The beauty of Istanbul and the excitement of Anatolia

Dear Readers,

Turkey has been a big one on my bucket list for a while and definitely did not disappoint. I originally planned this trip solo since I was able to find a great flight deal from Amsterdam but I got my mom so excited about this trip that she agreed to go with me. I flew three hours from Amsterdam and my mom three and a half from Helsinki. There are two airports in Istanbul: Ataturk (IST) and Sabiha Gokcen (SAW). Due to the shape and the traffic of Istanbul the ride from both take more than an hour. I found little instruction online and many warnings about the taxi prices so I booked a car through our hotel for both of us. Mine was 45 euros from SAW for nearly 2 hours and mom’s 20 from IST for little over an hour.

I had found a quint hotel in the Sultanahmet area with a nice rooftop view over the bay. They advertised it as being very close to the main square and it really was! Istanbul is very walker friendly and the distances aren’t vast so you cannot go much wrong with your hotel choice. I arrived in the morning and my mom only in the afternoon so I had some good exploring time to get to know the city first.

As soon as I walked outside I was at the Hippodrome of Constantinople Square where the old obelisks and a water fountain are. This square also shows you the side view of the famous Sultan Ahmed Mosque (the blue mosque) and its six beautiful minarets.

There is a small green park between the Mosque and the Hagia Sophia (Ayasofya) which is usually packed with locals and tourists, street vendors selling corn, coffee and pretzels. The whole area is vibrant and buzzing and the weather was perfect so I spent much of my morning just observing and enjoying the atmosphere.

If you follow the ‘main road’ up the hill towards the Bazaar, you will pass dozens of shops and restaurants selling sweets, Turkish delights, tobacco, ice cream… You name it. On the way, you will also find an interesting old cemetery and many mosques. I saved the Bazaar trip for a better day, merely strolled through (if that is at all possible in a shopping area that large and full), and continued my way past it to the University of Istanbul. The University gates are magnificent and it is intriguing to see some of the local young professionals.

I continued my stroll further into the city: went to see the Sehzadebasi Mosque, the ancient Roman times arch: the Bozdagan Arch and the Sebsefa Hatun Mosque. Then I circled back towards the city on the Northern shore side and arrived straight to the huge Suleymaniye Mosque. The mosque itself is beautiful and very detailed, however; half of the glory is the great view over the channel between the Sea of Marmara and the Black Sea: The Bosporus Strait. There are many rooftop cafes around this area providing you with the best 360-degree views of the Strait. I tried some of the local cheese gözleme and it just melted in my mouth. Would recommend!

My last solo hour was spent in the park by Hagia Sophia reading my kindle. Or at least I tried, but then I made a friend with these two little girls who were so fascinated by me and my bag contents that we spent an hour playing together with no shared language. Loads of the local people noticed this and we actually ended up in quite a few holiday photos.

Even though it was December, the weather was quite warm when the sun was out. During the evening the sea winds were quite chilly.  I found it very surprising how similar the weather was with the Nordic countries so far south of them.

Once my mom arrived we headed out to dinner in one of the rooftop restaurants that I had seen earlier in the day. By this point, I am sure you can tell how much I love rooftops and heights! I had a traditional,  filled aubergine and my mom some pita bread and halloumi. I had very high expectations for Turkish food and they were all met with flying colours. The local beer isn’t too shabby either.

The following day was our main tourist day: we visited the Blue Mosque (the provide scarfs at the doors) and Hagia Sophia in the morning, shopped in the Grand Bazaar and explored around the city as much as possible. If you are looking to visit the mosques, keep in mind that they are not open to the public during prayer times so the best time to visit is in the morning when they gap between the prayers in the longest. We actually had the most bizarre experience in the Hagia Sophia: the security guard started following me in a very creepy way. The whole hour, two hours we were in there, he would not let me out of his sight. One point we actually moved so quickly after a photo, I think he lost us, took this massive run across the hall, realised that I was gone and then quickly found me a continued to hover. I have no idea what I stole? I guess I will never know.

In the evening we went to see the traditional Dervish dance: this is a spiritual ritual that represents man’s ascent through mind and love to perfection. Due to the spiritual and religious nature of the experience, the audience isn’t allowed to applaud or take any photos. The experience is magical and I would highly encourage you to go witness it yourselves.

The music and the style of the Dervish Sema ceremony are hundreds of years old. The main aspect is the whirling ceremony where the dancers perform in a sort of a trance where they spin around themselves and each other in a perfect sync. The art in this is that their eyes are closed and the whirl goes on for nearly 30 minutes. As a former ballet dancer, I cannot but want to applaud them for such amazing talent. The beginner training, where the practitioners spin around in a square meter with a nail in the middle which they wrap their toes around, lasts for two months. The performance is highly moderated and every detail has a meaning. The performers first appear in a black robe and one of them is carrying sheepskin dyed in red which represents the spiritual leader in the ceremony. The black robe represents their tomb and the high hat they wear represents the stone. The white dervish robe they have underneath symbolises a shroud. When the dancers whirl they tilt their heads to the right and hold one arm towards the sky and one downwards. This means ‘we came from the sky and we are going towards the Earth’.

Our Dervish experience was complete when we came outside, saw an extremely good looking Turkish guy smoking a cigarette in his leather jacket and had the holy flute box in his hand. Definitely looked quite different without his grave and tombstone on him.

The following day we caught an early morning flight to Kayseri. The hotel organises shared shuttle buses towards the airport and the ride to SAW was only 10 e per person. We wanted to travel very early in order not to miss one day of exploring. There are two airports near the Cappadocia region: Nevsehir and Kayseri. Nevsehir is closer to Cappadocia however; you can easily get a shuttle from both. You can choose between a private car (60e – 100e) or a shuttle (8e – 10 e/pp). I would recommend http://www.peerlessexcursions.com/airport-shuttle-bus.html for private cars or http://www.heliostransfer.com/en for a shuttle. The ride is actually very pleasant and you get to see the Argaeus or Mount Erciyes and the Hasan volcanoes.  Cappadocia, ‘the land of beautiful horses’ lies in central Anatolia in the heart of Turkey and is surrounded by the volcanic peaks. I chose to stay in the adorable Goreme town which is one of the most popular places for the hot air balloon tourists. The valley around it is filled with ‘fairy chimneys’, caves, panoramic views and twice a day: hot air balloons. Turned out that our room was actually the highest bedroom in all of Goreme! Excellent choice then.

Sadly, my mom had caught the winter flu somewhere and stayed in bed for the most part of our first day in the region. Goreme is not a big town but a very quiet, sweet and relaxing one. The balloons usually fly at dawn but some of the companies organise afternoon flights as well. I sat on a rooftop (surprise, surprise), read my book and enjoyed the stillness. Of course, I enjoyed more yummy food and Turkish coffee and then climbed to the panoramic sunset point to see the sun disappearing behind the mountains.

We woke up at six the next day to catch our transport to our balloon. After much consideration, we chose to book with the Turca Balloon Company. I would recommend booking through your hotel: this way if there are any issues they can help you and also, they might have several of recommendations. Don’t merely trust their recommendation; they might have deals with certain companies. I would always do my online research and decide. Another one that I could recommend is the Butterfly Wings and a friend of mine really enjoyed his journey with the Anatolia Balloons. During the tourist season, you must book your tour beforehand or you might not get a flight on your chosen day. Good hotels will contact you about this before. I can genuinely recommend the Turquoise Cave Hotel and the Turca Balloon Company. Our host managed to get us a special deal for a 12-person balloon for 80 euros each. We thought that a smaller balloon might add to the enjoyment and maybe be safer. We did get extremely unlucky: eight of the 12 were Chinese who could barely understand English; they were too busy with their selfies and cameras to listen to the safety instructions and delayed our departure by some minutes. Further, during the flight, they kept on grabbing the ropes of the balloon by nearly dropping the whole balloon down from the sky multiple times. Not that we would have actually fallen all the way down immediately, but they were definitely a safety risk with their endless screaming, babbling, cameras, sticks… And the pilot couldn’t relax when he had to constantly make sure that we weren’t going to fall from the sky.

That said, the flight was perfect: the weather very favourable, perfect timing for the sunrise and I got to share the experience with my mom. The balloons usually fly for an hour depending on the weather. The authorities inform them about the weather conditions every morning and determine the maximum altitude. For our flight, the maximum altitude was 1824 meters and thanks to the lovely pilot and the weather we were able to fly for much longer than an hour. You must experience the flight to truly understand the magic.

The balloon doesn’t usually tip when landing if you have a good crew they should be able to land you without you noticing. Our crew even managed to get us right on the harness for the basket behind their car.

In the afternoon, our host took us out for a drive to see the abandoned underground city of Ozkonak which is located just north of the Red River. While being a bit creepy and somewhat uncomfortable, the tunnel network was fascinating and it was fun to get out and explore the countryside. We decided to stop by the nearby ruins of a cave monastery: the Ozkonak Beliha Manastiri which reminded me of the Petra ruins in Jordania but on a much smaller scale. The Monastery keeper happened there at the same time with us and gave us a briefing about the 1500-year-old ruins and the healing room it contains. He also gave me a beautiful necklace as a present.

On our way back to Goreme, we stopped at a local ceramic shop to receive a presentation of the traditional ceramic production and to witness the masterpieces made there. I cannot say that I am too into pottery, though I actually used to practise it as a child, the shop was beautiful and the presentation good. One of the most fascinating parts for me was the odd jugs we had been wondering about with my mom: they have this big circle in the middle. The idea is that when you have guests, you pour your wine into one of these and it will air well. Once you start pouring wine to your guests, you are meant to put your entire arm through the hole and this way bow every time when you pour wine to someone as a sign of respect and welcome.

I toured my mom around the town and we had a lovely lunch at the Viewpoint while the afternoon balloons were rising. We did our minimal shopping and walked to the sunset point. The panorama point is actually brilliant: in the midst of everything but still peaceful. The sunset paints the adjacent mountain in rainbow colours.

On our last day in Goreme, we woke up early to witness the final sunrise from your balcony before we headed back to the airport. It is possible to book a public shuttle from the airport (SAW) as well (at the exit hall for international arrivals); this is 15 euros per person but don’t let them use the airport exchange rate. Pay in euros or around 130 – 138 lira for two people. Private taxis apparently cost around 30 euros depending on where your hotel is located so in case there are more than two of you, I would recommend looking into taking a taxi. The traffic might be really heavy, so try and secure the rate before you start driving.

In Istanbul, we headed towards to the Northern side of the city, visited the Suleymaiye Mosque and Istanbul University together. We thought about taking a boat out to see the Strait close-up but the day was very cold and my mom wasn’t feeling quite recovered yet so we decided to settle for a walk by the water and a tasty dinner. The opposite shore baths in the golden sunset and people gather around to eat at the restaurants hidden underneath the bridge of Galata: the best seafood in town.

Final day in Istanbul was pleasurably spent in the Topkapi Palace gardens which are free to enter. You can also visit the tombs of the rulers at the back of Hagia Sophia for free. After my mom left for her flight, I had my last Turkish coffee on a hotel rooftop between the Blue Mosque and Hagia Sophia. This place is famous for so many tourist photos, but you must be looking up to find the right one: The Seven Hills Hotel and Restaurant. This is located right behind the Ayasofya Hurrem Sultan Bathhouse.

The Finnish 100th independence day was on the last day of our trip so we celebrated a little.

I hope you enjoy your trip, I hope you enjoy the rest of 2017. Next post will be written from Finland, where I will be spending the rest of my year.

Thanks for reading,

Mira

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