Turkey - Day 0 - Plan all you can

Turkey or Turkiye is fascinating to me as it is to millions of others. The mere thought of a place at the confluence of east and west is thought provoking. It was in top 3 destination for me while I started planning my trip (Japan and Greece were the other two). More or less it was an impulsive decision - a pull at the strings of my heart.. Turkey it was.

The first issue that we faced was planning for a week long trip. We chose august due to two main reasons - holidays and season for Turkey. Though I would have preferred non-peak season, 4 days holiday ensured that we had a limited window to choose our travel dates. Finally we chose 6th Aug to 17Aug. We knew we had to goto Istanbul first, hence we did our flight tickets upfront.

The things we planned in chronological order are:

1. Flight - The most expensive part of our travel was supposed to be flight tickets. We had been tracking flight tickets 3 months prior to travel for best deals. Due to peak season in August, the fares did not change much over a month. Hence, we finally booked our tickets 2 months prior to our flight. The dates were finalized based on cheap availability of ticket. That's when we decided to start our trip mid week i.e. on Thursday and end it on a Monday. Air tickets from Mumbai were almost 7-8K costlier than those from Delhi. So upfront savings is possible if you happen to be in Delhi around the time of your trip.
There are two main carriers from Mumbai - Turkish Airlines and Egypt air. Of course, the choice had to be Egypt air due to low cost. Fair warning though - Egypt air is late almost everyday. So you will in all probability miss your connecting flight from Cairo. In that case, you can ask them to adjust you on Turkish Airline flights from Cairo to Istanbul (code share flight and the last one leaves around 8:30 PM). In case you have time with you and no further time bound plans in Istanbul, you can take a layover and visit Cairo the next day before proceeding to Istanbul while on Transit.

Overall cost of Ticket from Mumbai to Istanbul (Ataturk Airport)- 42.5K 
Duration of Flight - 5 and a half hrs from Mumbai to Cairo and 2 and a half hours from Cairo to Istanbul. I am excluding layover here as it depends on your luck totally. Minimum layover that you can expect is 2 hours.

We had also booked three domestic flights.
One was from Istanbul (Sabiha Goecken) to Bodrum costing 3.5K per head, another one from Izmir to Cappadocia (kayseri Airport) costing 3K and from Cappadocia (Kayseri) to Istanbul (Ataturk) costing 2.5K. The choice of airports and flight timing were very crucial while choosing flights. Ataturk is in the european side of Istanbul and is around 30-45 minutes drive from Sultanahmet / Taksim area. Sabiha Goecken is on the asian side and is almost 1.5 hrs away. Shuttle costs around 10Euro per head while a taxi would easily cost 120-130 TL. Late night flights tend to be cheaper but limited connectivity from airport to the place of stay is a factor we had to consider as well.

2. Places to visit - Based on our very limited knowledge of Turkey, we knew only about Istanbul. We had definitely seen some amazing pictures of the country but were not aware of the places. Days of extensive search later, we had zeroed down to a list of places which we would like to see - Istanbul, Selcuk/ Epheseus, Bodrum/ Anatalya, Pamukkale, Cappadocia and Nemrut. Since it was only 12 days trip, we decided to skip Nemrut (also due to ongoing conflict in border areas, we did not want to venture in south eastern part of Turkey). When we started planning our route, we came to the conclusion that we could not do more than 4 places in 12 days (even that was a stretch). We decided to give Pamukkale a skip. You can include Pamukkale instead of Bodrum/ Anatalya if you are OK for a night travel by bus.

Finally the itinerary was - Istanbul (2 nights) - Bodrum (by flight costing around 3K, 1 night stay) - Kusadasi (2 nights) - Cappadocia (3 nights) - Istanbul (3 nights).

3. Stay - We used AirBnB extensively on this trip. The idea was to experience local food, mingle with locals and get to know them better along with saving some bucks. The budget we had kept was 1500 per head per night. Only one booking exceeded this budget marginally. We had a mixed experience regarding this.

Istanbul (2 nights) - Deniz Houses (recommended if you are not finicky about room size) in Sultanahemet area (very near to Blue Mosque)
Bodrum (1 night) - Neil Mars Otel (not recommended)
Kusadasi (booked for 2 nights but stayed 1 night) - A stayover at a pension house (not recommended)
Selcuk (1 night) - Attila House (recommended) (3 Km outside Selcuk; recommended if you have a hired car)
Goreme (3 nights) - Goreme Valley cave house (recommended solely for the host; walking distance to centre of Goreme)
Istanbul (3 nights) - Homestay near Taksim Square. Recommended for 2 people.

Average cost per night was 1500 rs per head.

4. Moving around - We decided that we will do a short roadtrip from Bodrum to Izmir i.e. roadtrip for 3 days. We had checked out local as well as global rental agencies and decided to go for Avis even though it was a bit more expensive than local ones. The cost was around 4.5K per day for a very well maintained i20 excluding diesel. We had opted for a diesel car and the cost was additional 3K for gas (at the end of 3 days). We pre-booked our car but the payment was done once we dropped the car at Izmir airport. If I look back, we were able to see Izmir region in a much better way due to the flexibility a car provided. You do get buses between cities/ villages but if you wish to cover more and try off beat roads, you have to do a self drive in the region. It's a right hand drive and hence adjusting to style takes sometime. Road conditions across Izmir region is very good. We could drive at insane speed on free highways and enjoy the beautiful coastline. If you are not on a very tight budget and in a small group, I highly recommend a self drive plan.

For Istanbul we relied completely on public transport. It is very convenient to travel across the city at reasonable price.

For Cappadocia, we had not planned anything. During our 3 day stay in Goreme, we hired a scooter for 2 days at 80 TL per day (10 TL extra for petrol) and a private car for 1 day at a very high rate of 200TL per head (we did travel around 250 Kms that day). We hired both scooter and car with the help of our host. He got us a fair deal and helped us finalize the right means of transport. I highly recommend using a scooter while exploring Cappadocia region. One - it gives you flexibility, second - It's cheap for two people (45 TL per head only). If you travel around using local buses, you might save probably 10 TL per head per day but you will not be able to cover as much area and with ease.

5. Visa - Once we had planned everything, we focussed on visa. For Indians with no Schenghan or US Visa, you need to apply with a host of documents like account statement (with closing balance not less than 1 Lakh), leave certificate, employment proof, salary slip etc. I used a visa consultant as did not have time for running around embassy. The visa services cost me an additional 1.1K and the total cost for visa was 5100 Rs. including taxes. For people with US visa, you can apply online and can get visa within 1 day. For me, it took 4 working days.

6. Currency - Turkish Lira is used everywhere within Turkey.
1 TL (turkish lira) = 24 rs.
1 TL = 3 Euro or 2.8 $

Either you can carry USD and get it exchanged in Istanbul or you can withdraw cash from your international debit card. We withdrew cash through ATM and it was least expensive to us. (Tip: Withdraw 1000 TL per person for atleast 3-4 days.)
 P.S: Do not try to buy TL in India. It's way too expensive. (26 Rs for 1 TL - best rates)

Now comes a million dollar question - Should you take the headache of planning the entire trip yourself or just hire an agent. My experience says that if you have someone to guide you about nuances on ground, it is a great help. I wish I had that guidance before did extensive research for almost a month, it would have been great. Having said that, customized packages do not offer you the experiences that we got. You will end up doing tested and tried things and end up not knowing the country so well even after your trip. If you are personally less enthusiastic about gaining these experiences, go for a package tour. If you are up for some excitement, plan your trip.. with some help of course to make it way more enjoyable.

Istanbul.. a city of sensuous possibilities - Day 1

Istanbul is NOT the capital of Turkey as many of us assume it to be. It is so well known that no one seems to remember Ankara - atleast not the bunch of people looking at options for their next travel plan.

Having said that, Istanbul is truly a multi-cultural, multi-color, multi-dimensional city to explore. It was a part of my trip to Turkey and having spent four and a half days there, I would say that I have not even scratched the surface.

The trip started with a late night landing at Istanbul airport. Much to my dismay I realized that the airport does not offer free wifi. So whoever is counting on getting in touch with people at the airport, please do not hope so. But you do have an option to buy a sim card at the airport at any time of day or night. There is a vodafone store which only sells sim cards till 11 PM while there is another sim card counter where you can buy Avea sim card and have plans as per your requirement. A thing to remember though - Turkcell has the best plans and is available across turkey. Avea is a bit expensive but is good if you wish to use it only for data.

If you land late at night, the only option for you is to take a cab/ shuttle to your destination. You can either take a car for hire from the counters at the airport or just take airport yellow cabs for which you can get in the line outside the airport. For Sultanahmet, the hired cab was for 100TL while the yellow taxi I took from outside the airport only took 50TL. If you plan to visit Istanbul, spend atleast 4 days in the city. We had our Istanbul visit in two parts - 2 days at the start of our Turkey trip and 2 at the last specifically so that we do not have to carry shopped items across the country. This turned out not as fruitful as expected because we were so tired by the end of our trip that we didn't have enough enthusiasm to roam around Istanbul on foot during hot days.

This post covers day 1 spent in Istanbul when we explored most of historical Istanbul. Day 2, 3 & 4 will be covered in following posts.

We stayed in Sultanahmet area during first two days. It was a very good decision as it gave us plenty of opportunity to explore Fatih district on foot. The first day started a bit late as we were pretty tired due to our long flights. The place we chose to stay was a small but very pleasant hotel called Deniz Houses. Though the rooms were a bit small, the staff was very courteous and helpful. It was a short walk to Ayasofia or the Blue mosque and other important places.  Breakfast served on terrace overlooking Blue mosque on one side and Marmara Sea on the other was a treat to senses. We immensely enjoyed our buffet breakfast with multiple varieties of cheese, tomato, cucumber, eggs, break and some salami while soaking up the blue expanse of calm water.

For lunch, we had some ice tea, hummus with bread, greek salad with the freshest of ingredients one can imagine and an aubergine vegetarian dish with a small portion of rice called Pilaf. The dishes were tasty and were served by the person with utmost courtesy. We were offered a cup of sweet pomegranate tea after our lunch was over. The owner even gifted us sweet small souvenirs - evil eye bracelets to ladies and a small evil eye for men. Our first encounter with Turkish hospitality was quite memorable.

We went out and explored some more places around our hotel before heading off to Sultanahmet mosque via Arasta Bazaar. It is a small bazaar with both sides lined up with shops selling spices, tea, souvenirs, ceramic items and all other things imaginable. The first glimpse of this bazaar filled me with joy as the colors were a treat to the eyes. Mosaic museum is located at the head of this bazaar and one can see the very famous turkish mosaics on display there. We were not much interested in mosaics and hence decided to give it a skip and instead attend friday prayers in Blue mosque. One word of caution - timings for visitors are mentioned outside the mosque and non worshippers are not allowed for certain duration during prayer times. On fridays, the mosque remains closed to tourists for longer duration i.e. 12:30 to 2:30 PM. Expect a huge crowd if you visit the mosque on a friday.

The mosque is called Blue mosque due to the abundance of blue tiles in upper corridors which is not accessible now. Still, one can see an exceptionally beautiful example of ottoman artistry on the domes and walls on the mosque. Six minarets towering over the courtyard are distinctive sight to behold in Istanbul.

We said our prayers and walked out of mosque after witnessing huge crowd of both men and women (in separate sections) bowing down to pray in unison. It was a humbling sight and a fantastic start to our trip.

We got in the line to purchase tickets for Ayasofya or Hagia Sofia after the Blue mosque. One can buy a museumkart which can be used for museums across Istanbul (the list is mentioned at the counter) for a period of 5 days for 85TL. It is valid across 12 museums including Chora Church, Topkapi Palace, Istanbul Archaeology Museum, Museum of Islamic arts, Hagia Irene Museum, Mosaic Museum, Rumeli Hisar Museum, Galata Mevlevi House Museum, Yildiz Palace Museum etc. It not only saves you money but also saves countless minutes spent in line to purchase individual tickets.

Ayasofya (Hagia Sofia) was built in 537 AD as an orthodox church. It was an important building in erstwhile Constantinople and throughout the Byzantine history. The church was converted into a mosque in 1453 during the ottoman empire. Since 1931, it has been turned into a museum. When one enters the large hall in Ayasofia, it is easy to feel awed by the grandeur. Marble floors, stoned pillars, golden tiles, beautiful calligraphy and an active imagination will transport you to hundreds of years in time where you can feel and see time in motion.

To the left of Ayasofya is Basilica Cistern - an old underground water storage system. If you are a harry potter fan, you would be delighted to apparently enter chambers of secrets complete with serpents fanning Medusa's head. Yes, you read it right - Medusa, the mythological goddess who had her hair turned into snakes and was killed by Perseus. She was considered a protector of important places and hence this cistern has her heads at the base of two pillars at one of the corners of the cistern. Low lights and shimmering water with fishes swimming in it makes it all very surreal. You have to dish out additional 20TL for visiting this labyrinth of corridors seemingly floating on water.

Once we came out of the underbelly of Istanbul, we proceeded to the Hippodrome - a square which was used for games, social gatherings etc. in the older time. It has a German fountain, which has golden tiled dome and was used by travelers across the world to rest and drink water from. On the way to German fountain was an interesting area which had stones with distance to major cities across Europe and Asia engraved in. It was overlooked by a tall direction indicator. This suddenly makes you aware of how important Istanbul has been over the centuries as the confluence of Asia, Africa and Europe.

The hippodrome has two ancient obelisks. One of those is an Egyptian column erected in 1500 B.C. in front of the temple in ancient city of Hierapolis in ancient Egypt. It was brought to Istanbul and erected at Hippodrome around 380 A.D. Part of this pillar was broken and it's crest was broken either during transportation or during devastating earthquake of 869. It's faces are covered with messages in hieroglyphs - pictorial script of ancient Egypt. The other column is a laid brick column which was probably used to showcase the opulence of Constantinius VII, a powerful ruler of Constantinople around 875 A.D and to give support to tents and shades to protect spectators while watching races at Hippodrome.

On our first day, we felt a bit overwhelmed by the rich history of every inch of the area we visited. The colorful, vibrant atmosphere was a sensory overload for us and we felt it more acutely as the area was  a bit overcrowded with tourists (we were in Istanbul during peak tourist season).

Corn on the cob, Simit (a round donut shaped bread with generous sprinkling of sesame seeds), Dondurma and shawarma were some of the items we tasted over the day and were totally bowled over by the simplicity of corn and simit, sticky awesomness of dondurma and spiciness of a well rolled shawarma. Food on the go is perfect when you are on foot and exploring treasured monuments  steeped in richness.

We were pretty tired after our first day in Istanbul (mainly due to lack of sleep the previous night). Hence we decided to give it a rest after sunset and settled down a small restaurant nearby. The spread we ordered was traditional turkish grand dinner. It had saksuka (aubergine/ brinjal stir fried with tomato and potatoes),Yayla Çorbası or Yogurt soup (very similar to Indian Kadhi with chickpeas, rice and chicken pieces), Ezme (tomato salsa like dip), Patlıcan Salatası (roasted baingan bharta :)), Pilaf (fragrant rice), Hummus, Muhammara (spicy walnut and oilve oil dip), Çoban Salatası or Shepherd's salad and freshly baked bread. The end to this delicious spread was with sweet Baklava - traditional sweet dish of Turkey. If you are true blue Indian who loves his Indian food, it will be a paradise for you as the tastes are very similar and the familiarity with spices and yogurt makes us savor the food some more. Turkish people like strong tastes - be it a bit too sweet baklava or amazing varieties of cheese. Even turkish coffee is not for the faint hearted (a confession : I could not drink the sludgy mixture entirely as it was way too grainy for my taste).Oh I forgot to mention the best part. They dole out refreshing Chaas which they fondly call Ayran. Discovery of Ayran was the best thing to happen to me on the first day of my trip.

If you happen to be not so tired as we were (we crashed on our beds at 9 PM), you can walk along the streets of Sultanahmet area and visit the Grand Bazaar nearby. It is one of the biggest and oldest covered market place in the world where you can find almost anything. It will also give you plenty of opportunity for people photography or meeting Turkish people if you are interested. If you wish to have some quiet time, you can take a walk along the seafront (Kennedy Cd. or Cankurtaran Park) and soak up the excitement called Istanbul.

Istanbul Day 1:

Places to see/ activities to do:

1. The Blue Mosque or SultanAhmet Mosque : The mosque is closed for tourists half an hour before and 45 minutes after prayer times. On friday, the mosque remains closed for longer in the afternoon i.e. from 12:30 to 2:30 PM. No entry fee.
2. Hagia Sofia or Ayasofya : Church/ Mosque turned museum ticket can be purchased for 30 TL. Museumkart which costs 85 TL and can be used across 12 museums in Istanbul also works here. This pass is valid for five days and saves you time as well as money.

3. Ayasofya Hurrem Sultan Hamam: A turkish bath can be enjoyed for 70 Euro (starting price). It is a bit costly but one of the best hamams available in Istanbul. After a tiring day, nothing like a turkish bath to invigorate your senses.

4. Basilica Cistern : A dungeon for the darkness within us. Separate ticket needs to be purchased for 20 TL.

5. Hippodrome : An open area where you can see Obelisks, German fountain and soak up the warmth of Istanbul.
6. Grand Bazaar : A covered bazaar - a shopper's paradise. Do not forget to bargain.
7. Mosaic Museum : A place for the mosaic lovers. Museumkart is valid here too.

All these places are accessible on foot if one starts from any place. Be prepared to walk and enjoy the colorful restaurants and shops. You can also hop on and off the tram which runs near Ayasofya. One needs Istanbulkart to use any public transport services across Istanbul. One station to another on a tram costs only 2 TL per person. Single card can be used by multiple people.

Food:

One can always pick up rolls and Simit to appease the hungry belly. It's cheaper and easier to eat while walking around. If you prefer to have your food while seated, there are plenty of options too. Both sides of the lanes near Ayasofya/ Blue Mosque have eateries ranging from small time roll joints to fancy restaurants. Cost for two in a restaurant might cost somewhere between 30-50 TL. In a fancier place, it could be around 100 TL (we ordered a full turkish dinner with multiple courses and that was the fanciest and costliest dinner we had at 50 TL per head).

Budget:

Stay per night for two : 47 Euro

Food : Breakfast Free (mostly at your hotel) or around 12 TL or 4 Euro per head
           Lunch around 20 TL (sit down lunch) or 6-7 Euro per head; Pick up lunch can be around 10-12 TL i.e. for 3-4 Euros.
           Dinner around 25-30 TL (sit down) or 8-10 Euro per head. At a fancier (but not too fancy) place, expect around 15 Euro per head.

Istanbulkart : 7 TL for the card and refill it with amount depending on how much you plan to use it. Average 2 TL per person from one station to another (anyone). Valid for almost all means of public transport, be it Metro, Tram, Marmare (underwater train), Ferries and Bus. Istanbul has amazing public transport system. So you would not need to hire a cab unless you are not able to walk. On day 1, we did not use any public transport as walking is the best way to see Sultanahmet area.

Museumkart: 85 TL for 12 Museums and valid for 5 days. Quite a deal considering you can spend 85TL in tickets while visiting only 3-4 places. Also, a huge advantage that you do not have to get into normal line. A separate fastrack line is for people using the pass.

Things to Buy: Hold onto the urge to buy souvenirs from Istanbul. You can get same things in Cappadocia or Izmir at much cheaper rate. Explore and find out the rates though. It will help you decide what to buy from where. Things that you can find interesting are : Tea (many many varieties), Cheese, Turkish delight, Coin belts, Ceramic items, Evil's eye, Spices etc.

Istanbul Day 2
Istanbul Day 3
Istanbul Day 4


Photo credit: Sourav Biswas

Woman .. oh It's me!!

I am a woman in my early thirties who had been wandering through life for quite sometime. From as early as I can remember, I have known myself to be a quirky, conventional yet rebellious girl. If someone told me to do something just because I was supposed to do it as a girl, rest assured it was never done. And then, I had this love for places. My dad had a transferable job which made us pack our belongings every three years and move to new places. I do not remember myself ever, shying away from moving out of a city because my excitement to experience something new always overshadowed my reluctance to change friends. It also helped that I was closer to my parents than I was to most people and for me they were all I needed around.

I did miss being a childhood friend to someone.. the kind of friend you know since nursery. I have lost one of my best friends to inability of maintaining contact during days when not every household had a telephone line.

Still, no complaints whatsoever.

I knew early on that I love to travel and why not? My parents are the ones who are still more enthusiastic about traveling than any 70 year old couple I know of. They were the ones who made me aware of India's amazing history, made me love green fields, taught me how to climb hills and to walk along narrow lanes. They taught me how to appreciate local food, culture and people. Thanks to them, I am not fussy about bottled water or AC and can sleep in a roomful of people chattering away.

I didn't learn how to cook officially, ever. My first experiments in kitchen were with leftovers. Probably that's the reason I hate to waste any food. Recycling in kitchen is my mantra. During school holidays, I would just randomly mix vegetables, some lemon, some sev and some some scrambled egg to make awesomely tasty fillings for my sandwiches. Ah.. those were the days.

I hated going in kitchen while my mother was around. I do not venture into her territory even now as I love food cooked by her. True experiments with food happened when my mom was not around for a few months. I realized I not only loved cooking, I loved feeding people. And thus started my journey of a foodie/ cook.

Over the years, I realized cooking is a stress busting activity for me. I visit new places, try new cuisines and meet new people. These are the things that make me happy.. any day. So here I am, trying to share with you stories of my travels, some anecdotes, some incidents, some food episodes.. all witness of my true love - Travel and Food. That's who I am.