Day 10 – Tuesday 16 September 2008
Pamukkale to Kusadasi (270 klms)

Up at 6:45 and wake-up call at 7am

Breakfast from 6:30am and bags out by 7.30am

Departure at 8.30am

Weather: Fine and HOT

The coach departure was ALMOST on time this morning and we pulled out at 8:32am.

Once again we had what was essentially a day of travel with only one sightseeing spot before reaching Kusadasi.

At 10:10am we arrived at Aphrodisias (possibly the most interesting Roman excavations in the world and they are still working in some sections) and Rashid took us on a guided walk through the ruins of the stadium, Temple of Aphrodite, Agora and Theatre, amongst others.



Rashid’s tour walked in the opposite direction to most guides because he likes his way best because you come across different sections as surprises instead of getting glimpses of them before you get there. It was very hot, even at that time in the morning, and we were glad we had taken water with us. Aphrodisias was named after Aphrodite, the Greek goddess of Love and was a small city in Caria, Asia Minor. It is located near the modern village of Geyre, about 230 km from İzmir.

We finished our guided walk at 11:50am, on the hill overlooking the Theatre and most of us then went to the museum in our spare time before rejoining the coach. The museum contained many artefacts and stone sculptures from the site and everything was set out very well. We left the museum at 12:15, boarded the coach at 12:40 and had only a 5 minute drive to our lunch stop.

Lunch today was at a very nice restaurant in Geyre called Antalya and was set in a nice atmosphere of long tables set underneath trellises loaded with grapes. A wide choice of foods were shown and explained to us and then orders taken. I had excellent moussaka and the beer was ice cold. While eating we had a gent entertaining us as he played a stringed instrument with a small colourful parrot sitting on the end of it.



After our 1 hour lunch stop we left at 1:45 and drove straight through to Idan where at 3:15pm we had a 20 minute stop at a supermarket for people to buy beer and/or have an ice cream.

Back on the road again we arrived at our Sealight Resort Hotel in Kusadasi at 4:35pm. This was a substitute hotel as we had been “bumped” from our scheduled one and tomorrow Rashid said he would buy us all lunch as compensation. It was a very nice resort though with large swimming pools and private beach down at the bottom of the cliffs. We did however have to be “Branded” with coloured wrist straps to separate us from the rest of the guests and once again dinner was an included buffet. There was no set time or tables for our dinner tonight and it was just a matter of going down anytime from 7pm onwards.

After checking in, and before dinner, my wife and I went for a walk around the pools, past the aerobics class and part way down to the beach.

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Day 11 – Wednesday 17 September 2008
Kusadasi to Izmir (115 klms)

Up at 5:45am and wake-up call at 6.

Bags out and breakfast at 6:30am

Departure at 7:30am

Weather: Fine and overcast and not as hot today.

Breakfast was very sketchy this morning as we were eating at 6:30 and the main food commenced at 7am. It was just toast with jam or peanut butter, plus some fruit.

Wonder of wonders…… we departed right on time this morning.

Our first stop was at Ephesus at 8:05am and we had departed early to get there before the cruise ship crowds however on arriving we found that there were already a couple of tour groups in front of us from the cruise ships. I had already noticed on our drive past the harbour that both Princess and Celebrity had cruise ships in port.

Ephesus really is a great site and is reputed to be one of the finest archaeological sites in the world. Our guided tour by Rashid lasted two and a half hours and was much more extensive than the many tour groups that passed us throughout the morning. We entered through the back gate at the top so that we would be walking down hill.



Our guided walk by Rashid included the Odeion (meeting hall built in 150AD), the Memmius Monument, Temple of Domitian, Fountain of Trajan, and Temple of Hadrian, to mention just a few. We also walked through the Gates of Hercules and down Curetes Street to the Library of Celsus which was built in AD114-117 by Consol Gaius Julius Aquila for his father.



Oh yes, and we also visited the communal toilets where, of course, a number of our group had to have the photographs taken sitting as groups on the “thrones”.

After having some free time to enter the Library of Celsus we then went to the front of the massive Theatre which was carved out of the flank of Mt Pion during the Hellenistic period and later renovated by the Romans.

At this point we were given some free time before returning to the coach and we walked up into the Theatre to take some photos and then watched a short play, being acted on Arcadian Way, with people dressed up in Roman costume and sword fights etc.

The site was incredibly crowded and there were dozens of coaches at the exit.

At 10:38pm we left Ephesus and drove to the Leather Factory where we arrived at 10:47 and first watched a fashion show with 2 males and 2 females modelling a variety of leather outfits on the catwalk while we sipped our complimentary drinks. After the show we were taken into another room where the 3 qualities of lamb and sheep leather were explained. From here it was into the Showroom for shopping from their large and diverse display of goods. Quite a few of our tour companions purchased goods but we ourselves did not.

At 12:05 we left the Leather Factory and drove to a small village where we arrived at 12:24 for our “compensation” lunch that was being provided as a result of our hotel change the previous night. This lunch was at the Artemis Restaurant (which used to be a school) and was quite a large meal comprising starters of cheese and Yoghurt, bread and 4 types of dips, spinach, stuffed vine leaves and spicy eggplant. After a salad plate each there was the main course of chicken schiskabob, lamb schiskabob, mashed potatoes and rice. All of this was followed up with 2 types of melon and some form of fancy cakes. All very filling indeed and far too much for lunch.

We had our meal outside in an area overlooking the valley and after lunch we left the restaurant at 1:40 and walked up a narrow street to a house where an old woman was going to read fortunes for 2 of our group from their coffee cups. About a dozen of us didn’t bother going into the house and instead we waited outside for those that did.

At 2:25pm we were all back on the coach and headed for the Selcuk Archaeological Museum where many artefacts from Ephesus are displayed (including the statue of the Great Mother Artemis).

We were at the museum from 2:45 to 3:32 then driven to the “House of Mary” where it is believed that the Virgin Mary spent the last years of her life.



We arrived here at 3:45 and after walking up the hill we walked through the house, which is now a shrine and has a small altar inside, and at 4:17 we were back on the coach for our drive to the Temple of Artemis. We arrived there at 4:30 but, as there is only one pillar left standing, we only stopped for about 5 minutes. No one even bothered to get out of the coach to take photos but just shot through the windows instead.

From here it was straight through to Izmir where we arrived at out Hilton Hotel at 5:50pm. A very nice 32 story hotel with air-conditioning that worked and a great view of the harbour from our window on the 25th floor. Something with lunch had disagreed with me and I had a bit of an upset tummy all afternoon but by evening I was starting to feel a bit better.

Dinner tonight was again a buffet and was at 7pm in a private room on the 1st floor. A very nice meal tonight.

We had decided to go for a walk after dinner but when we went down to the foyer at 8:15 we found that it was impossible as there was a severe thunderstorm and the rain was bucketing down.

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Day 12 – Thursday 18 September 2008
Izmir to Kanakkale (350 klms)

We were up at 5:15am and our wake-up call was at 5:30

Bags out and breakfast were at 6am

Departure at 7am

Weather: Overcast and much cooler today but sunny and warm in the afternoon.

Breakfast was on the 32nd floor and we departed on time. Once again today was to involve a lot of travel and we left early as we had 350 klms to cover in addition to our sightseeing.

We had a short rest stop between 8:22 and 8:40 before arriving in Bergama and the Pergamum Ruins at 9:15am. Pergamum is the impressive site of the ancient kingdom located high on the hill and was originally settled by the Aelian Greeks in the 8th century BC. It was one of the ancient world’s main centres of learning.



We had a guided tour until 10:25 visiting such parts of the site as the Temple of Trajan (AD117-138), Acropolis, Temple of Athena, Library and Theatre. The Theatre was very high and steep and is constructed into the side of the hill with great views over the valley and Bergama. It was constructed in the 3rd century BC, has 80 rows of seats and an estimated capacity of 10,000.



Back on board the coach we had a short drive down into the valley to where we had a guided tour of the Asklepion which was an ancient centre of healing established by the great physician Galen who was born in AD129. There was also a military base close to the Asklepion and we were warned to be careful not to take any photos of it.

At 11:40 we reboarded the coach and drove into the town of Bergamon for lunch at the Saglam Restaurant from 11:50 to 12:38. This was a very nice lunch at a very reasonable price (9TL each). We selected a couple of different dishes from about 10 varieties. My wife had veal casserole, rice, potatoes and vegetables while I chose veal casserole, rice, potatoes and a chicken leg.

Back on the road and heading for Troy we had a 20 minute rest stop at 2pm before arriving in Troy at 4pm.

Troy is a fascinating site where 9 cities have been built one on top of the other with Troy1 being 5,000 years ago in 3,000BC. This was a very interesting visit and near the entrance there is a large reconstruction of a wooden horse that of course just about everybody had to climb up inside.



Homer’s Iliad writes about Helen and Paris and Achilles but makes no mention of the well known Trojan Horse and this is because that story was written by another author nearly 200 years later.

Leaving Troy at 5:15 we drove on to Kanakkale where we arrived at our Hotel Kolin at 5:42pm and after checking in we had a short walk around the pool and down to the small beach before returning to our room to get ready for dinner at 7pm.

Dinner tonight was once again an included buffet and quite a nice meal indeed with a good variety of choices.

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Day 13 – Friday 19 September 2008
Kanakkale to Istanbul (360 klms)

Up at 4:45am and wake-up call at 5am

Bags out and breakfast at 5.30am

Departure at 6:30am

Weather: Overcast and cool.

A fairly early start today so as to have time for our visit to Gallipoli and cover our 360klms to Istanbul. We left on time and drove down to the ferry but had a fairly long wait before the ferry eventually left at 7:10am for the crossing to Gallipoli.

Arriving at the other side at 7:35am we had a quick toilet stop before continuing to the Gallipoli Peninsular to Ari Burno where we stayed at Anzac Cove from 8:10 to 8:36, visited the cemetery and saw where the Australians landed on 25 April 1915.

In 1934 the Australian and New Zealand Governments requested permission from the Turkish Government to hold a 20th Anniversary Ceremony at Gallipoli and this was approved by Ataturk who had the following read out at that ceremony on his behalf:

"Those heroes that shed their blood and lost their lives...you are now lying in the soil of a friendly country. Therefore rest in peace. There is no difference between the Johnnies and the Mehmets to us, where they lie, side by side here in this country of ours. You, the mothers who sent their sons from faraway countries wipe away your tears. Your sons are now lying in our bosum and are in peace. After having lost their lives on this land, they have become our sons as well."



That ceremony was the start of the annual Memorial Services at Gallipoli and a large marble plaque now contains Mustapha Kemal Ataturk's 1935 very moving address to the grieving New Zealand and Australian families.

Our second stop was at North Beach where the evacuation took place and where the Dawn Service is now held. We stopped there from 8:37 to 8:50 and the area was much smaller than I expected considering the huge numbers of people that attend the Dawn Service there each year on ANZAC Day.

Our 3rd stop was from 9:10 to 9:25 at Lone Pine and we were told how, during a temporary ceasefire, the ANZACS produced a cricket bat and ball and started to play cricket. Some of the Turks came out of the trenches and joined them in the game and after this, in lulls in the fighting, the ANZACS and the Turks would sometimes throw gifts across to each other.



Next we drove up to Chunuk Bair where we saw the reconstructed trenches, New Zealand Memorial, Ataturk Monument and our TD explained the battles and the tactics.



It was windy and cold here and we were glad to wear our spray jackets. The weather has been a lot cooler since we had the storm at Izmir. We were at Chunuk Bair from 9:40 to 10:24 after which we started our drive towards Istanbul.

We had a 30 minute rest stop at Gelibolu (11:08am) before proceeding to Tekirdag where we had lunch from 1:35 to 2:22 at a restaurant called Rumeli (we both had Lentil Soup and a coke for a cost of 11TL). From here it was a straight through drive to our Hotel Conrad in Istanbul where we arrived at 4:30pm. Despite having left early this morning so as to get to Istanbul before the peak hour traffic, traffic was still pretty heavy.

We had dinner on our own this night and we walked down the hill to the road (about a 10 minute walk) and had dinner at KFC at around 6:30.

As mentioned earlier, in contrast to the heat of most of our tour of Turkey, today was quite cool and most wore jumpers or jackets at Gallipoli.

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Day 14 – Saturday 20 September 2008
Istanbul

Up at 6:15am and wake-up call at 6:30.

Buffet breakfast at 7am and departure at 8am

Weather: Overcast and cool in the morning.

We departed the hotel at 8:05am and drove to the Blue Mosque area of Sultanahmet Square where we arrived at 8:30 and walked through the Hippodrome which was the scene of horse chariot races during the Byzantine era, although little of it remains today. However 3 ancient monuments remain and we saw those on our walk. They were the Egyptian Obelisk built in 1500BC, the Serpentine Column believed to date from 479BC and the Brazen Obelisk.

We were then taken on a guided tour of the famous 17th century (1609-1616) Blue Mosque (Sultan Ahmet Camii) until 9:30am. The mosque is the masterworks of the Ottoman architect Sedefkâr Mehmet Aga and is built on the site of the Great Palace of Byzantium, located on the south eastern side of the Hippodrome. With its six minarets and a great cascade of domes, the mosque is a worthy sibling to Haghia Sophia (Ayasofva) which is just a few minutes' stroll to the north.

Leaving the Mosque we walked through the gardens of Sultanahmet Square and across to Haghia Sophia where we arrived at 9:50am.



Haghia Sophia is one of the marvels of world architecture and is quite amazing. Inside we had a guided tour by Rashid until 11am which included the top balconies which are accessed by a back and forth cobblestone ramp. The current building was originally constructed as a church between A.D. 532 and 537 and for nearly a thousand years was the largest cathedral ever built in the world. In 1453, Constantinople was conquered by the Ottoman Turks and Sultan Mehmed II ordered the building to be converted into the Ayasofya Mosque and for almost 500 years the Hagia Sophia was the principal mosque of Istanbul. It remained as a mosque until 1935, when it was converted into a museum by the Republic of Turkey.

Next we walked through to the Topkapi Palace which was the home of the Turkish Sultans for 400 years. We walked past the Fountain of Akmet III and through the Imperial Gate at 11:10, then into the first courtyard of the Topkapi Palace and along through the Palace main entrance called Gate of Salutation. From here we went along through the Gate of Felicity and into the courtyard where the Treasury is located and, after a further talk by Rashid, we had until 1:30 for free time to wander before meeting back in front of the Haghia Sophia.



My wife and I visited rooms 3 and 4 of the Treasury where we saw the 86 carat Kasikci (Spoonmaker’s) Diamond, the emerald encrusted Topkapi Dagger, swords, a throne that was a gift from the Shah of Persia and many other items. We walked out onto the balconies overlooking the Bosphorus and the Golden Horn, wandered through the Circumcision Pavilion, the Iftariye Pavilion and several others before visiting the Harem. The Harem was much larger than I expected and some parts were decorated.



Unfortunately we had to rush through the Harem as we also wanted to visit the Basilica Cistern. The Basilica Cistern was a fair walk back from the Topkapi Palace and we were running out of time.

Leaving the Palace we hurried back the way we had entered, through the gardens, etc, to the entrance to the Basilica Cistern which is located near the Hagia Sophia. It may have been a rush for us to get there but we were very glad that we did as this massive underground water system is like a lake with rows and rows of marble pillars and the whole place was much larger than I had expected even though I had seen photographs of it.



It was built during the reign of emperor Justinian in the 6th century and is the largest of several hundred ancient cisterns that still lie beneath the city of Istanbul. This cathedral-sized cistern is an underground chamber of 143 by 65 metres and is capable of holding 80,000 cubic metres of water. The large space of the cistern is broken up by a forest of 336 marble columns (each of which is 9 metres high) arranged in 12 rows each consisting of 28 columns. It is still a huge area even though only two thirds of the original is visible today as the rest was bricked up in the 19th century. A very interesting visit indeed and well worth the rush for the two of us to visit. We didn’t have a lot of time but managed to see most of it before rushing back upstairs and back to the Haghia Sophia to meet up with our group at 1:25pm.


We were being picked up by our coach at 1:30pm and we made it back to the pick-up point with about 2 minutes to spare before being driven to the Grand Bazaar where we arrived at 1:45.



The Grand Bazaar is a massive tourist shopping area with 4,400 shops in which EVERYTHING is negotiable. However as a number of us had not had lunch, Rashid first walked us through the Bazaar (entering at Gate 1 Kapalicarsi and down several passages) to where he could point out a number of establishments where we could get sandwiches, soup or kebabs. My wife and I stopped at one small place called Café Life where we had toasted cheese and tomato and thyme sandwiches with cokes (cost 23.50TL and it was the cokes that were expensive).

After lunch we wandered up and down the alleys and passageways of the Bazaar, purchased some fridge magnets and a pashmina, saw the Marble Fountain and the Oriental Kiosk, then headed back to the coach park and at 4pm our coach drove us back to the hotel where we arrived about 4:30pm only to find that we could not get into our room. I had to go down to the front desk and get our keys fixed before they were accepted by our room and quite a few of the others from our group were at the desk with the same problem.

Tonight we had our optional farewell dinner and we left the hotel at 6:30 for the Sur Valik restaurant. There were 32 out of our tour group of 37 who went to the Farewell Dinner. This was a seafood restaurant and I must say that I was a bit disappointed with the food and thought that at 45YTL each it was not good value. However we did have the company of our touring companions for a last get together so that was good.

We returned to the hotel about 9:20, repacked our suitcases etc and went to bed about 12:30.

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Day 15 – Sunday 21 September 2008
Goodbye to Istanbul and Turkey

Our tour is finished, some of our group have already left, some are leaving at various times throughout the day and others are staying on in Istanbul for another day or two.

Our pick-up for the airport is at 10:30am for our flight to Singapore via Dubai.

We were up at 7 and went down for breakfast about 7:45 where we had breakfast with an Australian couple who are starting their Treasures of Turkey tour this day with their “meet ‘n’ greet” to take place that evening.

After breakfast we went back to our room only to find them cleaning it which we thought was a bit quick as we hadn’t checked out yet.

It was a very miserable day this day as it started raining about 4am and was a steady, heavy drizzle as we sat in our room, looking out of the window, waiting for our check-out at 10am.

Our transfer to the airport arrived on time and we shared the mini-bus with 4 others from our tour and 2 from bus No.2 of the tour.

We arrived at the airport at 11:10am and had to immediately go through security screening. Istanbul is the most intensive we have experienced on any of our tours. After putting our suitcases and hand luggage through the scanners I had to remove my belt, wallet, watch etc., and then after passing through, had to open my suitcase for them to inspect my walking stick which I had dissembled and packed in my checked baggage as usual.

From here we immediately went to check-in and obtained our seat allocation before passing through immigration at 11:50am.

Travellers to Turkey should ensure that they leave adequate time when departing through Istanbul airport because the security measures take time.

Prices inside the airport were very expensive with AU$6.50 for a coca cola. By the way, I forgot to mention that the Hotel Conrad in Istanbul is also very expensive to eat in the restaurants (AU$90 each for the Buffet and AU$18 for a glass of wine).

We had a coke at the airport to use up our coins then went through to our boarding gate for another security check (watch, wallet, belt, etc all removed again) and by the time we were inside the boarding gate it was 12:30 with 55 minutes to wait for our 1:25pm Singapore Airlines flight SQ491 to Dubai and Singapore.

Istanbul to Dubai departed 1:25pm and arrived 6:30pm (local time) with a 1 hour time difference = 4 hours flight. We remained on the plane during maintenance but the layover time extended to 7:35pm departure due to a problem with the onboard toilets which were out of order.

Dubai to Singapore departed 7:35pm and arrived at 7:30am the next morning local times and a 4 hour time change = 8 hour flight. Total time from take off in Istanbul to landing in Singapore = 13 hours.

We had 2 days (1 night) I Singapore before continuing on to Sydney with our A380 Singapore Airlines flight SQ221 on Tuesday evening 23 September.

Conclusion

Overall we both enjoyed this tour as (apart from Kusadasi and Ephesus) we hadn’t been to Turkey before.

We liked Cappadocia best and could have spent more time in that remarkable area. The hot air balloon ride in Cappadocia was fantastic and I would highly recommend it to future travellers to Turkey.

The tour was very “full on” with a lot of walking at the archaeological sites and it was, in the main, VERY HOT.

Rashid was a great Tour Director with an immense wealth of knowledge whose only fault was that he gave us too much information, much of which we had no hope of remembering.

Our coach driver was good and we have no complaints about the food or the accommodation as we thought they were all good although of course some were better than others.

Our travelling companions were all good people and it was a pleasure to tour with them.

Dragon,

Thank you for a very comprehensive tour tale that brought back great memories of our "Treasures of Turkey" tour that we took shortly after yours. Capadoccia was our favorite too and the hot air balloon ride was the highlight of the trip. We are looking forward to seeing more of Istanbul someday on another trip since this trip just skimmed the surface of what seems to be a remarkable city. I wouldn't change the tour though since it's far more likely that we will get to Istanbul again but who knows when/if we would get to see the other places on the tour. Just one more note - I did the Turkish bath in Bursa and really enjoyed it, especially in the setting of the historic bath house that is now connected to the hotel.

Dragon, thank you for a wonderful tale. Very comprehensive as Roni said, I enjoyed reliving the trip with all the details.

quote:

Originally posted by RoniSK:
Dragon,

Thank you for a very comprehensive tour tale that brought back great memories of our "Treasures of Turkey" tour that we took shortly after yours. Capadoccia was our favorite too and the hot air balloon ride was the highlight of the trip. We are looking forward to seeing more of Istanbul someday on another trip since this trip just skimmed the surface of what seems to be a remarkable city. I wouldn't change the tour though since it's far more likely that we will get to Istanbul again but who knows when/if we would get to see the other places on the tour. Just one more note - I did the Turkish bath in Bursa and really enjoyed it, especially in the setting of the historic bath house that is now connected to the hotel.

Hi RoniSK

Glad you enjoyed it. Turkey certainly is an interesting place to visit with (IMHO) some of the best preserved archaeological sites in the world.