Turkey

23/05/2019

Turkey – Wondering surprises

My first time in Turkey was in 1989, arriving by boat from Samos, in Greece, where we were in holidays.

We didn’t go anywhere, we just have been taken.

We were pushed into one of a dozen buses, and, in a couple of hours we had visited Kusadasi, Selcuk and Ephesus, eat a lunch that… the men said they were four typical dishes but… all together… ok, it was food.

And here we are, dropped in the harbor to take the ferry back to Samos.

Efficiency, no doubt. We went back to Turkey in 1998, in a planned trip directly from Portugal, and we confirmed the good first impressions, and corrected the impressions about the food. A week in the beach in Cesme (windy… windy… windy…) and a circuit to Ephesus again, Pamukkale, the astonishing Capadoccia (where Goreme is a special reference), Konia, Ankara, and finally Istanbul.

It was my second best trip, in a quality/price ratio point of view (The first was Florida, but with a special push of a friend that was a tour operator, and… you know!).

And, so far, My Turkish experience ended with one more week in Istanbul.

Cesme

We spent a good week in Cesme, a nice beach (if you forget the wind…).

Not far from Izmir, it is a touristy area, with all the facilities, some good restaurants but without any great attractions challenging the beach.

Istanbul

A bridge between two continents this immense city is a rich combination of cultures and civilizations.

Original and adapted monuments of several epochs and religions are spread all over Istanbul, with a special care in everything that borders the narrow sea.

A very beautiful city that I couldn’t see deeply in the two days of my first visit but that i saw better in the second visit, everything described in Istanbul page.