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1. 3 weeks in Turkey
   1. Introduction
   2. Research and Preparation
      1. Flights
      2. Accommodation
      3. Money
      4. Travel Insurance
      5. Mobile Phone
      6. Navigation
      7. Packing
      8. Parking
   3. Itinerary
      1. Trip Summary
   4. Costs
   5. Istanbul – 3 nights
      1. Accommodation – Ciban’s place Beyoglu, Airbnb rating – 4.88
      2. Using Public Transport
      3. Spend a day in Sultanhamet
      4. Get out on the Bosphorus
      5. Explore Beyoglu and Balat
      6. Must Do
   6. Ayvalik – 5 nights
      1. Accommodation – Greek Stone House, Airbnb rating 4.37
      2. Ancient City of Permagon
      3. Take a boat trip out into the Aegean Sea
      4. Explore the old town of Ayvalik
      5. Visit Cunda Island
      6. Visit Gallipoli and Troy
   7. Cesme – 2 nights
      1. Accommodation – Boutique Hotel in Cesme, Airbnb rating 4.6
   8. Kusadasi – 1 night
      1. Visit Ephesus
      2. Accommodation – Gultepe Apartments, Booking.com rating 9.3
   9. Ovabuku Beach, Datca Peninsula – 2 nights
      1. Accommodation – Casa Dadya, Airbnb rating 4.86
      2. Drive to the end of Datca Peninsula
      3. Visit Eski Datca
   10. Dalyan – 1 night
       1. Accommodation – Casablanca Hotel, Booking.com rating 9.0
       2. Visit the Ancient City of Kaunos
   11. Oludeniz – 2 nights
       1. Accommodation – Tokgoz Butik Hotel, Booking.com rating 8.9
       2. Ferry to Butterfly Valley
   12. Kalkan – 3 nights
       1. Stop off at Saklikent Gorge
       2. Accommodation – Hotel Dionysia, Expedia rating 8.8
       3. Visit Xanthos Ancient City
       4. Take a trip to Kas
   13. Side – 2 nights
       1. Visit Ancient City of Myra
       2. Accommodation Side – Villa Hania, Booking.com rating 9.8
   14. Goreme – 3 nights
       1. Zelve open air museum
       2. Accommodation – Luwian Stone House, Airbnb rating 4.95
       3. Visit Derinkuyu underground city

Introduction

Travelling has always been a passion since I got the bug in my early 20’s. As many young New Zealanders did I embarked on my OE ( overseas experience) through Asia, Europe and Africa in the 1980’s. Check out my travel blog for past travels.

http://www.travellingretirees.com

With our children we had some great family holidays mainly in Australia, NZ and the amazing islands in the South Pacific.

Since the children left home my wife( Helle) and I have pursued our love of discovering other places with trips to Cuba, Sri Lanka, Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia and Nuie.

On retiring in 2024 our goal is to travel to rediscover old destinations and discover new ones for around 3 months each year. Turkey is our first destination along with France , Spain and Portugal.

Our type of travel is to organise everything ourselves. We don’t like “tours”. We like to hire cars and bikes to give us flexibility to get off the beaten track.

We love exploring some bigger cities but our preference is to find smaller towns or villages – enjoy their history, architecture, culture and food.

We are not “resort” people. We are not interested in finding beaches and lounging for hours with hundreds of others. We enjoy staying in the older more historic places and love to just wander and soak up everyday life.

Being retired we do enjoy our comforts. We no longer want too many overnight bus trips or substandard accommodation. Our preferred accommodation are apartments which are more homely and where we can cook and prepare our own meals. If we stay in hotels we don t like big chain 5 star hotels – more 2 – 3 star and boutique in nature.

Our style of travel is to stay 2 or 3 nights in most locations- a bit longer in the bigger cities. We generally find this gives us plenty of time to explore and get a good feel for a place – plus recharge the batteries.

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