The second day in the beautiful Cappadocia region.
The plan of the day was to take the signature hot air balloon ride for an aerial view of the spectacular landscapes of Cappadocia, and then take part in the Cappadocia Green tour.
So at 5am we were picked up by the balloon company, that ferried us from our cave hotel to their headquarter just outside the town center of Göreme, where we were given a buffet breakfast, typed our names (for insurances purposes, and for it to appear in the certificate after landing)
This morning, much to our displeasure, we found Metro company dropped us off at the Nevşehir Bus Station (which was on the outskirts of the city of Nevşehir), rather than in the center of Göreme Town. And to our greater displeasure, we were reminded to get off the bus not by the bus conductor, but by some travel agent guy at the bus station. (One possible explanation other than the bus company’s blatant unprofessionalism was that the bus conductor didn’t speak English very well, which we took it.)
Then we were informed (by this travel agent guy) that Metro company would provide us free shuttle to Göreme Bus Station, but we were supposed to wait at Nevşehir for the Istanbul bus to come, and/or that the shuttle vans of Metro company wasn’t currently available. Well, since he’s basically the only one at the station that spoke English, we sort of had to trust him.
That was quarter past 6 in the morning, and the whole bus station was literally a ghost town. The Istanbul bus and our shuttle van came at quarter past 7, and during that hour some magic happened (yes, I was summarizing it this way) and the travel agent guy somehow managed to persuade us to book tours with him, since he was offering better quotes than our hotel (80TL or 90TL for red tour, I forgot the details) and we hadn’t finalized all the tours with our hotel yet.
Conclusion, tours around Cappadocia should be better booked in person than through emails, and to do that it’s better to arrive in the afternoon (or evening) than in the morning.Cave Hotel Cellar The first time my hotel put two beds on separate floors.
Last day in Antalya.
The plan of the day was to visit Side, an ancient Greek city on the Mediterranean coast East of Antalya. On the way back there were two other major attractions, the amphitheater of Aspendos and the ancient city of Perge. But these two sites were all off the major D400 Route, that plus some difficulties in finding the right bus in Manavgat meant we only managed to visit one of them.
This post follows the previous one on Qatar Airways flight 246.
Midnight seemed to be a higher peak for transits at Doha Airport than early morning, as we waited longer at transit screening this time.
Also, compared to the invigorating bustle of the airport morning we witnessed on our outbound flight, this time the whole airport seemed quieter, even somewhat gloomy to me. Thank God there were people for overnight flights to keep the whole building from degrading into a ghost town.
Time to head back home.
It seemed that everything was expedited for the last day, I finished my tour of Eyup and Golden Horn ahead of schedule, my parents finished their visit of Grand Bazaar ahead of schedule, then all the gift shopping and currency exchange was done without a hitch.
So the result was that, we arrived at the airport four hours before our scheduled departure.
Last day in Istanbul and in Turkey.
As a result of yesterday's missing ferry, the plan of the day was to first visit Eyüp, then take the ferry back to Eminönü as a tour of the Golden Horn. After that, it's Sultan Ahmet Mosque that we failed to visit during the previous days due to its prayer time, and finally make our way to the airport.
Third day in Istanbul.
The plan of the day was to visit Dolmabahçe Palace on Bosphorus Strait, then wander around the old city of Istanbul for the attractions that were left behind in the first day.
August 30th, second day in Istanbul and Victory Day in Turkey.
The plan of the day was to take a tour along Bosphorus Strait. Since we’ve got plenty of time in Istanbul and there’s no need for rushing, we decided to take the full/long Bosphorus tour, which goes all the way to Anadolu Kavağı with the opportunity to seeing Black Sea in the distance.
But before that, we needed to walk to the docks of Eminönü, passing a few attractions along the way. The first stop was Istanbul University.
First day in Istanbul.
The plan of the day was to visit the major attractions of the city of Istanbul, that is, Hagia Sophia and Topkapı Palace and Sultan Ahmet Mosque (which was closed by the time we reached there).
We woke up in the morning with a wonderful but tiny view of Sea of Marmara through the rooftops of neighboring windows. I didn’t expect at all that our room would come with sea view.
I had been thinking quite hard about what to do for the day, and I was seriously planning for Lake Tuz. But out hotel manager told us that there wasn’t much water in the salt lake in this season, and usually people put Lake Tuz tour along with the Green Tour in one day (and it would be quite a long day then).
I finally decided on trekking the valleys of the Cappadocia region. I saw online and heard from our tour guides that many of the valleys in Cappadocia can actually be walked, and I was particularly interested in the Pigeon Valley from Göreme to Uchisar.
After some more research, I settled on one day’s hiking from Göreme, through Pigeon Valley to Uchisar, visit its historic castle (that’s often seen in the previous two day’s tours), and then walk North along Love Valley, and then walk back through an ATV trail on some nameless plateau back to Göreme.
But before that, I decided to wake up early and watch the sunrise, while the sky’s decorated with colorful air balloons.
