Purposeful Traveller: Turkey

Showing posts with label Turkey. Show all posts

Friday, 11 July 2014

Travel - Selcuk, a lovely town

When I arrived at Selcuk, I did think twice why did I book 4 nights staying at this small town, but of course at the end of the 5 days 4 nights, I did not regret my decision. =)

Many come to this town for Ephesus and House of Virgin Mary, so do I. However, I am glad I stayed longer to experience the Saturday local market.

I love how things were arranged so neatly and the fruits, vegetables and stuff were all so colourful that it just brightens your morning!

Spices anyone?

Little boy helping out at the stall.

The cherries and strawberries were sooooooooooooooooooooo cheap. Less than SGD2 for 500g and they were sooooooooooooooooo good. I swear I was tempted to buy back home if I was not going to Greece after this.

We bought nuts and figs from this stall, the stall holder was so so friendly, he just kept letting us try various nuts. =) I enjoyed this kind of exchange with the locals, especially in this kind of setting. It is just genuine encounter with people.

And yes, I love this small town.

Our lunch for that day.

Chillax by the pool in our accomodation.

I am glad besides exploring all that should be explored, I can spend a day leisurely in this lovely town.

Purposeful Traveller - A simple day in Selcuk.

Wednesday, 18 June 2014

Travel - Ihlara Valley

Ihlara Valley hike was part of the green tour I took (120TL, about SGD 72) and it turned out to be the highlight for me!

The underground city was awesome, but I did not expect this hike so it was like a gem found. The 3km hike was leisure and not tiring, the weather was perfect, cooling and I did not perspire at all!! Kind of made me miss that place now that I am back in Singapore where I perspire the moment I step out of bathroom. >.<

The valley was formed from volcanic eruption many donkey years ago

It is actually a pretty long route (14km if I am right) but we did only 3km, someday I hope to return and hike all the way!

We have to climb down these stairs before reaching a small monastery

Then the hike begun, just follow the path along the river.

See, I can even wear long sleeve to hike.

Surrounded by Mother Nature

There are many different valleys, with different hiking routes. Let's hope one day I can return for more. Cheers.

Purposeful Traveller - Gem found.

Sunday, 15 June 2014

Travel - Goreme, A Unique Landscape

From Istanbul, it was a 10 hours journey to Goreme (which is in Cappadocia). Trust me, I was pretty reluctant to take the bus because can you imagine I don’t even do such long bus journeys from Singapore to Malaysia (e.g. to Penang) anymore but here I am taking such long hours bus ride in Turkey. >.<

The bus ain’t those super VIP with just 27 seats like those we always take for long journeys. It is a 46 seater bus. We went with Metro Turizm for the bus ride because they have a pick up point near Taksim Square. The cost of the ticket is 60 TL (SGD 36).

The bus do have mini-TV to every seat BUT all channels were in Turkish. -_- The seat was comfortable, but for a 10 hours ride it can still be quite exhausting at the end of the journey. They do stop a few times (3 maybe?) during the journey and each time was for about 30 mintues or so. What impressed me was they served drinks (coffee, tea, juices or water) at the beginning of the journey and each time after the stop over.

ANYWAY! After the tiring journey, we reached Neveshire where we have to change to a smaller bus for the transfer to Goreme. Goreme was a total change of landscape from Istanbul, all those rock formations and valleys were simply gorgeous!! I love it!

Arriving at our accomodation - Taskonak hotel. I totally love the dining area which overlooked the entire place. Simply breathtaking!

The room is alil small but other than that everything was great! The host was very hospitable and helped us to arrange the tours and bus tickets. We paid cash and was given a 10 euros discount, we paid 98 euros for 2 nights (16 euro/pax/night) quite a good deal!

We stayed 3 nights in Goreme and were able to take sometime to enjoy this beautiful place. As we reached on day 1 morning, we did a brief walk around Goreme town and chanced upon OZ Cappadocia. We booked a ATV Sunset Tour for 70TL (SGD 42) and it was lovely!