Day-1
Arrival at Istanbul Airport
My younger sister travelling from Bangalore already checked in to the hotel before we arrived. I and my youngest sister boarded an early morning flight from Delhi to Istanbul and reached there on Saturday afternoon.
Well, we got to know about the cab services over there by my sister that we should opt for an uber instead of Bitaksi(Local Taxi booking App). So we did as she suggested and managed to board our Uber with the help of local people at Istanbul airport because the language was a barrier for us.
After reaching Galley Hotel, our cab driver asked us to pay 170 TL which we, of course, paid without checking the meter and he left. After checking my mobile I found my uber bill was showing 132 TL. Hence, I would suggest that in Turkey please make sure to check the meter before paying otherwise cab driver can really mug you!
After resting in the hotel , we planned to embark our journey with Bosphorous cruise on the first day in the evening.
Bosphorous Cruise:
Price: 50 TL per head
We boarded for 2 hr sightseeing cruise of the majestic Bosphorus Strait from Istanbul. We sailed around the glittering strait, gazing at prominent landmarks like the Beylerbeyi Palace and the Rumeli Hisari fortress and all other its significant monuments. We felt the reminiscent tranquility of the ocean as we sailed on the calm waters of the strait. Bosphorus strait divides the Black Sea and the Marmara Sea and cruising here was one of the most marvelous experiences.
Sunset reflecting off of the glass-like waters with the sight of ancient monuments will be engraved in your heart for forever. We were also able to catch a glimpse of some beautiful Turkish weddings and their traditional dance called Halay.
Istanbul
We planned to explore Istanbul but we didn’t know where to start as the city is gigantic and it bridge two Continents. It has so much to offer in terms of embellished houses of worships, palaces and glorious remnants of its long and eminent history. Finally, we decided to explore the essentials of the city and visited Hagia Sophia and Blue Mosque which are adjacent to each other in the Sultanahmet area.
We were famished and wanted to buy a sim card, so before heading to Blue Mosque we went to Sultanahmet streets. We bought a sim card from there and got some freshly baked bread for us to eat. When we reach Blue Mosque at around 1 pm, we were told by authorities that 1-2 pm is prayer time in the mosque and it is not open for visitors during the prayer time. Some volunteers came to us and told that there is a presentation of 15mins which is organized by their committee for tourists which describes the history of Turkey and Islamic culture. We agreed to attend the same which really acquainted our rich culture of Istanbul.
After 2 pm we visited Blue mosque, and we were asked to cover our head with a scarf. The dress code of the Blue mosque is that full-body should be covered. Also for tourists, they do provide robes and scarves outside the mosque for man and woman.
The Blue Mosque, known as Sultan Ahmet Camii in Turkish, after the Ottoman sultan Ahmet I who had it built from 1609 to 1616, gets its English name from the blue tiles in its interior. Hagia Sophia sits next to Blue Mosque which is also called Ayasofya in Turkish. Aya Sofya is the former Greek Orthodox Christian patriarchal cathedral, later an Ottoman imperial mosque and now a museum.
We went to Hagia Sophia and bought a ticket for ourselves. It took us 15-20 mins to get inside the Museum. Hagia Sophia is the marvel of ancient architecture and has been the heart of Istanbul Old city for 1500 yrs.
After visiting Aya Sofya we went to Ayasofya Muzesi, a must recommended restaurant in the vicinity of Blue Mosque and Hagia Sophia.
We roamed around Sultanahmet streets and came back to our hotel. (We had to book another hotel near to Galley hotel for another half day for keeping our luggage).
We checked out and took a cab to reach Bus station(Esenler Otogari) for boarding Bus to Selcuk which we had pre-booked from Obilet.com.
Metro Tourizm Bus Service was really good and the seats were also comfortable. Our bus dropped us to Selcuk bus stop. After reaching there, we went to our hotel Ephesus Palace which was at walking distance from the bus stop. We had booked Ephesus Palace through Airbnb. And I must recommend this place to everyone, Mehmet was a superb host and a kind person. They helped us in booking cab for Ephesus tour with an English speaking driver (which is really difficult to find in general). He also allowed us to keep our luggage in the same room without any extra charge because we were supposed to check out in the afternoon.
Our Ephesus tour started with visiting the holy place, House of the Virgin Mary. House of the Virgin Mary is a Catholic shrine located on Mt. Koressos in the vicinity of Ephesus, 7 km from Selçuk.
During the 2nd century BC, Ephesus was the fourth largest city in the eastern Roman Empire, famous for its Artemisium, the Library of Celsus and its medical school. This vast and beautiful Greco-Roman city was once home to 250,000 people, and the glorious monuments that remain point to it being a vibrant and rich metropolis. Sighting of Celsus Library and old Ephesus gave us a glimpse into life centuries ago.
Temple Of Artemis:
We ended our Ephesus tour with Temple of Artemis- Seven Wonder of Ancient World. The Temple of Artemis was a Greek temple dedicated to an ancient, local form of the goddess Artemis. It was completely rebuilt twice, once after a devastating flood and three hundred years later after an act of arson, and in its final form was one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. By 401 AD it had been ruined or destroyed. We saw only foundations and fragments of the last temple remain at the site. It was famous for magnificent works that adorned it.
We checked out of the hotel and get on the minibus to Aydin from where we were supposed to board the bus to our next destination “ Fethiye”. We reached Fethiye at around 11 pm and took a cab to our hotel in Oludeniz. As soon as we reached our hotel, our eyes were sparkled as we sighted the Indian Restaurant ( Shine Indian Restaurant) just in front of our hotel (R.E.D. Hotel). We concluded our day with Great Indian meal.
Oludeniz- Place of Blue Lagoon
This is how the morning looks like in Oludeniz.
Due to the time crunch, we chose to take a daylong boat trip of Oludeniz bays and islands. Our hotel manager helped us with booking the boat tour.
We were staying in Oludeniz neighbourhood from where there are frequent minibuses going to Oludeniz beach.
Boat trip departs from Oludeniz beach and there is a separate entrance for Blue Lagoon which charge you entrance fee and it is totally worth(approx. 4 TL per head). Blue lagoon is totally spectacular, indeed. Now I know why it is called the dead sea, because of its calmness, and awesome shades of blue and green.
After catching sight of Blue lagoon, we went to Oludeniz beach and boarded our boat and we head out to sea. We enjoyed the stunning coastal views as we sailed through turquoise waters. We visited the butterfly valley, which is only accessible by water or trek. Our boat also stopped at Blue cave and cold spring bays for swimming. We admired the glittering lagoon of the blue cave and crystalline waters of cold spring.
We sit back and admired the breathtaking views as we passed through Oludeniz spectacular shores while cruising back to Oludeniz and reached Oludeniz beach at around 5:30 PM.
We took the minibus to our hotel, checked out and reached Fethiye Bus station by minibus. We boarded Bus for Denizli and reached Denizli at 11:30 Pm. We were blissed that our Airbnb apartment(Tavacku Apartment) was just in front of the Bus station and so we didn’t need to bother much about reaching the hotel during midnight.
We checked out of our apartment and took the minibus to Pamukkale. We were enthralled for Pamukkale and had read so much about this “Cotton Castle” and its geological phenomenon.
The minibus dropped us to Pamukkale bus stop and we walked around the village, reached our destination and bought tickets.
Certainly, Pamukkale is the marvel of nature and its white travertine cascades resembling frozen waterfalls and terraces of shallow pools has the power to allure anyone. Indeed, it looks like cotton. We indulged ourselves in limpid pools for 4-5 hrs.
Pamukkale is also the site of well-preserved ruins of the Greek-Roman city of Hierapolis which we skipped from our list. Situated above these white travertine terraces, Cleopatra pool is an antique pool of clear warm water which was once favoured by Cleopatra, Queen of Egypt.
Photos
After finishing our tour of Pamukkale we get on to return bus to Denizli and explored the streets of the city centre and some shopping! We boarded the bus to Cappadocia in late night for which we had already done pre-booking from Obilet.com
Cappadocia-The surreal beauty!! & Most awaited destination of our trip
We reached Cappadocia (Goreme) around 8 am and sighted the astounded dawn on our way to the city. After reaching the bus stop, we called our hotel manager to arrange to pick up for us. We had booked cave suite there which should be in must to do in the list of Cappadocia.
We had booked Travellers Cave Pension, but we had to wait for some time to check-in because we reached early before check-in time. Meanwhile, we had a delicious breakfast in the same hotel terrace with the majestic view of Cappadocia which was just looking like another planet.
We checked-in to our hotel and after resting for a few hours we planned to try our hands-on experience of Pottery in Avanos. We took the minibus to Avanos and found some Ceramic shop there which gives a demonstration of Pottery and let you do yourself. There are plenty of shops in Avanos for Pottery demonstration.
After the amazing experience of Pottery, we wrapped up this day bit early with Indian dinner at Namaste Indian Restaurant because we had to wake up next morning quite early for our most awaited adventure of this trip “Hot air balloon ride”.
We woke up early and have to be ready by 4:30 am. Most of the Hot air balloon companies arrange for pick up from almost every hotel in Goreme or Nevsehir. We reached a common location of Hot air balloon office to have early morning refreshments. After finishing breakfast, we were taken to balloon take-off zone.
That place in the early morning was indeed a sight for us to see deflated balloon lying on their sides, pilots and their team were busy in setting up balloons, checking its safety and starting to inflate them.
Eventually, the team asked us to get on to basket and the pilot gave us instructions for ensuring our safety in Balloon up air. For the next 1 hr, we were floating up in the sky along with other balloons and caught the sight of famous Fairy Chimneys, Monk’s Valley, Imagination Valley, Love valley, pigeon houses, plenty of cave houses and vineyards. The landscape colour varied as we were flying and gave us ethereal experience alongside majestic sunrise.
Bird-eye views of Cappadocia is certainly an exquisite experience from Hot air Balloon. This experience didn’t seem to be real and we felt like flying on another planet. It was a dreamy experience indeed.
We landed so effortlessly and our pilot popped off champagne in celebration of the successful hot air balloon ride.
Finally! Voyager Balloons presented each of us with Certificate of “ Been There, Done That” which was surely a bonus treat for us.
We were dropped back to our hotel by the balloon company. We finished our left oversleep and checked out of our hotel and keeping our luggage in the same hotel.
We planned to explore the Goreme ourselves rather than taking Green and Red tours available for the full day. There are so many fascinating places to see in Cappadocia and we shortlisted few must-see attractions. We started our tour with Kaymakli Underground city.
Kaymakli’s history dates back to Hittites and Phrygians Period in the 7th and 8th century B.C. and it is estimated to have housed more than 3000 people, it was mainly used during Byzantine times for protection from invading Arabs. Kaymaklı Underground City is part of a UNESCO World Heritage site
We visited many more fascinating places of Cappadocia like Göreme Panorama, Pigeon Valley, Uçhisar Castle, Göreme Open Air Museum, Devrent Valley, Fairy Chimneys.
After exploring the city we headed back to our hotel, just did some local wine and souvenirs shopping
We had a return flight to Istanbul from Nevsehir airport. Hotels in Cappadocia provide shuttle service to Nevsehir and Kayseri airport which we also had booked.
We reached Istanbul at midnight and check-in to our hotel which was near to SAW airport.
After check out we went to Sultanahmet where we had booked our Airbnb apartment for our last day stay in Istanbul.
We check-in to our apartment in the afternoon and decided to visit Basilica Cistern in the city.
We planned to visit the largest and most famous “The Grand Bazaar” to check its glittering shops and test our bargaining skills.
Now one last to do the thing in Istanbul was to fulfil our wish of sweet indulgence of Turkish desserts. We went to Hafiz Mustafa which was founded in 1864 and tried Baklava and Canoffee
The day when we headed to our home country.
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