Goodbye to Constantinople...

Didn't sleep well and woke to the alarm at 7:30. While I wanted to sleep in, I needed to seize the carp on this, my last day in Istanbul. As suggested by the girl at guest services, I took the tram over to Taksim Square and then wandered back to our hotel.

Along the way I popped into a few shops, it's their High Street, passed by a parade, people watched, went up Galata tower, crossed the Galata bridge, wandered through the spice bazaar, had apple tea in the courtyard of a mosque and got some sunshine!

The next thing I knew, I was back at the hotel and the shuttle bus was waiting for me. Trip's over!

Turkey has been a pleasant surprise. I think this is partly because the bar was so low after Egypt and partly because I didn't know what to expect and there were a few gems! I' come back here to visit at some point...although there are still plenty of undiscovered corners of the world left to explore...

The Royal Wedding?!

Couldn't wait to check in to Sultania but really needed to sleep in a bit. Was not sad to miss breakfast - all these buffets have been taking their toll. My 'half-marathon' fitness level is officially a memory!

I could not believe the traffic going from hotel A to hotel B. I officially couldn't live here. My blood pressure couldn't take it...and I wasn't even in a hurry.

Hotel Sultania is a gorgeous boutique hotel with lots of nice touches. I was happy the moment I walked in. While I waited for my room to be ready and the car that the guest services lady arranged for me from the Antique Carpets store, I grabbed a coffee. It just so happened that the royal wedding was being broadcast on BBC in the restaurant and I totally got sucked in! A city to explore and I'm getting weepy when I see how nervous and excited Prince William is?!?! Oh dear!

The driver finally arrived to save me from my folly and off I was to spend thousands of Euros on a carpet! I've always wanted a proper Turkish/oriental rug. Part of the reason I chose to visit Turkey was to look for one and spend my 2010 bonus on.

I told the guy I'd had the schpeel on how they're made a couple of times this trip so we could skip that part. I told him I was after something medium to large sized with blues, so I thought, and not for 10's of thousands. He brought me some apple tea and they began showing me their wares.

It's an expensive purchase so I wanted to take my time. I went back and forth feeling badly that it was taking so long though. I must have looked at about 50-75 carpets.  Some were obvious no's. Some were gorgeous but too expensive. I learned that I consistently preferred cotton on wool. I discovered that the silk carpets and actually cold to walk on in bare feet...in case the price alone wasn't enough to close the door!

In the end I settled for a 3m x 2m natural colour one for the living room and a 1.9m x 1.2m funky coloured one for the guest bedroom. I think I got a good price; they were just slightly above my budget but they're being shipped to my house and the price includes the rugs, taxes, duty and shipping. And it was quite the experience!

Having already bought a carpet made walking through the Grand Bazaar a lot easier! I could easily pass those shops and instead I mainly just wandered, ignored the vendors and bought a pair of earrings and my Christmas ornament souvenir.

Next stop was the hotel spa! I arranged for a 45min massage. While the spa facilities were gorgeous the massage itself is memorable in the 'one of the worst' category. Ah well, I've been pretty lucky so far-I guess I was due for a dud!

I chilled in the room before prettying up for dinner for one in the hotel's rooftop restaurant. It had lovely views of the city which was nice. I ate way too much and went on a short walk afterwards. My plan was to walk off dinner and explore a big but all the restaurants had guys out front trying to get you to eat at their restaurants and that got old really fast.

Ephesus!

The Virgin Mary's final resting place is just outside Kusadasi. Apparently in the 19th century some bed-ridden German nun had a vision about Mary's home in the hills. Some local monks got hold of the book she wrote and went and found a house in the hills...therefore! Hmmm. Quite interesting to see if only to people watch and observe excessively religious people at a shrine.

Ephesus is quite the site. It was the highlight of the day. The sun was shining and I felt hot for the first time the entire trip. We were not alone but site-seeing with about 4500 of our closest friends!
   
There are so many ruins in this 3rd century BC complex. The stadium, the agoras (markets), the latrine, the stadium. I saw a carving of Nike, the goddess of victory, and one of two intertwined snakes, apparently a symbol for health for centuries. I managed to get an impromptu camera lesson from Rosa which made a big difference in the shots I was taking (note to self: RTFM!!!).


          
After lunch we went to the Ephesus museum where we saw many of the artifacts they excavated and photos of the process. The sculptures had details of their jewellery, their footwear and clothes. Historians really didn't have to guess to much about the clothing of the period when it's all there in marble.

The statues of Artemis were on either side of a mock-up temple with dozens of columns. I would later find out that that was the Temple of Artemis, one of the seven ancient wonders of the world. When we went to see the site in person, it was barely recognizable. Only one full column remains and a few chinks of another column. I could only name a couple of the ancient wonders of the world and I had no idea I'd see one today! A strategy in not researching where the tour goes!

We stopped off at a carpet outlet and got the schpeel. I enjoyed looking but had no intention of buying. Ed and Martha picked one up and we all cheered them on in their negotiations.

We headed to the Izmir airport since several of us were heading back to Istanbul. The first flight was at 6, mine was at 9. That's a lot of killing time. I tried to arrange an earlier flight and I tried to get the Hotel Sultania. No luck on either. Ah well, I'll get up and head straight there in the morning to enjoy all the luxuries I can!

Have just settled in to bed back in Istanbul. Tomorrow I'll go on the hunt for some carpets and wander through the Grand Bazaar.

Escape to Turkey - Itinerary

I thought it might be interesting to capture the itinerary and some of the travel details for my Turkey Tour.  


Here's what I received from the booking agent:

Escape to Turkey  (8 days)

Tour Start Date:   Guaranteed departure every friday

This tour is bookable by single traveller - group not necessary

Eco Turkey Tour Prices - Per Person  

Double / Twin Room:  from Euro 699.00   Single Room:  from Euro 789.00

Escape to Turkey (8 days) Tour Summary:

We will take you to Istanbul, Ankara, Cappadocia, Konya, Pamukkale, Ephesus and Kusadasi. This tour also includes 2 different domestic flights from Istanbul to Ankara and Izmir to Istanbul. If you are looking for a one week escape, this tour is suitable for you.

 8 DAYS ESCAPE TO TURKEY TOUR ITINERARY:

Day 01 - Friday - Istanbul - Arrival Day

Meet with Eco Turkey staff at Istanbul International Ataturk airport and transfer to your hotel. You will be given your room key and the rest of the day is yours to explore Istanbul. Overnight in Istanbul.

Day 02 - Saturday - Istanbul City Tour - Ankara

(Breakfast included)

We depart at 08:30 for the Istanbul city tour. TOPKAPI PALACE The great palace of the Ottoman sultans from the 15th to the 19th centuries housing an exquisite collection of crystal, silver, and Chinese porcelain, robes worn by the sultans and their families, the famous jewels of the Imperial Treasury, miniatures, the Holy Mantle; enshrining relics of the Prophet Mohammed.

SULTANAHMET IMPERIAL MOSQUE Across from St. Sophia built in the 16th century by the architect Mehmet, is known as the BLUE MOSQUE because of its magnificent interior decoration of blue Iznik tiles.

HIPPODROME Ancient Hippodrome, the scene of chariot races, with the three monuments; the Obelisk of Theodosius, the bronze Serpentine Column and the Column of Constantine. Lunch break and then we head to the SPICE BAZAAR (Egyptian Bazaar) the air here is filled with the enticing aromas of cinnamon, caraway, saffron, mint, thyme and every other conceivable herb and spice. After the Istanbul tour depart for Ankara by plane. Arrive to Ankara and check in to your hotel and The rest of the evening is you`re to enjoy Ankara. Overnight in Ankara.

Day 03 - Sunday - Ankara - Cappadocia Tour

(Breakfast and dinner included)

In the morning visit to the Anatolian Civilizations Museum at which numerous remnants from Stone Age, Neolithic Age, Hittites, Urartians, Phrygians and many others are on display; Mausoleum of Ataturk, the burial place of the national hero who founded modern Republic of Turkey. Then continue on to Cappadocia. After a picturesque trip along the Salt Lake pass by the 13th century Seljukian Caravanserai Agzikarahan. After visiting Kaymakli Underground City, the place early Christians hid from persecutors, proceed to the hotel in Cappadocia for overnight. Overnight in Cappadocia.

Day 04 - Monday - Cappadocia Tour

(Breakfast and dinner included)

Optional balloon tour. Depart from the hotel at 09.30-10.00 depending on the arrival time of the participants and visit the valleys where animal-like natural formations like camels and fair chimneys are abundant. Drive on to Pasabagi in Zelve area where monks used to live in seclusion in rock cut rooms. Proceed to the pottery town of Avanos where Kizilirmak (Hallys), the longest river of Turkey, meanders leaving the red clay on its banks that has been the raw material of pottery for centuries. In the afternoon visit to Open Air Museum in Goreme to visit to the early Christian churches decorated with unique frescoes depicting various scenes from the Bible. Stop by Pigeon Valley near Uchisar. Shopping time for the well-known merits of the area. Overnight in Cappadocia.

Day 05 - Tuesday - Konya - Pamukkale

(Breakfast and dinner included)

Today?s ride will be fairly long and tiring due to the long distance between Cappadocia and Pamukkale and lack of convenient lodging location. Drive to Konya to visit to the Mausoleum of Mevlana, the world-wide famous mystic figure. Overnight in Pamukkale.

Day 06 - Wednesday - Pamukkale Tour - Kusadasi

(Breakfast and dinner included)

Tour the ruins of Hierapolis including the magnificently preserved cemetery "Necropolis", the Main Street and Gates, the Thermal Baths, the Roman Theatre and the Museum. In the afternoon tour Aphrodisias, the city of Aphrodite; visit the Museum, the Temple of Aphrodite, the Theatre, the Stadium, the Agora, the Hadrian Baths, the Odeon, and the Bishop's Palace. Overnight in Kusadasi.

Day 07 - Thursday - Ephesus Tour - Kusadasi

(Breakfast and dinner included)

Morning tour to Ephesus area with Ephesus Antique City (Hillside Houses are excluded; entrance requires additional admission fee), one of the most popular ancient sites of Turkey with many acres of carefully excavated ruins; Virgin Mary?s House, where St. Mary is supposed to spend her last years together with St. John. Selcuk Ephesus Museum or St. John Church. Time for shopping. After Ephesus tour domestic flight to Istanbul. Overnight in Istanbul.

Day 8 - Friday - Istanbul - End of Tour

(Breakfast included)

After breakfast check out from the hotel. We hope your tour was a memorable one and we would like to see you in the future in one of our tours again. We make your return airport transfer services. Have a nice trip back home and thanks for choosing Eco Turkey.

8 DAYS ESCAPE TO TURKEY TOUR INCLUDES:

Arrival airport transfer from Istanbul Ataturk Airport

Domestic flight from Istanbul to Ankara

Domestic flight from Izmir to Istanbul

2 nights hotel in Istanbul

1 night hotel in Ankara

2 nights hotel in Cappadocia

1 night hotel in Pamukkale

1 night hotel in Kusadasi

7 breakfasts and 5 dinners

Guided Istanbul City tour

Guided Ankara tour

2 guided Cappadocia tours

Guided Konya tour

Guided Pamukkale tour

Guided Ephesus tour

Guided Pamukkale tour

All entrance fees mentioned in the itinerary

Transportation in a fully air-conditioned, non-smoking coach

Professional English-speaking tour guides

Return airport transfer to Istanbul Ataturk Airport

8 DAYS ESCAPE TO TURKEY TOUR PRICES IN EURO:

Per Person Shared Double Single

3 Star Hotel € 699.00 € 789.00

4 Star Hotel € 765.00 € 899.00

5 Star Hotel € 999.00 € 1,379.00

Check the price of a Coke!

One last nutella-fest for breakfast.  Deeee-lish!  Then I left my bags in Mom’s room and we took off for our last morning in town before I had to head off for my afternoon flight back to Amsterdam.

The Pantheon was closed when we were by a few nights before but it is open in the daytime.  It’s beautiful.  As with most of these landmarks though, it’s tough to get the perfect photo so I mostly just made ‘mental-photographs’ and sat back and took it all in. 

We then wandered back over to Piazza de Navona for lunch.  I learned a new lesson about eating in touristy places!  So imagine you use a pizza or a bowl of minestrone as your price gauge for how expensive a restaurant is.  You can determine which restaurants are over charging for the same thing fairly easily as you go from restaurant to restaurant.  Never did I think to check the price of a Cola Light!  I thought the waiter had made a mistake when our bill arrived after an admittedly delicious lunch.  16Euros 50 cents for drinks?  But we just had 3 Cola Lights.  Yep – 5.50 each!  Holy crap!  We got taken.  Well – now I’m wiser in that respect and will keep an eye out to include drinks in my gauge-system from now on.

A few last shops to visit on the last walk back to the hotel before heading back to the train station.  I bought myself a little purse intended to replace the M.E.C. purse I bought for $15 in 2001 for my Peru trip.  Somehow I always come back to that one but here’s hoping my ‘Italian leather purse’ can class me up a bit!

Walking to the train station to leave for the airport was tough on me.  I felt like I did when I’d come home for weekends during university at Sunday dinner knowing that I’d have to hit the road shortly and leave back to Edmonton.  I didn’t want to say goodbye to Mom and Kari.  Family is a big missing part of my life this year and it’s been a tough year.  I won’t be home at Christmas this year either but back for Susan’s wedding in March.  I was sorry that the weekend was over so fast but am glad for the 4 days we all had together.

Vatican City and the Sistine Chapel

Nutella again.  I don’t care.  We’re walking a lot and it’s delicious.  One of life’s guilty pleasures!

We left the hotel early enough to plan for a couple of 64 buses to pass that we couldn’t get on on our way to Vatican City.  We jumped onto the 3^rd but Mom got on at the front and we got on in the middle.  The bus was so packed that we couldn’t see her for most of the journey and we were worried she’d get off at the wrong stop.  Fortunately the bus emptied further on and we re-grouped. 

As soon as we got off the bus the skies opened up.  Those hawkers are clever though and within moments umbrellas were for sale everywhere.  Mom got one for 5 Euros.  Not a bad deal.  Regardless, our feet got soaked while walking to find ‘Mark Anthony’ (our guide from the Forum the day before) at the Foot Locker of all places near the Vatican.

We paid 45 Eruos for our ~4hour tour to see the Sistine Chapel and St. Peter’s Basilica.  We were in the ‘fast lane’ and still waited for about 45mins in line.  Mondays are apparently the busiest day.  A Monday in October though seemed surprisingly busy.  Ah well.  Once in, we lined up for our headsets.  Technology is amazing and Mark Anthony had a headset with a microphone and we all had headsets set to channel 3 and we could hear him talk (most of the time).  This meant that I could wander a bit to take pictures and still listen.  Love it.  He said that there are more than 1100 rooms open to the public and if you stopped at each piece on display for 3 seconds you’d be in there for more than 7 years.  He shared the highlights with us which was just fine.

We got a nice story on Michaelangelo and the Sistine Chapel and information on many paintings, statues and tapestries.   The highlight was the Sistine Chapel despite it being packed with rude, rule breaking tourists.  Tisk tisk.  My favourite part of the ceiling was the Creation of Adam and the Garden of Eden.  Cool to see the before and after differences from the restoration work (about a 10 year effort in the 90’s).   They did a great job.

We all looked at each other with shock when we saw the line for St. Peter’s Basilica.  After 4 hours we didn’t have any desire to stand in THAT line!  Too bad but we were tired and hungry and wouldn’t have enjoyed it.  Best leave something to see next time! :o)

A tasty lunch (pizza for me again), another cappuccino and then nap at the hotel before dinner re-energized all of us.  Given that it was my last night, I suggested wandering in the direction of the Coliseum for dinner.  We had passed through a funky little neighbourhood on our way there Sunday morning and sure enough we found a fantastic and DELICIOUS restaurant where we had our ‘last supper’.  Pumpkin (zucca) ravioli for me and some wine made me happy.

After dinner we wandered down to the Coliseum.  It felt good to walk off the pasta-baby.  The Coliseum at night was eerie and beautiful and best of all – practically deserted.  I got some great night shots from several angles as we walked around the giant amphitheatre.  That’s the way to see Rome.  At night, when everyone is indoors eating!

Yay - the Coliseum!

We walked down the hill after breakfast and it only took about 10 minutes to have our first view of the Coliseum.  It’s impressive from any angle and daunting as you approach and see the hordes of tourists in line to buy entrance tickets.  Good thing for pre-purchase tickets on the internet!  We ended up on a tour for 8 Euros for the Coliseum and the Forum in English.  Not a bad deal and it was a warm and sunny day – which is lucky for the end of October.

The Coliseum is more amazing in person than pictures and we were all suitably impressed.   We didn’t have long to sit and absorb the atmosphere since our tour to the Forum was leaving 30mins after our guide set us free.  Just as well, you’d never soak up all the historical details and again, the place was so busy with tourists that it was tricky moving around and avoiding being the doofus walking right in front of someone about to take a picture.

The Forum is more in ruins that I realized.  It is also an amazingly photogenic place.  At this point, several hours into our day, we were hot, tired and getting hungry.  I’ve discovered that I don’t have ‘tourist-stamina’.  I have to do my visits in several short bursts otherwise I just go on autopilot and stop caring about anything other than the nearest seat or cafe or loo.

We hopped on a bus and headed back into town to grab lunch.  Kari and I split yet another pizza.  Mom tried again for her Panini but she was still on the hunt for a good one!  We wandered around, stopped for a coffee at this funky bar and were surprised to learn that our bill was only 5 Euros for 3 cappuccinos and one piece of cake (3 forks obviously).  Amazing!

We headed back to the hotel for a snooze – which was a nice luxury.  I remember our hotel was on a completely different island in Venice.  No napping there.  I crashed hard and my legs felt paralyzed!  I think all the walking and standing was taking its toll.  I guess I’m an old lady already!

For dinner we tried to hop on the 64 bus but several passed by stuffed to the brim.  We walked.  The Campo di Fiori was about 20-30 mins by foot but along the way were several shops.  I was getting the hangries so I had to ask Mom and Kari if they could please hold off shopping until after dinner!  We found a cute restaurant (or make that cute waiter!) just off the square for dinner.  Heineken, bruschetta and lasagne for Kari and me.  Mom had her usual soup and salad. 

Then we wandered over to the Piazza Novano for gelato.  Yum.  It’s beautiful there and the moon, one day past full, was gorgeous.  I wanted to do a geocache and so I plugged the numbers in to my GPS sitting outside the Pantheon.  The hints weren’t great and the signal was poor in the alleys so we gave up once we were supposedly 15m, no 20m, no 3m (!) away from the destination.  Instead we managed to find a cute wooden bench with a Pinnocchio to pose with that we wouldn’t have found otherwise.

[note – It was only a few days later that I clued in that the geocache was probably at Pinnocchio’s bench.  My suspicions were confirmed as I checked out the logged comments for the cache once home.  Grrr....how frustrating.  Well, maybe I’ll just have to go back!]