Istanbul was my last stop in Turkey, but I had already spent a night there upon my arrival in the country. That little glimpse of the city by night making my way to the hostel through Istiklal avenue, one of the busiest streets in Istanbul, was enough to make me excited about exploring this place for 4 days.
The landscape created by erosion and volcanic eruptions in Cappadocia, Turkey, is unlike anything I had seen before. And civilizations back in the day took advantage of this and created underground cities and caves to live in.
I never thought I would take a ride on a hot air balloon. It wasn’t even on my bucket list on the first place, but then Turkey happened and Cappadocia was the perfect place to do it.
I was staying in the tiny but picturesque town of Goreme, and asked around many agencies that offered hot air balloon rides.
It’s expensive, which is why if you are planning your Turkey trip make sure you have already made up your mind about doing it and consider it in your budget. Prices range from 90 to 160 euros, I paid 110. When asking why there was such a big difference in prices, the reply was always the same: experience and quality of service.
My first stop in Turkey was Selçuk, a town in the Izmir province, known for being home to the ancient Greek city of Ephesus and other ancient archeological sites like the “House of Virgin Mary”, the “Temple of Artemis” and “St John’s Basilica”.
Upon arrival we were welcomed by heavy rain which we were not prepared for, so we made our way running from the train station to the nearest restaurant we could find. Turns out, we had found the main square and our hostel was just a few blocks away. What I’m getting at here is that Selçuk is pretty tiny and you can easily walk around town in a day.But I liked it, people were friendly, the food was good and the place was interesting. Plus staying in Selçuk is a good base to make day trips to Pamukkale or the beach such as Bodrum.
An essential part of travelling is food, I love to eat and wherever I go I make it a point to try a variety of traditional plates. While in Turkey I tried some pretty delicious dishes.
I have just a few pictures of some of the food I tried, because I was usually too hungry and excited to eat to even think about getting my camera out and snapping photos.
Antalya is a beautiful Mediterranean beach city and one of the most visited places in Turkey . This city can compete with any other famous resort town in Europe, as it offers amazing beaches and landscapes, good nightlife and shopping.
Although my stay was just for one night and one day, it was one of my favourite destinations during my Turkey trip and I managed to visit most of the sights and even found time to chill at the beach.
I had seen pictures of Pamukkale before in different “Places you must see before you die” type of travel lists but I wasn’t aware that it was located in Turkey. So when planning my Turkey trip I had to make sure to include it in the places I would visit.
RESTLESS FOOTPRINTS 