Turkey 2024

Our first trip as “retirees”!!

We are going back to Turkey for the first time in 35 years!

Helle and I on the Turkish Coast 1989

Ephesus 1989

Turkey – August 2024

Our planned trip will cover many of the key hotspots on the coast and finishing in Cappadocia. Below is our planned itinerary starting and finishing in Istanbul. We will have a couple of internal flights – Istanbul to Izmir and then Neveshir back to Istanbul. Our days of long bus trips are over! We are hiring a car in Izmir and cruising Turkey for about 3 weeks.

Lar’s wife Derya is Turkish/Kiwi. Her Mum is from NZ and her Dad Turkish. They live in Ayvalik so looking forward to meeting her family. Lars and Mattias will both be in Ayvalik so first time in a couple of years we will all be together!

Istanbul August 2nd – 5th

What a buzz to be back in Istanbul for the first time since 1986! The place is crazy busy. But it has a great vibe. We have spent a couple of days packing in as many sights as possible. It’s 30 degrees plus but is okay. Not too hot as it’s a dry heat.

Mattias joined us from Seattle. Lars and Derya are coming over from Bath in a couple of days.

*A street in our neighbourhood where we stayed. At night it would be teeming with people*

*Our digs are on this top little street just off Taksim Square*

*View from the balcony of our apartment*

*Emirgan Park – not on the tourist route so it was very peaceful*

*We took a trip on the Bosphorus. It looked remarkably clean.*

*Rumelli Fort – closed unfortunately for renovations.*

*Ortakoy Mosque – there are only 4800 mosques in Istanbul*

Balat – a Greek influenced neighborhood – very cool houses and small cobblestone lanes

Sultanhamet – the home of the Blue Mosque and Sofia Hagia Mosque. The area was absolutely chocker with tourists. A must to see but I was pleased to leave.

*Lunch and a rest after the Sultanhamet rat race*

*The local Efes brew after a hard day sightseeing*

We loved our couple of days in Istanbul. It was easy to get around and the locals were amazingly helpful and friendly. Cats seemed to rule in Istanbul

Ayvalik August 5th – 10th

What a lovely town on the Aegean Sea. Deyra’s parents live in the old part of Ayvalik. Full of Greek stone houses and narrow cobblestone streets.

*Derya’s parents home – Ramazan and Janet*

*Our AirBnB is on this cool little alleyway*

There was a restaurant for 2 on the patio behind our balcony. Very expensive and exclusive – so we didn’t go.

*Diners enjoying the “exclusive” restaurant for 2*

We hired a boat and went out into the Aegean Sea for a day.

We drove to the old town of Bergama. I spotted a couple of fine looking Turkish gentlemen.

*Traditional Turkish breakfast – I prefer bacon and eggs*

The Ancient City of Permagon

Above Bergama sits Permagon – built in 6th Century BC!

*They built fabulous columns back in the day*

*How they got the granite up the hill must have been quite a feat*

*The retaining wall – no wonder it lasted 2500 years*

Ayvalik is a wonderful town to just beat the feet and explore.

*The little girl was camera shy but not the boy*

*Waiting for dinner as the sun set over Ayvalik*

*The angels on Cunda Island – just over the water from Ayvalik*

*Balcony view from Derya’s parents home*

*Caramel the kitten – there are cats galore on the streets in Turkey*

We had a wonderful few days in Ayvalik. Janet and Ramazan where absolutely lovely and the hospitality was laid on thick! It was fantastic the two families were together for the first time.

*Eating in Turkey is a very enjoyable experience*

*The many delicious dishes are on display in the fridge to choose from*

Cesme – August 10th – 12th

We hit the road down the coast to a Turkish tourist town of Cesme.

*Dalyan (next to Cesme) – A playground for the rich*

We drove from Cesme to the ancient city of Ephesus. I had visited twice before so wasn’t that keen to see it again but Helle couldn’t remember it – so off we went. 40 euros entrance fee each!Bit of a rip off I think but the masses visit- for Turks it cost about 2 euros.

Kusadasi August 12th

Kusadasi is absolutely full of English and Irish holiday makers.

*We found a top spot for a bite and a beer*

Datca Peninsula August 13th – 15th

We drove 4 1/2 hours South to a lovely small Turkish resort town Ovabuku Beach.

This place is more our style than Kusadasi! Small, boutique B & Bs with a very laid back and chilled vibe.

Datca Peninsula is hilly with some great views of the sea on both sides.

*Our beach lounges at or “suits” accommodation*

*The village by the sea where we stayed*

We took a drive to the end of Datca Peninsula. It was absolutely stunning.

*Beautiful clear water down the Peninsula*

*Stunning vistas – Rhodes Island in the distance*

*Ancient city of Knidnos across the water*

*A fancy boat parked outside the Ancient City*

Eski Datca – old town is very quaint

Dalyan August 15th

We drove about 3 hours to the lovely riverside town – Dalyan. Lots of English tourists come over to enjoy the sun, sea and historic sites.

*Ancient tombs in the cliffs dating back to 4th Century*

We took a row boat across the river to visit Kaunos Ancient City.

Iztuzu Beach – not a bad beach near Dalyan. The leatherback turtles lay their eggs on the beach. Not that we saw any apart from in the turtle rehab centre where the majority of turtles have been caught in fishing nets.

Oludeniz August 16th – 18th

We drove about 80 kms from Dalyan to Oludeniz – it took about 3 hours! It was crazy busy driving into Oludeniz. It is a holiday hotspot for both Turks and foreigners.

*Paragliding is very popular – I couldn’t convince Helle to have a go*

*We took the local ferry to Butterfly Valley*

*Butterfly Valley in the distance – beautiful bay*

*We managed our only bit of lounging on the beach in Turkey*

Our staple diet in Turkey was shish chicken and kofte balls – very tasty. I tried lamb kebabs once but the lamb just didn’t cut it. Too tough.

*View from our balcony – we always tried to book a room with a balcony and a place with a pool*

Kalkan August 18th – 21st

From Oludeniz we drove to Kalkan via the Saklikent Gorge – busy but awesome. It is the deepest canyon in Turkey.

We thought we had booked a place in Kas but actually it was Kalkan – about 30 kms away from Kas! But we discovered it is a quaint upmarket small coastal village for tourists – not normally our style but it was a great spot.

We drove to Kas to check it out. Great drive up the coast.

Back in Kalkan, where we were staying, the small streets were great to just wander and explore.

From Kalkan we took a drive to a UNESCO heritage site – Xanthos.

*This view probably hasn’t changed in 2500 years*

*View of Kalkan from our hotel rooftop restaurant*

Side August 21st – 23rd

We drove to Side , another coastal town around 300 kms from Kas. It took about 5 hours as it is slow going in Turkey. The roads are okay but are hilly and windy. Driving is interesting to say the least as Turks come out from seemingly no where and don’t indicate!

*Another Ancient City enroute – Myra in Demre*

*Amphitheatres seem to last the test of time*

*Yummy Turkish tucker – Helle was over being photographed*

Side is an interesting place. The town has been built within the ancient city – so you just wander about and see the ruins, some of which are under glass that you can walk over and view the ruins below.

Just meander through the streets of Side and you will see ruins everywhere. It is quite cool.

*Turkish haircut – waxed ears all part of the service*

Cappadocia August 23rd – 26th

After leaving Side, 6 hours later we drove into Goreme Cappadocia. I was last here in 1986! There were no hot air balloons back then.

*“Love Valley” – I can’t understand why*

*Fairy chimneys were home some centuries ago*

The whole region around Goreme is fascinating- fairy chimneys everywhere and even an underground Christian city in Derinkuyu. They went underground when the enemy were on attack – they built it big enough to house livestock and thousands of people.

*The city was 85m deep and had several levels*

Sadly our trip had to come to an end.

We flew to Paris and late in the afternoon we arrived in our apartment in 17th Arrondisement.

*Our street for 4 nights in Paris – what a contrast to Turkey just a few hours by air away*

Our time in Turkey

What a fantastic start to our trip. We loved our few weeks – the craziness of Istanbul, the quaint town of Ayvalik and the wonderful time we shared with Lars and Mattias as well as Derya and her Mum and Dad. Janet and Ramazan were superb hosts!

The history and Ancient Cities in Turkey are unbelievable. We just loved to stroll around them and get a sense of how people lived 2500 years ago.

The coast of Turkey has so many great spots to enjoy, swim and taste the lovely delicious Turkish cuisine. Yes it’s crowded and no longer ” undiscovered” but the water is amazingly clear and blue.

Then to finish off in Cappadocia- a magical wonderland of fairy chimneys and seeing how ancient civilizations used the landscape to build homes and live their lives!