We had an incredible five days exploring Istanbul with Wini’s parents, Richard and Christy, but our time in Turkey wasn’t over yet. In a stroke of luck and coincidence, Christy’s godson Alex was leading a tour group of Taiwanese people throughout Turkey, set to start from Istanbul the last day we had scheduled with them. It was too amazing of an opportunity to pass up, so Richard and Christy postponed their flights home, and all 4 of us joined the tour!
TURKEY TOUR DAY 1: ABANT GÖLÜ & SAFRANBOLU
The tour group was landing in Istanbul around 5 am, so we had to wake up early to meet them there around 6 am after they had cleared immigration. We met the big crew of Taiwanese people of all ages, saying quick hellos. Our crew definitely stood out among them haha.
Alex, our tour guide from Taiwan, and Ferhat, his Turkish counterpart, led up to the bus which would be our temporary home for the next 2 weeks. A bit of a cramped, uncomfy home at that. Then, we were off! Out of Istanbul towards the small town of Safranbolu.
Apparently in Turkey, they have strict laws around how long the bus drivers are allowed to be driving for any one stretch of time. We had to stop every two hours, and each stop had to be 15 minutes more than the last one. It made for a lot of long days on the bus, with much more stopping than we were used to. Many of our stops we just random, side-of-the-road rest stops, although the first one we did was at a nice little lake, called Abant Gölü.
We found our way to Safranbolu, a small town not far from where our tour guide Ferhat was from. We had a traditional Turkish lunch of meatball kebabs, rice, soup, and salad, which ended up being what we ate at most meals along the way.
The town of Safranbolu is nestled into a little valley. It is known for its winding cobblestone streets, its role in the Silk Road, its history of saffron production, and its well-preserved Ottoman architecture. We almost felt like we were looking down on a town in the Alps with quaint little buildings and mountainous surroundings.
We were also shown into an old Ottoman-style house, set up to show the way life looked back then. The house had so many rooms and was set up to keep the men and women completely separate.
We were allowed to explore the charming little town, and enjoyed ducking into little antique shops, art stores, and watching glass blowing.
From there we got to our first hotel for the night, Hilton Garden Inn Safranbolu, where we settled in and then joined the group for dinner at the dining area. Alex arranged for a birthday cake for Richard and another girl on our tour, as it was Richard’s birthday the day before and her birthday that day. So sweet!
Alongside dinner, we also had the juiciest, most flavourful, most delicious watermelon ever! And then we continued to have the most juicy, flavourful, and delicious watermelon every day for the rest of the tour. If you’re in Turkey between June and September, get yourself some watermelon!!!
DAY 2: TUZ GOLÜ SALT FLATS, KAYMAKLI UNDERGROUND CITY
On our second day, we woke up early and were ready to go by 8:30 am. Our first main stop of the day was for a quick lunch in Ankara. The real attraction wasn’t until mid-afternoon when we stopped at a salt flat called Tuz Gölü.
It was such a cool stop! It was blindingly bright and white, and the flats went on for ages. We learned that there are sometimes flamingos that come to the flats when there aren’t a lot of people, but since it was super crowded there today we didn’t spot any.
From the flats we drove towards the province of Cappadocia, to our second main stop of the day, Kaymaklı Underground City. Wow! This was one of our favourite spots on the tour.
The Kaymaklı Underground City is an ancient subterranean complex carved out of soft volcanic rock in the 8th-7th century BCE. The city consists of multiple levels, with tunnels, chambers, living areas, storage rooms, ventilation shafts, and even churches. It was designed to accommodate thousands of people and their livestock for extended periods of time, providing safety from external threats.
It’s believed around 3,500 people lived here with their livestock, and it is connected through miles of tunnel to Derinkuyu, another underground city that housed around 20,000 people!
We were completely blown away exploring the many chambers of this remarkable city. We couldn’t get over the evident resourcefulness and adaptability of the people who built and inhabited it. It really put a new perspective on the term ‘cave man’ haha.
From the underground city, we went directly to our hotel for the next two nights, Under Cave Hotel. It was a cute hotel that has rooms built to resemble the inside of the many caves in the area. The reason we were staying at the same hotel twice, is this area is where they do the famous hot air balloon rides. However, the balloons are very weather dependent, and if there’s too much wind they will not fly them, and they wanted to ensure we had the best chance possible to take a ride.
When we arrived that evening, they let us know that there was too much wind expected for the next day so we wouldn’t be able to go up the next day, and instead, we’d explore the area.
DAY 3: CAMEL ROCK, CARPET FACTORY, HISARALTI POINT, GEM STORE, UÇHISAR CASTLE, PIGEON VALLEY, GÖREME OPEN AIR MUSEUM
In lieu of the hot air balloon ride, we had a jam-packed third day in Cappadocia. Our first stop was to an iconic rock formation in Imagination Valley called Camel Rock, can you guess why?
After exploring the interesting rock formations in the morning, we headed to Bazaar 54, a carpet-making factory. This might sound boring to you, but it ended up being one of our favourite stops on the tour! We watched as women sat at their looms and wove and spun with their hands to create the intricate carpets from scratch.
Then they led us to the showroom to introduce us to some of the already-made creations.
There was one in particular that made our jaws drop, a gorgeous turquoise silk rug that changed colours depending on which way you viewed it, from dark navy to pale blue. Richard couldn’t resist, and got a smaller version to take home with them!
From there, we went to a rock formation lookout point called Hisaraltı Panorama, which looked down on interesting rock towers, known in the area as “Fairy Chimneys” that reminded us a little of Bryce Canyon in Utah.
Wini had her first Turkish ice cream experience, where he pretends to hand it to you and then takes it away. The ice cream is a completely different consistency than non-Turkish ice cream, making it stickier and not as melty, which is how they’re able to do the tricks.
We had a lovely lunch at an outdoor garden restaurant where they served “pottery kebabs”, aka beef, eggplant, potatoes, tomatoes cooked in a claypot.
As we ate, a musician played an instrument called a kanun which was really nice ambiance.
There were also some kittens playing in the garden and we fed them some of the food from our table. The Turkish people seem to LOVE cats and dogs and are always feeding the strays. It’s been interesting to see the differences in the countries we’ve visited from very animal friendly like Turkey, to dog-friendly like the Philippines, to cat-friendly (and very anti-dog) like Malaysia.
After lunch we visited Blue Art Center, a gem and jewelry store, where we were introduced to Sultan stones which change colour based on the light: in most indoor lighting they look brown, but outside they are bright pink, and in certain lights, they turn emerald green. It was the first I’d heard of such a thing!
We explored the shop, and we found a gorgeous ring that looked too good on Wini to pass up! It’s a cubic zirconia stone with a white gold band. The lady who helped us was a 24-year-old named Elayda (meaning rain fairy). And she told us her brother was named Genghis Khan! She was so sweet and helpful.
We drove to Uçhisar Castle, a prominent natural rock formation and historical site. It served as a defensive position and observation point due to its elevated location, primarily during the Byzantine and Roman eras.
Uçhisar Castle provided a vantage point from which inhabitants could monitor their surroundings and spot potential threats. Over time, people carved out chambers, tunnels, and rooms within the rock, creating a complex network of living spaces and storage areas. These carved rooms were used both for habitation and as places of refuge during times of conflict.
We were able to walk around the many cave entrances, and you are able to climb to the top of the “castle”, although we didn’t, opting for the shade of the trees and sunflowers at the base of the fortress.
From there we visited Pigeon Valley, a lookout point over interesting rock formations with a view of the town, and carved pigeon houses. It was a lovely view, however, at this point in the day, we were seriously fading. The day was already so jam-packed, and it wasn’t over yet!
Our last stop of the day was to the Göreme Open Air Museum. This historical complex, dating from the 4th to 13th century CE, features a collection of rock-cut churches, monasteries, and dwellings carved into the volcanic rock.
The churches are adorned with intricate frescoes (wall art) depicting scenes from the Bible, providing a glimpse into the religious and artistic expressions of the time. The museum offers a window into the lives of early Christian monks, and their exceptional architectural achievements within the unique landscape of Cappadocia.
We roamed the area, visiting the various churches, kitchens, and classrooms, but at this point, we were truly dead. We had been going for over 7 hours, packing in so many sites are eyes and feet couldn’t take it anymore!
We headed back to our hotel, exhausted, but with the good news that we were ON for the hot air balloon ride tomorrow!!!
DAY 4: HOT AIR BALLOON RIDE
On the day of our hot air balloon ride, we had a bright and early 3 am wake-up! We had to arrive before sunrise, and it was a chilly morning.
We had to be separated from our Taiwanese tour group because they wanted us to have a balloon pilot that could explain the procedure in English, while they had a Chinese-speaking pilot (a shocking number of people in Turkey speak amazing Mandarin!). The balloons held 24 people, and there were divisions in the basket, with each section holding 2-4 people
It was such a magical experience. We watched as the hot air balloons around us went up, and then it was our turn.
We flew for over 50 minutes and saw an incredible sunrise over the gorgeous Cappadocia landscape. It was one of the most unforgettable and awe-inspiring experiences of our life!
Back on the ground, we were able to snap some more pictures before the rest of the balloons went down, and they popped a bottle of bright pink rosé for us to enjoy.
We hopped into a van that was going to take up back to our hotel, but on a steep road, the engine blew out so we had to roll back down and pull over to wait for a new one to take us back.
We were able to quickly pack up before departing Cappadocia for a full day of driving to our next hotel, Colossae Thermal Hotel. The epic experience in the morning made up for the tedious 11+ hour travel day — we were buzzing about the experience the whole way!
DAY 5: COTTON CASTLE & HIERAPOLIS, FRUIT WINE TASTING, HOUSE OF VIRGIN MARY, EPHESUS, TURKISH BATHS
Our first stop on day 5 was another of our standouts from the trip, Cotton Castle, also known as Pamukkale, where we had the opportunity to explore both the natural beauty of the white terraces and the historical ruins of the ancient city of Hierapolis.
Cotton Castle, is a natural wonder of unique terraces formed by the flow of thermal spring water over thousands of years. The calcium-rich water has created stunning white terraces that resemble cascading layers of cotton or snow, hence the name “Cotton Castle.” It looked to us like a cascading frozen waterfall!
We were able to walk along the terraces and step into the thermal pools which are believed to have therapeutic and rejuvenating properties.
On the grounds above Cotton Castle is Hierapolis, an ancient city founded around the 2nd century BCE. One of the most notable features of Hierapolis is its well-preserved theater, which could accommodate around 15,000 spectators and host various performances and events.
The natural thermal springs are not limited to the Cotton Castle terraces though. Other thermal pools in Hierapolis were used for their healing properties, and the city became a popular spa destination in antiquity.
We were able to also visit Cleopatra’s Antique Pool. According to local legend, Cleopatra herself visited the mineral-rich pool, as she believed in the beneficial effects of its thermal waters on the skin and overall well-being.
What makes Cleopatra’s Antique Pool particularly fascinating is the submerged ruins that can be seen beneath its waters. Ancient marble columns, fragments of statues, and other remnants are visible through the clear turquoise waters of the pool, creating a unique atmosphere.
You could swim in the pools (for an additional price), but we didn’t have enough time during our visit.
Our second stop of the day was for lunch, and a fruit wine tasting at Şirince Artemis Restaurant and Winehouse. They served pomegranate, peach, blueberry, cherry, and melon wines, and we particularly liked the pomegranate and blueberry.
After our tasting, our next destination was the House of the Virgin Mary. It is believed to be the final resting place of Mary, the mother of Jesus Christ.
According to tradition, after the crucifixion of Jesus, one of his disciples, John the Apostle, brought Mary to Ephesus, where she lived out the rest of her life in seclusion and prayer. The house was discovered in the 19th century, when a German nun, Anne Catherine Emmerich, had a series of visions that described the location and features of Mary’s house.
Visitors are not allowed to take photographs inside the small stone house, as it is considered a place of religious significance and reverence. Instead, people can light candles or leave prayer notes. We walked through it, looking at the interesting frescoes on the wall, and then went down to the Sacred Spring that spouts out holy water.
Our final stop of the day was one of our favourites: the ancient city of Ephesus! It was a thriving hub of trade, culture, and religion, and its ruins are still in great condition. We really felt like we could picture life there as we walked down the streets, because of how well it was preserved.
Its well-preserved ruins include the iconic Celsus Library with its intricate façade, a grand theater that could accommodate 25,000 spectators, and the elaborately designed Temple of Hadrian.
It was such an incredible stop, but another looong day of sightseeing in the hot sun, so we were ready to head to our new hotel, Grand Bellish. We checked in and saw they offered Turkish baths, and after so many days on a cramped bus we wanted a little bit of a spa moment, so we booked ourselves one for later with Wini’s mom, Christy.
Then, we headed out to watch the sunset on the Aegean Sea.
The Turkish bath was one of the best experiences ever!!! They led us to a room with a large marble slap, which we laid down on. Then, our masseuses went to town on us, rubbing us down, scrubbing us so clean with a loofah-type thing all over. They splashed us with water from the little faucets and basins around the room.
Then, they covered us in bubbles! The first two times they dropped them on me my brain couldn’t even understand the sensation I was feeling: am I wet? Am I hot? What’s going on? It was so cool. They made the bubbles by filling up a pillowcase with soapy water and air and then squeezing it out on us. Then they massaged us more and rinsed us down. By the end, we felt sooo clean. They scrubbed us down so intensely, head to toe. They cleaned our ears, washed our hair, gave us a face massage, everything!
After we were all rinsed off we were given a fresh towel and then taken into a new room for an oil massage, which was heavenly! I was transported to another dimension!
We went back up feeling so relaxed. But as we got up to our floor we heard the loudest music ever blaring. We realized there was a huge party going on right outside, very close to our ground-floor room. We went to our room and it literally felt like a club, the music was so loud. Wini called the front desk to ask when it would be over. He said 11 pm (it was 10:45). Those minutes ticked by so slowly. At 11:03 the music was still playing, and we got a text from Richard: It’s going until 11:30. We thought it was a wedding but we learned from Christy the next day that it was actually a hotel-sponsored party. Insane behaviour hahah!
DAY 6: LEATHER FACTORY, TROY
Our next day we headed out by 8 am. Since the tour was in Chinese, I was left in the dark for most days about where exactly we were stopping, and what we were doing until we were there. This particular day was a bit of a surprise. We arrived at a building that looked like it would be about something historical. I needed to use the bathroom and when I came back out everyone had disappeared from the lobby. I looked around and was directed by a worker to some doors where I could hear extremely loud club music blasting. I was like.. can this be right? It’s not even 9 am.
I opened the door and was greeted by the sight of a lit catwalk and models parading up and down! I was like where am I???
I sat next to Wini and her family and soon learned we were watching them display their leather jackets that were all reversible. It was lowkey iconic. They would wear the jacket up the catwalk one way and then dramatically flip it inside out and put it back on the other way.
Then, they pulled up Richard, our tour guide Alex, and another lady from our tour to try on jackets and model them. It was hilarious.
After the show, we were brought into their shop and tried on things. Some of the workers were hovering so much though and just relentlessly giving us coats to try on or insisting to help zip up the coats for us when we put them on lol. Christy did end up getting a really cute coat though.
On the way to our next destination, we passed by another salt flat and this one had FLAMINGOS!!! We were so shook! We were like “PULL OVER! PULL OVER!” But they didn’t 🙁 Still, it was so cool to see them! They were more white than pink, and Alex told us that it’s because flamingos get their pigment from a type of red shrimp that they eat, and they metabolize the carotenoids in them, turning their (once grey) feathers pink, and these ones don’t eat those shrimp. So interesting!
We drove to Troy, in Çanakkale, but it was seriously underwhelming. Troy is famous for its association with the Trojan War, a legendary conflict depicted in Homer’s epic poems, the Iliad and the Odyssey, featuring the famous story of the Trojan Horse. However, at Troy, their replica of the horse statue was broken down in a heap behind the bathrooms, and we felt the ruins were like not very well kept or arranged thoughtfully.
I think we were perhaps spoiled by the ruins of Ephesus, but the unkept condition of the site made us less engrossed in the surroundings.
Since their horse statue was in disrepair at the time, our tour group brought us into the town of Çanakkale, where a big replica of the Trojan Horse, the one used in Brad Pitt’s movie Troy, sits in front of the harbour.
We were only a few minutes away from our hotel, Perion. We were exhausted from another long travel day, so we went to bed as early as possible.
DAY 7: ISTANBUL, BOSPHORUS RIVER CRUISE, GRAND BAZAAR
One week into our tour, and we’re back where we started: Istanbul! We arrived in the afternoon and had lunch on a bridge over the Bosphorus River. Our restaurant looked out at the Asian side of Istanbul, and we enjoyed some rice and fish.
After lunch, we boarded a ferry boat on the river and were taken on a wonderful little river cruise. The weather was perfect, and we had the whole boat to just our group.
Some people on the boat held out bread from the restaurant for the seagulls, and they swooped down and ate from their hands. We just sat and enjoyed the sunny, breezy day.
We walked into town towards the Grand Bazaar. At the bazaar, we were allowed to go our separate ways and just explore it on our own. We had been there before during our Istanbul stay, so we ended up ducking out to pick up some train tickets for our onward trip to Bulgaria.
We had lunch at a Chinese restaurant, as all the Taiwanese people were craving some familiar comfort food hahah.
We arrived at our place for the night, G Hotel Istanbul, and had to say our goodbyes to Richard and Christy. They were flying out early the next day to America. It was such a treat to spend the last month with them in Greece and Turkey. What an incredible experience!
DAY 8: HAGIA SOFIA, TAKSIM SQUARE GOODBYES
On our final day of the tour, we got a little sleep-in, not having to leave the hotel until 10 am! Our first stop was the Hagia Sofia, which we had seen the outside of before, but not inside.
It was originally constructed in 537 CE as an Eastern Orthodox cathedral during the Byzantine Empire, but it later transformed into a mosque when the Ottoman Empire took over Constantinople in 1453.
In 1935, it was turned into a museum under Turkey’s secularization efforts, and in recent years, its status has changed yet again, as it was reconverted into a mosque in 2020, so there is now active worship that goes on as you visit the mosque.
We had Chinese food again for lunch, and then we broke off from the group, as they continued on to visit the Blue Mosque, and Topkapi Palace, both of which we saw during our previous Istanbul visit.
Instead, we walked to the hotel we booked for the night, as our tour group was flying back to Taiwan that evening without us.
We arrived at the hotel, Taksim Apart, and… YIKES! It was horrible! First of all, we couldn’t find it at first, because the address wasn’t clear, and a very creepy man “helped” us, and then just stood outside watching us as we were checked into our room, which was on the ground floor and in full view of him.
Second, we walked in and immediately saw a swarm of bugs, the room was so small, gross, and musty smelling. The walls were bubbling, and the carpet was so yucky. The sheets on the bed were torn and didn’t cover the whole mattress, and the mattress underneath was stained and looked moldy!
Wini went out to ask for the wifi and he told her (through Google translate) that the wifi would be broken until tomorrow at least. We looked at each other like… we cannot stay here. So we just grabbed our stuff (we only had our day bags) and left.
After finding a coffee shop that had wifi, we were able to find another place in the area, our sweet sweet Terra Suites. We walked there and it was a billion times nicer, and the hotel manager was so helpful and kind.
Our tour group messaged us that they were almost at Taksim Square, so we met up with them to get the rest of our luggage, and say our goodbyes! It’s been such an adventure with this group, even though they barely spoke a word to us the whole time hahah.
We thanked Ferhat and Alex for the incredible tour they took us on, and headed back to our new lovely apartment.
We spent the next several days literally not moving from our beds at Terra Suites, except for our once-a-day trek up the hill to the yummiest restaurant we ate at in all of Turkey: Dürümcü Nuri Usta. Seriously, if you’re in Turkey and want food that is marinated so well and so juicy, this is your spot!
Our Turkey tour was one for the books. We were completely exhausted but so happy and in awe of all the unbelievable sights and experiences we had. If you have a chance to do a similar tour, or just visit Turkey in general, we can’t recommend it enough!
Our favourite spots of the tour were:
- The Hot Air Balloon Ride in Cappadocia
- Ephesus
- Cotton Castle, Hierapolis, and Cleopatra’s Antique Pool
- Kaymakli Underground City
- The Bosphorus River Cruise
- Bazaar 54 (the carpet-making factory)
Amazing! Thanks for all the details. Definitely on my list of places to go!