Turkey 2009
This is a report for a trip my family and I took to Turkey for April 2nd through April 12th 2009. It is a pretty long report, so it is broken into sections. The first section is an overview of the trip and some brief impressions of the places we visited. The next section has (what I think is) some important/interesting information about travel to Turkey that I couldn't really find in other resources. Finally I'll give some details of what we did there. If you have any questions about this trip, please feel free to email me.
If you want to see pictures of this trip, go to here. Once there, click on "Vacations" in the top left panel and then "Turkey" in the bottom left panel.
Overview
For reference I am 43 and my wife is 45 and we live in NE Ohio. We have three kids ages 11, 13, and almost 15. We travel lightly (carryons and a single checked piece of luggage). In general we prefer meeting people and understanding cultures more so than sightseeing, although when traveling with our children we do a lot of sightseeing. We've been to a lot of Europe - over 20 countries - but never to Turkey before. The total cost for this trip was approximately $5000 - I'll try to give specific details below, and all costs will be in USD and will include any applicable taxes.
We're black and did see a few other black people on our trip. We experienced no hints of prejudice at all.
Getting there: We took Delta from Cleveland, OH to Istanbul, laying over in JFK both directions. All planes were on time. We paid approximately $590pp for the tickets. We paid $110 for trip insurance.
The food on the flight was not good. Normally I enjoy airplane food (crazy, I know), but not this time. No personal video systems in the seats, so we had a shared overhead projector.
The weather was good for our trip. Lower 50s during the day and upper 40s at night. We had a couple of cloudy days and some drizzling days but no real rain.
We landed in Istanbul and were picked up by our hotel - Hotel Inter Istanbul. Over the next five days we saw the normal sights - Blue Mosque, Hagia Sophia, etc., took a Bosphorus cruise, explored the Asian side of Istanbul, visited museums, and much more. We then took a plane to Cappadocia for three days and had our minds blown. We then returned to Istanbul for a final day and then headed home.
In retrospect if I could have changed one thing it would have been to spend an extra day in Cappadocia.
Turkey was amazing. Our last family vacation was to Mexico City and it was the best time we've had (not counting Disney), but we might need to rethink it now. Turkey touched me in a deep and spiritual way. It is calling to me now and I want to return. It is one of the few countries I've visited that I want to explore more of. Hopefully we will get to return soon.
Our hotel in Cappadocia, Pasha Han was amazing. I can't say enough nice things about it. Our hotel in Istanbul was very average. While there was nothing bad about it, we would not stay there again. More info in the detailed sections below.
Important Information
This is a collection of things I found out (some the hard way) that I couldn't find previously anywhere else.
- Obama. I want to mention this upfront. We've traveled when there were American presidents that were popular in Europe (Clinton) and unpopular (Bush). But no one really talked to us about it (except in Ireland where they love to talk about politics). However in Turkey we couldn't walk down the street without people yelling Obama at us. People walking past us, shopkeepers, people trying to sell us stuff. It was amazing. Literally 2-3 calls per block. And if we went to buy something, the conversation would start with Obama. Part of it was Obama was in Turkey during our trip (and Istanbul one of the days we were there). And I'm sure part of it was because we were black and from America. However many people kept coming up to my son and rubbing his head and saying he looked like a Jr Obama - these were complete and random strangers (for the record I don't think he looks anything like Obama). But we heard this in Istanbul and in Cappadocia, so to the Turks I guess he does! Anyway, Obama is very popular in Turkey and it seemed a way for the average Turk to connect easily with us, being the extremely friendly and outgoing people they are.
- Obama Part II. Many people in Turkey believe he is a secret Muslim. Educated people, uneducated people, people in Istanbul, people in Cappadocia. I found that very interesting because to the Turks, that was a good thing. Of course in America it was used to imply a negative thing. I personally don't believe he is a secret Muslim, but if it is a secret then no one really knows, right? I won't say anything else about Obama here except to reiterate he is very, very popular in Turkey.
- Gardens and flowers everywhere in Istanbul. I expected Istanbul to be, like most major cities, concrete. But there were playgrounds, parks, and flowers everywhere. And the flowers were amazing. I normally couldn't care less about flowers, but I have to admit they were incredibly beautiful. In fact, the parks looked so nice, I was uncomfortable walking off the path in some of them. They looked more for show instead of use. Most of the playgrounds also had exercise equipment for the adults - pretty unusual here in America.
- Tea. Everyone has heard of Turkish Tea, but it is almost a religion there. I never drink tea at home, but drank it countless times in Turkey. Lots of shops we went into, we would be offered tea. At cafes, everyone was drinking tea so we did too. With friends we had made, we were offered tea. "Cay?" (pronounced like Ch-eye, but one syllable), would be said like in the 50's in America you would say "Smoke?" By the end of the trip I was craving it and drinking it straight without sugar. The rest of the family drank mostly fruit teas (apple, banana, etc.) - not real tea, but they all loved those too.
- Everyone at TripAdvisor, and Enigma2007 in particular. This site was a wealth of information. Without it we would have been lost. I want to single out Enigma as he single-handedly planned a day for us on the Asian side of Istanbul.
- Crossing the street in Istanbul is...interesting. Pedestrians and cars play a constant game of chicken. Will I walk in front of your car? Will you stop? Surprisingly the cars almost always lose this game (laws of physics and common sense to the contrary). My advice - cross when you see other Turks crossing.
- Eating. The way food is brought to you is great. Dishes are brought when they are done. Some may not like this as it means one person eats before the others, but for us it was great. It makes it very easy to share food and also makes it easy to order food over time. Often we would sit and drink some tea for a while, then order a couple of entrees, then drink some more tea. Add in sitting on pillows and it is a very relaxing way to eat.
- Turks are a very friendly people. Down to earth type friendliness. I was in a small town in Cappadocia, Mazi, looking for a school. I stopped to ask directions (of course I ended up being right next to it!). No one around me spoke English, but with hand gestures they asked me to wait. A man came out of a building who spoke a little English and was happy to meet me. Before he would tell me anything he insisted I shake his hand and tell me his name. He then told me his, and told me a little about the village I was in. He then gave me my directions (which were basically go around the corner and then stop) and told me to have a good day. That pretty much sums up the type of people I met in Turkey.
- Another example would be the shop owners. And I don't mean guys trying to sell me rugs or things like that. Each night we would stop in one of the thousands of little food stores in Istanbul and get junk to eat. Yes, I know, the real food was great, but I got addicted to these little Turkish cakes and couldn't stop eating them. Anyway, in these places the people would talk to me about random stuff. Not all of the owners, but many. Even the ones who couldn't speak English would smile and use friendly hand gestures. Again, just a very warm and friendly people.
- But the ones who are trying to sell...wow. I think Timeshare and Used Car salesmen should study at the feet of the Turks. I almost bought a rug and had zero intentions of doing so and don't even have any place in my house where it could possibly go (wall to wall rugs + my grandmother's paintings on all of the walls). In the Grand Bazaar many of the pitches were down right funny ("Just give me the money" was my personal favorite). They really have a way of selling you things without making you think you are even buying anything. For the record, we have intense willpower and while we bought a bunch of crap, only spent about $200 total on everything (purses for my daughters and wife, shirts, tea, lots of spices, a tea set, some jewelry, etc.).
- Smoking is not allowed to be shown on TV in Turkey. So any movie that shows a cigarette has a little fuzzy circle over it. It looks kind of amusing.
- Cats. Dogs. Living together. No, seriously, I've never seen so many cats and dogs running around a city before. Well, the cats are running. The dogs are lying (or laying...whatever). The dogs appear drugged. They don't move. They must eat because they all look healthy, but they just lay around in the sun all day. My son and I walked to the Military Museum one day and passed two dogs "sunning" themselves on the grass next to the sidewalk. On our way back, the same dogs were there, but had since moved to the other side of the sidewalk. And no dog poop anywhere either...weird. Cats rule in Sultanahmet, but the dogs seems to control the rest of the city. And in Cappadocia dogs rule too. People just pet and play with them and then they go right back to laying around.
- Street Vendors. Good food and cheap prices. However, beware that some don't post their prices and then charge more than others right next to them. This only happened once to us (and it only cost us one extra Turkish lira - about $0.60 USD), so no big deal...but be aware.
- And the only other place we felt "ripped off" was at a restaurant near the Grand Bazaar. We paid about $56 to eat there. We did get a lot of food, and the food was ok, but in most other places we paid about 50% of that to eat. Also, here we were rushed through our meal. This is not the norm in Istanbul as you can sit with a tea in a restaurant for as long as you want. It was really our fault as we didn't look closely enough at the menu before sitting down.
- I'm not one to be scared of dolls or ventriloquist dummies, but the mannequins in Istanbul creeped me out. I can't explain it, but they looked wrong. Twilight Zone wrong. Don't stare at them if you are prone to nightmares.
- Credit cards, while taken, are hard to use. Cash is used exclusively almost everywhere and ATMs are plentiful. In fact, many hotels offer a 10% discount (or give you normal prices instead of a 10% markup!) for using cash. It is a little funny because I got a new credit card for this trip that doesn't charge a fee for foreign currency conversion, but I only used it for my car rental and for gas.
- Beggars were in the streets, just like any large city, but with a twist. Many of them sold tissues (the small personal packs). I thought this was nice and better than simply giving away money.
- Another thing adding to the beauty of Istanbul is the architecture. Again, this is something I'm normally not into, but it is amazing to see old buildings with new buildings next to amazingly domed building with arching minarets wherever you look. And many views lead to water (Bosphorus or Marmara Sea).
- School kids love Americans. We were mobbed in a museum by a group of them. I felt like a superstar. And asking adults, especially women, how old you are seems to not be an issue in Turkey (even adults asked my wife how old she was).
- Little China, Little Italy and Little Turkistan. Honestly, we only saw Turkish restaurants for the most part. On our way to Taksim we passed one block with a handful of Italian restaurants so assumed we were in Little Italy. We only saw one Chinese restaurant the entire trip, so assumed that was Little China. We are pretty confident about Little Turkistan, however, because of the signs all around us. It was only one half of a block, though.
- Istanbul is a very relaxed city. In most large cities there is a tension. People are trying to get from point A to point B and don't want you bothering them. But not in Istanbul. First, it seemed like most people were "Blue collar" as opposed to execs trying to get to an office. People seemed to work 24/7 also, whether cleaning/sweeping up, moving stuff, or, the all time favorite, selling stuff. But no one was rushed or seemed angry. It gave a calming vibe to the city. I found Istanbul exceptionally clean too. I mean, there was trash on the streets, but a fraction of what is seen in other cities of that size. Again, lots of people cleaning and sweeping.
- Culturally Turkey was not as different as I expected. Yes you saw a lot of minarets. And there were some women in scarves. But mostly it was a very "western" seeming country. Actually, the Asian side of Istanbul was extremely European. It was the European side of Istanbul that was the most non-European.
- Ataturk is a very popular guy in Turkey. In America we really don't have any historic figures that are that popular. Kids can name Washington and Lincoln, but few can tell about what they did. History seems to be very important in Turkey and there is a lot of pride in their country. Ataturk is at the center of that.
- Trams are good and easy but very crowded. We took them twice with luggage and it was very hard.
- All throughout Istanbul you'll find vendors selling corn and bagel shaped bread for a lira. Buy these, they are very good.
- Lastly, all of the people we met on this trip had traveled much more extensively than we had - and we've done a lot of traveling. I love to talk about travel and usually ask people their favorite country. The first two I asked that to said Antarctica. And that set the stage for the rest of the trip. Virtually all of the Americans we met there were living in Europe or the Middle East and just visiting Turkey. The few others were visiting friends or relatives who lived in Turkey. We met a man in Goreme who worked for the Jimmy Carter Foundation and had spend the last 10 years or so in Africa - Ghana, Mali, etc. He was currently living in Sudan. It was fascinating talking to all of these people and I gained some interesting insight.
Here are some details of our trip. The tourist places, like Blue Mosque for example, have been explained to death, so I won't do that here. Instead I'll concentrate on the things I haven't seen reported before, or seldom reported.
Our plan was to spend 5 days in Istanbul, take a plane to Nevsehir in Cappadocia, stay there for 3 days, and then fly back to Istanbul for another day before heading home. In Istanbul we stayed at The Hotel Inter Istanbul. It is directly across from the Grand Bazaar and about a 15min walk to the "main" sights (Blue Mosque, Topkapi, etc.). We paid 115 Euros per night for a double and triple room (rack rate), but paid in cash so got 10% off. This came out to a little over $800 USD for 6 nights - very cheap compared to most Istanbul hotels. Since we were staying for 6 nights (5 initially and then 1 after visiting Cappadocia) we negotiated 2 free airport transfers.
The hotel was - eh. Nothing bad, but nothing good. The people at the hotel were very indifferent. If we asked for help with something, they obliged (e.g., we left luggage there when we went to Cappadocia), but their overall attitude was as if they didn't care if we were happy or not. It wasn't just us as we saw them treating other guests this was too. The rooms were ok. Clean, but small, and nothing special. Ditto for the bathrooms. The water wouldn't get very hot, but it got warm. The breakfast had variety - eggs, different meats, cheese, breads, but the quality was just OK. Overall the hotel was extraordinarily average. Not good, not bad, exactly in between. For this reason we wouldn't stay here again, although we don't really have anything bad to say about it.
Several things we did in Istanbul that were interesting:
- People watching and hanging out in cafes. Sitting on pillows on the floor, or on a small bench, is a great way to eat food. Add in a cup of tea and the day becomes perfect. Most cafes have games - backgammon at least and many have "traditional" board games (monopoly, risk, etc.). Feel free to play backgammon with the locals - everyone is friendly. I played with a young man who didn't speak English, but both of us still had fun.
- Bosphorus Cruise. We took it all the way to Anadolu Kavagi. We saw a Turkish sub in open water and several schools (pods?) of dolphins. Along the way we met an American family living in Germany. They had 2 boys the same ages as our kids so everyone played together. This was a very interesting family (on the mother's side). The grandparents were traveling with them. The grandfather was an Indian raised in Malaysia. The grandmother was raised in Seattle but went to Malaysia after college and married the grandfather. The mother then married an American and they were living in Germany. I spent most of my time talking to the grandparents and listening to their stories - they led some interesting lives. But the cruise itself, and Anadolu are very cool and I highly recommend spending a day doing this. Again, Trip Advisor has the specifics on how to do this, so I won't repeat it here.
- Archeology, Ancient Orient and Mosaic (Islamic Art) Museums. These are in front of Topkapi and should not be missed. One admission price pays for entrance to all three.
- Asian side of Istanbul. This was incredible and I have to thank Enigma2007 from Trip Advisor for letting me know about this. In addition to walking around and people watching, per his suggestions we: got candy from Cafer Erol sweets (my wife and kids absolutely loved this place), Kup Grillet and other pastries from Baylan Pastries, Turkish Delight from Ali Muhiddin Hadji, Lahmacun from Borsam Tas Firin (my son's favorite meal of the trip), a waffle from Moda Kup, ice cream from Ali Usta, and tea from Cafe Kemal. No, we didn't just eat - we also played in a park. I chased my kids around and burned off some calories.
A note about Cappadocia before continuing. Like many others have said it is perhaps the most unique place on Earth that you can get to relatively easily. While driving from the airport to Goreme we stopped often and took pictures. However, there are many parts of Cappadocia - only some are the fairy chimneys and hollowed out caves you normally see. Other parts have a rugged beauty and remind me of the American west around Arizona and New Mexico. On our last full day there we took an afternoon and just drove to some very remote places to see the sights. We stopped often and climbed hills. Found odd things like turtles in the middle of the road, and saw virtually no other cars. If you have the time I highly recommend doing this.
After arriving and checking into the hotel we hopped in our car and drove to the Zelve open air museum. Along the way we stopped at Passabag and then afterwards continued to Dervent Valley. Both of these places are amazing and you should see them (they are only a few miles from Goreme). However, Zelve was our favorite. We spent a few hours doing nothing but climbing rocks and running through caves (well, me, my son, and oldest daughter did). In one place there is a tunnel that is a pitch black cave you have to navigate through. Luckily I've been working out on a treadmill, but by the end of 3 days of climbing and walking my legs were a little sore.
At the Pasha Han we made friends with the owner, Sergio. His brother, Bilal, is a teacher in a small town there called Mazi. The school at Mazi has chickens running around behind it and 100ft away there are cows and turkeys roaming the streets. In other words it is well off the beaten track. The school goes to 8th grade, at which point half of the students will stop school and take up farming.
We originally heard about Bilal from Sergio because, although we had a car, we wanted to take a day tour with someone. We figured there were some places we would enjoy more with a guide (and we were right) so asked Sergio to recommend someone. Bilal charged us about $155 to take the 5 of us on a full day tour including a hike through Pigeon Valley. Please note that Pigeon Valley is very difficult to hike through because of the turns and dead ends there. Without Bilal (who grew up playing in the valley) we would have been lost.
For our money we got the hike (about 2.5mi), a visit to Kaymakli (underground city - we had to pay to get in), a pottery demonstration in Avanos (we learned how the pottery was made and our kids each got to make a pot - this was free), Uschisar Castle (small admission fee), and lots of stops for pictures. We also had lunch in Avanos which was the best food we had on the trip - sadly not free, but only about $60 for 6 people and more food than we could possibly eat. And the food was unique - onions in pomegranate sauce; pickled cabbage; a salad of tomatoes, onions, cucumbers, and garlic in an olive oil based sauce; amazing flat bread; and mini-lahmucuns. And none of this was our meal. I had a meat kebob (where the juices from the meat soaked into the bread and then the bread was slightly grilled) and to be honest I was so busy eating it that I didn't look to see what everyone else was eating although they tell me now it was a lamb kabob, chicken wings, lahmacun, gozleme and another of what I ate (for Bilal). I am also told that the chicken wings were in the top three best wings we've ever had. For desert we had this fried cheese with a sugary sauce dripped over it. Wow.
But more important than any of this I got to be good friends with Bilal. We spent close to 2 full days together and did a lot of talking during that time. My wife had arranged for our kids to visit his school on our last day. We figured this would be an excellent way for them to learn about Turkish culture. However, since the school is not far from Kaymakli, we decided to pop in and spend some time on our tour day too. I spoke a lot with Bilal and the teachers, including the principal. Only Bilal spoke English and I spoke no Turkish, so he acted as an interpreter. My kids sat in on classes and everyone was friendly and nice. The kids had questions written out for us in English and performed a dance for us (see the videos on my website).
Talking with the kids, the teacher, and the principal taught me a lot about Turkish people. This was a good cross-section of backgrounds and experiences (Bilal has traveled extensively and has been to half of the states in America, other teachers there had never left Turkey, and most of the students had never left their town). The following day we met Bilal there and stayed longer. Of course much tea was drank, and many questions were asked on both sides. I learned not only from asking questions but from the questions they asked me. All in all it was the highlight of the trip and an experience I will never forget.
When we left Cappadocia Bilal gave me a small gift. Nothing extravagant, but something very personal that I was touched to receive. My daughters also got small gifts (a handmade hat and purse) from the children at Mazi. This too was very touching as they are very poor there.
Writing about Cappadocia makes me long to return there. When I arrived it felt like home instead of someplace to stay for a few days. I don't think I've ever visited anyplace outside of America that made me feel that way. The friendship I've made with Bilal and Sergio is something that will enrich me and make me a better person by continuing to teach me about a different culture. The looks on the students' faces in Mazi is something I will never forget. In a way it feels like I took two vacations - one to Istanbul and another to Cappadocia. And while I loved Istanbul, Cappadocia has a pull on me that will not be easily broken.
In Summary
Still reading? Wow, you made it through all of my ramblings to the end. Well, not much to say here that I haven't already said. Turkey is a great country and I hope to return to Cappadocia and to explore the northeast part of the country by the Black Sea.
If you are still reading at this point, please stop. The report is over!