Category: Travel

During last year’s travel through Turkey, we were amazed at the history. We were fascinated by the various peoples who lived here over the millennia and fascinated by the Hittites, Lycians and Carians. This year, we decided to start our season in the geologically rich area of Cappadocia.

To say it was otherworldly, magical and surreal seems almost like an understatement. There were three volcanoes that threw tufa – a pumice-like stone, over the area of 160 square miles and later lava covered the tufa. Over the course of thousands of years the soft tufa eroded and left fairy chimneys, which were later transformed into rock hewn cave houses.

We had flown from a storm tossed Sydney to Cappadocia, with its cool April weather and blue skies. We stayed at Koza Cave Hotel in Goreme, on a hill overlooking Pigeon Valley. Our cave hotel was reminiscent of the dreamy movie, Winters Sleep. It was like walking onto a movie set: Turkish carpets on limestone floors and carved lintels and rustic artifacts. Koza Cave is family run hotel with personal attention to guests, recommendations and help with bookings. It was a lovely place to base ourselves, with views of Pigeon Valley from our room.

 

Between the 10^th and 12^th Centuries, monasteries and churches were carved into the tufa and a great example is at the Zelve Open Air Museum at Goreme. We viewed frescoes that have been partially restored and also saw the skeletons in their opened graves in the church floor. As busy as the Open Air Museum is, you feel it is sacred ground.Our tip would be to plan to be at the Open Air Museum at Noon, because the tour buses take their groups off for lunch and it is quickly quiet.

We ran into Mustafa*, a taxi driver, with great local knowledge. For a reasonable price, he took us to view Love Valley, Pag Basa and an old church on the Goreme-Avanus Road, which has not been restored. Mustafa was able to drive us to these sights, so that the sun was always behind us for photos and he was able to tell us about the different sights we were seeing.

There was one downside with our stay in Cappadocia. We were signed up for a balloon trip and at 5:00am found ourselves waiting to be ferried out to the balloon field, but the wind came up strongly and Butterfly Balloons weren’t able to take us up. This means that Cappadocia has to go back onto the bucket list. Now we are off to Marmaris.

*Mustafa C works for Goreme Muze Taxi.

We have more Istanbul fun to share, so we are going with fewer words more photos.

1) We tried new food and drinks. Here we are lining up to try pomegranate juice. We were walking back to Sultanahmet, after we had been to the Grand Bazaar. The pomegranates were picture perfect.

 

2) We visited a Harem.

The Harem conjures up erotic images, but most of what we have seen are the beautiful Iznik tiles. You do begin at the hall of the Eunuchs before wandering through the chambers of the Sultan and the concubines. It is clear that it was the Sultan’s Mother who was the ruler of the Harem. There is a sense of enclosure and mystery behind these colourful tiles.

 

3) We visited the Spice Market and the Grand Bazaar, to see shops full of fruit & nuts to gold.

 

4) We missed the demonstration at Taksim Square, but this small boy hanging on to the trolley gave me palpitations.

 

5) There are so many churches in Europe.  In Istanbul, we visited mosques and listened to the call to prayer. You feel transported to a more exotic location just by hearing it. In Istanbul we saw young women in scarves together or with friends in completely secular, modern clothing. There were a few burqas but I had the feeling they were sightseers like me from other countries.

 

6) We met the nicest Turkish people. They are friendly and proud of Turkey. Here we met lovely work colleagues who insisted we share Pandeli’s famous walnut cookies to have with our coffee. We had a great conversation and we were warmed by Turkish hospitality in Istanbul and all through Turkey.

 

7) Bosporus Ferries & Castles

 

 

8) Street Food

Not really street food because they cook it straight from the boat, ‘Balik ekmik’ – Fish in bread, with a big serve of onions. For over a hundred years, the fisherman had been bringing their catch here from the sea of Marmara and the Bosporus Strait.  At some stage they decided to value add and serve the fish cooked. This is right at the Galata Bridge underneath the gaze of the New Mosque.

 

9) Visited Galata Tower in Karakoy. This medieval stone tower was built as Christea Turris by crusaders from Genoa in 1348. The nine story tower is a quick tram stop over the Galata Bridge from Sultanahmet. You have a 360 degree views of Istanbul and the Bosporus Strait. The coffee shop on the square at the bottom of the Tower was the best coffee we had in Turkey.

 

10) We didn’t queue.

The interior of the Blue Mosque is still a mystery to us, because we couldn’t make ourselves wait for the two-hour queue, even at 8:00 am. We saw it from so many other angles, but not the interior. Suggestions on beating the queue will be happily received.

That is probably it for Istanbul and Turkey until next April, but thank you for joining us.

The next post is all Sydney. Hooroo til then!

We arrived late, checked into the hotel in Sultanahmet on Wednesday night. We were determined to get up to make the most of our few days in Istanbul. We are at the bottom of the hill but it isn’t long before we see evidence of the Blue Mosque, minarets shining brightly in the sun. In fact, in this historic centre of Istanbul, many famous sights are within easy walking distance.

We follow our gaze at the beautiful Blue Mosque and end up at the Greco-Roman Hippodrome, a race course for horses or chariots, but now is a park with several ancient structures including the Obelisk of emperor Theodosius, who in 390 brought one third of the obelisk from the temple of Karnak in Luxor, Egypt. Looting and re-purposing has been going on for a thousand years.

The Blue Mosque or Sultanahmet Mosque stands in quiet beauty facing the equally beautiful Hagia Sophia, once an Orthodox Cathedral from 537 to 1453, then an imperial mosque until 1931, when Ataturk converted it into a beautiful museum.

We took the tram over the Galata Bridge to the Galata Tower, visited Taksim Square and had coffee at the Dolmabace Palace. Galata Tower is a Genoese medieval  stone tower standing over the Golden Horn’s junction with the Bosphorus.

What the tower gave us were 360 degree views of Istanbul.  We finished our day shopping in Arasta Square and there is always the Grand Bazaar tomorrow. Try YouTube for the song, it’s very catchy and you too can have an earworm.