Red Head Invades Greece and Turkey
 

We are off very soon for our first trip to Greece and Turkey!
Thank you to all who helped me with my trip planning.
Thought I would post our itinerary for anyone planning a similar trip...

Direct flight to Amsterdam, one day in Amsterdam (staying at the airport!)
Early am direct flight from Amsterdam to Heraklion, Crete - drive to Rethymno.
2 Nights Rethymno
2 Nights Chania
1 Night Heraklion
Morning ferry to Santorini
3 nights Oia, Santorini
Early flight to Athens
2 nights Athens
Direct flight from Athens to Izmir
2 nights Selcuk
Direct flight from Izmir to Kayseri (Cappadocia)
3 nights Urgup (Cappadocia)
Late afternoon flight Kayseri to Istanbul
6 nights Istanbul
Horrible early morning flight to Frankfurt and then on to home!

You should get a charm agains the evil eye to ward off the envy of the readers, :)

Does it work on rain and clouds as well? I want nothing but BLUE SKIES for three weeks! :)

OC..since you graciously edited and approved my scanned pics, I'm sharing with The Red Head as sort of a preview of coming attractions. (Great itinerary, Red Head.)

See post below for pics.

http://picasaweb.google.com/stuarttower/ScenesOfTurkey#

This set has Cappadocia as well as Antalya, Turquoise Coast, Pamukkale , Aphrodisias,Ephesus, Ksadsi, Priene and Bodrum.

Enjoy your vacation.

Very cool - thank you!

I am wondering if my 40 odd gig or so of memory cards will be enough :) It's gonna take me months to go through them when I get home!
I really want to go to Pierre Loti - I like your idea of going before the evening call to prayer - how long does it take to get there?

Taxi from Sultanahmet district takes about ten minutes (max)...to return, you can take the trail back as far as a small suburban town (don't recall the name) and take taxi from there. The view from the cafe is smashing as you can see by pix.

You've put together a good plan there. Not trying to do too much (like so often happens). My only criticism would be that I'd knock off 2 days in Crete and add them to Turkey (more time in the Selçuk area), but that's my personal opinion.

You'll have a great time.

There is never enough time - and everyone on Fodors said "you need more time in Crete" - so well see ..

You are in agreement with my parents :)

Croesus
Crete is huge and there's a lot to see there, what makes you think that 3 days would be enough?

@clausar - it's just that I think the Selçuk area deserves more than 2 nights.
I've been to Crete twice and I intend to go back some day (I've got a to-do list of more Minoan sites and mountain-top sanctuaries).

not_enuf_vaca's name says it all!

I would love to spend 2 more nights in Selcuk to go to Pamukkale and Lake Bafa - but I just don't have the time:(. Who knows - we might just decide to drive up to Paumkkale after seeing Ephesus in the morning - we are leaving our options open!

if you start the day early and if you have a private car it will be not so difficult indeed. If you enter Ephesus by 09:00; it takes 1h30min apprx. to have a good visit not to miss any point afterwards if you drive directly to pamukkale ( Apprx 190Km )it takes 2h30 driving. the time will be exact for lunch where you may have local restaurants near by Pamukkale ( white-cascades ) then proceed to visit.. Hierapolis, the pool of Cleopatra and in other woerds <the cotton castle> ( pamukkale ) the duration for all will be apprx. 3Hours.. so the return will be to Selcuk about at 18:00.. Seems to be a hard day but enjoyable.. if you have a good sedan car, guide-lecturer and well organised tour programe of course :) .. do it and enjoy.

not-enuf:
with that tight schedule I doubt you'll be able to fit Aphrodisias in... it's off the main highway, but you can hit the highlights in a quick study mode. All in all it would add no more than approximately one-and a-half hours to Vespers schedule above. In June, you should still have daylight on arrival in Selcuk. What do you think OC?
stu

Tower has a right. Aphrodisias is on the way to Pamukkale but when you want to visit aphr. will drive about 28Kms to inland and seperate from the highway; which is a narrow village road not available to have a speed over 60Kms/ hour but as Tower mentioned in summer time we have the chance to have sunlight untill 19:30, so that's your advantage.. So this is not a business trip, go inland and enjoy one of the best preserved stadiums of the ancient world over there.. :)
mehmet

We hired a guide for Ephesus so it would be a 3 hour tour - 8-11 so we wouldn't get to Pamukkale until approximately 2:00. If we spent 3 hours at the various sites and then drive back we wouldn't be back at our hotel until around 20:00 - just about when the sun goes down :)
Not so worried about driving 2.5 hours - living in the Western United States, that isn't really that long a drive for us...mostly worried if we will feel too rushed and time would be better spent somewhere else? Is the drive there an interesting, pretty drive worthwhile on its own - or would the drive down to Bafa be a nicer drive?
Or should we just relax and go to Sirence....

As a local man, I offer you instead of spending your valuable time apprx 5 hoours on the way; Visit Ephesus, The Basilic of St Jean and drive to Sirince; the little Greek-Turkish village. Enjoy the green and narrow streets, local peasants, local dishes especially < gözleme > some pastry traditional Turkish with cheese, vegetables inside.. drink some Turkish tea, take a deep breath and climb upto the remnants of the chapel up on the hill.. maybe you may throw a coin inside the small pool over there and make a wish for yourself :) ..

You probably will be all "ruined" out by the time you were done with ephesus.

At least part of the drive to Bafa and then to Herakleia is very scenic. Herakleia is definitely one of the most photographable areas and not for its ruins alone.

You could even do Priene or Miletus and still will spend less time than a Pamukkale trip.

Sirince is over-touristy, the drive, although scenic scared Aduchamp out of his wits. Its wines are not very good and the rumor is that the fruit wines have artificial aromas.

Thank you for your input Vesper - it IS appreciated.
I guess we will see what we feel like on that day - we will be there soon enough!:) :) :) :)

Thanx OC - more good input.

We have plenty of fruit wines here in the rainy NW (since the grapes are too smart to grow in such a miserable, wet, gray place)

not_enuf..... you can send me a PM on trip Advisor if you wish to meet sometime during your stay in istanbul and if we are at our summer place at Iznik (Nicea) you can visit us there.

The previous year we entertained a group of jazz musicians at our compound and they entertained us. So, if you can sing and/or have musical instruments with you we can also arrange something similar for you. :)