montezume

This winter, I spent three weeks in Turkey traveling with my younger brother and my father. I booked them flights from Vancouver to Istanbul with Lifemiles on Lufthansa in business class, via Frankfurt and Munich. I flew return Montreal to Istanbul the next day on Turkish Airlines in business class, booked with 105,000 Aeroplan miles and no scamcharges (fuel surcharges). I enjoyed the flights, so much so that for my trip to Germany this summer, I booked with TK in J again on aeroplan points. Not the most direct way to get to Europe, but a great way to fly.

I took the public transit to the Montreal airport, it takes me about an hour it's and cheap (included with my monthly metro pass). I got my boarding pass and drank some wine in the crappy contract lounge that TK offers, since the Air Canada lounges closes before departure of this flight.

I like to pack light for trips, so all I had with me was carry on luggage: my Filson duffle bag and a camera bag.



We boarded half an hour late, and I had a pretty uneventful flight. I didn't end up taking any pictures, as I felt awkward using my old DSLR in the cabin. The food was great, and I have some pictures of it from the flight home later on.

I landed in Istanbul, and got through immigration on my UK passport. I had paid $20 USD for a electronic visa and saved $40 by not using my Canadian passport. I spent a few minutes figuring out the vending machine for buying an Istanbulkart. Turns out you could only use change, so I went to a grocery store in the airport and bought some bottled water, and used my change to buy and load my card. I then took the metro and transferred to the tram to our hotel in the old city, where my brother and father had already arrived the night before. I met them at the hotel, and we went for a walk.

Unfortunately, our visit to Istanbul seemed to coincide with a bit of a rain storm. But we were able to explore the city all the same. First thing I saw outside of the hotel was some pretty nice looking deserts.



Then my first view of a Turkish mosque.



Since our hotel was really close to the Basilica Cistern, we walked over there and checked it out. Since it is, uh, underground, I wasn't able to get any good pictures inside. But it was a cool experience.



Next we walked to the Hagia Sofia, which was amazing. This former church turned mosque turned museum was built in 537, and was the world's largest cathedral for nearly a thousand years.







I loved the combination of Islamic and Christan art.




The calligraphy is pretty amazing.



Plus, cute cats.



Anybody know the significance of Jesus holding up two fingers?



The Blue Mosque as seen out of the window of the Hagia Sofia.


Then we walked through the Hippodrome of Constantinople and I got this picture of the German fountain



My brother had read about a great seafood place down by the water, so off we went.



Unfortunately, it was closed, so we ended up eating at the Pudding Shop, a cafeteria style place famous for being a gathering point of hippies on their way to India during the 1960s.

Then we got some beers at convenience store and drank them at our hotel like the cheap travelers we are.

The next day, we checked out the Grand Bazaar



And looked across the Galata Bridge



Our plan was to take the ferry across the sea of Marmara to Bursa, and take a train from Bursa to Izmir. However, when we got to the ferry terminal, we found out that the ferry was cancelled due to heavy winds. So we took the subway back to the city, and decided on the next best option: taking a 10+ hour bus ride. Yay.

montezume

Our bus dropped us off at the Izmir bus station at almost 11pm, and I have to say we didn't get the best first impression of the city. It was a fairly long tax ride to the center and our hotel from the bus station, and the city didn't seem to have that much charm.

The next day, we woke up early and went exploring. We walked through the Bazaar from our hotel near the train station down to the clock tower and the waterfront.



We then had an excellent lunch at a Iskender kebab (thin cut slices of beef with bread and tomato / yogurt sauce) place in the bazaar that had table side butter service, which was both ridiculous and excellent.

Then we walked along the water front to burn off some of that butter.



Next we stopped for a Turkish coffee. Much cheaper and better than the one we had gotten in the Grand Bazaar in Istanbul



Then we walked through the Bazaar up to the Agora.



It's always really interesting to see archaeological sites like these smack dab in the middle of bustling cities.



We were the only people there when we visited, and it was pretty neat. Definitely worth price.





Unfortunately, it seems like the dogs can't read the signs



We had a really cheap and really delicious meal of fried small fish (anchovies I believe?), salad and bread at a place near the train station



Early the next day we took the train to Selcuk. It cost only a few dollars a person, and only took about two hours I believe. It was a lot more comfortable than taking the bus.



From the train station, we walked to our pension, checked in, and took the mini bus to Ephesus.



One of the advantages of coming during the off season is the relative lack of people at the big sites like Ephesus.



More cute cats



It was pretty amazing to see this ancient city that has been so well restore, and I couldn't have asked for a nicer day.



The stadium. My one regret is that a few days after our visit to Selcuk, there was a camel wrestling tournament to be held in the stadium at Ephesus. That would have been an incredible sight.



Nice view of the ancient street



Pretty empty of tourists







The library of celsus



Walking down the ancient street.



We left Ephesus by mini bus and walked up the hill to the Basilica of St. John



The light was really nice at that time in the evening





There were pretty nice views from up there



We walked up the Ayasoluk Castle just as they were closing, and the guard was nice enough to let us in.



So we just took some quick pictures and headed back down



Lots of options for pensions in this town



The next day, we took a few mini buses to get to the ruins of Prienne.



We were the only tourists there.

montezume

We then took a nice and cheap bus ride the coast down to Bodrum. We got there at night, and had decided to make a day trip on the ferry to Kos, Greece the next day.

Bodrum harbor, seen from the ferry.



Bodrum castle / museum of underwater archaeology



Kos felt really similar to Turkey, but it felt even more like there was nothing going on during the off season.



Kos



Kos Castle





I bought some oranges from a vendor and we sat down on some old steps to eat them.



Do you see the cow in the background?



Then we checked out the agora, which was really nice



And saw that we couldn't escape raki by leaving Turkey



Then we took the ferry back to Bodrum and slept at our hotel.

montezume

We decided to check out the museum of underwater archaeology in Bodrum, which is located inside the castle.





The castle offers nice views of the harbor





I wonder what happened to Carpe Diem I, II, III and IV?





We had lunch in the spice market.



Lahmacun with ayran



Feeling energized, we walked to the amphitheater





The next day we took a bus farther down the coast to Fethiye.

Walked up the hill and checked out the Lycian tombs



And enjoyed the views from the hill





Then we walked back down to the waterfront and checked out the boats for hire



We had dinner at the fish market.

BYO-FISH!





and then had some delicious street food for dessert

montezume

The next day we woke up early for a hike along the Lycian trail

Walking out of town heading for the trail head




Nice parking spot



Trail head



Leaving Fethiye behind





Encountered some Lycian tombs along the way



What would eventually be our ride back to Fethiye. We took these mini busses a lot during our trip



After the 9 KM hike, we arrived in the ghost town of Kayaköy, a greek village abandoned during the population exchanges.











Tired after our hike, we took a mini bus back into town.

The next day we had hired a private boat cruise, so we walked from the hotel to boat



A perfect day for boating



Edale, our ride



A nice grilled fish lunch prepared by our captain

montezume

From Fethiye, we took a bus to Antalya. We got into the bus station, and took the tram into the city centre. After finding our hotel, it started to rain. And it continued to rain. We had dinner close to the hotel in hopes of not getting too wet, and woke up the next morning in a flooded hotel room. We decided to cut our loses and head inland to Konya, where the weather was colder but no rain was forecast.

In Konya, we checked out the Melvana musuem. Which was free!







The next morning, we took a bus to Goreme, in Cappadocia, where we were staying three nights.

It's hard to get over the crazy moon like surrounding in Cappadocia







In Goreme, we went to the open air musuem



Cave churches



And went on a hike





Note the pidgin homes



We stayed in a nice cave hotel

montezume

From Goreme, we took a bus to Ankara, the bustling capital of Turkey. We just stayed there one night, as I had booked us a last night at a hotel in Istanbul to be sure we wouldn't miss our flights home.

We didn't do much in Ankara, had some delicious cheap food, and tried to visit the ataturk mausoleum, but we couldn't as we got there too late and it was closed. We took the high speed train back to Istanbul, but as it doesn't yet run all the way into Istanbul, it took us almost two hours to get the final 35 km from Pendik to the ferry terminal on a minibus. We really should have spent the money and taken a taxi.

During our first few days in Istanbul, we missed going inside the Blue Mosque, so we made sure to on our last day





Just a stunning piece of architecture.



We flew back together on Turkish Airlines business class from Istanbul to Montreal where I live, and my father and brother continued on an Air Canada flight to Vancouver.

Delicious mezze, I asked for extra octopus salad



A little cheesy but nice



Menu



Main course



Tons of dessert



That's the end of my first Flyertalk Trip Report! I hope you enjoyed it.

mpkz

Nice pics!

Glensea

Thanks so much! What great photography, since a picture is worth a thousand words.

halfcape

Wow, thanks for sharing all your photos and experiences.

JMN57

Great pics - we just got back from a week in Istanbul (first week of March) so the early part of your trip brought me right back there. The rest of your trip looks like a GREAT adventure. Someday, when we have the time, we have to get into the Turkish countryside.

montezume

I would love to go back to Turkey, and I think March / April is probably the perfect time. January was nice, but it was a bit cold, and we got rained out of Antalya and had a few days of rain in Istanbul.

Thanks for the compliments on the photos: I'm using a 7 year old Nikon D60 and a 35mm 1.8 prime lens. It's a decent camera, but really behind the new generation entry level DSRLs.

LeisureClassy

Thanks for the report!
I've spent a lot of time in Turkey but always in Istanbul. January is a little cold, but worth it to have so much to yourself.

If you go back in the spring be sure to check out Buyukada for a day or two!

montezume

That's on the top of my list. When I told a friend who had spent some time in Istanbul that I was going, she suggested going to those Islands. It rained a lot during our time in Istanbul and was cold so it didn't really make sense. Next time though, I bet it would be awesome in April.

farbster

Very nice trip report. I'm hoping to get to Cappadocia one day...