Travel Diary - Turkey
Most of the times it so happens that we decide on making a last minute trip. This was not one of those. Our lure for Turkey goes back to when we got married. It was one of our top choices among all the places we considered for our honeymoon, but we couldn't make it then. Few years later we again gave it a serious thought and then a friend's wedding came by. A year later in 2014, the Gezi Park protests broke out in Istanbul. It delayed our trip but it definitely did not deter us. It finally happened in the summer of 2015. By that time we had browsed enough pictures and read all we could about Turkey. We had already fallen in love with her...
Turkey or Turkiye as it is commonly called, is a very diverse country (being an Indian, your bar for diversity is already set high!). A short flight or a drive can lead you from a mega-polis Istanbul, bestowed with rich history and architecture to the awe inspiring formations and caves of Cappadocia. Further south one can unwind at turquoise beaches or indulge in extreme sports. A short drive from there can take you to Pammukale's cotton castles, hot springs and more.
You can create awesome interactive maps using https://www.scribblemaps.com/. We often took short flights between cities to save time. Buses also run between these cities but are often overnight. We took a bus from Kusadasi to Fethiye via Pammukale.
A convenient non-stop red eye flight from JFK landed us in Istanbul. Like typical New Yorkers, we jumped on to the Istanbul Metro from Ataturk airport. It was a good way to get acquainted to a new place and its people. We made our way through the narrow uphill alleys to find our Airbnb. After almost getting lost we reached a restaurant which was just setting up for evening dinner, our first encounter with friendly Turks. The restaurant owner offered us the quintessential Turkish tea while we waited for our host. We tried to make some conversation in sign language and simple English until our host greeted us and escorted us to another uphill alley (all with our knapsacks and bags, quiet an adventure already!). After settling down and meeting my mother and sister who had also joined us on the trip from India, our host took out the map and gave us a brief orientation.
Turkey has always been somewhat of a volatile country, so many folks back home were worried for us and asked us to take care. Given the concern, we had a number of questions for our very informative and friendly Airbnb host - "How safe was the area?", "What time should we head back home?". We were expecting him to suggest that we head back by late evening but he coolly replied "12 am or after is fine". That was just the beginning of some Turkey myth busting!!
We had about 2 weeks to explore Turkey and a lot of time to plan...and re-plan. Below is the itinerary we chalked out.
Check out our detailed upcoming post on the charming city of Istanbul and more.