January 26 through January 31, 2023
Once again falling behind in my blog posts (didn't want this to feel like work, but I obviously have packed in too many tours to keep up 😅). We arrived at Istanbul airport after an uneventful flight (we like it that way 👍) and set about trying to find our way to our Airbnb. This should have been easy because our Airbnb hosts had sent me explicit instructions on how to get there. Art, however, decided to ignore those 😐 and suggested we take the Metro instead. A very nice local woman tried to help us figure out the ticket machine and we made it to the general area we needed (after 3 train transfers) but then we were lost 😕 and it was cold and dark. Since we didn't have wifi (or much patience left), we found a bookshop to regroup and use their wifi; luckily a nice man there knew how to direct us despite the language barrier. We finally made it to our lovely Airbnb residence which is light-years nicer than our Tel Aviv apartment. Not only does this one have a full kitchen with oven, it has 2 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, and a living room. We are in heaven 💓.
We spent the next day unpacking and recovering, and discovering that we are in a very hip and trendy part of Istanbul. We were amazed by how vibrant and modern this city is (dispelling all of my first-world assumptions). We are right next to a Metro stop and if we had followed the Airbnb's instructions from the airport, the journey to our apartment would have been quite simple. Lesson learned 😑.
Over the first 4 days here, we took a tour of the Dolmabahce Palace, saw the famous Hagia Sophia mosque (long queues but worth it for the interesting history and impressive facade), visited Sulemaniye mosque (there is no shortage of mosques here), took a river ride over the Bosphorus strait (which went from the continent of Europe to Asia!), and explored Istiklal Street (a happening spot for shopping and nightlife). We also found the grocery stores, got familiar with the train system, and explored the general area 😀. There's a lot to see in Istanbul, both on the European and the Asian sides.
Later we did a 2-day trip to Cappadocia which is in the middle of Turkey (it's a much bigger country than I had thought 😏). We flew there, putting a lot of faith in our tour agency and domestic flights, and covered a lot of ground in 2 days. Although Cappadocia is famous for its gorgeous hot air balloon rides, the weather didn't cooperate (it is winter here and quite freezing 🥶) so our ride was cancelled. However there's tons more to see, like "fairy chimneys", ancient underground caves/dwellings, and pigeon houses. And so many UNESCO sites, I'm starting to lose count! We went to a place called Love Valley (for tourists in love) and another called Imagination Valley (imagine rock formations in different animal shapes) and yet another called Goreme Open Air Museum where we saw caves with religious paintings that were thousands of years old. We also had a "cool" experience sleeping at our hotel that was literally carved out of a cave, as are many of the buildings in Cappadocia 😊. All of these tours included stops at local workshops (ceramics, pottery, jewelry) which was of course to get tourists to spend money and I obliged (although we really don't have room for souvenirs anymore). It was definitely worth the trip, even if it was an exhausting two days. Bonus: it even snowed one day (maybe the only snow we'll see this year!).
Fun fact 1: I was 54 years old when I learned that "turquoise" is a stone originally found in Turkey, hence the name "Turk-oise".🤷
Fun fact 2: Istanbul seems to be the "knock-off" capital of the world. Everywhere we go in the markets and bazaars, we can find name brands (Christian Dior, Balenciaga, Louis Vitton, North Face) at rock-bottom prices, no doubt counterfeit. Art was able to buy a super cheap winter coat and hat and gloves since he sent his home in January (I had the good sense to hang onto my fleece the whole trip 👍).
Fun fact 3: Istanbul is sooo much cheaper than Israel was and we are loving that. While a can of soda might have run us $4 in Israel, it is less than a dollar here. A complete lunch will run about $5. A fancy dinner we had one night in Cappadocia (complete with lamb cooked at our table, drinks, sides, dessert) ran us $35 total.
Fun fact 4: Almost everyone in this country is Muslim and there are more mosques than I've ever seen. We had almost forgotten the 5-times-a-day call to prayer, but it is ever-present here (as it was in Morocco). In fact, a lot of Turkey reminds me of Morocco, but with way better infrastructure (the train system is clean and efficient 🚆).
Fun fact 5: Istanbul (and probably Turkey in general) loves its cats! There are also tons of homeless kitties all over but they seem to be cared for by shop-owners and there are even little kitty-shelter boxes set up for them. (There are dogs too but they don't seem quite as beloved.) By the way, they also love their cigarettes (much more than Israelis) 😖
Fun fact 6: We learned that we can drink the water here but I've been told it tastes bad so we're sticking to bottled for now (I'm also avoiding the ever-present tea because the one time I tried it, my stomach did flip-flops 😬). Also I have yet to eat any turkey here LOL. And more importantly, we learned enough Turkish to avoid the mistake we made (on day one) of thinking yogurt was milk (my poor ruined Cheerios... 😧).
More to come soon!
Deena and Art
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