Last stop: Back to Istanbul

After spending a little more than a week on the Turkish coast we flew back to Istanbul for one final night before I would fly back to Riyadh. We had saved most of our souvenir shopping for last so we wouldn't have to lug all our treasure with us. We checked into our hotel, and headed off towards the Grand Bazaar, supposedly the largest covered bazaar in the world. It is enormous, and over whelming, and highly hilarious. The constant hassling, and hit-ons by the shop boys is pretty funny!! Almost anything you could ever want is for sale, and at very negotiable prices. My travel partner and I were in the market for Turkish lamps- which are beautifully ornate, and quite specific to the region. There are hundreds of different designs, and sizes to choose from. After much consideration I chose a bright multi-coloured set that should match what few furniture possessions I own!!

My travel mate and I will say that the most underrated thing on this trip was a tourist monument in Istanbul called the Hippodrome. Granted we didn't really know what the Hippodrome was, but we took extreme pleasure in saying this word every chance we got.....except that when we said the word it was like we were WW wrestlers, and often actually mimed a wresting pose while saying the word. It made asking for directions a little embarrassing, but brought us endless entertainment.....until we actually went to the Hippodrome, and found that it was a tall carved rock structure under construction. It so didn't live up to the expectation that we had- we had after all planned on buying T-shirts that boldly stated "WE SURVIVED THE HIPPODROME!!!" Oh the utter disappointment :)

All in all Turkey was a blast, and we packed a lot into 16 days. I returned to Riyadh just as tired as when I left, and actually am sort of looking forward to unpacking my suitcase for a minute!! Not sure what my next travel plans will be, or where, but am sure something will be on the horizon!

Turkish Pick-up Lines

No one will ever tell you that Turkish men are smooth- rather they are in your face, follow you down the street, peep in your window forward. Well, maybe not all of them, but at least the one's that approached us. I'd have to reach pretty far back to remember  equally cheesy pick-up lines. Istanbul was by far the worst. One must possess the strong ability to tell the numerous suitors to '"screw off" if one hopes to make it out of here alive, or at the very least not pregnant :)

So it all starts with an innocent "Hello!" or a "my you are beautiful" in the park.....then comes the persistent following as you start to pickup your pace. If you find yourself silly enough to slow down often names are exchanged, and then the most pitiful array of handshake tricks you have seen. Kissing the back of someones hand is seen as a very romantic gesture in these parts, and handshakes last much longer than is comfortable in any normal western society- I'm pretty sure if you are counting in your head "one- one thousand, two- one thousand" than you are getting a hand molestation taking place, and not a simple shake!! We actually started making a list of the creepiest, and funniest lines we encountered on the trip. Here are a few of the gems:

"I saw you sitting in your hotel yesterday." AKA the stalker, since our room was on the third floor. I'm pretty sure binoculars or a long-lens were involved in this one!!

"Your scarf matches the colour of your eyes." Me wearing a light aqua scarf with dark green eyes.

"Have you been to the palace and seen the diamond, cause it is not as beautiful as your eyes!"

Whilst pointing at us: "You are the best! And you are the best! And all others must die!" Said by a chanting olderish man.

"Please, do not be like a candle in the wind to me." Not ever sure what this one means!

My personal favourite: "Excuse me, I'm not dangerous." Well obviously!!!

"How many camels for your sister?" I replied that I would take no less than 10 for her!!

Fethiye

We booked 3 nights in Fethiye- in a nice upscale hotel with an ample supply of hot water!! Fethiye has a beautiful harbour, surrounded my mountains, with breathtaking sunsets. As with everywhere else- it was pre-tourist season, so things were quiet. We booked onto a day cruise of the nearby islands, and spent the day sitting up top of the yacht as weather permitted. The coast is dotted with small island communities. We docked at quiet coves to allow for a swim- my American friend was the only one brave enough to actually get into the chilly waters. We saw dolphins and a sea turtle. It was a lovely day.....until the winds and rain picked up, and I wished I'd brought a portable space heater with us!!

One of the big draws to booking the hotel we did was that they had an outdoor jacuzzi. After spending 3 nights without hot water in Kas we were both looking forward to a nice soak coupled with a bottle of wine. To our surprise and amazement we were informed that the jacuzzi was "out of season, and was too cold to be used." We of course became confused as to how it was out of season- as it was cold outside- isn't that the point?? Apparently, jacuzzi's are meant to be cold- according to Turkish standards. Soooo disappointing :(

Our last day in Fethiye we arranged to rent a car. Mind you I haven't driven a stick shift in over a year, but it was just like riding a bike!! We headed off towards some Lycian tombs overlooking the city, then headed to the ruins of Tlos about 45min from Fethiye. These ruins are in excellent condition, but are surrounded by farmer's fields, and cows and goats are let out to feed amongst the ruins. From Tlos we drove back towards Fethiye and stopped off at Kaya Koya- a large ghost town that was deserted in the 1920's. Its actually quite eerie, and pretty much deserted. We met some Asian girls who were freaked out as a crazy man had been following them. Fortunately, we didn't run into said crazy man!!! From the ghost town we headed to Oludeniz Beach otherwise known as the "Blue Lagoon" and sunned ourselves, and watched the many para sailors flying overhead. We dropped the car back off without incidence!!!

Lycian Tomb overlooking Fethiye

The Theatre ruins at Tlos

Kaya  Koya Ghost Town

One evening while wandering the walkway along the waterfront we came across a second hand book store with a large variety of English books. Amongst them I came across a book written by a gentleman named Iceberg Slim with the title of the book being "Pimp." What a find!!! It is highly offensive, and not for the weak of heart, but provided us with more laughs imaginable. We spent the rest of our trip talking in 1940's gangster/ pimp/ jive lingo!!!

Kas with a Day Trip to the Greek Island of Meis

We took the bus to Kas (pronounced Kash), and walked from the dolmas (bus station) to the budget hotel we had booked for 3 nights. By budget I mean, no hot water in the early morning, no TV, no phone ect. Kas was a very touristy town, however; we were there before the tourist season started so things were a little slow to say the least. Many of the places recommended in our Lonely Planet were in fact not open for the season yet, and choosing a decent restaurant was a little daunting. Luckily for us most of the shops were open, and the town houses many, many, jewelry stores, all specializing in sterling silver. I bought a nice pair of silver earrings, 2 rings, and a beautiful set of Turkish towels.

We took the ferry 30 minutes across the water to the Greek island of Meis for part of the day. The town of Meis is quite small, so we ate a delicious Greek lunch, and walked up the hills overlooking the town before taking the ferry back to Kas.

We did a full-day kayaking trip to the island of Kekova which used to be an ancient city until it crumbled in 1AD after several huge earthquakes hit the region. The ruins are visible on the hillside, and it is also possible to kayak over them. We docked for lunch in a quiet bay, and our kayak guide decided to dive off the safety boat, and cracked his head open on the rocks. I got to use some of my nursing skills and bandage him up!! Kayaking on the way back got a little hairy- the wind started to pick up and the waves got much higher than I was comfortable with. I was very thankful when we finally reached shore!!

From Kas we took the bus further down the coast to the larger city of Fethiye.

Antalya

We arrived early in the morning after taking the night bus, and hired a taxi to take us to our hotel that cost close to the price of our bus tickets. Not so cool. Taxi's in Turkey are ridiculously over-priced!! We also didn't score on the weather while in Antalya- it rained off and on for our 2 nights there :( We spent our time in Antalya mostly walking the streets, shopping and eating in cafes. The waterfront is beautiful with the mountains in the background.

We toured the local Antalya Museum which houses statues of Greek gods. Mostly we just wandered the streets. Our favourite part of Antalya was a delicious dinner we ate at a restaurant called "Vanilla." If in Antalya make sure you go to dinner here the food is delicious!! On a super creepy note, while eating dinner here some men in an apartment across from the restaurant started taking photos of us and the restaurant owner had to contact the buildings manager to report them. Super duper creepy!!

One of the nights we spent in Antalya we stumbled upon a local pub with a live band- they were great, but we didn't understand a word of what they were singing as it was all in Turkish!! From Antalya we took the bus 4 hours to the town of Kas.

Cappadocia

We arrived in Cappadocia and had booked 2 nights in a cave hotel. If you ever find yourself in this area I would highly recommend staying at Traveler's Cave Hotel- its super cute, and they had the best breakfasts we had in Turkey!! The Cappadocia area very much resembles the cartoon The Flintstone's with houses and hotels built out of caves, and phallic rock formations dotting the horizon. It feels like stepping back into the stone age....literally!! We did a fair bit of hiking in the area- which was beautiful, especially at sunset when the colours of the rock change.

One of the mornings we got picked up at 6am to go Hot Air Ballooning. I've gotta say this was something I was very concerned about, what with my intense fear of flying. It turned out to be amazing, and really not nearly as scary as I had anticipated!! This was an incredible experience. The basket of the balloon was much larger than I had expected- we had about 20 people in it. There must have been some 40+ balloons in the air with us. It was beautiful to watch the sun rising while we were up. We spent just over an hour in the air. I would highly, highly recommend this!!

There are a number of underground cities in the area, the largest of which is called Derinkuyu which goes 8 floors below the ground. It is pretty cool, damp, and claustrophobic.  The area is also home to hundreds of cave churches and monasteries. My favourite church was located in Goreme at the Open Air Museum there called the Dark Church. The church (as its name reveals) is dark, and so the paintings here are very well preserved, despite that they are were vandalized when Islam came to the region (the eyes or heads of many of the images have been scratched out).

On our third night in Cappadocia we took the overnight bus to Antalya. Overnight buses always seem like a good idea at the time- you save the money of a hotel room because you're traveling. In reality, they are miserably uncomfortable, and you never, ever get any sleep. Which is pretty much how we rolled into Antalya after our 10hr bus ride!! Remind me to think twice before booking my next night bus!!

Instanbul

So I spent the last week of March, and first 10 days of April touring around Turkey. It was lovely! My flight from Riyadh to Istanbul was delayed on account of a sandstorm.....yep you read that right. Visibility was crap, and the airport was covered in sand. People were wearing masks, and I was blowing sand out of my nose for the next day. Fortunately, the sand cleared enough for my flight to leave, and I was on my way. Unfortunately, for some unbeknown reason Canadians face the highest visa fees in Turkey $60US compared to the $20US Americans have to pay :(

My friend from Seattle had flown in the day before, so I met her at our hotel. Istanbul looks very much like a fairytale with the many round roofed mosques with minarets that dot the skyline. Honestly, it feels a little magical! We stayed in the Sultanahmet Area which is within walking distance of all the main tourist attractions. We toured the Aya Sofia a Byzantine church that was later conquered and converted to a mosque.

We toured Topkapi Palace from the 1400's which served as the center of the Ottoman Empire for nearly 4 centuries. It is a huge complex, and you could easily spend several hours here!

We visited the Sultanahment Camii (Blue Mosque), the Turkish and Islamic Arts Museum, and the Basilica Cistern or "Sunken Palace" which used to be part of the city's water supply.

We ate delicious Turkish meze, drank to our hearts content and sampled the many different Turkish sweets. We even ate dinner one evening watching a Whirling Dervishes performance.

From Istanbul we flew to Cappadocia where the real adventure began!!