When we mentioned to our Parents that we going to Turkey, they being the typical Hindus asked, isn't it a Muslim nation? Yes, we said, it is a country with 90% Muslim population.
90% muslim? is it correct? What do you imagine when you think you are going to visit such a place? loads of women with Burquas, maulvis, gents wearing traditional round caps, lots of mosques? ahh.. that's where Turkey is different from all other Arab nations. It's 90% European.
Women in the most stylish dresses, Men wearing the black suits and Ray Ban as if all of them going to audition for next James Bond film. Actually, the kind of suits a Bus driver there wears would put an Indian I-Banker to shame.
Anyways now about the planning.
We chose to visit Turkey out of a whim as we did not wanted to go to proper Europe (covered during my student exchange), HK, Singapore, US, Phillipines (wifey did that, courtesy her employers). So we were exploring the options and one night while watching an old James Bond movie (From Russia with Love), Mr. 007 arrives in Istanbul. Me and wifey were clueless as to where does Turkey actually is located in the world map or what is its capital (never heard of Ankara). But we decided that we will holiday in Turkey. We jumped from bed, opened the laptop and started searching about it. April-May was suggested to be a good period to visit the country and week of April 11th to April 17th had 2 mid-week holidays i.e. only a 3 day working week. Thus we decided that lets book the air-tickets and we did it impulsively.
Once the tickets were booked, the bible of travel (Lonely Planet (LP) for Turkey) was ordered through Flipkart. I was using flipkart for the first time and was apprehensive. But they didn't let us down. Fantastic and quick service (their one of depots in Mumbai being in same locality where we live helped). Thus I gobbled LP and site of www.turkeytravelplanner.com was also of much help alongwith tripadvisor. We also enquired with few travel operators about the packaged tours but realised its better to do self-"planned" trip.
Booking local travel in Turkey from home country is a big problem. Train connectivity of country is poor although that is more than compensated for the awesome bus connectivity they have within the country. They have more than 15-20 bus operators and most of them are private operators with Volvo/ merc buses. One can just go to Otogar (Bus station) and book the tickets same day without any hassle.
Since we had only 6 night/ 7 days we were not sure about how many days to spend where. 2 places were fixed i.e. Istanbul and Capadoccia. So we booked hotels through online site www.expedia.co.in for our 1 night stay in Istanbul and 1 night stay in Capadoccia. Rest was all done on adhoc once we reached there. Visa was done through an agent which took only 2 days time of processing. Papers were submitted on Monday and we received Visas on Wednesday.
Let the journey begin
We had booked a Turkish Airlines flight leaving Mumbai at 5:15 am (IST) and reaching Istanbul at 9:30 am (Turkey time). We did not sleep in excitement and also as Mrs. reached Mumbai only on 10th evening from her Sasural at 9pm.. then packing was done fervently till 12am, and we left for airport at 2 am. Check-in, immigration, security was quick and we were left with 1:30 hrs at the airport. So we whiled away our time, roaming around the duty free shops, and doing what we like best, eating choco chip brownie :)
Anyways, we boarded the flight and got comfortable in our seats. Missus went to sleep in some time and I started watching movies and sitcoms. Watched "The Devil wears Prada" and few episodes of Friends, HIMYM etc. In few hours it was morning and there were snowflakes on my window. I could see lots and lots of snow from my window and wowww, I was so thrilled..
It was probably the East Turkey comprising of Kars etc. which would have provided inspiration to Orhan Pamuk. Forgot to tell that on boarding we were given this tasty cheese sandwich and hazelnuts alongwith drinks to munch upon. In morning, we also got breakfast before we reached Istanbul.
Day 1 (11th April, 2011, Monday) (Istanbul)
Flight was pretty much on time and we reached Ataturk Airport of Istanbul. We cleared Immigration (read Passport Control at the Istanbul airport), took our luggage and headed to our Hotel in the city. Airport is good ~20 kms outside main area of city. Istanbul has an efficient system of tram and Metro to reach every part of city. Guided by LP, we boarded Metro and firstly alighted at Otogar to book our bus tickets for next night journey to Capadoccia. Otogar has ~150 counters of buses as big companies like Metro has atleast 8-10 counters of theirs. We booked our tickets through them as our owner of Hotel in Capadoccia had suggested this company and it was mentioned in LP and other sites too. Actually we later realized that this is the biggest Bus company with largest number of fleet and with connections to most of the places.
We reached the Hotel by 12:30 - 1 pm as we started walking from Metro station and took the wrong way and thus ended up walking a lot. A lot means a lot. Our Hotel was Carlton Hotel (no association with Ritz Carlton) near Sulemaniye Mosque. Rooms were decent although we could have got a better room and at better prices if done a little more research in the central Sultanahmet district.
Note: By Indian standards (or lets say by my standards), all the Hotels in Europe are squeaky clean with towels, hot and cold water running, nice bed etc. So one would never feel let down comparing the prices and quality we will get.
Anyways, we took a nap, got fresh and headed out to explore Istanbul by 2:30 - 3 pm. Although we lost half day, we covered Hippodrome, The Blue Mosque, Basilica Cistern and did a quick visit to the Grand Bazaar. All these places are a must visit although Basilica Cistern to me was not that impressive. Since most of the visiting places close by 6pm-7pm so we had good time to kill. We decided to head out to Beyoglu area for dinner. Strolled a bit before we found this place called The Magic House. It was nice cosy place with live music.
Day 2 (12th April 2011) (Tuesday) (Istanbul)
After the buffet breakfast in Hotel, we visited Sulemaniye Mosque, walked through Spice Bazaar visiting small mosques at few nook and corners and reached Eminou. There was New Mosque (only 500 years old) post which we took a Bosphorous tour through one of the private ferries. We were promised a 2 hr trip but we were cheated as it hardly lasted 1hr 20 mins as two people had to catch a flight and ferry people promised them to keep it short. We tried to make some noise but other people were least concerned and there was language problem. Anyways, even the short trip was nice as we saw beautiful palaces along the coast. Suggest that one should take the full day ferry run by Govt. tours to peacefully visit the places.
Anyways, after the Bosphorous we hit the Grand Bazaar again for some shopping. We purchased one of the beautiful lamps and few other bits.
Post shopping we moved back to hotel, packed our stuff and moved to Bus station for the overnight journey to Capadoccia. Bus was at 10pm which reached around 9am to Capadoccia (Land of Beautiful Horses).
Mehmet, the owner of Flinstones Cave Hotel came to pick up in his car to take us to the Hotel although it is less then 200 metres from the Otogar. He is the best host I have ever come across in my life till now. After breakfast he guided us for the day.
We got fresh and started for the day. We booked our bus tickets for next night to Pamukkale.
We visited Goreme Open Air Museum and then walked to the Rose valley/ Red valley which involved a walk of 2-3 kms although everyone says its one km. But the walk was so refreshing and we loved it.
We then started from Cauvsin to Pasabagi which was strongly recommended by Mehmet. We lost our way and hitchhiked 3 times to reach the correct place. It was ultimate fun and a new experience. Pasabagi had these mushroom shaped formations.
From there we headed back to our Hotel and rested as the Turkish Night awaited us. We were taken to this nice hotel, served 4 course meal while the performers entertained by their dance sequences. Belly dance was also there and we realised how hard it is to shake the booty. Post the dinner, we were back to our Hotel and excited for the Hot air Balloon trip next morning.
Day 4 (14th April, 2011) (Thursday) (Capadoccia)
L Morning was a let down as it was windy and the Balloon trip was cancelled. We got up at 5:30 am and waited for a car to come and pick us up. But went back to sleep after we realized the trip was cancelled. Then had a good breakfast and started for the organized trip. It was mini-van and there were ~10 people in total with all nationalities (French, Algerian, Londoners, Scottish, Greeks, Americans and Indians). Our guide was Suvat (pronounced “So what” J. He was pretty knowledgable and showed us around. We started with a good view and general info of Capadoccia and then visited Derinkyu underground city. Later, we visited Ihlara Valley and walked on the banks of Melendiz river. After the walk had lunch and visited Selime Monastery, Dervent Valley, the Onyx factory and back to Hotel by 6pm.
Our bus was at 8:30pm but we had change of plan in our mind. We asked the bus people if we could change the bus to Canakalle (Gallipoli fields and Troy) but the bus had just left. So we went to back to Hotel, got fresh, played some pool and then to Otogar for our Bus. The most hospitable person, Mehmet gifted me a wine bottle for my Birthday and said he apologized for us not being able to do the baloon trip. We thanked him profusely and headed for our bus.
Wifey wanted to visit a beach so we finally changed our trip to Kusadasi instead of Pamukkale and boarded the bus.
Day 5 (15th April, 2011) (Friday) (Kusadasi + Epheseus)
We reached Kusadasi at ~10am and had no idea as to where we would stay. As soon as we stepped out at Otogar, we asked the Bus guys for some reference. We were only making a day trip and had to head back to Istanbul tonight itself. He called a hotel and we were offere 20 Euros for a room. 20 Euros?? We were shocked but the owner (Murat) came and picked us up and made us comfortable. Hotel was in central district and very near (2 kms) to the main beach (Ladies Beach). It was right at the harbour and again amazed by the cleanliness and hospitality of the owner. We refreshed quickly and headed for Epheseus to see the best preserved ruins of a city. It was good and we took the audio guide but it would be better if one takes a tour guide to recreate the city. Anyways, strolled the city with a bit of laziness but slowly it got interesting.
Though the most interesting part was the public toilet :P
After Ephes we headed to Selcuk where we saw the Temple of Artemis (Seven wonder of ancient world) but we wondered where it was. We are not so imaginary and hence was tough to recreate the 127 columns from the lone standing column. Then it was the ladies beach which beckoned us and we headed there directly. The Blue waters were mesmerizing and we wet our feet there, although heart wanted to take a quick dip. After 2-3hrs of sun bathing we headed to the harbour for shopping, and watched a beautiful sunset.
Then headed back to Hotel for onward journey to Istanbul, our last destination. We did not knew that our Bus is gonna take the ferry route but it was nice seeing 15-20 buses on a mini cruise.
Day 6 (16th April 2011) (Saturday) (Istanbul)
Reached Istanbul and were transferred to Sultanahmet by the bus company (Aydin). Then the ordeal of finding a room to stay began as it was Saturday. Sultanahmet being the central area has a multitude of options to stay. We tried in atleast 15-20 before finding one which had a room empty. So we grab the first one. The room was quite small and was on 4th floor. But the view of room made for it.
Since we had time before room could be free, we grabbed breakfast and then headed back for Hotel. Caught a small nap, got fresh and headed for Topkapi Palace. We were feeling lazy earlier but Palace got us interested. It had the most vast collections of rubies and emeralds which can be seen. We were just dazzled by seeing so many of them. We visited Harem, Library and other parts of the palace. It took us almost 3 hrs to visit it. It was probably the best of the places we saw (by paying fees)
We then planned to attend the whirling dervishes ceremony called “Sema” where the union of god is achieved through a ritual of whirling (appearance in Jodha Akbar’s, Khwaja mere Khwaja song). The event started with a music performance playing Turkish music and then the Dervishes joined in. It was a calming experience and if you sit still and watch them whirl, yours head could start feeling dizzy too.
After performance, we trudged back and roamed around Sultanahmet area before nestling in a restaurant to enjoy the Nargileh (Hukkah), Cay (tea) and later some light dinner. After that we called it a day as cold breeze was blowing and it was pretty chilly night.
Day 7 (17th April 2011) (Sunday) (Istanbul)
We had a short day at our disposal as our flight was at 7pm but we needed to reach the airport which is 20 kms away from the main city by 5 pm atleast. After B’fast we headed for Aya Sofya (a church cum mosque converted into museum) and admired the mosaic paintings, frescoes etal. We also visited Istanbul Art and Archaelogy museum. Both were fascinating in themselves. The large green color palates which hang on the wall are supposedly largest inscriptions with calligraphy.
In the museum , there were fascinating works.
Then alas the time came to bid adieu and we packed our bags to leave on a plane. Reached airport well within time and could not decide as to what to buy from duty free shops. So ended up buying lots of chocolates. Return flight was full of Indians, probably many of them on some Corporate tours.
The flight attendants were not so hospitable but had dinner and watched movies (don’t remember names after two weeks; that’s how fickle my memory is). Sigh.
Bye Bye Turkey. Hope you call us again J
