Turkish Delight

The Greek Influence

The Western and Southern parts of Turkey are influenced by Greece. There are ancient Greek archaelogical sites and ruins which are in existence in these regions. As I have actually seen much of it in Sicily, Italy, I decided not to focus too much on such archaelogical sites in this trip. Nevertheless, for travellers who are interested in such, they could explore this in Turkey. There is this famous Lycian Way, which is a hiking itinerary that covers more than 400 km between Fethiye and Antalya in southwest Turkey. This allows visitors to see the Turkish Riveria, as well as ruins dating back more than 2000 years.  And supposedly, this part of Turkey is like Greece, the islands and the Mediterranean Sea, albeit much cheaper.

Still, I decided to do minimal Greek ancient sites. So, I did the Asclepion Medical Centre in Pergamon. This was an ancient healing centre and what attracted me was Via Tecta (the Sacred Way, Photo 1). It reminds me of Pompeii, Italy.  The foremost list of archaelogical site which I wanted to see would be the Library of Celcus (Photo 2) at Ephesus Ruins.  The entire ruins is about 4km and there are two entrances. Google map driving directions brought us to the second entrance which is the base, but unfortunately further away from the Library. There are horse carriage tours which are available for visitors who do not wish to take the uphill slope from the second entrance. However, with a car, we were able to drive to the main entrance, and the Library was less than 20 minutes walk from there.  

Of course, the Travertines of Pamukkale (Photo 3) is a must-see. Actually, Pamukkale is a place and what makes it famous are the white cotton like, calcium thermal pools resembling rice terraces atop the Greek ancient site, Heriapolis. It was not as crowded as I read about when I was there around 10plus in the morning. To walk to the pools, your soles must be accustomed to walking on rocks as this was the pain before the gain! And the article main photo with the hot air balloon, this was the only live balloon we saw in our trip, not in Capaddocia!

The Turkish Riveria

This was the part of the trip which I was looking forward to,  vast ocean view, Greece island resorts, Aegean sea. And it did not disappoint, especially when I saw the quaint cobbled old town. Travelling south from the ancient grey stone ruins, the deep turqouise coast (See Video 4) was a sight to behold. Really pretty which makes your heart totally wanting to embrace it all. The winding coastal roads reminded me of Amalfi Coast, albeit a much longer route. 

I had only intended to visit Antalya but added Kas to my list after seeing photos of it and reading that it is less touristy. This region of Turkey is supposed to resemble Greece Islands, albeit cheaper.  The Turkish Riveria spans 1,000km from Cesme to Alanya. Other notable towns include Bodrum and Fethiye. From Kas, there are also day trip tours to Greece Islands and an underwater city.

There are no international chain hotels in Kas. There are combination of adults only and boutique hotels. We opted for a boutique hotel facing the Aegean Sea. But it you do not have a car, it is easier to stay in the old town (Photo 5) with many hotels and eateries. While our hotel is not directly lining the coast, because we are on a hill, there would be hotels built on angles that allow for good sea view. Some also has a private 'beach'. Olea Nova Boutique Hotel, which we stayed in, has both. We spent our days checking out beaches, old town and restaurants.

We then moved on to Antalya, which is more like a beachfront city with huge roads parallel to the coastline. We also opted for a seaview stay at Crowne Plaza Antalya (Photo 6). We spent quite a bit of time in a mall for shopping and the old town for dining. We also stopped by restaurants lining the coast for our breakfast. A definitely must try is Hammam (Turkish Bath). where it is an age old Turkish tradiiton to be top to toe scrubbed in foam, followed by a massage . Prices vary quite a bit in Turkey, and I highly recommend to do it at Crown Plaza Antalya.

South Turkey Coast

In Kas, we spent our time visiting lounging in our hotel, beaches, long lunches and walking around the old town. One notable thing I have noticed is the number and power of cats in Turkey. They are almost everywhere, especially in cafes and restaurants. When the guests are seated, they will come around the table to wait for food. At times, they will laze on the sofas and chairs. It was a comical sight when a lady had to flip the seat gently to get a sleeping cat down so that she could sit. The cat rolled down but quickly jumped up again to reclaim its spot! As I am not a cat lover, I always have to eat my meals in trepidation or enclosed indoors to fully enjoy my meals.

Kas is a small town, with a picturesque waterfront yacht docks (Photo 7) as visitors approach into it. There are several benches along here which allows for visitors to take a rest of simply sit to enjoy the serene views. As I researched on where to stay, I chanced upon Kairos Hotel (Video 8) in Kas. The views attracted me as it was suited as if in a valley base with greenery and mountains surrounding it. It was a very different vibes in a coastal area. I also like its container accommodation rooms. As mentioned, Antalya is a much bigger South Turkey city. Hence the old town (Photo 9) which is situated beside the coast, is also much spacious.

Faces of Cappadocia 

Hotair balloons flying above the fairy chimneys is almost an official Cappadocia poster.  Cappadocia is not a city on its own, rather it is an area in Central Anatolia. The common towns frequented by visitors are Uchisar, Ugrup and Goreme. In terms of exclusitivity of the accommodation, cave hotels in Uchisar are the priciest, followed by Ugrup which tends to have larger cave hotels, then Goreme. One can also tell by the location of shops. All three have a small central town, where tourists visit for food and shopping. Uchisar, with a number of hotels perched along a high slope, also has a stretch of shops which gives it an exclusive vibe type of shopping. If you like cave villa type of hotels, Ugrup has a number of such. Each room design is unique and you have to be fast in booking the ones you like, esecially if you are budget conscious. Goreme is the place to be in if you fancy living amongst the fairy chimneys. It is also the place to stay in for easier access to the Goreme Open Air Museum. 

Most hotels offer hot air balloon rides, ATV and quad tours. However, hot air balloon rides are heavily dependent on the weather. If the weather condition is favourable, there could be hundreds of hot air balloons flying above the fairy chimneys come sunrise. Thus, many hotels offer open air roof top with cushion seats and carpets for customers to enjoy the view (Photo 10). There are several sunset points to catch the wondrous view, and one of the most popular one is the Red Valley (Photo 11). But if you are tired of being within the chimneys, you could head to Uchisar, which has the famous Uchisar Castle and many more exclusive hotels, whereby you get views looking into a valley, such as Museum Hotel (Photo 12) as well as Argos in Cappadocia.

If you enjoy cave hotels, you could actually do many hotel stays to experience the different styles and views. It takes skills to maneuver the car in such narrow turns and steep slopes.  My original pick was Kayakapi Premium Caves in Ugrup, as it has a huge variety of room designs and it feels spacious. However, the room size I wanted was booked out and the next category was above my budget. I ultimately settled on a homely, decent size room at Cappadocia Cave Suites. With so many choices, one alternative to experience the different hotels would be to dine at their restaurants. Sah Saray Hotel was on my list but when I visited, they only had desserts and tea on the menu. One interesting fact about Sah Saray is that it is a halal hotel i.e. no alcohol, and the guests had to show proof of a marriage certificate to stay in them!

Avanos and Surrounds

We spent 4 days and 3 nights in Cappadocia, as there were enough activities and places to spend our time. Moreover, we would have 3 days to try our luck at boarding a hot air balloon ride, which is dependent on good weather. Unfortunately, the weather was downcast and it was a no-go for the activity. We had to play by ear, day by day, and switch our itinerary. Cappadocia is a good place to be in as tourists could do town hopping, visit underground cave cities, shop for pottery, explore open air museums, go on ATV/quad tours. 

I have always wanted to see a caravanserai, which were accommodation for travellers who travelled the Silk Road in the past and needed a place for food and stay. I was happy to discover Saruhan  Kervansaray (Photo 13), which has been refurbished as an attraction with tourists being able to see the dervish dance. I also wanted to do pottery shopping, as I am into plates and vases. So Avanos Town (Photo 14) was a must visit. There are many many pottery shops, though most sell similar things. So it is dependent on sharp eyes to discover a gem. There are also Hallac Hospital Monastry, Mustafapasa (Sinasos) Greek Village, Zelve Open Air Museum (Photo 15) and Monks Valley (Pasabag Vadisi) nearby to visit. The difference between Zelve and Goreme Open Air Museums is the former is a monastery and small inhabited town ana latter a monastic settlement. Hence, I would highly recommend Avanos and surrounds when tourists visit Cappadocia.

My Favourite Hotels

I spend a lot of time researching on hotel accommodation. There is a certain style which I look for. If it fits my budget, I will stay. Otherwise, I will visit it as a diner. I have listed 3 favourite hotels during my visit to Turkey. The first is Villa Hotel Tamara (Photo 16) in Kas. We did not dare to drive our car down, so I took 10 minutes to walk down the almost 45 degree incline slope with the steep ground. I love this for the window view looking into the Mediterranean Sea. I usually do lunch at such restaurants as day is easier to take in photos of the seaview. And not surprisingly, we were the only diners at the hotel restaurant. 

The second was a surprise find, along the way to Mustafapasa. We were looking for colourful doors in Mustafapasa but we could not locate. When I spoke to a shopkeeper, he told me the photo was a collage of different painted doors of residential houses! Hence, we decided to check out this good-looking hotel since we did not manage to find many colourful doors in Mustafapasa. I did not come across AJWA Hotel (Photo 17) during my pre-trip research, so it was a pleasant find as I walked through the hotel grounds taking photos, playing at the playground, before visiting the posh gallery shop and settling down for a super good Azerbaijan tea and western cakes. 

Part of travelling is the idea of trying to live and experience the life of people in the past. I was interested in caravanserai for a while, so when I saw Divan Cukurhan (Photo 18), I immediately confirmed that I would stay a night here when I visit Ankara. From the lobby, guest room, common rooms, neighbouring old streets, shops, museums, it was everything I like. There is nothing much in Ankara, though I had the best seafood meal in a non coastal city, Armada Ankara mall which has many restaurant choices, Rahmi M. KOC Muzesi which is just next to Divan Cukurhan and showcases the transportation artefacts.

Memorable Dining Venues 

Turkey is more known for its culture than food. I did not have great expectation for dining. Although I was surprised that I did not come across any Vietnamese restaurants, not even a pho shop! I have travelled to many countries, and even in the most remote towns, I would be surprised but comforted that I could have a bowl of soupy beef noodle. Somehow, it is comfort food when I travel and get tired of the local cuisine. Chinese restaurants were also very limited, even in Istanbul. Japanese cuisine tends towards fusion sushi. Cappadocia was the region whereby I had the most varied cuisine from Indian, Chinese to Korean. The rest of the time was Turkish and Italian.

My best meal was at a seafood restaurant, Trilye (Photo 19), in Ankara. It was located in a seemingly residential area. We could see that it was serious about seafood from the variety of fish written by hand on the menu, which means they update it on a daily basis. We had a good meal of seafood soup, grilled calamari, fish and chips, grilled seabass, seafood vongole pasta, and interesting dessert of chickpea pistachio ice cream, tres leche cake and chocolate caramel.

A memorable dining venue was at Seraser Fine Dining (Photo 20). This was located in Kaleici, Antalya Old Town. Seraser has a open air courtyard dining, apart from its indoor dining area and a bar lounge. It was especially romantic dining under an orange tree with the night sky and sparkling stars above. Another memorable dining venue was at Artemis Restaurant in Sirinc (Photo 21) for its greenery view. We decided to stop over at Sirinc for a taste of countryside, before heading to Ephesus Ruins. We sat down for some tea and snacks before lunch at Artemis Restaurant, as it has a great view of the greenery slope. This was when I had my first taste of dining with cats. The cats would surround our table, and walked confidently along the wall edge beside our table or snuggled comfortably on empty chairs.  

Charming Quaint Neighbourhoods 

While the larger commercialised streets or areas like Istikal Cadessi or Grand Bazaar in Istanbul attract a heavier footfall, I generally do not enjoy the shops in these areas. The shops and and eateries are more mass market and crowded. I much prefer those quaint areas or little lanes, usually located slightly off the city centre. In Istanbul, my favourite street is Bagdat Caddesi (Photo 22) on Asia side. While it's a broad pedestrain street, it does not feel rushed or busy. There are shops, restaurants and cafes lining the main street, with side lanes leading to Caddebostan Coast.

Cappadocia area has 3 major towns, with each having its town centre. Whilst Uchisar, the highest end of all, has its own town centre where Uchisar Castle is located, I like the vibes along the uphill where Argos in Cappadocia and Museum Hotel are located. Being a one way  narrow street, pedestrians and cars have to make their way carefully to avoid any accidents. There are shops, and some smaller boutique hotels lining Goreme Caddesi (Photo 23). Izmir is a coastal city, with most tourists visiting the Konal Pier, Clock Tower and Keremalti Market. After spending the late morning there, I was happy to while my time away at one of those boutique cafes at Kultur area (Photo 24).

Fanciful Istanbul Hotels 

With 5 days in Istanbul, I was able to visit many hotels and their restaurants. There are few areas where the hotels are concentrated. Old town (Fatih area), Taksim Square, Beşiktaş area, Asia side. I contemplated my hotel choices in all of the first 3 areas. Old town is good if you are into the Blue Mosque, Aya Sofya, Grand Bazaar, Spice Bazaar, Topkapi Palace. Taksim Square is uphill, and has the main shopping street (Istiklal Caddesi), many mid-class restaurants, nearby to Beşiktaş. Beşiktaş is the area facing the Bosphorus, and  has many international chain hotels like Hilton Istanbul Bosphorus, Swissotel the Bosphorus, Ciragan Palace Kempinski, Dolmabache Camii. Having a seaview is not so important since I have done that in The Turkish Riveria. Rather, it was the ease of public transportation which was a determining factor. While I prefer an international chain hotel with a bigger room space, I thought it was harder to get to without a car. That was why we chose a hotel in Taksim Square. After spending a day in Istanbul, we confirmed that taxis are much cheaper compared to many cosmopolitan cities, though the traffic jam can be very bad during peak hours. So, it does not quite matter where you stay as taxis are covenient and cheap way of getting around.

I highly recommend Ciragan Palace Kempinski (Photo 25) for its grandeurness and the exclusive palace open air porch view of the Bosphorus. Even though Kempinski Hotel Group has taken over this, the Palace remains the same, with a functioning Tugra restaurant. The accommodation wing is at the next block. Therefore, the interior and hotel grounds are very much preserved. The marble column terrace at its fine dining restaurant Tugra, is a highly popular spot for dining. When we requested for seats at the terrace during reservation, we were informed that it was not guaranteed. However, when we turned up for our dining reservation, we were informed that the terrace was closed in winter. Nevertheless, we took our dinner before going out into the super windy front porch to enjoy the beautiful Bosphorus view and the brightly-lit bridge. 

Around the high end shopping malls like IstinyePark and Zorlu Centre, there lies Raffles Istanbul (Photo 26). What attracted me there was the huge painting at its Lavinia lobby lounge which was French photographer Jean-Francois Rauzier’s hyper-realistic interpretation of the Dolmabahçe Palace. We were too late for high tea at the lounge, but we had other options to choose from and we had fusion Japanese at Isokyo. I have a penchant for log cabins, so I was hooked onto Chalet restaurant at Swissotel The Bosphorus (Photo 27), when I first saw a photo of it covered in snow. While there was no snow but rain on the day we visited, the swiss chalet surrounding and interiors with a real firewood place, lit Christmas trees, wooden tables and red table clothes all add to the traditional feel of Christmas. 

Shopping Malls Turkey

On days where there is no sightseeing planned, we visit the malls. It allows for shopping as well as food under one roof. There are many huge malls in Turkey. There are also a number of shopping outlets dotted around Istanbul. However, there are more local than international brands from Europe or North America. Therefore, I prefer to visit the more modern and highstreet, luxury brands type of malls.

I enjoyed both Istinye Park malls in Izmir and Istanbul. They are modern malls, with a dedicated food area focusing on local food brands, so it is a very pretty area to walk and enjoy. There are many international and local shopping brands to shop from, as well as many cafes to stop for a rest. My favourite architecture is the Louis Vuitton building in IstinyePark, whereby it is not just a normal looking but avant garde style (Photo 28). In Istanbul, I also visited Malls of Istanbul, which I originally thought was an outlet but it is a mall. It is huge but I prefer shopping in IstinyePark for the brand mix and ambience. But, it was definitely more enjoyable shopping in malls than streets generally in Turkey.

The next one I enjoyed was Armada Ankara. The only mall on my list originally was Atakule, as I wanted to see the tower as well. However, dinner was booked at Wyndham Ankara, which is one of the hotels around Armada Ankara. I like Armada Ankara for the outdoor restaurant vibes, with a variety of cuisines, live singing, cafes all around. It is a huge mall too, with 2 wings and of course, lots of opportunity to shop to your heart's content. I recalled asking the receptionist at my hotel, Divan Curkahan, to contact Maromi (a high end Japanese restaurant) at its sister hotel, Divan Ankara as Maromi did not respond to my reservation. Then we found out that it was closed on a Sunday. Hence, when I asked the receptionist for a recommendation for a nice Japanese restaurant for a celebration dinner, he suggested that I could check out SushiCo at Armada. I was expecting a similar restaurant to Maromi but when I passed by SushiCo, it was a casual sushi fusion restaurant with posh lookimg red lights. 

We had been in South Turkey for 4 days. We were done with the coastal views, beach, small towns, city central. Hence, we decided to look for a mall to do some shopping and have our lunch. We passed by 5M Migros (Photo 30) on our way from Crown Plaza Antalya to Old Town area. There is a ferris wheel opposite the mall, so this whole aread looks very leisure. Compared to the above malls, 5M Migros is not that spectacular but it has a decent food court, and quite a number of shops for us to browse to while away our time . So this is a good respite from the typical coastal town activities.

Turkey Must Do 

We covered West, South, Central and North Turkey in 17 days. We managed to see archaeological sites, thermal pools, coastal cities, caves, cultural sights, and general sightseeing in Turkey. My favourite is South Turkey, as it is more leisurely with water views. I have been to other parts of the world regarding archaelogical sights, so these sights in Turkey were not as fascinating to me as compared to when I saw similar ones in Italy. Therefore, one of my top sights in  Turkey would be the coastal drive along the Turqoise Coast (Photo 31). The drive around the Black Sea (north of Turkey) also looks amazing, but there was nut enough time to cover this region.

Europe has many rivers, and river cruises are common tourist activities, yet I seldom do them. I prefer to walk and explore the sights. However, for Turkey, it is not as easy as the European cities to be walking along the Bosphorus straits. Plus, we had more than enough time in Istanbul and we deicided to do a cruise on a yacht. Cruises can be as short as 1h 30m to 4h 30m. The cruise typically does a circle trip till the tip of Black Sea, though it is not in the Black Sea. Since it departs from Kabatas (Europe side), the cruise will introduce architecture and landmarks on the Europe side first, and when it circles back, it then introduces the Asia side. We took a 2.5h cruise, which includes a 30m stopover on Asia side. The cruise was a good choice as it was impossible to get pictures of the many buildings from their frontal views if you go by foot. My favourite view is that of Dolmabahçe Palace (Photo 32).

I enjoyed town-hopping in Cappadocia. The main cave sights are located in Uchisar, Goreme, Ugrup. Therefore, dining, shopping, accommodation, sight seeing, activities like hot air balloon, ATV tours are all concerntrated in these 3 towns. However, there are also nearby town like Avanos, Mustafapasa, underground cities which can be explored within Cappadocia. So even though we did not get to do hot-air balloon rides, there was plenty of places for us to explore just from a base in Cappadocia (Photo 33).