Turkey
Istanbul
Turkey was our first country outside of Europe. Neither of us knew much about it other than its where people get fake teeth, implants, and cheap hair plugs. We also knew Turkey was home to Cappadocia, which was the number one spot on Kaitlyn’s most wanted list. So we ended up deciding on 10 nights in Istanbul and 4 in Cappadocia.
The city is famously known for being the split between two continents Europe and Asia. The first thing you notice when you arrive is the cats. They are everywhere: in the subway, the streets, sitting in cafes, on top of cars. Then you notice how healthy and friendly they are. They aren’t the typical shrieking, mean alley cats you’d expect in a big city. Everyone here takes really good care of them. They view them like communal pets. They build shelters, make sure they are fed, and give them affection all day long. We didn’t see a single skinny, sick, or mean cat our whole time here. Needless to say it was the greatest surprise we have come across. Every walk for us took 5x as long as it should have, since Kaitlyn (and me too) had to stop and pet each cat we saw along the way.
Another thing you pick up on quickly is the islamic influence. You hear the muslim call to prayer throughout the streets all day long. The first one is at 5:50am and so it acted as our alarm, which was so nice of them because that’s exactly when we wanted to wake up… There are mosques around every corner where you see the men constantly going in and out for their 5 daily prayers.
The other big thing you realize is how good the food is. We pride ourselves on our food knowledge but Turkey has never been on our radar of good cuisines around the world. So we were baffled as place after place we had some of the best food we have ever tasted. By day 2 we had nailed down this was the best food city we had ever been to. Everything is cooked over an open fire (there seem to be no fire codes here). They are also the Michael Jordan of chicken wings. Every place was incredible, even the wings we got in a mall food court were better than any I’ve had in the States. This hurts me to type, but I have a duty to report the truth to my readers.
The famous Turkish tea is everywhere and it grows on you. We are coffee people through and through, and I figured if London couldn’t make us tea fans it wasn’t in the cards. However, I went from just trying one to be nice to actually craving it a little throughout the day. I even took packs of the tea from our Airbnb and hotels to have later on in the trip.
Taksim
The first half of our Istanbul stay was in an Airbnb in Taksim. Taksim is a big cultural hub in the northern part of the European side. There are many restaurants, food stalls, shops, and famous coffee sand pit brewing carts. It’s got a good mix of energy, food, and character without feeling like you are stuck with all the other tourists. This was our favorite area and would be where we stay again if we come back.
Fatih
This is the second area we stayed in (after Cappadocia). This is where all the tourist are at. For good reason though, Fatih is close to all the big attractions like the Blue Mosque, Hagia Sophia, and the Topkapi Palace. It is well connected to the other areas. The metro and ferry system give you great access to exploring other areas. We took a ferry over to the Asia side to explore Kadiköy. Which was another area we really enjoyed and definitely would stay here over Fatih if we came back.
Unfortunately, this hotel was not quite up to the reviews and pictures we saw online. It was cheap and we got what we paid for. Thin walls and a lot of mysterious smells but we just took that as a sign to get out and explore the city as much as we could.
When you come here, you’ll feel a strong action movie energy. That’s the only way I know how to describe it. It feels like everyone is busy and hustling. Restaurants are packed, cars are honking, you are constantly dodging cars. It has a anything-could-happen-here feel to it. You walk through multiple metal detectors a day, you’ll see cars getting swept for explosives, and find cops everywhere with MP5’s and no trigger discipline. It all adds adventure and drama to the day but it was fun and we never felt unsafe.
The extra precautions makes sense though when you think about where they are located on the map. They have some pretty noisy neighbors. You have Ukraine to the north, Iran in the east, and Syria and Israel to the south. They are kind of in the center of all the world news right now.
Regardless, the people are happy and friendly. They are very honest as well, at one point we noticed a lady jumped on a packed bus towards the back door. She could have easily gotten away with not paying the fare, but instead she passed her credit card up the line of people, each person passing her card up to the front of the bus to pay. They sent the card back to her and it was no big deal. You could tell this was a common thing. I’m not sure about you but I don’t think I would try that move in the States.
Turkey is known for its wellness and spa treatments, so we both decided to get some personal clean up while we were here. Kaitlyn got a Hammam or Turkish bath. I got my first official haircut of the trip that I didn’t do myself.
The Bosphorus ferries ended up being one of our favorite things to do. It was a really cool way to see the city. A lot of tourists will buy a cruise up and down which I’m sure is nice but if you want you can do what we did and pay roughly 2 bucks and take the public transport ferry and ride as long as you want. It felt like basically the same thing for a fraction of the cost plus they even had drinks and snacks onboard. We rode around for a couple of hours then stopped at Kaitlyn’s alma mater, Four Seasons, for a late afternoon tea on the coast.
Cappadocia
Kaitlyn has been dreaming of the hot air balloons in Cappadocia for a long time now, and honestly is the reason we decided to come to Turkey. So halfway through our stay we got a 90-minute flight from Istanbul to Cappadocia. We arrived and quickly realized there was much more than the balloons here.
The landscape looks like a mix of the Grand Canyon and the Looney Tunes version of Mars. Crazy rock formations, natural occurring pillars, and chalky rock everywhere. Each one has been carved into by people centuries ago to live in.
Ortahisar
We started off our time here in Ortahisar, a small, quiet town which is known for it’s authentic small town feel. There were not a ton of food options but what we did have, like Kemeralti Restaurant, was incredible. We stayed at Panama Cave Suites which was a hotel built into the caves. All around the town there were abandoned caves and churches. So we spent a couple of days wandering around climbing in these homes.
These homes were originally built by early Christians who were escaping prosecution from the Romans. Here they could chip into the rock and build shelter, which helped them hide. As the community grew, the cave infrastructure grew. Mountains and rocks had multiple rooms connected by tunnels, and began building churches. This was a really cool experience for both of us to explore all by ourselves.
The other thing we did here was a horseback ride through Sword and Red Valley which was a few towns over. Kaitlyn, though from small town Texas, is not a fan of riding horses. However when we were here and the city name meant “Land of beautiful horses” she gave it a shot. We saddled up and had a beautiful ride through the landscape.
Goreme
Then we moved on to the next town to stay a couple of nights in the most popular area of Cappadocia, Goreme. Here is where you see all the Instagram famous spots, where all the restaurants are, and where the rooftop balloon views are. We really enjoyed staying here but it had a different feel. There were a lot more tourists traps and gimmicks and people asking for your business. It wasn't bad just a little trade off from where we started off.
Then for the ‘pièce de résistance’, the hot air balloons. This ended up being a lot trickier than we realized. If you think you can come one day and ride the balloons and leave you will most likely be disappointed. It took us 5 days to get everything sorted and us up in the balloon. Balloon rides are given the green light or (often) the red light to fly each morning. If there is too much wind or conditions are slightly off they cancel everyone’s ride. We booked a ride our second day there, it was canceled which puts everyone in a frenzy to book the following morning. Prices shot up and everyone was fighting to get a spot the next day, that already has its own people booked. So it is messy, honestly. We finally got everything sorted out and were able to ride. After you get up up though, you don’t think about any of the prior headache. It is unreal. The views are better than you can even imagine. Kaitlyn even got a little emotional (and maybe I did too, I’ll never tell).
I’ll let you look at the pictures cause they’ll do a much better job describing it than I can.
If you ever come here, please do it. It’s expensive and kind of a mess getting it planned out but it is the coolest thing we have done to date.
The last thing we did was a little hike outside the town to a place astutely named Love Valley. It’s a gorge in the ground, with large rock-hard pillars erected all around. It’s a great place to get some creative photos. Just be careful viewing these pictures out in public. You have been warned.
Istanbul
Turkey will be greatly missed. Istanbul was easily our favorite city to date that we visited. Cappadocia was much more than we hoped for. Turkey’s culture, food, tea, coffee, and most importantly the cats are all top-tier in our opinion. We won’t forget our time here anytime soon.
Places we loved:
Food:
Coffee:
- Petra Roasting
- Mandabatmaz
We will be back and Kaitlyn will bring 2-3 extra luggages not for clothes, but for all the cats she will be taking back with us.
Next up we touchdown in Africa and explore Egypt.
Salam alaikum!
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