When I visited Istanbul for the first time 5 years ago, I was so positively surprised about the beauty and vibe of the city, that I already knew it wouldn’t be my last trip to the most popular city of Turkey.
During these last covid-months, there weren’t many destinations left to pick, as many european countries put on restrictions to cross their borders. Leaving Europe wasn’t an option, as it was impossible to visit Asia or the US. However we looking for a more exotic destination to get the feel of being far away from home. Istanbul was just the right choice. While being Turkey, why shouldn’t we fly over to Cappadocia, to wonder the beauty of the big-balloons-sunrise ? It sounded like the perfect trip.
After I had booked our bargain hotel right in the center of the city, next to the Galata tower, I got a message through booking.com, where the Hotel informed us about their one-way aiport-pickup, with a set price of 40$. I checked the prices on google, and it seemed like a the price-range of a taxi would vary from 30-40 euros, which sounded pretty expensive, compared to our usual taxi rides in Asia or Portugal.
After our first taxi-ride, which takes easily 40 minutes to make it to the city center, we felt some kind of relief, noticing that a one-way route only cost 140-160 lira (16-18 euro). This was easily half of the suggested price by the hotel.
Our hotel right in the hear of the city was 55€ for 2 nights. BARGAIN!
Sadly, our schedule of the trip was shortened a couple of weeks before, as our initial flight from Istanbul to our country was canceled, so we had to prepone it by almost 36 hours. Instead of spending almost 4 days in Istanbul, it got cut short to 1 single whole day. As we had to a make decision, to chose between a stressful but interesting trip, or spending a week at home, we went all in. And in the end we didn’t regret it, as we had spent some wonderful days in Turkey.
Istanbul.
What a gem of a city. It offers everything I expect to get from a city: a cultural difference, ancient buildings that makes a city unique, great food, hip spots.. the right mix of old and modern.
Istanbul has got it all!
To start our morning right, we stepped out of the entrance of our bargain hotel “Royal Galata Hotel”, and walked steep uphill for 3 minutes, and sat down at a table of the cosy "Guney Restaurant". Choose a granola-bowl, turkish brekfast (the traditional dish Menemen) and enjoy the sun shining over the the beautiful Galata tower.
As we only had one whole day to witness the main spots of Istanbul, I decided to visit the 3 most popular mosques, which are shining over the city’s landscape with their beautiful architecture. Obviously these would be: the Blue Mosque (Sultan-Ahmed mosque), Hagia Sophia, and Süleymaniye Mosque.
Just before making it to Istanbul, a friend told me the story of Hagia Sophia. The building was initially a christian church when it was build in the year 532 a.c.. From the year 1453 to 1935, it became a mosque for the muslims. Following 1935 Hagia Sophia was considered as a museum. Day prior our arrival, on july 24th 2020, Hagia Sophia became a mosque again. I could imagine that this could cause severe tensions in the religious world. The squares around Hagia Sophia were guarded by hundreds of police men.
As my personal opinion, the Hagia Sophia as a mosque, didn’t feel as nice than the first time I visited it in 2015. The old floors were covered by a plain blue carpet, which gave the inside of the building a weird look. The beautiful park, on the outside square, had lost its beauty, because of all the security barriers that were built up, with political slogans on it. And of course, all the visitors had to wear a mask. So much beauty was lost.
The main court on the ouside of the Blue Mosque was closed for renovation works. Bummer! As I wanted to show my girlfriend the beauty of its architecture. At least, we managed to enjoy the view at the 3rd mosque (Süleymaniye) all over Istanbul and the court of the mosque (that you can witness in the our video).
The Old Bazar, was a must as well, as we intended to buy those traditional turkish hanging lamps and some fresh spices. We were surprised that a lamp would just cost 65lira (7 euros). Of course some shops asked double the price. On our next trip to Istanbul, we would definitely opt for a bigger suitcase, as they take quite a lot of space in your luggage.
In the later afternoon, we wanted to take one of these jawdropping shots, with a panoramic view over the city, and a bunch of seagulls flying over our head. We saw those cinematic shots on Instagram, and wanted to get one of those as well. Knowing that the whole scene is orchestrated, to attract the seagulls, we knew it would come for free.
The coffee/bar “Kubbe-I Ask” used to be the place where they would over a photogenic corner to take this kind of photos. With high hopes we made it to the rooftop of the bar, and satdown for a drink. However no photo-spot in sight. The roof-top was packed with customers. We had two mocktails, as they didn’t serve any alcoholic beverages and still enjoyed the view over the blue colored Bosporus river and the Galata Bridge. The staff of the bar, told us, that there was a building right next door, which would offer the photoshooting for 25 euro (12.5 euro each person). Considering that you pay a mocktail 2 euros, and a wonderful dinner 10 euros.. paying 25 euros for a couple of photos on a rooftop wasn’t considered cheap for turkish standards. However it was worth the price. The shop/service runs under the name “tahtistanbul” on Facebook or @taht.istanbul on Instagram. Still during covid-times, with barely any tourists in the city, we had to wait 30 minutes. While waiting you can relax in a bunch of hammoks and they offer you a turkish tea or coffee.
The two guys on the rooftop, will take your camera or phone and take a bunch of photos (around 30-40 in total) from different angles & positions. Solo and as a couple. Seeing the result, and the effort of the so-called “photographer”, it was definitely worth it.
To end our first sightseeing tour, we headed over to Balat, a hip & colorful neighbourhood in the center of Istanbul. From the mainroad, a taxi will bring you to Balat for 1-2$. The neighbourhood Balat is packed with cosy bars, tiny artistic shops, and endless coffee places. Kids are playing on the streets, and the colored houses around you, make you feel like being in a not-religious place. It’s definitely worth spending 1 or 2 hours there, just relaxing and enjoying the quietness.
We made it back to the hotel around 19h, as we managed to organise a meet-up with a friend i met years ago in Lisbon at my favorite hostel. Medhi who used to live in Algeria, happened to move to Istanbul, and it felt like a good idea, to have dinner together. He brought us to a local restaurant called “Bilice Kebap”. They served huge trays with several mezzes on tiny plates, skewers, some traditional flatbreads. The dinner was so delicious that we had to get up on our very last night.
What a day. So many sights in one single day.
What would a trip to Istanbul be, without savouring some Baklava at "Hafiz Mustafa". I was never a fan of turkish delights, as they were mostly too sweat for my taste. After having had the pistachio Baklavas at the famous “Hafiz Mustafa” bakery, it definitely changed my mind about the threats. So good!
Cappadocia.
Cappadocia, is one of those regions, that everybody knows from Instagram photos. So far I know two destinations which are well known for their amazingly beautiful sunrise/sets, as the skies are filled with endless hot balloons: the first one i got to know was Bagan (Myanmar) and the second one would be Cappadocia (Turkey). Look it up on Google, and you will be amazed how lovely those balloon rides are (as I don’t wanna use, photos or videos that are not mine, on this blog).
Cappadocia looks like straight out of a fairey tale: big rocks surrounding the villages of Cappadoccia, rocks in any colors or shapes. Some hotels offer cave rooms, which are carved in the plain walls of these rocks. It’s mesmerizing. The good part about it, they’re pretty cheap as well! Expect to pay 120-150 euro for 3 nights (double room) in a magnificent hotel! BARGAIN!
To make it to Cappadocia, you have to fly into Kayseri Airport, which is a one hour flight from Istanbul (we paid our flight 30euros). After jumping into our shady rental-car, which was already hitting the 200.000 km mark, we drove almost an hour to reach Göreme.
You can choose one of the 3 cities, where you wanna stay to watch the balloons rising up to the sky:
Göreme, the more laid back village
Ürgüp, the not so laid back village
Uchisar, the fortress-shaped village.
How to know which one of these 3 above to pick?
We informed ourselves online, and decided to book our nights at the “HENNA HOTEL” in Göreme. Göreme sounded like a cool easygoing village, where you can walk around in flip-flops and where it instantly feels like being at home. On the first day, while checking-in, we got a super friendly welcome by the manager, who showed us the amities of the resort, before leading us to our beautiful room.
Actually, we had a fancy hotel room, in a laid back village. Hah! What we liked about the city center, everything is in walking distance. Going up to the main sunset point in Göreme, will take 10 minutes on foot. All the souvenir shops (which sell cute pottery and turkish glass-lanterns), the restaurants, the bars, are reachable within 5 minutes. The only downside of Göreme: it’s really small! You can visit the whole city center in an hour. BUT… you will love that, as the shopkeepers will recognize you on the following day, and greeting you with a big smile on their face.
As we just managed to get over the first wave of covid-infections these last months, the seasonal business was very low while we were visiting. The main attraction of Cappadocia, the hot balloons, weren’t flying due to Covid restrictions. Many people weren’t traveling, with the result, that Göreme looked quite empty. So we decided to tip almost every shopowner to support them financially. Almost everytime we tipped, the turks gave us something in return, a present, another free icecream cone, they invited us for a free tee or coffee… unbelievable how welcoming the turkish citizen are. This was the first time ever, that I witnessed this kind of grattitude and friendliness outside of Thailand or Japan.
From Göreme, you can easily visit, Ügrüp or Uchisar by car. It will take you less than 10 minutes driving. Uchisar is the closest city to Göreme, you can also visit it on foot, through “Piggeon Valley”.
Uchisar looks magnificent from afar, as you can clearly notice the conic shape of the city, which gives it the look of a fortress. The closer you get to Uchisar, the more it will look like one of the neighbouring old cities.
We also visited Ügrüp for a couple of hours. It offered kind of the same sights than Göreme or Uchisar. There were a lot more visitors in the city, and it just felt like another busy turkish city, that’s why we would recommend Göreme among those 3. Göreme is quiet, but still lively enough at night to have a good time with your friends and family. Despite the covid-restrictions, one or two bars were packed every night, while we were walking by. If we ever turn back to Cappadocia (as we haven’t watched the balloon-rise yet), we would definitely stay in Göreme.
Is there anything else to do in Cappadocia?
Well, there’s not that much to do, except hiking. As we didn’t have many options, besides a quad-ride, or horse-ride through the stoney valleys, we decided to walk from Göreme to Uchisar, through the Valley of Love.
Why Valley of Love? Because a bunch of stones, have a the shape of a penis, that’s why… period. We were told, that the name was made up by tourists.
We walked along the hot burning streets, almost an hour til we found to walkable path that leaded to the “Lover’s Viewpoint” (in Love Valley). As it was super hot outside, we already emptied our bottles. Close to the massive phallic rocks, there was a very vintage-looking tavern, where we could order water, juices or softdrinks. The prices were a little bit more expensive as usual, however we couldn’t care less, as we got super thirsty. The lovely gentleman at the bar, told us, to follow the dried riverbed, uphill towards Uchisar. It would be reachable within 40 minutes.
Old sport! We made it to the fortress in almost 2 hours. And it really felt like a bad joke. I got a heavy sunburn, because I was wearing a tanktop without sunscreen. Following the dried river bed, lead us through tunnels, spikey hedges that cut our skin, slippery rocky paths, we had to climb up big rocks without any spots to hold on. And after walking for almost 90 minutes, it still felt like being stuck in a desert. At some point it wasn’t funny at all. We were so happy when we saw a hidden path that lead us to the top of a hill, where we found out that we almost made it to Uchisar.
We ran to the first open restaurant to buy 2 bottles of water. The turkish people looked at us, like if we had jumped out of their tv-screen. It seemed like they’d never seen a dehydrated dude with a sunburn.
We still managed to walked down to Göreme, back home, through the “Piggeon Valley”, which was a much nicer path. Not as spectacular as the phallic rocks, however much more enjoyable.
Just before sunset, we drove up to the “Göreme Tarihi Milli Park”, to witness a beautiful sunset, above white sandstone mountains, which were supposed to reflect in red color, once the sun would set. This wasn’t the case though, when we were visiting. However the whole sunset-point felt like a coachella-themed party among turkish pepople. They offered coffee from a fancy food-truck. There was music, lots of people, a couple of instagramable swings. It felt like Covid was gone for an hour.
We lost a lot of time finding the spot at “Red Valley”, because Google-Maps didn’t bring up the right location. A car with 3 turkish guys was following us to find the same spot. We decided to park our car further away to avoid getting stuck in the sand dunes. As we reached the spot that was shown by google-maps, we and the 3 turkish gentlemen, found out, that it was the wrong location. We jumped in their car, drove around and asked people how to get to our destination. Pretty funny situation with a bunch of very friendly people, who couldn’t speak any english.
To find the right spot on google maps enter “Göreme Tarihi Milli Park” or “Kizilvadi” (restaurant/bar).
We aren’t fans of quad rides, however if we would have stayed another day, we might had done the tour, as the landscapes are truely beautiful and really not that easy to reach by car (except for a 4wheeldrive).
You can visit museums, pottery workshops… to kill the time. However if you only spend 2 whole days in Cappadocia, i’d enjoy the nature, the sunrises, and the food. And spend some relaxing moments at those beautiful hotels.
We were so happy having visited Turkey. It was a complete positive experience, with hundreds of super welcoming people. The food in Istanbul was a blast! The weather was perfect. We would turn back anytime soon.
