Category: Türkiye

I’ve flown through Istanbul airport before, but I’d never ventured into the city. Not for lack of trying, either – I’d been on a flight that could have qualified for a stopover tour, but I hadn’t been able to find it in the airport, and there was no luggage storage in the airport. Plus, that was before the metro reached the airport so it wasn’t exactly straightforward to get to the city. Regardless, I was very excited to change that with this trip!

I stayed in Sultanahmet, basically down the street from the Blue Mosque. As far as proximity to all of the quintessential Istanbul sites, this was perfect! That said, it was very busy and very chaotic – I think if I was going back to Istanbul, I would pick somewhere that was a little bit removed from the tourist sites, now that I’ve gone to them, because the more enjoyable part of the city was wandering through the smaller, less touristy neighborhoods and having coffee at the various cafés. My other pro tip re: the tourist sites – they are really busy during the day, but all that traffic drops off as it gets closer to dinner time, so if you can be flexible about your own itinerary, I would highly recommend looking at 6 – 8 pm as some of the best times to see some of the most well-known sites.

That’s what I did with the Hagia Sophia – I’d walked by it a few times and seen lines around the block, but when I was coming back from dinner there was no line! It was so cool to walk through with almost no one else around. The bottom level is reserved for its use as an operating mosque, while the top level is for tourists who want to come see the space. It’s a beautiful mosque, and the amount of history that’s taken place in this spot is unreal.

One of the coolest aspects of Istanbul, and of Türkiye as a whole, is the fact that it straddles the Bosphorus Strait and sits at the crosshairs of Europe and Asia! Most of Istanbul is on the European side, but it’s easy to take the ferry over. I spent a whole day taking ferries, first to Kadiköy and then to the Princes Islands. The views from the ferries are awesome and I had a really nice time exploring those areas.

My favorite of the major sites I went to was Topkapi Palace! It’s a massive complex and the tile work was gorgeous. While there were a ton of people there when I went, it was easy enough to avoid some of the longest lines and explore what didn’t require a massive queue – I still didn’t see everything, but what I did see was pretty spectacular. My only regret was that I should have planned out food a little better, because I didn’t have enough for breakfast and ended up having a cobbled together lunch of potato chips and juice because I didn’t realize how big of a complex it was when I grabbed my ticket.

The other major Istanbul site that was at the top of my list was the Basilica Cistern, for a kind of embarrassing reason? I’d read about it in a Dan Brown book, if you must know. His novel Inferno is partially set in Istanbul and there’s a scene set in the cistern that made it sound super cool. It made the whole city of Istanbul sound super cool, honestly, but the Basilica Cistern was the place I’d never heard about and then I looked it up and Google showed me some pictures that looked incredible. So I went after dinner and walked around. It was built in the 6th century and, while it used to be a major source of Istanbul’s water, it’s now a tourist attraction, so they project colored lights in there and there are several art exhibits. You don’t need a ton of time in there, but I’m glad I went to see it!

Most of what I did in Istanbul, though, was just walk around the various neighborhoods. Karaköy was fun, especially once I got off the main boulevards and found some smaller streets full of boutiques and cafés. I went into a couple mosques that weren’t the ones you know about by searching “what to do in Istanbul” online. I ended up in Galataport at one point, meant for cruise visitors but also an interesting little planned area along the Bosphorus. I saw lots of street cats.

I had a really nice five days in Istanbul! I’ve been wanting to visit for such a long time, and it definitely delivered. Istanbul is one of those hubs that I expect to fly through a lot more now that I live on the East Coast, and I’m glad I’ve gotten a chance to finally get out of the airport and see a little more of it.

My next trip started with a huge milestone: my 50th country! Considering that when I turned 20, I had only been to the US, Canada, and Denmark, where I had just started a semester abroad, it’s absolutely incredible how much I’ve had the opportunity to travel over the course of my 20s. My first goal was 30 countries by 30 and I have well surpassed that. I wanted to pick something cool for #50, so I went with a week in Türkiye! After landing in the Istanbul airport, I headed to the domestic terminal and boarded my flight to Kayseri.

I had booked myself into a cave hotel, which was absolutely the right call. I stayed at the Aza Cave Hotel, and they handled almost all of my logistics while I was in the region, including my airport transfers, my Red and Green tours, and of course, the all-important hot air balloon ride! I loved my experience there. Everything was so smooth, and there were amazing views of the valley from right outside my door.

The balloons didn’t run the first day I was there because of the wind. I was pretty jetlagged, though, so I still got up early and headed into town to explore a bit before my tour picked me up. The town of Göreme has tons of the traditional cave hotels, which is why it’s where a lot of tourists stay when they come to the region. It makes for an interesting town vibe, with lots of windy roads among the rock formations.

I was taking the Red tour the first day, which goes to many of the main sites in and around Göreme. It’s the most popular tour and is definitely a good introduction to the Cappadocia region. Fun fact, the term “Cappadocia” is more of a tourist region designation than any kind of real geographic/cultural designation. It’s in the Anatolia region of Turkey. The tour had a lot of cool stops, all clustered close to Göreme, and we had our lunch at the bottom of this canyon. This was the perfect first day tour – no long drives, and we got back on the earlier side. Between jet lag and the planned early wakeup the next morning, I was happy to have an earlier bedtime.

The next morning was the moment I had been waiting for – hot air balloons! I went with Discovery Balloons and had a great time. The morning started with a brutally early pick up from the hotel, and then we were driven to a dark field where we got pastries and coffee while we watched our team prepare the balloons. This was pretty cool in and of itself, because we got to watch as the balloons all around us started inflating and taking off.

Our guide started off by taking us as high as we could go, and then we worked our way back down through the valley. Something that really surprised me about the experience was how quiet it all was. Once you were up in the air, it was so peaceful – the only noise by the pilot was an occasional whoosh of flame to adjust the height and sporadic radio messages. I loved the experience of flying that way and seeing the rock formations from a different perspective.

As for how expensive your hot air balloon ride is, the main differentiator is the number of people in the basket. I did the standard one, which I think had capacity for 28 people, and I was happy with this. I personally wouldn’t have spent the additional money to do a smaller basket. I felt like our pilot did a great job maneuvering the balloon around so that we all got a chance to see everything, and it wasn’t like one side of the balloon ever had a “bad” view.

A hot air balloon ride is something I’ve always wanted to try, and I’m so glad I did it here in Cappadocia! I don’t think I need to do it again, because I think the experience of it wouldn’t necessarily feel that different even in a different landscape, and it’s a very expensive thing to do, but I do recommend that people try it somewhere that has a cool and interesting landscape. I also was so amazed by the pilots and crew and how smoothly everything ran – our pilot landed us on the truck that they use to transport the balloons, which was pretty incredible. Afterwards, we all got certificates and a sort of knockoff champagne to toast to our experience!

I got back to my hotel in time for breakfast and a very quick nap before my next tour, which was the Green tour. It goes a bit farther afield to the southern region of Cappadocia. We started at an underground city, which was fascinating to see how people lived in this region. For a long time, there were both cave dwellings and underground cities for security, which is similar to dwellings I’ve seen in the Western US as well. We also headed to Selime Monastery, which was high up on a cliffside.

Our lunch spot on this tour was super cool. We hiked down into a valley and along a river, and the restaurant had these little huts where you could sit and eat lunch. It was so relaxing, and the two other people with me had been on the Red tour the day before so we had a nice conversation along with our meal!

My last morning was a relaxed breakfast before heading back to Istanbul. I couldn’t have asked for a better introduction to Türkiye or a better celebration for country #50. Looking forward to many more!