Final Day: Istanbul

    Our final day in Istanbul had an interesting coincidence where I met up with my friend Pierre and his wife Paola in Istanbul. Pierre was here for a conference and it was such a good timing where we walked around the streets of Istanbul together. We met up with my cousin who generously took us to one of the best kebab places, Seyhmuz Kebap in Sultanahmet. Their cheese kebab is to die for!!

Seyhmuz Kebap at Cemberlitas. Delicious cheese kebab! Gracias Karzen

Later on we went to Fez cafe where we had Turkish coffee with delicious almond liquor preceding it. It has been a random and interesting experience for my French friends I hope as I enjoyed seeing them and showing them where I grew up. Hitting the Grand Bazaar and Spice Market for the rest of the day we made some last minute shopping. Heading back to Yesilkoy we took the train to not to get stuck on traffic. That train from Sirkeci to Yesilkoy is quite nostalgic for me as I used to take it with my grandpa and my brother as a kid. Now I was riding it with a girl from Ohio next to me. That's life, eh... Our last night in Turkey we wanted to go out to Taksim and hang out with close friends in Asmali Mescit. With Burak, Melis, Ercin and Miray we went to a cool roof top terrace bar with the entire Istanbul skyline infront of us.

Last night in TR with the gang

 Finishing the night at Parantez bar (Burak's spot) was a classic. Their mojitos are to die for as the owner looks to be a big fan of Cuba. We had a fun night together and it was a great way to recap our amazing vacation.

Eating muscles outside of the bar

During the 21 days we hit 10 different beaches, drove over 1000km on a road trip from west and south coast of Turkey, did paragliding, got into hot air balloon and visited underground city over in  Cappadocia. I couldn't have asked for a better trip than what we just experienced. My friends and families that I introduced Ellen to and the random people we met during the journey. In the end, it was nice to be back in where I grew up with my +1. I'm thankful for all the people that helped us to make this trip a trip of a lifetime. July 2012 will always have a special meaning for us. I hope you enjoyed my boring blogs throughout the trip. I wrote here drunk, jet-lagged, rushed (through the checkout), on the beach, on the plane etc. Mainly I wrote it to remember the amazing times! Till the next journey... Gule Gule!

Day 9 & 10: Kayseri & Cappadocia

          As the trip is coming to an end, sadly, we planned to squeeze the Cappadocia piece if we could. We only had a 1.5 days there and that was enough for us to be honest. First we hung out around Kayseri as wanted see the newly developed city of my parents and grandparents. Kayseri used to be hometown for many Armenians during the Ottoman Empire time. There are still 4 churches that exists and I wanted to visit the Kirkor Lusavoric Church that my cousin and uncle facilitated the reconstruction of it. Visiting the Church, which was the first Church of Anatolia, made me feel home away from home. Knowing that my ancestors called this region their home for many years makes you feel that way I guess. As I was taking pictures of the facade of this beautiful church a gentleman approached and introduced himself. He owned a a home appliance store nearby there and he said that he was really involved in archeology and history of the Kayseri region. After a brief chat our taxi driver initiated that the history buff be our tour guide. He showed us in an hour the entire Armenian quarter in Kayseri around the town of Talas including the American College where there were training of nuns and priests. I wish I had more time to hang out with him to learn more as he knows so much with great amount of details. Later on we got picked up by a shuttle from our hotel to head to Cappadocia. Talking to our young driver on the way, I couldn't have thought that he would be our private tour guide the next day.

Beautiful Kirkor Lusavoric Church in Kayseri

Inside the church

I got my driver and unofficial tour guide with me. Gotta love random things in life.

Talas Armenian Church

The weather hit another history record in Cappadocia at 110 degrees during our stay there, beating the last 60 years season highs. Our hotel in the region is pretty cool as our room was built in a cave. We didnt need AC inside the room. It was quite interesting to spend the night there to be honest- very quiet and felt like living in the past sometime. We walked around the Goreme in the evening to make our plan for the next day. Ellen wanted to experience hamam, Turkish bath, and she liked it. I went around and negotiated the best deal with a tour agency to do the famous hot air balloon ride as well as unusual private tour of the ENTIRE Cappadocia. We had a dinner at a local place that has testi kebab, which is type of kebab that they cook the meat inside the clay pot and your break it before eating it. It was quite delicious and even some street cat couldn't resist but meow asking some from Ellen:) We had a Loooonnnngggg day the next day starting at 4.45 pickup by shuttle to take us to the hot air balloon site. Just to give a brief history of Cappadocia, it's believed that Hittites lived here first 4000 years ago and they have carved these caves and shaped them as their living grounds. Many tribes, empires made these lands home to themselves - Romans, Byzantine, Persian, and Ottoman Empires. Seeing all these above the ground on a balloon was truly an amazing experience. It is a must-do in this capital of hot air balloon. It was so cool to be able to go up and down around this unique land with spectacular landscape of caves, mountains, valleys and fairy chimneys. Seeing 100 other balloons up in the air before the sunrise was something you don't see everyday. There were so many people from all around the world in Cappadocia and we couldnt wait to see this beautiful land a bit closer.

Getting ready to party up in the sky

No words

Hittites lives in these unique rock formation 4000 years ago

After our breakfast we got picked up by our tourism student/tour guide- Peace. He was shy to speak English so I was translating Ellen most of the information that he shared throughout the day. Our first stop was the underground city of Derinkuyu (deep well). This incredible piece of land has 8 stories and was built by the people of Byzantine who were against the kingdom and they wanted to practice their own religion. The lower we went down the the deep well the colder and narrower the paths got. It was hard to crawl at one point. These rebels of ortodox religion created themeselves a secret city with a proper church, school, graveyard, kitchen, prison, military living area and they built it in away that through the narrow tunnels they connected the underground city to other little cities. I am having hard time describing this place as it really captivated both of us. In a span of 4 hours were 1000 meters up in the air and 100 meters down under the ground of Cappadocia. It was magical!

Derinkuyu Underground City - It's hard to crawl through the tunnels

 Rest of the day we saw amazing landscapes such as Pigeon Valley, Love Valley, imagination valley (with some naturally built fairy chimneys ie. upside down elephant, penguin, lady with a gown etc). We also went to the open air museum in Goreme where it had many beautiful little churches and chapels from Byzantine empire time. The artwork of Jesus Christ and the rest of the bible and the christian life was all depicted on the walls of these cave looking churches.

Imagination valley with special fairy chimneys in the background

 We also had a nice relaxing lunch by Kizilirmak (Red River) before we started our unexpected shopping spree of Turkish carpet and porcelain. We got a really nice hand wowen carpet for our place and a nice souvenior from the clay pot place where Ellen and I actually practiced to produce clay pot from scratch. Hers was turned into an amazing ashtray at the end. It was a nice gesture and a cool experience. We finished our very special Cappadocia day filled with excitement at a famous Alexander Kebab place - Elmacioglu. Our friend Peace drovers all the way back to Kayseri to dine at this special place just in time for breaking the fast for Muslim people who were fasting 16 hours straight. The Alexander kebab was to die for and it was the best that I have had so far. The facility fed over 1000 people I thinks the restaurant had ballrooms and such with 3 floors and terrace. Our private tour had to end as we got dropped off to the airport heading back to Istanbul. I still cannot believe how much we squeezed into one day and how many unique places we saw in a day and for an amazingly cheap price. Sponteneous life! We didn't plan any of these and had no clue even about balloon. We just did it up I think here in Cappadocia and Kayseri getting bombarded about history. After 10 days of beaches we needed to balance our trip a bit. Arriving in muggy Istanbul again after midnight we were sadly getting close to our last day of our trip. Some interesting stuff was in store for us on the last day as well!!

Day 7 & 8: Kas - The Beautiful Fishermen's Town

When we left Oludeniz we knew we were heading to heavily favored Kas and before that we wanted to do couple of pit stops. First, we wanted to see the famous Saklikent Gorge that was on the way to Kas. This interesting little town was discovered only 20 years ago and the water coming down from the mountains created this amazing gorge. We only walked 200m and saw fast running freezing cold stream. Total hike required water shoes and it was4km long. They had a cool little set up table right on the river where we sipped our beer with fries while dangling our feet in the freezing water.

Saklikent Gorge and the restaurent at the entrance

After Saklikent our next stop was posh little town of Kalkan. This heavily rich British tourist filled spot was nowhere compared to Icmeler or Oludeniz. No hassling or funny business at Kalkan and people were very elegant. Spent the afternoon at the their small public beach and head an amazingly delish dinner at Aubergine restaurant. My friend Gurcan recommended this place and he was spot on as far as the quality of food and the service. Right be the harbor overlooking at a sunset we experienced the best food so far that we had in Turkey. As the night got closer we headed to our destinatin -Kas. Finding our hotel for the next two days was easy as Kas downtown is a very small to get around. We headed to the centre right away to get a feel of the town. Sunday night @ 10pm there were no seats available at the famous celebrity spot Mavi Bar. We walked around the cobblestoned streets and ended up sitting at Cafe Barcelona, which had the most international crowd in Kas. Talking to the owner who opened the bar in 95' and he says that there were bearly any bars or restaurants then and Kas was even smaller. Ellen got too excited about Kas that her body needed some adjustment as she started feeling nausea.

View from our room at Kas Otel

Delicious Levraki (Levrek with Raki saace) at Nereid Meyhanesi

The next day we didn't want to do the all day boat trip but rather spend a day doing nothing. Kas' water is interesting in that it is really calm in the morning until abut noon and it gets very choppy until the evening and it gets calm again later in the evening. Hotter the weather gets more wavy the water becomes. Our Kas Otel did have exactly what we wanted. Decent rooms and a beach access. As Ellen finished her book and I got closer to the end of mine we didn't think that we would be tanning under the shade - at least I didn't:) it was a hazy day too so I didn't put any sunblock. My legs didn't appreciate that as I couldn't toss & turn when I was sleeping at night. The 2nd evening in Kas we wanted to have a dinner at Bilal's place but apparently you needed a boat to get to where the restaurant was. The day before I noticed a quaint little Greek taverna called Nereid meyhanesi which had old Turkish and Greek songs playing. We were given the best seats of the restaurant up at the terrace overlooking the entire Kas village. Had a great large Levrek (Sea Bass) with delicious local mezes - Borani, Selaniko, warm local vegetables and zucchini and yogurt dip. Ended the night with a Turkish tea nd hookah (one of the best hookahs i had) as it was still hot in midnight. Way to cool off just like the Egyptians:) it wasn't hard to fall asleep that day lemme tell you that. By the way, the book that I'm reading is called Oracle of Stamboul by Oakland resident author Michael David Lukas. It takes place in Istanbul in around 1870s as the Ottoman Empire collapsing. For suspense and thriller lovers with a cultural spin I highly recommend the book.

Kaputas Beach at Sunset

Kaputas Beach

Our last day in Kas was completely spent in Turkey's most amazing little beach - Kaputas. The turquoise water, warm sands, good looking waves made the place live uptomits expectations. It was a Ramadan Tuesday in Kaputas Beach so we didn't have too many people around noon. Yet again, we decided to do nothing but lay by the beach. Kaputas will always be special place for us. This was also the end of our beach part of the vacation. We were off to Cappadocia tonight dropping our 10 day friend/ car to the Antslya airport and taking the latr plane directly to Kayseri. As we drove we stopped by our Kas Otel again, and even though we checked out, our favorite guy there allowed us to take a shower in one of the empty rooms. Making good connections always helps. Drive to Antalya was long and windy but we made it to our flight in last minute, thanks to the rental company guy, who dropped us to the domestic airlines drop-off. He was so kind and Europcar is a great company to rent a car in Europe. I have rented from them in Barcelona as well and they don't charge for drop off fees so you can leave your car any Europcar location. Checked in to our hotel around midnight in Kayseri. Kas, we will always miss you...

Day 5&6: Oludeniz / Blue Lagoon / Butterfly Valley

Wow looking back now for the past 48 hours at Oludeniz it feels like we've been here over a week. Oludeniz (Dead Sea) is a beautiful beach town with turquoise water wrapped around in a mountainous landscape. Its also the Paragliding capital of the world as the temperature, close up mountains are in perfect condition for floating through the sky. It was hard to convince my partner in crime to glide with me but I really wanted to be up there. Paragliding started in 1989 in Oludeniz and it's the most popular destination in the world for this not-so-crazy adrenaline rush sport. I had to drive up 1900m to glide off of a downward sloping cliff. Once you are in the sky you don't have to do anything but enjoy the amazing view of Blue Lagoon, St. Nicholas island (where supposedly Santa Claus lived for a while) and 12 islands of Fethiye. It's hard to put the experience into words but if life brings you to Oludeniz you must do Paragliding.

1000m baby!

Blue Lagoon

Beautiful Oludeniz

When we first arrived to Oludeniz we went to the beach right away and soaked up the sun on the Blue Lagoon. Waves were quite high which made it difficult to get in with rocky sands. It was the cleanest and the best looking beach so for I think. As people started leave towards the sunset it became even cooler to hang out on the beach front. At night we went out and had some Sangrias at the cool spot - The Hangout. This rooftop terrace was overlooking at the main strip of Oludeniz shopping plaza and the beach at the same time. Next day I started my day with the excitement of Paragliding where Ellen slowly rolled out to the bed and enjoyed her breakfast. She was able to see my take off and landing near the office of the company, Airborne, which I recommend highly for Paragliding.

After the cool experience which you will have to wait to see the ugly pictures from the top of Blue Lagoon, we wanted to go to Butterfly Valley. This interesting yet another hidden gem was found by bunch of hippies back in 70s and now becoming a bit more popular. You can only get there by boat or some serious hiking. Since we didn't have any mountain gears or hiking shoes we took the short route, Rocky boat for half-an-hour. As you get near the Butterfly Valley, where butterfly season is in Spring, you see the amazing little cove that gets you. To me it was like an island from the people's mood and the limited number of people they have at the Valley. We sipped our beer and enjoyed the sound of waves and rocks gliding back and forth as much as we can. In the "island" there was also a short hike to a waterfall that we were recommended to visit. Seeing personnel passed out on the shade from the heat, animals laying out in the sun, couple of butterflies dancing in the sun it was a great hike that ended in a small but very refreshing waterfall. I more or less took a shower there to cool off and eto enjoy the hike back to the beach. The trail was 1km and it also leads to an access point where the true hikers can climb this way out of the valley to the village of Faralya. As we reached out to the Secret Heaven's beachfront again there is a small bar on the rocks with a stunning view of the valley and the sea, surprisingly called The Rock Bar. We had our last drink in BV hoping that the last boat will be late in departure. There were a few people that come here for camping and seeing their tents was tempting enough to rent one for us.

Rock Bar @ Butterfly Valley

Relaxing Responsibly @ BV sponsored by Efes

Lively downtown Oludeniz

On the ride back to Oludeniz we saw an amazing resort that is owned by a British man who literally bought an entire cove and paid for the road access to the government. I guess money can buy a paradise in the end. In the evening we had a nice dinner at one of the few authentic Turkish restaurants. We smoked the night away with a cool Hookah and people watching. Our waiter was hitting on a British chick saying 'I Jealous now' was enough to see as a true pick up line for this beautiful part of the world! Next is long awaited Kas!

Day 4: Old Datca, Sogut, Icmeler

We had hard time leaving Datca and it's beautiful villa Asina that we hung out at old Datca for an hour before we head out. Old Datca was the home for famous Turkish poet Can Yucel and I had a chance to see his house and the cafe that he spent most of his time. This cobble stoned, narrow streets with flowers had an interesting feeling when you walk around the little town centre. Many locally produced silk artists and jewelers were nice to visit to get inspired.

One of my fav poet Can Yucel's street in Old Datca

Heading next was the fishermans town of Bozburun. We didn't have the best experience there as the beach was dirty and there wasn't much to do. I like to think of Bozburun as a great pit stop for gas and snacks because as were heading to middle of nowhere this was our only chance to fill up the tank. Then I remembered my best friend Burak recommended to eat calamari at the village of Sogut. We had there next with no expectations and not only had the best fried calamari and grilled octopus but also the beach was so nice and cozy that it was hard to leave there. There were probably 40 people total in the high season with us enjoying the beauty. Life couldn't be harder for the people of Sogut as they have to wake up and see that miserable view:)

we had to leave there before sunset as I didn't know how long it will take to Icmeler, where we were spending the night. 1 hr amazingly curvy drive with gorgeous views of mountains came to an end and we were in Icmeler, mini England. I don't remember any non English word in restaurant names when we went out at night but I made a British restaurant as middle eastern as possible by ordering hookah, and watermelon. Icmeler is only 10km from Marmaris which became popular for Brits and other Europeans in early 1990s when Turkish president Ozal promoted this city to Europe. Ready for a nice sleep after a long day of driving!

Day 3: Hidden Gems

    Today was a sponeneous hidden gem day. Flipping through Lonely Planet Turkey book I saw a small write up about a villager's breakfast spot on our way to south of TR. To find the village of Kirazli, we had to come up with some creative ideas but this population of 80 people village is known for their sustainable farming, most famously cherries and grapes. We had a breakfast at Koy Sofrasi at the Lonely Planet spot and the experience was quite interesting. Sitting on the floor tables we were tasting local honey, cheese and eggs from the farm next door. So much about the civilization and city life so we were up for a secluded day in all aspects.

Today's drive was the longest and on the way to Datca where we were going to spend the night our friends Ercin and Miray recommended yet another hidden gem, Akbuk, down the Gokova Valley. Driving along the coast for 30km(which we were told 10 by locals:)) going up and down the mountains we were getting a bit overwhelmed with the drive. But the long drive was worth it. We were in Akbuk, translates to White Cove, and the green water color, perfect water temp and amazing weather. We felt like we were the only "tourists" there. I grabbed a fish and bread (balik ekmek) for lunch which was quite delicious. Our unplanned pit stop had to end but I'll never forget the mountain-wrapped cove of Akbuk and it's water.

Heading to Datca we had to climb through yet another mountain. Datca is a peninsula that separates Aegian sea from the Mediterranean. You can feel the water changing temperature the Med being the warmer and saltier one. When we arrived to our 'known' hidden gem boutique hotel, Villa Asina, right away we knew we were in Heaven. The neighborhood of Datca that we stayed is called hidden village(Saklikoy) and there were really not many activity around this little corner spot. Villa Asina is the dream of man that owns, cooks and operates the place. I've spoke to him a few minutes and he is quite an interesting person. Wait until I post the pictures of his lobby and the outside porch. He built a pool that you feel like you are in the sea because it is in the same eye level as the sea. Hammocks waiting to be utilized we watched the beautiful horizon of Datca.

Breakfast @ Villa Asina was spectacular

Back facade of the hotel

hammock looking towards the Meditterenean

We fell in love with this hotel. Thank you Priya!!

At night we drove to the harbor and had a fish for dinner for change:) this quaint town wasn't commercialized and it was the home of yachts and boats. We even saw a beautiful catamaran pulled up for dinner. Heading back to to hotel the sky was so clear and unlit that we could see the milky way and Orion stars. Had a random chat with our Brit neighbors on our balcony. They come here every year and stay 2 weeks and do literally nothing. That's the way to enjoy this family oriented place. The view from our room was spectacular period. Datca, we'll come to visit you again, promise!

Road trip kick off Day 1&2: Ephesus, Kusadasi

    Chapter 2 officially started on Monday with and early flight to Izmir. This old city of Symirna has been home to many different tribes as well as Byzantine and Ottoman Empires. We rented our 4 door, AC'd friend Renault Symbol for the next 10 days. Our first stop was at famous Ephesus Ruins. This breathtaking place for history lovers captured my attention right away with a gigantic 25,000 seat stadium/amphitheater. The Theatre was the place where sporting events took place as well as the congregation area for people of Ephesus. Making our way to the famous Library truly captured everyone's attention. Pictures don't justify how beautiful this architecture is. Walking up and down in the ruins of Ephesus under 100 degrees I felt like how they must have been living those days.

At the Theatre Gymnasium in Ephesus Ruins

Famous Celsius Library that is over 2500 years old

As we continued our historical personal tour with Virgin Mary's home we realized the uniqueness of these famous sites. Virgin Mary have lived on top of the Bulbul mountain in last part of her life after Jesus. Pope Jean Paul's visit to the site in 60s made the place world wide known. Making my prayers and putting a wish paper n the wish board was great. Now that wishes were wished we only had the time to wait until they come true... We also had a quick stop at the Artemis Temple which it's only lasting column out of the 127 was the home to a few birds.

Siegs is in the middle of the wish board

Hanging by the only left column of the Artemis Temple

We made our way to our hotel after long and tiring day and we cooled off at the beach that was 100m from us. Watched the sunset and took horrible pictures as the sun was setting. Having a fish is a must in the coastal towns and we both had a fresh wild Cupra (Sea Bream) and went back to our balcony for people watching killing a bottle of Turkish Pinot Noir, Okuzgozu. Day 2 in Kusadasi was dedicated to Ladies Beach. This tourist-filled 1km long beach has the best water of Kusadasi. Spending the entire day here, reading our books, sunbathing and sipping a pint of Efes beer was a timely act. Officially the beach time has started. Let's see how the rest of the beaches will compare to Kusadasi.

Kusadasi beach by our hotel

Not sure how many sunsets we caught but this was quite spectacular

Beyoglu, Crazy Party @ AsmaliCumba & Family Sunday

       Saturday was the day to see Beyoglu and Asmali mescit. Galata tower at the south end of Istiklal Caddesi is an amazing spot to see the Istanbul in 360 birdseye view.

Famous trolley at Istiklal

Cats gave up with the record breaking heat

Galata Tower

View of Old Town Istanbul from Galata Tower

With my buddy Gurcan @ Leb-i Derya Bar (360 view of Istanbul)

We probably took 2GB worth of pics and videos in this historically unique spot of Genovese people, who built the tower on 528. After Galata, we stopped by Leb-i Derya with my high school buddy Gurcan as he introduced me to this stunning place a few years back. As we were sipping our Efes beer we were watching the sunset in Istanbul's famous sites. Just getting ready the big party a few blocks away at Asmali Mescit.

Angel & Devil at the same time :)

Late night hookah at Tophane

Group of 15 friends that joined us @ Asmali Cumba Meyhane

 I invited my close friends and family to get together at this cozy meyhane (taverna) where I got introduced to the owner/ DJ through my friend Ugur. We started munching on our mezes as people started to arrive. The slow paced oldies got us in the moment and allowed us to converse. I was jumping from one seat to another to be able to talk to everyone. Seeing Ellen having a good time with all my friends and enjoying the Turkish songs made me feel great. As the party went along the music got louder and better and we danced the night away. Drinking Lion's milk (Raki) with my friends and singing along to new and old songs I got I wanted... We ended the night at the famous hookah quarter of Istanbul, Tophane. Another awesome day.

Awesome BBQ dinner at my cousin's

Sunday was yet another hottest day of the year. At this point have one comment: Bring it on Sun! Burak and Melis came and we modeled for their portfolio. They took some really cool creative shots on our garden. Night was a spontaneous dinner with the Toker family at Uncle Zadigs place. They greeted us like a king and queen. Kamer bbq'ed shish and wings all night including his signature eggplant with melted cheese dish that i couldn't stop eating. Their infamous rooftop terrace witneessed some interesting Turkglish words that will be remembered forever. Way to end the Istanbul chapter! Off to west and south coast! What's on Tap? Ephesus, Virgin Mary's house and the kickoff of our 1000km road trip along the coast of Turkey. Show must go on!!