Turkey is a country that has been on my bucket list for quite some time, so I was absolutely ecstatic when I finally pulled the trigger and booked the trip! If Turkey is not a place that has been on your bucket list, well, you should definitely consider adding it! Turkey is such an amazing place, it is said that it needs two continents just to contain its greatness. I chose to split my time between Cappadocia and Istanbul. Read on to discover how I spent my time in both those places.

Day 1: Cappadocia Day 1

I arrived to my hotel, Grand Cave Suites, around midnight on day one and had only a few hours to sleep before my first activity of the trip. I woke up a couple hours before sunrise to get picked up by a shuttle bus to go up in a hot air balloon. Hot air ballooning in Cappadocia is extremely iconic. Every morning hundreds of hot air balloons take to the sky to glide over Cappadocia’s moon-like landscape. The sheer number of balloons in the sky is a spectacle in of itself. This activity was one of the top reasons for my trip to Turkey, which is why I was extremely disappointed when all the shuttle busses were told to turn around and that the aviation authority cancelled all balloon flights for the day due to high winds. I returned to my hotel disappointed and exhausted. I spoke with the hotel desk who rescheduled the balloon flight for the following day. With that all said, I decided to get a couple more hours of sleep before starting our day as most of the sites were still not open yet.

I woke up again around 8am and walked to the Goreme Open Air Museum. On my way, I walked through Goreme town where I was greeted by a new companion for the day in the form of a stray dog. My new friend followed me all the way to the museum and even accompanied me through it. There are quite a few stray dogs and cats in Turkey and it seems that they are more like community pets than abandoned strays. You will see many of the locals feeding and taking care of the cats and dogs that live on the streets .. ‘it takes a village’, they say. One lady even had cat food in her purse. 

Besides the balloons, the Goreme Open Air Museum is one of the more popular things to do in Cappadocia. This museum is an UNESCO World Heritage Site and should be an essential addition to your Cappadocia itinerary. This amazing place boasts ornate rock formations from the Byzantine era said to be a monastery that housed 20 monks as well as a pilgrimage site in the 17th century. Among the rock formations, you can see churches, chapels and various monasteries. It’s about a 1km walk from the Goreme City Centre. The entrance fee is 100 Turkish Lira per person, children under 8 are free.

After the museum, I returned to town. By now the shops were all mostly open. I was actually on a mission that day to purchase a new Turkish Rug for my home. Turkish rugs are an extremely popular souvenir item in Turkey. These rugs can be very expensive however, and can be as high as tens of thousands of dollars. For me, I had a set price in mind that I wanted to spend and was not willing to spend much more on it. Rugs can be purchased in Istanbul, as well as, mostly everywhere in Turkey. I found the prices to be better in Cappadocia overall than Istanbul for most things – and bargaining is allowed; in fact, it is almost encouraged!

In Cappadocia, there are a handful of carpet vendors to choose from, the most famous being Ikram’s Carpets. This place is so popular that it has become instagram famous. I just had to come and see this place for myself! I was amazed at the sheer number of carpets that they had here, how colorful it was and I agree that the way they are laid out in their open courtyard was like art.

Ikram’s was actually my second stop in my carpet shopping quest. My first stop was a place called Seven Brothers. I found a rug I liked and bargained the owner down from over 4,000 dollars to 800, including shipping. I really liked this deal but wanted to see a few more shops before I settled. So I went to Ikram’s next, and found a carpet I liked. Again, we had to bargain pretty hard for it and was able to get them down to about 900 dollars. The next couple of shops either did not have anything I liked, or refused to come down in price enough. Eventually I went back to Seven Brothers and bought the first rug I found at the price we agreed to earlier in the day. The carpet was shipped to my house and arrived to New York on my first day home from the trip. All in all, the process was smooth and easy and Etan was amazing to work with and very honest. (I found Turks in general, to be pretty honest people!)

After shopping for a rug, I stopped at a local cafe for lunch. One of the staple things to eat in Turkey is a dessert called ‘Turkish Delight’, which is pictured 2nd here. This has a chewy consistency and comes in various flavors and colors. It is sold pretty much everywhere & I bought some to bring home. Most vendors will cut you a piece right in the shop and let you try it. Fresh squeezed juices are also very popular as well. 

After lunch I went back to the hotel to rest a bit more. When I got back I was informed by hotel reception that the balloon trip was cancelled for the next day as well and rescheduled for my last day in Cappadocia. I checked the weather forecast for the third day and it looked worse than the first two. I was slowly coming to grips with the reality that I would most likely not get to ride a hot air balloon in Cappadocia. Balloons will not fly in more than 6/7 mph winds, due to the danger that is caused for the landing of the balloon. In fact, the best chance to ride the balloon would have been this day when the winds were just at 7mph.

Late in the afternoon, I decided to head up to Sunset Point to spend a couple of hours before watching the sunset. The views there were amazing. During my time there, being in Cappadocia for not even 24 hours I came to the realization that because the weather did not look good for the next 2 days and looked better toward the end of the trip, that I would make a last minute adjustment to my itinerary and leave Cappadocia that night and go to Istanbul, then come back again at the end to hopefully get on the balloon. 

Before leaving, I had a quick dinner at Kebapzade and then headed to the airport for Istanbul. With a reservation and a balloon ride booked again for the back-end of the trip, I was excited to see what awaited me next!

Throughout the trip, I kept my eye on the forecast and there is a site that lists if the balloons will fly each day.  The site is here: https://shmkapadokya.kapadokya.edu.tr/ It quickly became my daily obsession. Did I end up flying in a balloon? Keep reading to find out!

Day 2: Istanbul European Side

I arrived in Istanbul after midnight and took an Uber to the hotel, Angel’s Home, in Sultanahmet. I was lucky to have found such a great place, having booked it on such short notice. After waking up, I started my very busy day of walking throughout the European side of Istanbul.

Stop 1: Hagia Sophia

Probably the most famous site in all of Turkey, this mosque was converted from an Eastern Orthodox Church to the mosque you see today, in 1453. However in 1935, it was established as a museum, a role it served for 85 years, until 2020 when it was annulled and re-established as a mosque. It is free to enter, but you must take your shoes off at the entrance. The architecture here both inside and out was equally as astounding and I enjoyed my time here.

Stop 2: Blue Mosque

The Blue Mosque is a similarly-domed shaped mosque to the Hagia Sophia but it is more of a blue color, hence its name. While also beautiful, it was under construction when I went, so Iwere not able to see the mosque in its finished form. As you can see below, the ceiling is surrounded by scaffolding as well as is the spire on the back right. Still, despite the construction, it was amazing to see.

Stop 3: Grand Bazaar

The Grand Bazaar is probably the most famous stop for shopping, outside of Istiklal Street. Here are rows of vendor after vendor, selling everything you could possibly imagine … tea, Turkish delight, clothing, coffee, artwork and even rugs. Haggling is the name of the game and there are many deals you can find among all the treasures.

Stop 4: Spice Bazaar

Similar to the Grand Bazaar, this is also a market lined with vendor after vendor but most of the vendors here sell spices, tea and coffee as opposed to the more widened variety of the Grand Bazaar. I enjoyed walking around both places. The energy is intense and the colors and smells are savory. There are also shops outside lining it, as well as the inside part. Outside I found things like meat, cheese and fish.

Stop 5: Galata Bridge

The Galata Bridge is a bridge that connects 2 different parts of the European side. This is also where you can catch the ferries to the Asian part. There are many ferries running throughout the day. Under the bridge are many restaurants but I found if you continue past the bridge to the left, are even better, more local/less touristy places that serve amazing fish sandwiches. I was so blown away by how good these sandwiches were and they were so fresh … you can even see people fishing right from the bridge!

Stop 6: Galata Tower

Galata Tower is pretty much just an observatory but at the top you can get an awesome 360-degree view of Istanbul. These pictures don’t really do the city any justice … ;). It was so cool to see Istanbul from way up high and get some awesome pictures for the blog.

Stop 7: Hammam

I had planned to do a hammam at some point in the trip but was thinking to do it in Cappadocia. However, I stumbled across this place and it turned out they had availability for me right away so I decided to do it. The prices were amazing and they offered complimentary tea! They had various services ranging from a simple scrub, to more complex ones with massages etc. I just got the basic package but it didn’t disappoint. I literally just walked in off the street with only street clothes and felt the experience was perfect. Can’t beat the prices either!

Stop 8: Istiklal Street

Istiklal Street is one of the major shopping streets on the European side. Differing from the Grand Bazaar, these are just stores instead of vendors. It can be compared to 5th Avenue in New York City or Stroget in Copenhagen. There is even a cool tram that runs through the city. I ended up buying a really nice bathrobe at a great price. I would say it is a mix of high-end but also moderately priced boutiques as well. Istiklal street also boasts some cafes as well as a handful of street vendors selling snacks like borek or roasted nuts.

Stop 9:  Back to Hotel area for Dinner

After a full day, I got dinner across the street from the hotel. We had heard about a dish called Iskender that I wanted to try. It was delicious lamb with tomato sauce on the top and served with yogurt.

We enjoyed our first day in Istabul touring around the European side.

Day 3: Istanbul Asian Side

Stop 1: Eminonu Ferry Terminal 

To get the ferry to the Asian side, there are a few options. You can go from Eminonu to either Kadikoy or Uskandar. I went to Kadikoy. You could alternatively just do a Bosphorus cruise which does a whole loop in the Bosphorus showing you all the sites from the water. I enjoy exploring on my own so I just took the local ferry across.

Before getting the tickets, I stopped to get some breakfast, consisting of simit and coffee & tea. Simit is a very popular breakfast food sold all over the city, it is sort of combination of a pretzel and a bagel. One of the most famous simit spots is called Simit Sarayi.

After breakfast, I purchased the ferry ticket. I found it complicated to use the machines because it would not accept a foreign credit card as also did not give any change, but I found a manned booth so I ended up just buying the tickets directly from the people at the booth. 

The ride took about 20 minutes. 

Stop 2: Tuesday Market

Upon disembarking @ Kadikoy, first stop was going to be the Tuesday Market, Sali Pazari. To my surprise, when I simply put in Sali Pazari in the Google Maps, it brought me to a similarly named place that was NOT the actual place I were looking for … so if you see the small fruit market below with the green awning, you are in the wrong place.

Luckily a nice man working here knew where I actually wanted to go and entered the right place into the GPS for me. To get to the right place, you need to type in Tahiri Sali Pazari … it is about a 35 minute walk from the Kadikoy Ferry Terminal.

When I got to the market, I was so blown away at the the size and crowds of people. Buying things here was a little more frustrating than on the European side because most vendors did NOT speak English and a lot of them did not take credit card either. The array of things being sold here is massive. The items sold here were less touristy souvenirs and more household items like clothes (normal as well as fake designer), food, kitchenware, etc. I was also unsure if it is only open on Tuesdays or everyday, but I did come on a Tuesday so I can vouch it is definitely open then.

Stop 3: Bahariye Street

Bahariye Street is very similar to Ishtiklal Street on the European side. This is the main shopping street on the Asian side. We were also able to catch the tram here to our next destination, Moda.

Stop 4: Moda Pier

Getting off the tram, brought me to the Moda area of the city. The tram stop is actually called Moda. It was a quicker ride than I thought it would be; in hindsight I probably could have walked, but it was cool to have been able to ride the tram. At Moda, there is a pier called Moda Pier. I had gone there for a particular restaurant (the white one below with the orange roof, called Moda Iskalesi), but to my disappointment it was closed. There were a few other restaurants there but nothing really seemed so appealing so I walked around a little more at the pier, took some pictures and then left to go get lunch elsewhere.

Stop 5: Back to Bahariye

As I headed back toward Bahariye Street on the tram, when I got into the main drag I walked around to try and find food. I found sort of a hole in the wall place that had amazing food! I ordered the below white bean stew and Manti. It was so delicious! I am actually glad I ate here and not back @ Moda Pier. While the food @ Moda Pier was probably tasty as well, the food there was more the style food I was used to @ home. The place I ended up finding was more for Turkish people … since I was in Turkey, I wanted the real deal food, the food geared to locals.

Stop 6: Fish Market

On my way heading back toward the ferry, I found another fish market here as well. Like on the European side, everything was so abundant and fresh.

Stop 7: Back to European Side

After my day on the Asian side, I headed back on the ferry to the European side. While I enjoyed my time on the Asian side, 2 things we realized were 1) the Asian side gets much busier at night than it does during the day. Not that this is a bad thing, but as I was leaving there were so many more crowds than there were when I got there. 2) As compared with the European side, a much smaller percentage of people spoke English – not even just at the market, but also at restaurants and places in general.

Back on European soil, first stop was ice cream. I heard getting ice cream in Istanbul was quite the experience. The ice cream server was dressed up in a colorful vest and fez and the shtick here is that the vendors play tricks on you with the ice cream before they give it to you. The ice cream in Turkey is made of something called mastic that gives it a more stretchy, chewy appearance that allows the vendors to do what they do. It was really neat and funny to watch the experience and I enjoyed the ice cream as well.

Stop 8: Back to Hotel Area for dinner 

Later on after digesting our ice cream, I found a fish place for dinner that I wanted to try. Life is short, eat dessert first, right? 🙂

The fish here was fresh from the sea, and I got to choose my own. I chose a perfectly sized Sea Breem. The fish was served sliced open, and grilled mezgoof style with rice and veggies.

Balloon Update: Balloons did not fly

Day 4-6: Jordan

I spent the next 3 days in Jordan, read my Jordan blog on how I spent them. But before I  left Istanbul I headed to the roof of the hotel to get some last glimpses of the Hagia Sophia and Blue Mosque.

Day 7: Cappadocia Day 2

Last two days I was in Jordan the balloons actually flew which left me feeling hopeful because the wind was actually forecasted to be lighter on my first day back in Cappadocia.

After arriving In Cappadocia late the evening before,  I went to bed with my fingers crossed for the balloons.

Waking up at 4:45 am I was picked up by the balloon company (Discovery Balloons). Again we were all driven to the company’s office awaiting word from the Aviation Authority. After a few minutes of waiting, our driver started driving us towards the balloon take off point. Could this really be it? Am I going to fly today? The answer … Yes, Yes Yes. All of my upending and last minute changes to my itinerary paid off. I  flew in a balloon and it was everything I imagined it would be!

Back at the hotel I got some much needed rest before waking up for lunch at Dibek. At Dibek I had traditional Anatolian dishes. The seating here was also very traditional as I sat on the floor to eat. The food was fantastic. Unfortunately Dibek was out of tea and so after lunch I went to a local cafe and got tea as well as some shisha.

After lunch, I stopped at a travel agency and booked an ATV tour to the 3 most popular valleys in Cappadocia, as well as an antigen test and airport shuttle for the next day’s flight home.

Our ATV tour was fun. I originally wanted to hike all of these valleys, but by now with all the walking/hiking I did in Istanbul and Petra, I just did not have the energy, not to mentioned my ankle was still not fully back to 100%, so I thought an ATV tour to them would be a great way to see the sites without taxing my legs even more.

The ATV tour brought me to Love Valley first, followed by Rose Valley, and finally Red Valley for sunset. The whole tour lasted 2 hours and cost 400 TL (Turkish Lira) total.

After the ATV tour I stopped for Dinner at Anatolia Kitchen. Here I enjoyed Falafel and a cheesy dish called Ottoman Stew.

Day 8: Cappadocia Day 3

I woke up early in the morning to catch a glimpse of the balloons from my balcony.

I spent the rest of my last day getting Covid tested, eating food, relaxing at cafes, and souvenir shopping, and of course packing for my return home. The Covid testing was pretty easy, a doctor came to the hotel room, did the test right there and I had results to our email within 2 hours. If anyone has apprehension about the testing process, I felt this was a good way to go but IST airport also has an on-site 24/7 Covid testing facility. 

The souvenirs I bought that day were a Turkish coffee cup set, as well as an evil eye all for 200 TL.

For lunch I had lentil soup and Sak Tava (aka sizzling beef).

For dinner I enjoyed Pide (aka Turkish Pizza)

My trip to Turkey was quite the adventure. One thing I learned on this trip is that it pays to be flexible and willing to take risks outside of your comfort zone. Had I not been flexible or willing to change the trip around, I would have missed out on the balloons. What would you have done? I hope you all can learn something from my blog and use it for your trip to Turkey. 

There is of course much more to Turkey than just Istanbul and Cappadocia and I definitely want to come back. Have you been to other parts of Turkey? I would love to hear about it. Thanks for reading, and as always Saif Travels.

Stay safe & keep traveling!