There is no doubt that Turkey has a rich history. Everyday there’s something new and amazing to learn about this country. However, not everything is great and glamorous. One of the darkest days in recent Turkish history has to do with exiling it’s minority Christian citizens (e.g., Armenians, Greeks) after the rise in Turkish Nationalism … Continue reading One More Month To Go
Lycia is a Greco-Roman geopolitical region that encompasses the modern day Fethiye to Antalya regions of Turkey. Their history dates all the way back to the 15-14th century BC. So obviously, we’ll be visiting a lot of Lycian ruins while staying in the area. Both ruins we visited today, Xanthos and Letoon are examples of … Continue reading It’s All Lycian To Me
It’s been a while since I’ve slept through the night and not gotten woken up by something before I was ready to wake up. While staying in the city and town centers, we’d invariably get woken up by the muezzin who announces the morning prayers at 5-6AM. We thought our problems would come to an … Continue reading Left Our Thinking Caps At Home
Our time in Istanbul seemed like eons ago, and it was the last time we stayed in one place without moving for more than a week. Since then, we have been changing accommodations every 3-5 days going from one town to another. It felt like a whirlwind of packing/unpacking, riding public transportation, and walking with … Continue reading A Mini Break
After finally getting the rental car, we made our way to Dalyan, an hour drive from Marmaris. The sole purpose of staying a night in Dalyan was to check out the Lycian Tombs, and the Airbnb that I had specially picked out had a full frontal view of the tombs. Airbnb common areas View from … Continue reading The Goat, The Boat, and The Bal
We decided to sleep in after yesterday’s long day. At least we tried to. Unfortunately, our Airbnb is located right next to a mosque, so we were woken up at 6AM, but luckily, we managed to fall back to sleep. The day really didn’t start until noon as it was raining off and on all … Continue reading Marmaris National Park
I don’t recall how I came to know about Pamukkale. I just knew that I had to visit once I saw pictures of it. It reminded me of rice terraces in Southeast Asia, except it’s brilliantly white with beautiful clear blue water. It looked like something from another planet. Pamukkale, AKA cotton castle Travertine pool … Continue reading Pamukkale & Hierapolis
The guidebook didn’t seem enthused about Marmaris. Describing it as a “big, brash resort city”, and that there was no reason to linger as it doesn’t offer anything you can’t find elsewhere. The only reason to stop here is if you’re meeting a boat for the Blue Cruise or taking a boat over to Rhodes, … Continue reading Marmaris
These 2 days were the first couple of days we haven’t been woken up at 5-6 in the morning by the call to prayer since landing in Turkey. Not because there isn’t a mosque in Datça, but because the mosque is located far from where we are staying. So we got a chance to sleep … Continue reading Lazy Sunday In Datça
Our Airbnb host graciously arranged a rental car for us when I inquired about how to go about getting one. Luckily Joe knows how to drive a manual. We decided that there are two skills in life that are good to have - knowing how to drive a manual and knowing how to type. Olive … Continue reading Knidos & Old Town Datça
There is an hour and a half long car ferry that leaves Bodrum 3 times a day to Datça. Most people bring their cars with them. Bye bye Bodrum (Castle) And fancy yachts (with a helicopter) If you look closely, you’ll spot a St. Bernard in the orange SUV. For those without a car, a … Continue reading Onward to Datça
Unless you’re a beach lover, Bodrum doesn’t have a lot to offer. There is only one museum that is worth checking out, and there are no hiking trails close by. I love beaches, however, I am unfortunately extremely particular about which beaches I will step foot on. The sand must be powdery fine and white, … Continue reading Bodrum Is San Sebastian Cheesecake
First order of business of the day was to get breakfast - San Sebastian cheesecake with Turkish coffee. Excellent combination! With that out of the way, we were off to check out the Museum of Underwater Archaeology set in the Bodrum Castle. A little bit of background. The Bodrum Castle was built by the Knights … Continue reading First Professional Haircut In 18 Years
The wind picked up again this morning so no hot air balloons today. We spent the morning packing up for our airport shuttle pickup @ 8:25AM. After settling the bill, Ramezan, the hotel owner, advised Mustafa, one of the staff, to gift us a hand made (by Ramezan) ceramic plate of our choice. Ramezan is … Continue reading Travel Day – Göreme to Bodrum
Another morning of hot air balloon viewing from our hotel. Today was quite possibly my favorite day in Turkey, because we got to go on a beautiful hike in Rose Valley via Meskinder Valley. Our initial plan was to hike the Red Valley loop as well, but Joe needed WiFi to get his trading systems … Continue reading Rose Valley Hike
The hot air balloons were grounded for the last 2 days due to wind speeds exceeding 11km/hr. The Turkish Civil Air finally approved the balloon flights for this morning after the winds died down overnight. As you can imagine, there was a pent up demand for the rides for this morning. One of the Americans … Continue reading A Magical Morning
While in Cappadocia, tourists who don’t have cars have the option of joining a tour to see different sights. The two most popular tours are the red and green tours. The red tour covers a lot of sights closer to Göreme, whereas the green tour brings you further out to the Ihlara Valley as well … Continue reading The Nine-Hour Green Tour
Most people are able to take in all the sights of Cappadocia through guided tours in about 2-3 days. Since we have the luxury of time, we opted to explore the majority of it on our own. One of the attractions of Cappadocia is the hiking trails through the various valleys. So we laced up … Continue reading Living Off Mother Earth
Back in 2018 when we visited Tanzania, one of the activities we could have done was a hot air balloon ride over the Serengeti. However, it was hard to convince Joe that it was worth the cost ($450 per person). The fact that there was no guarantee of us seeing any animals below, as the … Continue reading Hot Air Balloon Ride
Our flight to Kayseri was scheduled to depart at 6PM. This allowed us to sleep in and pack at a leisurely pace. It took us 45 minutes to walk from the apartment to the airport bus stop - it was hot especially with a 20lb pack on our backs. Yes, we could have taken the … Continue reading Travel Day – Istanbul to Göreme
Today’s our last day in Istanbul before venturing on to other parts of Turkey. I had thought we stayed too many days here, but after today’s lunch, I’m glad we got to stay for our last meal at Çiya because it is quite possibly the best meal we’ve had so far. In fact, it is … Continue reading Will Go To Asia For Food
I’ll be the first to admit that I planned a few too many days in Istanbul. In hindsight, we could have left for Cappadocia today. For our extra days, we decided to fill it with what Istanbul is known for - the yummy food. Mark Weins is a somewhat well known YouTube food vlogger whom … Continue reading Will Walk For Food
Someone (likely Rick Steves) once said, “Don’t tell me what books you’ve read, tell me where you’ve been.” I have to say books are important, but traveling does open up your horizons in ways that books don’t. Traveling allows us to become more open minded and tolerant. It allows us to see Mother Nature’s best … Continue reading Why Do We Travel?
The arrival of the weekend in Istanbul is our cue to escape the city to avoid the crowds. So we saved our trip to Princes Islands for today. Princes Islands, an archipelago off Istanbul in the Sea of Marmara, so named because this is where the princes were exiled to during the Byzantine time, and … Continue reading Princes Islands
We have leisurely covered all the must see sights in 9 days, and are now looking for things to do and see. We went to Kadiköy, on the Asian side of Istanbul, a week ago for our food tour, and enjoyed the market place as well as all the hip areas with the bars and … Continue reading All The Time In The World
FIRE'd @ 47 