Turkey

September 10 - 22, 2010

Africa is a long distance away, so yet another layover converted to a 2 week stopover.

I have been looking forward to Turkey for many reasons. First and foremost, Istanbul was the rendezvous for “team” Africa. Three of us finally met up on rooftop of a hostel overlooking the Bospherous and cheered to the official start of this adventure. After much excitement, we realized that we have been so busy planning for our overland trip in Africa that we completely neglected to think about our 2 week “stop over” in Turkey. The beauty of long-term, unstructured travel, however, is that you can make spontaneous, on the spot decisions. And it so happened that we got to know Clara, a Peruvian girl staying in our hostel and traveling solo around Turkey, and who had definitely done her research. She was flying to the Mediterranean coast the next morning and after very little deliberation over the water pipe, we booked our tickets to follow her, just hours after landing in Istanbul.So we find ourselves in the town of Oldunez, which used to be an amazing place, until it was discovered by mass tourism and developers. Now, its coast is littered with luxury hotels and bars that blare our the latest pop songs and transmit live Euro league football matches. As I was desperately searching for a local place to get lunch, I asked a local vendor about a place where Turkish people go for food. His answer said it all: “What Turkish people?”. Needless to say, it took a serious effort to get away from this nightmare. We still wanted to enjoy the warm, emerald waters of the sea and dramatic scenery of ragged mountains, just not in the company of hundreds of Brits cheering for Arsenal to score another goal. Solution -- hire a speed boat, learn how to operate it on the spot and zoom away to the neighboring islands and beautiful coves, accessible only by sea. The boat hire transaction was amusing. No documents to sign, no forms to fill out. Some guy gets on the boat with us and says, “here is the map, here is island X, and island Y… and this is how you start the boat, and this is how you go forward, and backwards… have fun, see you in 6 hours.” So that’s what we did, albeit being a bit bewildered by the fact that we actually had to drive the boat ourselves. We did some excellent cliff jumping, some snorkeling and found an idyllic beach nestled between two huge mountains called “Butterfly Valley”. I won’t do it justice trying to describe the beauty of this cove. It’s one of those places that grabs you and won’t let go. There are countless stories of travelers coming by for a few days and ending up staying for a few months, and even years. We also seriously contemplated it.

Oldunez is known for its world class paragliding. Obviously I had to try it. It was an experience like no other and I suppose as close as one could get to feeling like a bird. We quietly glided on the warm air currents with stunning scenery beneath our feet.

One thing that we failed to appreciate is a sheer size of Turkey. The only way to get our next destination was to fly (prohibitively expensive for us backpackers type), or take a 12 hour overnight bus that winds through treacherous mountainous region. After some hairy experiences with overnight buses in Bolivian Andes and other parts of the world, I was a bit reluctant to get onto this one… but, was overruled by the democratic majority of our team (2 votes to 1). Our next destination was a place called Cappadocia, which once again I knew very little about. This lack of knowledge/expectations resulted in a serious feeling of amazement as I got out of the bus blurry eyed at 6am in the morning. In front of us laid one of the most unique landscapes I have ever seen, its wonder accentuated by the colors of the rising sun and hundreds of hot air balloons hovering in the morning sky. It gave me chills. Here the Mother Nature expressed herself in most creative ways, using the elements and erosion to sculpt a landscapes of chimney-like cliffs and boulders that looked like ocean waves. What made it even more fascinating was that centuries ago humans adopted this soft rock cliff structures to burrow their homes in them. Nowadays, tourists are mesmerized by this spectacle as they float in hot air balloons. I opted out of this luxurious indulgence, rented a solid mountain bike instead and spent the day having tons of fun zooming up and down the mountains surrounded by wicked scenery.

From Cappadocia it was yet another overnight bus back to Istanbul. Upon checking back into our hostel we learned that the system was down, our reservation didn’t go through and they were fully booked, but for $2 we can crash on the rooftop. I couldn’t think of a better place to hang up my hammock on a cool, breezy night, overlooking ships criss-crossing the Bospherous and the twinkling of city lights on the horizon. Happiness. The next few days were spent enjoying the city vibe, admiring its architecture, eating lots of yummy meats and drinking lots of tea. At one point I was strolling through the harbor when I saw a bunch of people rushing to get on a ferry. Why not take a ferry, I thought? So I bought my ticket for $1.5 and joined the locals on some ferry that just happened to be departing as I walked by it. A young couple was thoroughly amused when I inquired about the destination of the ferry, half an hour into the ride. I was pleasantly surprised that my spontaneous decision led to a trip to Prince’s Islands ( a group of islands within an hour from Istanbul). So I spent the rest of the day wandering through the beaches and quaint seaside town, catching the last ferry back to Istanbul.

I must send a thousand thanks to my old college friend Hande, who is Turkish and now resides in Istanbul and who treated me to an amazing dinner complete with most delicious local delicacies. Also, much gratitude goes out to our friend Hasham for the introduction to Istanbul’s nightlife, as well as delicious sandwich made out of cow’s intestines, which was the most heavenly thing I ever tasted at 3am.

Overall, Turkey is a wonderful place and I would highly recommend it to anyone.

The adventure continues. It’s on to Cape Town and S. Africa next