This trip I’m bouncing around a bit – starting in Greece and then heading to northern and eastern Europe to see some new places before ending in Istanbul.
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Last stop: Istanbul
Being a poser at Gulseren’s shop in the Grand Bazaar
I love Istanbul and I’d planned to have a couple of days of R&R and shopping to round out the holiday. It turned out that the bazaars (and costumiers!) were closed for most of the time we were there due to the Eid holidays. Happily there were still some shops open, and the rest all opened on Thursday so I had a window of opportunity.
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Sofia and the night train to Istanbul
In the pink in Sofia
Me’n’C were booked into the bus to Sofia early the next morning, thanks to the assistance of A, who kindly organised our tickets for us. We hopped into a taxi and arrived at the bus station nice and early, and tried to decipher our Cyrillic tickets.
Back to Istanbul
J and moi shopping hard at the Grand Bazaar
After wending our way around the countryside, we flew back to Istanbul (after a few of the girls did a quick trip to the post office to make sure their bags weighed the regulation 20kg!)
A huge stack of simit on the tram! J was *trying* not to be tempted, but they smelled so good!
Our last few days were just as frenetic as the previous ones, although we did manage to fit in the occasional hammam and massage. Continue reading
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Selcuk
Backseat bogans on the dolmus to Sirince
We moved the short distance from Kusadasi to Selcuk because A is great friends with Harry, who runs the ANZ Guesthouse in Selcuk. It’s like staying with family there. Mehmet who we met last time is also still there, but instead of he and his brother Ali having the carpet shop and another shop next door with other souvenirs, they’ve transformed the second shop into a restaurant, and have plans to close the carpet shop entirely to expand.
The view from the balcony at Artemis restaurant
While we were in Selcuk we did a few short trips out of town, like catching the local dolmus around hair-raising bends on hills to Sirince, a small village about 20 mins away. The village was interesting, but had an influx of other tourists that day, plus a local wedding, so the streets were clogged. The markets were nice, and they had a few things we hadn’t seen elsewhere.
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Kusadasi
A gentleman at Afrodesias
We were pretty happy to leave Bodrum for our trip around Afrodesias and Pammukale, but we were all very tired from our big night out the night before, and an early start again. The minibus was a bit cramped for our long driving legs, but we managed to fit all the luggage into it as well as ourselves. Continue reading
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Bodrum and Kos
To get from Goreme to Bodrum was quite an effort, including Victor driving us to the Konya train station for our night train to Izmir, then a taxi to the bus station, then a public bus to Bodrum, then a taxi to the hotel. Phew!
Our compartment on the train
Cappadocia
I certainly don’t recommend a 4.30am wakeup call for anyone! The flight was quite quick though, and although everyone was very tired, we had a full day of sightseeing to do. We girded our loins with caffeine and hit the road with our fabulous Rock Valley guide Öman and wonderful driver Victor.
First up was Derinkuyu Underground City, a series of manmade interconnected tunnels where people hid in various wars. We went seven storeys down, and our legs and backs were soon aching from crouching down to walk up the narrow and low, steep stairways. There are some great sights!
Volcano pool
The next stop was a brief photo opportunity at a lake situated in a dormant volcano crater. It was so beautiful that we all craved going for a swim, but unfortunately there wasn’t enough time, as we had to move onto the next stop, the Ilhara Valley.
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Istanbul
I haven’t posted for a few days as I’ve been so incredibly busy! The flight to Istanbul was pretty uneventful, apart from me being told off by Customs people in Dublin Airport because I took a picture of the Customs dog. Whoops.
Turkish Air business class is nice – they have an unidentified “champagne” which does all the right things, and they give a bowl of hazelnuts and dried fruit with their drinks. The meal was great too – some lovely appetisers and then a lamb and eggplant dish, just right to get in the Turkish mood!
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Istanbul again
The otobus from Izmir ended up taking a car ferry part of the way up to Istanbul, so even though we didn’t get a ferry ride all the way, we did get a boat ride!
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Two Weeks Away 