Trip Report to Turkey - Long
 

We visited Turkey 5 years ago – just the area from Marmaris down to Kas. We loved it and always wanted to go back and see more.

We left Toronto on Saturday, September 4. Because my husband was using ff miles and I had to pay for my flight, we flew separately to Amsterdam and met up there. I saved $1000 CAD that way – definitely worth it! Long flights, but we made all the connections and finally arrived in Istanbul around 2:30 on Sunday afternoon. I had arranged for the hotel to pick us up and they were waiting for us with John’s name on a sign. I had booked the Hotel Sarnic. Our room was fine, decent size, good reading lights above the bed, etc. The shower in the bathroom is very small, but our first question was to how to flush the toilet? It was a little different from what we had seen before – what looked like a Kleenex dispenser was the flusher. Anyway, after checking in, we went for a short walk. We were tired but I always find it helps to clear the head. The Doy Doy was right around the corner, so we had a light meal there – it was ok, but the mezes were not very fresh. We had planned to go to a hamam but we were just too tired! Bed by 6:30 and we slept through until the morning.

Next morning (Monday), we started off with a great breakfast at the Sarnic – typical Turkish buffet breakfast, but with the addition of several different types of breads. We wanted a relaxing day, so the plan was to go down to Eminonu by tram and take the ferry along the Bosphorus (7.5 lira each). It was a great day for the cruise – sunny, but not too hot – very relaxing. We had lunch at one of the restaurants at the end (Andalu Kavagi) for 44 lira. Food was ok, not particularly special, but fine and the setting was nice. After lunch, we picked up an ice cream cone – always a nice dessert. After we got back to Eminonu, we walked across to the Spice Market. (To be honest, we didn’t realize it was the Spice Market until later!) I bought a little evil eye charm with a gold filigree, and looked at Turkish delight, fabrics, etc. We also looked at the New Mosque and then slowly walked back to the hotel. We did get dragged into a carpet shop – usual spiel, and of course we saw one we liked. But it was our first day and we said we were going to wait until we went to Goreme (“not a place for carpets, it’s a place for balloon rides” according to the sales guy, who was originally from Goreme). We took his card and said we might see him in 2 weeks time. That night, we had dinner at Yeni Yildiz (a Lonely Planet recommendation). It was a bit hard to find, but the food was good – pide, spicy kabob, salad, beer, giant bread, fruit and tea for 33 lira. We dragged ourselves back to the hotel and once again slept.

We were booked on the 6:30 flight to Kayseri on Tuesday, so we had most of the day to continue our sightseeing. We went to the Blue Mosque, Aya Sofia, the Basilica Cistern. Blue Mosque surprised me – they didn’t ask that the women wears scarves, but men in shorts had to cover up. I was surprised by the cistern – I found it much more interesting than I thought I would. We had arranged for a shuttle to the airport (I think it was 4 euros each). It was ½ hour late and they dropped up off on the road, not in front of the terminal building which was a little weird.

One small glitch when we got to Kayseri. I had arranged with Argeus Tours to pick us up but they didn’t have my name on the list and the driver didn’t want to take us. Luckily I had the copy of the email otherwise it could have been a very expensive taxi ride or trek into Kayseri to catch a bus.

We stayed at the Kelebek in Goreme – a great choice! We had a 30 euro room in the older part of the hotel – 2 twin beds, fan (which we didn’t need), nice bathroom with a bigger shower than we had at the Sarnic. By the time we got there, it was dark so we had another early night.

Wednesday we started with a walk to the Open Air Museum (12 lira each). It was quite amazing and I think it’s worth it. There were a few tour groups there, but we were a little earlier than the hoards that probably show up later in the day. We stopped on the way back and had cheese gozleme, 1 beer and 1 coke (8 lira). We then took a bus to Avanos. Lots of pottery there, but most of it is made elsewhere. I did buy 1 vase that was made in Avanos (very simple shape, red glaze, no design) for 25 lira. People spoke French to us there more than . Lunch at Sanso Panso – friendly service and good food. I had a vegetarian guvec and John had the meat guvec – beer, plus coke, giant salad, lots of wonderful flat bread, tea – cost was 24 lira plus tip. Caught the bus back to Goreme at 6 PM. Another full day and we were tired. We checked the internet and went to bed.

Thursday, we had booked a tour with the hotel agency for 60 lira each. There were 10 of us, so a fairly small group. Serap, the guide, wore a skirt, mules, and carried a handbag! We started with a 7 km hike through the Ilhara Valley, stopping to look at various churches, and finally lunch at Belisirma along the river. It was a perfect day for hiking. We later went to Selime monastery, 2 underground villages in Guzelyurt, and a very old church (the caretaker was a blue eyed boy who looked no older than 15, accompanied by his little blue eyed twin brothers) . It was an exhausting day. The underground cities were different – no lights in the first one, then dropping down a 10 foot shaft in the second! My husband (who is in great shape) and I (who is not in great shape) were the oldest on the tour. I did everything, but one Swiss woman didn’t go into the underground cities – too claustrophobic. It was a very good tour, and well worth it. The power was out in Goreme when we got back to the hotel so we went into town. Power went out there a couple of times, which made me nervous since I was booking our flight from Antalya to Istanbul. For dinner that night, we stopped at SOS and ordered 2 of their highly recommended pide, a coke and a beer for 18 lira.

Friday was an early start – we had booked a balloon ride with EZ Air Balloons. They knocked on our door at 4:50 to make sure we were ready. It was quite cold in the morning and we made sure we were dressed for it. That was an amazing experience. There were only 7 of us in the balloon, but all over the area, we could see lots of balloons. We had debated spending the money, but it was definitely worth it. When we got back to the Kelebek, we had breakfast and wandered back into town. I bought a ‘pashmina’ (probably a synthetic, but it feels nice). We then took the local bus to Uchisar (1 lira) and walked through town to the castle. It’s 2.5 lira to go up the castle and the views were great. We had decided to hike back to Goreme. Everyone said it was easy, but we think there’s a local conspiracy at work. We got lost (came up to a cliff with no way down, except going back) and finally ran into a local who, for a fee, led us to safety. He really played on our sympathy – showed us his puppy with paralyzed hind quarters. He told us it was a snake bite, but we later heard that he also says the dog was in an accident. We ran into a few people later who had the same experience! Oh well, at that point, I was desperate! We were exhausted and red faced by the time we got back to Goreme so we had a dessert crepe and big bottle of water at SOS to revive ourselves. That night, we looked at carpets that night at Sultan Carpets (Mahmet is one of the owners of the Kelebek) but didn’t see anything we liked enough to buy. We mentioned the Istanbul store to him, and it turns out he knows the guys who own that shop. (He gave them his seal of approval for whatever that’s worth.) Another couple bought 2 carpets, so we didn’t feel too bad. We then had dinner at North Star – meat testi kebap, vegetarian testi kebap (delicious and spicy), beer and coke – 31 lira. Checked the internet and booked the Hotel Ulusan in Konya.

Saturday – breakfast again at the Kelebek – the omelets are great! We hung out on the terrace reading until it was time to leave. Mustapha drove us to the otogar and we caught the bus to Konya. 15 lira each on Kent for the 3 hour trip. A local guy directed us to the tram, and then helped us find our hotel. (He wasn’t even a carpet salesman, just a nice guy!) Hotel is very clean, new, with shared bath – 30 lira for 2. Since we were late getting into Konya, we decided to stay 2 nights – we knew we couldn’t see the Mevlana that day. We decided to skip Egirdir and after Konya, go straight to Antalya. We had dinner at Kosk Konya Mutfagi – very pretty garden. 2 cokes, tea and coffee, spicy dip, shepherd salad, firin kebap for me and something similar for John, plus hosmerim dessert – 24 lira. It was another Lonely Planet recommendation and I was quite pleased with our choice. Later on, we stopped for cay around the ring road – 1.5 lira for 2 of us.

Sunday, we started with a lousy breakfast at the hotel (dry bun – how do you get bad bread in Turkey? Cheese in a pack, etc.). I later bought a simit to fill up. 4 lira each to go to the Mevlana and then we visited the Alaettin Mosque. We really liked the Karatay (tile) museum (2 lira each). We did get pulled in by a carpet guy but no sell (and they weren’t really pushy). The carpet in Istanbul still was calling us! Lunch at a local place – big restaurant near the ring road – 2 huge sandwiches in tortilla like bread, salad, 2 cokes, 2 tea - 9.25 lira. We had dinner that night at Akca Konak – 18.75 lira + tip. The food was very good (tomato salad, 1 soda, 1 coke, meat with eggplant, meat with yogurt, more of the tortilla like bread and more tomatoes, 2 teas, 2 very good rice puddings). But service was really spotty.

Monday morning we passed on the hotel breakfast and took the tram back out to the otogar. The bus to Antalya (20 lira each) was 5 ½ hours with 1 rest stop of 20 minutes. We took a taxi to the Hotel La Paloma in Kaleici – 12 lira. Hotel is 45 euros, so not inexpensive, but we had A/C, nice pool area (and it was hot – we knew we’d use it), TV (with Turkish, German, French, I think 1 English channel). We went down to the marina, bought a foot scrubber (our feet were developing lots of calluses!), and then dinner at the Broken Minaret, a little mom and pop type restaurant near the hotel. We ordered gozleme with cheese, casserole with lamb, a big bottle of water and tea – 22 lira. The restaurant is in a garden (I assume the family live there) and there were lots of young cats, most of them white but with black tails!

After breakfast at the hotel on Tuesday, we did a bit of shopping. Nothing exciting, but we did buy 2 really good beach towels for 7 lira each. We had a slight moment of panic at the ATM – first machine couldn’t complete the transaction, the second said my card had expired, third time we were back in business. We took the tram to Antalya’s excellent museum – definitely worth the 15 lira admission. I was actually quite moved by one exhibit – it was a sarcophagus for a dog called Stephanos. Also one sarcophagus had a woman’s face carved, but man’s was not. Did they run out of money when he died? Or maybe she died before marrying? Later that afternoon, we laid out by the hotel pool – very relaxing. Antalya was hot – I really appreciated the pool to cool down. We had dinner that night just outside Kaleici at a place called Bursa Iskender – doner, meat with eggplant, bread on board, 1 beer, 2 coke – 28 lira.

Wednesday we hired a taxi to take us to Termessos (70 lira or 40 euros). The trip out there was just under an hour, and it’s about a 20 minute hike up to the site. It wasn’t crowded at all, although more people were arriving when we were leaving. The theatre is just amazing. We spent about 2 hours up there, and when we got back down to the parking lot, a Turkish family shared melon with us. Our taxi was waiting and we headed back to Antalya. We had lunch again at the Broken Minaret – mixed gozleme, honey and banana gozleme, coke, big water – 11.5 lira. We spent the rest of the afternoon by the pool. Dinner that night at Bursa Iskender again – of course they recognized us and we had the lamb leg they recommended. We picked out the smallest one, served with tomatoes, onions, rice, big tomato salad, flat bread, yogurt, 1 beer, 1 pepsi, 3 tea, an interesting desert with cheese in it – 56 lira including tip. Definitely more food than we needed!

On Thursday, we had a low key day. We went to a small market and bought a couple of little souvenir type things. Our camera was full, so we needed to find a place to transfer it to CD. For some reason, we had to go to 2 before it could be completed. We had lunch on a side street near the camera store – lots of food - stuffed aubergine, rice and beans, water, coke, bread, salad – 10 lira. We decided to go to the hamam that afternoon – 20 lira each. It was a ‘tourist’ hamam – men and women together, but still very relaxing. John went to a barber as well for a shave. Dinner at 36 Restaurant – sultan chicken (good, but very rich), spaghetti for John, calamari, pop and beer – 31.5 lira including tip. We picked up some Turkish delight for friends back home and a pashmina for my niece. It was more than Goreme, but not much more. I also bought a cushion cover for 9 lira – woven cotton.

That night, we had a tremendous thunderstorm – really really loud! It was still raining a bit when we got up on Friday morning. But now it was time to leave Antalya and we had managed to avoid the carpet sellers! We took a taxi to the otogar (11 lira), then a bus to the Cirali junction (4 lira each), then minibus (3 lira) to Hotel Canada. The hotel is a nice little place – the pool is wonderful, lots of lounge chairs and pleasant dining area. The owners and staff are great – the owner’s 7 year old son is a little sweetheart! It was a bit damp outside, but we walked into the village (hotel is about 10 minutes away) and had lunch at Caretta Caretta – more gozleme – 1 cheese, 1 chocolate, 1 beer, 1 coke with free grapes – 10 lira. (You can tell I love gozleme!) It later poured – very very wet! We ended up having dinner at the hotel – rice and schnitzel, rice and kebap, pasta, 1 beer, 1 coke.

On Saturday, 2 other Canadians arrived. We had lunch with them at Caretta Caretta – more gozleme – and spent some time on the beach. The beach is quite rocky and I wished I had my aqua shoes with me – but once you got into the water, it was lovely. We had dinner that night at Oleander, a nice restaurant on the beach. Mixed mezes, fish, lamb, the usual. They gave us a fruit plate at the end of the meal. I think the cost was probably around 40 lira. A nice cat sat on my lap.

On Sunday, John and I walked to Olympos and saw the ruins. We saw the village, and were glad we weren’t staying in the tree houses (although I know people do like it). I had come down with a bad head cold, so we hung out at the pool at the hotel and had lunch there. We had dinner again at Oleander again with the other Canadians.

Monday I was still feeling lousy with my cold. We spent some time at the beach, but more time at the pool (very nice pool). I think we also had lunch again at Caretta Caretta. (They are so nice there.) When we mentioned that we were going to walk to the Chimaera, Saban (the owner of Hotel Canada) had Mustapha run us up there. We got there around dusk and it was quite wonderful to see. When we started to walk back, a Turkish family offered us a lift – much appreciated – it would have been a long walk in the dark. We had dinner that night at Azur, another beachfront restaurant. It was very similar to Oleander, but I think it was a bit more expensive, and I didn’t think the service was as good.

On Tuesday, we had arranged for transport back to the airport in Antalya, so Saban drove us back we caught our Onur Air flight to Istanbul.. This time we took a taxi on our own and could direct the driver to the Sarnic!

The carpet was still calling out to us! So we went back to the shop and of course they remembered us. We had a number of apple teas, then a Turkish coffee when we sealed the deal. When we arrived we weren’t buying any carpets, and we ended up buying 2. Plus a ‘circumcision vest’. Who knows if we got a good deal – the carpets look great and we love them. Even as we carried them back to our hotel, others tried to pull us in. That night we had dinner at Dubb, an East Indian restaurant in Sultanahmet. The food was great - wonderful lamb, great pilau, curried chickpeas, etc. – 44 lira.

On Wednesday, we visited Topkapi. We went full out, rented the audio tour and saw it all. Exhausting day! We had lunch at the restaurant there – just ok food, and expensive in the cafeteria. But unless you bring your own food, it’s a long day not to stop.

We went over to Taksim that evening – first the tram, then the funicular at Tunel. We stopped for a cappuccino at Café Gramofone at the top of the Tunel – nice grey cat wearing a red collar (name is Sasha) sat on John’s lap. We had dinner at Saray – food was ok (I think the desserts are better), but the experience was a little lacking – way too rushed even considering the type of restaurant that it is.

Thursday was John’s birthday and I had booked the cooking class at the Sarnic – $50 USD each. There were 10 of us in the class and we prepared a variety of mezes – excellent food and a lot of fun. We were all stuffed by the end of the meal, which broke up around 2 PM. We decided to go back to Taksim –this time we took the trolley up to the top and had a giant coffee at Starbucks (which was 3 stories high and a busy place. We went to Boncuk on Nevizada Sokak for dinner. Great scene! Lots of fun to people watch and the food was great. The funicular was closed when we got back so we walked down – very steep!

Friday was our last day, so we starting packing that morning. We were happy that we were actually able to get 1 carpet in the suitcase after opening the bag up a little more. (It’s hard sided, but expandable.) Our plan was to check out some of the galleries in Taksim so once again we took the tram, but this time we walked across the Galata Bridge and then took the funicular and trolley. We had another Starbucks coffee, and then explored. We discovered the Pera Museum (which was actually free) and we bought a small replica plate for 40 lira. We had pizza for lunch and eventually headed back to our hotel. We had plans to meet our Canadian friends for dinner, but traffic was unreal and the tram wasn’t going anywhere. We finally gave up and headed back to Dubb for dinner – this time we were lucky enough to get a table on the terrace and a view of the Aya Sofia. Does it get any better?

Saturday morning came far too early. We had a 3 AM wake up call and then the trip out to the airport. It was a long long day and we finally made it back to Toronto.

Random notes:

Prices – yes, they are higher than when we visited 5 years ago, but still quite reasonable. My husband doesn’t drink and I don’t drink all that much – I think that makes a difference. We also don’t want big multi-course meals 2 times a day, especially after eating a bigger breakfast.

People are in general are very friendly – and I’m not just talking about the carpet salesmen. Guys would actually give me a seat on the tram – that doesn’t happen very often in Toronto.

Coffee is not very good in Turkey. I like Turkish coffee – but it’s like a thimble of coffee, not a giant cup like I’m used to. We were happy to find Starbucks.

We felt very safe – no security concerns whatsoever.

Pedestrians do not have the right of way! Drivers are crazy, and we saw more than 1 incident of ‘road rage’.

We saw very few people begging – lot less than here in Toronto. We did have children asking for money in Konya – but they were more teasing than anything else.

Overall, a wonderful trip!

I enjoyed your trip report very much, I didn't get to Cappadocia during my trip in June. I hope to the next time I go! I see your an animal lover like me?

Thanks for sharing your report. I couldn't tell when you went back to Istanbul, but you may have been eating at Dubb's one night last week while we were right across the alley.

Glad you enjoyed your trip--I hope to write down my thoughts in the next day or so.

Wonderful trip report, Susan. It brought back memories of my 2001 trip. The one thing I realized as I was reading is the change in the money-- how much easier (for tourists, anyway) to manage the new Turkish lira.

I really liked Konya, too. We ended up buying a beautiful kilim there and had a great experience doing it. We really felt like we found a place that wasn't all about hustle. In fact, as my husband was bargaining (the proprietor was a very sweet man, but surprisingly young), a counteroffer was made that was significantly LESS than my husband's final offer. We all realized his mistake, laughed, then split the difference.

I hope someday to get back there, too. Next time, a balloon ride, too. That landscape is spectacular and I can only imagine what it's like to be floating above it during sunrise.
Paule

Thank you for sharing the report, it is quite helpful to list the details.

How much does it cost for the balloom ride?

Excellent Trip - Excellent Trip Report -Thanks Susan!!

I am so mad we did not go and give my husband his own personal evil eye every day.

Hi Susan,

I loved reading your report, thanks for posting, it let me relive my trip to Turkey.

Sandy (in Denton)

Cheesehead, I laughed when I read your note! It's really too bad that you decided not to go, but it really is an individual decision.

Progol, you're right. The money situation is so much easier now. The lira is worth about 90 cents CAD, so it was not quite one to one, but really easy to figure out. Unlike our first trip where there were over 435,000 lira to the CAD!

Oh Susan, reading your report made me long to be back in Turkey although I was just there in June! :-)

You are lucky your balloon ride was with only 6 people! I think we had 16 packed into our baskets!

On our next trip to Turkey we will do a gulet cruise.

Thanks for the report!

Welcome home!

Thanks Tamara. We had printed off a copy of your trip report as well as Sandy's and we read them religiously throughout the trip! It really was a wonderful vacation.

Susan !! Well done a very nice report, the wife and I are looking forward to the day we can go back and play the role of grey gypsy !!