Istanbul & Cappadocia
November 2nd, 2022 (G) - A Breather
We hit the tarmac in Istanbul after the sun had quit for the day. We immediately felt the difference between Turkey and Egypt. The airport was orderly, clean, and welcoming. We were additionally delighted that Uber is available in Turkey. It works in conjunction with local taxis. We did learn that while there is a quoted price for the trip, the driver may quote you a different price. Our first attempt ended with the driver quoting us double the listed price and when we decline we received a snarky reply that we would experience this with every Uber we attempted. Which was a lie. We made a second request which was picked up at the app's quoted price. We enjoyed a smooth ride to our hotel and had no other issues with different price quotes for the remainder of the time we stayed in Turkey.
As we entered our hotel, very near midnight, we were greeted and offered apple tea, which was very fitting of the slight chill in the air, and a piece of Turkish delight! The Turkish delight’s gelatinous form hid small bits of walnut beneath the powdered sugar that coated it. It was an excellent compliment to the tea. Such good hospitality was an excellent way to begin our time in Turkey. After finishing our tea we were shown to our room.
As it happened, our room was the only guest room in the basement of the restored ottoman mansion. It was situated at the very end of a hallway next to an office. As we walked down the hall, I spotted a side entrance door that lead back out to the street. The room itself was nicely tucked away and well kept though the style and decor were a bit antique. We cracked a window to let in the cool night air and slept soundly.
November 3rd, 2022 (G) - A Breather Continued…
After the jam-packed schedule of our trip in Egypt, T and I both wanted and truly needed a little time to decompress…and do laundry. While traveling long-term laundry days are an absolute must. Even our thoroughly scent-killing wool clothing had begun to take on an interesting scent at this point. So it was high time we found a laundry mat. Fortunately, we spotted one nearby on our drive to the hotel. After treating ourselves to a very slow morning, breakfast, and coffee we gathered our clothes and set off to the laundry mat.
Upon our arrival we found it was closed while the owner was out to lunch, so we milled around a little and then returned. The owner, an older gentleman who was bald with a shortly cropped beard, reading glasses, and a bright smile, greeted us. We informed him with emphasis that nearly every piece of clothing we needed washed was wool and it must be washed and dried cold to prevent shrinkage. He agreed to pay close attention to our garments and we returned to our hotel for a slow afternoon of working on the blog.
Time eventually arrived for us to return to collect our clothes. Upon returning, the owner greeted us and handed us our completed laundry. “It really was all wool!” he exclaimed in a somewhat giddy way. He proceeded to comment on how nice it was and what great material we had chosen. T and I collectively chuckled at his proclamations, thanked him for taking special care of our garments, and headed back to the hotel.
We dropped our laundry off and then crossed the street to a small restaurant for a quick dinner before heading to the rooftop terrace of our hotel. The terrace provided a splendid view of the Blue Mosque, but more interestingly provided an excellent view of the sea to the south of the Bosporus strait which links the Mediterranean to the Black sea. Recent agreements meant that cargo ships for grain had officially recommenced. We had spotted a few in the morning while we took breakfast on the terrace. As we watched the setting sun, several dozen more ships had arrived and waited to enter the strait.
Eventually, the light faded to darkness and we climbed down the 5 flights of stairs to our snug little nook in the basement.
November 4th, 2022 (G) - Midnight Invasion, Basilica Cisterns, and Autumn Feels
WHAM! The sound of a door being kicked startled me from my sleep. My first thought was, am I dreaming this? Was that noise just something from my dream? Then I heard men’s voices and another loud WHAM! My mind when from 0 to 100 real quick. I lept from bed and found my feet, I scanned the room for anything that could be used as a weapon in a pinch. Tea kettle? That’ll have to do.
My mind raced as adrenaline spiked. Was this a hotel invasion? If so would they find our room so tucked away in the basement? From what I could hear they were breaking down the side door which was directly across from the stairs that lead up to all of the other rooms in the hotel, perhaps they would miss us, either way, how can I best prepare? The windows are barred so there’s no escape that way. Can I barricade the door to prevent or at least delay entry? How can I be certain this is a hotel invasion and not something else? I should make sure T is awake.
Moving quickly, I woke T up and informed her of my suspicions regarding an invasion. T could sense the seriousness of my tone and though she somewhat groggily said that she hadn’t heard anything she was awake. I turned back to the door. Commotion could be heard out on the street next to us, but I hadn’t heard any yells or screams from the hall or rooms above. WHAM! Another door slamming and voices, but still nothing to indicate a confrontation aside from something that sounded a bit like shuffling or scuffling. Then all was quiet.
It was around 4 am, I waited for several minutes before resolving with T’s provocation, to leave the relative safety of our room to investigate further. Cautiously I cracked the door. All was clear. We moved quickly and quietly down the hall and up the stairs. I checked the side door before going up the stairs. Thankfully it appeared well intact. Up the stairs and to the right I spotted the Concierge talking with a few other guests. I questioned him regarding the noise.
As it turns out, the hotel’s laundry service had visited to collect the towels from the basement but had struggled with the side door which stuck sometimes. He apologized profusely for the disturbance. Relieved that it was nothing more serious, I exhaled a massive sign of relief, assured him that all was forgiven, and T and I returned to our room with a quiet laugh. While we were fortunate that this episode was nothing, it served as a stark reminder to both of us that these things can and sometimes do happen. Still, we both needed more sleep though our sleep was perhaps a bit lighter than before.
We woke up later in the day, just in time to catch the last bit of breakfast on the terrace. The number of ships and increased further, some had disappeared through the straight and were replaced by new ones. We finished up breakfast and headed up the hill toward the Blue Mosque. The cool weather was refreshing and we were grateful to have it. We had been concerned we wouldn’t catch any hint of autumn this year since most of our locations would be within the tropics during that season. Turkey in its grace made certain we still got to enjoy a little of the season.
We passed by a long park area with several trees beginning to display their yellows and oranges. Floating on the air was the smell of roasted corn and my personal favorite roasted chestnuts. As we walked we spotted an Egyptian obelisk standing in the center of a festival-type area it struck us as somewhat ironic. A marathon had been planned for the following Sunday. We found the entrance to the Blue Mosque and realized that we had missed the visiting hours of the day. Fortunately, the Blue Mosque, Hagia Sophia, and the entrance to the Basilica Cisterns are all located near a hill that functions as a park, market, and general hang-out spot.
We resolved to first find to rally point of our tour into the Basilica Cisterns. We then waited an hour or so for our tour to begin while being chatted up by a nearby carpet salesman who very politely requested we visit his shop just to have a look. We declined his offer and he eventually moved on to someone else. At last, we entered the Basilica Cisterns. This had been at the top of my to see list while in Istanbul. Now, you may be thinking, cisterns? Like where they collect and store rainwater? Really? Yes, really. These had been built by the Byzantine Emperor Justinian during the 6th century and helped Constantinople endure scores of siege attempts in the years after. What made them unique is that they were built from various “recycled” marble columns originally created by the Greeks and Romans.
The Greek Temple of Madusa seemed to be one particularly favored source of the material. The use of these recycled materials can be seen by their presence in the cisterns columns and just to make sure no one accidentally got turned into stone by the marble-carved Madusa heads, they were installed upside down or on their side, never right-side up. Those columns which don’t feature dear old Madusa still display beautiful Corinthian-style carvings near the top of the columns and the columns all are linked together in gorgeous arches.
The scale of the cistern is another impressive feature, with over 300 columns stretching 9 meters (30ft) high, one can imagine the massive amounts of water which could be held here. While nearly all of the water has been drained, there is still a little that sits at the bottom of the cistern. The Turks struck gold when they decided to spruce the place up a little with some colorful lights and walkways. That little bit of water sits perfectly still and causes a beautiful mirror effect when combined with the various lights, columns, and arches, the scene is nothing short of miraculous.
As we re-entered the daylight world above, we were once again greeted by the smell of roasting chestnuts. T and I soon gave way to temptation and purchase a small bag of them. We munched on them, enjoying their deep savory flavor as we made our way slowly back through the autumnally dressed trees and sunlight-dappled walkways of the park to our hotel.
November 5th, 2022 (G) - Remember, Remember
Truthfully, there isn’t much to remember for this day, at least not concerning our time in Istanbul. We did very little aside from relaxing and working on the blog. Most of the day was spent on the hotel terrace or in our room. It’s good to do nothing every now and again.
November 6th, 2022 (G) - The Blue Mosque
The brisk morning air once again greeted us as we gazed from the rooftop terrace across the sea to the south. More ships had arrived and we could now spot several dozen at a glance. Helicopters with large camera attachments could also be spotted, the marathon was taking place, with the finish line being in the park up the hill by the Blue Mosque. Not really wanting to be caught in the throng of runners or their supporters, we opted to bide our time until later in the afternoon.
Afternoon arrived and we set out to visit the Blue Mosque, the running crowd and most of the tents and shops that had come with them had all but disappeared, leaving the park to its tranquility. Our arrival to the Blue Mosque occurred at a fortuitous moment and we were immediately allowed to enter the line which had just began moving quite quickly into the Mosque.
In a less fortunate stroke of luck, the interior of the Blue Mosque was under heavy restorations. Scaffolding and tarps obscured most of what anyone would care to see leaving only part of the top rotunda partially visible. We now understood why the line was moving along so quickly. There simply wasn’t much to see due to the restorations. Still, things must be restored sometime lest we lose them altogether. For T and I it simply necessitated a return to Istanbul at some point in the distant future.
As we exited the Blue Mosque, we stepped down a side street to a bizarre, it too was rather unimpressive at the time. We then toyed with the idea of visiting Hagia Sophia (which we had planned for the following morning) but after seeing the line and standing in it for a few moments we abandoned the idea in favor of a Doner Kabab Sandwich. Satisfied by this decision and the warm food, we strolled back to our hotel.
Later that evening our stomachs once again protested a lack of sustenance. There is a particularly interesting dish in Istanbul called a Testi Kebab. No, thankfully it does not involve testicles. Testi in Turkish means jug. Specifically a clay jug. A Testi Kebab, is typically lamb, onion, garlic, carrots, potatoes, and sometimes peppers that are all sealed into a clay jug and cooked over a fire. Then when it comes time to open it, they smash that sucker, which is designed to break along a groove. Fortunately for us, the Testi Kebab was on the menu at the restaurant next door.
After a hearty dinner, we opted for an early bedtime so we could make it to Hagia Sophia in the morning.
November 7th, 2022 (T) - Hagia Sophia, Business Class Surprise, Capadoccia
We woke up early, packed our bags, ate breakfast, then walked up the hill and down the block to Hagia Sophia. We arrived just in time. It opened at 8 AM and we stepped in the short line around 7:45. Within 5-10 minutes the line tripled in length.
When we went to The Blue Mosque and Hagia Sophia, I sported a hijab. At first, it felt really strange to wear one because I had never worn one before. But, I quickly realized as we walked by the touristy areas, no one tried to sell G or I anything because we blended in. I still felt a little weird wearing it but I liked the anonymity it provided us, so I kept it on until we made it back to our hotel.
Hagia Sophia more than made up for The Blue Mosque’s renovations. The architecture was interesting - it was originally a church and then turned into a mosque so it’s a blend of Christian and Muslim design. We wandered around for a while, admiring the intricate details all over the ceiling and walls. I was a little sad the floor had been covered with carpet. A small square was cut away so you could see what the floor’s original design looked like, which was very impressive.
After we left Hagia Sophia, I found a friendly cat. I find them often, but Istanbul is known for its “stray” cats and dogs. The locals make sure they’re taken care of, tagging the ones who are spayed or neutered and attempting to spay or neuter the majority of them, taking them to the vet when they’re sick or injured, feeding them, and giving them shelter if needed. This cat climbed right into my lap and started making biscuits. While I was I giving it some pets, G found a dog. The doggo desperately wanted to be the cat’s friend. I turned around to see the dog look excitedly at me and the cat (it was definitely an “I want to play” look, not an “I want to eat you” look), at which point the cat noticed the dog and immediately jumped about 3 feet in the air and ran away. That made getting up and leaving easy for me, I guess.
We went back to the hotel, checked out, ordered an Uber, and were on our way to the airport. On the drive, we noticed the thick, ancient city walls. They were massive. Three sets of walls each 10+ feet thick were arranged in step-like layers. No wonder this city was unconquered for so long.
Early in the morning while I was checking into our flight, I was able to select seats toward the front of the plane which looked like business class on the little diagram. However, we did not pay for business class. G and I were overjoyed when we boarded our plane and discovered we, did, in fact, get to fly business class for the first time ever. Sure, our flight may have been an hour, but that didn’t matter. There were three entire windows between our seats and the seats in front of us! And there was just a wall behind us. We can only hope we’ll get that experience again sometime, maybe for a longer flight. Way too soon, we landed in Capadoccia.
Thanks to being toward the very front of the plane and only packing carry-ons, we were off the plane faster than normal and were the first ones to our shared van. We waited about 20 or 30 minutes for everyone to get their luggage and climb in the van. Then, we were on our way, and about 20 minutes later we were dropped off at our cave hotel.
Capadoccia is known for ancient (and new!) buildings carved into the rocks. Our cave hotel was a lovely family-run place. They also offer well-priced tours of the area. G and I had a hot air balloon sunrise ride booked very early the following morning, so for the remainder of the day, we ate dinner at the hotel, split a bottle of local wine on the rooftop, and went to sleep early. Capadoccia had even more of an Autumn feel to the air. It had a crisp chill and smelled like leaves.
November 8, 2022 (T) - 3 Days Wasn’t Enough
The number 1 thing we were excited about in Capadoccia was the sunrise hot air balloon ride. We had researched ahead of time to have at least a few days to work with, so there were 3 mornings we possibly could have gone. Sometimes you just have bad luck with weather-dependent activities. We’d recommend giving yourself at least 5 mornings to work with because even the day before we arrived wouldn’t have worked either.
We woke up well before the sun rose and hopped in the van to pick up others from their hotels and go down to the balloon field. The weather seemed fine to us, but if it’s even slightly too cloudy or too windy, the government says no to all the balloons that day. We were driven back to our hotel and ate a sad breakfast. We didn’t want to give up so our hosts passed our names to a different balloon company for the following morning. We also booked a fun day tour with them to go on after the air balloon.
It was only like 9AM but we had been up for 4 hours, so we went back to sleep til afternoon. We decided to just have another relaxing day. Why not? Our cave hotel was super cool. We drank tea. We swam in their pool that was in a cave and turned different colors. We ate dinner again on the rooftop. It was a nice day. We did find out that we wouldn’t be able to go in the hot air balloon again, though. Even the day we left wouldn’t work either. The forecast was poor until the day after we left. Go figure. That’s just another reason to return to Turkey someday!
November 9, 2022 (T) - Exploring Capadoccia from the Ground and Underground
While it would be cool to explore Capadoccia from the sky in a hot air balloon, it’s also really cool to explore it from the ground, sometimes inside the ground.
G and I got up a little early, ate breakfast, then walked down to the street to wait for our pick-up for the tour. We didn’t realize one of our hosts was going to be our guide as well, otherwise we would have waited back at the hotel. He found us and we started our drive toward our first destination, Derinkuyu Underground City.
Derinkuyu was built around 7,000 BC. Many historians, and our guide, believed the Hittites were some of the main builders. It was used as a refuge for Christians for centuries until it was abandoned in 1923. Then, in the 1960’s a local man was doing house renovations and dug into one of the rooms. Can you imagine accidentally finding an entire city? Derinkuyu is one of the deepest underground cities in the world, going down about 275 feet (85 meters). That would be a pretty wild discovery.
G and I were dropped off. We purchased a ticket and could have easily missed the entrance, which was a tiny square structure, no bigger than an outhouse. To our delight, not many people were there when we arrived so we more or less had the place to ourselves. We walked into the entrance that immediately led us further and further beneath the ground. This city really had everything: stables, bedrooms, kitchens, churches, laundry rooms, and most importantly, wine-making rooms. There was a local guide who offered to give us a tour, for a price. We politely declined and he wasn’t bothered by it (the same could not have been said in Egypt). An hour or so went by and we were still finding new rooms. Thankfully there were arrows to follow otherwise I for sure would have gotten lost (G probably wouldn’t have).
We had more places to go so we started to make our way back up the 4+ stories we had descended. On the way out there was a large group of middle schoolers that we were happy to have not shared our tour with. Some of the boys waved at us. I said “Merhaba” and they laughed a little. Not in a mean way. I don’t think. Anyways.
The next place on our itinerary was Ilhara Valley. There’s a beautiful river that runs through this valley with tall cliffs on both sides that have ancient churches and houses carved into them. Our host dropped us off and let us know he’d pick us up at the end of the trail. This was the Fall we had been missing back home. The fall foilage was on full display in the valley with yellow being the most prominent color. The weather was cool and cloudy with a light breeze. Our short hike was just what we needed. We took our time exploring the ruins, walking by the river, and drinking fresh pomegranate juice in a small village toward the end of the hike.
One way G and I have been saving money is to eat a lot at breakfast when breakfast is included and then to wait for dinner to eat again. Our host seemed a little surprised when we said we’d wait til we got back to the hotel to eat because we still had a couple of destinations left for the day. The next place was Selime Monastery, a massive monastery carved into a mountain in the 13th century. We spent a while walking around it together. This place felt otherworldly.
The last place to go for the day was Pigeon Valley. It’s a big valley with smaller volcanic mountains that have many houses carved into them. As the name suggests, there are many pigeons and birds that hang out by the viewpoint. We snapped some photos and headed back to the hotel.
We ate dinner and then went up to the rooftop again to watch the sunset. After sunset, our host asked if we wanted to have a fire up there. We said yes. We always had bonfires during Fall back home. He built us a fire and brought out a record player with some oldies music. What a perfect way to end our Fall day and our time in Capadoccia.
November 10, 2022 (T) - Goodbye, Turkey
We woke up early, caught our flight to Istanbul, relaxed in the airport lounge, then were on our way to Israel. It was time to visit The Holy Land!