September 9th 2019 (Day1)

Merhaba (hello in Turkish)….Greetings from Istanbul, a city that is home to 2 continents (Europe and Asia). We will be travelling extensively in Turkey for the next 10 days. We are excited to experience a blend of natural wonders, ancient history and gastronomic delights. We hope you are equally excited to join us in our journey.

A short note on Turkey

Turkey is 25% of India by area and has a population of 8 crores (6% of Indian population). Istanbul is the fourth largest city in the world in terms of population (1.5 crores) and the largest city in Europe (if considered as part of Europe). 18% of total Turkey’s population lives in Istanbul. Ankara is the capital of Turkey. The currency is Turkish Lira and is referred with symbol TL. During the time of our visit, 1 TL was close to INR 12.50.

We flew Turkish airlines from Delhi and landed in the newly inaugurated Istanbul airport(IST) which is almost 40kms from the city centre. For your information, the popular Ataturk International airport in Istanbul is closed and the new airport is expected to be world’s largest airport (in terms of passenger handling) by the year 2025. 

Temperature was normal and was around 32°C with clear skies as we landed. Though it’s autumn now, we understood from our guide that there could be short and frequent rains in the month of September.

Turkey wishes to be always identified as a part of Europe and is already a candidate for EU. But, with just 5% of the area under Europe and with a strong religious affiliation(98% Muslims) and cross border conflicts, I personally feel it’s a difficult task for Turkey to impress EU. Nevertheless, if you go by the culture, infrastructure and development, Turkey is well poised to find a place in Europe. 

The remaining 95% of Turkey on the Asian side is called Anatolia – more popularly known as ‘Asia minor’ among historians and forms an important part of the oldest civilizations such as Mesopotamia and Sumeria. Gobekli Tepe, a recent excavation, dates back to 10000BC (12000years before) and is considered the oldest human settlement ever excavated in the world. Catal Huyuk dates back to 7500BC and is considered the 1st urban town. Starting from the neolithic settlements, history continues in Turkey with the mighty Greek and Roman civilizations, followed by the influential Ottoman empire to a modern developed country as we see Turkey today.

With this introduction, I bid good bye for the day.

September 10th 2019 (Day 2)

Today we flew to Kaysari, a city in central Anatolia from Sabiha Gokcen airport (SAW-2nd airport in Istanbal) and then reached Cappadocia by road.

September 11th 2019 (Day 3)

Cappadocia- A UNESCO world Heritage site (in Central Anatolia, 750kms south of Istanbul)

Cappadocia is home to unique and spectacular rock formations. Volcanic eruptions 2 million years before, left layers of ash in the valleys of Cappadocia. As time progressed, the ashes became ‘tuffs’ (very soft stones). Over a period of time, rain and erosion resulted in such fairy tale like rock formations. The rocks took different shapes at different places around Cappadocia and the valleys are named based on the shapes like the mushroom valley, Pigeon valley, Rose valley and pink valley.

The malleable and easily carvable nature of these rocks were transformed by human hands into even more incredible structure such as cave houses, castles and underground cave towns, thousands of years before. A few underground towns have been discovered around Cappadocia, the biggest underground town has 8 floors beneath and is 80 metres deep. It can accomodate 10000 people…almost a small town. This concept of underground dwellings dates back to 4th century BC. Later, Christian saints had used these towns to evade hostile attacks during the early stages of Christian evangelism. There are even small altars in the lower floors.

Gerome open air museum is a must visit place in Cappadocia with many cave churches and frescos of the Christian era.

Today, Gerome valley has many private condos and cave hotels to cater to the amusement of the tourists.

Cappadocia is a natural wonder and should definitely find a place in seven natural wonders of the world.

Hot air balloon ride in Cappadocia

A trip to Cappadochia is incomplete without flying in hot air balloon. It was a breathe-taking view as we flew over the skies of this wonderland. The landscape below resembled the surface of an alien planet. Hot air balloon rides are generally slightly expensive. In Cappadochia, it costs US$230 per person and flying duration is close to an hour. But its worth the experience.

Actually, we could not capture landing as we were instructed to take safety positions. I had picturized hot air balloon landing video from an exclusive view point the earlier day. As you would observe in my following video, the pilot attempts to land directly on the cart but fails miserably😀😀. Its interesting to watch.

September 12 2019 (Day 4)

CaravanSerai

Today we departed to Konya, an industrial city in central Anatolia, south-west of Cappadocia. Konya is twice as bigger as Istanbul in area. The neolithic settlement of Catal Huyuk is near the city of Konya (unfortunately not in our program and did not visit)

On the way to Konya, we halted at Sultanhani CaravanSarai, 45kms from Aksaray on the main highway. This huge 13th century lodging monument was built by the Seljuk kings. Starting from 10th century AD, Seljuk kings built many such stop-over structures along the main silk route (connecting China to the Mediterranean) for traders to halt and relax during their long journeys. Sultanhani CaravanSerai is a well preserved site with a large courtyard, a kitchen, stalls, library, stable for camels and a massive hall for stay during winters. There is a mosque in the middle of the monument.

Konya

And as we reached Konya, we visited the Mausoleum Of Muhammed Rumi, a 13th century great Sufi mystic poet. His most influential work is Masnavi regarded as ‘Quran of Persia’. Later, a mosque was built over his tomb and is considered very sacred among Muslims. Rumi’s followers formed a ‘Mevlevi order’ and also introduced ‘Whirling Dervishes’, a dance sequence with a soothing spiritual touch. Rumi’s theology and ‘Whirling Dervishes’ are becoming more popular in the US.

Now comes the most interesting part….please click here to watch what Sadhguru has to say about this place. If you have watched the video, then continue reading, else, you may skip and go to the next topic.

We observed the stone half buried in the mosque’s garden. None (including our guide) could tell us why the stone was placed there. The whole issue is highly debatable and I just leave it to one’s own beliefs and imaginations.

September 13th 2019 (Day 5)

Pamukkale- In South central Anatolia (250kms south-west of Cappadocia)

Pamukkale means ‘Cotton castle’ in Turkish. A hot spring (35 ∼100°C) flowing out of a seismic fault line, 200 metres above in the mountains and rich in calcium carbonate (limestone) has left traces of these white deposits over a million years. The thermal pools are believed to have therapeutic properties curing many ailments. It was indeed a breath-taking site to see this natural wonder of the world.

It was raining in Pamukkale today and we had to run for shelters but rain did not dampen our drive in exploring this place.

Hierapolis- Nature meets History

The thermal spa town of Hierapolis was established near Pamukkale in the 2nd century BC (Hellenistic period) by the Greeks (Attalid Dynasty) taking advantage of the hot springs and its medicinal values. A strong earthquake destroyed the town completely in 60AD. Hierapolis was re-built by the Romans starting from 2nd century AD. Remains of the Greco-Roman period include baths, temple ruins, a monumental arch, a nymphaeum, a necropolis and a theatre. This theatre has a capacity of 12000 people with special marble seats for royal dignitaries and an amazing acoustic system. Just felt goosebumps standing over this structure.

Our next destination was Kusadasi, a resort town on Aegean coast of Turkey. Cruises sail to ports of Greece from Kusadasi.

September 14th (Day 6)

Ephesus (250 kms west of Pamukkale/Denizli) Nearest city: Kusadasi / Selcuk 

If you expect to see best archaeological remains of Greek civilization in Greece or Roman civilization in Rome then you may be wrong. Ephesus, near town of Selcuk is the best Greco-Roman archaeological site in the world. Ephesus was believed to be founded in the 10th century BC. Androclos, Prince of Athens and Amazonian women are the mythological founders of Ephesus. As per available historical data, Ephesus was ruled by the Lydian Dynasty in the 7th century BC and later was invaded by Alexander the Great in 344BC. After Alexander’s death, Ephesus changed many hands until it was finally conceded to Romans in 129BC. The ruins we see today were built/rebuilt by Augustus Caesar (son of Julius Caesar) and Ephesus thrived until 3rd century AD.

Ephesus is a major port city flourishing in trade in ancient time and served as the capital of eastern Roman Empire.

The great theatre in Ephesus was built by the Greeks and further extended by Romans. This was the largest theatre in the ancient world with a seating capacity of 25000 people and used for concerts, political meetings and even gladiator fights .

The temples, library, roads and the Roman columns in the streets are all made of white marble.

The town planning was simply amazing. The citizens lived in terraced houses with different sizes and facilities depending on the economic/bureaucratic status. The pedestrian platforms along the roads were all tiled with mosaic. There were common baths and toilets. The whole town was served by a 7 metres deep underground sewage system.

The Bouleuterion is the meeting hall of the council / senators and a happening place for small music concerts and contests. This semi circular theatre had a wooden roof and now, understandably is open to sky.

Temple of Artemis, one of the seven wonders of ancient world is located in Ephesus. Artemis is an Olympian Greek Goddess of hunting, chastity, fertility and many more. She is the twin sister of Apollo and had many breasts as per Greek mythology. She was a very popular and most revered Goddess in the Greek and early Roman period. The temple of Artemis was rebuilt on several occasions and was even burnt down once by a crazy man just to become famous. Alexander showed interest to revive the temple of Artemis and it was rebuilt even bigger than the original temple. Statue of Artemis is now in the Ephesus museum in Selcuk. The temple of Artemis is reduced to just a pillar in the town of Selcuk now and almost does not exist (similar to Hanging gardens of Babylon)

Ephesus needs to be experienced to appreciate its value.

Ephesus in early Christian era

Ephesus has a strong connection to early Christian era and served as a the hub for beginning of Christian evangelism. It is believed that St.John, one of the 12 apostles of Jesus and Virgin Mary were present during Jesus crucifixion. As instructed by Jesus, and after his crucifixion, Virgin Mary moved to Ephesus along with St.John and continued to live there until her death.

The seven churches of revelation mentioned in the Holy Bible existed in the Anatolian region(Asia minor) and the 1st church was in Ephesus. Therefore, its no wonder Ephesus remains a very sacred place among Christians, next to Jerusalem.

City of Troy(Truva in Turkish)

Many of us might have watched Brad Pitt’s movie ‘Troy’. It was based on the mythological creation of Homer’s Iliad. But never did I know that the actual City of Troy existed in Turkey. The excavated city of Troy is near Canakkale, a city close to the shore of Aegean sea. City of Troy was founded in the early Hittite period in 1600BC and has seen many downfalls and uprisings. Archaeologists have discovered 9 different periods of Troy civilization (spanning over  more than 3500 years) as observed from the 9 layers in the walls of the excavated city.

The story of the Trojan war and the Trojan horse remains a myth. But, just for the sake of tourist interest, a wooden horse has been placed near the site of the excavated city of Troy.

The wooden horse used in the movie ‘Troy’ was gifted to Turkey by Warner brothers (producers of the movie) and is exhibited in the city centre of Canakkale beach front.

Today, we travelled to Ayvalik, north of Kusadasi along the Aegean sea coast. The Greek shores are even more closer here (15kms by cruise)

September 15th 2019 (Day 7)

As the final leg of our tour, we traveled back to Istanbul from the shores of the Aegean sea. It was quite long travel by road (400kms).

September 16th-19th 2019 (Day 8,9,10)-Istanbul City

Istanbul places of Interest

Istanbul was inhabited by human settlements since 2 millinea BC. The first colony of Byzantium (Greek settlements) was established in 7th century BC. Alexander The Great invaded Istanbul in the 4th century BC and the city was finally conceded to the Roman Empire in 2nd century BC. Roman emperor Constantine named the city as Constantinople in 3rd century AD and made Istanbul, the capital of the Roman Empire. Constantine was the first and foremost reformer among the Roman Catholics bringing all the bishops under one doctrine and system.

In the 15th century, Sultan Mehmut (Ottoman emperor) conquered and reigned over this city and renamed it to its present name, İstanbul.

The photo below was taken from the Bosphorus strait that separates European and Asian region of İstanbul.  An amusing geographical fact is that one can jog between the two continents in less than an hour. The Bosphorus strait links the Sea of Marmara on the south west to the Black sea in the North East of İstanbul.

Hagia Sophia 

Also known as Aya Sophya in Turkish, Hagia Sophia is the iconic landmark monument of İstanbul. Hagia Sophia was built not once, but twice as it fell prey to riots each time. Finally, the present structure  was built by Roman emperor Justinian in 6th century as a Basilica. It served as a church for 912 years and as a mosque for 482 years (under Ottoman Empire) until it was converted into a museum as we see today.

Blue mosque (partially closed inside due to renovation work), Suleymaniya mosque and Topkapi palace are other architectural marvels that adorn the skyline of old city of İstanbul.

Basilica Cistern

An underground water storage tank built in the 6th century AD by Roman emperor Justinian as a contingency plan for emergencies especially during wars. You can only see a few columns in the photo above, actual system has 336 columns each almost 9 metres tall and can store 80000 cu.meter of water.  

For those interested to know more about this cistern, please click here.

Valens Aquaduct

Aquaducts are canal systems unique to Roman empire built to transport water. The whole system is an engineering marvel and includes underground tunnels, flat canals, single storey and double storey structures designed based on the land mass enroute. An uniform gradient of 1:1000 was maintained all through the system so that the water keeps flowing for miles. This Valens Aquaduct was completed by the Roman emperor Valens in the 4th century AD and brought water from as far as 275kms in the Threcian region, and fed the Imperial palace, baths and the Basilica cistern in Istanbul. The double storey structure seen here was a part of the Aquaduct measuring 975metres long and 30metres high. Now, the Ataturk Boulevard in the city centre runs through this existing structure.

Galata tower

Galata tower is a neighbourhood area of Taksim square. Dont miss the fun to experience the oldest tunnel subway that goes up from Karakoy ferry station to Beyoglu. From here, you need to walk through the steep slopes of cobbled streets to reach Galata towers. It’s good to spend an evening with lots of cafes and local food around, but long queues to go up the tower. 

Balat

Balat is a Jewish neighbourhood slightly in the out skirts of Istanbul city. There is a synagogue, colourful houses, cobbled streets and cafes that serve excellent juices and sell antique items. You may visit the community if you have lot of time to spare else you can skip it.

We missed to see the Dolmabahce palace and the Istanbul Archaeological museum that was in our must-visit list. This museum has many rare artifacts including Alexander the Great’s sarcophagus and history’s oldest ‘peace agreement’ made between the Hittites and the Egyptians(13th century BC). Again, lot of renovation work happening in the museum when we visited and understood only 20% artifacts were being displayed.

Shopping in Istanbul

Shopping is an integral part of travel. Istanbul has very attractive markets and most of the items sold are made in Turkey (for a change not many Chinese goods)

Grand Bazaar, İstanbul

A shopaholic paradise, this bazaar has 18 entry gates and houses more than 4000 shops lined up in 61 streets, 4 fountains and 2 mosques – all under a covered roof built based on Islamic architecture. The bazaar was built by Sultan Mehmut, the great Ottoman emperor immediately on this accession in order to lift the economy of his empire. Even today, the market attracts up to 4 lakh visitors and is one of the largest sheltered market in the world.

Spice market (aka Egyptian bazaar)

Spice market is a smaller version of Grand bazaar, with a fewer shops arranged in a L-shape. Only the name is spice bazaar, but you get everything including spices. There are hundreds of shops lining outside spice market and they are more active than the shops inside the market.

We also visited Arasta bazaar, in the same vicinity of Sulthanamet. The products sold here were the same as in Grand bazaar or Spice market but we found the product quality better in Arasta bazaar.

Kadikoy is a residential district on the Asian side and there are many options for shopping and eating here. Being Tuesday, we decided to visit Kadikoy Sali Pasari(tuesday market) and so we ventured from Europe to Asia😉😉😉. Just for someone who would wish to venture on this trip to the market, please take a ferry from Karakoy or Eminonu on the European side to reach the Asian side (20mins ferry). Then, take a metro (M4) to Tavsantepe and get down at Acibadam(2nd stop). Nuts and dry fruits were very cheap and good in this market.  

For window shopping, visit Istiqlal street. The street turns vibrant in the night with lot of eateries and night clubs.

Arts and crafts in Turkey

Turkey’s age old diverse culture can still be seen alive in their hand made carpets, potteries and jewelry.

Turkish carpets are famous all over the world. Turkish carpets employ double knots and use the best quality wool. There were even a few color changing carpets. The carpet in the above photo costs USD100000 (Rs.73lakhs). The carpets in the 2nd and 3rd photo looks like a painting.

Turkey is famous for red clay potteries and ceramics (white clay) too. They make very artistic and intrinsic ceramic works. Some even glow in dark. Turkey is also a manufacturing hub for textile, jewelry and leather products. Leather industry in Turkey is 2nd largest in the world next to Italy.

Food and drink

Turkey has a long list of interesting dishes and cuisine and mostly has a Persian influence. We could only taste a few of the Turkish foods.

Potato Kumpir– A Turkish delicacy, you get the best potato kumpir in Ortakoy. The potato is baked in the oven as seen in the 1st photo. Different stuffings (as seen in the 3rd photo) can be selected as per our preferences. And the Potato Kumpir is ready (last photo)

We also tried Gozleme (similar to stuffed paratha), Donear Kebabs, Pilav (or Pilaf – a kind of flavored rice) and Menemen (a dish made with eggs and tomato for breakfast).

The ‘Maras Dondurma’ icecream is a traditional Turkish ice cream with a thick texture and melts slower than the regular ice creams. More is the fun part in the way it is served to a customer. Please watch my wife being trolled before she earns her dondurma ice cream😀😀

Ayran (pronouced locally as Iran) is same as our own salted buttermilk and is very popular among Turkish people. Raki (pronounced as Rakku) is the traditional alcoholic liquor of Turkey. Raki looks clear like water but when mixed with water it slightly turns effervescent and mild brown in colour. Turkish coffees are prepared by placing them in hot sand and tasted good but please do not compare them with a south Indian filter coffee, you may be disappointed.

Baklava and Turkish delights are authentic traditional sweets of Turkey and plenty of shops sell them. Turkish delights with honey tastes awesome. Indians esp south Indians may regret buying Baklava. Better taste them before buying as they are too expensive (100TL per KG)

Mode of travel in Istanbul

Istanbul is a typical European city with wonderful public transport collectively called Turyol (Metro in Turkish). Public transports includes metro, buses, trams and ferries. 

Istanbulkart is the most convenient card that can be used across all the kind of transport(Turyols) mentioned above. The card is easily available through bilet matik (yellow ticket machines) found everywhere or with small vendors too. The card costs you 6TL (deposit) and can be conveniently loaded.

Its quite cheap to travel in Istanbul city. Any trip, invariable of the distance, costs just 2.60TL. Any subsequent transfers within 2 hours will cost you 1.60TL and then 0.90TL thereafter. The card can be used for any number of persons, but only the 1st person enjoys the transfer discount. For more information on istanbulkart, please click here

Out of Istanbul, we traveled on a group tour and therefore we have no much inputs about public transports in the rest of the country. As such, we did not find any public transports in Cappadocia, Pamukkale and Ephesus and traveling by oneself could be to expensive.

Two interesting anecdotes to read before we bid goodbye.

The 1st anecdote is about Nasreddin Hodja. Many of us would have heard about Mulla stories (முல்லா கதைகள்) by great satirist, Mulla Nasirudeen. I was surprised when our guide mentioned about him and showed me this statue below in a place called Aksehir in Konya district as we passed by. He lived and died in this place. Many times I have heard my family elders quote in Tamil ‘நல்லாத்தான் சொன்னார் முல்லா சாஹிப்’ very frequently in family discussions. Felt fortunate and blessed to visit the place he had lived.

The 2nd story is interesting for those who reads Agatha Christie’s novels.

Pera Palace is a hotel in Istanbul downtown. I came across this hotel in MakeMyTrip and booking.com while I was trying to book hotels for our last 2 days stay. Found it a little expensive and hence ignored until I recollected the name when our guide mentioned about an interesting anecdote related to Pera Palace hotel.

Agatha Christie, the legendary author had  written her great crime novel ‘Murder on the Orient express’ staying in this hotel’s Room 411. The Orient express connects Paris and Istanbul. The associated stories with Agatha Christie and Room no.411 turns out to be even more thrilling than her own novels😀😀. If interested, please click here to find out more.

Gule Gule

It’s time to say Gule Gule (bye bye in Turkish😀😀). Teshekuller….Thanks everyone for your time and interest.

God willing, meet you all in another place another time.

Annexure (References for history-buffs-Turkey History timeline)

• 9000 BC-1st human settlement excavated-Gobekli Tepe
• 7500BC- 1st urban centre in the  world-Catal Huyuk
• 2600-1900BC-Proto Hittite empire
• 1900-1300BC Hittite empire
• 1250BC Trojan war  Homer’s Iliad
• 1200-600BC Phyrgian, Mysians, King Midas, Lydians(introduce coins)
• 547BC-Cyrus of Persia conquers
• 334BC-Alexander the Great
• 279BC-Celts
• 250BC- Founders of Pergumom (Attalid Dynasty)
• 129BC- Anatolia, Capital of East Roman Empire with Ephesus as a big Roman city
• 47-57AD-St.Paul spreads Christianity
• 330AD- Emperor Constantine declares Constantinople as capital of Roman empire(Byzantine)
• 527-565AD- Justinin builder of Hagia Sophia
• 1037-1109- Seljuks of Iran
• 1071-1243-Seljuk Sultanate of Rum with Konya as Capital. Rumi founds Mevlana
• 1288AD-Ottoman empire by Osman
• 1453AD- conquest of Constantinople by Sultan of Mehmut II (Ottoman)
• 1520-1566 Sultan Sulaiman Golden period in Ottoman Empire
• 1914-1918 WWI- Ottoman allies with Germany loses in Gallipoli
• 1919-1923 Mustafa Kemal (Ataturk).Father of modern Turkey.

END.

The narrations may follow a slightly different itinerary from the actual one, just to maintain a continuity in my posts. Please download the spreadsheet below to view the hotels of stay, our ratings and recommendations and a record of daily activity. We hope this helps you to plan your trip better.