Turkey: Information, Tips & Itinerary

                        For stories from my Turkey trip, read this blog and this blog


Travelled in: April 2007

Our Turkish Itinerary (15 Days excluding travel to Turkey):

Day 1:

Early morning arrival at Istanbul.

Afternoon Bosphorus cruise & visit to Pierre Loti Hill.

Overnight in Istanbul.

Day 2:

Visit Hagia Sophia, Blue Mosque, Hippodrome and Obelisks.

Afternoon flight to Izmir & drive to Selcuk.  Reach Selcuk by late evening.

Overnight in Selcuk.

Day 3:

Full day visit to Ephesus. Visit Artemis temple en-route.

Evening visit to museum at Selcuk.

Overnight in Selcuk.

Day 4:

Full day visit to Priene, Miletus and Didyma. Reach Selcuk by late evening.

Overnight in Selcuk.

Day 5:

Morning bus to Pamukkale. Reach in time for a late lunch.

Leave in the afternoon for Aphrodisias. Stay until closing time. Reach Pamukkale for dinner.

Overnight in Pamukkale.

Day 6:

Pamukkale travertine pools and Hierapolis until late evening.

Travel by overnight bus to Cappadocia.

Day 7:

Reach Cappadocia (Goreme) early in the morning.

Visit  Goreme Open Air Museum and St. John the Baptist Church.

Overnight in Goreme.

Day 8:

Pre-dawn hot-air balloon ride cancelled due to bad weather (always plan for this in the early part of your itinerary at Cappadocia. This way, you have back-up days to go on a flight, in case the planned flight is cancelled, like ours was).

Full Day Cappadocia tour [view-points, Nar lake (crater), Ihlara valley trek, pigeon houses, Selime monastery].

Whirling Dervishes ceremony at Sarihan, at night.

Overnight in Goreme.

Day 9:

Pre-dawn hot-air balloon ride. Free by breakfast time.

Full Day Cappadocia tour (Kaymakli underground city, pottery at Avanos, visit to rock formations, evening trek through Rose valley)

Overnight in Goreme.

Day 10:

Depart post breakfast for Nemrut (drive).

Stop in Kahramanmaras for lunch & Dondurma (ice-cream). Reach Kahta by late evening.

Overnight in Kahta.

Day 11:

Leave for Mt. Nemrut, pre-dawn (by 3 am). Stay beyond sunrise.

After a late breakfast at Kahta, leave for Urfa.

En route, visit ruins at Arsemeia, Cendere Roman Bridge & Ataturk Dam.

At Urfa, visit Prophet Abraham’s birth-place, the nearby mosque complex & markets.

Overnight in Urfa.

Day 12:

Leave after breakfast for Harran beehive houses.

Drive to Cappadocia (Goreme).

Overnight in Goreme.

Day 13:

Fly to Istanbul in the morning, from Cappadocia’s Kayseri Airport.

Afternoon onwards in Istanbul.

Overnight in Istanbul.

Day 14:

Explore Istanbul.

Overnight in Istanbul.

Day 15:

Explore Istanbul.

Overnight in Istanbul.

(More possible places to visit in Istanbul: Asian side of Istanbul, Topkapi Palace & the nearby Istanbul Archeology Museum, Dolmabahce Palace, Istiklal Caddesi, Galata Tower, Galata bridge, Kariye/Chora Church, Grand Bazaar, Spice Bazaar, a Turkish hamam, Basilica Cistern)

Day 16:

Leave for the airport post lunch for flight out of Turkey.

Hotels we stayed at:

Please note that all hotel reviews are as on April 2007. Also, all of them are B&Bs (known locally as pensions), with the exception of Kelebek at Cappadocia. Turkey has hotels in a wide range of categories, to suit all budgets.

Istanbul:

Apricot Hotel.

Well-located in Sultanhamet. Within walking distance of many sights & tram connections. Small B&B with small but clean rooms. Good breakfast. Friendly staff.

Pamukkale:

Melrose Allgau Hotel.

The name is a bit misleading as this is a family-run accommodation. The rooms are spacious, airy and clean, if basic. Hot water & clean towels are always available. The home-cooked meals are delicious. Ulmi is a fabulous cook and will smilingly rustle up a meal for you, even at short notice. Mehmet & Ulmi went out of their way to make our stay comfortable. I just happened to mention that the lace curtains they had were very nice and Ulmi immediately offered to give me some new ones she had purchased. 

Selcuk:

Hotel Bella.

It is located quite centrally and you can walk to the market, the otogar and the Ephesus museum. The rooms are small, but clean and cosy. The bathrooms are spotless, with plenty of hot water. Bella offers good views of St.John's Basilica & the castle....also of storks who build their nests right across the street. The most inviting part of the hotel, undoubtedly, is the rooftop terrace - we literally lived there. They have a warm fireplace going every evening and people gather to swap stories over drinks & dinner. The dinners are delicious and great value for money. The owners Erdal & Nazmi are helpful and ensure your stay is smooth and organised. Lianne helped us with a lot of information on what to see and where to go. The staff is ever-smiling & courteous. They have a carpet shop where you can pick up some handicrafts too, but there is no hard-sell.

Cappadocia:

Kelebek Hotel.

In Goreme, within walking distance of the main street & restaurants. A cave hotel with clean, comfortable & reasonably large rooms. Good, but expensive food. Good breakfast.

Urfa & Nemrut:

Very few options. Usually decided by the tour operator taking you to Nemrut. The hotels are budget & basic.

Resources used for planning the trip:

Lonely Planet – Turkey guidebook

http://www.turkeytravelplanner.com/

http://www.tripadvisor.com/

  

Travel agent used for flight, bus, car & a few tour arrangements:

Turkish Heritage Travel:

http://www.goreme.com/turkish-heritage-travel.php

Dealt with Mustafa Turgut. Very prompt with e-mails, friendly & reasonable prices. We were happy with 80% of the arrangements. There were a few mix-ups in tour arrangements, a couple of bad guides & a few visits to pottery / carpet / wine stores that we didn’t appreciate. If you can be specific about all that, they are good.

Vegetarian food in Turkey:

I had no trouble finding vegetarian food in Turkey. You have an abundance of fresh veggies, olives, apricots & figs, sweet fruit, olive oil & varieties of cheese. Fresh salads & freshly-baked bread are easily available. So are shorbas (soups); though some of them may have meat stock in them. Lentil & Ayran (curd) soups are relatively free from meat stock. Other local options are: Falafel, rice wrapped in vine leaves, gozleme (savoury pastry), boreks (another variety of savoury pastry, smaller than gozleme), pide (bread, pizza), assorted mezze, simit (like a bagel, with sesame seeds). Of course, there are some yummy desserts too. 

To drink: The sweetish Apple tea, the stronger çay, some very strong black coffee or refreshingly cold ayraan (buttermilk). At night, the Turkish liquour, raki, is popular. Made from anise, it was too strong for my liking, but is a local favourite. If it’s a particularly cold day, warm your innards with salep, a unique Turkish drink made from crushed orchid roots.