Home » Turkey » Istanbul, Selcuk, Fethiye, Cappadocia

Middle East - part I

Istanbul, Selcuk, Fethiye, Cappadocia

Hector Yague
2005-10-07 16:37:32

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firstly let me show you a picture from Antalya , a large city by the mediterranean sea where we stopped for few hours. The sun setting was most beautiful. Antalya looked similar to Malaga in many ways: large, mediterranean to the chore, busy, alive and kicking!

Cappadocia is a vast area in the middle of the Anatolian Plateau. It's famous because some volcano burped out ages ago splattering the whole regions with ashes and lava, which shaped up into amazing geological forms as they cooled down. They say that few scenes of Star Wars was shot in here, probably the Tatooinee outdoor landscapes.

We also visited the underground city of Derinkuyu . It's a huge defense complex with over 4000 years of history. The locals built it to defend themselves from nomad invaders, and the underground kept growing and growing. Eventually, it had 8 floors one under the other and could host a whole city inside. They have 70 meters deep ventilation tunnels, and of course lots of defense and ambush meanings to defeat possible invaders. Impressive.

During our staying in Goreme, another fun group gathered up, and we'd usually have dinner together at the pension and have a good laugh.

Anyway, three days later we kissed good bye to each other (special mention to Mark and Masaki, with whom I had been traveling for almost two weeks already). Posterior note: I would meet Mark again in England one year later, after finishing my journey around the world!

And so was how I picked up yet another exhausting night bus and I crossed the southern border towards Syria the 2nd of April 2004, after three great weeks in Turkey.

Country's high light!

The four days cruise along the Lycian coast from Fethiye to Olympos was a delight: the scenery is beautiful, the ride pleasant and the other passengers were kickass. I had a very enjoyable time with them.

Country's thumbs up!

* Istanbul has got tons of stuff to see and do, specially if you are into the cultural tourism scene. Very interesting city in my opinion.

* Turkish baths: aaahhhhh what a pleasure, never felt cleaner! Don't go to the touristy ones though as they are ridiculously overpriced.

* Food: mediterranean cuisine all the way baby!

* I loved the Lycian coast, probably because it's similar to my own country's coastline: sun, good beaches, warm people, etc.

* Cappadocia has some outstanding scenery worth the trip there.

* The buses network is simply outstanding.

* Overall, easy to travel about if, like me, Turkey's been your first independent traveling experience.

* Fairly popular destination among backpackers, so you can easily meet them up on the road.

Country's thumbs down!

* Street touts in Istanbul might be a little bit heavy with their carpet business hawking and stuff.

* Affordable for the average backpacker, but not as cheap as other countries nearby.

* No student discounts at any sight, and entrance fees to the main sights rank over the 10 dollars mark. Bit overpriced if you ask me.

* It's a large country, so 12 hours night buses are a daily bread and butter.