Travel like a drift throught world..

the tram on Istiklal Caddesi from Taksim Square

Aya Sofya: In 537 A.D., when Emperor
Justinian I walked in to his creation for the first time, he basically exclaimed, “Wow, I’m great!” That’s a loose translation – a more direct translation is: “Praise the Lord who found me worthy to finish this project. Salomon, I have surpassed you.” In any case, it certainly is an amazing achievement. The inside is breathtaking even with the scaffolding due to the restoration in the middle. This huge structure makes you feel like the peon that you are. This is worth seeing.

- Basilica Cistern: This underground waterway is spooky, wet and voluminous. It’s worth the money and a half hour of your time.

- Istiklal Caddesi (a street) is a great place to see where the young Turks hang out, eat good food and spend their money. There’s a lot of good simple shopping if you need stuff or are looking for current Turkish music. Also check out the flamboyant maneuvers of the ice cream vendors on the strip.

- Grand Bazaar: It’s an appropriately named large bazaar where you can get all things Turkish. Bargaining is a must!

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Suleymaniye Camii in Istanbul

Suleymaniye Camii: A mosque
not as frequented by tourists, partially because of a fairly brutal and confusing uphill walk to get there. It was well worth it, however. After passing through a maze of hemmed-in streets you go through a dark, not-very-promising-looking door to discover a beautiful mosque with lovely deserted lawns. It seems almost impossible that this spacious building and landscaping can exist amid its surrounding cramped and crowded neighborhood. And for some reason, perhaps because they don’t get as many visitors, we were allowed to stay inside while prayer was going on.

If we were short on time, we’d skip these, but we enjoyed doing them nonetheless: Arasta market, the baths by Aya Sofya, Taksim Square, walking across Galata Bridge.

cooking class at the Sarnic Hotel in Istanbul

Recommended activity:
Sarnic Hotel Cooking Class <<
website; email; phone: +90 212-518-2323; owner: Eveline;
address: Kucuk Ayasofya Caddesi #26, Sultanahmet, Istanbul;
We really enjoyed the cooking class, taught by an accomplished Turkish chef. You’re in the kitchen for a few hours and then you sit down together with the other students (less than 10 total) and eat the dishes that you created. Yum! And if you’d like to do it again, they change the menu frequently so you can learn new dishes next time (just let Eveline know ahead of time). As an added bonus, the hotel is a great place to stay, too (though you don’t have to stay there to sign up for the cooking class).

the Library of Celsus at Ephesus

- Ephesus Ruins: Large-scale
ruins, great to walk down the main marble passageway to give you a feeling of what it was like in the ancient times. Worth a half a day to walk around the circuit.

- Temple of Artemis: Considered by many to be one of the 7 ancient wonders of the world, this is somewhat of an anti-climactic site, especially if you’ve just visited Ephesus. There’s really almost nothing left here now. But that means no tour buses, and it’s so close to town that it’s worth a look.

- Sirince: A small, out-of-the-way village, and a bit touristed by large van parties, but if you can get there easily it’s worth a visit to look at the village life, the maze of houses, and the cute old ladies.

the travertines at Pamukkale

- Travertines: Very touristy, but very cool. These are the natural, warm inifinity pools that you and P. Diddy always dreamed about. They are also reputed to have some healing properties, so it’s a good place to join some locals in a casual soak. We suggest walking up from the northern entrance (you have to do this barefoot) and dipping your feet into as many of the pools as possible. Unfortunately you can’t swim in all of them anymore, but you can swim in the central pool which actually contains some ruins. More unfortunately, it looks like a big waterpark and shopping center is being built at the foot of the travertines ruining the view somewhat and probably siphoning off more of the already dwindling supply of calcium-enriched water.

- Hieropolis: These ruins looked gorgeous in the evening sunlight but honestly, we were too tired to give them a fair look. We drove through some of it. They are located at the top of the travertines.

balloon ride with Kapadokya Balloons

Goreme Open Air Museum:
Though this is visited by a good number of tourist buses, it’s still worth seeing (lots of cave churches). If you get there early in the day, it’s considerably less crowded.

- Kaymakli Underground City: One of several underground cities in the area. It was well kept although not the place to go if you’re claustrophobic. This particular city goes 7 levels deep underground, though tourists are not allowed all the way down. We hired “Old Mustafa” to give us a guided tour and he’s great. He speaks great English and is great to be with.

>> Recommended activity: Balloon ride with Kapadokya Balloons <<
website; email; phone: +90 384-271-2442; owners: Lars & Kaili;
location: Goreme;
You have to wake up early (before 5am) and it’s not cheap, but it’s worth it if you can swing it! You get to see the gorgeous morning light over the fairytale landscape. We flew with Kaili, one of the owners, and had a great time. There are quite a few companies doing this now, but after some research we chose Kapadokya. We are extremely happy with our choice; they were very professional, knowledgeable, efficient, and fun. It was amazing to see everything from above. It was our first time in a hot-air balloon and it we really enjoyed it.

Gamirasu Cave Hotel

Recommended
accomodation:
Gamirasu Cave Hotel<<
website; email;
phone: +90 384-341-7485;
address: Suleyman Cakir Istiklal Caddesi No. 19/9, Urgup;
Many of the accomodations in Cappadocia claim to be “cave hotels.” Plenty of them are, but some aren’t so make sure you know what you’re getting before you book. The Gamirasu was a bit pricier than most of our accomodations, but we really enjoyed our stay here. We had a pretty nifty cave room carved out of the side of the mountain.