We had a down day in Selçuk, with nothing planned. We thought about driving back to Kuşadasi to walk along the boardwalk, but there was a 1,800 passenger cruise ship in port from 7am-1pm, and in the afternoon we wanted to pack up for our flight. So instead we just explored a bit more of Selçuk.
İsa Bey Mosque was almost finished with their restorations, but it’s not yet open, so we couldn’t visit :(
We walked across Atatürk Cd, sort of a dividing line between the tourist and local parts of town. There we checked out the remains of the Roman viaduct, beside the main plaza. Also near the plaza was a cool art installation, which creates a shadow of Atatürk when the sun is at a particular angle once a year. (Probably twice, but the sign only had one date).
That covered off the remaining highlights of Selçuk listed in the Lonely Planet. We wandered down the road a bit, and saw what looked to be a street market. Indeed it was a market, and a really extensive one at that! Later I looked it up, it’s the Saturday Market in Selçuk. The farmers’ market part of it was amazing, with really good produce on display. We were offered and tried a new fruit to us, a type of almond, before it becomes a nut. We walked around for almost an hour.
It was getting close to lunch, and we saw a rotisserie chicken place in the market that looked good. We then came to the fish market section, and instead decided to have fish while we were still on the coast. I had battered anchovies, and Heather tried the calamari. Both were excellent. We were able to ask for two teas in Turkish, iki çay.
The sky was clouding over, so we just called it a day after lunch. Plus I had to look through all my pics from the past few days, now that I had my phone back. (We’d been on the go since I picked it up from the repair shop yesterday).
We had dinner at Kybele Gastro restaurant, next door to the hotel. They had live music and it was packed, most of them smoking. It’s been a while since we’ve been in a restaurant with smoking inside. The food was good, and the band was good too, playing traditional Turkish music. Everyone else was in a partying mood but we called it an early night as we had flight in the morning.
A Travel Blog
by Heather and Eric
Saturday, April 11, 2026
Friday, April 10, 2026
Selçuk, Türkiye
We had a relaxing breakfast this morning, the first time in a week that we weren’t on a schedule.
I asked if I could get a pot of tea, and they gave me the Turkish-style teapot. It’s two teapots stacked, the bottom one is boiling water, and the top one very strongly brewed tea. When Turkish tea is served, you pour from both teapots, about a 50-50 mix, depending on how strong you want your tea.
After breakfast, we went out to explore Selçuk. It’s a compact walkable town, with the highlights within a 10-minute radius of the hotel.
First up was the Basilica of Saint John and Ayasuluk Citadel, a combined archaeological site and ticket. Entrance is through the giant 6th century Gate of Persecution, sounding like something out of Princess Bride. They’re actually named after a relief on the door that was thought to be about the persecution of early Christians, but are really from Greek mythology. The gate was under restoration, although the entrance was still usable.
It turns out there’s way more history in Selçuk than just Ephesus. The ‘Saint John’ was John the Apostle, and it’s said that he is buried here. The basilica is now partially restored ruins, but at the time (500 AD) was one of the largest and holiest basilicas in the world.
We continued on to the Ayasuluk Citadel. It’s been restored, and is quite photogenic.
On the grounds was a scale model of the area around Selçuk. In 500 AD, Ephesus Ancient City, the Basilica of St John, and the Temple of Artemis (one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World), all existed within a half hour walk! The citadel is up high on a hill, but it’s not possible to see Ephesus from the citadel grounds because another hill blocks the view.
Next we checked out the Ephesus Museum. It’s worth a visit. We were glad we had paid for the extra ticket to enter the Terraces at Ephesus yesterday, as it gave more context to some of the artefacts in the museum. The last couple rooms are the best, with large marble statues of gods and the ruling class.
We had lunch at a restaurant near our hotel. We had pre-ordered dinner at our hotel tonight, so didn’t want anything big for lunch. We split a small pizza and salad.
Next we walked over to the Temple of Artemis. Only one column remains; the rest was used as material to construct other buildings in the area, back in the ancient day. We have a great view of the Temple of Artemis from our room, which is pretty cool. It’s the 2nd Wonder of the Ancient World we’ve seen on this trip, we earlier saw the Great Pyramid of Giza. Anyways, it’s not much to look at today, just a pillar with a stork’s nest on top, but the history is cool.
We had a coffee on the way back to the hotel.
We relaxed back at the hotel, while waiting for the iPhone repair folks to text us. At 3pm I sent them a reminder, and they replied saying my phone would be ready within an hour.
We drove back to Kuşadasi and parked at the same Otopark. My phone wasn’t ready yet, so they offered us a coffee while we waited. We sat out on the sidewalk at a small table and sipped our coffee, feeling like locals. About ten minutes later, my phone was ready, good as new! (I don’t think they started working on it until we got there, but whatever).
Heather had the idea to check out the Mavi store to see if they had my jeans. It’s hard to find my favourite style & size in Canada, and the jeans are manufactured here in Türkiye. There was a Mavi store about a ten minute walk along the waterfront, so we headed over.
Kuşadasi has a beautiful boardwalk along the beach. There were no cruise ships in port, so it was just locals out enjoying the beautiful weather.
We found the Mavi store. I was like a kid in a candy store, just like when we found the Onitsuka Tiger store in Taipei. I bought a couple pairs of jeans, Heather got a couple items too. How we’ll actually get this all home is a problem for another day.
We walked back to the Otopark and drove back to our hotel. We rushed to shower and be ready for our dinner at 7:30pm.
Our hotel does dinner on request. It’s the same chef that makes breakfast, we were looking forward to it. We started with some mezes: artichokes, stuffed tomatoes, and a couple tzatzikis, with freshly-made pitas. The main was a spiced beef dish. It was all excellent. For dessert, the chef had made baklava. Mmm good. After we relaxed on our balcony, it was a beautiful evening. It was the weekend and there was live music from a neighbouring restaurant. They were playing traditional Turkish music, which was cool to hear.
I asked if I could get a pot of tea, and they gave me the Turkish-style teapot. It’s two teapots stacked, the bottom one is boiling water, and the top one very strongly brewed tea. When Turkish tea is served, you pour from both teapots, about a 50-50 mix, depending on how strong you want your tea.
After breakfast, we went out to explore Selçuk. It’s a compact walkable town, with the highlights within a 10-minute radius of the hotel.
First up was the Basilica of Saint John and Ayasuluk Citadel, a combined archaeological site and ticket. Entrance is through the giant 6th century Gate of Persecution, sounding like something out of Princess Bride. They’re actually named after a relief on the door that was thought to be about the persecution of early Christians, but are really from Greek mythology. The gate was under restoration, although the entrance was still usable.
It turns out there’s way more history in Selçuk than just Ephesus. The ‘Saint John’ was John the Apostle, and it’s said that he is buried here. The basilica is now partially restored ruins, but at the time (500 AD) was one of the largest and holiest basilicas in the world.
We continued on to the Ayasuluk Citadel. It’s been restored, and is quite photogenic.
On the grounds was a scale model of the area around Selçuk. In 500 AD, Ephesus Ancient City, the Basilica of St John, and the Temple of Artemis (one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World), all existed within a half hour walk! The citadel is up high on a hill, but it’s not possible to see Ephesus from the citadel grounds because another hill blocks the view.
Next we checked out the Ephesus Museum. It’s worth a visit. We were glad we had paid for the extra ticket to enter the Terraces at Ephesus yesterday, as it gave more context to some of the artefacts in the museum. The last couple rooms are the best, with large marble statues of gods and the ruling class.
We had lunch at a restaurant near our hotel. We had pre-ordered dinner at our hotel tonight, so didn’t want anything big for lunch. We split a small pizza and salad.
Next we walked over to the Temple of Artemis. Only one column remains; the rest was used as material to construct other buildings in the area, back in the ancient day. We have a great view of the Temple of Artemis from our room, which is pretty cool. It’s the 2nd Wonder of the Ancient World we’ve seen on this trip, we earlier saw the Great Pyramid of Giza. Anyways, it’s not much to look at today, just a pillar with a stork’s nest on top, but the history is cool.
We had a coffee on the way back to the hotel.
We relaxed back at the hotel, while waiting for the iPhone repair folks to text us. At 3pm I sent them a reminder, and they replied saying my phone would be ready within an hour.
We drove back to Kuşadasi and parked at the same Otopark. My phone wasn’t ready yet, so they offered us a coffee while we waited. We sat out on the sidewalk at a small table and sipped our coffee, feeling like locals. About ten minutes later, my phone was ready, good as new! (I don’t think they started working on it until we got there, but whatever).
Heather had the idea to check out the Mavi store to see if they had my jeans. It’s hard to find my favourite style & size in Canada, and the jeans are manufactured here in Türkiye. There was a Mavi store about a ten minute walk along the waterfront, so we headed over.
Kuşadasi has a beautiful boardwalk along the beach. There were no cruise ships in port, so it was just locals out enjoying the beautiful weather.
We found the Mavi store. I was like a kid in a candy store, just like when we found the Onitsuka Tiger store in Taipei. I bought a couple pairs of jeans, Heather got a couple items too. How we’ll actually get this all home is a problem for another day.
We walked back to the Otopark and drove back to our hotel. We rushed to shower and be ready for our dinner at 7:30pm.
Our hotel does dinner on request. It’s the same chef that makes breakfast, we were looking forward to it. We started with some mezes: artichokes, stuffed tomatoes, and a couple tzatzikis, with freshly-made pitas. The main was a spiced beef dish. It was all excellent. For dessert, the chef had made baklava. Mmm good. After we relaxed on our balcony, it was a beautiful evening. It was the weekend and there was live music from a neighbouring restaurant. They were playing traditional Turkish music, which was cool to hear.
Thursday, April 09, 2026
Selçuk, Türkiye
We were up early for breakfast, in order to get to Ephesus Ancient City when the gates opened at 8:30am.
It sounded like it was raining as we woke up, and we debated waiting until tomorrow to see the ruins (we’re here in Selçuk for four nights). The forecast said the rain was done for the day (actually, our phones said it wasn’t even raining now), so we decided to continue with the plan to see Ephesus today.
Our hotel kindly arranged for an early breakfast for us. It was a large Turkish breakfast that we rushed through. It was great, and they also had excellent coffee and tea.
We got ourselves together for the ruins. Just as we were leaving, I dropped my iPhone and it fell down the middle of the stairwell, and landed four stories below on the marble floor :( The screen was between cracked and shattered, but still usable. We carried on to Ephesus, and I figured I’d sort out the screen issue after.
Last night I had read up a bit on how to visit Ephesus. The ruins are neatly spread along Curetes Way, a long marble street, which runs north-south. There’s a parking lot on either end. There’s a lot of opinions on the web as to which parking lot is better. We decided on the north one; but after visiting, I really don’t think it makes a difference. The Library of Celsus, the iconic ruin of Ephesus, is about midway between the two parking lots. Some websites suggest it’s better to park at the south / upper lot, cause then it’s a downhill walk, but the change in elevation is only 10m. One advantage of the south / upper lot is that you can see the Library of Celsus in the distance as you walk down Curetes Way. From the north / lower lot you turn around a corner and it’s right there. The Lonely Planet suggests getting a taxi to drive you from one gate back to the other to pick up your car, rather than walk the 1.3km. I honestly don’t know why you would do that, as it would probably take longer than walking, and it’s cool to see it in both directions.
It was just a seven minute drive from our hotel to the north / lower parking lot. There was plenty of parking at 8:40am. We bought our 40 EUR tickets. We rushed to get our pics of the Celsus Library, the iconic monument of Ephesus, before more tourists showed up. There was just an influencer couple, going through multiple takes of their content. It was overcast, which provided nice diffused lighting for our pics.
That completed, we continued down Curetes Way. There were some tour groups starting to trickle in, not a constant flow, so it was easy to see stuff in between groups. Curetes Way is only a couple chariots wide, so when a group goes through they clog up the entire width.
Next we called into the Terrace Houses of Ephesus. It’s a separate ticket, 15 EUR, and well worth it. It’s the former homes of the Ephesus elite, and it’s cool to see the restored frescoes and marble-lined walls and floor mosaics. We spent about 30 minutes going through the houses.
Back on Curetes Way, other highlights we saw included the Temple of Hadrian, Hercules Gates and the 1,400 seat Odeon. The other main attraction at Ephesus, the 25,000 seat Great Theatre, was under renovations and not accessible.
We also went to see the Ephesus Experience Museum, a 20-minute audiovisual show. It’s worth skipping if you’re short of time.
Overall we liked Ephesus, we both really liked the Celsus Library and the Terraced Houses. I liked Ephesus equally to Sagalassos Ancient City.
There was an iPhone repair shop in the port town of Kuşadasi, about a 25 minute drive. It was in the heart of the busy centre, with no parking available. Heather spotted a sign for an Otopark (car park), and we squeezed into an underground parking spot for 200 TRY (about 7 CAD).
We walked back to the iPhone repair shop. The tech person looked like a stereotypical techie. If I saw him and had to guess his occupation, I would guess computer repairs. He gave my phone a quick look, asked if we wanted Apple parts, gave us a quote and said we could get it back tomorrow. Yay! We were in town for two more days so this worked out fine.
We turned off airplane mode on Heather’s phone and exchanged WhatsApp details with the store. We then looked around for lunch. Stumbled across the Thursday market, with produce from surrounding villages. Had a gözleme and ayran at a local restaurant. We had a half day with our parking, so weren’t in a rush.
We extracted our car from the tight parking lot and drove back to our hotel in Selçuk. We cleaned up, dropped off some laundry with the hotel, and headed out for dinner. We chose a place based on Google Maps, it was a bit of dud. Even their chai at the end of the meal was served lukewarm, not even hot enough to dissolve my sugar cube :(
It sounded like it was raining as we woke up, and we debated waiting until tomorrow to see the ruins (we’re here in Selçuk for four nights). The forecast said the rain was done for the day (actually, our phones said it wasn’t even raining now), so we decided to continue with the plan to see Ephesus today.
Our hotel kindly arranged for an early breakfast for us. It was a large Turkish breakfast that we rushed through. It was great, and they also had excellent coffee and tea.
We got ourselves together for the ruins. Just as we were leaving, I dropped my iPhone and it fell down the middle of the stairwell, and landed four stories below on the marble floor :( The screen was between cracked and shattered, but still usable. We carried on to Ephesus, and I figured I’d sort out the screen issue after.
Last night I had read up a bit on how to visit Ephesus. The ruins are neatly spread along Curetes Way, a long marble street, which runs north-south. There’s a parking lot on either end. There’s a lot of opinions on the web as to which parking lot is better. We decided on the north one; but after visiting, I really don’t think it makes a difference. The Library of Celsus, the iconic ruin of Ephesus, is about midway between the two parking lots. Some websites suggest it’s better to park at the south / upper lot, cause then it’s a downhill walk, but the change in elevation is only 10m. One advantage of the south / upper lot is that you can see the Library of Celsus in the distance as you walk down Curetes Way. From the north / lower lot you turn around a corner and it’s right there. The Lonely Planet suggests getting a taxi to drive you from one gate back to the other to pick up your car, rather than walk the 1.3km. I honestly don’t know why you would do that, as it would probably take longer than walking, and it’s cool to see it in both directions.
It was just a seven minute drive from our hotel to the north / lower parking lot. There was plenty of parking at 8:40am. We bought our 40 EUR tickets. We rushed to get our pics of the Celsus Library, the iconic monument of Ephesus, before more tourists showed up. There was just an influencer couple, going through multiple takes of their content. It was overcast, which provided nice diffused lighting for our pics.
That completed, we continued down Curetes Way. There were some tour groups starting to trickle in, not a constant flow, so it was easy to see stuff in between groups. Curetes Way is only a couple chariots wide, so when a group goes through they clog up the entire width.
Next we called into the Terrace Houses of Ephesus. It’s a separate ticket, 15 EUR, and well worth it. It’s the former homes of the Ephesus elite, and it’s cool to see the restored frescoes and marble-lined walls and floor mosaics. We spent about 30 minutes going through the houses.
Back on Curetes Way, other highlights we saw included the Temple of Hadrian, Hercules Gates and the 1,400 seat Odeon. The other main attraction at Ephesus, the 25,000 seat Great Theatre, was under renovations and not accessible.
We also went to see the Ephesus Experience Museum, a 20-minute audiovisual show. It’s worth skipping if you’re short of time.
Overall we liked Ephesus, we both really liked the Celsus Library and the Terraced Houses. I liked Ephesus equally to Sagalassos Ancient City.
There was an iPhone repair shop in the port town of Kuşadasi, about a 25 minute drive. It was in the heart of the busy centre, with no parking available. Heather spotted a sign for an Otopark (car park), and we squeezed into an underground parking spot for 200 TRY (about 7 CAD).
We walked back to the iPhone repair shop. The tech person looked like a stereotypical techie. If I saw him and had to guess his occupation, I would guess computer repairs. He gave my phone a quick look, asked if we wanted Apple parts, gave us a quote and said we could get it back tomorrow. Yay! We were in town for two more days so this worked out fine.
We turned off airplane mode on Heather’s phone and exchanged WhatsApp details with the store. We then looked around for lunch. Stumbled across the Thursday market, with produce from surrounding villages. Had a gözleme and ayran at a local restaurant. We had a half day with our parking, so weren’t in a rush.
We extracted our car from the tight parking lot and drove back to our hotel in Selçuk. We cleaned up, dropped off some laundry with the hotel, and headed out for dinner. We chose a place based on Google Maps, it was a bit of dud. Even their chai at the end of the meal was served lukewarm, not even hot enough to dissolve my sugar cube :(
Wednesday, April 08, 2026
Selçuk, Türkiye
Another day, another Ancient City. (We have another one tomorrow too).
It’s a four drive from Burdur to Selçuk. Aphrodisias Ancient City is at the midpoint, so made a natural stop. Pamukkale and its famous blue travertine pools is also midway, although separated from Aphrodisias by the Denizli mountains, so we had to choose between them.
Years or decades ago it would have been an easy decision to see Pamukkale. However overtourism and strains on the water supply have degraded the site. So we decided to skip Pamukkale and see Aphrodisias instead.
It was a boring drive from Burdur to Aphrodisias, with long stretches of straight roads. We did see several marble quarries, with large blocks of marble cut out for shipping.
We arrived at the site around 12:30, hoping to have a light lunch. However their snack bar just had tea and coffee and packaged snacks :( So we made do with a cappuccino and a Snickers.
There were three buses in the parking lot when we arrived, and they were all just leaving. Presumably the tours knew that there was no food to be had onsite, and were headed out elsewhere for lunch. The bonus was that we had the site mostly to ourselves.
Aphrodisias is a UNESCO World Heritage site, and is well-marked and well-maintained, as with most UNESCO sites. (The two sites we saw yesterday, Termessos and Sagalassos, are not World Heritage sites, although both are on the Tentative List).
The ticket booth folks gave us a photocopied map of Aphrodisias. The major attractions are laid out in a circuit, which we followed. It was a beautiful day, about 18C with blue skies.
It took us about 90 minutes to see, ending with yet another theatre. I had hoped that there would be good pics of the rest of the site from the top of the theatre, but big trees blocked the view of all the major ruins :(
We had missed Aphrodisias stadium during the circuit. It’s actually off a tangent path, and wasn’t marked on the photocopied map. I could see this being a common oversight. We doubled back to check it out, as we had already missed the stadium at Perge, and plus the one here at Aphrodisias is supposedly the best preserved stadium of the Ancient World.
The Ancient World in archeology refers to the period from about 3000 BC to the fall of the Roman Empire in 476 AD. We had just seen the Panathenaic Stadium in Athens, so I’m not sure how Aphrodisias stadium is considered the best preserved. Citation needed!
Nevertheless, the stadium at Aphrodisias is pretty impressive, one of the highlights of the site. The other highlight for us were the hundreds of marble sarcophagi around the museum. Unfortunately the museum itself was closed for renovations, the Lonely Planet said it’s quite good.
We got back on the road for the two hour drive to Selçuk. This was a much more interesting drive, through the mountains back down to sea level.
Our hotel was expecting us as we arrived. We checked in and carried our luggage up the 3rd floor. We cleaned up and headed out for dinner at a restaurant recommended by the hotel. It had a beautiful view of the setting sun. We had a sundowner on their patio and the went inside for dinner. We each had a lentil soup and split a leg of lamb. It was mmm good.
It’s a four drive from Burdur to Selçuk. Aphrodisias Ancient City is at the midpoint, so made a natural stop. Pamukkale and its famous blue travertine pools is also midway, although separated from Aphrodisias by the Denizli mountains, so we had to choose between them.
Years or decades ago it would have been an easy decision to see Pamukkale. However overtourism and strains on the water supply have degraded the site. So we decided to skip Pamukkale and see Aphrodisias instead.
It was a boring drive from Burdur to Aphrodisias, with long stretches of straight roads. We did see several marble quarries, with large blocks of marble cut out for shipping.
We arrived at the site around 12:30, hoping to have a light lunch. However their snack bar just had tea and coffee and packaged snacks :( So we made do with a cappuccino and a Snickers.
There were three buses in the parking lot when we arrived, and they were all just leaving. Presumably the tours knew that there was no food to be had onsite, and were headed out elsewhere for lunch. The bonus was that we had the site mostly to ourselves.
Aphrodisias is a UNESCO World Heritage site, and is well-marked and well-maintained, as with most UNESCO sites. (The two sites we saw yesterday, Termessos and Sagalassos, are not World Heritage sites, although both are on the Tentative List).
The ticket booth folks gave us a photocopied map of Aphrodisias. The major attractions are laid out in a circuit, which we followed. It was a beautiful day, about 18C with blue skies.
It took us about 90 minutes to see, ending with yet another theatre. I had hoped that there would be good pics of the rest of the site from the top of the theatre, but big trees blocked the view of all the major ruins :(
We had missed Aphrodisias stadium during the circuit. It’s actually off a tangent path, and wasn’t marked on the photocopied map. I could see this being a common oversight. We doubled back to check it out, as we had already missed the stadium at Perge, and plus the one here at Aphrodisias is supposedly the best preserved stadium of the Ancient World.
The Ancient World in archeology refers to the period from about 3000 BC to the fall of the Roman Empire in 476 AD. We had just seen the Panathenaic Stadium in Athens, so I’m not sure how Aphrodisias stadium is considered the best preserved. Citation needed!
Nevertheless, the stadium at Aphrodisias is pretty impressive, one of the highlights of the site. The other highlight for us were the hundreds of marble sarcophagi around the museum. Unfortunately the museum itself was closed for renovations, the Lonely Planet said it’s quite good.
We got back on the road for the two hour drive to Selçuk. This was a much more interesting drive, through the mountains back down to sea level.
Our hotel was expecting us as we arrived. We checked in and carried our luggage up the 3rd floor. We cleaned up and headed out for dinner at a restaurant recommended by the hotel. It had a beautiful view of the setting sun. We had a sundowner on their patio and the went inside for dinner. We each had a lentil soup and split a leg of lamb. It was mmm good.
Tuesday, April 07, 2026
Burdur, Türkiye
We were on the road again today, destination Burdur, with a couple ruins to see along the way. We had breakfast at a different bakery, this one closer to our hotel. It was popular, with people lining up out the door to get their freshly-baked simits to go.
We placed our breakfast order, and found an open table. The simits were excellent, as well as a couple pastries Heather picked out to try. Their menu signboard had kahveli, (with coffee), so we asked for a Turkish coffee too.
Got back to the hotel, packed up the car, and started on our way to Termessos Ancient City. It was only an hour away, and most of the drive was escaping the urban sprawl of Antalya.
We exited the highway to the ruins, and paid our entrance fees. It was then a 9.5km drive 1000m uphill to the ruins. This was a fun drive, with switchbacks all the way up. There’s no guardrail, just a steep drop off the edge of the road.
Termessos is still in an unrestored state, with not much in terms of signage. It reminded us of Jordan where there’s too many archaeological sites and not enough archaeologists and/or funding. We just wanted to see the theatre sitting at the top of the hill. The rest of the ancient city is mostly piles of rubble covered in undergrowth, Lara Croft Tomb Raider style.
There were only a handful of cars in the parking lot when we arrived, which boded well. We tried to orient ourselves based on the rough map in the parking lot, it’s not obvious which way to go. (It’s the path well-taken, with the sign that says ‘ruins’).
It’s a steep climb up, passing by the rest of the unrestored ruins. After about 45 minutes we reached the top, and had our first view of the theatre. It’s a pretty cool setting. There was just a group of four other tourists, who were good for scale.
We took our pics and then headed back down to the car. We were passed by a few cars in the opposite direction on our drive down, it was a tight squeeze.
We had a two hour drive ahead of us to get to Sagalassos Ancient City. We stopped for lunch at a random roadside place that had a few cars parked out front. With some help from Google Translate, we ordered a meat and cheese pide (Turkish pizza), and two ayrans (yoghurt drinks). We ended up with two pides, and overate a bit. It was tasty though!
The drive to Sagalassos took us past fruit orchards, cow and sheep pastures, and other small farms. It was a nice snapshot of rural Türkiye. We actually drove through a small farming community on the approach to Sagalassos, with groups of women sipping tea at tables spilling onto the road.
Sagalassos is also at the top of a hill, at around 1700m. We needed a boost so had a Turkish coffee before exploring the ruins.
Sagalassos is amazing, my favourite site so far. Most of the places we had to ourselves. I posted a video of the Antonine Nymphaeum. (Like and subscribe!) The theatre is also really cool, I liked it as much as the one at Termessos. Overall, Sagalassos is one of my favourite Roman Ruins. Baalbek and Jerash are still the top two; this would be the best of the next tier. I thought we might be tired of Ancient Cities at this point, but Sagalassos was impressive.
It was just a 40 minute drive to our hotel in Burdur, a decidedly non-touristy city. The hotel was right in the busy centre. I double-parked in front to unload our luggage, while Heather sorted out where the parking lot was. She then checked us in while I drove around to the parking lot. I got thrown off cause the access is by a road with a Do Not Enter sign, and finally looped around to the front of the hotel again. Turns out the sign would have been better read as Do Not Enter Unless You’re Going To The Hotel Parking Lot. Oh well.
The hotel was a very functional business hotel, with the best rainhead shower we’ve had on the trip. Also the best bathroom lighting.
The hotel folks had given Heather a recommendation for dinner. It was about 500m down the main street. They were super friendly at the restaurant. We both ordered the Burdur şiş (shish), it was tasty, served on really good pitas. It was very busy with locals, who set some speed records for eating. Heather and I are not the faster eaters in the world, but the other tables must turned over three times in the time we were there. They were all seriously quick eaters.
Got back to the hotel and called it a night. Burdur looked like a nice city with a vibe, it’s too bad it was just a transit stop for us.
We placed our breakfast order, and found an open table. The simits were excellent, as well as a couple pastries Heather picked out to try. Their menu signboard had kahveli, (with coffee), so we asked for a Turkish coffee too.
Got back to the hotel, packed up the car, and started on our way to Termessos Ancient City. It was only an hour away, and most of the drive was escaping the urban sprawl of Antalya.
We exited the highway to the ruins, and paid our entrance fees. It was then a 9.5km drive 1000m uphill to the ruins. This was a fun drive, with switchbacks all the way up. There’s no guardrail, just a steep drop off the edge of the road.
Termessos is still in an unrestored state, with not much in terms of signage. It reminded us of Jordan where there’s too many archaeological sites and not enough archaeologists and/or funding. We just wanted to see the theatre sitting at the top of the hill. The rest of the ancient city is mostly piles of rubble covered in undergrowth, Lara Croft Tomb Raider style.
There were only a handful of cars in the parking lot when we arrived, which boded well. We tried to orient ourselves based on the rough map in the parking lot, it’s not obvious which way to go. (It’s the path well-taken, with the sign that says ‘ruins’).
It’s a steep climb up, passing by the rest of the unrestored ruins. After about 45 minutes we reached the top, and had our first view of the theatre. It’s a pretty cool setting. There was just a group of four other tourists, who were good for scale.
We took our pics and then headed back down to the car. We were passed by a few cars in the opposite direction on our drive down, it was a tight squeeze.
We had a two hour drive ahead of us to get to Sagalassos Ancient City. We stopped for lunch at a random roadside place that had a few cars parked out front. With some help from Google Translate, we ordered a meat and cheese pide (Turkish pizza), and two ayrans (yoghurt drinks). We ended up with two pides, and overate a bit. It was tasty though!
The drive to Sagalassos took us past fruit orchards, cow and sheep pastures, and other small farms. It was a nice snapshot of rural Türkiye. We actually drove through a small farming community on the approach to Sagalassos, with groups of women sipping tea at tables spilling onto the road.
Sagalassos is also at the top of a hill, at around 1700m. We needed a boost so had a Turkish coffee before exploring the ruins.
Sagalassos is amazing, my favourite site so far. Most of the places we had to ourselves. I posted a video of the Antonine Nymphaeum. (Like and subscribe!) The theatre is also really cool, I liked it as much as the one at Termessos. Overall, Sagalassos is one of my favourite Roman Ruins. Baalbek and Jerash are still the top two; this would be the best of the next tier. I thought we might be tired of Ancient Cities at this point, but Sagalassos was impressive.
It was just a 40 minute drive to our hotel in Burdur, a decidedly non-touristy city. The hotel was right in the busy centre. I double-parked in front to unload our luggage, while Heather sorted out where the parking lot was. She then checked us in while I drove around to the parking lot. I got thrown off cause the access is by a road with a Do Not Enter sign, and finally looped around to the front of the hotel again. Turns out the sign would have been better read as Do Not Enter Unless You’re Going To The Hotel Parking Lot. Oh well.
The hotel was a very functional business hotel, with the best rainhead shower we’ve had on the trip. Also the best bathroom lighting.
The hotel folks had given Heather a recommendation for dinner. It was about 500m down the main street. They were super friendly at the restaurant. We both ordered the Burdur şiş (shish), it was tasty, served on really good pitas. It was very busy with locals, who set some speed records for eating. Heather and I are not the faster eaters in the world, but the other tables must turned over three times in the time we were there. They were all seriously quick eaters.
Got back to the hotel and called it a night. Burdur looked like a nice city with a vibe, it’s too bad it was just a transit stop for us.
Monday, April 06, 2026
Antalya, Türkiye
There were a lot of factors that went into the itinerary: public holidays, cruise ship timetables, religious events, seasonal weather, balancing urban / ruins / nature activities. Also, we planned to be in a city with an Aveda salon every 4-5 weeks.
Heather had an appointment with a colourist at 11am, and we had laundry to do as well. Another admin day.
It’s been a challenge to find self-serve laundromats in Türkiye. It’s generally always full service here including ironing and folding. We prefer doing laundry ourselves to avoid any miscommunication (cold wash, no dryer, no ironing), so we were in a bind.
Heather had found a laundromat that, based on reviews, catered to foreigners with our fickle laundry requests. The plan was to drop off the laundry at 9am when they opened, have breakfast nearby, pick up the damp clothes, hang them to dry at the hotel, and then take a taxi to Heather’s colour appt. Easy peasy.
Our plan ran amok before it even began. The laundry people were stuck in traffic (we had WhatsApp’d with them). So we found a nice bakery nearby, had a simit with cream cheese and a cappuccino (both very good), with a bag of dirty laundry on an extra seat.
Back to the laundromat, which was now open. The very helpful and organized laundromat person said they could line-dry our clothes, and we could pick them up this evening, although they might still be damp. That was cool with us, so we had our plan B.
Now we had lots of time. We decided to walk over to the Aveda salon, as it was a beautiful day, and it was just a 45 minutes away.
We had our first glimpse of the ocean in a while (or at least a sea) as we walked along Konyaalti Cd. We were walking faster than Google Maps estimates, and had about ten minutes to kill before Heather’s appt. So we grabbed a Turkish tea (chai) nearby, and got to the salon at 9:59.
The folks at the salon were really friendly. Heather got whisked away for her colouring, and they showed me to the patio and offered me a drink. I had another chai, and used the time to catch up in my blog and search for a lunch restaurant.
Heather came out with her new do. We dropped into the Carrefour near the salon to stock up on some toiletries. (Carrefour has a good selection of western brands).
Then we walked down the street to a grill place I had found. Mostly we were there for the amazing view. Antalya sits on the Gulf of Antalya, with snow-capped mountains surrounding the city. We took our seats on the patio (in the shade), and enjoyed the view and had some steak and lamb.
After lunch we continued walking back towards the hotel. Stopped in at a chocolatier for a coffee and some bonbons. The hit by far was the chocolate-covered orange peel that they offered to us for free while we were ordering. We should have just ordered more of those!
I had now had a tea or coffee at five different places today, and it was only 2pm. Hopefully I’ll be able to sleep tonight.
We relaxed back at the hotel. The laundromat folks texted around 5pm that our clothes were ready. Along the way we did some sightseeing, taking some pics of Hadrian’s Gate. The only other place I wanted to visit in Antalya was its famous museum, but it’s closed for major renovations.
Our clothes were indeed still the same size, phew. We didn’t have motivation for much else today. Plus I had to read up on the two ruins we were going to visit tomorrow, so that we didn’t have a repeat of the Perge theatre incident.
Later I went for a quick bite for dinner (Heather was still full from her lamb skewers at lunch). Walked around and came across Çıtır Balık, which specialized in fish sandwiches. It’s a complicated process to eat there. First you place your order and pay. The cashier gives your name to the host. When a table opens up, the host calls your name to be seated. Then you wait until the kitchen calls your name when your food is ready. Finally, you use the bowl provided with the sandwich at the self-serve salad bar. I had an amazing battered anchovy sandwich. Yummy.
That was it for our Antalya experience. It was a bit of a shock seeing so many tourists here, but we could definitely see why folks are attracted to Antalya.
Heather had an appointment with a colourist at 11am, and we had laundry to do as well. Another admin day.
It’s been a challenge to find self-serve laundromats in Türkiye. It’s generally always full service here including ironing and folding. We prefer doing laundry ourselves to avoid any miscommunication (cold wash, no dryer, no ironing), so we were in a bind.
Heather had found a laundromat that, based on reviews, catered to foreigners with our fickle laundry requests. The plan was to drop off the laundry at 9am when they opened, have breakfast nearby, pick up the damp clothes, hang them to dry at the hotel, and then take a taxi to Heather’s colour appt. Easy peasy.
Our plan ran amok before it even began. The laundry people were stuck in traffic (we had WhatsApp’d with them). So we found a nice bakery nearby, had a simit with cream cheese and a cappuccino (both very good), with a bag of dirty laundry on an extra seat.
Back to the laundromat, which was now open. The very helpful and organized laundromat person said they could line-dry our clothes, and we could pick them up this evening, although they might still be damp. That was cool with us, so we had our plan B.
Now we had lots of time. We decided to walk over to the Aveda salon, as it was a beautiful day, and it was just a 45 minutes away.
We had our first glimpse of the ocean in a while (or at least a sea) as we walked along Konyaalti Cd. We were walking faster than Google Maps estimates, and had about ten minutes to kill before Heather’s appt. So we grabbed a Turkish tea (chai) nearby, and got to the salon at 9:59.
The folks at the salon were really friendly. Heather got whisked away for her colouring, and they showed me to the patio and offered me a drink. I had another chai, and used the time to catch up in my blog and search for a lunch restaurant.
Heather came out with her new do. We dropped into the Carrefour near the salon to stock up on some toiletries. (Carrefour has a good selection of western brands).
Then we walked down the street to a grill place I had found. Mostly we were there for the amazing view. Antalya sits on the Gulf of Antalya, with snow-capped mountains surrounding the city. We took our seats on the patio (in the shade), and enjoyed the view and had some steak and lamb.
After lunch we continued walking back towards the hotel. Stopped in at a chocolatier for a coffee and some bonbons. The hit by far was the chocolate-covered orange peel that they offered to us for free while we were ordering. We should have just ordered more of those!
I had now had a tea or coffee at five different places today, and it was only 2pm. Hopefully I’ll be able to sleep tonight.
We relaxed back at the hotel. The laundromat folks texted around 5pm that our clothes were ready. Along the way we did some sightseeing, taking some pics of Hadrian’s Gate. The only other place I wanted to visit in Antalya was its famous museum, but it’s closed for major renovations.
Our clothes were indeed still the same size, phew. We didn’t have motivation for much else today. Plus I had to read up on the two ruins we were going to visit tomorrow, so that we didn’t have a repeat of the Perge theatre incident.
Later I went for a quick bite for dinner (Heather was still full from her lamb skewers at lunch). Walked around and came across Çıtır Balık, which specialized in fish sandwiches. It’s a complicated process to eat there. First you place your order and pay. The cashier gives your name to the host. When a table opens up, the host calls your name to be seated. Then you wait until the kitchen calls your name when your food is ready. Finally, you use the bowl provided with the sandwich at the self-serve salad bar. I had an amazing battered anchovy sandwich. Yummy.
That was it for our Antalya experience. It was a bit of a shock seeing so many tourists here, but we could definitely see why folks are attracted to Antalya.
Sunday, April 05, 2026
Antalya, Türkiye
We had a strict schedule today in order to see a couple Roman ruins on our way from Konya to Ankara.
We had another large breakfast. I was starting to get out-large-breakfast’d at this point. Checked out, packed up the car, and were on the road by 10am, right on schedule.
First was a three hour drive to Aspendos Theatre through the mountains (literally). I don’t know our maximum elevation, but both of us had popping ears. Towards the two-hour mark, we went through the 5km long Demirkapı Tunnel. I looked up the route afterwards, and this stretch of the D687 highway is popular with motorcyclists. It’s a very scenic road, and fun to drive.
The weather completely changed after we exited the tunnel. On the mountainous Konya side, it was about 9C, cloudy and raining on-and-off. On the Antalya side, it was a warm 18C, with Mediterranean air and the sun shining.
Both the ruins on our list were just off the D400 highway. First up was Aspendos Theatre. Google took us to a parking lot just by the entrance gates. We looked around for a parking attendant, but apparently it was free parking. Not sure how that happened but we didn’t complain.
Bought our Aspendos tickets, cash only cause their credit card system was down, and entered.
From the ticket booth, there’s a path right into the theatre, at stage level. It’s pretty impressive from the stage, looking up at 7,000 or so limestone seats. We were also lucky that there was only a handful of other tourists there when we arrived. We walked up to the top level for a different vantage point. A couple busloads arrived shortly after, but it still didn’t feel crowded. According to the internet, Aspendos is the best preserved Roman theatre of the ancient world. It’s pretty cool, and I'd say the best of the Roman theatres we’ve seen.
There’s more to Aspendos than just the theatre, but that’s the main attraction. We carried on, stopping for lunch at a family-run roadside place just outside the ruins. They only did gözleme, a Turkish flatbread stuffed with spinach and feta, and they did it well. The gözleme was cooked to order, with older women rolling out the dough, folding in spinach and feta, which the men then cooked it on a metal dome sitting over a fire. We split one gözleme and had a ayran each. The restaurateur seemed happy that we knew what ayran was. It was a nice little spot for lunch, and quick too.
The next Roman ruin, Perge Ancient City, was just another 20 minutes down the D400. This was a little more chaotic at the entrance. First we paid our parking fee (only 30 TRY, about 1 CAD). Then someone else came to our car and collected our park entrance fees (about 25 CAD each).
Once you get past the parking gate and have paid both the parking fee and the entrance fee, there’s no further ‘entrance’. The park isn’t clearly marked, so we weren’t sure where we were until we found signage beside a couple ruins and matched them up with a map of the park.
Now that we knew where we were, we walked back to the Roman Gates and began our tour. The highlights for me were the Hellenistic City Gate with its two huge towers, and the colonnaded streets. It’s a very sprawled set of ruins, it took us about 90 minutes to wander around. Most of the bus tours had already all left for the day (the park closes at 5pm), so we had the site pretty much to ourselves.
Later, I realized we had missed the Perge theatre, which is across the road from the parking entrance. It’s included in the same ticket. We’ll be seeing more theatres later on so it’s not the end of the world.
It was only a 20 minute drive to our hotel in Antalya, just outside the old city walls. The last part was down a narrow alley, squeezing past families sitting on their doorsteps. I WhatsApp’d the hotel (more like an Airbnb) and they came over to check us in, and lowered the chain so we could park in the empty lot across the laneway.
We hauled our suitcases and backpacks up the stairs to our room. We opted for a functional place in Antalya, cause the boutique places in the historic center are also in clubland central.
We showered and then went out for dinner. We’re back on the coast, so tried a fish place. Everything in the historic center is overpriced, although the fish was fresh and cooked perfectly.
We walked back to our hotel through the winding streets. The historic centre here was similar to the hip areas in Athens or Tbilisi. They’re all party towns full of character, hip bars & restaurants, and winding cobblestone alleys. In our younger years we would have just enjoyed the party :)
We had another large breakfast. I was starting to get out-large-breakfast’d at this point. Checked out, packed up the car, and were on the road by 10am, right on schedule.
First was a three hour drive to Aspendos Theatre through the mountains (literally). I don’t know our maximum elevation, but both of us had popping ears. Towards the two-hour mark, we went through the 5km long Demirkapı Tunnel. I looked up the route afterwards, and this stretch of the D687 highway is popular with motorcyclists. It’s a very scenic road, and fun to drive.
The weather completely changed after we exited the tunnel. On the mountainous Konya side, it was about 9C, cloudy and raining on-and-off. On the Antalya side, it was a warm 18C, with Mediterranean air and the sun shining.
Both the ruins on our list were just off the D400 highway. First up was Aspendos Theatre. Google took us to a parking lot just by the entrance gates. We looked around for a parking attendant, but apparently it was free parking. Not sure how that happened but we didn’t complain.
Bought our Aspendos tickets, cash only cause their credit card system was down, and entered.
From the ticket booth, there’s a path right into the theatre, at stage level. It’s pretty impressive from the stage, looking up at 7,000 or so limestone seats. We were also lucky that there was only a handful of other tourists there when we arrived. We walked up to the top level for a different vantage point. A couple busloads arrived shortly after, but it still didn’t feel crowded. According to the internet, Aspendos is the best preserved Roman theatre of the ancient world. It’s pretty cool, and I'd say the best of the Roman theatres we’ve seen.
There’s more to Aspendos than just the theatre, but that’s the main attraction. We carried on, stopping for lunch at a family-run roadside place just outside the ruins. They only did gözleme, a Turkish flatbread stuffed with spinach and feta, and they did it well. The gözleme was cooked to order, with older women rolling out the dough, folding in spinach and feta, which the men then cooked it on a metal dome sitting over a fire. We split one gözleme and had a ayran each. The restaurateur seemed happy that we knew what ayran was. It was a nice little spot for lunch, and quick too.
The next Roman ruin, Perge Ancient City, was just another 20 minutes down the D400. This was a little more chaotic at the entrance. First we paid our parking fee (only 30 TRY, about 1 CAD). Then someone else came to our car and collected our park entrance fees (about 25 CAD each).
Once you get past the parking gate and have paid both the parking fee and the entrance fee, there’s no further ‘entrance’. The park isn’t clearly marked, so we weren’t sure where we were until we found signage beside a couple ruins and matched them up with a map of the park.
Now that we knew where we were, we walked back to the Roman Gates and began our tour. The highlights for me were the Hellenistic City Gate with its two huge towers, and the colonnaded streets. It’s a very sprawled set of ruins, it took us about 90 minutes to wander around. Most of the bus tours had already all left for the day (the park closes at 5pm), so we had the site pretty much to ourselves.
Later, I realized we had missed the Perge theatre, which is across the road from the parking entrance. It’s included in the same ticket. We’ll be seeing more theatres later on so it’s not the end of the world.
It was only a 20 minute drive to our hotel in Antalya, just outside the old city walls. The last part was down a narrow alley, squeezing past families sitting on their doorsteps. I WhatsApp’d the hotel (more like an Airbnb) and they came over to check us in, and lowered the chain so we could park in the empty lot across the laneway.
We hauled our suitcases and backpacks up the stairs to our room. We opted for a functional place in Antalya, cause the boutique places in the historic center are also in clubland central.
We showered and then went out for dinner. We’re back on the coast, so tried a fish place. Everything in the historic center is overpriced, although the fish was fresh and cooked perfectly.
We walked back to our hotel through the winding streets. The historic centre here was similar to the hip areas in Athens or Tbilisi. They’re all party towns full of character, hip bars & restaurants, and winding cobblestone alleys. In our younger years we would have just enjoyed the party :)
Saturday, April 04, 2026
Konya, Türkiye
Our colds seemed to have regressed, so we took it slow this morning. We didn’t have much planned in any case; just a visit to the Tile Museum, and then the Sema ceremony of the Whirling Dervishes at 7pm. (I’m writing this a couple days later, and we’re feeling much better today).
We finally got on our way just before noon. The walk to the Tile Museum took us through Bedesten Market, which is always interesting.
We then walked up and through Alaaddin Hill Park, and past the mosque on the top. We didn’t step inside as we’re getting a bit out-mosque’d, similar to how we got out-churched in Rome.
The location of the Tile Museum on Google Maps was a large construction site. There were recent photos of inside the museum posted by others, so we figured it was just pinned incorrectly. Sure enough, the museum was actually in the restored Karatay Medresesi (a madrasa is an Islamic school, we’ve seen museums housed in former madrasas in other countries such as Uzbekistan).
The Tile Museum is a small-ish museum but still interesting.
We walked back through Bedesten market and had a tea and pastry filled with tahin. Tahin is made from toasted sesame seeds (as opposed to tahini which is from raw seeds), which I found similar to peanut butter. It was a very busy çay (chai, aka tea) place.
After we wandered around the market a bit more and took lots of pics. We really liked the market here. Konya is generally not part of a Turkey vacation itinerary, so it’s just a working market, not focused on tourist items. In fact, outside of the streets surrounding the Mevlana Museum, we didn’t see any souvenir stores.
We got back to the hotel around 2pm and relaxed the rest of the afternoon.
Around 5:45pm we left to walk over to the Mevlana Cultural Centre. As soon as we stepped outside, it started to rain, so we went back and grabbed our umbrellas.
We arrived at the centre just after 6pm, just as the security person had suggested yesterday. On the approach, it didn’t seem very active at all, and I was wondering if there had been some mix up in communications. It turned out we were just super early. Maybe the security person has said doors open at 6pm? Not that we should arrive at 6pm?
We went through security, more like a self-serve security, as there was no-one watching the xray of our bags, nor the metal detector we walked through.
We still weren’t sure we were in the right place though, as we couldn’t see any area large enough to host the ceremony, just lots of craft stalls. We asked around, and were told to go upstairs. There we finally found a ticket booth! We paid our 300 TRY each (about 10 CAD), Turkish lira cash only, and entered.
The ceremony is held in a large bowl theatre, seating about 2,500. We were the first to arrive so had our choice of seats. We went back to the ticket people for their recommendation on seating. We then picked out our seats, between posts D and E, facing the musicians, and about half way up. I guess the choice depends on whether you’re there for religious reasons, or as a tourist. We wanted higher up to get pics of the cloaks whirling.
We waited about an hour, watching other tourists arrive and go through the same decision process as us. Mostly these were tourists who had also done their research, otherwise they would have ended up at the tourist performance promoted by the hotels. There were a couple of bus tours, which surprised me as you can’t get tickets in advance, and usually large packaged tours prefer the certainty of advance tickets.
Anyways it wasn’t crowded at all, maybe 300 attendees. There was no one in front of us in the next two rows, so we had a great view.
The ceremony started right at 7pm. There’s seven parts to the Sema ceremony, we had read up previously so knew what to expect.
It was very cool to see. Some parts did drag on, I had to remember that it was a religious ceremony and not a performance. (It would be like going to a Catholic mass and thinking the Nicene Creed could be shortened).
The whirling part is part five, and generally what you see if you attend a performance for tourists. The other parts, some dance-like movements, some poetry reading, some musical, were all really interesting to see and hear. My favourites were part five (the whirling) and also part four (a circular walk where the dervishes greet each other).
It took just over an hour to complete. We walked back home (it had stopped raining by now), and just ate at the hotel. Overall, attending the Sema ceremony was a really cool experience, I’m glad we were able to be here on a Saturday.
We finally got on our way just before noon. The walk to the Tile Museum took us through Bedesten Market, which is always interesting.
We then walked up and through Alaaddin Hill Park, and past the mosque on the top. We didn’t step inside as we’re getting a bit out-mosque’d, similar to how we got out-churched in Rome.
The location of the Tile Museum on Google Maps was a large construction site. There were recent photos of inside the museum posted by others, so we figured it was just pinned incorrectly. Sure enough, the museum was actually in the restored Karatay Medresesi (a madrasa is an Islamic school, we’ve seen museums housed in former madrasas in other countries such as Uzbekistan).
The Tile Museum is a small-ish museum but still interesting.
We walked back through Bedesten market and had a tea and pastry filled with tahin. Tahin is made from toasted sesame seeds (as opposed to tahini which is from raw seeds), which I found similar to peanut butter. It was a very busy çay (chai, aka tea) place.
After we wandered around the market a bit more and took lots of pics. We really liked the market here. Konya is generally not part of a Turkey vacation itinerary, so it’s just a working market, not focused on tourist items. In fact, outside of the streets surrounding the Mevlana Museum, we didn’t see any souvenir stores.
We got back to the hotel around 2pm and relaxed the rest of the afternoon.
Around 5:45pm we left to walk over to the Mevlana Cultural Centre. As soon as we stepped outside, it started to rain, so we went back and grabbed our umbrellas.
We arrived at the centre just after 6pm, just as the security person had suggested yesterday. On the approach, it didn’t seem very active at all, and I was wondering if there had been some mix up in communications. It turned out we were just super early. Maybe the security person has said doors open at 6pm? Not that we should arrive at 6pm?
We went through security, more like a self-serve security, as there was no-one watching the xray of our bags, nor the metal detector we walked through.
We still weren’t sure we were in the right place though, as we couldn’t see any area large enough to host the ceremony, just lots of craft stalls. We asked around, and were told to go upstairs. There we finally found a ticket booth! We paid our 300 TRY each (about 10 CAD), Turkish lira cash only, and entered.
The ceremony is held in a large bowl theatre, seating about 2,500. We were the first to arrive so had our choice of seats. We went back to the ticket people for their recommendation on seating. We then picked out our seats, between posts D and E, facing the musicians, and about half way up. I guess the choice depends on whether you’re there for religious reasons, or as a tourist. We wanted higher up to get pics of the cloaks whirling.
We waited about an hour, watching other tourists arrive and go through the same decision process as us. Mostly these were tourists who had also done their research, otherwise they would have ended up at the tourist performance promoted by the hotels. There were a couple of bus tours, which surprised me as you can’t get tickets in advance, and usually large packaged tours prefer the certainty of advance tickets.
Anyways it wasn’t crowded at all, maybe 300 attendees. There was no one in front of us in the next two rows, so we had a great view.
The ceremony started right at 7pm. There’s seven parts to the Sema ceremony, we had read up previously so knew what to expect.
It was very cool to see. Some parts did drag on, I had to remember that it was a religious ceremony and not a performance. (It would be like going to a Catholic mass and thinking the Nicene Creed could be shortened).
The whirling part is part five, and generally what you see if you attend a performance for tourists. The other parts, some dance-like movements, some poetry reading, some musical, were all really interesting to see and hear. My favourites were part five (the whirling) and also part four (a circular walk where the dervishes greet each other).
It took just over an hour to complete. We walked back home (it had stopped raining by now), and just ate at the hotel. Overall, attending the Sema ceremony was a really cool experience, I’m glad we were able to be here on a Saturday.
Friday, April 03, 2026
Konya, Türkiye
One of reasons we came to Konya was to see the Whirling Dervishes. It’s been popularized with tourist performances in many cities in Türkiye. The Whirling Dervishes are actually an order of Sufi, a religious practice within Islam. The whirling is a form of meditation. The Whirling Dervishes were founded by the mystic poet Rumi in Konya. The Mevlana Museum that our room overlooks contains the tomb of Rumi, aka Mevlana.
There’s two different performances of the Whirling Dervishes in Konya. One is a tourist one every day at 8pm, and the other is the actual religious ceremony on Saturdays. We wanted to see the real one, after all we had planned to be in Konya on a Saturday specifically to see it. It’s very difficult to find info on the real one on the web, so we figured we’d walk down to the Mevlana Cultural Centre (where the performance is held) and find out.
First things first. Breakfast was excellent at our hotel, a big Turkish spread, including freshly-squeezed orange juice.
We then checked out the Mevlana Museum and tomb of Mevlana, across the road from our hotel. It gets lots of tour groups, mostly Turkish. We had to put on protective booties (plastic bags) over our shoes before we entered. The rooms are very ornate. We had to wait for our turn to take a pic of the tomb.
There’s a structure surrounding the square with each room giving a snippet of Sufism and the Whirling Dervishes. The rooms were originally dorm-like rooms for the dervishes, each about 10’ x 10’, with a small doorway facing the square. There’s good English descriptions. It does get crowded when a tour group files through. I managed to stay in the lull between two groups, so I wasn’t swarmed.
Then we walked down to the Mevlana Cultural Centre. The very helpful security person explained the performance was Saturday at 7pm, lasts about an hour, and we should line up at 6pm. You can’t buy tickets in advance, it’s first-come-first-served at the door.
That sorted out, we walked back towards Bedesten Çarşı (Market). It was Friday and the mosques were busy. There’s a couple mosques that we wanted to check out, but we’ll do that tomorrow. The market was lively. Lots of clothing stores. Heather bought a scarf that she can use as a head covering for mosques. There was a very busy çay (tea) and simit stall, so we ordered a tea and simit and sat on the little chairs to enjoy them.
At 1pm most of the market shut down, as it was Friday (similar to how Sundays have shorter hours in other countries).
We were still a bit peckish, so walked around to a street and found a busy restaurant with Etli Ekmek, the local take on pide (sort of a flatbread pizza). It was yummy, better than the one I had yesterday.
It looked like it might rain any minute, so called it a day. Also, it was a Friday and not much was open in the afternoon.
Later we went out for dinner at a place we looked up on Google Maps. Its specialty was lamb’s head. I tried their kelle-paça çorbasi (soup with head and foot of lamb), and Heather tried their lentil soup. Both were excellent. We also had their tavuk pirzola (grilled chicken thigh with a dry rub), although we were already full from the soups. There were lots of locals that stopped in just for the soup or the lamb’s head. It was a cool place to try.
There’s two different performances of the Whirling Dervishes in Konya. One is a tourist one every day at 8pm, and the other is the actual religious ceremony on Saturdays. We wanted to see the real one, after all we had planned to be in Konya on a Saturday specifically to see it. It’s very difficult to find info on the real one on the web, so we figured we’d walk down to the Mevlana Cultural Centre (where the performance is held) and find out.
First things first. Breakfast was excellent at our hotel, a big Turkish spread, including freshly-squeezed orange juice.
We then checked out the Mevlana Museum and tomb of Mevlana, across the road from our hotel. It gets lots of tour groups, mostly Turkish. We had to put on protective booties (plastic bags) over our shoes before we entered. The rooms are very ornate. We had to wait for our turn to take a pic of the tomb.
There’s a structure surrounding the square with each room giving a snippet of Sufism and the Whirling Dervishes. The rooms were originally dorm-like rooms for the dervishes, each about 10’ x 10’, with a small doorway facing the square. There’s good English descriptions. It does get crowded when a tour group files through. I managed to stay in the lull between two groups, so I wasn’t swarmed.
Then we walked down to the Mevlana Cultural Centre. The very helpful security person explained the performance was Saturday at 7pm, lasts about an hour, and we should line up at 6pm. You can’t buy tickets in advance, it’s first-come-first-served at the door.
That sorted out, we walked back towards Bedesten Çarşı (Market). It was Friday and the mosques were busy. There’s a couple mosques that we wanted to check out, but we’ll do that tomorrow. The market was lively. Lots of clothing stores. Heather bought a scarf that she can use as a head covering for mosques. There was a very busy çay (tea) and simit stall, so we ordered a tea and simit and sat on the little chairs to enjoy them.
At 1pm most of the market shut down, as it was Friday (similar to how Sundays have shorter hours in other countries).
We were still a bit peckish, so walked around to a street and found a busy restaurant with Etli Ekmek, the local take on pide (sort of a flatbread pizza). It was yummy, better than the one I had yesterday.
It looked like it might rain any minute, so called it a day. Also, it was a Friday and not much was open in the afternoon.
Later we went out for dinner at a place we looked up on Google Maps. Its specialty was lamb’s head. I tried their kelle-paça çorbasi (soup with head and foot of lamb), and Heather tried their lentil soup. Both were excellent. We also had their tavuk pirzola (grilled chicken thigh with a dry rub), although we were already full from the soups. There were lots of locals that stopped in just for the soup or the lamb’s head. It was a cool place to try.
Thursday, April 02, 2026
Konya, Türkiye
It was really quiet in our hotel in Cappadocia, I guess being carved out of rock provides decent sound insulation. The wifi signal was strong but their router lost internet access (and obviously the cellular network didn’t work too well in a cave either), so it was an offline night.
I woke up at 6:45am to see if the balloons made it out. There was high wind and rain forecast for the early morning when we went to bed, so figured the balloon rides would be cancelled. It was indeed rainy and cloudy and miserable, so went back to bed. It was too bad, as the balloons typically fly over our valley, which makes for great pics right from the hotel.
It was a blue sky and sunny when we made it down for breakfast at 9am. The valley was a nice background for another great Turkish breakfast.
We packed up and loaded up the car. First stop was a viewpoint of Love Valley, where the classic rock formations of Cappadocia are found. The weather had changed multiple times since breakfast, and it was slightly raining when we got to the viewpoint. Took some pics which didn’t turn out too well with the grey skies, and carried on our way.
Next stop was Derinkuyu underground city, about 45 minutes towards Konya. Derinkuyu is the largest discovered of several underground cities in the area, used as Christian refuge over the centuries from the Mongols and Ottomans, amongst others. It could supposedly hold up to 20,000 people and their livestock!
We bought our tickets and entered. Red arrows pointed the way down and in; later, blue arrows showed the way out. Derinkuyu goes to 85m deep, I’m not sure how far underground we went, but it was a lot of awkward climbing. Most of the tunnels required us to walk hunched over. There were also tour groups in the narrow tunnels and rooms, clogging it up.
Anyways we didn’t really enjoy it, although we were glad we went there to see it. We also checked out the next door Üzümlü Kilise, a 7th century church in disrepair.
So onto the next stop of the day, Selime Cathedral. It’s a complex of multiple rooms and buildings carved into the side of the rock near Selime. It’s well-marked and maintained, and cool to see. It was busy with tourists, likely on day trips from Cappadocia. We had to wait our turn for pics at the key sites. I didn’t find it as impressive as Derikli Kilise which we saw yesterday, but still worth the stop. Actually I found the view across the valley of the cute town of Selime itself to be more beautiful.
We had lunch at a little doner place just down the road, which we enjoyed. We’ve started ordering ayran as our drink, which is a yoghurt-like drink that reminded us of a salty lassi. It’s a common drink order with locals. The restaurateur broke into a smile when we asked for it. The weather was nice enough at this time that we ate outside on the patio.
We got back in the car for the final stretch of 2.5 hours to Konya. It was mostly a divided highway, two lanes each way, with a speed limit of 110 km/h. The limit drops to 90 around merges, and to 50 when going through towns. Our car mostly knows the speed limits (I’m not sure if it’s reading signs, or it’s a preloaded map), but occasionally would miss an end limit of 50. So we would be doing 50 while other cars and trucks passed us at 90. Eventually we just used our observations to determine the likely limit. There’s photo radar here, so maybe we’ll have a fine when we return the car, oh well.
We arrived at Konya city limits around 5:30pm. We passed through a police checkpoint. They asked to see my license, and by the time I fished it out of my backpack, he had looked up our plates and said “Eric D’Souza? You can go” and waved us through.
City traffic wasn’t too challenging now that I was familiar with the car. The hotel helped us with street parking (got a prime spot right outside the hotel!). The hotel is in an older building with lots of character. Our room overlooks the Mevlana Müzesi, which is one of the top tourist attractions in Konya.
We were tired from the day’s excursions, and long drive. The hotel guy had suggested a full itinerary for us for this evening; we just relaxed in the room. We have two full days here to sightsee :)
I woke up at 6:45am to see if the balloons made it out. There was high wind and rain forecast for the early morning when we went to bed, so figured the balloon rides would be cancelled. It was indeed rainy and cloudy and miserable, so went back to bed. It was too bad, as the balloons typically fly over our valley, which makes for great pics right from the hotel.
It was a blue sky and sunny when we made it down for breakfast at 9am. The valley was a nice background for another great Turkish breakfast.
We packed up and loaded up the car. First stop was a viewpoint of Love Valley, where the classic rock formations of Cappadocia are found. The weather had changed multiple times since breakfast, and it was slightly raining when we got to the viewpoint. Took some pics which didn’t turn out too well with the grey skies, and carried on our way.
Next stop was Derinkuyu underground city, about 45 minutes towards Konya. Derinkuyu is the largest discovered of several underground cities in the area, used as Christian refuge over the centuries from the Mongols and Ottomans, amongst others. It could supposedly hold up to 20,000 people and their livestock!
We bought our tickets and entered. Red arrows pointed the way down and in; later, blue arrows showed the way out. Derinkuyu goes to 85m deep, I’m not sure how far underground we went, but it was a lot of awkward climbing. Most of the tunnels required us to walk hunched over. There were also tour groups in the narrow tunnels and rooms, clogging it up.
Anyways we didn’t really enjoy it, although we were glad we went there to see it. We also checked out the next door Üzümlü Kilise, a 7th century church in disrepair.
So onto the next stop of the day, Selime Cathedral. It’s a complex of multiple rooms and buildings carved into the side of the rock near Selime. It’s well-marked and maintained, and cool to see. It was busy with tourists, likely on day trips from Cappadocia. We had to wait our turn for pics at the key sites. I didn’t find it as impressive as Derikli Kilise which we saw yesterday, but still worth the stop. Actually I found the view across the valley of the cute town of Selime itself to be more beautiful.
We had lunch at a little doner place just down the road, which we enjoyed. We’ve started ordering ayran as our drink, which is a yoghurt-like drink that reminded us of a salty lassi. It’s a common drink order with locals. The restaurateur broke into a smile when we asked for it. The weather was nice enough at this time that we ate outside on the patio.
We got back in the car for the final stretch of 2.5 hours to Konya. It was mostly a divided highway, two lanes each way, with a speed limit of 110 km/h. The limit drops to 90 around merges, and to 50 when going through towns. Our car mostly knows the speed limits (I’m not sure if it’s reading signs, or it’s a preloaded map), but occasionally would miss an end limit of 50. So we would be doing 50 while other cars and trucks passed us at 90. Eventually we just used our observations to determine the likely limit. There’s photo radar here, so maybe we’ll have a fine when we return the car, oh well.
We arrived at Konya city limits around 5:30pm. We passed through a police checkpoint. They asked to see my license, and by the time I fished it out of my backpack, he had looked up our plates and said “Eric D’Souza? You can go” and waved us through.
City traffic wasn’t too challenging now that I was familiar with the car. The hotel helped us with street parking (got a prime spot right outside the hotel!). The hotel is in an older building with lots of character. Our room overlooks the Mevlana Müzesi, which is one of the top tourist attractions in Konya.
We were tired from the day’s excursions, and long drive. The hotel guy had suggested a full itinerary for us for this evening; we just relaxed in the room. We have two full days here to sightsee :)
Wednesday, April 01, 2026
Cappadocia, Türkiye
We woke up to sunshine, the first time we’d seen a clear blue sky in Ankara. Had another large breakfast, packed up, and used Uber to get a taxi to the airport.
The Sixt car rental was on the arrivals level, but communicating that to the taxi driver was beyond our ability, so just went to international departures. Went through security to enter the airport, and then found our way down to arrivals. The Sixt folks were efficient, even offered us tea while they completed the paperwork. We are now the proud renters of a Dacia Duster!
All our luggage fit in the back without issue. We’ll be doing some sightseeing on transit days, with all our stuff in the car, and didn’t want luggage visible in the locked car. I don’t think car break-ins are a thing in Türkiye, but we prefer taking less risks.
Got out of the airport parking garage without stalling (it’s been a while since I drove a standard). The narrow ramps and turns was good practice to learn the car. It’s right-hand drive in Türkiye, so we’re now at 10 left-hand and 4 right-hand in our career count of car rentals. It’s a newer car with CarPlay, which made it much easier to use my phone for navigation.
We arrived at our hotel in Cappadocia just before 3pm. It’s built into old caves overlooking a valley, about ten minutes drive from the tourist hub of Göreme. The hotel and the view were both amazing, like out of a fairytale.
It was a perfect day weather-wise, and rain was forecast for tomorrow. So we dropped our bags in our room and headed out for some sightseeing, destination Derikli Kilise (aka Column Church, or Kolonlu Kilise).
We parked in the car lot (100 TRY, about 3 CAD) and headed out. At first I thought Direkli Kilise would just be right there, but it looked like a bit of hike, up and down 100m valleys. We walked down into the first valley towards Üzümlü Kilise. It has some cool painted ceilings, although you can only view them from the gated entrance to the church.
There was a coffee shop beside it, so had a Turkish coffee (in our rush to maximize the good weather, we had skipped lunch), and chatted with the owners on how to get to Direkli Kilise. Their description was different from what I could see on the satellite view of the paths in Google Maps. We decided to follow their directions, as they were local.
They did say the return trip would take 90 minutes (Google said half that). It was 4pm by now, so we figured if we didn’t get to the church in 30 minutes, we’d just turn around. Sunset was at 7:04 so we had plenty of daylight left, but we didn’t want to get lost in the valley after dark.
The path took us through some amazing rock formations. Some of the bushes were in bloom, and the purple and pink flowers really made the scene. We’ve seen a bit in our lives, and this was impressive.
We continued along the dirt trail, taking pictures every step of the way.
We later looked up that we were walking through Rose Valley, supposedly one of the top hikes in the area.
The path took around the edge of a plateau. On Google Maps I could see that Direkli Kilise was just across the valley, and could see the dirt path in satellite view. So we followed the path down into the valley, towards the church.
We finally came up to the front. There’s a metal bridge across what I guess could have been a moat. This leads to a small cave. There’s a shallow staircase from the back, which wraps up and bends to the right. I squeezed up, and popped out into a huge church carved out from the inside of the rock. It was just me and Heather in the church, it was quite amazing. It’s also called Column Church cause there’s four pillars holding up the rock above the church.
Anyways, exited the church and then looked at the satellite view for the best route back to the car. Fifteen minutes later, we were driving back into town. Total round trip hiking from Üzümlü Kilise was about an hour, of which 20 minutes was just taking pics.
We stopped at the Bim in town to get water (that’s a mini market here), and then drove back to the hotel. Someone had nabbed my prime parking spot outside the hotel, so we had to park about 50m down the street.
We were tired and hungry. Decided to go out for dinner and then come back to shower etc.
I WhatsApp’d our hotel guy, and he suggested Narin for dinner, about a ten minute walk. We ate at the very unfashionable hour of 6pm. It was quite good.
That was it for our first half day in Cappadocia, an excellent start.
The Sixt car rental was on the arrivals level, but communicating that to the taxi driver was beyond our ability, so just went to international departures. Went through security to enter the airport, and then found our way down to arrivals. The Sixt folks were efficient, even offered us tea while they completed the paperwork. We are now the proud renters of a Dacia Duster!
All our luggage fit in the back without issue. We’ll be doing some sightseeing on transit days, with all our stuff in the car, and didn’t want luggage visible in the locked car. I don’t think car break-ins are a thing in Türkiye, but we prefer taking less risks.
Got out of the airport parking garage without stalling (it’s been a while since I drove a standard). The narrow ramps and turns was good practice to learn the car. It’s right-hand drive in Türkiye, so we’re now at 10 left-hand and 4 right-hand in our career count of car rentals. It’s a newer car with CarPlay, which made it much easier to use my phone for navigation.
We arrived at our hotel in Cappadocia just before 3pm. It’s built into old caves overlooking a valley, about ten minutes drive from the tourist hub of Göreme. The hotel and the view were both amazing, like out of a fairytale.
It was a perfect day weather-wise, and rain was forecast for tomorrow. So we dropped our bags in our room and headed out for some sightseeing, destination Derikli Kilise (aka Column Church, or Kolonlu Kilise).
We parked in the car lot (100 TRY, about 3 CAD) and headed out. At first I thought Direkli Kilise would just be right there, but it looked like a bit of hike, up and down 100m valleys. We walked down into the first valley towards Üzümlü Kilise. It has some cool painted ceilings, although you can only view them from the gated entrance to the church.
There was a coffee shop beside it, so had a Turkish coffee (in our rush to maximize the good weather, we had skipped lunch), and chatted with the owners on how to get to Direkli Kilise. Their description was different from what I could see on the satellite view of the paths in Google Maps. We decided to follow their directions, as they were local.
They did say the return trip would take 90 minutes (Google said half that). It was 4pm by now, so we figured if we didn’t get to the church in 30 minutes, we’d just turn around. Sunset was at 7:04 so we had plenty of daylight left, but we didn’t want to get lost in the valley after dark.
The path took us through some amazing rock formations. Some of the bushes were in bloom, and the purple and pink flowers really made the scene. We’ve seen a bit in our lives, and this was impressive.
We continued along the dirt trail, taking pictures every step of the way.
We later looked up that we were walking through Rose Valley, supposedly one of the top hikes in the area.
The path took around the edge of a plateau. On Google Maps I could see that Direkli Kilise was just across the valley, and could see the dirt path in satellite view. So we followed the path down into the valley, towards the church.
We finally came up to the front. There’s a metal bridge across what I guess could have been a moat. This leads to a small cave. There’s a shallow staircase from the back, which wraps up and bends to the right. I squeezed up, and popped out into a huge church carved out from the inside of the rock. It was just me and Heather in the church, it was quite amazing. It’s also called Column Church cause there’s four pillars holding up the rock above the church.
Anyways, exited the church and then looked at the satellite view for the best route back to the car. Fifteen minutes later, we were driving back into town. Total round trip hiking from Üzümlü Kilise was about an hour, of which 20 minutes was just taking pics.
We stopped at the Bim in town to get water (that’s a mini market here), and then drove back to the hotel. Someone had nabbed my prime parking spot outside the hotel, so we had to park about 50m down the street.
We were tired and hungry. Decided to go out for dinner and then come back to shower etc.
I WhatsApp’d our hotel guy, and he suggested Narin for dinner, about a ten minute walk. We ate at the very unfashionable hour of 6pm. It was quite good.
That was it for our first half day in Cappadocia, an excellent start.
Tuesday, March 31, 2026
Ankara, Türkiye
We were still recovering from our colds, so relaxed a bit in our room after another large breakfast.
We got our day under way around 11am. One of the biggest things to see in Ankara is Anıtkabir, a masoleum complex and final resting place of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the founder of Türkiye.
It was a nicer day than yesterday (high of 12C) and we hadn’t done much walking the past few days, so decided on the hour-long walk rather than a taxi. We had a good view of Anıtkabir from our room, it didn’t look that far. Also it’s a great way to see a city.
So headed out, Google Maps leading the way. We started off downhill, which was easy. Crossed through a hospital area, across a couple highway interchanges with pedestrian over and underpasses, through a lively university area, and finally a leafy neighbourhood of low-rises. The sidewalks were in good shape, and busy. In particular, the areas around the highway underpasses were really busy with pedestrians, almost like a transit hub.
(I’m still not clear on what the third character is in Anıtkabir, I cut and pasted the name from Wikipedia. It’s ASCII code 305, which the internet says is ‘dz’)
Anyways, we reached Anıtkabir around noon. There was a security check, where we also stored our backpacks. We then continued our walk through the Peace Park to the masoleum complex.
There were lots of tourists here, I’d guess about an 80-20 split between Turkish and foreigners. It’s an important site for Turks. The plaza is massive, 129m x 84m, so it didn’t seem too crowded. We walked around the circumference, and then stepped into the mausoleum itself. It’s impressive on its own, with an 27m high ceiling.
After we walked down the Road of Lions, a 262m long pedestrian walkway, flanked by 12 pairs of lions on both sides. The tiled walkway has a 5cm gap between the tiles, which we found tricky to walk on. Wikipedia says it’s by design to force visitors to take their time, although there is a ‘citation needed’ label on this.
We lucked out and reached the end of the pathway just before 1pm and witnessed the changing of the guard.
We walked back to the plaza and checked out the Independence War Museum in the buildings surrounding the plaza. It has recreations, paintings and historical documents from the War of Independence from 1919-1923.
It was about 2pm by time we got through everything. We had lunch at a bakery/restaurant just outside the gates, which catered to tourists but was pretty good. Their coffee and halva were excellent.
We decided to walk back home, we were able to get most of the way by memory. I napped the rest of the afternoon. We were still full from breakfast and lunch, so just skipped dinner.
We got our day under way around 11am. One of the biggest things to see in Ankara is Anıtkabir, a masoleum complex and final resting place of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the founder of Türkiye.
It was a nicer day than yesterday (high of 12C) and we hadn’t done much walking the past few days, so decided on the hour-long walk rather than a taxi. We had a good view of Anıtkabir from our room, it didn’t look that far. Also it’s a great way to see a city.
So headed out, Google Maps leading the way. We started off downhill, which was easy. Crossed through a hospital area, across a couple highway interchanges with pedestrian over and underpasses, through a lively university area, and finally a leafy neighbourhood of low-rises. The sidewalks were in good shape, and busy. In particular, the areas around the highway underpasses were really busy with pedestrians, almost like a transit hub.
(I’m still not clear on what the third character is in Anıtkabir, I cut and pasted the name from Wikipedia. It’s ASCII code 305, which the internet says is ‘dz’)
Anyways, we reached Anıtkabir around noon. There was a security check, where we also stored our backpacks. We then continued our walk through the Peace Park to the masoleum complex.
There were lots of tourists here, I’d guess about an 80-20 split between Turkish and foreigners. It’s an important site for Turks. The plaza is massive, 129m x 84m, so it didn’t seem too crowded. We walked around the circumference, and then stepped into the mausoleum itself. It’s impressive on its own, with an 27m high ceiling.
After we walked down the Road of Lions, a 262m long pedestrian walkway, flanked by 12 pairs of lions on both sides. The tiled walkway has a 5cm gap between the tiles, which we found tricky to walk on. Wikipedia says it’s by design to force visitors to take their time, although there is a ‘citation needed’ label on this.
We lucked out and reached the end of the pathway just before 1pm and witnessed the changing of the guard.
We walked back to the plaza and checked out the Independence War Museum in the buildings surrounding the plaza. It has recreations, paintings and historical documents from the War of Independence from 1919-1923.
It was about 2pm by time we got through everything. We had lunch at a bakery/restaurant just outside the gates, which catered to tourists but was pretty good. Their coffee and halva were excellent.
We decided to walk back home, we were able to get most of the way by memory. I napped the rest of the afternoon. We were still full from breakfast and lunch, so just skipped dinner.
Monday, March 30, 2026
Ankara, Türkiye
Breakfast was quite good at our hotel in Ankara, a traditional spread of cheeses, olives, vegetables and baked goods, plus freshly squeezed orange juice, brewed tea, and eggs to order. Also, sour cherry jam :) Heather tried their menemen, (scrambled eggs with tomatoes, peppers, onions and spices), and said it was one of the best she’s tried, better than the shakshuka from Pasaj, a Turkish brunch place near our home in Toronto.
All the sites we wanted to visit today were within a five minute walk of our hotel. (We still took our umbrellas though). First up was the Museum of Anatolian Civilizations, housed in a former bazaar. It’s one of the few museums open on Mondays in Ankara. It was really good, although the volume of archaeological artefacts became a bit overwhelming for me.
We then walked over to Aslanhane Mosque, one of the oldest mosques in Ankara (13th century). Heather didn’t have a head covering, so we decided instead to grab lunch first.
We ate at random kebab place, one of the few open on Mondays. We were watching the other tables to figure out the etiquette. The kebab skewers are saved at the table, so that they can tally up the cost after. We finished with Turkish coffees and split a kadayif dolmasi, a dessert made from thin strands of pastry wrapped around a nut filling.
We went back to the hotel to put on extra layers. I had started the day with just a puffy jacket. Now I was maxed out in winter gear, adding on my windbreaker, toque, gloves and neck buff. (It was only 5C with a colder feels-like). Heather also added a long scarf she bought in Athens, which could double as a head covering for mosques.
Properly attired, we ventured back out. The streets around the hotel are a maze of cute little shops and cafés, mixed in with working neighbourhood shops like hardware stores and grocery stores. I posted a pic that I labelled as grains, although I think it’s mostly pulses. (I’d have to talk with the tech folks about why it’s hard to update a caption after posting).
Our hotel was directly opposite the Ankara Castle Gate and Clock Tower, so we explored the citadel area next, with more boutique stores and souvenir shops. We climbed up the Şark Kulesi (East Tower) for great views of the city. We walked a bit further into the citadel, towards the White Fort, but turned around before we got all the way there (the fort is more impressive to look at from a distance).
We walked back out, and went back to Aslanhane Mosque. There was a friendly caretaker who used a translation app to explain a few things about the mosque. We took some pics and gave a small donation.
We wandered a bit more around the maze of streets, and that was it for our day.
All the sites we wanted to visit today were within a five minute walk of our hotel. (We still took our umbrellas though). First up was the Museum of Anatolian Civilizations, housed in a former bazaar. It’s one of the few museums open on Mondays in Ankara. It was really good, although the volume of archaeological artefacts became a bit overwhelming for me.
We then walked over to Aslanhane Mosque, one of the oldest mosques in Ankara (13th century). Heather didn’t have a head covering, so we decided instead to grab lunch first.
We ate at random kebab place, one of the few open on Mondays. We were watching the other tables to figure out the etiquette. The kebab skewers are saved at the table, so that they can tally up the cost after. We finished with Turkish coffees and split a kadayif dolmasi, a dessert made from thin strands of pastry wrapped around a nut filling.
We went back to the hotel to put on extra layers. I had started the day with just a puffy jacket. Now I was maxed out in winter gear, adding on my windbreaker, toque, gloves and neck buff. (It was only 5C with a colder feels-like). Heather also added a long scarf she bought in Athens, which could double as a head covering for mosques.
Properly attired, we ventured back out. The streets around the hotel are a maze of cute little shops and cafés, mixed in with working neighbourhood shops like hardware stores and grocery stores. I posted a pic that I labelled as grains, although I think it’s mostly pulses. (I’d have to talk with the tech folks about why it’s hard to update a caption after posting).
Our hotel was directly opposite the Ankara Castle Gate and Clock Tower, so we explored the citadel area next, with more boutique stores and souvenir shops. We climbed up the Şark Kulesi (East Tower) for great views of the city. We walked a bit further into the citadel, towards the White Fort, but turned around before we got all the way there (the fort is more impressive to look at from a distance).
We walked back out, and went back to Aslanhane Mosque. There was a friendly caretaker who used a translation app to explain a few things about the mosque. We took some pics and gave a small donation.
We wandered a bit more around the maze of streets, and that was it for our day.
Sunday, March 29, 2026
Ankara, Türkiye
The Yotel at IST was surprisingly quiet, given the number of guests that must come and go at all hours.
Breakfast was quite good, with a standard buffet, and eggs to order (I only noticed this sign afterwards).
We were quick packing up cause we hardly unpacked anything. Checkout was also easy - we just dropped the passkeys in a box in the lobby and left! I have to say I am very impressed with Yotel.
We were familiar with the airport layout from our walk yesterday. It was still pretty quiet at 9am, there was no lineup for security. The domestic departures is a nicer place to hang out compared to the international terminal.
We were only allowed one checked bag each, so I had to take our carry on suitcase as, well, carry on, and compete for luggage space in the overhead bins. It wasn’t a full flight so we had no issues.
The flight was only 45 minutes, and then we were in Ankara! Our driver had already WhatsApp’d to give his exact waiting spot. It did remind me of flying from Toronto to Ottawa - YOW is much more peaceful and laid back than YYZ. (I’ve only caught a connecting flight in Ottawa, but you still get the airport experience).
Anyways the drive into Ankara was pretty, through hills and valleys. The trees were just starting to bloom. Ankara is the 2nd largest city in Türkiye, about five million people. The airport has good access to the centre by road, only about 30 minutes.
Our hotel was in a restored caravanserai atop a hill, in the historical part of Ankara. Our room wasn’t ready yet (it was only 1pm) so we left our luggage and went for lunch.
We both got a soup, and then split a salad and manti (sort of like dumplings). It was way too much food - the soup itself (chickpeas, lamb, bulgur and yoghurt) could have been a meal.
Our room was ready by the time we finished eating. The room (as well as the whole hotel) has tons of character.
We were still recovering from our colds (although feeling better today), so just relaxed the rest of the afternoon.
I did make a trip to a laundromat, about a five minute drive. Uber is used more as a way to hail a taxi in Ankara - the only payment option in the app is cash. Anyways it is a convenient way to get a cab.
The laundromat folks were really friendly. In their setup, they do all the operating of the machines; I was there more as a supervisor to approve the temperature selection etc.
I figured I had time to get cash from an ATM and buy some water while the clothes were in the washer. It was cool walking down the street, in a part of town that I wouldn’t otherwise have reason to visit as a tourist. Lots of people just going about their everyday lives.
It was a quick washer, by the time I returned, the clothes were done. The laundromat follks double- and triple-checked with me that I didn’t want the clothes dried, before helping me stuff the clothes into my daypack.
A taxi drove by just as I exited. I used Google Maps to show in Turkish where I was going. Five minutes later I was back at the hotel, all my errands completed.
I was lucky too with the weather. It was sunny the whole time I was out. Dark clouds rolled in shortly after I returned, and it rained quite a bit.
We didn’t fancy heading out in the rain, so just ate at the hotel again for dinner. This wasn’t as special as our lunch, although we did a better job of ordering.
The hotel was hosting a fancy dinner for a table of 20 in the central courtyard of the caravanserai. We quietly walked through to the staircase to the 2nd level where the rooms were located, and called it a night.
Breakfast was quite good, with a standard buffet, and eggs to order (I only noticed this sign afterwards).
We were quick packing up cause we hardly unpacked anything. Checkout was also easy - we just dropped the passkeys in a box in the lobby and left! I have to say I am very impressed with Yotel.
We were familiar with the airport layout from our walk yesterday. It was still pretty quiet at 9am, there was no lineup for security. The domestic departures is a nicer place to hang out compared to the international terminal.
We were only allowed one checked bag each, so I had to take our carry on suitcase as, well, carry on, and compete for luggage space in the overhead bins. It wasn’t a full flight so we had no issues.
The flight was only 45 minutes, and then we were in Ankara! Our driver had already WhatsApp’d to give his exact waiting spot. It did remind me of flying from Toronto to Ottawa - YOW is much more peaceful and laid back than YYZ. (I’ve only caught a connecting flight in Ottawa, but you still get the airport experience).
Anyways the drive into Ankara was pretty, through hills and valleys. The trees were just starting to bloom. Ankara is the 2nd largest city in Türkiye, about five million people. The airport has good access to the centre by road, only about 30 minutes.
Our hotel was in a restored caravanserai atop a hill, in the historical part of Ankara. Our room wasn’t ready yet (it was only 1pm) so we left our luggage and went for lunch.
We both got a soup, and then split a salad and manti (sort of like dumplings). It was way too much food - the soup itself (chickpeas, lamb, bulgur and yoghurt) could have been a meal.
Our room was ready by the time we finished eating. The room (as well as the whole hotel) has tons of character.
We were still recovering from our colds (although feeling better today), so just relaxed the rest of the afternoon.
I did make a trip to a laundromat, about a five minute drive. Uber is used more as a way to hail a taxi in Ankara - the only payment option in the app is cash. Anyways it is a convenient way to get a cab.
The laundromat folks were really friendly. In their setup, they do all the operating of the machines; I was there more as a supervisor to approve the temperature selection etc.
I figured I had time to get cash from an ATM and buy some water while the clothes were in the washer. It was cool walking down the street, in a part of town that I wouldn’t otherwise have reason to visit as a tourist. Lots of people just going about their everyday lives.
It was a quick washer, by the time I returned, the clothes were done. The laundromat follks double- and triple-checked with me that I didn’t want the clothes dried, before helping me stuff the clothes into my daypack.
A taxi drove by just as I exited. I used Google Maps to show in Turkish where I was going. Five minutes later I was back at the hotel, all my errands completed.
I was lucky too with the weather. It was sunny the whole time I was out. Dark clouds rolled in shortly after I returned, and it rained quite a bit.
We didn’t fancy heading out in the rain, so just ate at the hotel again for dinner. This wasn’t as special as our lunch, although we did a better job of ordering.
The hotel was hosting a fancy dinner for a table of 20 in the central courtyard of the caravanserai. We quietly walked through to the staircase to the 2nd level where the rooms were located, and called it a night.
Saturday, March 28, 2026
Istanbul, Türkiye
Another day, another plane. This part of the trip is rather plane-heavy, mostly cause of the return flight to Abu Simbel.
We’re on our way to Türkiye for a three week road trip. There’s not good connections from Cairo to Ankara (where we start our Türkiye road trip), so we have an overnight layover in Istanbul.
The Istanbul airport opened in 2019, and the surrounding hotel infrastructure has yet to catch up. We decided to stay at the Yotel in the airport, rather than try to get into the city.
So our journey today from Le Meridien Cairo Airport to Yotel Istanbul was walk-fly-walk :)
The EgyptAir flight to Istanbul was on another vintage 737. Our ears were popping due to our colds, as well as cause older jets don’t have good cabin pressure.
We lucked out with the immigration line in Istanbul - we must have hit a lull, it took us less than ten minutes to get through. After we retrieved our luggage, we had to visit a couple of Turkish Airlines counters to sort out our flight to Ankara tomorrow. Somehow our tickets showed us as on both the 11am and 1pm flights. They were super helpful, and got us straightened out for the 11am. I wasn’t concerned about getting to Ankara, as the Istanbul-Ankara route is as common as Toronto-Montreal, with flights every hour.
We then checked into the Yotel. We were super impressed with the whole setup. Check-in was quick and easy, the room was really well laid out, had fast wifi, outlets everywhere you’d need them. There was also no pamphlets nor promotional items cluttering up every available surface (my pet peeve in other hotels - I spend the first few minutes in a new hotel gathering all those up and sticking in a drawer).
The only downside with staying at the airport is that food is overpriced and average at best. We walked around both departures and arrivals looking at the dinner options. I like walking around airports when they’re empty like this - maybe it’s from growing up near Pearson.
We weren’t that hungry, so just split a couple fresh sandwiches and a salad. It tasted pretty good, and not too overpriced at 30 EUR.
We actually got in a lot of walking today - over 7.3km!
We’re on our way to Türkiye for a three week road trip. There’s not good connections from Cairo to Ankara (where we start our Türkiye road trip), so we have an overnight layover in Istanbul.
The Istanbul airport opened in 2019, and the surrounding hotel infrastructure has yet to catch up. We decided to stay at the Yotel in the airport, rather than try to get into the city.
So our journey today from Le Meridien Cairo Airport to Yotel Istanbul was walk-fly-walk :)
The EgyptAir flight to Istanbul was on another vintage 737. Our ears were popping due to our colds, as well as cause older jets don’t have good cabin pressure.
We lucked out with the immigration line in Istanbul - we must have hit a lull, it took us less than ten minutes to get through. After we retrieved our luggage, we had to visit a couple of Turkish Airlines counters to sort out our flight to Ankara tomorrow. Somehow our tickets showed us as on both the 11am and 1pm flights. They were super helpful, and got us straightened out for the 11am. I wasn’t concerned about getting to Ankara, as the Istanbul-Ankara route is as common as Toronto-Montreal, with flights every hour.
We then checked into the Yotel. We were super impressed with the whole setup. Check-in was quick and easy, the room was really well laid out, had fast wifi, outlets everywhere you’d need them. There was also no pamphlets nor promotional items cluttering up every available surface (my pet peeve in other hotels - I spend the first few minutes in a new hotel gathering all those up and sticking in a drawer).
The only downside with staying at the airport is that food is overpriced and average at best. We walked around both departures and arrivals looking at the dinner options. I like walking around airports when they’re empty like this - maybe it’s from growing up near Pearson.
We weren’t that hungry, so just split a couple fresh sandwiches and a salad. It tasted pretty good, and not too overpriced at 30 EUR.
We actually got in a lot of walking today - over 7.3km!
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