We visited 6 different cities in the three weeks we spent in Turkiye, which is a huge improvement with learning to “travel slow” when you consider we visited 13 cities in Japan in a similar time frame! I really loved learning all about the history of Turkiye, so I hope you don’t mind learning a bit either!
The first half of our time in Turkiye we spent in Trabzon, Cappadocia, and Denizli. While Trabzon isn’t as well known, we picked it for a location along the Black Sea. Cappadocia and Pamukkale, however, are probably some of the first pictures you might find for places to visit outside Istanbul: that sea of hot air balloons, or the mountain full of turquoise blue pools that looks like you are walking on a cloud, although it doesn’t feel quite that soft and fluffy.
Trabzon: Where the Silk Road Meets the Black Sea
We started our stay with a private tour in Trabzon which was a great introduction to the area and Turkiye’s history. The day started with heading outside of the city, up into the mountains to a monastery. On our way the guide explained that the Black Sea was originally named the “unfriendly sea” by Greek sailors because many ships were damaged or sunk by rocks and a general unfamiliarity with the area. They eventually built better ships and learned the best routes and changed its name to “friendly sea”. When the Turks came, Black was symbolic to North in the cardinal direction which is the name it is now known as, in each language’s respective word for “black”. The Red Sea was named similarly as it was in the South, and they used to refer to the Mediterranean as the White Sea (West).
Trabzon was founded by the Greeks in about 750 BC and was originally named “Trapezus”, meaning Table, referring to the table like central hill in the city. It became part of the silk road thanks to the natural ports in the Black Sea and passes through the mountains connecting ships from Europe to the traders from Persia. It has been a melting pot of religions, languages and cultures as it witnessed the rise and fall of the Greek, Roman, and Ottoman Empires that have controlled much of modern day Turkiye over the past 2700 years.
We were headed to the Sumela Monastery, built by early Greek Christians in 386AD. Our guide told us that two monks that happened to be family, both had a dream or vision telling them to find this icon of the Mother Mary, hidden in the mountains near Trabzon, and separately booked passage on ships. They recognized each other on the port when they arrived and both learned they had the same vision! They found the object in a cave and decided to cover the icon by carving the cave into a church. Over the centuries it became a Monastery and was active until after the fall of the Ottoman Empire at the end of WWI. The new Republic of Turkiye exchanged citizens with Greece per terms of a treaty, and the Monks leaving Trabzon built another Sumela Monastery in Macedonia, Greece. It was abandoned for 80 years, during which it was pillaged and a fire destroyed all the wood in the complex. It is now open as a museum and under restoration by the Turkish government.
The Monastery is most well known for its frescos, depicting many stories from the bible. Frescos differ from paintings in that the paint used actually sets into the plaster to become essentially permanent. Sometimes frescos would be covered by another layer of plaster and new pictures, as interpretations changed over the centuries. You can see an example of this in the picture below, where some of the newer plaster has fallen off to reveal the older frescos underneath.
While Muslim is the prominent religion in Turkiye, locals visit and honor the Sumela Monastery since Mary and Jesus, as well as many of the stories depicted in the frescos, are also a part of the Qur’an and teachings in Islam.
After leaving beautiful countryside we head back into the city to the home of Ataturk Kosku, the man who created the Republic of Turkey (now officially changed to Turkiye) from what was left after the fall of the Ottoman Empire at the end of World War I. It was not a permanent home, but was one the people of Trabzon built in his honor, for him to stay whenever he visited the city. It was a beautiful place, and was even used for a wedding photo shoot while we were there!
After a morning full of history, it was time for lunch. Our guide gave us the choice between Turkish meatballs and a Trabzon speciality, Pide (pronounced pee-day), for our lunch. We opted for Pide since it seemed to have more options and it would be easier to have our guide order the best way to have it, and boy am I glad! We tried to order this a few more times throughout Turkiye and never managed to find it to taste as good as this place. Not yet sure if it is just better in Trabzon or I don’t know enough Turkish to order properly but wow was this SO TASTY!
It is a little similar to a pizza but without a specific sauce. I got one with mostly beef but there did seem to be cut up veggies like peppers or other herbs under the meat. Mr. Wander got one with (chicken) sausage and cheese. Our guide also recommended for mine to have them put an egg yolk on just as it comes out of the oven so it gets hot but works as a dip for some of pieces. Also, he ordered pieces of butter they brought in a cold stick that I put little pieces throughout to melt into the pide, and it was amazing! Mr Wander’s was already pretty rich and didn’t need the excess butter but it was also delicious. We got Turkish tea to wash it down, because it would help melt the fairly oily dish and be good for digestion.
You’ve probably heard of the Hagia Sophia (meaning Holy Wisdom) in Istanbul, which was originally the spiritual center for the Orthadox church for the Eastern Roman Empire. During the crusades in the 1200s when Byzandium fell, Trabzon actually became the capital of the Empire for awhile, and so they needed a new Hagia Sophia, which is when this one was built. As the Ottoman Empire conquered modern day Turkiye, it was converted to a Mosque and used for Muslim worship, even to this day.
What I really enjoyed is the peaceful coexistence of religions in this space. Sure, some of the frescos inside the main part of the mosque where worship takes place has been covered to comply with the Islamic religion, but some still exist in the entryway. There were also a few symbols of a pagan religion on the outside in some of the carvings, as well as Georgian and Armenian influences in its architecture. This I think really highlights one of the things I love about Turkiye, is that it really is a very accepting place, of different cultures and different religions. Similar to Egypt it is adjacent to very complicated religious and political tensions and wars that are currently at an all time high, but it remains peaceful.
Our last stop was to get tea at a little hillside cafe overlooking the city and the sea. We chatted about travel, and learned more about our guide and Turkish culture in general. What lovely end to the day!
Trabzon was a lovely introduction to Turkiye and its history. We spent most of the next few days relaxing and catching up with family and posts before venturing to our next destination: Cappadocia!
Cappadocia Home of Unique Rocks and Colorful Balloons
To reach the Cappadocia area we had two options, either take a 15 hour overnight bus or spend 8 hours in airports between two 1-2 hour flights. We opted for the latter since it is a significant time savings. We had a midday flight from Trabzon back to Istanbul, I was surprised they essentially served us a meal of a barbeque chicken sandwich and we could chose between orange juice and Ayran, which is a salty milk drink.
After about two hours we were back in Istanbul and managed to get into the lounge despite having more than 3 hours before our next flight. We enjoyed several beverages, a few rounds of food, and good conversation until our gate was posted. This next flight was only an hour and a half and we got another chicken sandwich, but a different flavor and once again orange juice. I don’t think I’ve ever been given so much food on such short domestic flights!
It was well after dark when we arrived in Nevsehir airport which is the smaller of the two in the area. We were staying in the town of Goreme, which is pretty small but full of little streets with all kinds of restaurants and travel companies, pretty much the place for tourists! We did find a cool little hotel that had fun decor, and we even had a sauna in our bathroom!
We took a shared transfer from the airport as it was a good 45 minute drive. Several people were dropped along the way in small roads through the town and then we were the last ones. We got to our hotel were surprised to realize but Mr. Wanders bag wasn’t in the back! Mine was, as was someone else’s that must have mistaken it in the dark, despite the styles being completely different. We told the driver and the hotel receptionist figured out a plan to take the other bag back to one of the other hotels, and bring Mr. Wander’s. Meanwhile we got checked into our room and it wasn’t long before we heard a knock and there was his bag!
We decided not to do any tours in this area, and instead explored ourselves. The first day we just walked around and enjoyed a late breakfast of muffins, chai and coffee at a rooftop terrace. We made our way farther into the town for a snack of hummus and beer on a terrace in the shade, while we people watched tourists walking on the street below.
We found a traditional family restaurant for dinner where we finally got to try the Turkish meatballs and what became one of our favorites, these fried cheese rolls called sigara boregi that we’d had at the Trabzon breakfast. I was surprised how much extra they gave us that was complimentary: watermelon, bread, lentil soup, a salad, and potatoes, plus two waters. Hospitality is a very important part of Turkish culture, and they really like to give you plenty of food!
One of the mornings we woke up for the spectacular sunrise show the region is best known for, hot air balloons! Part of me was expecting the balloons to be already in the air by the time it was fully bright, as that’s what I’ve seen in some pictures, but perhaps people tend to turn up the saturation. In any case we still arrived in time for some beautiful colors.
There are a few places you can take a taxi to see from high on one of the surrounding hills but you are contending with many people, probably not anywhere to sit, and certainly no tasty muffins, donuts, and chai available. We decided to return to that rooftop terrace coffee shop and were amazed to have it to ourselves!
We enjoyed watching all the balloons popping up in the valleys around us as they slowly filled, and then some already aloft came over the ridge behind us. It felt like we were completely surrounded by the balloons which was just so spectacular.
We left when there were still a few balloons and headed to our room to get a backpack, water, and snacks, before we headed out on a hike. Mr. Wander found the path on All Trails, and it started from right in town. It had us hike along the ridge where most of the balloons had appeared behind us when we were at the coffee shop, and even found one of the fields where a balloon was getting packed up as the passengers loaded into a big van.
Then we descended into love valley, where there were so many paths crossing it was easy to take the wrong one, so I’m glad we had the map. Sometimes they’d come back together but sometimes you’d get stuck on the edge of a steep hill or something and either have to risk it, or go back and take a different fork.
Since we didn’t have a guide, we were not told the reason why it is called love valley, but it did have some unique rock formations. I’ll let you decide if they have anything to do with the name. We only saw a few other people walking on the trail in the valley, but once we got back up the ridge at the other end there was one guy with a stand selling souvenirs, snacks and freshly pressed juice. I appreciated he wasn’t too pushy but when he said the orange and pomegranate was ice cold it just sounded too good, so we bought a few juices. I watched him press it right there and while I’ve never had that combination before, wow was it delicious!
The trail had us walk to the castle in the neighboring town that we were actually pretty close to at the juice stand but it require more hill walking and my foot started acting up again. It still was acting up since the Camino but this was the first time walking 6 miles since we arrived in Santiago! We instead took the road back and got a nice view overlooking the valley. We rewarded ourselves with some hummus and refreshing beer at our favorite people watching spot.
I knew when I ordered there was some confusion, as I didn’t say the beer correctly the first time, so I used the “point and grunt” method and it sounded like she had understood. When the beer and hummus arrived, she also brought a salad, which was odd since we didn’t get that last time. However, it really hit the spot after a morning in the sun, so crisp and a lightly sweet vinegary dressing. A bit later the waitress brought another dish and I had to ask her what it was. I don’t think she fully understood when I tried to explain there was confusion but as we were already trying to decide whether to order a full lunch we decided to just go with it.
I ended up ordering Turkish Ravioli, which are these really small filled pastas filled with a tiny amount of beef, or sometimes cheese. The sauce is really a combination of two separate sauces, tomato and yogurt poured separately, then I mixed it as I had it on my plate. It was the most delicious accident!
On our last day we had a bit of time after we had to check out of the hotel, so we wandered, enjoying coffee at our favorite rooftop terrace, found a doner kebab wrap that was delicious, and enjoyed time chatting and booking some future parts of our travels. We had to wait until 8pm when we were getting on a night bus to our next town, Denizli. While we could have done another couple of flights to get there, we decided to try it for the adventure, and it might have actually taken less time when you consider the transfers and 6+ hour layover in Istanbul!
Pamukkale: The Cotton Mountain
Our overnight bus had seats that were setup to be slightly reclined, and in a 2-1 configuration so it was nice and roomy. There was even an attendant that came by a few times offering a few beverages and snacks like we were on an airplane.
I managed to doze on and off until 2am when the bus driver parked, turned off the bus, and left on a break. It was a pretty large area where several other overnight busses had stopped for the same thing, and a late night market and bathroom was available for 10 Turkish Lira, or about $0.30. After I got back on the bus I dug out my earbuds to listen to music but I dropped the case and the buds fell out under my seat! I had to do a bit of “bus yoga” as Mr. Wander called it, but I managed to find them and got to listen to relaxing music while I read. Mr. Wander hadn’t slept at all by this point and he dozed on and off the last few hours until we arrived in Denzili at about 6am.
Our hotel was right next to the bus station, and they must have been used to early morning arrivals since they had special pricing for those that wanted to check in early, but we were both thankful for the opportunity to get a few hours of sleep before they stopped serving breakfast. Overall the bus wasn’t a bad experience and it is nice that it is such an affordable way to travel, both in the price of the tickets and not needing another night in a hotel. However, it is not without tradeoffs, such as a good night’s sleep and likely two days where you have to try and stash bags or “waste time” between hotel and bus timings.
One of the evenings in Denizli, we ventured out to a nearby Pide place. We think it was the owner greeted us each with a handshake and asked where we were from, he was very welcoming. I ordered the meatballs and Mr. Wander got a Cheese and Egg Pide. They gave us a salad with a nice balsamic dressing, but both the meatball platter and pide seemed to lack in flavor. It was cool to watch them bring hot coals to the grill at the front of the restaurant though, wish I would have caught it on camera though! THere were a few mystery sauces on the table I tried that did help, I think it was lemon juice. For the pide, we might have missed ordering it with butter, but the crust lacked the texture that Trabzon had that made it so special.
The main reason we stayed in Denzili, is that it was close to the town of Pamukkale, near the ruins of the ancient Roman city of Hierapolis. The city was founded due to the mineral-rich thermal waters thought to have healing powers. If you were to Google images of Pamukkale you will see countless pools of turquoise blue water against the white backdrop of the calcium carbonate mountain. However, many of the pools are not filled, and from my internet research I have found it is due to preventing moss and algae growth to protect the pools. They did seem to fill up more by the end of our visit but we didn’t want to sit there all day and I don’t think all of them ever are filled. It’s possible it is better in the height of the tourist season, but it is sad that the site doesn’t communicate this to you very well, especially now that the price has gone from 50 Turkish Lira ($1.45) to 30 Euro ($32).
To get to Pamukkale, we took the minibus, which is really a 15 passenger van, from the Denizli station. Thankfully I knew which number stall it would be parked in because there were no directions that I could tell for where to find the right one. They dropped us right in the village just a few blocks from the south end of the UNESCO World Heritage site. It was really quiet when we came in so we had some fun taking pictures. While it was actually pretty cold on the bare feet when we started, by the time we got up to the top the waters were warmer.
You can see the texture of the ground is sometimes full of ridges and they could be pretty sharp! As we went higher, the pools became deeper and more water was flowing just over the ground as the upper pools overflowed. We also met up with the tour groups that were dropped off by the bus load at the North Entrance. As you get to the top of the pools, we could dry off our feet and put our shoes back on to explore the ruins of the city.
There was a museum which had both Greek and Roman items and carvings on display, and they even had a few statues that were carved like Isis and Horus, who are Egyptian gods we learned about on our Nile Cruise. My favorite was the views from the top of the amphitheater overlooking the city, what a spectacular view! Mr. Wander really enjoyed the triple archway entrance into the city. We made a bit of a loop and found boardwalks on the edge of the mountain, and it was so relaxing with so few people around for a bit!
Once we reached the top of the filled pools again it was considerably busier, I’m glad we got there when we did! So many of people trying to take their Instagram photos in bikinis or renting these giant wings from a vendor for a picture overlooking the cliffs. Finally we made it to the bottom, put our shoes back on, and back into the town and picked a spot for lunch. It looked like a fusion of Indian and Turkish, I also found Pakistani and even Japanese Ramen! We stuck with Turkish for today and I had a chicken doner plate and Mr. Wander had a falafel wrap.
This falafel was one of the best ones I have tasted! Sometimes they can get really dry but this was so moist and had a really delicious spice combination. Plenty hungry after our 3.5 mile hike around the cotton mountain we decided to get a few desserts, but I cannot remember the names, one contained cheese, which was my favorite of the two, and the other ice cream. I had to order some Raki (that licorice liquor I learned about on our Mediterranean cruise), but I didn’t realize it is normally clear and turns white when cold water is added! Mr. Wander opted for a traditional Turkish Coffee, and you know it’s real when the bottom ⅓ is like a sludge of coffee goodness (as he would say, I’ll stick to the tea). It was an absolutely delicious lunch to top off a fun day of walking around the pools and ruins. Overall it wasn’t too much of a disappointment, and the views from the mountain more than made up for the lack of filled pools!
Next time
After leaving Denizli, we made our way to the Mediterranean to visit Fethiye and Izmir for a few relaxing days on a few shorter bus journeys. We return to Istanbul for the third time in as many weeks, but this time we finally get to explore the city that straddles Asia and Europe! We had an in-depth walking tour around the highlights such as the original Hagia Sophia, the Blue Mosque, and even took an evening cruise in the Bosphorus Strait. Until next time, Hoşçakal!