Bridging Asia and Europe
TÜRKIYE
April 2019
Türkiye: Cappadocia and Istanbul
by Seer Hor & Shu Li
The Tatooine-like landscape is what drawn us to Cappadocia in central Turkey. It was April and yet it was freezing cold in the desert. It had snowed a few days before our arrival. We booked to stay in a cave hotel in Goreme, which is a typical Cappadocia must-have experience. Goreme is the main village in Cappadocia but if you prefer somewhere quieter, you can look into Ürgüp. Obi from Village Cave House Hotel was most helpful.
A car was useful to get from A to B but to enjoy the landscape of Cappadocia, travelling by foot along many trails was the best. Red and Rose Valley were our first two trails. They could be done separately or together. If it were to be more sunny, I expect the colours to be more vibrant. High up in the hills, you can see small door and window openings which are parts of cave houses, churches and monasteries.
Hot air balloon ride is a popular attraction of Cappadocia. We arranged a sunrise hot air balloon ride with Voyager Balloons which we were happy with. The pilot handled the balloon quite well but I wished we could stay higher for longer. My recommendation is to wrap up as it was cold up there. As we rose, we managed to catch the sunrise. The sun gracefully appeared behind the hills as we rose higher and higher. The view of Cappadocia was spectacular when we were up and above. The air was fresh and crisp.
Following the hot air balloon ride, we continued the day with another trail, the Love Valley. This is where you will find phallic-shaped towers dotted around the area. They were a good variety of shapes and sizes; slim and tall, short and fat. A short drive away was the Imagination Valley. This was certainly a great spot for children and adult alike. Here, you will find rock formation in the shapes of snail, cat, meerkat and many more. Pigeon Valley was another trail we visited. Here, there were plenty of small windows as pigeon houses. Pigeon poop is collected as fertiliser since the ancient time.
Our last stop in Cappadocia was a drive to Kaymakli Underground City, where Christian inhabitants hid from Muslim Arabs around 800 BC for four centuries. The inhabitants had to stay underground for most of the time. Hence, they built facilities such as animal stables, rooms, ventilation shaft and panic doors all underground. As ventilation was minimal, the smell of animal and human waste would have been difficult to tolerate by modern civilisation. They could only cook or go above ground in the dark to prevent being spotted. The interior layout was small and cramped as you may expect why. More importantly, it was very disorientating if you are not familiar with the layout. An eye opening visit indeed.
We then drove to the airport to catch an internal flight to Istanbul, where we landed in the brand new Istanbul International Airport which we had a horrible experience with our luggage. Upon collecting our suitcase, we realised that the handle was crooked, with a sharp bend in the mechanism. To us, our suitcase was clearly thrown around with no care. Visiting the luggage service for Turkish Airlines were not useful at all. Four out of five members of staff do not speak English. Bearing in mind this is an international airport. They were unhelpful in helping us sorting out the damage either. We were not the only one. There was a constant stream of people coming in with completely broken suitcases. In a way, we were lucky as we have a great quality suitcase. After months of communicating with Turkish Airlines, they blatantly not going to take any responsibility to compensate our damaged suitcase. This will be the one and only flight with Turkish Airlines for us. Adios.
Istanbul is a buzzing city with great vibes. People and cars were everywhere and it was doing business as usual. You can certainly see and feel the blend of East and West influence in the architecture within the city. Hagia Sophia, Blue Mosque, Grand Bazaar and Spice Bazaar are the hot spots. The intricacy of the interior design of Hagia Sophia was jaw dropping. It used to be a church, then a mosque and now a museum. Hence you can see a mixture of influence in the design. The level of detail incorporated into the walls, ceiling and gates were done to such high standards. Outside Hagia Sophia, the Tombs of the Sultans has free entry. Here you can see how the greed of power has not changed for centuries. History states a prince will kill the siblings to gain power. You will see a few tombs for small children.
Sultan Ahmed Mosque, commonly known as Blue Mosque is a functioning mosque which welcomes visitor. You do have to respect the rules of a mosque, for example, removing your shoes and covering your knees, shoulder and hair (female) during the visit. It was a shame that Blue Mosque was undergoing internal restoration which scaffoldings affected our appreciation of the interior beauty.
We then visited the nearby Basilica Cistern. At that time, there was no water as restoration was in progress. There was nothing really unique in our opinion.
We decided to have dinner at Sur Ocakbaşı, which is off town centre, seems only to be visited by the locals. Food was great, the service was warm and they did not treat us like tourists. This is where I tasted the ayran, a local yoghurt drink. It tasted like watery mix of sour milk and yoghurt, served cold in traditional bowl. As part of the culture, complimentary hot tea in a traditional cup is served at the end of a meal. The walk back to our hotel in the dusk was very relaxing and enjoyable. Mosques were lit up and the city showing signs of calming down (certain areas were still buzzing at night!)
We also visited Topkapi Palace Museum. Spare plenty of time here. There is a lot of ground to cover. You may need three quarters of a day if you want to see most things. We had a simple dinner at one of the restaurants near our hotel. We did not dine in one of the tourist restaurants. Instead, we walked into a normal restaurant visited by people who live around the area. We picked what we wanted. Food was simple and tasted ‘local’.
The next day, we took a cruise along the Bosphorus River, with Şehir Hatları, a local public transportation. This is the most economical way to travel along the Bosphorus. Of course, expect high number of passengers. You can hop on or off at any of the stops but there is only one boat a day, so plan your journey. If you choose to, there are plenty of cruises by private companies. We stopped at the final stop Anadolu Kavağı where we had a chance to visit the village. There is a fort up the hill, a military ground and many local shops. There is a man selling handmade glass earring, pendants and display items. We walked into one selling Turkish lamps, with a very friendly owner. That’s him in the photo!
Following the cruise, we had walk city including Istikal Street where the oldest tramline in the world is still in operation. I cannot believe there were so many shops selling Turkish Delight. It is unbelievable! You see them every few hundred meters. Certain companies will have another branch just down the same road. They were so colourful though. We ended the night with dinner in Mikla, located on the top floor of Marmara Pera Hotel, east side of the river (the more posh side from what we can see). We were spoilt by the skyline view of the city during sunset. The food here was very interesting and good level of complexity complimenting the nature of the restaurant. Beef carpaccio and grilled octopus were the memorable dishes. My dessert was a traditional Turkish dessert, Tavuk göğsü. It is a milk pudding made of shredded chicken breast. I found it was difficult to get my head around chicken in a sweet dish but it was very interesting indeed.
Cappadocia and Istanbul have been very accommodating to us and we were very lucky to be able to enjoy Turkish hospitality during our stay. Once again I am ending the post with food photos. Please enjoy.
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