I've just returned from an amazing three-week trip to Türkiye. I have a lot to cover, so I'll be doing this in stages. Stay tuned for details on:

• İstanbul - three days / four nights in the historic Sultanahmet district
• Çıralı - three days in a quiet village on the Mediterranean
• Antalya - three days in a tourist hot spot during a brutal heat wave
• Sagalassos - a day in a "lodge and spa" that wasn't quite a spa
• Lake Eğirdir - a quite day on the shores of a mountain lake
• Güzelyurt - a day on the outskirts of Cappadocia
• Uçhisar - three days in the center on Cappadocia
• İstanbul - and a final two days in the Pera / Galata neighborhood

This was my fifth trip to the country; two previous trips were major, and two were long weekends in İstanbul. I usually travel solo, but this time I came with six other friends, most of whom were here for the first time. Because we had a group I did a lot more planning than usual, and it paid off.

I'll be gushing a lot in this trip report, but I'll also take note of the few bumps we had along the way.

Below: the view from the terrace at the Henna Hotel, Sultanahment. We arrived in time for sunset.

Looking forward to reading about lovely Turkey!

Walking through its narrow, winding streets, I was surrounded by history at every turn. The awe-inspiring Hagia Sophia and the majestic Blue Mosque were breathtaking. Exploring the bustling bazaars and relaxing in quaint cafes gave me a taste of local life. The warmth and charm of Sultanahmet made it a highlight of my Istanbul adventure. I highly suggest it to anyone actually
Which hotels would you suggest?

Edit: I left out a night in Konya on my summary.
My ranking system:

* Highly recommended
** Awesome, but not for everyone
*** The best of the best.

İstanbul: Sultanahmet

Arrival: It's about a thirty-hour flight between Honolulu and İstanbul; I would not have survived without a lounge pass and a seat up front - we were lucky, and scored an amazing price for Delta One round trip. Which doesn't mean I slept all that much, and we were very tired on arrival. We arranged a ride through booking, but the process of finding that ride at the new airport is not efficient. You find your company, then they call your driver to tell them you're ready. Then you wait outside in a crowd for 20-30 minutes, then you are taken to a parking garage where you wait another fifteen minutes for the car to show up ... and then it's an hour drive to the city. It took three hours from landing to check in. I don't know if there are other options that would be faster - usually arranging a ride is the fastest way to go.

* Henna Hotel: Lovely staff, great location, comfortable rooms, awesome view from the roof (see photos), and a large and delicious breakfast. This is an excellent base for anyone who's focus will be on the main historic sites of Sultanahmet. In general I prefer to stay in other neighborhoods, but Sultanahmet is a great choice for a first-time visitor.

Dinner: Giritli; This is a Cretan-Turkish taverna with a prix-fixe menu of traditional meze and unlimited wine. It's in a nice outdoor courtyard, but the ambience was somewhat spoiled by a neighboring rooftop club that was blasting music throughout the neighborhood (Editorial comment: I've seen this in Morocco and Greece too, these rooftop restaurants in historic districts that start blasting bad music from sunset to midnight, even when they are mostly empty. I'm surprised it's tolerated). The food was plentiful, and the local wine was good - though in practice "all you can drink" meant three glasses of wine. That's not even close to all-I-can-drink. It's a good introduction to meze culture, and an easy first dinner for a group, but grossly overpriced at 77 euro each. It was one of the more expensive meals we had in three weeks, but didn't crack the top-fifteen best meals.


Giritli: The gang's all here!

Afterwards we wandered up to Sultanahmet Square to admire the Blue Mosque and Hagia Sophia, which are lit up at night. It's a beautiful site.

Day one

Hagia Sophia. The policies seem to change every couple months, but currently non-Muslims are restricted to the upper gallery. It's still worth a visit if you haven't been, but disappointed if you've visited before. The true grandeur is only apparent from the main floor. I'm glad we came early, before the huge crowds.

* Hafız Mustafa 1864. The plan was to take a quick break for coffee and baklava, then continue on to the Süleymaniye mosque complex. Hafız Mustafa has branches throughout the city, and it is worth a visit for anyone with a sweet tooth.

I really underestimated how much time it takes for a group of people to do anything; it was almost 1 pm before we finished dessert. I thought we would be done before 11! Süleymaniye would have to wait. Instead, we wandered through the backstreets to the Grand Bazaar, where I let everyone know they had a "free afternoon." Some shopped, some went back for a nap, some visited the cistern and the Blue Mosque.

Kapalı Çarşı. This was actually my first visit to the Grand Bazaar. I read a lot that the Spice Bazaar is better somehow, but honestly this one seemed more interesting. I only did a walkthrough, but I know that there were probably a lot of hidden corners to explore. Maybe one visit I'll dedicate a day to it.

*** Cağaloğlu Hamamı: I love visiting Turkish baths. It's a splurge going to the great historic hamam, but worth it. Some of the others are too touristic (they feel too impersonal), and others too modern (they focus too much on spa treatments, or have female masseurs for men, or are mixed gender). Cağaloğlu had a great balance of maintaining it's historical integrity but also being comfortable for first-time visitors.

* Dinner: Deraliye. We splurged on the Ottoman-era tasting menu. It was a non-stop three-hour delight. Even if you're in another neighborhood, Deraliye is worth a trip to Sultanahmet.

There was nothing to do after that but have a beer on the terrace of the Henna Hotel & then go to bed!

Hi fellow kama'aina here - we (myself, daughter and son in law) visited Turkey for the first time last June and I'm looking forward to reading your trip report to relive some of our memories on some of the same places we visited.

My daughter loved Hafiz Mustafa 1864 and we went twice while in Istanbul. Purchased turkish delight packaged in their pretty metal boxes to bring home as omiyage but they're rather heavy so we could only manage a few boxes each.

We also visited Cağaloğlu Hamami and really enjoyed it. We had never been to a hamam before but I agree that it makes it very comfortable for first time visitors. Istanbul was at the end of our 3 week trip so the relaxing visit to the hamam was especially nice.

İstanbul Day 2
*** Topkapı Sarayı. A benefit of staying in Sultanahmet is that you can visit sites as soon as they open, before they are overwhelmed by tour groups. The grounds were lovely with a touch of morning mist. Some of our group went right to the harem, some right to the treasury. I started with the harem, and it was amazing to walk through the empty halls. Friends who went later in the morning said it was too crowded to really appreciate. The treasury was the opposite: those who went first loved it. I went there second and it was too full of people jostling to take photos of every single exhibit. My advice: choose wisely!


Morning in the harem

Lunch: Caferağa Medresesi. The building was designed by Sinan, and currently hosts artisan workshops & has a small cafe in the courtyard. It was a pleasant lunch, nothing special. None of the workshops were open when we visited.

Archaeology Museum. This was surprisingly small, only one exhibit really captured my attention.

*** Dinner: Tershane. We made reservations at sunset for Tershane, a lokanta located across Galata Bridge & overlooking the Golden Horn. The food was delicious, and the view at sunset was phenomenal. This was our best meal in İstanbul.


All this and great food!

Galata Tower. After dinner we walked up hill to Galata Tower. It had just re-opened after being closed for repairs, and there was a line even at 10 pm. Entry fee is a steep 30 euro; I'm glad it was included in our Museum Pass. I'm not sure it's worth that much, there are a lot of places with great views - I'd only recommend it now if you have the pass. On other trips Galata Tower wasn't as popular - which meant it was more affordable & there were never lines. Times change.

İstanbul Day 3

Culinary Backstreets, Born on the Bosphorus. This was a culinary tour that I was really looking forward to, one that started in Beşiktaş and finished on the Asian side in Üsküdar and Kuzguncuk. It was interesting to see the "breakfast street" in Beşiktaş, and I enjoyed wandering around the neighborhood, but it felt we were just wandering around the Asian side aimlessly, looking for something to do (we went in a couple courtyards of mosques, but not in the mosques, we walked up some streets then down them, we walked into a bar took a photo and left without having a beer, we walked through a coffee shop where students studied but didn't stop for coffee). It was disappointing; we'd have been better just taking the ferry to Kadıköy, the new hip neighborhood that lots of people recommended to us.

How cool! Something must have been in the air - I know a lot of people from the islands who made their first trip to Turkiye this year.

Am so enjoying your TR and pictures, Turkiye is one of our fav destinations, especially Istanbul. It’s magical walking the streets of Sultanahmet, we usually stay at the Uyan near Arasta Bazaar, with rooftop restaurant and stunning views of the Aya Sofya and Blue Mosque. Hoping to go back again next May…

*** Çıralı

Three stars for the entire weekend. Çıralı is a coastal village at the mouth of a rugged valley about an hour's drive from Antalya. It's surrounded by a national park, and so development is limited - there are no high-rises, resorts, or large hotels.

Olympos Beach at Çıralı


*** Portalimo Lodge is a collection of bungalows set in an orchard. It's about a twenty-minute walk to the village, and ten more minutes to the shore. I was torn between staying here & staying closer to the sea, but this was a great choice. The owners were wonderful, the grounds were beautiful, and their cook prepared absolutely delicious meals. An unexpected heat wave hit while we were there, and we all appreciated lazy afternoons with a beer by the pool.

Pathways between the bungalows at Portalimo

* The Olympus Ruins are along the shore, and we spent a fun morning exploring them. They were larger than I expected.


This was a pirate stronghold before the Romans conquered it


* Yanartaş: Uphill from the village are the burning flames left over from when Perseus slew the Chimera (I’m sure science has an alternate explanation). It was a steep hike to the flames, but luckily not too long, and the path was well kept. There must be tour groups that bring people here from the resorts, because there were more people on the trail than in the entire town.


Burn baby burn


*** Lycian Cruise: We also spent a day on a yacht, cruising the Lycian Coast. It was very affordable (around $30, plus drinks), and the boat was basic … but it still felt like something only movie-stars do.


All aboard. The crew were nice, and caught fish for lunch

We didn’t spend much time in town. We had a few meals, which were fine but not memorable.

All in all, Çıralı was a perfect break after İstanbul.

To the OP, is it easy to plan your own trip to Turkey? It's on our travel list but I'm not sure if we would travel independently (which we usually do) or go with a small tour group. I am enjoying your report and photos!

Such a fun trip michael, I need to read about Yanartas, those flames sound so exciting! Some years back I seriously considered a 3 day gulet cruise, but fears of being seasick on a small boat prevailed!

Karen, Turkiye’s easy to DIY, tourism is huge there and well organized, so you shouldn’t have any trouble putting together an itinerary. Unless you’re going into remote areas, which not many do.

Thank you for sharing your trip with us, Michael. Turkey is definitely one of my favorite countries, even though I've not ventured beyond Istanbul and Cappadocia. Interested in experiencing more of the country through you.

KarenWoo, geetika is right in that Turkey is quite easy to navigate, especially if you're okay driving in Anatolia. If not, it's easy to arrange transport. My biggest issue is the wealth of places to visit that it's hard to narrow down.

I agree with the others - Turkey is easy to travel independently. We rented a car for a week (coming up), but I've also visited using only public transportation & that was fine. In other countries I've preferred a mix of independent & guided tours (Morocco) or wished I had joined a group rather than traveling solo (Egypt). I never once wished that we had joined a group in Turkiye!

Antalya

And now we have our first bumps in the trip. We had arranged a ride from Çıralı, and confirmed with our hotel, Zemira Garden, that we could drop our bags off & explore the town before checking in. And though we had booked early, and reconfirmed, and even talked with Zemira the day before, we arrived to find that they were full & had rebooked us in another hotel ... without checking. And what burns is that the other hotel was 50% the cost of Zemira, but our cards were charged the more expensive rates of Zemira. We ended up in Noa Boutique Hotel ... which at least had nice rooms, if nothing else. It's a fine budget hotel, but not quite a "boutique" hotel.

So most of our first afternoon was spent waiting around, first at Zemira while we wondered what was going on, and later at Noa while the very young staff slowly checked us in, using Google translate for every single interaction.

Lunch: Fısıltı Cafe Ev Yemekleri. I wanted to move away from tourist restaurants & introduce the group to more local-style lokanta. This is a small place with a set menu of of whatever the ladies made that morning. The food was hit-or-miss, but it was very affordable & a nice "cultural" experience.

Afterwards some of us napped, and some went for a wander through Kaleiçi (the old town). I was here in October 2007, and I remember a quiet place with a few local pensiyons; most visitors were on day trips from the resorts. Times have changed, and now Kaleiçi is packed with restaurants and shops and hotels and bars ... which I suppose is good for the economy, but I was nostalgic for the lazy week I had spent here. This visit I actually preferred walking along Atatürk Caddesi, the modern street that borders Kaleiçi - it felt like it was oriented towards Antalyans and not towards tourists.

Two of us visited a Turkish barber, which is an experience I recommend for all the men. They used straight razors, floss, and fire to go after any stray hair. They also put hot burning wax into your ears and up your nose. That was a first. I felt very clean afterwards.

It was also a shock to see so many Turkish teenagers dressed in short-shorts and crop tops! I didn't see that even in İstanbul; here it seemed the norm.

* Dinner: Fatma Sultan. We crossed out of the old city to have dinner in the courtyard of Fatma Sultan, which served high-quality versions of Turkish standards like manti, kebabs, and various chicken and eggplant dishes.

Day 2

* Breakfast: Yakamoz Simit Cafe. We had an early morning tour, and needed a rendezvous point outside of the old town, which is too narrow for cars. It was surprisingly hard to find a coffee shop that opened before 9 am - I'm glad we found this place. It had the standard breakfast items like gözleme, börek, and simit; it was nice to have a normal-sized breakfast for the first time this trip.

*** Termessos. One of my main reasons for wanting to revisit Antalya was to hike to Termessos, a Psidian city in the Taurus Mountains. It was so inaccessible that Alexander the Great gave up trying to conquer it. This was a fantastic hike, and I'm glad we had a guide (Onder, from Get Your Guide) to explain what we were seeing. We explored a necropolis and the streets of the ancient city en route to the iconic theater, cut into the mountains with a view over the plains far below. It's not a rugged hike, but it was a work-out! We were back in time for lunch.

Hiking to Termessos

* Antalya Archaeology Museum. The museum had a large collection of statues and reliefs, which I always enjoy. It's not large, and our visit took roughly an hour.


I'm a fan of any museum with classical-era statues

Konyaaltı Beach. After the museum some of us walked downhill to the shore to grab a beer. Easier said than done; the first place we found only served tea and snacks, and the second was a private club attached to one of the resorts. We did find one, and it was nice relaxing by the sea. I suppose this is what most visitors come here for; for me it was a nice break from our adventures.

Dinner: Topçu Kebap. This is the oldest kebap place in Antalya, and had been recommended to us. I don't think it was any better or worse than any other kebab place.

Day 3

** Köprülü Canyon. We arranged a canyoning / ziplining / rafting package through Get Your Guide. Most of the tours included quad biking and ATV riding, which I had no interest in; there was only one company that offered the canyoning. And that was my favorite part! Hi hiked along the river, and sometimes through the river, and up and down and around boulders. Occasionally we would float through ice cold water ... I think it's the coldest water I've ever been in in my life. Meanwhile, a brutal heatwave had hit, and temperatures hit 104F / 40C. The zipling was only two long lines up and down the canyon, which was enough. And the rafting was fun.

There were some issues, though. There was no water, and with the heat we were all dehydrated and took to drinking straight from the river. It was that or pass out from dehydration. And the van that picked us up had weak AC and the seats were too packed together to sit comfortably. It felt like we were locked in a sauna on the way back, and since the traffic was gridlocked near the city we didn't even get a breeze if we opened the windows. We were all wrecked by the time we got back to the hotel.

ooh that water was cold!

Dinner: Macho Oldtown. This was one of the many modern open-air restaurants on Atatürk Caddesi. I had a Caesar salad dürüm (wrap), which was a nice break from the traditional döner filling. My friends had a Mexican-style hamburger.

Antalya, final thoughts: We could have easily spent another couple days in Antalya; it would have been nice to explore the old town more, visit a hamam, go for a swim, have a beer in the evening at one of the many meyhane - but there's nothing I would have cut out of the trip to make room for a few more days. Given the heatwave I'm glad we were heading inland to the the cooler hills.

I was hoping to catch the Fire of Anatolia show at the Aspendos. I saw it in 2007 & loved the experience of seeing a show in an intact Roman theater. But although shows were advertised online for May and June, the tickets for June never went on sale.

Next up: a road trip to Anatolia.

Road Trip! Part 1, Sagalassos & Lake Eğirdir

Day 1: Sagalassos

We rented two mini-SUV (Hyundai Bayon) from Windy Car Rental & drove up and over the mountains to Ağlasun, the nearest town to the Sagalassos ruins. The drive was easy, and we had no issues with the rental car company. The price was good, even with the one-way drop-off fee added on.

It was slightly cooler once of the coast, but still very hot. Our original plan was to check in to our hotel and visit the ruins; we decided it would be better to take a day off & visit Sagalassos in the cooler morning hours. That turned out to be an excellent idea.

Hotel: Sagalassos Lodge and Spa. Even though Antalya had been packed with visitors, it still felt very "pre-season" here. It's a big lodge, but there were only around a dozen guests. The pool was open, but none of the "spa" was (hamam, massage room). The staff at the front were kind, but the guy working the back didn't seem to want to be there. He seemed a bit put off when we ordered a glass of wine, and the pour was more of a tasting than an actual glass. Dinner was worse - only have of our party was served! When I went up to ask where the other meals were he didn't believe me, and I had to bring him to the table and show him the empty plates. It was a bit ridiculous, since there were only two other tables at dinner. Food was good, at least.

We had a nice afternoon relaxing by the pool, and the location was excellent. I'd only stay here again, though, to visit the ruins. I'm glad it wasn't our base for a couple days. I would've have gone into town, only 2 km away, for meals.

Day 2

*** Sagalassos. This was fantastic. Sagalassos was a Psidian city that was conquered by Alexander the Great, and was later a wealthy city in the Roman Empire. Since it hadn't been looted the original rocks were still on-site, and some of the structures had been rebuilt - including a beautiful fountain with running water. Other than the fountain, there were two agora, ceremonial streets, tombs, monuments, and a theater.

And there was almost no one else there. A tour bus pulled up, but they only visited the fountain & then left. We had this ancient city to ourselves. It was incredible.




After exploring for a few hours we took a short drive to Burdur for lunch & to visit the museum that had a collection of statues from Sagalassos.

*** Lunch: Burdur Şişçi Kadir Okan Özen. For food, I give three stars for being the best at what a place is. So Şişçi Kadir is a local diner that specializes in Burdur şiş kebab. It’s made with marbled beef, finely minced and fried on a griddle. It’s served with a special kind of pide bread. The owner told us that Burdur was also famous for its piyaz, or bean salad. It was white beans in a tahini sauce, so of course we tried that also. And it was all so good that we had another local specialty for dessert, kaymaklı künefe - shredded wheat, syrup, thick Turkish cream, and pistachios. I loved our gourmet meals in Istanbul, but I have an equal amount of love for local places like this.


Burdur Şiş

Piyaz

Kaymaklı künefe

The Burdur Archaeology Museum was nice, though not extensive. It was worth a visit.

After Burdur we continued our drive to the lake district, another hour away.

* Lake Eğirdir. Most guide books recommend choosing either Sagalassos or one of the lake towns as a base, and most reviews said one overnight was enough. I thought the lake was lovely, and am very glad we spent an extra night here rather than pushing on to the next main destination. The only tourist activity is to take a fishing boat at sunset on the lake. We saw them depart, but then a storm came in & they quickly returned. We just spent a lazy afternoon swimming and walking around the small peninsula that juts out into the lake.
.


*** Hotel: Göl Pension. Like restaurants, I'll give three stars for a place that is perfect for what it is. Göl is run by two sisters out of their family house. They didn't speak much English, but I had studied enough Turkish to get by. And they were lovely, it was nice staying in their house, and breakfast was amazing.

*** Dinner: Helikarnasos. There are a couple resturants overlooking the lake. We picked Helikarnasos at random, just to have a beer in the afternoon. The owner / chef came out to talk to us, we ended up discussing his favorite foods, and in the end we put ourselves in his hands. Chef's choice - we let him choose all of our dishes. And it paid off; we ate well!

Next up: Konya

Konya

The drive from the lakes was easy. We made a brief stop at Eflatun Pinar, a water shrine from the Hittite days. There was a nice little park around the spring, and a small cafe next to it. We ended up spending more time than we anticipated, as a delivery truck blocked the only exit. We were in no rush, so we spent a pleasant hour under the trees drinking coke, watching birds, and listening to the water. This is absolutely worth a stop if it's near your route, but maybe not worth a long detour.

Eflatun Pinar

I had heard bad things about driving in Konya, but we were fine. There were broad roads on the outskirts. The narrow streets of the center were gridlocked, but it wasn't stressful - I can deal with slow cars. It's fat cars on narrow streets that are frightening.

* Araf Hotel was like a museum inside; there were decorations everywhere. Rooms were small but comfortable, staff were nice and spoke very good English, and breakfast was ... once again ... amazing.

Our first order of business was to have a late lunch. *** Halk Etliekmek Konya had exactly what we wanted - etli ekmek, a flatbread the size of a table, and bamya çorbası, a soup made out of baby dried eggplant. It was hard judging the right quantity of flatbread to order, and at first it looked like we ordered far too much ... but we finished all of it!



After lunch most of our group took a siesta, while some visited the * Mevlânâ Museum. This "museum" is actually the mausoleum of Rumi. I put museum in quotes because it was an active religious site, and not a museum per-se with exhibits that explained anything.

Our main reason for timing our travels so that we were in Konya on a Saturday was to attend a *** Mevlevi Sema ceremony. It was fascinating. We were close enough that we could watch each person transition from watching their feet to entering into the trance. I found the experience more powerful than the ceremony I had seen years earlier at Galata ... and that was pretty amazing in itself.


Konya doesn't have many bars (maybe none?), but there were plenty of elegant dessert shops, and we ended our visit on a sweet note.

Next up: Four days in Cappadocia

(I'll try not to wait another week to write it!)

Cappadocia: Güzelyurt

The drive from Konya to Güzelyurt is an easy 2.5 hours, but there was a lot to see en-route. We made a full day of it.

** Sultan Han, our first stop, is a 13th century Seljuk Caravanserai. The building itself was very cool, but what set this visit apart was the collection of antique rugs hanging in the main hall. That, and the small café inside serving homemade goat-milk ice cream. This is definitely worth a stop.




* Aşıklı Höyük, a Neolithic archaeological site,was our second stop. We chose this rather than the more famous Çatalhöyük, which would have involved a longer detour. This is an interesting site that has a recreation of a Neolithic village on one side. I really enjoyed exploring it. The dig itself has some explanatory signs.




*** Lunch: Efeoğlu piknik kebap. This was a wonderful discovery. We had passed a couple roadhouses, and as we got closer to Selime we saw more restaurants with big parking lots for busses out front. Efeoğlu is a family-run restaurant set across the river from Selime Monastery, in the middle of an olive grove. You drive over a small bridge then down a dirt road ... so no tour busses! Everything is prepared fresh, so be prepared for a slow-lunch in the best possible sense.


This is the place. Bookmark it!

Our dining room was an outdoor pavilion in the olive grove

Saçtava - cubed lamb, tomatoes, and peppers cooked on the fire in a paella-style pan

*** Selime Monastery. My camera gave ran out of juice, so the only photo I have is from the outside. Selime was a lot larger and more elaborate than I realized, and we had a great time climbing to the top and exploring the maze of rooms.


Approaching Selime

Hotel and Diner: ** Akıncı Konağı. THis hotel seems to have a half-dozen different names. It's a sprawling estate, with pavilions and stairs and secret passages. Dinner is included, and it was a multi-course feast comparable to the fancy dinners we had in İstanbul. It was also full - Güzelyurt is a bit off the beaten path, but this place was popular.


Looking down into Monastery Valley from Güzelyurt

Güzelyurt itself was nice. It was formerly a Greek town, before the population exchanges. I liked getting lost in the narrow streets of the old town, and spending the late afternoon drinking tea in the main square. We only had one night, but I would've been happy with another one to explore the area more.

Next up: Three days in Uçhisar

Uçhisar 1

The drive to Uçhisar was another short drive with lots to do along the way.

** İhlara Valley - My main reason for wanting to stay in Güzelyurt was to hike in the İhlara Valley. There are a lot of painted cave churches in the rock cliffs, and I didn't get a chance to hike this on my last trip. There was a lot of confusing information online on where to park, which were the best parts of the trail, and how to get back to your car at the end of the hike.

We ended up parking at the trailhead in İhlara village, hiking to the tea house half-way to Belisirma, then walking back. My original plan was to walk all the way to Belisirma then call a taxi, but not everyone in our group were robust hikers. This ended up being fine; there were caves on both sides of the river and we were able to explore different ones on the way back. A lot of these had been vandalized, which was sad. Overall, though, this was a nice medium-level nature hike. The stairs in & out of the valley, and up and down to the churches, were the only parts that might be difficult for some.



Next stop was the underground city of *** Derinkuyu. It was just as impressive as the last time I visited. We timed it right, just before lunch, and there were no tour busses. I had brief moments of claustrophobia, but that passed quickly. The underground cities were amazingly well ventilated.



We had a light lunch of gözleme and pomegranate juice in one of the cafes near the entry to the city. Usually I avoid places right next to tourist destinations, but this one was really good & everything was fresh. I wish I could find the name so I could share it! It was the one closest to the entrance.

We arrived in Uçhisar late afternoon. Uçhisar is the least developed of the main tourist centers in Cappadocia, though I wonder how long that will last. The views were amazing.

Hotel: *** Mak's Cave House. Uçhisar is the least developed of the main tourist centers in Cappadocia, though I wonder how long that will last. The views were amazing. Mak's is a newer cave-style boutique hotel in a restored house. The host was wonderful, and the breakfasts amazing. And oh those views. We picked up a couple bottles of fruit wine from Şirince and relaxed on the roof for the evening.

Uçhisar 2

We had a 3:30 am pickup for our flight with *** Cappadocia Balloons. That early wake up was challenging, but so worth it ... there's a reason balloon flights are popular here! It was breathtaking. I don't like heights, so spent my time on the inside of our basket, and I was fine. And I am amazed at the skill the pilots had. At times were were high up, at times we were barely skimming the trees.



After another delicious breakfast we headed to the Göreme Open Air Musuem. I learned a lot about the history of monastic culture in Cappadocia on my last visit here. This time it was disappointing - it was just too crowded to enjoy the the place. I was ready to flee. Afterwards most of our group headed back to the hotel; a few of us explored more.

Zelve-Paşabağlar Open Air Museum was our next destination, but even though it has one name it is actually two separate sites. Paşabağlar is the valley with the fairy chimneys. Tour busses drop people off en-masse, you walk the path, take photos of the rocks, and head back. *** Zelve was fantastic, and more my speed. This was one of the largest communities in the area, and there was tons to explore. I only spent a couple hours there, and would have done a few more if the heat hadn't been so intense.


That evening we all met up again to watch the sunset from ** Uçhisar Kalesi. It was a bit of a climb up, but absolutely worth it.

Uçhisar 3

I had done some amazing hikes last time I was here, and took the day off to do a solo trek on a trail that promised to pass through three valleys. Things did not go as planned. Pigeon Valley connects Uçhisar to Göreme, and in theory you just pass enter the valley and follow the river to the next town. The first catch was descending into the valley itself. Parts of the trail were washed out. I'd follow a nice path that would slowly disappear, or turn into a treacherous goat trail. Or would dead end at a drop off. I had an All Trails map, but it wasn't always useful. I met other hikers who were having the same issue. It turns out the trial mostly follows the rim of the valley, not the bottom of the valley ... even though at the Göreme end there were signs advertising it as an easy, family friendly stroll along the river.

I'm glad I did it solo; my friends probably wouldn't have been talking to me if I had dragged them along.

So it was nice, glad I did it, but it did not compare to the amazing hikes on the other side of Göreme. By the time I reached town I was hot and hungry, and decided to have a lunch and a drink (or two) and call it a day.

It didn't even look that hard!

A trail puppy walked with me for the last half. I just followed him to town, and ignored my map.

Göreme itself has changed a lot since 2007! Back then it was more of a backpacker town, a scruffy alternative to the big hotels in Ürgüp. Now it seems to be the main hot spot - there were hotels and condos everywhere, and the place had a generic tourist hub feel. I'm glad we didn't stay there. I had a non-descript lunch, and caught the bus back to Uçhisar. Or tired to. It turns out that when the driver calls out a stop you're supposed to tell him you want to get off. I thought he was just announcing the next stop ... and then we sped right on by it. We were two kilometers out of town before I realized I needed to act. The driver let me off on the side of the road, and I had a free bonus hike back to town.

One set of my friends had spent the day visiting art galleries in Avanos, which sounded nice. Two others had gotten a day pass at a spa, and were currently drinking by the pool. I joined them.

Dinner: *** Bayram's House of Memories. I haven't mentioned dinners yet, since they were mostly unremarkable. Bayram's, on the other hand, was fantastic. It looks basic. The lights were out when we walked by. Bayram and his son seemed half asleep on the chairs outside. But when we asked if he was open he sprang to life. Lights on. Tables set. And Bayram singing the whole time. Every restaurant in town offers testi kebabı, lamb cooked in a clay pot. Someone in our group ordered it each night, and they were fine if not inspired. The testi kebabı here was the real deal. Bookmark this place.