Thanksgiving to Turkey!

“Where are you from?”

“India…”

“eh?”

“Um…India…”

“Oh! Hindustan!”

That’s how a normal conversation will start for you in Turkey, and mind you, with a big warm exclamation of how you have come from a far-far away land of India to Turkey. If you are an Indian, the guess would be that you should be settled in London.

Turkey is different from other European nations- not only because it is Bosphorus divided half Europe-half Asia but in many other ways. One, it surprises you with warm people. Two, it has way too many hindi words in its vocabulary- like my favorite of course is Chai. It’s cold because of too much Hawa and if someone wants to light a cigarette, he will ask for ‘aatish!’You will eat kofte and Pilav and other endless things in lexicon…Culturally also there are enough similarities in terms of people, diversity, treatment to women, clothes etc.

Planning and reaching there is not a problem with VOA for people with UK/US/Schengen visa on their passport.

For people short on time, one week is fairly enough to cover the highlights of Turkey. In case one wants to add on few more highlights, 10 day will suffice.

In one liner, What’s must visit is:

 Istanbul night life - posh clubs of Ortakoy and open bars on Istiklal street.

Cappadocia cave city with ballon ride

Fethiye/OluDeniz -beach and para gliding

My itinerary ended there, but with some more time to spare, one can add on to Pamukkale and Ephesus as well.

The trip starts with landing in Istanbul. Ideally one should look for accommodation/ youth hostels in Beyoglu area. This is in the heart of city at Taksim. If you can score a room at Hostel Mystic Simurg/ Neverland. You are practically living amidst a party. The charges range from EUR20 for dorm to EUR 40 for room in hostels.

The international airport at Ataturk is in European side and is connected to places via metro. Cheap airlines commute from Sabiha Goecken airport on Asian side. One will get bus almost at any time from outside this airport to Kadikoy. This is close to Harem Bus terminal where one will get buses for Cappadocia etc. with no advance booking ideally.

Istanbul has conventional historic places of Blue Mosque, Topakapi, Sophia Hagia- all at Sultanahmed. There is grand bazaar-largest covered market nearby and other popular places of hippodrome etc. I would not be able to comment much on these. Not being cultural types- I simply paid visit to these from outside all in one afternoon. There is Bosphorus tour which takes you on river between Asia and Europe. It’s nothing great and one can do it with a cruise to cross the sides when required instead of planning it as an activity. It’s fine to do or not do it either ways. It starts from Eminonu on European side. Sultanahmed, Taksim, Eminonu are all at 3-4 stops distance by metro.

Now in terms of going around Turkey. The ideal itinerary is Istanbulà Cappadociaà Fethiye (Oludeniz)à Istanbul.

If you wanna add pamukkale and Ehesus, then it will look like this:

Istanbulà Cappadociaà Fethiye (Oludeniz)à Pamukkale& EphesusàIstanbul

For first journey, there are multiple cheap airlines available between the cities but one needs to book nearly a week in advance for them. Doing that will get you flights as cheap as bus itself. The airport near Cappadocia is Kayseri. On the other hand, a bus journey is 10-12 hours overnight. Bus will be nearly 60 TL, while the flight will be same if booked in time. One can try Pegasus, Atlasjet, etc. Try checking on momondo.com for cheap consolidated rates.

Cappadocia has many inexpensive and nice hostels- try to stay in Goreme. Other options being Uchisar and few nearby cities. I stayed in Emre cave hostel. It will be nearly 35-40 TL pp with breakfast. Nice place, location and view.

In terms of things to do, its hand down the ballon trip. I would say it is a must do. Most companies online will quote you between EUR 110-140. I had managed to get an online quote of EUR 99 and once I reached there, some guy was selling the ride for EUR 110 when we showed him invoice and he actually gave the ride for EUR 95.  The ride includes pick from your hostel at 4:45-5 in the morning. They take you for breakfast and then on balloon ride for an hour. It finished with Champagne toast and transfer back by 10 a.m.

I was initially not very excited but the fact that it is unparallel beautiful to see hundred balloons in sky at a time over breathtaking valley is damn exciting. For solace, it is one of the cheapest balloon ride in the world so might as well do it here.

There are other daily tours for valleys and underground cities etc, each are in range of 60-80 TL pp. I suggest do one of them and leave other for exploring yourself. Anyway after a tour and ballon ride, one would have had enough of caves and the beautiful city. 11/2 to 2 days is enough for this city. At the end, take a flight to Dalaman airport for Fethiye or overnight bus to Fethiye.

This is a sea change because you will be taking yourself from beautiful city of caves to one of the most marvelous beach location in the world at OluDeniz. Fethiye is 13 Kms from Oludeniz and gives more/ cheaper options to stay. Staying in Oludeniz may also be considered. The tariff for room remains same as that in Cappadocia.

Fehiye itself is a beautiful city with marina and great eateries at the bay. We met this gentleman on bus from Cappadocia to Fethiye who owned a guest house there. Once we reached, he asked if we wanted to check out his place. We told him we were on low budget and he said the place is backpackers place only. We reached and ended up having a great deal. It was called Yildrim guest house which figures in top choice on lonely planet! 30 TL pp with breakfast and damn helpful people. The gentleman had stayed in Umed Bhavan at Rajasthan for a wedding and was all happy to meet Indians.

Oludeniz is a great pebble beach which takes away annoyance of sand sticking on to you once you are ready for sun bath. There are packages for paragliding worth 70-80 EUR and you will see many people landing on the beach. Else, one can chill, see the view, try some bathing in water which is difficult owing to strong tides and just bask under the sun forever.

Again, 11/2 to 2 days is more than enough in this area. It will be time to head back to Istanbul or take a bus to Pamukkale and Ephesus. The itinerary would be 3-4 hour bus to these places and then further overnight bus to Istanbul or a flight from Izmir to Istanbul. Izmir is 3 hour drive from Pamukkale. I did not go to these places. Pamukkale is popular for snow castle while Ephesus has historic amphitheatre etc. For reference one can watch video of song ‘Tu Jaane na’ from the movie ‘Ajab Prem ki Gazab Kahani’

Once back in Istanbul, it’s time to hit the bars and marvel at nightlife. I have seen so many places with popular nightlife, but no Singapore Clarke Quay or Thailand Khaosan comes even closer. Maybe LKF at Hong Kong can compete to lose.

There is Ortakoy which houses hip clubs Reina, Angelique etc. I visited Angelique which was mad crowded on Thursday night. It opens to Bosphorus and takes some charge to take you on speed boat ride on Bosphorus right under beautifully lit Bosphorus bridge after midnight. It is amazing. One of the highlight of happy high night.

Or you can hop to Istiklal starting at Taksim square with streets disappearing into more streets for countless beer bars, clubs and eateries. It’s not just great, mad, happening, and lively or chik, it makes you feel truly happy!

I would say, just like my Eurotrip on student exchange program, this was a fabulous trip, reliving crazy trip days which start and end with no planning. It is brilliant how these trips make you meet new, interesting people from all over the world who feel the same way about seeing places and having experiences. From Brazilian couple who saved a year to plan this Turkey-Greece trip to Turkish hostel owner who opened his life story of multiple girlfriends and cheating and realization out of boredom/ old age or guilt of how your woman is the best! And of course those teenager mohameds who see foreigner woman having beer alone in a bar and are happy to sit and have a conversation and stretch it as much as possible…and Ebrahims who chat a bit and then leave as their girlfriend will see and become jealous…

Turkey is of course, synonymous to Raki…a 40% alcoholic vodka- looking, absinthe-tasting drink which turns milky on adding water and does wonders of making you feel warm. Try apple tea and some sea food if you are non vegetarian. The food is mostly cheese, humus, bread and egg. Try menemen- dish made of egg and fine chopped vegetable in clay pot. Truly delicious. You may also like to have hazelnuts in clubs as munchies and lentil-tomato soup as appetizers. Shopping wise there is nothing great-few hours in Grand bazaar can get you basic stuff for cheap, however, I frankly didn’t explore shopping much…So a big thumbs up to beauty, culture, nightlife and experience to this country.

Turkey, to end with, has best of both worlds- Asian humility and European charm. Have a great trip as and when you decide to go. Serefe!!