Highlights of Turkey 2011 ~ Ross

We arrived in Instanbul from Cairo on 21st April (1 day before the Highlights Tour begins)

I would recommend doing this as it certainly gives you time to relax and see a bit more of Istanbul.

Up at 7.00 for a good buffet breakfast, hotel is fairly busy with heaps of conferences going on. After breakfast we catch a cab to Kabatas ferry terminal for a trip to the holiday island of Buyukada. Great trip with local entertainment by locals selling their wares. The island is amazing, there are no cars or buses and the only transport is by horse and buggy, which we take for a great ride around the island.We have some lunch with a table on the side of the street, great food and cheap beer, ferry trip back to Kabatas and grab another cab ride back to the Dedeman.

We shower up and ready ourselves for the Trafalgar 7.00 pm briefing for the highlights of Turkey tour.We meet our Tour Director for the next 8 days Serkan, a not too Turkish looking man, who starts to explain the tour in full. To our utter amazement and shock he asks “if anyone would be interested in the optional of attending the Anzac Dawn Service at Gallipoli” WHAT !! we can’t believe this as we were told by Trafalgar we would not be going to Gallipoli at all !!

We have some complimentary drinks and meet some of our fellow travellers, one Doreen a South African whom I met on the Trafalgar forums. We then walk back up the road to another close by Italian restaurant and the food once again is good. It’s Good Friday today although not celebrated by the Muslim dominated Turkey, we all have fish for dinner, except me, who wrongly thought that Good Friday was over and it was OK to eat Kofte. After dinner we head back to the hotel full of excitement for the tour and have a few nightcaps before bed.

Sleep in today up at 7.30 an breakfast with Trafalgar in a Conference room, not half as good as the breakfast room, but we do OK. We have a pick up at 9.00 for the Istanbul city tour. We all meet on the bus and are amazed that there will be 40 in all on this tour. One Oz family from Victoria consisting of father, mother, daughter and her 2 children 8 and 10. Doreen and her husband Robert from Durban, and a mixed bunch of Canadians, South Africans, a young couple from Canada, Chinese New Yorkers and a Vietnamese husband, wife and daughter, plus some Aussie guy with Philipino wife, a mixed bunch this lot.

Anyhow we’re off to visit the highlights of Turkey, traffic is very slow and we finally get to the Blue Mosque, Serkan changes plans and we first visit Hagia Sophia a magnificent Basilica, Mosque and now museum dating back to 360 AD. We then have lunch and grab a Kebab at local restaurant.

After lunch we go to the Byzantine Square and the Obelisk that was transferred from Karnak Egypt, a place where we have already visited. The onto the Blue Mosque and finally to Topkapi Palace home of the Ottoman Sultans, where the crowd is huge, and we’re crushed as we try to enter the palace. We bump into George, our tour director from the Cristal Cruise ship and view the topkapi dagger and the spoonmakers diamond and huge candelabras with encrusted diamonds.

We finally get back to the hotel after 7.00 and head out again to the third restaurant near our hotel Kebbabi for a good Turkish meal and the back to our hotel for a late drink.

6.30 wake-up call today, 7.15 bag out and 8.00 on the coach as we head down the coast to Canakkale. It’s a long drive and we have ample breaks for morning tea and then stop for lunch near Gallipoli turn off.

We’re then told that we may be able to visit the Lone Pine Cemetery and Channuk Bair the New Zealand War memorial near Anzac Cove, but must wait for the Turkish dignitaries to finish their commemorative service. First we’re told we can’t go and then another Trafalgar rep. Osman steps in and gets to work and we finally get to go into this sacred place after 4.00 pm, visit Lone Pine which was very moving and then wait, and wait, and wait till we can get to Channuk Bair.

We head to the ferry to Canakkale and onto our hotel, which was supposed to be the hotel Kolin but instead were taken to hotel Tusan which was a disgrace, lucky we’re not staying there as we will be at the dawn service. Dinner was ordinary, rooms a shamble and we only have enough time to shower and then are picked up at 11.00 for the trip back to the ferry and over to Gallipoli.

We meet up again with Osman, who will be our guide for the night and are excited as we’re dropped off at the security gates, are given a complimentary Gallipoli pack containing Official Program Guide, a Beanie, Poncho, postcard, Tie Pin, etc, a nice memento.

We walk the kilometre to Anzac Cove, amazing site with all the young people lined up on the grass in their sleeping bags. There is plenty of stadium type seating around and we grab 4 seats together and settle in for the night.

Very cold, not much chance of sleeping as there are various programs during the night with war documentaries, interviews, brass bands, etc. Dawn service begins at 5.30 as the sun slowly rises to reveal a surreal environment with the beach and the rugged cliffs behind the natural amphitheatre, truly a once in a lifetime experience.

After the service we meet up with Osman the Turkish genius who organised the whole thing and head back to the hotel for a crap breakfast, pack our bags and board the bus again. First stop the ancient city of Troy, rebuilt 9 times since the 12th century BC. It was the focus of the Trojan war and the legendary Trojan Horse, the girls get to climb on the replica for a few photos. Then back on the bus and on to Pergammon where we stop for lunch at a local restaurant. We then visit the ancient kingdom of Pergammon and walk through the amazing Ascelepion Medical Centre and the Roman Theatre and temple of Dionysus.

Next a long afternoon drive, (which gives us a chance to catch up on some sleep) and onto our stop for the night the city of Izmir,3rd largest in Turkey. This is Serkan’s home town and he goes off to visit his parents whilst we have a nice buffet dinner. The 5 star Swisshotel is modern and the rooms are good.

Free Wi-Fi in the room, so I get a chance to upload some photos. We have an early night.

6.00 am wake-up call, breakfast at 6.30 and on the bus at 7.00. Our first stop is the ancient city of Ephesus. Now this is a truly remarkably well preserves ancient city, home to one of the 7 ancient wonders of the world the Temple of Artemis, mostly destroyed by arson. The Roman city dates back to 6,000 BC and is a major highlight of our trip so far, especially the massive library of Celsus.

We then visit the holy site of the Virgin Mary’s house and get to walk through the house where reportedly the blessed Virgin Mary spent her last days.

On the road again as we stop at a traditional Turkish Carpet factory, now this one was good with a great display of carpet making and huge range of carpets. Some of the more wealthy guests buy carpet, one $3,600 dollars worth !!

On towards Pamukkale and a stop at Ceramic exhibition and factory where Sharon buys a ceramic plate for Penny. We have a short roadside stop at Turkish Delight stall and then through some lovely old Turkish villages with the locals sitting around drinking tea and relaxing. We arrive at the Pam Hotel, Pamukkale and are pleasantly surprised, beautiful older style hotel, with immaculate gardens, rooms quite sizeable and comfortable.

The buffet dinner is a good one, probably one of the best and then we get into our swimmers and bathing cap for a dip in the thermal hot springs, which form 3 cascading pools of varying heat, the top one very hot. We feel relaxed and cleansed and head of to bed for an early night.

6.00 am wake-up, etc. etc., and looking forward to visiting the famous Pamukkale white cliffs. This is a great archaeological site as well with the ruins of Heriopolis. The travertine pools are amazing and we get to paddle in the pools, swimming has been banned for a while as they try to resurrect the damage done over the years to this now World Heritage listed site. We also visit Cleopatra’s pool with the Roman columns under the water, an amazing heated thermal pool with crystal clear water.

We have a long drive today as we head for Bursa and stop for lunch at a traditional Kofte (meatball) restaurant, good food and atmosphere. We arrive in Bursa and first stop a visit to the Green Mosque (seen one mosque, seen them all) and then spend some shopping in the Silk Market.

Our hotel the Kavenesky Spa is another 5 star hotel and is luxurious. We shower up and have some very expensive pre-dinner drinks in the cocktail bar before once again a “buffet dinner”. This hotel also has the Ottoman Turkish bath, but unfortunately we do not have enough time to use, so we go back to the bar for some more very expensive drinks and off to bed.

Our last day on this tour and after we have another good breakfast we’re on the road for the shorter drive to Istanbul. But not before the customary stop at a leather factory. The owners welcome us with open arms as they should because half of the touring party buy leather coats!!

We then take a short ferry trip across the Marmara sea close to Istanbul and get ready to tackle the traffic, which doesn’t disappoint as it is quite chaotic. We cross the First Bridge from the Asian side and are now back in the European side, finally getting into the city and stop nearby the Galata bridge where we visit a Rolex and jewellery store, once again some of the guests purchase jewellery.

We then have some free time as some of the group are taking the Bosphorus cruise, while we head back into the grand Bazaar for some more shopping. I buy a pair of jeans, wallet, jogging shoes and a belt !!

Back on the bus and we wait for 2 couples who went shopping and have not returned. Finally they arrive and we head off into the beautiful Yildiz Park with its magnificent entrance. The restaurant is good with great views over the First Bridge. It’s our farewell dinner and we have to say our goodbyes to Serkan and the rest of the group.

We head back once again to the Hotel Dedeman, where we raid the mini-bar and go online to choose our seats for the Etihad flight back home.

Optional: Bosphorus Cruise $40 (did not go, not worth is for 45 minute cruise)

Sleep in today, no wake-up call, no bags out. We have a good breakfast back in the main dining room and then relax and pack as our pick-up is not till 11.00 am.

Much faster trip to the airport this time only 45 minutes instead of the 2 hours that we took to get here in the first place. We drive past the ancient walls of the old city and arrive at Istanbul airport withplenty of time.

We check in for Etihad flight EY096 to Abu Dhabi and EY454 Abu Dhabi to Sydney.

Plane is late on takeoff as we wait in a long line for clearance behind several other planes. We finally take-off and watch a couple of movies and have some lunch. We arrive in Abu Dhabi a little later than scheduled, but that is good as we only have a couple of hours wait till we board our flight for home.

We have dinner on the plane and settle down for a good sleep before we arrive in Sydney.

Arriving back in Sydney 6.00 pm Saturday 30th April – A great trip !!!