acropolis area. Rather than flatten the mountain, they filled it in (with rooms) to make the level temple area and market area. One of the people in our group was a retired engineer and he was quite impressed with their method.

Normally we would have spent more time there, but with the unpleasant wind we all were done in an hour and had headed for the hot coffee and tourist shops.

I made my best purchase on woven bookmarks at this place. I got 7 for $1. The rest of the time they were between 3-4 for the $1. Only at the House of the Virgin Mary were they 1YTL each (about $.80). There was a general run on Turkish delight, scarves, jewelry, and cloth purses. (I just got bookmarks and post cards here)

Then it was time to twist back down the mountain. They have switchbacks, which would do any mountain proud.

From there it was on into Izmir.

Izmir is the 3rd largest city in Turkey (behind Istanbul and Ankara) and a business and port center.

Our hotel was the Kaya Prestige and seemed to be located in the business district and would be what I would call business class accommodations. Nice, clean but not fussy. It reminded me a bit of Chicago or New York, just smaller.

Diner was provided again and was a set menu. The salad was lettuce, carrot, corn and olives tossed with a oil and vinegar dressing, Bread (great bread every where you went), soup (I have no idea what is was but it was yummy), and the main dish of rice, veggies and beef. And more chocolate pudding (tasty this time) for dessert.

We would be spending two nights at this hotel so it gave me a chance to unpack and rearrange because the next day was the all day tour to the House of the Virgin Mary and Ephesus.

Hi Diane,

My wife and I are planning to tour Turkey on our own. We would probably travel in the last wk of April/ 1st wk may. A friend suggested we tour Turkey and Greece in 10 days. We generally spend at least a fortnight touring a country, hence, this sounds very 'rushed to me. What do u say? Waiting to hear about he rest of your trip.

Thanks for posting your report, Diane. I'll be visiting Turkey for the first time in July and am looking forward to reading more. :}

Hi Pawan,

I've been to both Greece and Turkey. If you never stopped you could see the highlights of both countries, but I think you would loose the character of the places then. The only way I can think you'd seen both in 10 days would be a cruise with a day in Athens and 2 in Istanbul on the end. And then you'd be restricted to costal sites (which are striking), but there is so much more.

I was in Turkey for 13 days and Greece for 11 and still have a list of places to go back and see.

Izimr - House of the Virgin Mary, Ephesus - Bascilia of St. John.

How long can the wind blow? And will I ever be warm again? Those are the two questions that returned time and again during the first three days of the trip. The storm was finally getting over and the sun peaking out.

After our usual buffet breakfast we settled into the bus for the hour trip to Ephesus and surrounding sites.

The House of the Virgin Mary is located on a mountain side above the city of Ephesus. Historically speaking there is no proof that this particular house is THE house, however the site has been attributed since at least the 3rd century so it is fairly likely that people living much closer to the time had better provinaonce to the home.

Whether it is or is not it has been a church for a long time and is recognized as a pilgrimage location by the Vatican.

It is actually a lovely setting. They charge a small fee to enter the area, the church makes it very clear they aren't charging, but that the government does for the care of the roads and facilities.

As you walk along the path to the house you pass the remains of a small theater area and a dressed stone pit which was used for baptisms. The house itself has been rebuilt. The original foundation is visiable and you can tell the difference in the age of the stone.

The house itself is a simple affair. 2 rooms. The main room has a number benches and an altar and in the other room is another small shrine.

As you exit you have the opportunity to light 2 candles should you choose. You also have the opportunity to collect water from the spring there. I am told it is considered holy water. I'm not Catholic so some of the finer points were lost on me.

It is a lovely location with a lovely view. I can see why some one would want to live up there especially during the summer the breeze would be welcome.

We wound back down the mountain to the main gate at Ephesus.

Ephesus is an impressive site no matter what other ruins you've visited these are some of the best in the world.

So far the excavation has focused on the main street and the turn down to the bay (or where the bay was before it silted in). The main agora and forum have been uncovered and some of the walls reconstructed. They are mostely between waist and shoulder height. As you move away from the street the walls get higher.

I should mention that I visited Ephesus on a cruise ship excursion 6 years ago so this wasn't my first experience seeing the sites. But what was really interesting was to see the progress they'd made in certain areas.

Since my last visit they had uncovered the "sidewalk" along the main street. It is a lovely black and white stone patterned mosaic. On a day when I wasn't shivering I would have probably enjoyed it even more.

The guidebooks are full of pictures of the city and the stories so I'll let them speak for the ruins. Suffice it to say between Pompeii and Ephesus they are my two favorite ruin cities.

Three hours at Ephesus and we were all thoroughly chilled. We were grateful to head off to lunch. It was another truck stop / cafeteria. At least the bathroom was warm. More good food at a fair price. I finally had my first yummy dessert, milk pudding with cinnamon.

Slightly thawed out we headed for the last stop of the day the Basilica of St. John. This was built in 300ish AD. And would be the 3rd largest basilica in the world today. Even the ruins are impressive. What I liked was the little white and yellow flowers that were bravely trying to bloom in the bottom of the baptism pool.

I can truthfully say that is worth a stop. The vistas are also quite amazing. You can see some of the out-towers of ancient Ephesus from the hillside.

Then it was back on the bus to Izmir. It is only an hour and by the time we got back everyone had a little nap along the way.

Tonight I opted for the optional Kebob dinner. Personally, I was glad I had. It was a massive meal of meat. Plus I had things I would have never ordered on my own. The guide (Bus C's guide drew dinner duty) explained each dish before it arrived along with any tradition or history to it.

We started out with”welcome" bread. It is crispy flat bread that had risen in the center. You took you piece and spread it with goat cheese and butter. - But don't fill up on that there is more to come....

Then it was a lovely meatball - literally translated it is "the emotional meatball", because so much effort is put into its making. The ground lamb is marinated overnight and cracked wheat dough made. The dough is rolled into a ball and the hole is made in the center. The meat is pushed into the hole and the whole thing is fried. YUMMY.

Then came the salad. Chopped tomato, green pepper, red one, and the largest slice of radish I've ever seen. It was about 4 inches across.

Then the main meal came. We had beef and lamb sliced gyros meat, ground beef and lamb patty, 2 beef meat balls, 2 beef & lamb balls with cheese, 1 ground lamb roll (very spicy), and 1 lamb kabob. With a side of rice, broiled tomato and asparagus.

Dessert was a traditional travel bread soaked in liquor and topped with milk curd. It reminded me of fruitcake without the fruit.

For me I completely enjoyed it.

Tomorrow on to Pamukkale.

Izmir to the Pamukkale Region

The sun is out, although it still breezy, but the improvement is dramatic.

Today we head inland.

During the tour we had to factory stops. One leather shop and one carpet factory. This morning was the leather shop. Actually most people didn't seem to mind the stop we combined it with a bathroom break and stretch. Plus it was actually very interesting. They put on a fashion show and the works.

So from there on we were on to lunch and Pamukkale region. The end location was the Necropolis and the ancient city of Hieropolis perched on top of an amazing hillside.

So that is quite a bit of an understatement. This area is served by a hot spring. The minerals left over from the evaporation of the water have created a Cliffside of white formations. It looks like some one frosted the hillside and then put hot spa pools in it.

There has been a "spa" on the site for thousands of years. The city surrounding the hot springs was fairly large. It has a stadium, which seated 10,000.

They have excavated and reconstructed the old Roman baths and now have an on site museum. I think it was a couple of YTL to go in. I thought it was very well done and interesting. They have a number of the freezes from stadium (further up the hill) on display.

There is an extensive necropolis as well. Not everyone who came to the hot springs for treatment survived.

We had about 3 hours there and I didn't even come close to seeing all that I wanted to. I did get to wade in the spring, but that was about it.

Some day I'd like to go back and swim among the ruins (several roman pillars have fallen into one of the pools) and see the rest of the site.

After we collected everyone back on the bus we headed for our hotel. The Lycus River. Ugh. This hotel and I didn't agree with each other. The beds were lower to the ground, there was no flat surface for writing (I have a journal here to keep!) and the room configuration made it noisy. It rather reminded me of a summer camp that was trying to be come a spa.

The buffet while tasty was disorganized. Although the guide told me this was an improvement. Prior to several "resort" hotels opening they actually used hostels and peoples houses for tour groups.

So one very confused meal later it was time to get some sleep for the ride to Konya the next day.

Hi Diane!

I'm really enjoying your trip report.

We used Gate 1 for part of our Italy trip and they also had us visit a leather shop and another one. Is it just Gate 1 or do other tours do this as well? It did not bother me because the demos were interesting, did not take long, and there was no pressure to purchase anything.

Thanks for continuing.

I am interested in your report on Turkey because my husband and I are taking a similar tour in September. I noted that we are also staying at the Lycus River hotel, which is listed as a First Class place. I know that European "classes" are not the same as US, but wonder just how undesirable the hotel is--both Globus and Trafalgar tours use it. Is it because there are no other choices? Ciao. mhm

Hi Mercy,

There is a small complex of "resort hotels" being built there (I think there were three done by my count). So you stay there because that is what is available.

From the areas point of view their focus is more on the spring and spa selling points. They are more interested in offering spa services. Do they have water from "the spring", pool, jacuzzi, sauna, massage services, etc rather than on the rooms.

Some of my fellow travelers were quite pleased with the pool and jacuzzi so the fact it didn't have a desk and the buffet was disorganized really didn't matter to them.

The hotel did have a really nice bar if that is important.

But it was clean and neat. The one thing is that the water isn't drinkable there. Not even for brushing teeth. The mineral content isn't good.

LCB,

I think all tour companies do it to some level. When I was in Italy with Trafalgar we did the leather guilding demonstration in Florence and the glass blowing in Venice. Both craft demonstrations, just conveniently ended in their show rooms.

Cosmos- also in Italy also had an inlayed wood work in Sorrento in addition to the others.

MISR in Egypt (although this was more the guide than the tour) took us to a Papyrus Factor, Weaving "factory", Pefume demo, and had a book for ordering cartoushes.

Pamukkale - Konya - Cappadocia

I started off the day at the equally confused breakfast buffet. The food was good they just needed to put together a better flow. At least the coffee cups ended up next to the coffee.

Then it was out to the bus and on to Konya. As far as sites this wasn't going to be the day for them. Really you are going from here to there.

Personally I found the countryside beautiful. It has a layer of snow (of course) and just a peacefulness about it. If you've ever driven through the north park area of Colorado where there are mountains on both sides of the wide plain and farms and agriculture along the road it is similar.

Today's topics on the bus were the difference between Shia, Suni, Sufi and the finer points of Islam. Now that was interesting. Very interesting. Part of the reason for today's topic is because of Melvina. To understand his importance you have to have some basic understanding of Islam.

It also helped to understand Konya. It is in the center of the more "conservative" part of the country. What that ment to us tourists, is that we saw more woman wearing scarves (NOT Veils or burkas - those are illegal). What it means to Turks is that more of the laws in the area are a little stricter (I didn't see alcohol in the grocery store like I had elsewhere). The government has built a university outside of Konya and is actively encouraging students from Istanbul and other coastal areas to go there so that Konya has an opportunity to see / mix with a more "liberal" (I am not sure that is really accurate, but it is as close as I can come) Muslim element.

The current ruling political party draws a lot of its support from the Konya area.

The stop for lunch was at another truck stop. Turkey's rail system really isn't too extensive so most of its goods go by road.

It was cafeteria style, but I had the set Kabob plate. Lamb skewer, with rice and fig pudding. First time for fig pudding, last time for fig pudding. But glad I tried it.

We also got a little lesson on Hoja jokes. They don't translate well. Partly because of language and partly because of customs.

When you go keep your eyes open for the old man riding on a donkey backwards. That is Hoja. May you have more luck understanding the jokes / moral of the stories than I did.

The hotel we stayed at was BRAND NEW. The Dedeman was beautiful with full amenities, pool, business center, and great restaurant. It would hold up to any 4 star hotel in the US. After spa camp it felt like I had died and gone to business traveler heaven.

Across the street was a new mall. By US standards it is small, but for the area it is new and modern. It had several clothing stores, a shoe store, 2 jewelry stores, a food court, ice rink was attached, and a Kipa (I love Kipa). Kipa is primarily a grocery store, but this one had a second story, which was like Target or Walmart.

Which was good for me because my camera decided to stop working at the Necropolis and the thought of going to Cappadocia without the ability to take a picture was causing me great distress. When I went in I was looking for a 35 mm or disposable cameras, but I walked out with a Samsung digital and supporting equipment. Nothing like an international brand. It even defaulted to English. And with the exchange rate it was even a fair price.

Dinner was included again. It was delish. It started with a spicy tomato soup and wheat roll. Then rigatoni in a simple tomato sauce. Followed by our main dish of brocoli, rice, roasted tomato, and roasted chicken. The chicken had a tasty sauce of some sort. I ate it ALL. Dessert was rice pudding with a scope of vanilla ice cream on top. So good.

I spent the rest of the evening reading about how to use my new camera and getting the batteries charged. Not rocket science, but important nonetheless.

The following morning about 2/3s of the group went on the tour of the Melvina monastery museum. I skipped that one. When I was planning from the states I figured that I would need a little break about then. I was right. I enjoyed my extra hour of sleep and stroll back over to the Kipa and ATM machine. I had no probably with my ATM card and I didn't hear of any one else having and issue either.

The buss looped around at 10:30 to pick us up and head off for the Cappadocia region.

Since we were all taking the all day tour the following day the guide moved the underground city tour to that afternoon. It made better sense as far as traveling was concerned.

I will admit that for lunch today I had a hamburger and fries. There was a full host of food and that just looked the best. I'm told I should have had the eggplant, but I was quiet happy with what I got.

I would have felt bad, except there were many Turks in my line as well.

From there we started to climb from the valley toward the mountains.

The underground city is not for those who are claustrophobic. There were 30 in our group. 10 only went into the first room because of knees, hips, or claustrophobia. So if it doesn't agree with you don't worry. You aren't alone.

Personally, I found it fascinating and went on the whole tour. Our guide turned us over to a local guide for that portion of the tour. He is an descendant of the original people in the area. So he was showing us where he played as a little kid. Hide and seek would be really neat in this place.

The whole area is made up of a material called Tufa. It is basically compressed ash. It is easy to carve until it is exposed to air and then it becomes very tough. So you could carve an entire room with a spoon if you were inclined.

This complex had 5 open layers and 3 that had collapsed over time. Many of these cities had linking tunnels to other complexes in the area. If raiders came they could button up the whole village. They also used the area for storage (no need for a silo) and protection from the winter weather (below the first level it was an even 63 degrees).

The cities were quite complex. There was a carved kitchen, several winemaking areas (complete with the stomping vats and holes for the juice to flow out of, nooks for sleeping, hooks for bags or baby cradles.

Fair warning. There are a few narrow corridors so if you have very broad shoulders you'll end up going sideways. The people who lived there weren't too tall.

There was a fair number of tourist stands on the way back to the bus and they all wanted us to look (February is the very low season), but no one was aggressive.

We had one more overlook stop before we reached the hotel. You could see one of the volcanoes that helped for the region in the distance. And our first Fairy Chimneys. I'll talk more about that tomorrow.

We pulled into Urgup and our hotel the Dinler. At first you weren't real sure about the hotel, but the rooms were nice enough. Had a bit of a ski lodge quality to it.

The buffet was extensive. There was a table with over 20 salads. A hot food station with 2 types of fish, lamb, beef and pasta plus several veggie dishes. A bread hut. And a beautiful dessert table. I wish I would have taken a picture of it. It was just wow! Tasty too, but the decoration on the cakes and cut fruit was gorgeous.

So now it was time to head off to sleep. We had gotten to good news that the balloon rides were available and I had plans to soar.

I recall you saying sometime last month that you were going to make sure to post a trip report when you returned and I'm glad you are - I'm really enjoying it.

I'm really interested because I'm planning on taking a tour of Turkey sometime in the future - but I've always traveled independently. I'm having a hard time deciding which tour company is the right fit for me.

At each site you visited, was the group given a tour with a guide, or were you allowed to visit on your own with an agreed upon time to return to the bus? If you were given a tour at the site, did the tour guide give you any time to look around on your own at the end?

How was the bus seating? Was every seat filled, or were there enough empty seats so that people could spread out a bit?

Diane, thanks for the extensive trip report.

I just received my Travelzoo newsletter. Gate1 is offering this trip for $999 w/air! I am trying to talk DH into going. I'll have him read your report.