Turkey: Everywhere Else

In June, Brian and I took a 2 week trip to Turkey.  We were in Istanbul for a few days, seeing all the historical sites, window shopping at the bazaars, and eating all the delicious food.  We ended our time in Istanbul with dinner at a restaurant that featured around 20 mezes and unlimited beer and wine (not to mention an entree and dessert).

I feel full just looking at this picture

After departing Istanbul, we started our journey around the coast of Turkey.  Our first stop was a city called Kusadasi, where we visited the ancient city of Ephesus, the House of the Virgin Mary, and the Temple of Artemis, then spent a free day at a local waterpark.

Brian in the Gate of Hercules

In front of the Library of Celsus

Ephesus!  It was so much hotter in June than it was in April!

Great Theater in Ephesus

At the Temple of Artemis, one of the 7 wonders of the ancient world, which was pretty much just a swampy field.

Our beautiful hotel in Kusadasi, taken from our awesome balcony

We enjoyed this infinity pool overlooking the Aegean Sea

We left Kusadasi and headed inland, to a very small town called Pamukkale.  In Turkish, Pamukkale means cotton castle.  This town is famous for these terraces made from travertine, which is hardened calcium carbonate.  Though it looks like snow and ice, it's actually rock and includes hot springs! 

Cotton castle!

Brian at Pamukkale

Enjoying the warm spring water!

After leaving Pamukkale, we headed back to the coast to a town called Fethiye.  We had a free day to explore this cute little town, so we booked a jeep tour to take us to Saklikent Gorge, tubing, and to a mud bath.  The gorge was fed with snowmelt, and it was the coldest water I've ever experienced in my life!  A few parts had super strong currents, including one area that was chest deep and you had to traverse with a rope!  Though our tubing trip was short, it was really fun (though we tried really hard to not get splashed in that freezing water).  After tubing, our group went to a giant pit of mud for a mud bath.  The tour guides made sure that mud covered us literally from head to toe.  It didn't occur to me until halfway through that we'd have to rinse off in the frigid ice water! 

Unfortunately we didn't realize until we were on the day tour that our waterproof camera was busted.  Google it if you want to see pictures of the gorge.

The next day we boarded our gulet (boat), which would be our home for the next 3 days, until we reached the city of Antalya.  We made several stops along the way and met some really interesting people while enjoying traditional Turkish food aboard the boat. 

Pulling away from the dock in Fethiye

Hiking in Butterfly Valley with a swimsuit coverup and water shoes.

Our cute little gulet!

A visit from the gözleme boat!  Gözleme is a traditional Turkish flatbread filled with either sweet or savory ingredients (very similar to crepes and rotis).  We had one with nutella and bananas!  So yum!

A stop at St. Nicholas Island (Santa Claus Island!) with beautiful Byzantine ruins

They also had wild oregano all over the island!

The oregano smelled so good!

From the top of St. Nicholas Island

Meanwhile, back on the gulet...

The next day we stopped at an adorable little town called Kas (pronounced like cash)

One of these guys got my foot!

Unfortunately I was in a summer class and had a bit of schoolwork to do!

Another stop:  Simena Island, with a castle on top!

Wild pomegranates growing everywhere!

On the top of the island.  That water was a ridiculous color!!!

Captain let Brian drive the boat for a minute

Brian did this a lot while on our cruise

Also a lot of this

We were surprised to find out that our cabin onboard did not have a fan or air conditioning.  After a few restless hours of sleep the first night, we decided to move up to the deck and sleep under the stars.  That's where we slept the next 2 nights as well... MUCH cooler and more comfortable.

After disembarking in Antalya, we had a free day to explore the city.  We met up with two new friends from our cruise, John and Katie, and took 3 forms of public transportation to get to the ruins of Termessos.  Termessos was an ancient city built on the side of a mountain, and we spent a few hours hiking around the site.

Ancient dragonfly of Termessos!

These creepy looking bugs were all over

Some ruins in Termessos

John, Katie, and Brian doing some exploring. 

Termessos was cool because there were so many undisturbed objects there!

The highlight of Termessos was the enormous theater with spectacular views of the valley below

Katie wanted to stand in the window of the theater, so then we all had to try.  Shorty over here had a little trouble.

Made it in the window!

View from the theater window

King Brian on his throne

Hooray for Termessos!

We left Antalya and headed for our last stop, Cappadocia.  Since it was a long drive, we stopped halfway at a school for whirling dervishes at a place called Konya.  It was a little confusing and I'm still not quite sure what they're all about, but you can read about it here if you want. 

Disclosure:  I took this picture in Istanbul, not in Konya.  There were no dervishes doing any whirling at the whirling dervish school.  They did feed us good lunch though.

We finally arrived in Cappadocia, the last stop on our tour of Turkey, before heading back to Istanbul and then Saudi Arabia.  Cappadocia is famous for it's unique topography, made up of "fairy chimneys" formed from volcanic ash.  We stayed in a cave hotel, which we thought was really cool and unique, until we realized that basically all of the hotels there were cave hotels.  It was still fun (though it smelled like a cave).  We enjoyed Cappadocia a lot!

Our cave hotel room!

View from our cave

Even the restaurants were in caves

The highlight of any trip to Cappadocia is a sunrise hot air balloon ride over the fairy chimneys

Seeing the landscape from above was breathtaking

There were SO many hot air balloons

Getting ready to land outside this cute little town

A celebratory drink upon landing (mostly juice with the tiniest splash of champagne)

The wishing tree in Cappadocia

On a tour in Cappadocia

The mushroom shaped fairy chimneys...

More super phallic mushrooms

No good tour is complete without a stop where they make local products.  In Turkey we were taken to a place where they sold polished stone, another gemstone shop, and of course, a rug shop.  Usually this is my least favorite part of the tour, but we did stop at a pottery place in Cappadocia where they let me try to make my own pottery!

It is a lot harder than it looks!  And messy!  They gave me these cool pants to wear to protect my clothes.

My really shitty bowl/plate/blob of clay

Turkey was a wonderful place to vacation!  There is so much more to Turkey than just Istanbul (though I did love Istanbul!).  I enjoyed the beauty of the landscape, the kindness of the people, all the interesting history, and oh, did I mention the food?  :)  Hope you enjoyed this 2 part blog post about our trip to Turkey!