Entries about turkey

From Pamukkale my original plan was to go to Fethiye, but Fethiye's forecast was rain for the next 5 days So I headed to Kusadasi instead. Minibuses headed there take 3hrs, and cost 35L ($17CAD). It Dropped me off across the street from my hotel, Hotel Sozer, which was located right across the street from the Mediterranean! It wasn't super fancy, but had free breakfast & free wifi, and a rooftop terrace with a pool overlooking the sea, and there was a beach 2min walk away. Only $35CAD ... not bad at all for all that! Above is a photo of the boardwalk that extends for a long ways in both directions. Its lined with restaurants, bars, and shopping.

Kusadasi is Turkey's biggest/busiest cruise ship port. One day there were 4 ships in port!


Watching the ships come & go

A stray dog came and befriended me at the beach. He laid beside me the whole time. He even fell asleep with his head on my sarong that I was using as a beach blanket


If you head east along the boardwalk you will eventually come to the causeway out to Pigeon Island and its fortress.


Of course it was closed for restoration when I was there, but its free to walk around the outside.


There were a lot of locals fishing from the causeway.

From Kusadasi, the ruins of Ephesus are only 19km away. Dolmuses (mini van taxis) are $4CAD each way. They drop you off on the highway, and then its a 3km walk to the lower gate entrance. Admission is 30L ($15CAD).

The main thing everyone comes to see is the library (featured above), and I am one of those people, lol!! And it did not disappoint! The details were incredible!!
This is the main 'path' leading up to the Library of Celsus.














View of the library from the other side.

The 3 level amphitheatre which can hold 25,000 people. Each range of seating is pitched more steeply than the one below, thereby improving the view & acoustics for the spectators in the upper seats.


If you keep wandering you will happen upon these ancient toilets! Taking a poo was a public event back then! I was told that entertainers would come in and put on a show while you poop with your friends!! Can you imagine, lol!!

Water used to run underneath to wash away all the 'deposits'.

Itty bitty mosaic tiles

Kitty sunning herself on the mosaic tiles that were roped off for humans. Sneaky kitty.

Do these cats even realize they live in an ancient city?!






Sarcophagi

Well, thats it for the Kusadasi/Ephesus area. I headed back to Istanbul after a few days here. I flew from Izmir (nearest city with an airport, 1hr from Kusdasi) to Istanbul for only $55CAD, which was only $10CAD more than the 10hr night bus option.

Next up ... Jordan!!!

Cappadocia ... WOW! Its as awesome as I was hoping it would be! From hot air ballooning over the valley of hoodoos, to cave dwellings and underground cities ... such a unique place to explore!

I arrived in Neveshir in the Cappadocia region of Turkey via a 12hr night bus from Istanbul. The bus was $33CAD, did not have a toilet, and only stopped twice. So if you are like me and have a small bladder ... don't drink too much of anything or you'll never make it, lol! I arrived in Neveshir around 7:30am, and then had to wait about 30min for the free shuttle to Goreme.

I really wanted to stay in a cave hotel, but expected them to be expensive. But I found a great deal on Expedia the night before for Castle Cave House ... only $36 to sleep in a cave converted to a hotel!



It was very basic (there were definitely fancier ones once I walked around town, but this one was in my budget)

Communal living room area

The bathroom was great - hot shower with lots of pressure, and there was even a heater in the bathroom! I was here in Late October so evenings were chilly.

View from my bedroom window


View from the rooftop terrace

After checking in I walked around the town a bit. I came across this fancy cave hotel - I'm assuming it was way out of my budget, lol!




Turkish flag

Souvenirs for sale


I tried some Turkish Delight, which was quite pricey. 4 little pieces for $2CAD. None were good enough to buy more. Its just basically flavored jelly candy. Two of them I couldn't figure out the flavor, another was green with a hazelnut on top but tasted like banana, and the other was rose water. That shouldn't even be allowed to be a flavor, bleh.

When I returned from my walk, the owner of my hotel asked if he could take me sightseeing on his scooter. He said I could pay him whatever I felt was fair. I ended up giving him 100L ($50CAD).I probably could have given less, but on my walk I had noticed tour agencies offering bus tours for that price. Except bus tours only go to a few places, and he took me to all the places I wanted to see! A full day of sightseeing, crossing everything off my list, staying at each place as long as I wanted rather than being stuck on a tour's itinerary, was worth $50 to me.

Our first stop was Goreme Open Air Museum. Admission was 20L ($10CAD). In all honesty, this place is a tad overrated and over priced. A lot of the cave dwellings were blocked off by chains or ropes, and the ones you were allowed into you could not take photos in. For $0 you can pull over on the side of the road at any other cave dwelling and climb all over it, taking as many photos as you want.






I was able to sneak a few photos inside one of the dwellings before being yelled at by a guard. A lot of the dwellings were ancient churches.



A tunnel I had to crouch down to get through

After about 30min here I asked my new friend to take me to more cave dwellings that I could climb on and explore better. So he took me to Urgrup ... which is free! Perfect price for me



Nearby were a few restaurants, ice cream stand, souvenir stands, a camel waiting to have his photo taken with tourists, and a cute little puppy



In the same area there is a hill to climb for great views over the area!

View over Urgrup


The next stop was Love Valley ... or "The Valley of Giant Penises" as I call it, LOL! Its definitely obvious how this place got its name!!




Look for our little scooter ... the hoodoos/fairy chimneys/giant penises are massive!

Then we headed over to Uchisar Castle. Ah-MAY-zing!! Its the biggest cave dwelling of them all! A whole city carved into it! Now there's a staircase built on one side so you can climb to the top for great views. Admission is 6L ($3CAD).



360 degree views!




People really still live in cave houses! Just like the Flintstones

Just outside of the castle a little market was set up selling all kinds of stuff. They let me sample stuff before buying it




Turkish delight

My new friend also helped me book a hot air balloon ride for the next morning. It cost $190USD. Pickup & dropoff were included, as was a small breakfast.

Pickup was at 5am, while it was still dark. We were brought to the tour company's office where a small breakfast was served (just biscuits & coffee/tea). Then we were rounded up and driven out to where the balloons were being inflated. It was neat seeing 100s of balloons being illuminated in the dark as they were all being inflated!






My one complaint is that there were way too many people in the basket ... 28! The tall people (myself included) were stuck in the back, and the short people got to stand in front. So in order to see over the basket's edge I had to fight my way to the front each time Below: I'm the one in the toque.



Once we were all crammed inside and everyone had a photo op, it was lift off time! This was my first ever hot air balloon ride so I had no idea what to expect. It was a completely calm & smooth ride. I really couldn't feel anything at all! It was just like we were floating


Bumping balloons

The view over Goreme. We were 800m high!





The flight is timed perfectly with the sunrise. There is a 2nd flight that takes off after sunset which is cheaper, but I recommend splurging on the sunset!




I forgot to time how long it was, but if felt like an hour or so. We landed in Love Valley amongst all the giant penises, lol!

The hotel owner let me stay until 9pm before checking out at no extra charge! Probably cuz I over paid for the scooter tour. He also then scooted me to the otogar (bus station) for yet another night bus. This time I was headed to Pamukkale!

Istanbul ... my favorite city! And I don't say that lightly ... I have been to many countries, even more cities, and all continents but one ... so when I say Istanbul is my favorite city, I truly mean it! And I don't even like cities! I grew up in a small town of about 1500 people; the nearest city was only 150,000 (now grown to 250,000). So skyscrapers, metro systems, and millions of people are all intimidating to me. My city has exactly 0 skyscrapers and no metro system. And when you are at a crosswalk waiting to cross the street, more times than not, you will be the only person at the crosswalk ... on both sides, lol! For real!

Back to Istanbul ... I arrived late at night and took a taxi to my hotel, Askin Hotel Boutique. It was literally 1/2 block from the Blue Mosque (which is why I chose it)!! The photo above is the view from the rooftop terrace! In one direction I could see the Blue Mosque, in the other I could see the Bosphorus River. I had 2 days in Istanbul; my first day in Turkey, and my last day. The first day I had about 1hr of cloudiness before it started raining and didn't stop. But thankfully my last day was perfectly sunny So this post will be filled with photos from both days ... some will be sunny, some will not, lol! Thankfully Istanbul is a great city to be in on a rainy day, as it has tons of indoor things to do/see.

First up, the Blue Mosque It was WAY bigger than I ever imagined it to be!! MASSIVE! It is absolutely gorgeous ... and free to go inside All ladies have to cover their heads (scarves are provided if you don't have one), everyone (even men) have to have their legs covered, and everyone has to remove their shoes.




It has 6 minarets (towers) each 210ft tall, and has the biggest courtyard of all the Ottoman mosques. Inside there were aerial photos of what the mosque looks like at full capacity ... below is a photo of that photo.



The outer dome is 141ft tall, and the inner dome is 77ft tall.








The inside was amazing! Way fancier than any cathedral I've visited that's for sure! Four baobab-sized pillars held up the domed ceiling, and every inch was covered in mosaic tiles!



Across the street / other side of the fountain, is the Hagia Sofia mosque.


On the other side of the Hagia Sofia, is the Topkapi Palace, which I never did make it to All 3 are pretty much in a row.

By now it was pouring rain, so I ran over to the underground Basilica Cistern (across the street in the other direction from the Hagia Sofia). So many great things to see all close together!

Admission is 20 Turkish Lira ($10CAD). This incredible underground 'basilica' was built in 532. It is 65m wide, 143m long, and its arched roof is held up by 336 pillars arranged in 12 rows. It used to hold the city's water, up to 80,000 cubic meters, and was pumped through nearly 20km of aquaducts!

Now there is only about 1.5ft of water in it, and there are fat fish living in it! Its quite an eerie feeling down there in the dark, hearing the ceiling drip with water, the echoes, the fat creepy fish ... but well worth a visit! I have never seen anything like it anywhere else!

If you are looking for street food, it will be everywhere! Be sure to try the fresh squeezed orange juice









Next up was a visit to the Grand Bazaar. Its completely covered, so its great on a rainy day. You can find absolutely everything under the sun for sale here! From carpets to gold jewelry, from slippers to handpainted dishes, from belly dancing costumes to perfumes! My favorite were the lantern/lamp shops! Lanterns were hanging & lit from every wall, plus the ceiling, and some were standing on the floor. So colorful, like Christmas




Carpets for sale around every corner!


Beautiful hand painted dishes.


Perfumes

Turkish Delight of every flavor imaginable, plus some things that I had no idea what they were.




All kinds of souvenirs!







Like I said at the beginning, My last day in Turkey was a sunny, clear day in Istanbul, so the sunset on my last day was perfect If your hotel is located anywhere in the vicinity of the Blue Mosque, and has a rooftop terrace, be sure to go up top to watch the sunset! You wont be disappointed!

As the sun was setting, the call to prayer began. The muezzins of the Blue Mosque and the Hagia Sofia take turns, each saying a line, back and forth. I'm not muslim, but I was completely moved & overwhelmed by this! Add in the setting sun silhouetting the Blue Mosque's minarets ... I love Istanbul :D There are still so many things I would like to see/do in Istanbul, like take a ferry down the Bosphorus River, visit the Rumeli Hisari fort, go inside the Topkapi Palace & Hagia Sofia, walk on the city walls, watch a twirling dervish show, etc. I truly hope I will be back one day!