Almost over :(

We spent our last day on the coast exploring the ruins of Xanthos, once the grandest city in ancient Lycia, also conquered several times since.

After, we drove to perhaps Turkey’s most famous beach, Ölüdeniz, where we said güle güle (bye bye) to the coast with one last swim in idyllic clear turquoise waters under a sky filled with people paragliding.

We drove a few hours back to Antalya, which resulted in a surprisingly fun night. We took the mountain route instead of the coast, but instead of the boring drive we expected, we drove on an excellent rural road through giant mountains, rocky gorges, rolling hills, tiny villages, and so many beautiful views. No pictures, though. You see Turks are terrible drivers, and we didn’t want to adopt their signature move of stopping suddenly on the highway, often in the wrong direction, for no apparent reason.

We arrived earlier than we expected, so we had plenty of time to explore the old city of Antalya. A port since 2nd century AD, it’s old town is full of charming winding streets, restored ottoman homes (one of which we stayed in, in a huge(!) room), and hidden courtyards under orange trees (where we ate our excellent dinner, for example).

The next morning, we took a quick flight back to Istanbul, the final leg of our trip. The airport had a surprising selection of international fare including some favorites from back home.

Now we’re enjoying our last days by doing lots of shopping and eating mostly.

Yesterday we made it up to the very edge of town, where an ancient church (now museum) with gorgeous, preserved mosaics sits unassumingly just outside the old city walls. Chora church is a Byzantine masterpiece, we enjoyed our visit very much!

We spent the better part of today haggling in the Spice Bazaar and Grand Bazaar, only stopping for lots of Baklava sampling, a visit to a charming old candy shop, where the owner very carefully wrapped up boxes of Turkish delight for us to bring home, a great lunch and the best breakfast we’ve had here. The honey-cream (a buttery rich clotted cream and honey, served with a scone like pastry) was memorable as were the spicy scrambled eggs with sausage in tomato sauce, silky homemade yogurt with walnuts, soft creamy cheese. It was a great way to start the day and shake off the night before which included lots of rakı.

Tonight we went back to that temple of Turkish food, Çiya Sofrası. The food was as delicious we remembered, even though the menu completely different. Here’s Rafa picking out mezes–candied fruits and vegetables on display in front.

The highlight was another eggplant dish. They should call Turkey the land of the eggplant. We’ve had it so many different ways, all delicious. Tonight it was a eggplant and lamb kebap, grilled and then stewed with tomatoes. It was smoky, and incredible. The chickpea and okra stew with more lamb chunks was fantastic as were the meatballs in sour cherry sauce-tart! For dessert, pistachio pastries of course, Dori’s favorite.

Given the ensuing food coma (ok only Rafa’s food coma) we ended the night with some nargileh next to the Blue Mosque. Great view!

Beaching

Our last couple of days have gone something like this: beach, ramble through ancient Lycian ruins, more beach, drive windy beautiful road, boat trips, swim in isolated cove, more sunken ruins, more beach, explore tiny coastal villages, eat awesome Mediterranean food, including awesome gözleme, Turkish crepes, filled w herbs and cheese and made by a cute old Turkish woman right in front of us.

The pictures should capture it, here are some:

Mysterious or just strange?

We finally made it the beach. The night before last we boarded a bus from Göreme bound for the coastal town, Antalya.

We had heard that the buses in Turkey were impressive and ours lived up to expectations. The attendants wore bow ties and tuxedo shirts and served snacks, coffee and tea. Every seat had a tv where they were playing the latest Turkish comedies. Much was lost in translation. But the ride was cheap and very easy, and we woke up this morning hundreds of miles away on the Lycian coast. Here we rented a car and took off down the small coastal highway–the drive was beautiful, the road good and well marked, and by 10am we were in the small coastal community of Çıralı at our quirky pension, run by a troupe of hospitable staff including the hippie owner Aynur, a wildly energetic bald man named “John”, about 15 cats, a big golden lab, a talking parrot named Coco, turtles, etc. The pension, called Sima Peace, would be better described as Sima Whirlwind, there’s constant activity here, but at the same time it’s incredibly friendly and homey. After much entertaining confusion, we checked in and walked across the street to a beautiful and pristine beach.

We also saw the nearby ruined ancient city of Phaselis, where remnants of agoras, Roman baths, columned streets, aqueducts, and a theater are nestled between three small and stunning turquoise coves with perfect clear water. It was a beautiful place.

Back at Çiralı, we watched the sun set behind the mountains, ate a homecooked meal that Aynur prepared, and set off to see the mysterious and bizarre “chimera”. The legend goes something like this: on Mount Olympus, hero kills fire breathing lion-goat-snake monster (Rafa says lion, Dori maintains it was part pig), atop of Pegasus of course, but fire continues forever to spew from the spot where it was killed. After a steep uphill hike up the mountain, we came across, indeed, fire mysteriously spewing from the side of the mountain. Rafa said it smelled like his BBQ.

While the mood was slightly spoiled by tourists and Turks roasting smores and sausages, the chimera was one of the most unique and mysterious things we have ever seen.

Off the beaten path

We started our last day in Cappadocia by exploring the nearby towns of Ürgüp and Mustafapaşa. Both were Greek towns, until the “exchange” when Greeks left Turkey and vice versa. In Mustafapaşa we saw some old Greek homes, many of which have been converted to hotels and restaurants, and an abandoned Greek Orthodox church. The people of Ürgüp used to live entirely in homes carved into the mountain, until the authorities deemed it structurally unsound, and the villagers moved to outdoor homes around the old dwellings.

Back in Göreme, we took a beautiful hike through “pigeon valley” to the village of Uçisar (where the castle is). The valleys of Cappadocia are more like canyons, cut deep into the ground and much cooler than the surface. Pigeon valley was stunning, home to some otherwordly cliffs and fairy chimneys. The valley is named after the numerous pigeon roosts carved into the cliffside. Farmers kept them for their manure to fertilize crops. In addition to the beautiful views there were vines of grapes, and trees heavy with apricots, apples, pears, plums and walnuts and fields of squash and watermelons. Cappadocia, while dry and rocky, is also surprisingly fertile, because of ample underground water sources. They grow delicious things here!

Near the end of the trail, right before Uçisar castle, we stumbled onto an unexpected sight. A friendly elderly gentleman, Hasan, welcomed us to his tea garden, right in the middle of the somewhat treacherous path. We rested under a walnut tree, ate some peanuts and asked him about the area. He told us about turtles that were popular with tourists and offered to lead us to them. He had Dori climb a tree to see, while he signaled to Rafa to wait. Up in the tree were a couple of turtle figurines. So random but funny in the moment. As we departed he hastily wrapped a small turtle figurine in newspaper for her. Surreal doesn’t really describe it.

It will be sad to leave this place, especially because of this:

I mean come on! But after cooling off in the pool, in a few hours we’ll hop on an overnight bus to the Lycian coast, on the Mediterranean. Beach here we come!

Cool Cappadocia

From İstanbul we took an early morning flight to Cappadocia. They didn’t even make us take off our shoes at the airport!

Cappadocia is a beautiful region in the center of the country with a moon-like landscape. The canyons and rock formations called “fairy chimneys”found here were formed by the receding lava of a nearby volcano.

The region has been populated from as early as 16th century BC. Hittites lived here in underground cities and homes carved into the fairy chimneys. Isolated communities of Christians were living here from the 2nd century AD or so–they left stunning and intimate painted chapels in the rocks.

We have been explored this region from the village of Göreme and our amazing hotel, the Kelebek. Our room is actually inside a fairy chimney, even!

After checking in we walked to what they call the air museum here. It’s a valley of well-preserved cave homes and churches. You can duck (yes, you have to literally duck. The early Christians were a small people apparently.) into the beautiful chapels and explore the various ancient dwellings.

The highlight is “dark church,” which is carved into the mountain at the peak of the museum. It has the name because it only has a few small windows which allow little light. This has had the effect of preserving the frescoes which cover literally every inch of the place. The colors of these walls are so vivid they rival the Vatican. This is inside a mountain in rural Turkey. It’s intimate and beautiful, and unlike any other church we’ve seen.

Besides the typical sight seeing, Cappadocia is famous for it’s hot air balloons. Apparently the winds are favorable to the balloons and every whose been here enthusiastically recommended we do it. So early early this morning we woke up with the morning call to prayer, and took a hot air balloon flight–more than 3,000 feet above ground, low into the valleys and over ridges, and above the cliff top Uçisar castle. It’s very hard to describe such an incredible experience so we’ll let these pics try to convey the beauty. We saw the sun rise and got a panoramic tour of the entire area from our hilarious and seriously expert pilot, Mustafa. We’ll post more pictures later- they are all beautiful, it’s so hard to choose!

After the balloon, we took a cab with two girls we met here to the underground city of Kaymaklı, and were treated to a memorable tour from a different Mustafa–an elderly suited gentlemen. He led us through tiny corridors, five levels underground, explaining the impressive design and construction of the city, where up to 5,000 people have lived at once. The city has been used for thousands of years as an elaborate hiding place by Hitties hiding from Persians, early Christians from Romans and later Byzantine Christians from Arabs. There are 36 cities like this, Kaymaklı is the largest.

When we haven’t been tearing up the skies or exploring ancient cave cities, we’ve lazed at our great hotel–eating breakfast on cushions on the cool breezy terrace or enjoying the local wine (it’s excellent, by the way) while watching the sun set over the valleys and chimneys of Göreme. Also there are obscenely cute kittens scampering about, which Dori is plotting to steal away.

We also got traditional Turkish massages at the hotel’s luxurious hammam, enjoyed a delicious dinner at a neighboring restaurant–also cliffside–and lounged by the infinity pool.

One more perk regarding the hotel–the wifi signal is so good that, not only do we have perfect reception in our cave room, but when the balloon flew over the hotel, we both suddenly got a slew of emails coming through, crazy!

Finally, dinner tonight was at a tradition Cappadocian family restaurant, in a 450 year old home.

We were served a stewed lamb dish cooked in a sealed clay pot and broken apart at the table. They make their own wine too, and we agreed after a giant jug of it that it was delicious. Now we write our post from a nargileh cafe, over apple tea.

Ciya ciya ciya!

There may be no word more beautiful in Turkish. Çiya, as in Çiya Sofrası, the best meal we’ve had in a long time.

A short ferry ride across the Bosphorus takes you to Asia Minor. Çiya is in the sea-side neighborhood of Kadıköy, right in the middle of a bustling strip with open air fruit markets, bars and restaurants. Çiya is a simple, neighborhood restaurant with insanely good food.

Shop windows in Kadıköy

You start by loading up a plate of their serve-yourself mezze bar. This included the best hummus I have ever had–full of rich deep sesame flavor–charred green chilies, spicy walnut pepper spread, roasted eggplant with tomatoes and chilies, thick flavorful yogurt with cucumbers, perfect dolmas, etc etc.

Then the cooks are waiting for you to explain what’s for dinner. You walk up to a counter where the chefs wait over giant copper pots of stewed goodness. After oohing and aahing and pointing excitedly, we decided to let the waiter bring of us four of his recommendations.

The highlight of which was a bright tomato and lamb stew, served over the richest, softest, creamiest, most ridiculously delicious eggplant puree you could ever imagine. Want more. Also the national dish, rice in a deep golden phyllo pastry with pine nuts, chicken, currants, and other good stuff; a creamy ravioli-like dumpling in a minty yogurt sauce; and rolls of steamed Swiss chard filled with bulgur and fresh cheese.

Even though we could barely stand at this point, we went back to the counter to pick out our desserts. We went with a traditional Ramadan dessert, creamy layers with walnuts, pistachios, and a faint hint of rose, as well as a flaky, cracker-thin pastry filled with pistachios and sugar and topped with butter that was divine.

This incredible meal cost about $19 per person. When we saw the check we honestly felt guilty it was so little. In DC they could get away with charging twice as much, it was so special.

The morning started with a visit to Topkapı palace. Since it’s high on a cliff above the sea, the palace is hardly visible from the street. This pic is from the Galata bridge.

Inside the four gates, though, the palace gets progressively more lavish. First the public gardens with views of the Asian side of town. The second gate is where the museum begins. The highlight is definitely the harem, which apparently wasn’t just concubines and parties but actually housed the Sultan’s whole family, including his wives, princes and the Queen mother and eunuchs who guarded them all. (Harem apparently means private.) These rooms were covered in blue tiles from the Turkish town of Iznik, like the Blue Mosque and so many others. Palatial is the right term.

Past the third gate were the main exhibitions, which include a gallery of holy relics. They had pieces from Mecca and even claimed to have pieces of Muhammad’s beard, David’s sword and something that was identified as Moses’s staff. Hard to believe, but very interesting. The Treasury housed giant diamonds, bejeweled daggers and a gilded bucket full of emeralds, among other fancy stuff.

In the afternoon we hiked up to Süleymaniye Mosque. Named after the Magnificent Sultan, its high up on one of İstanbul’s seven hills. It was well worth the uphill climb, as it was absolutely stunning. No tour busses or crowds to be found here, just a place for true meditation and prayer. Even though it’s 500 years old, the inside is absolutely perfect and maintained. The level of detail on the walls and roof was incredible.

On our way back down the hill, on our way to the ferry that would take us to that magical little place across the sea, we prudently decided to first stop at a renowned baklava stand in the bustling spice market. (Dori is already plotting how much powder she can bring back before customs gets suspicious.) Sorry we ate it too fast to take pictures with our sticky fingers. We also found the small and hidden Rustem Pasa Mosque, which felt like a real neighborhood mosque that had tons of beautiful tile and charm.

We slowly made our way back from dinner, through the park in between the Blue Mosque and Aya Sofia, where hundreds of people were still out enjoying picnics, after having fasted all day.

It was here we saw the most amazing sight so far in Turkey: a leather-jacket wearing man on a motorcycle with his Boxer standing up on the seat behind, front paws on the man’s shoulders. Oh also the dog was wearing aviator sunglasses. It was 11:30 at night.

Sometimes words fail.

Now, off to Cappadocia!

Evening out

Picking up where we left off on Tuesday, we started the night by crossing the Galata bridge at sunset, which connects Sultanahmet (old town) to Galata, where most of the people of Istanbul actually live and go out. From the bridge you can see the mosques on top of the seven hills of Istanbul all lit up. More importantly the bridge is home to local fish vendors who will grill up their fresh catch for you.

From there we explored the neighborhood making our way past the Galata tower and local shops.

We wound our way to the Nevizade district, a strip of bars and restaurants that turn into a block party. We had dinner at the Beyoğlu fish market where the fish were no where to be found, but the mezze, grilled meat and especially the rakı were flowing.

We ended night at a student hangout: a nargile (hookah) cafe on the top story of a nondescript building. Good çay and a great view of the sea as well.

Istanbul

Lots of sights today!

The Aya Sofia exceeded expectations, unlike any other church or mosque because the dome isn’t supported by columns, leaving the interior open and huge. Also had no idea how ancient–completed in 537ad. Beautiful 9th century mosaics too. Also a cat, who has some pretty sweet digs on the platform at the center inside.

Blue Mosque was impressive too, the tile work makes it unique to Turkey. There appear to be many more similarly gorgeous mosques to explore while we’re here. The two are side by side, the mosque stunning from the outside, the Aya Sophia from inside.

Also saw the Basilica Cistern, which is the prettiest 1500 year old water tank I think I’ve ever seen. Complete with fish! And a cafe where we enjoyed some fresh squeezed pomegranate juice.

Some delicious kofte and bean salad from local favorite, Tahiri Koftecisi. At Iftar last night the line was very long, Ramadan meant it was easy to stop in for lunch today though.

Then an entertaining stroll through the grand bazaar, and now some much needed hammock time on the roof, before we’re off to a meyhane (tavern) in the neighborhood of Beyoğlu across the Bosphorus. All you can eat mezze, all you can drink raki (anise liquor) and Turkish music. Yes, please.

We’re here!

This is one beautiful city–and it’s 75 degrees with a sea breeze, perfect. Our hotel is on a cute cobbled street next to the Blue Mosque. It has hammocks on the roof, overlooking the city and the Sea of Marmara.

We took the tram across the Bosphorous to a neighborhood called Taksim for dinner. How’s that for ambitious, right off the plane.

The lamb ribs at Zübeyir Ocakbasi lived up to their reputation on Istanbul Eats, a local food blog we have enjoyed reading in preparation. Beautiful copper hooded grills too, the place smelled amazing. Like the Salt Lick, but lamby.

Tomorrow, Istanbul!

Ready to go

Rafa’s brother gifted him this, after all, the boy needs appropriate traveling dress.