We spent a month in Turkey exploring ancient ruins, eating incredible food, ballooning over Cappadoccia and basking in the sunshine along the Turquoise Coast of Turkey.
Itinerary: Bodrum > Fethiye > Kaş > Aphrodisias > Ephesus > Cappadoccia > Istanbul
Bodrum - cool beach town, stunning turqouise waters. we stayed off of the main strip w/ some turkish friends. Trips to the local market and slow, delicious meals with incredible views.
Fethiye - we day hiked 1 part of the Lycian Way trail into Oludeniz which has some spectacular views over the coastline. We spent another day relaxing at the Oludeniz beach. Tip: absolutely bring/buy an umbrella vs renting chairs/umbrella.
Kaş - we did some scuba diving. water was quite cold so we wore full wetsuits with hoods. great visibility but very little life to see. good vibes in town with lots of great food. we visited a stunning beach tucked into the cliffside and the ruins of pataras. its smaller scale site but impressive historically as it was the hub for the democrat Lycian League, praised by writers like Montesquieu and inspired modern democracy. we also did a boat trip to see the ruins of kekova + some swimmging and snorkeling.
Aphrodisias - ancient ruins that were IMO better than Ephesus. under 100 other people there when we were. they have the best preserved ancient stadium, a beautiful tetrypylon (cool gateway) from 200AD, a temple of aphrodite and more. not as rebuilt and refined Ephesus but still incredible, especially with no crowds.
Ephesus - ancient ruins that get floods of tourists from cruise ships every day. we got in when the gates opened but started at the lower entrance which gave us \~15 minutes alone with some of the ruins. some stunning sections (like the library and temple) and such an impressive scale — its HUGE and apparently they’ve only excavated like 15-20% of the city. we had some very tasty home-cooked meals and an incredible pizza overlooking the st john basilica. we also saw so many huge storks nesting atop all the lightposts.
Cappadoccia - going up in a balloon absolutely lives up to the hype. such a peaceful, beautiful experience. It is def expensive but we were so glad we did it. Its mostly a tourist town otherwise but we did a lot of hiking in the hills where all those carved cathedrals are. prices to visit the open air museum are a bit silly but some of the old paintings inside these caves are quite amazing.
Istanbul - awesome history and sites. we’re huge fans of rick steves walking/audio tours and he has TONS for istanbul. I think we did 3 or 4 of them in our week there. suleyman and blue mosque were quite the site. Topkepi palace is breathetaking. Prices to visit things are absurd ($60/pp for topkepi) so we skipped on some things. Hagia is covered by scaffolding so we opted out of that too. we stayed in Cihangir and the vibes were really high. it was \~15 min tram ride to get to most touristy things. incredible restaurants and bars every block, lots of ppl sitting outside everynight enjoying life. We took the boat to Kadiköy which also was a fun neighborhood. truly a 10/10 visit
Also there are sooo many cats everywhere