Date arrived: 21st September 2023

Date Departed: 4th October 2023

Distance Travelled: 2,335 KM

Average Cost: £57.43 PPPD

We crammed a hell of a lot into two weeks in Turkey, which is a massive country with loads going on. Read on to learn more!

21st September 2023

It was after 8PM by the time we arrived in Kusadasi and cleared immigration, so the first prority was to find our hotel. This exercise gave us a timely reminder of what Google Maps is missing: Contour Lines. Our hotel was at the top of the quite big hill in Kusadasi, so whilst it was only a kilometer from the port, it was 150M above sea level, so we were shattered by the time we got there.

 Having checked into the small but nice hotel, we took the opportunity to wander into town to get some bearings and grab a drink and a bite. A donner kebab, of course! Tomorrow: Ephesus.

22nd September 2023

We enjoyed breakfast in the hotel before heading down to the bus station to catch the dolmus for Ephesus. The dolmus concept is one we've come across ina few places in the world, and they are basically minibusses that run a specific route, but tend to leave once they have enough people on board to be worthwhile. The one to Ephesus dropped us on the main road 500M from the "bottom entrance" of the site. The recommended way to visit this large and rambling site is to get a taxi from the bus stop up to the "top entrance", which is some 3.5KM away up hill. As the taxis charge an exorbitant 10 Euros for this short trip, it all seems a bit of a racket really - but it is what it is!

As we arrived at the little street market outside the top entrance, I was entertained to see that the "Genuine Fake Watches" sign I'd spotted here in 2011 had grown to be a banner, the full width of the stall. We paid our way into the site (£20+ each) and started to explore!

I won't talk at length about Epheseus as there's a heck of a lot you can say, including that it is crowded and expensive - but it is a fabulous site, and the Library and Theatre in particular are very impressive. 

Clockwise from top left, the Library with it's incredible detail, the enormous Theatre, and an ornamental archway

After Ephesus we walked across town to the beach, and quickly discovered a VERY packed strip of sand. Clearly Kusadasi is thriving as a resort town - and why not? The climate is amazing, and for those who want some culture, there's loads of it on your door step. We ate ata  very good restaurant just off the beach, and enjoyed a good and well earned feed.

We kept walking up the coast and visited Pigeon Island, which is where the small keep that used to guard the port is based. It was an isolated keep on a small rock some 200 metres from the coast until about 1823 when somebody built a perimeter wall, making it a much more effective fort. It was subsequently joined to the mainland in the 60s by a causeway, which is now where a lot of the sailing trips depart, if you want a seagoing adventure, or to view Kusadasi from seaward.

We explored the pedestrianised city centre a bit more, and managed to loop round to the place we'd gone for dinner last night, completing our loop of the city. As we'd had such a large lunch, we settled on an Ice Cream as a suitable dinner!

23rd September 2023

Today we left Kusadasi to head for Pamukkale - an exciting destination. A 10am bus meant an early breakfast, and then a hike to the bus station with all of our bags to buy some bread rolls for the bus. Turkish Inter CIty busses are pretty good, with just three seats across to give you quite a lot more room, which is nice. We were also served drinks and snacks on the 4 hour trip to Denizli, which was unexpected.

At Denizli - a big and modern city - we switched from the above-ground Intercity bus terminal to the basement dolmus station. Again very well organised, and we jumped straight on to the Pamukkale dolmus for the last leg of this particular trip. They even had space in back for our big bags, which was a pleasant surprise!

23rd September 2023

Pamukkale - a tiny town just north of the city of Denizli, which is home to Turkey's most visited tourist attraction, the Travertine Terraces. This was our reason for being here, but unlike many we have chosen to spend time in the town which, despite it's incredible draw, doesn't see a proportionate number of overnight visitors, as most come on day trips.

We arrived late-afternoon on the Dolmus from nearby Denizli, and the first view of the terraces comes from quite a way away; from a distance it looks like a white mountain rising from the village - and yes, that dark line diagonally rising up it is the long queue of visitors making their way up. Havinf checked into the SIrius Hotel, we were asked by the proprieters if we were interested in an of the activities they could arrange - which included a sunrise hot-air balloon ride over the famous terraces. Out of curiosity I asked the price, expecting something around the 200+ Euros being charged in Cappadocia - only to be told it is just 50 Euros, to do effectively the same thing, but just a few hundred kilometres away. I was very tempted, although Julie and I had agreed that we would look to do this in Rajastahn in stead of Cappadocia. After discussion Julie was not interested, as the experience makes her travel sick (althoguh she does want to try it in Rajastahn!) I decided to book it for myself for the following morning.

We explored the little park in the town that sits at the foot of the terraces, and got a bit of a feel for what they are about, when viewed up close, but from below. We also noted there were a number of Asian themed restarants in town, so decided this had to be worth a try! One excellent Chinese dinner later, we returned to our room and retured, me to get up at 5.30 the next day for my balloon flight!

24th September 2023

This was a great day, and we had so much fun exploring the travertine terraces, the city of Hierapolis above them, and the hot springs and thermal pool. We also enjoyed the small archeology museum that is part of the site, and my Balloon ride was an epic experience. I want to write about these in more detail, so I'll leave this for now and return with a fuller discussion!

Here are a couple of pictures to keep you going.

25th September 2023

We had a relaxed morning leaving Pamukkale as our bus from nearby Denizli was not until 1PM. We caught a Dolmus at about 10:15, although this one was pretty full, so we were stood and then sat with all our bags inside the small mimi-bus. With two hours to kill in Denizli, we left our big bags with a luggage store and set out to look round the city, and hopefully visit the Ataturk museum. Unfortunately this was closed, but we did manage to explore a bit, and find some nice looking bread products to have for lunch on the bus.

We returned to the bus station to catch our bus for the 4 hour ride to Egirdir!

Arriving in Egirdir, we found our simple but pleasant accommodation, which was on the Kale Peninsula, a small Islet joined to the main liake shore by a kilometre long causeway. We took time to wander around the Islet as the sun went down, before eating local lake fish at one of the Restaurants and then turning in for the night.

25th September 2023

Arriving in Egirdir, we found our simple but pleasant accommodation, which was on the Kale Peninsula, a small Islet joined to the main liake shore by a kilometre long causeway. We took time to wander around the Islet as the sun went down, before eating local lake fish at one of the Restaurants and then turning in for the night.

26th September 2023

A day for relaxed exploring around the town of Egerdir. Simple breakfast of omelette and coffee at a local cafe, and then a wander up to the wider town to view the slightly surreal old steam engine that they have made into a centrepiece and children's play park. We then headed to the beach, which turned out to be private, and require payment of a mighty 15TL fee (about 45p) to access. It was a very impressive beach, and almost deserted. We paddled our feet for a while before making our way back to have a very delicious lunch sat over the lake.

Having taken a surprising amount of exercise for a relaxing day, we headed back to our apartment mid-afternoon, then popped out to dine at our AirBnB host's restaurant - next door to the apartment. Day done. 

We had noticed that various peaks that surround the lake, and on asking our host, he told us that it is possible to climb up to the top of the tallest one, and pointed out the route. We corroborated this with a look at Maps.ME, and planned to attempt it the following day!

27th September 2023

This turned out to be a bit of a monster. Breakfast was a repeat of yesterday, and we set out for the mountain village and path to the 1700M peakof Sevri Tepe, having been told by our AirBnB host that is should be about a 3 hour round trip. It was not.

It took about 90 minutes to complete the 7Km trek to the village, and turning off to the path to the summit, we realised he might have been suggesting the 3 hour round trip was from the village. Oh well, we thought - crack on! Armed with bread and cheese for lunch we enjoyed a lovely view over the lake while we ate, but noted some ominous clouds starting to come in from the South. Completing the climb to the 1719M summit was seriously challenging - a lot of scrabbling on loose shale - and we quickly realised as we reached the top that we had to take some rapid photos and get back down, as the the dark clouds overhead were not looking funny at this point.

At this point the heavens opened, and we started being lashed with sideways rain as we attempted to descend the steep, slippery shale. This was not great, and made worse by the fact that we had not brought waterproofs or umbrellas with us today!

A bit of improvisation with a swiss army knife and a bin bag soon got us at least basically waterproofed however, and we managed to get down in one piece. At this point the rain eased up a bit, and we pressed on for the remaining 9KM back to the town and our accommodation. Fortunately the sun returned, and damp clothes were largely dried off, althoguh we did have the odd shower, ultimately forcing us to take shelter for half an hour at one stage when nearly back.

On this basis we decided to go straight to dinner in the town rather than trekking the kilometre out to the pensinsula and our accommodation. This was good because we ended up having a fabulous meal in Arzava restaurant, which served us lovely food with wonderful care and consideration. They even had oil lamps on each table!

Given our early start the next day for a 7AM bus, we decided to retire early to sort out our luggage, and minimise what was needed the following day!  

28th September 2023

A 5AM alarm clock is never a good start, but we got ourselves up, packed, and lugged our packs the 1.5KM to the bus stop in plenty of time for our 7AM bus. We even had time to grab a coffee and some pastries for breakfast! The 3.5 hour trip to Konya, a large city in-beween Egirdir and Cappadocia, was straightforward, and we were dropped off late morning at the enormous bus station a couple of kilometres outside the town centre.

We'd worked out a couple of things to do in the centre, so sought to find a tram or dolmus to take us there. No such luck! we found the tram, but could find nowhere to buy tickets. We could see the Dolmus making their way around, but could we fnd where they stopped? No we could not. This became very frustrating, but in the end we decided that we would enjoy our remaining 3 hours hanging out near the bus station* and get some lunch.

I know what you're thinking at this point. "Bus station". Clue is in the name - that's where to get your dolmus from. You'd think so, but the place was enormous, and at least two full circuits did not reveal the super-secret hidden dolmus stop. We've still not worked that one out, but hey!

We decided to look for the local delicacy called Etliekmek - a long, Pide like dish, served with finely chopped bee, onions and herbs on a super-thin bread base. We found it - and it was delicious! Two of these wonderful things, along with Ayran (a yoghurt like drink) and Cay (of course) set us back a princely £6. With 2 hours still to kill, we wandered aimlessly - and stumbled on a castle! 

It seems that Ecdat Parki is an area of Konya's suburbs that has been made into a park for locals (and aimless tourists) to enjoy, and to do so they have raised a selection of buildings, including an Ottoman style castle, some timber lodges, and a lake, replete with miniature galleon. The park was beautiful, and we spnt a very pleasant hour here before heading back to the bus station and our bus to Goreme, in wonderful Cappadocia! 

28th September 2023

We arrived in Goreme after dark, but quickly found our hotel, about ten minutes out of the busy town centre. The room was lovely - spacious and with a big bathroom, but we did have some slight concerns that it was on the ground floor, right next to the reception and lobby. Having unpacked, we headed back off to town in search of dinner, and walked straight into one of the highly commercial restaurants opposite the bus station. It was alright - but nothing special, so we went in search of an after dinner drink, finishing up in Pasha's Lounge where we sat on traditional Turkish cushions and enjoyed a beer, before retiring for the night.

29th September 2023

Our first day of three days in Cappadocia, we set out after breakfast to visit the famous Goreme open-air museum. It has to be said that Cappadocia is just - weird - and mindblowing! The geology is such that there are these strange edifices all around you, looking like something out of Lewis Carrol crossed with Salvador Dali. Whilst the series of churches that make up the open-air museum are impressive - and clearly historically and religiously significant - they also kind of pale against the very landscape they are found in. So. The museum was cool - the dark church espcially - but if I was talking to somebody who had 1 days to spend in Cappadocia, it's not what I would suggest they do.

We found a little bakery in town for lunch where we had some kind of lattice-cut flatbread, as well as the world's largest strawberry donut to follow. We then decided to set out and explore some of the valleys that ring Goreme, in particular the Rose Valley, and see what all the fuss was about.

Okay - I have to say our minds were blown. I'm going to try and write some more stuff about Cappadocia elsewhere, and will lnk to it here when I do, but for now I'll leave you with a few pictures and descriptions of this insane, beautiful and thought provoking place.

The Columned Church

These three pictures depict a rock church that can be found towards the head of the Rose Valley. I say found as the site is entirely unmanaged - you just cross the bridge  and enter this stunningly impressive church that was carved out of the living rock well over a thousand years ago. It doesn's have quite the same religious or historical significance as the churches of the open-air museum, with their amazing paintings and detailed histories, but to me the scale, magnificence, and sheer accessibiity of this church put those to shame. 

30th September 2023

After exploring the Rose Valley the previous day, we wanted to get up early to try and watch the balloon flights, which largely focus on that area. We managed to get a few nice piccies of balloons, but I think Cappadocia has become more about these and the sunset tours than it has about the incredible geologyand history of this place.

After breakfast we set out to walk south, traversing Pigeon Valley and visiting the town of Uchisar, home to one of the largest and most famous "Castles" in the area. Once again this was an amazing experience. Uchisar castle itself was very cool, but the highlight was very much the rock formations of the valley. Oh, and Hector. Hector was a small and energetic spaniel who started following us early in the day, and syated with us for 10KM and 6 hours! He even came and sat with us for lunch. It was a little distressing at the end of the day when we had to literally run away from the poor fellow to stop him following us into our hotel. Hopefully he went home to his own Humans at that point!

We really enjoyed Pigeon Valley and Uchisar, and if going back to Cappadocia would probably recommend staying in either Uchisar or Avanos as an alternative to Goreme.

1st October 2023

Our last day in Cappadocia, and as we were catching a nght bus at 7PM, we decided to take it gently. We caught the local Dolmus to the small town of Avanos, just north of Goreme, and paid a visit to the Guray pottery museum, a short walk away from the town centre. Entry was a few Lira, and the museum is fascinating for it's content, bbut also for it's format: the whole place is underground, in a series of caves. It's very well put together, with a large selection of ancient pottery finds dating back thousands of years, as well as a good range of more modern pottery showcasing what can be achieved. 

As well as an exhibition by a fantatic local artist, the museum has a small (above ground) tea shop, and a frankly vast gift shop! Here it was possible to purchas everything from the simplest "pile it high" pottery tea sets and ornaments, to masssive, ornate examples of handpainted pottery that could grace the ost fantastic of venues unashamedly. Given a much larger home (and deeper pockets) there was a lot here that we loved and would have happily bought and shipped back to the UK - but we managed to restrain ourselves!

At this point we went into Avanos town centre for luch, where we were treated to possibly the best meal we had in Turkey, at Kappadokya Lezzet Sofrasi. The combinatin of fresh backed bread, a selection of dips, and fresh, frothing Ayran had us onto a winner before we even moved on to the meals that we ordered.

A short bus-ride back to Goreme, and a few hours waiting in the lobby of our hotel, wrapped up or Cappadocia trip as we caught the night bus for the 13 hour trip to Trabzon some 750KM to the north east.

2nd October 2023

Our 13 hour bus journey turned into 14 and a half hours, which was a bit tedious, but meant that we could get checked straight into our apartment. Cue some shenanigans with the landlord regarding payment, but eventually all settled and we were able to unwind into a large and spacious apartment right in the centre of Trabzon. We explored the town, and booked up for a tour of the Sumela Monastery the following day - our one full day in the city. This was because we'd spotted a brief window in the weather up at Svaneti, in Georgia, where we were hoping to go and do some proper mountainous hiking, so we were keen to get there posthaste before the snow! On that basis we booked the bus to Hopa for the day after, our route to the Georgian border on an accelerated run to Svaneti. We also took advantage of the apartment's washing machine, before settling back to enjoy a roast chicken and a beer bought from local vendors, in front of an episode of Celebrity Race Around the World. A Rock and Roll lifestyle if ever there was!

3rd October 2023

Today was given over to an organised tour, as the Sumela Monastery we were keen to see is pretty difficult to get to on public transport. We were met by our guide outside Burger King, minutes from our apartment, and collected in a comfortable minibus for the 90 minute trip to the Monastery, in the company of a few other fellow tourists!

Sumela is pretty cool - it's one of those places you see pictures of just hanging from the side of a cliff, halfway up a mountain gorge, and even getting close requires a long traipse up a windy road, then a switch to a smaller mini bus for another 4KM track up an even narrower road. After that it's just a 400M walk along a narrow path on the side of the mountain, with occasional hints at the spectacular building ahead of you.

I think it's safe to say that Sumela is very impressive! It's been very carefully restored over the last 20 years or so, and only opened to the public this year. As well as the great vews within the monastery, and the incredible paintings, there are some good exhibits demonstrating the restoration.

After the Sumela Monastery, our tour led us to an unexpected highlight for us - The Karaca Cave. We only heard about this by looking at the monastery tours, but it was absolutely fascinating. Perched at 1500M above sea level, next to the tiny village of Cebeli, this cave comples comprises 4 caverns reaching over 100M into the mountainside and containing a selection of frankly stunning "dripstone" scupltures - stalagmites, stalactites and travertines. The cave was opened to the public in 1996 following decades of research into the constructions, and has been installed with lighting and a series of stainless steel gantries. to allow movement through the large caverns. The overall effect is like entering the secret lair of a Bond villain where H R Geiger has been asked to do the interior decorating.

Following the Karaca Cave we visited a couple of other less memorable sites, althgouh there was an opportunity to eat rice pudding, which resulted in double portions for me (Julie was not a fan) before we eventually returned to Trabzon.

We finished our time in the city with another roast chicken, and another beer, before packing up ready for our trip to the Bulgarian border.

4th October 2023

This morning we packed up early and had a bakery breakfast - enjoying a very strange bakery dish that looked like a croissant on the outside, but appeared to be full of ham on the inside. Still, we aren't vegetarian so that was okay! A quick walk to the bus office where we'd booked our tickets to Hope, and we were soon under way and heading along he Black Sea  coast once again.

We reached Hope in time for some lunch, and had to walk about half a kilometre from the bus stop to find a restaurant, In this instance we stumbled on a small place that called itself "Fish Burger", where we enjoyed the eponymous dish which was exccellent. From here, a short step to the local bus terminal where we boarded a very full Dolmus to the border corssing.

The Dolmus dropped us off right at the door to the massive Turkish border point at Sarp. As the  only 24x7 crossing between the two nations, this is a very busy route for commercial transit - and traffic has increased masssively in the last 18 months due to the Russia/Ukraine situation. In fact we saw a lot of lorries parked up along the last 10KM towards the border, which was quite surprising! Nest stop: Georgia!

***

We always planned to spend some time in Turkey on this trip, and whilst we were only here for two weeks in the end, and omitted Istanbul completely, we had a really fabulous time, and will certainly come back!