Turkey 2023

With the history of Bosnia still buzzing around in our heads, we boarded a flight bound for Istanbul Turkey, the city where east meets west above the Bosphorus Straits, where we were to join our first ever small group tour through Turkey.

There were 20 people in this tour and we were a bit concerned about it, would there be some pain in the arse person(s) or nutters in the group?

As it turned out, first off they were all Australian and next, they were a fantastic group to travel with… phew, what a relief.

Turkey had been on our ‘must do’ list of destinations for years, having lots of people who had visited say there are some great things to see and the peoplje were very friendly.

In recent years however there had been some shifts within Turkey, a 90+% Suni based islamic country involving their President seemingly pushing a more strict islamic ‘style’, plus his aggression towards the Kurds.

The Kurds are more culturally akin to Iran whereas the Turks have ancestry from the Balkans, Greece, Bulgaria, Caucasus and Circassia.  In 2022, a bomb attack on a popular tourist street in Istanbul killed six and injured 81 and Turkey blamed Kurdish separatists.

So we arrived by plane from Bosnia into Istanbul, a city of ~18M people a few days earlier than the tour commenced, having done plenty of research with the intent of fully exploring this very interesting city, especially with respect of how to get around using public transport due to its highly congested roads.

Trams are a great was of getting around Istanbul

A theme evolved over the next days around ‘LARGE’ starting as soon as we entered Istanbul’s main airport… it was massive as we walked and walked from the plane to our baggage carousel, number 23a and there were a few more after that one.

We had organised for a transfer to take us to our accommodation and ~90 mins later we reached it, taking so long for 2 reasons, the airport is a long way out from the city and secondly, yep, the roads are very congested.

Below is a map of our time exploring Istanbul.

We used all forms of transport to get around Istanbul
- trams, ferries, funiculars & walking

As a reminder, we arrived into Istanbul 2 nights before the tour started, so we targeted to visit non tour locations to visit, starting with the Basilica Cistern designed to provide filtered water and built in the 5-6^th century AD.

As it happened, it was just around the corner from our hotel, but it took us 45 mins to get inside as we waited in a long slow moving queue and to the next item on the ‘large’ theme.  There were huge numbers of tourists in Istanbul, something we had also experienced in other countries on this post covid trip.

Now the cistern itself is BIG.  If you think of an underground chamber approximately 138 metres (453 ft) by 65 metres (213 ft) or about 9,800 square metres and held up by 336 marble columns each of which is 9 metres high!  It is also reputed that 7,000 slaves helped build it.

The Basilica Cistern is very impressive to walk through as the mood lighting changes

It looks good in black & white also

Throughout the cistern there are works of
art complimenting the ancient columns

There are 2 very famous landmarks in Istanbul, most people contemplating a visit to this city, are aware of, so we asked in the hotel if there was somewhere we could have dinner with a view of both of them… the Hagia Sophia and the Blue Mosque.

“We would recommend going to the top of the Seven Hills Hotel” came their response, which luckily was not too far away, but again took awhile as we ‘danced’ around massive queues and crowd barriers managing the people waiting to enter the Hagia Sofia… more on this later.

The hotel’s recommendation was spot on as we sat at our rooftop table, the sun setting into the ocean, with us looking constantly to the right then left at these 2 beautiful examples of historic construction, seagulls flying around us waiting to be fed by visitors to this vantage point.

The Hagia Sophia as seen from the rooftop restaurant

Enjoying dinner with the Blue Mosque behind us

The Blue Mosque as the sun sets from the rooftop

Time to talk just a little history, because the 2 buildings being introduced above, are a part of Turkey’s interesting past which is similar to Bosnia’s in terms of whom the main players have been over time.  Am doing this to add context and make it easier to describe who built what as we travelled throughout Turkey.

Will try to attempt this in historical order and later, will relate those 2 buildings into it:

1. Anatolians
   The Anatolians are believed to have migrated thousands of years ago from what is known as the Eurasian Steppe which stretches from near China/Mongolia territory, back west to Hungary… a huge area.  Anatolian territory covered most of what is now modern Turkey.
2. Roman
   We all know the Romans conquered huge areas of land and it included Anatolia and we saw some examples of what they left after the Roman’s era ended.
3. Byzantine or Greco Roman
   The term Byzantine was used to distinguish the eastern part of the Roman empire but of Greek christian origin with the Byzantine capital called Constantinople which is now modern day Istanbul.  The Byzantine Empire lasted about 1,100 years from 330-1453.
   
4. Ottoman
   The Ottoman empire emerged from within Anatolia via one of its 12 tribes, grew in strength and ended the Byzantine Empire in 1453 with the conquest of Constantinople.
   The Ottoman empire finished after the end of WWI when the last Sultan fled in 1922 and Turkish nationalism rose.

Now for something we were surprised to learn early during our Turkish experience.  Turkey fought for and gained its independence from the west ofter the Ottoman’s defeat in WWI.

As a result, on the 29^th October 1923 Turkey was celebrating its first century of independence.

During WWI entered     , the man who lead the defeat of the west at Gallipoli, then lead Turkey’s fight for independence against the west and was the author and founder of the modern day Republic of Turkey.

So back to those 2 famous buildings we initially saw in Istanbul.

The Hagia Sophia’s current structure was originally built by the Byzantine emperor Justinian I as the Christian cathedral of Constantinople for the Byzantine Empire between 532 and 537AD… so yes, it is 1,486 years old and stunning but more on the Hagia Sophia later during our tour.

The Hagia Sophia at ground level

The Blue Mosque was constructed by the Ottomans as an Islamic religious mosque by Sultan Ahmed between 1609-1617 and is probably the most well known building in Istanbul.  More on it also later.

View of the Blue Mosque from a park

Before the tour proper we learnt how to use the tram and funicular system(s) and combined with a LOT of walking, we visited some fabulous locations around Istanbul starting with the Dolmabahce Palace, which is simply HUGE and took us a few hours at a rushing pace to get through.  The visit started in the harem building and finished in the seperate main palace.

The Dolmabahce Palace as seen from a ferry

The gates into the Dolmabahce Palace

Small section of the Dolmabahce Palace

Managed to 'sneek' one photo inside the palace

Photo downloaded from internet to show the opulence inside
the Dolmabahce Palace

Some other destinations we managed visiting were Taksim Square which is also massive before taking an old tram down the very long shopping mecca of Istiklal Street where the bomb went off in 2022.

The old tram we used to travel down Istiklal Street

Looking down the very busy
Istiklal Street

We hopped onto the funicular which took us underground down towards the main part of the city.  At this time there was a huge storm which caused instant floods on streets and through shops, including water coming through a roof onto us whilst having coffee. Humans and cats even shared a tram shelter out of the rain.

The underground funicular transports people from the upper
areas within Istanbul

As the rain poured down... people and cats shared limited shelter

The streets became flooded for a short while

You cannot visit Istanbul without visiting the Grand Bazaar, another famous destination which was built in 1461 and absolutely aligns with the ‘BIG’ theme with its 58 covered streets and its 4,000 shops within it.

Just one of the 58 covered streets of the Grand Bazaar

The say you can buy almost anything in the Grand Bazaar

There are many mosques in Istanbul, each with their minarets so we did not have to set alarms as the loud prayers spread from them every morning around 6am, which got us off to an early walking start.  The fortified Galata Tower, a Genoese Italian construction built in 1348.  The Tower was built as a lookout for Venetian traders.

The Galata Tower stands out

Up close to the Galata Tower

Panoramic view of part of the smoggy Istanbul from the Galata Tower

Views from the Galata Tower

There are so many things to see and do in Istanbul and in our case as we walked down narrow interesting backstreets, we crossed the Galata Koprusu Bridge specifically to see all the people fishing daily off the bridge, something the locals love to do each day with good success.

The Galata Koprusu Bridge has restaurants below it

Daily fishing is very popular from the Galata Koprusu Bridge

This part of the world is renowned for its food and it is copious and really good, including the street food and all the flavours we experienced, which is why we also strolled through the Spice Bazar built around 1664… aaah, those smells!

The sights and smells in the Spice Bazar were great!

To finish our day off and with more walking, we climbed… btw did we tell you that Istanbul is hilly, well it is… up to another mosque called the Suleymanyie Mosque which provided great views back to the city and was quite beautiful in its own right.

City views from outside the Suleymanyie Mosque

Outside the Suleymanyie Mosque

Very ornate windows inside the Suleymanyie Mosque

Just before the tour started, we managed to squeeze in a ferry trip across the Bosphorus to get a water view of what we had been experiencing in Istanbul and to visit the Asian side of the city.

You get a very different perspective of Istanbul from the water

Now the tour started after meeting our other fun travellers and our guide Zeynep or Zee for short, and we would be getting around in a bus for the next 8 days except in Istanbul.

Our energetic guide Zeynep or Zee

A little about Zee, a lively single woman, shorter in height but robust in form.  Zee has a very open, warm and energetic style personality, so we ended up knowing more about her than we thought we would, but most of it was very humorous. Zee proved to be an excellent guide and everything happened on time and as planned or arranged.  Well done Zee!

The tour kicked off by doing more walking around the city to specifically visit 3 special locations starting with the Blue Mosque which tourists have labelled with the colour ‘blue’, not because of the outside but due to the predominate blue colour inside.  It is a stunning looking building both inside and out and the day before, we also managed to take night photos of it.

The Blue Mosque by day before entering it

The Blue Mosque at night

On the outside are 6 minarets, with one large central dome and 8 surrounding domes.  Once inside we also learnt it has, 260 stained glass windows and 20,000 blue tiles made of Ionic, a favourite material used during the Ottoman era.

The views inside the Blue Mosque are spectacular

The name for the mosque comes from the blue tiles inside of it

Yet another palace to visit located not far from the Blue Mosque was Topkapi Palace, built in 1459, 6yrs after Constantinople fell and then over the years had some rebuilds after fire and earthquake damage.  In 1923 at the end of the Ottoman Empire this palace was turned into a museum.

Model of Topkapi Palace showing the huge size of it

All the superlatives used for other structures in Istanbul could easily be repeated for this massive palace complex but we would now add words like opulence in the form of the adornments, riches, gold, diamonds… just imagine something similar and it was here.

Very small section of the Topkapi Palace

How people lived in the palace

There were copious examples
of opulence inside the palace

We had left the Hagia Sophia to last, in order to be at its entry right on opening time after the 90 minute prayer period, to avoid the huge tourist queues which would soon form, and it worked, but it was still crazy busy.  You already know when it was built, but it was first built of wood, burnt down and was rebuilt and in 1435 became a Muslim mosque for 500 years before being turned into a museum.

Crowds beginning to mill around the outside of the Hagia Sophia

In the middle is a huge dome and around this are 4 half domes and the main dome building knowledge was gained from how the also famous Pantheon in Rome was built.  Dome style structures became a model for mosque construction around the world from then on.  It was also built using columns from one of the 7 wonders of the ancient world.

The outside is something in itself but its when you get inside you get into ‘wow’ territory with its sheer size, the impact of the dome, the adornments, mosaics and lighting throughout.  Even with all the people inside during our visit, it was still a wow!

What can be said but... WOW!

As our bus left Istanbul, we briefly reflected on the range of things we had experienced there because it is quite a city, which grabs your adrenalin and hangs on, such a great city and we’re not really city people.

This is where we travelled within Turkey after leaving Istanbul

Our next destination was something very special at a personal level.

Why… because my grandmother’s brother died on ANZAC day at Anzac Cove, Gallipoli and we had wanted to visit there for many years to pay my respects, even though his body was never found along with 3,267 Australian soldiers 456 from NZ who have no known gravesite.

The memorial wall at Lone Pine for soldiers
who died but whose bodies were not found

Looking to the memorial at Lone Pine through the actual lone pine

The names of all these people are inscribed on a wall at Lone Pine cemetery, where the original lone pine tree still stands.  We found Hubert Beachley’s inscribed name and had a quiet moment thinking about his and so many other young people’s sacrifice.  It was also quite emotional for both of us.

As a group we visited the Anzac Cove beach and the stories are all true, such a narrow beach to have landed on with high hills directly above it.  As we toured further around more of the Gallipoli area, we saw the trenches so close to each other and other locations where the battles raged. 

Rob walking down the narrow
beach at ANZAC Cove

Famous location at ANZAC Cove called 'The Neck'

But the tour must go on, so after crossing by ferry to the Dardanelles, we progressed to another famous location, especially if you like Brad Pitt and movies… Troy!

There are lots of stories about Troy including the siege of the city and the now famous trojan horse ruse.  Zee, our guide, described most of this was a Greek myth, but there was a Trojan war or siege of the city.

Initial impressions of Troy weren't great.

Troy to be honest was not one the most impressive sites, as it is a very old location going back  to 3,000 BC and the bronze age, when it was located in a strategically important location next to the ocean and with direct access into the Black Sea.

This road of rock lead to where the sea used to be but can't be seen now

Troy did have an amphitheatre

Over the centuries there were 7-9 rebuilds of the city using different methods which were visible whilst we walked around the location.  Troy popped up again as we progressed through not just Turkey but the country following.

One of the 'layers' of Troy when different building material was used

Pergamon, a UNESCO site, was an ancient city of ~300 BC, originally of Greek origin and built high on a hill, and why we had to take a cable car to reach it.  It must have been magnificent in its day with its acropolis or fortified citadel along with a very large amphitheatre, gymnasia, agoras (market shops) and library with large prominent marble columns and other constructions providing a sense of Pergamon’s presence.  There were even aqueducts to manage water.

The amphitheatre at Pergamon

Our tour group spread through the ruins

Its impressive when you think it was built on
top of a mountain 2,300 years ago

Turkey is famous for their rugs, and we got to learn the entire cycle of how they are produced by recovering silk from the caterpillar’s cocoons, next the incredibly intricate patterned weaving process including how threads are knotted to produce the final product(s), many of which were just amazing.  It was so tempting to weaken and buy something but we resisted.

Collecting silk from the cocoons

They pattens they weave are so detailed

Rob had to have a close look at the craftsmanship

The work was so fine and beautiful

Will quickly deal with another shopping ‘opportunity’ during the tour where we attended a small fashion show with models demonstrating various leather coats made of various forms of leather.  Again they were very impressive, especially the coats made out of lamb skin and very tempting but were we… you would have to ask Rob that question me thinks!

Did not expect to attend a leather coat fashion show

Plus there were ample shopping opportunities as we travelled

Our next ancient historical site was Ephesus, located in Turkey’s Central Aegean region, where most of that earlier chronologically described history comes together.  It was founded in roughly the 10^th century BC when people like the Hittites lived there for thousands of years before that.

The start of many amazing ruins to admire

The archeological remains uncovered thus far, display centuries of history, from classical Greece to the Roman Empire when it was the 2^nd largest city of the Roman empire, plus it was also home to one of the worlds 7 ancient wonders, the Temple of Artemis, which was destroyed in the 4^th century BC.  

Ephesus was also there to spread Christianity but eventually, it was taken over by the Ottomans.

The mosaic floors remain

The skill required to build these was high

Nice long street through Ephesus

There were a lot of tourists admiring the library at Ephesus

No privacy in these ancient toilets

Rob had been here before and said we would enjoy it.  She was correct, the ruins of this ancient city were very impressive.

The very large amphitheatre in Ephesus

During this tour we had been doing a lots of walking and it was needed when we entered through the walls into yet another ancient city called Pamukkale which in Turkish means ‘cotton castle’.

There were various ancient buildings here, not a huge amount is known about it except it is famous for its white limestone travertines with shapes formed by natural calcium-rich hot springs, all of which have been used for healing for millennia.

The very white travertines of Pamukkale

There were people everywhere wading past and into the pools...

...including us

there always seems to be an amphitheatre somewhere

Yet another new cultural experience for us when a few of us attended a muslim Dervish Ceremony where in simple terms, men dressed in black and white, wearing dresses and a cap symbolising tombstones and the clothes symbolise shrouds.  It is a extremely devout muslim order and the ceremony is very structured.  Photos could not be taken during the ceremony, but some of the men came back specifically to allow some photos.

The Dervish showing how they dance during the ceremony

The cultural treats continued as we headed east by visiting the Mevelana Museum displaying various lifestyle exhibits of the Celaleddin-i Turks who did the dervish ceremony the night before including showing how they are buried and lived.

The Dervish museum

The dervish live(d) a simple lifestyle

Turkey is the final country of the historic and famous 6,400 km long silk road traders used for centuries, to trade between the east and the west.  To travel these huge distances, camel and likely horse supported caravans were used and along the way they needed places to stop for rest and food with an inn for the humans and stables and food for the animals..

These locations were know an ‘caravanserai’ and we got to visit one located in the city of Sultanhani and built in 1229 which might mean, Marco Polo may have used it.

Entry door into the caravanserai complex

Inside where the animals were rested and cared for

The area where travellers could get food at the 'inn'

What a very impressive and by now you would guess, very large construction to look after the camels but trade was worth so much in those eras and there is a small mosque located in the courtyard for previous travellers to pray.  Also remember, winter in these areas was brutal and these locations also kept the trading travellers warm.

Small mosque in the courtyard for travellers to pray

It was a full days drive to reach one of the many famous locations in Turkey, known for a few things, one being where people live in cave like structures during the bronze age and later used by Christians as refuges.

We had reached Cappadocia, a location quite often shown in documentaries on Turkey.

The caves and tunnels are dug into the soft volcanic rock  and include homes, storage areas including for wine, and churches.  Cappadocia is also famous for its ‘fairy chimney’ and cone shaped formations, located at various locations in the region.  Over a few days we travelled to various of these areas to admire the formations.

The chimney formations scattered everywhere with a town in their midst

Close up of chimney with tunnels and rooms dug into them

Inside a chimney dug out for people to live in

Uniquely, we also stayed in a very comfortable ‘cave hotel’ where the rooms have been carved out of and into the surrounding soft rock cliff walls of a valley.

Part of our hotel and view from it

The rock hotel at night

Village seen from the top of the rock hotel

Our near final activity in Turkey required we were up very early to be collected in the dark at 5:30am to drive for 30-40 minutes and the site of mass activity.

“How many balloons are flying this morning?” we asked our driver.  Simple short answer came back, “180!”.  180 hot air balloons were taking off in waves this morning and we were going to be on one of them.  With so many tourists travelling in Turkey, the bookings were full.

Some of the first wave balloons departing

Farm brings his herd of sheep through whilst balloons take off

We were in one of the last waves of balloons to launch gracefully into the air and what a sight it was, the intermittent glow of the burners of balloons above each basket scattered intermittently across the sky in front of us.

Our turn to fly

Balloons flying over the rock formations famous in this area

The balloons including ours flew down near the formations

It was simply spectacular

Cappadocia is famous for these balloon flights due to not only passing above all those volcanic rock formations and caves, but because they also fly down in amongst them.  With so many balloons in the air around us, we managed to gently and simultaneously ‘collide’ with 2 other balloons.

'Touching' one of the other balloons near us

Sometime early in the flight, our pilot asked me, “where are you from?”, “Australia” came my answer, followed by my question, “where are you from?”, a fun question to ask after his and expecting the answer Turkey.  “Russia” came the answer, a quick funny answer from this Turk.

With others from our group in the basket with us, it was glorious to be floating above very surreal scenery, seeing others flying in between and past those cone like structures, before doing it ourselves, and with this being our 3^rd balloon flight, it was without doubt… the best!

Such great views in every direction

We were in the air for almost 60 mins and as we glided near a town and mountain, it became clear we were lowering in altitude towards our landing, one of the trickier parts of any balloon flight.  We started seeing other balloons landing in a special way, something we had not seen previously and wondered if we would be so lucky.

Down we came gently and yes we were going to land the same way as the others we had been watching.  A car with a big trailer was manoeuvring constantly before ground crew grabbed the bottom of the basket then guided us a few feet to actually land very gently onto the trailer itself.

We landed like this also

It wasn’t over yet!  

With everyone still in the basket and the balloon still inflated but not enough to make it rise, we went for a drive down a dirt track for about 100 metres, to a paddock where we could climb out but more importantly, release the air progressively from the balloon to lay it down but still at full length onto much smoother dirt and grass stubble in a more suitable paddock.

Still in the basket going for a drive

What a truly sensational experience from go to whoa, an unforgettable one!

It was all about interesting structures and balloons in Cappadocia because there are times when some things just seem to happen.  Now why Rob somehow seems to be part some of these, we just don’t know but the result was hilarious for everyone.  Whilst in Cappadocia, we also visited a producer of fine craft ceramic pottery.

We were shown all the fine products but during the tour, one of their best potters showed us how to make one of the hardest products to create, a unique wine holder and pourer.

This piece of pottery is very rare and
believed 3,000 yrs old

The pottery here is
painted by hand

The object in the middle holds wine
and is very hard to make

So this expert showed us
how it is made

The wheel used is spun by foot in a traditional artisan style and one of our group was invited to  ‘avago’ as we say in Australia.  Bet you can guess who ended up trying to create some pottery for her first time… Rob.

We think the pictures below may guide what happened when at one stage things got a little wobbly, the video is even better.  The laughter was raucous!

Getting started

Got a bit wobbly here and the laughter erupted

Well done Rob... success

Before departing the Cappadocia area by plane to somewhere in Turkey to start our journey to the final country of this total trip, we had more locations to visit in the Ihlara Valley, literally in the shape of the Selime Cave Monastery and its nearby village for some fruit wine tasting.

The cave monastery of Selime

Tasting fruit wine

But wait, it wasn’t quite over yet as we visited some more ancient structures carved into those soft volcanic made rocks and where more reclusive people lived.

Quite incredible where people here decided to live

Inside these homes, churches and storage areas were very elaborate

Our final Turkish experience started with standing on the rim of a valley to take in the panoramic views of Yaprakhisar in the Ihlara Valley before descending down into the valley for a scenic walk following the Melendez River, having lunch and  and taking our last photo of the tour group together.

The village of Yaprakhisar in the Ihlara Valley

The beauty of Melendez River

Final photo of a terrific group to have travelled with

Here we also enjoyed a lunch next and in the river.  Some of the group elected to sit normally next to the river whilst others of us decided to enjoy lunch sitting basically crossed legged on rugs in a structure in the river.  The photo will explain.

The venue for...

...lunch in the river

The group we travelled with through Turkey had been fabulous as had our guide, their warmth, friendliness and good humour were very much appreciated and we count ourselves as having been very lucky as a result.

Some of the group had left earlier, but those of us remaining enjoyed dinner at the cave hotel before we travelled to the airport for our flight back to a city we stayed in earlier called Kusadasi to commence our travels to the next and final country. 

All will be explained then so until the next post, hope you have enjoyed Turkey as mush as we did because it is a fabulous country to visit and its people to be in the company of.

CLICK HERE for more photos of Turkey 2023

So just one country to go but until then…. have fun and go well!