Turkey trip, sanity check please
 

I got a lot of help from this forum, lots of questioned answered, lots of ideas - thanks. Now I need a final review and a sanity check for our Turkey trip in early October.

Day 1 - arrive in Istanbul around noon. Get to our hotel, have lunch, relax a little and hopefully take a Bosphorus Turyol ferry - 1.5 hrs. Need to get the Istanbul Card and stay up until around 8pm.

Day 2, Sun - Istanbul - Topkapi, Hagia Sophia, Blue Mosque, Basilica Cistern
Day 3, Mon - Istanbul - Grand Bazaar, Spice Market, Yeni Cami, Suleymaniye Mosque, Rustem Pasa
Day 4, Tue - Istanbul - Chora Church, Dolmabahce Palace and Mosque, Galata Tower

I am concerned about day 1 - we’ll be jetlagged, but Topkapi Palace is closed on on Tue - should we try to move it on Mon, and see maybe the Spice Market on Mon?

Day 5 - early flight to Izmir - see Ephesus, sleep in Selcuk

Day 6 - early flight to Cappadocia, get there around 8:30 am, so maybe 10 am in Goreme. Relax a little, visit Goreme Open Air Museum, hike Pigeon Valley, Love Valley, visit Uchisar

Day 7 - Cappadocia - visit Zelve Open Air Museum, hike Pasabag, Cavusin village, Red and Rose valleys

Day 8 - Cappadocuia - Devrent Valley, and anything that we did not have time for on days 6 and 7

Day 9 - Cappadocia - Green tour with New Goreme Tour (Ilhara valley, Derinkuyu underground city, Selime monastery

Day 10 - fly to Dalaman (via Istanbul), pick up rental car, drive to Kas (with a detour to Dalyan if we feel like it)

Day 11 - Kas - drive loop Saklikent Gorge, Tlos, Pinara

Day 12 - Kas - drive loop Xantos, Letoon, Patara

Day 13 - Kas - boat to Kekova

Day 14 - leave Kas, visit Myra, Demre, Limyra, sleep in Cirali

Day 15 - Cirali - visit Olympos, Phaeselis

Day 16 - fly home out of Antalya

I know the Istanbul days are busy, and I don't know how to shift things around (or what to eliminate) to change that. I guess we'll just have to take it slower in the 2nd part of the trip. Is that better? Any thoughts on the above plan? Thanks

xyz,
it looks good.

if you miss anything, leave it for next time. Your comfort and health and happiness are more important than just another mosque or antique city.

Flying into Turkey is not too bad if you arrive around noon and take a one hour nap before your Bosphorus cruise.

You should then stay awake till about 10 PM and take a melatonin pill to get your inner system to accept the new time frame quickly.

Topkapi takes the longest time, followed by Hagia Sophia. Chora church takes time due to transport and Dolmabahce palace for possible crowds.

Just have comfortable walking shoes everywhere.

If you have to leave any sites out in the Southwest, leave Pinara and then Letoon out. (I actually like Letoon but that is possibly because of the story of people being turned into frogs)
I am not so keen on Xanthos either. Love Tlos, Patara, Myra.

Early October is an excellent time for all. Enjoy it.

OC, as usual, to the rescue with great advice. Thanks again - we will not kill ourselves to see every mosque and ruin, and it’s good to know what to eliminate (if needed).

We’re usually good with jet lag and time change, and I am pleasantly surprised to see that it’s only 7 hrs difference between Istanbul and NYC (I thought it would be 8).

Noted about comfortable shoes - need to go shopping, so I can break them in by then :)

In the Southwest, our main goal will be to relax, see coastal scenery and ruins (in this order). So everything there will be adjusted based on that if we fee it’s too much. I think we’ll keep Letoon on the list, because I love the look of ruins and water together. Any chance to see those frogs? You know I have to go now and google about people who were turned into frogs...

I enjoy more nature, my husband enjoys ruins...it seems we will both get our fill in Turkey. I will report back.

Great info! Thanks - we will be in Turkey and in some of the same places in October also.

I was not able to see all the places you list for Istanbul in the times you are allowing for them, and BTW, I barely spent any time in the Grand Bazaar. But as other said, you can see other things on your next trip.

For Cappadocia, no balloon ride? (Just checking.) Devrent Valley probably won't take long -- I believe it's really more of a stop and look place. And it is near the entrance to the Zelve Open Air Museum, so you might want to stop there on the way. You can probably see everything you've listed in Cappadocia in 3 days, so you might want to shift one of those days to Istanbul. Just a thought.

I'm not sure if your timing will permit it, but the Ephesus Museum in Selcuk is quite worthy of a visit.

Enjoy!

kja,
I know you spent more than my 3 1/2 days in Istanbul...and I know how much you loved it. I guess we’ll just need to save some things for the next trip...

I don’t want to spend more than 1/2 hr in the grand bazaar, we are not shoppers, but I think we’ll spend more in the spice bazaar.

Knowing us, we’ll not rush to check off all the items on the list, but we’ll rather decide to skip some and enjoy the rest.

At this time, flights are booked, so shifting a day from Cappadocia to Istanbul is not an option anymore. Originally we were planning a balloon ride, but the recent accident changed that. We decided not to.

We’ll land in Izmir around 8 am, so we’ll have a full day in Selcuk. I hope to have time for the museum, if it’s open. I read on TA was that it was closed for renovation.

I'm sure you'll see and experience some wonderful things!

We were in Istanbul last month on a cruise. We were there for about a 1.5 days and we easily managed to see (in great detail): Suliman Mosque, Basilica Cistern, Hagia Sophia, Blue Mosque and Topkapi Palace. So you should be able to see all you have listed in 3 days.

Our favorite place was probably Suliman Mosque, which was our first stop in Istanbul. It was peaceful with very few visitors. Since there we so few people there, you could really get an feel for what a mosque is like--unlike the Blue Mosque which is chock-a-block with tourists.

Wow, longhorn55, you saw all that in 1.5 days, "in great detail"?!? What a wonderful illustration of the ways in which travelers differ! I took almost twice as long to see those sites and felt like I could have easily spent more time. It really does depend on individual preferences.

xyz, most of your sightseeing for antiquity will satisfy you also because of great untouched natural locations. This is valid for Letoon, Tlos, Phaeselis, Chimera, Olympos and Pinara especially and in a different way for Patara and some of the others.

It is possible Xanthos does not appeal to me because it is next to a bustling small town and I find the paradox overwhelming.

If you had time and the energy a final fling up the mountain to Termessos over Antalya in good weather and still with a warmer jacket should leave you yearning for more.

Other routes for future trips can be :

Antalya-Silifke (large numbers of ruins and natural sights in terrific locations and very scenic roads.)

Ermenek-Alahan-Manazan-Catalhoyuk

-Easter Black Sea : Hopa-Borcka-Camili-Savsat-Kars-Ani-Dogu Beyazit-Ishak Pasa Palace (Georgian, Seljuki, Armenian, Ottoman)

-Western Black Sea (Ottoman and Hittite, very few Celtic)

- Northern Mediterranean : Nicea, Troy, Assos, Pergamom, Bio-energy, UFO sites, Philosophy, early Christian history, Tomatoes, black mulberry juice, best goat feta cheeses, peaches and chestnuts of Bursa, skiing at Uludag, wine of the two Turkish islands and the WW I battlefields at Gallipoli.

Longhorn, thanks for sharing that, it gives me hope :)

OC, unfortunately we will not have time for Termessos this trip. I will have to somehow to make it fit in the next trip, when I definitely want to experience Tomatoes, black mulberry juice, best goat feta cheeses, peaches and chestnuts of Bursa…and any other culinary delights Turkey has to offer. Hopefully we can try some of them on this trip, too.

xyz99, we're going to be in Istanbul end Sept and plan to do almost the same things as you, can't wait to get there...:)

I spent an entire day at the Topkapi Palace.

Trip photos are here:

http://altecockertravels.weebly.com/...th-photos.html

I am really getting eager to follow the good advice on this thread... I especially enjoyed the photos posted on the Topkapi Palace. Thank you lauren_s.

This thread helps to neutralize some of the dreadful, international news reports.

I forgot to mention turkeytravelplanner.com. I used it heavily to plan my trip. The guy who runs it has lived in Turkey but is an American. Everything you need to plan a Turkey trip is there.

Day 14 - I think would choose Arykanda over Limyra.

geetika, have a great trip. We can't wait...

lauren, wonderful pictures...I see why you spent so much time there, thanks for sharing.

croesus, tell me more about Arykanda. Do you think we have time for it? It seems to be about almost 1 hr inland,so that would mean almost 2 hrs both ways.

I have more Turkey photos to put up eventually, but I have to deal with the trip I just finished to France & Spain. I'll load the photos on the computer and then begin posting selections of them. There are a number of pieces on the Turkey trip on my website if you look around.

Arykanda is just 30km north of Finike, here - http://goo.gl/maps/cKKFM
Information - http://www.lycianturkey.com/lycian_sites/arycanda.htm
That new Finike-Elmalı road passes some nice Lycian tombs associated with Limyra - http://www.megalithic.co.uk/modules....wpic&pid=35069

Since it's only a 2+ hour drive from Kaş to Çıralı, I think you'll have plenty of time.

Thanks, Croeesus. The Lycian tombs look great, and we might decide to skip Dalyan ...so this looks like a good other option.