It’s been almost a year since we were in Turkey, but I still think of that trip often. We saw some really amazing sights, ate delicious food, and had incredible experiences. It’s definitely high on my list of “must return” countries. But the memories that really make me smile are the ones about the people. […]
Our time in Turkey was a wonderful combination of cities and outdoors, history and nature. Pamukkale was a great combination of both. Like most people, we went to see the white travertines, but ruins of an ancient city are also located at the top of the hill. Our hotel was across the street from the […]
While researching our trip to Turkey, Andy found that most people visit the ruins of Ephesus as a day trip from either Izmir or Pamukkale. Since we never expected to be in Izmir, that wasn’t an option we considered. We did plan on going to Pamukkale, but it’s three hours away, and spending that much […]
After our quick stop in Izmir, we took the train to Selcuk to visit Ephesus. The ruins of Ephesus was something Andy mentioned wanting to see while we were in Turkey for our honeymoon. I didn’t really know anything about the ancient city, and I had really only seen one picture, so I had no […]
Izmir was never on our itinerary. Even though we left the majority of our time in Turkey open to flexibility, we had a pretty good idea of where we wanted to go, so adding another destination wasn’t something we even considered. But when our journey across the western half of Turkey took us to Izmir, […]
“I’m not getting on an overnight bus.” “I’m not getting on another plane.” Andy and I don’t always agree on the details of traveling. I like to plan, he likes to be more spontaneous. As a sort of compromise for our trip to Turkey, we decided to book a hotel for Istanbul and Cappadocia ahead […]
After our harrowing flight experience, Andy and I weren’t really up for too much on our first full day in Cappadocia. We tried to sleep in, but that was thwarted by the early morning call to prayer, as expected really. We knew we wanted to take a ride on a hot air balloon, but we […]
Cappadocia is known for hot air balloon rides, so we knew this was a top priority activity for our time there. Like most of our trip, we decided to wait until we got there to book, and since our hotel guy was so friendly and helpful, we went to him again for this. The company […]
“What’s going on? Please don’t let us die. Please don’t let the plane crash.” These words ran through my head during the last part of the scariest flight I’ve ever been on. We had about 12 days for our trip to Turkey. Since we didn’t want to waste too much time with long transit days, […]
Across the street from Agya Sophia in Istanbul is the Blue Mosque, so it seemed logical to go there next. Officially the Sultan Ahmed Mosque, it’s more widely known as the Blue Mosque because of its gorgeous blue patterned tiles decorating the inside. It’s one of the most famous mosques in the world, and Muslims […]