ellencmog

Much of the fun of a trip for me is the planning. I use Fodor’s frequently and I want to thank all the Fodorites who gave me advice and information about Turkey, especially otherchelebi, who, as we all know, is so generous with his knowledge of Turkey. We visited three main areas of the country; Cappadocia, the Aegean and Mediterranean coasts, including Ephesus, and finally, Istanbul. I’ll break this report into those major areas.

A note about the weather. We were in Turkey from October 23 – November 6. Except for a couple of days of rain, we had beautiful, warm weather. You’ll see the clear blue skies in many of the photos. I think the warm days we experienced in Cappadocia were a little unusual for the time of year, but being from Upstate NY, we didn’t complain!

I’ve included prices when possible because I know that many of you are in the process of planning trips.

We’ve talked about going to Turkey for a few years and one day we decided to stop talking and start planning. I always begin my flight search with kayak.com; Turkish Airlines and Delta’s fares were identical from NYC, $624, so we chose Delta because of its mileage program.

We flew JetBlue from Rochester, NY to JFK on October 22. We arrived without incident at JFK, but my husband’s suitcase didn’t. So far it’s still AWOL; we suspect it may have been stolen. Fortunately we buy travel insurance when we travel abroad and we’ll be reimbursed for the contents.

Arrival at Ataturk Airport was easy; it’s a clean, modern airport. You need to purchase an entry visa before going through passport control. Follow the signs for the visa window (just past passport control). For US citizens, the cost is $20 or 15 Euros per person. We bought some Turkish Lira at JFK, but were able to get more easily from one of several ATMs just to the right as you exit the controlled portion of the airport.

We had decided to take public transportation into town (even easier than we suspected because we were suitcase “light”). The subway was well marked although we were pressured to take a shuttle. The jeton (ticket) was 1.5TL. It took us to the transfer point, Zeytinburnu. An additional jeton of 1.5TL got us on the light rail which took us to the Sultanahmet stop, across from our hotel. The ride took just under an hour. The tram did get quite crowded, but we’re glad we did it. We used the tram quite a bit in Istanbul. It runs frequently, it’s clean, efficient, and cheap.

We stayed at the Faros Hotel on Divan Yolu Caddesi. The location is perfect, a short walk to all the sites in Sultanahmet and convenient to the tram. I’ll talk more about the hotel in the Istanbul report. European hotel rooms can be tiny, but this one was fairly spacious by European standards. First-time travelers in Europe beware; most European hotels neither supply washcloths nor sink stoppers, so if you plan to any hand washing, bring a stopper. The staff at the hotel is wonderful. We spent our first day in Istanbul looking for some clothes for my husband. Unfortunately due to his size (6’2” and big frame), it wasn’t an easy chore. The hotel manager suggested a large mall about 15 minutes away, so we spent Friday evening at the mall where he was able to buy some jeans and a several shirts. It gave us a peek into everyday life in Turkey that we wouldn’t have had otherwise

We ate that night on the rooftop garden at the Bodrum Café, with a beautiful view of both Hagia Sophia and the Blue Mosque.

The next morning we took a taxi to the airport for our Turkish Airlines flight to Nevsehir. The taxi was about 40TL. We flew Turkish airlines several times and found it to be on time, efficient and overall a good experience. The drive from Sultanahmet to Ataturk Airport parallels the Sea of Marmara. A lovely park stretches for miles along the sea and I was interested to see that people were using exercise equipment in the park (stationery bikes, stair climbers, etc.), and we even saw an exercise class in progress!

CAPPADOCIA

There are two major airports in Cappadocia; Kayseri and Nevsehir. Nevsehir is the closer of the two to both Goreme and Urgup, the two major tourist destinations. Arriving in Nevsehir could be described as landing on the moon with a little mix of US Southwestern desert; brown desert-y landscape and beautiful blue skies. As promised by our hosts, we were greeted at the airport and taken by a small van to our cave hotel in Urgup, about 30 minutes from the airport. The van was 15TL per person.

I did a lot of research on hotels before we left, and we chose the Melekler Evi Cave Hotel in Urgup; www.meleklerevi.com. Melekler Evi means “House of Angels”. Exquisite doesn’t begin to describe it. We were met by our hosts, Arzu and Muammer, both architects. They moved from Istanbul to Urgup three years ago with their two daughters to refurbish and operate the property. It has eight rooms, each uniquely decorated. The hotel (more like an American B&B) is built into a cave but it has large windows so there is no feeling of claustrophobia. When I wrote Arzu and Muammer to make the reservation, they let us choose our room. I chose the Cennet (Paradise). It has a sitting room and its own terrace with a wonderful view of the surrounding landscape. Heaven!

After spending four days in Cappadocia, we learned that Goreme (about 15 minutes from Urgup), while it also has unique and good accommodations, is popular among the younger, backpacking crowd. The two villages each have a different feel Goreme has a larger shopping area and Urgup has more of a small town feel. I don’t think you could go wrong with either, but we were so happy to have chosen the Melekler Evi; I’m not exaggerating when I say it’s spoiled us for any other hotel we’ll ever experience.

After we settled into our room, Muammer and Arzu came up (to our private terrace!) to ask what our plans were. We had decided not to rent a car in Cappadocia, and we didn’t have a set itinerary, so they suggested that we do three one-day tours. They also made reservations for us to see the Whirling Dervishes that evening. After months of planning, it felt good to put the next few days into their capable hands.

Since it was a Saturday, they suggested we visit the market in town. Muammer drove us, and we spent the afternoon walking around. The market was a fascinating combination of sights and sounds, and it had the biggest cabbages we’ve ever seen! We had a late lunch at a restaurant on the central plaza and walked back to the hotel.

They arranged a taxi to take us to Surahan, a restored caravansaray. The caravansarys were built as a rest and food stop for the merchants and their camels traveling the Silk Road between Asia and Europe around the 13th century. This one is beautifully restored and we enjoyed its beauty under the clear night sky. The Dervishes perform a religious ceremony, not a performance. It consisted of 10 Dervishes, five playing musical instruments (one chanting the Koran from time to time) and five whirling in a trance-like state. It lasted about 50 minutes and we were glad that we experienced it. The cost was 50TL each. The taxi driver waited for us during the ceremony and took us back to the Melekler Evi for 50TL.
We spent the next three days exploring the magnificent landscape and history of the area. The tours were arranged through Rock Valley Tourism and Travel in Urgup, www.rockvalleytravel.com.

I took over 1300 pictures during our 15 days (I told my children they have to look at each one; they didn’t see the humor. I’ll include a small album of pictures for each section. Hopefully they’ll offer a taste of what we experienced.

Cappadocia Day One

We were transported in a comfortable 12-passenger van the first two days and a four-person van for our third day (that day there were only four of us on the tour). We lucked out and got the same guide all three days. Selim is a personable and knowledgeable guide who speaks excellent English. Like others in the tourism industry in Turkey, he has a degree in tourism. It shows; he was a wealth of information about the history and geological wonders of the area.

The first day included the Goreme open-air museum, a collection of rock-cut churches with beautiful frescos and monasteries, as well as fairy chimneys, sci-fi-like formations created by volcanoes millions of years ago and carved into unimaginable shapes by the ensuing effects of wind and water erosion.

We ended the day in Pigeon Valley, a crater-like valley of unique rock formations. It gets its name from the holes in the rocks. The holes attracted pigeons which throughout the history of the region were used as food and their droppings were used as fertilizer. Selim said his uncle, a farmer in Cappadocia, still uses pigeon droppings as fertilizer.

Next, more Cappadocia.

http://picasaweb.google.com/Ellen.Co...i/MeleklerEvi#
http://picasaweb.google.com/Ellen.Co...adociaGeneral#
http://picasaweb.google.com/Ellen.Co...ppadociaTour1#

jamikins

Loving your report so far!

zinfanatic

Ellencmog, Did you plan your own trip? I am considering planning my own trip with help from local hotel owners and local agencies as you did in Cappadoccia. Looking froward to more!!! The photos are great too. Zin

ms_go

Excellent! We are still working on plans for our trip in March/April. We won't have quite as many days, so we are only visiting Istanbul and Cappadocia. Looking forward to more. Thanks for posting.

ellencmog

zinfantic, yes I planned the whole thing. Had lots of advice from a friend who's been there four times, asked a lot of questions on Fodors, and read travel guides, but basically I did it by myself. My husband was content to let me do it and I checked in with him from time to time to make sure he agreed with my choices. It's definitely do-able (and was a lot of fun).

ms_go, you'll absolutely love Cappadocia. I can't imagine going to Turkey without visiting it. In retrospect, we probably could have omitted the Aegean and Mediterranean coasts (with the exception of Ephesus) since we didn't have time there to see any historical sites. That would have brought it down to about 12 days.

Ellen

otherchelebi

Hi Ellen, I am glad you got safely back with a wealth of experience that you are sharing with everyone.

And thanks for the compliment.

Am now in Detroit, driving to Chicago tomorrow through perrysburg, Ohio and then I90 West, meeting a former TA destination expert for lunch in the process.

Hope you can make it again to Turkey, and visit other exciting areas such as Western and Eastern Black Sea and down the Georgian and Armenian Borders, where we are well versed plus Antioch to Antalya on the coast and Mardin in the Southeast, the sentinel of Mesopotamia.

for Eastern Black Sea My wife (and i as the writer of the sidelines) have four related blogs:
www.eserahmetcelebilerblackseatrip1.blogspot.com (also 2,3, and4)

I am looking forward to the rest of your trip report.

thanks again.

ellencmog

otherchelebi,

I hope we can get to Turkey again, too. We'd love to visit other areas of the country, especially the east. It's such a large and varied country; we did a lot in two weeks, but there's still so much to see!

It's a small world; you're now traveling in the general area of the US that I was raised in - Cleveland, Ohio. Not as picturesque as Turkey, but I hope you're having a good trip. Looking forward to reading your blog.

Ellen

ira

Look forward to more

ellencmog

Cappadocia Day 2

The second day, my favorite of the three tours, began with a visit to Mustafapasa – the Greek name is Sinasos - an old Greek village. We visited a 17th century Greek church and a charming small Greek hotel with beautiful mosaic tiles. In 1923, after the end of WWI, the Greek and Turkish governments signed a treaty creating a “population exchange”. About 1 – 2 million Greek Orthodox residents in Turkey were deported to Greece and just under a million Turkish Muslims living in Greece were sent back to Turkey. Villages like Sinasos in central Turkey still display the years of Greek culture.

Farming is the main industry in that part of the country and on that day we saw dozens of small family farms harvesting squash. Often, the entire family was in the field. The seeds are dried and sold at market and the fruit is given to the livestock.

Our next stop was Keslik Monastery, a serene and beautifully cared-for church, refectory, kitchen, and school built into the rocks. The 11th century frescoes are beautiful and well preserved. It’s a quiet place, unlike the hustle and bustle of the Goreme open air museum. The caretaker asked us to sit down with him to drink tea under the shade trees. It was an educational and peaceful hour. The frescoes in these old churches were painted with vegetable dyes. Saffron was often used for yellow and terra cotta for red.

We then drove to Sognali Valley, a peaceful area of rock-cut churches and homes built from the 9th – 13th centuries. It has been continuously inhabited for centuries. We walked about 3 km through the beautiful scenery, visiting some of the churches along the way and ending with a delicious lunch made with locally grown produce under an apple tree in the village.

There are 36 underground cities in Cappadocia. We visited two of them. The first, Kaymakli, is the smaller of the two, and it housed up to 6,000 people at a time together with their animals. The cities were built between 2,000 and 1,200 BC by the Hittites to protect the residents from the attacking Assyrians. The map we saw before we went in reminded us of an ant farm and it didn’t disappoint!

It’s a labyrinth of hundreds of rooms and narrow, low-ceilinged passageways. It’s definitely not for the claustrophobic. We had to literally double over in the passageways and a couple of times we thought my husband might actually get stuck! Our guide told us that the Hittites were small. The villages were built as temporary (up to six months) shelter and included adequate ventilation systems, shafts down to underground rivers for water, areas to house and feed animals, wine cellars, bedrooms, kitchens and gathering areas. Huge round stones called keystones were carved out of the rock and were rolled across the entranceway to tunnels and rooms in times of peril to keep invaders out. Absolutely amazing.

We also visited an archeological site of a Roman city which was fascinating. Unfortunately, we weren’t able to take pictures of the site because it’s an active dig. The mosaic tiles they’re uncovering from the floors of the homes are beautiful.

Cappadocia Day 3

Day three began with Derinkuyu, the larger of the two underground cities we saw. It not only housed more people (up to 20,000 at a time), but it was physically bigger. Still very much an underground city, but its ceilings were higher and the passageways were wider than Kaymakli. Some of these cities were also used in the first century AD as shelter by Christians traveling from Jerusalem to Cappadocia.

On day three, we hiked beautiful, 10 million year-old Ihlara canyon, with a small river, poplar and pistachio trees as well as churches carved into the ancient stone, some with beautiful frescos. According to Selim, it’s the third largest canyon in the world. It’s not a terribly difficult hike, but it does require some solid footwork to climb on and around the rocks. We ate lunch at another small village and ended the day with a peek into a caravansaray on the historic Silk Road which is under renovation, and a visit to an onyx factory. We were able to observe an artisan sculpting then polishing a raw piece of onyx. Our narrator asked if anyone knew the meaning of the word “Kappadokya”, the Turkish word for Cappadocia. I said that it means Land of Beautiful Horses, which was the correct response – and they gave me the onyx piece we had just seen made – a treasure and wonderful keepsake from another amazing day.

I’ve left out many details of those three days because there were just too many churches, monasteries, frescoes, pigeon roosts, unique rock formations and cave dwellings to mention. If there is another area on the planet that has rock formations this unique, I’d like to know where it is. I hope my pictures give a hint of what we saw. It was truly an unforgettable 3½ days and one of the highlights of our trip.

Rock Valley was excellent to work with; we were picked up at our hotel promptly every morning around 9:00 and dropped off at the end of the day (around 5:00 or 6:00). We paid for all three tours together, about $350 in all, or just under $60 per person per tour – well worth it. The young American couple we were with on our last day had planned to visit on their own the next day, but based on the quality of our tour, they booked another tour instead.

We were lucky to have met fascinating and delightful people during our time in Cappadocia. Like the three young women on one of our tours; two from Canada and one from the US. They work for a reality-based website, www.jetsetzero.tv. They decide on a city to move to for several months with no job, no place to live and many times, no knowledge of the language. They have to find a job (i.e., a source of income) and a place to live. Readers experience their successes and trials through their blogs. They had lived in Istanbul for several months and were treating themselves to a little R&R before leaving Turkey for Ho Chi Minh City. I admire their courage and resourcefulness and envy their world travels.

We ate one night at the Melekler Evi. Arzu is a wonderful cook and enjoys cooking for her guests. We were treated to a salad of fresh greens, grape leaves with rice, a mushroom quiche, meatballs, fresh vegetables and a chocolate flan. Heaven. We also ate at the Dimrit Restaurant and at Ziggy’s, both within an easy walk of the hotel in Urgup, and both outstanding.

We chose not to take a hot air balloon ride. We’ve done it before (in Arizona) and didn’t feel the need to do it again. But we spoke to several people who did do it and they loved it. I can imagine it’s quite an experience looking down on the breathtaking landscape.

The weather in Cappadocia was cloudless and warm and we hated to leave. I especially hated to leave the Melekler Evi. I told Arzu that I want to take it with me wherever I travel! I think I could have stayed another week – even if I never left the hotel! Pure luxury and relaxation. The cennet room was $115 Euros per night. As with most other hotels in Europe, the cost includes breakfast which, in Turkey, was a feast.

We had a morning flight on Turkish Airlines to Izmir, connecting in Istanbul. We flew three times on Turkish Airlines; each time they were efficient and on-time. They served a sandwich, a green salad (with ample mayonnaise!) and chocolate/banana mousse on each flight, regardless of the time of day – much better than the bag of pretzels served on US airlines!

Next, Ephesus and the Aegean and Mediterranean Coasts

http://picasaweb.google.com/Ellen.Co...ppadociaTour2#
http://picasaweb.google.com/Ellen.Co...ppadociaTour3#

teacherCanada

ellencmog - I ama really enjoying reading your memories of a wonderful trip. Your words certainly bring your pictures to life. I can't wait to hear about your time in Ephesus.

tC

Fra_Diavolo

This is not only a good read but very helpful, as we're planning our trip to Turkey in May. You've sold me on Cappadocia. Will try and remember "Land of the beautiful horses," should lightening strike twice. Thanks.

JulieVikmanis

Terrific report. Thank you. Can't wait for more.
I tried to click on the website you give for your hotel in Urgup, but got one of those pages where they're trying to sell the URL or something. I finally was able to make it work by making it .com.tr which apparently directs you to Turkish sites.

tcreath

Ellen, I'm glad I stumbled on your report! I am anxiously awaiting the rest. I do regret that we were unable to get to Cappadocia, but as we were traveling in February the weather just didn't work out for us to visit. Oh well...we loved Turkey and are anxious to return one day and Cappadocia will definitely be on our itinerary.

Tracy

bon_voyage

Wonderful--very informative report and photos--thank you!
We typically do the driving when we travel but having someone else at the wheel is growing increasingly appealing. What was the cost of your daily tours?

ellencmog

I'm glad that you're all finding it a good read - and helpful. Fodorites have been so helpful to me that I want to return the favor.

Fra, LOL re the land of beautiful horses. I was so touched to get the beautiful little piece of onyx! It's small and has no use whatsoever, but I love it - here's a picture. You'll love Cappadocia.

http://picasaweb.google.com/Ellen.Co...23174624396130

Julie, thanks for the info on the website for the Melekler Evi. I should have thought to add the .tr. I think we lucked out on the weather in Cappadocia. The reason we went there first was on the advice of otherchelebi and others who said that at this time of year, it can get cold. I know it gets snow and it must also be beautiful with a blanket of the white stuff, but I'm so glad it was in the 70's when we were there.

Bon_voyage, I'm fortunate that my husband is game to do the driving. Actually, it wasn't bad in Turkey (although we'd NEVER drive in Istanbul!). Compared to driving in Albania, this was a piece of cake. I'm ready for my next international trip to be somewhat simpler, though I do love how the Turkish drivers as well as drivers in the Balkans have made a science out of creating three lanes out of two!

The total cost for two people for all three tours was $350.00, so I figure a little less than $60.00 per person per tour which included lunch all three days and all entrance fees. I don't know how it compares to other companies that offer the same tours, but we felt that we got a lot for our money.

Ellen

bon_voyage

Thanks, Ellen!

Debs

Ellen - Great trip report so far - anxious to read more. It will definitely help with planning our trip in late May. So you're a former Clevelander - east or west side?

ellencmog

Debs, west side. I briefly dated someone on the east side and we joked about having to show our passports as we crossed the river! East or west for you?

zinfanatic

Ellencmog, Did you self-drive and hire "guides" through your hotel when you arrived at each destination?

zinfanatic

Oh sorry, did not read one of the last entries!