Turkey – Istanbul and Gallipoli

We eventually arrived in Istanbul at 10pm after setting off at 9am from Cappadocia.  The trip was long and pretty boring, with only four of us on the 26 seater bus it was very roomy and we chatted with our new kiwi friends Stu and Sarah.

On our way were were suppose to stop at Ankara and see a well known museum but the Turkish bus driver had a mind of his own and decided that would not be the case . . . . our FEZ leader phoned another guy who spoke Turkish to the bus driver commanding him to turn back and take us to the museum.  We eventually left the motorway and headed back, after 45 minutes the bus driver headed back to the place were we had got off the motorway and shook his head gesturing that he could not find it.  We ended up giving up and told him to drive to Istanbul.

We hit a bit of traffic coming into Istanbul and found it amusing that as all the cars crawled along, the entrepreneurs were taking to the motorway, they were trying to sell everything from food to emergency cell phone chargers.

We checked into a hotel which was really nice!  We booked it last minute so got a reasonably good rate.

Also, it has to be said in Istanbul and the rest of Turkey there’s an exceptional number of stray cats and a few dogs too.. The cats are friendly enough as they’re used to people but they scavenge around the rubbish bins in packs of at least 3-4. 

DAY ONE

Day trip out to Gallipoli from Istanbul.

We left Istanbul at 6.30am on a minibus with one other girl from Tasmania, headed to Gallipoli.  After 5 hours of driving we stopped for lunch at 12ish then headed onto the Gallipoli Peninsula for our tour with the rest of the FEZ group who were carrying on around Turkey.

Our first stop on the tour was the Gallipoli museum.  It was a small museum full of bit and pieces from the war.  It wasn’t as PC as a NZ museums and had things like a soldier’s boot with half his foot still in it (just bones now obviously) and skulls with various calibre bullets imbedded.  However, what impressed Mike the most was that they had a dozen or so bullets which had collided in midair and merged into one.  The odds of this seem crazy so there must have been a heck of a lot of bullets in the air for them to have so many examples!!

Stop two was Anzac Cove.  Just above Anzac Cove was a rock which vaguely looked like the Egyptian Sphinx, the troops named this the Gallipoli Sphinx as they had just been trained in Egypt on the way over.

The Gallipoli Sphinx

Stop three was Long Pine (Australian’s memorial and cemetery)

This was a tunnel connecting two of the many trenches in Gallipoli

This is where the ANZAC dawn service is held on the 25th April each year.

Stop four was the Nek, a high point where a lot of Australian’s lost their lives.

Stop Five, Chunuk Bair (New Zealand's Memorial and Cemetery)

 

We found this tour to be very informative and moving as it hit home just how many lives were lost and the impact on New Zealand.

DAY TWO

We rose late after a much needed sleep in, getting up early is a bit ruff when you are on holiday!!

We went out and explored Istanbul, walking the streets and taking in the atmosphere.

Our first stop was the Blue Mosque, this was amazing inside with lots of blue ceramics.  Women had to be covered, from head to toe.

Next stop Aya sofya (church of holy wisdom)

What an angel!

Inside Aya sofya

From here we walked down to the water front and tried a fish burger which was nothing like we get back home (spoilt from the fish in Aotea).

Mike given the fish burger a go . . . .  Not impressed

We then got a little lost and managed to stumble on the spice markets (which we didn’t think would be open as it was Sunday).  These were busy markets where all the local turkey people shopped for their food supplies.

The Spice Markets

Here we brought some walnuts – after being shown how to crack these open by a local, we tasted them. . . . . they were very moist and tasted disgusting, well that was Trace’s thoughts, Mike actually quite liked them.  After buying these Walnuts without tasting we decided to try the fresh grapes before purchasing them.  They were divine so we brought some!

From the spice markets we walked to the Grand Bazaar, unfortunately this was closed.  Making our way back to the hotel was a bit of a mission, we got lost several times, there are no street names on any of the streets.

That night we went out for dinner and had a iskender kebap (pita bread on the bottom then marinated meat in gravy with yogurt on top – very healthy – not!)  It was very yummy though.

Early night as we needed to be up at 3.30am for our flight to Barcelona.

Aya sofya at night

Turkey - Cappadocia

DAY ONE

After a long over night bus ride we arrived in Goreme, Cappadocia at 7.30am.  (It has to be said that this bus ride was better than the overnight train, not by much but it was better!)  We had breakfast at the hostel, yummy French toast! and laid around by the pool until we could check in.  That afternoon we visited the Goreme open air museum which was full of fairy chimneys.  Most of the chimneys and rock faces have churches carved into them, they were short people back then in BC!

Our hostel! We stayed in a “cave room” which was about 50% cave and came with a 50% damp cave smell… Very cool though!

 

Looking down over the open air museum

Inside a church at the open air museum

Taken from outside a pottery store on the walk home. Apparently most pottery breaks in the oven and is therefore useless.

That Afternoon we all went along to a Turkish bath which meant mud applied to faces, saunas, exfoliating, massage… The works.  It left us all feeling extremely relaxed!

That evening, we went along to Turkish Night. There was 11 of us in total, 6 kiwis, 2 Aussies, 2 Turkish bus drivers and Lindsey our kiwi tour guide.  Turkish night involved a Turkish meal, music, and dancing… It also had unlimited drinks of any description! Not a good mix with a bunch of Australians and Kiwis intent on getting their moneys worth!  It was also our introduction to Raki, a Turkish alcohol, which we will be avoiding from now on. 

DAY TWO

Day two started very slowly!  Most people were up by lunch time, with some exceptions.  We were the only two to manage any sightseeing with most people relaxing by the pool most of the day.  We rented a 125cc Scooter for 6 hours after some hard negotiation and a staged walk out.  One scooter was rented and Mike was driving!

We blasted between the small towns of Cappadocia in mere minutes… Even passed some slow vehicles on the way!

One main objective of the scooter ride was to track down a certain item of pottery (a type of wine flask from the Hittities period), at the right price, we’d seen a few of them around but had heard that Avanos is the red clay capital of Turkey so we assumed this would be the cheapest place to find one.

First stop Cavusin – photos below

 

Then onto Avanos, the red clay capital of Turkey, there’s pottery everywhere! (and carpets)

 

Yup, they love their pottery / keramics (as they call it / spell it)

 

Mike having a go at pottery, yea it looks easy here… It’s actually pretty hard.  Not a career he will be taking up.

Devrent Valley

  

Red goes faster!

A street in Urgup

Aktepe Hill – The spot to see the sunset

There was probably 100 people there for the sunset… A guy turned up and charged an entrance fee (1.50 lera per person, about $1.50 NZD) for an hour prior to the sunset then went home just after.  That's a good working day!

DAY THREE

We decided to take “The tour of southern Cappadocia”along with the other 4 kiwi’s on our FEZ bus.  We were picked up from our hostel at 9.30am.

Firstly we were taken to the largest underground city in Turkey.  This was first dug in 1100BC as military tunnels but has had many additions since as different tribes and religions have taken shelter there during various wars.  It goes 85m and 8 stories deep and there were rooms everywhere.  Apparently at one stage 10,000 people were living down there!

A bridge inside the underground city

 

The narrow stairwell linking the levels of the underground city – its not a place you would wont to be claustrophobic in!

One of the main ventilation holes going up to the surface

 

A passage way in the underground city

Once we surfaced we were back on the bus and headed to Ihlara Valley Gorge, we were walked along the bottom of the Gorge for about 2 km and then stopped for lunch.

Back on the bus and off to the Selime Cathedral.  This was an amasing Cathedral which had been dug out of the rock face.

 

Our last stop was Pigeon Valley, this is were we really saw the talent of our tour guide.  “This is Pigeon Valley, where Pigeon live”.  It was only after we asked further questions that we got more of an explanation into why this was called Pigeon Valley.  People dug our little holes throughout the valley for the pigeons to nest in and this is were they collected there poo for fertiliser for their crops.

DAY FOUR

Hot Air ballooning – the Cappadocia highlight!

We dragged ourselves out of bed by 4:30 in the morning and were picked up in the dark and taken down to the launch site. 

We watched and waited as our balloon was inflated

Three, two, one, take off – up up and away

 

There’s a couple tending their crop in the bottom right corner!

Our fellow kiwi friends – Trace, Mike, Johnny, Will, Stu and Sarah

What a way to start the day.  We were dropped back off at the hostel at 8ish, had breakfast then it was on the bus destined for Istanbul. . . .  What a journey this was going to be.