We’ve swapped church bells in European towns for the Muslim call to prayer in Turkey, a country that provides a true feast for the senses. Turkey has been on my bucket list for as long as I can remember, and it did not disappoint.

Istanbul

We had lots of “pinch me” moments while here.

Sight

Our first stop was to the Hagia Sophia, the famous church turned mosque turned museum that we study in my classroom as a case study of the Byzantine Empire. It is truly amazing to see in person, so much grander than I expected! I felt like an ant walking under its huge dome. Unfortunately, the left side of the interior was under scaffolding, and the weather was a bit overcast. I can only imagine its brilliance when the sunlight fully streams through. It nonetheless truly impressed us.

Several other historic sites are clustered together in the Old City, including the Blue Mosque and the ruins of the hippodrome. At dusk, this part of Istanbul takes on a magical quality. 

Sound

Part of the atmospheric quality at dusk is when the muezzins chant the call to prayer from mosques all around the city simultaneously. I don’t think I’d ever get tired of experiencing it.

Taste and Smell

For one of the first times on our trip, we didn’t have access to a kitchen or easy grocery takeaway options. This was just as well, as meals out are very inexpensive here. The variety of options reflect the country’s multiethnic history. We feasted on meatballs, kebabs, stuffed zucchini, hummus, tzatziki, lamb rolls, and of course lots of baklava. 

We also drank our share of Turkish tea, Turkish coffee and tried ayran (a yogurt drink) and pickle juice!

Touch/Epic Day 

We had the most epic day of our trip while in Istanbul. It started with a visit to a gorgeous historic hamam, Kılıç Ali Paşa Hamamı. I took a couple of pictures before realizing it was against their policy (and before other bathers emerged), but this link shows more of the facility.

When my sister and I were in Marrakech a few years ago, we had an authentic local neighborhood hamam experience. It was very simple yet really fun and interesting. This time around, Elise and I opted for the fancier (aka more western-friendly) experience.

Upon arrival, we were greeted with sherbet (the drink of the sultans, not the ice cream). After putting on our pestamel (a wrap-around towel), we were doused with warm water and then relaxed on a warm marble slab. An attendant scrubbed us cleaner than we’ve ever been and lathered us with bubbles. We were amused to discover that the attendants all wear Crocs – a Boulder invention! We had a massage and then lounged on cushions while drinking Turkish coffee. It felt very luxurious.

After a great lunch, we explored the remains of the Byzantine hippodrome (think chariot races, and for my former students, site of the Nika Riots). The racetrack is a few meters below the current ground level, but old artifacts such as Roman/Byzantine columns and an Egyptian obelisk can be found in dug out, fenced in areas at their original ground level.

We explored the Grand Bazaar and haggled for my first souvenir, an antique necklace. Then we jostled through the crowds at the Spice Market, a sensory overload.

We capped off our day with the most memorable dinner of our trip so far, sitting outside under heaters with throw blankets draped over us (it’s been in the 70s during the day but gets cool at night), attended to by the nicest waiters ever.

Other sites we visited

Topkapi Palace: Huge, gorgeous historic Ottoman complex located strategically along the Bosphorus. We found the harem section particularly interesting. 

Fun fact: a lot of the tile decoration at Topkapi features tulips, reflecting the golden age of Ottoman rule known as the Tulip Period. Also, while tulips originated in Central Asia, they were introduced to this region during Ottoman rule and made their way to Holland from there.

Basilica Cistern: Cavernous subterranean landmark built by Emperor Justinian that historically provided the drinking water for much of Istanbul; called the “floating palace” because beautiful Greek columns salvaged from ruined temples form its supports

Blue Mosque: Unfortunately, the interior of the big dome is currently undergoing restoration work and wasn’t visible.

We spent a lovely day with old family friends of my in-laws, whom we were meeting for the first time.

We easily could have spent another week seeing major sites, but we wanted to pace ourselves. You really need to build in decompression time from the hustle and bustle of this huge city. In fact, everyone we met who lives here says it’s a great place to visit but too hectic to be a resident. We also wanted to save some sites for our next trip here, because we both agreed that we will definitely return someday.

Cappadocia

For the rest of our time in Turkey, we booked our only guided tour, since it would be incredibly difficult to piece the logistics together as independent travelers. We also didn’t know how comfortable we’d feel as American women traveling alone in this region (though even with the current political situation between the U.S. and Turkey, it wasn’t an issue).

This whole landscape resembles Tatooine from Star Wars, with the addition of thousands of homes and other structures carved into stalagmite-shaped caves over the years. Its inhabitants included the Hittites’ enemies in the ancient era and the disciples in the years just after Jesus’ death.

It was completely surreal: there are so many former cave habitations that you can find several along the roadside without any systems to prevent trespassers/vandals, and several hotels have incorporated the original caves into their architecture.

Highlights of Cappadocia included:

Pasabag Valley: cave dwellings in “fairy chimneys”

Open Air Museum: this was a monastery complex created by early Christian disciplines and includes study rooms, chapels and dining areas; it was my favorite site in Cappadocia 

Kaymakli Underground City: used at various points in time for protection from enemies, it’s an impressive eight levels deep; it reminded me a bit of Mesa Verde

We didn’t splurge on the hot air balloon ride (approximately $200/person), which is a big draw for tourists here. However, I was fortunate to wake up just as the sun was rising and watched several drift by right next to our hotel.

Ephesus area

We toured the House of the Virgin Mary. Historians aren’t 100% sure she lived here, but she most likely spent time in Ephesus, since St. John became Mary’s protector per Jesus’s request when he died – and John definitely spent time here. It’s believed that Mary spent the last five years of her life in Ephesus. It feels pretty surreal to walk in the same spaces as Christianity’s early movers and shakers.

We also toured the substantial ruins of the former city of Ephesus. Its influence peaked under Caesar Augustus, when it was second only to Rome in commercial and cultural influence.

Finally, we toured the ruins of the Temple of Artemis, which was one of the ancient wonders of the world. It requires a lot of imagination today, as only one column remains.

It’s crazy to think that we have been in Roman territory for almost this entire trip! In fact, my journey began with the Roman baths in Bath, England. Not only has it been fun to pick up tidbits of information from each site, but it also reinforced for me just how extensive their empire was. 

Throughout our visit in Turkey, we had great conversations with Turks and Kurds – a lot more conversations with the locals than in any other country we’ve visited so far. I was surprised to learn that they love Americans, in part due to our military and economic help over the years. Turkish hospitality seems very genuine: it doesn’t matter to them whether a conversation leads to an economic transaction. It feels different from Morocco, where shopkeepers can turn a bit hostile as soon as you indicate that you don’t plan to buy anything.

Elise and I make a point to learn basic words and phrases in the language of every country we visit. Nowhere has this effort been better received than in Turkey, where everyone seemed a bit surprised, as well as charmed.

Pamukkale

This area is famous for its hot springs and travertine terraces (constructed from carbonate minerals deposited by flowing water). What we didn’t realize is that hotels built in the area over the years siphoned off water from this site for their pools and essentially destroyed this feature. Now, waterflow is tightly controlled in an effort to preserve the site, but this unfortunately means that very few terraces have water. It was a huge disappointment, as I was expecting layers of shelves of stunning blue water like I’ve seen in the pictures. 

People were historically attracted to this area because of the healing powers of the mineral waters, thus the origins of the Roman city of Hierapolis on-site. While it contains a well-preserved amphitheater, the rest of Hierapolis requires a lot of imagination. I’ve also officially had my fill of Roman ruins now and so I didn’t fully appreciate this site.

One cool experience, though, was swimming  in Cleopatra’s Pool. The legend is that Marc Anthony created this pool for Cleopatra (though there’s no proof that she ever visited). The Temple of Apollo the pool was built under toppled in the seventh century due to an earthquake. It was pretty cool to swim over Roman columns in the soothing “champagne water” – minerals releasing air bubbles. We were having so much fun, we forgot to take pictures.

Adventures beyond

The plan was to head to Japan next to hike an ancient pilgrimage route. Several factors changed our itinerary, including a major layover snafu on our journey there. In fact, we could win a prize for the layover issues we experienced. 

Layover issue #1:

Elise bought a large antique key in Cappadocia. A couple of days prior to our big flight, she had to check her bag for our flight back to Istanbul in order to keep it (considered a blunt object? it wasn’t clear due to the language barrier with the security agent). So she knew it was a potential problem and proactively placed it directly in the tray in plain sight when going through security in Riyad, Saudi Arabia.

However, when he saw it, a stern security agent whisked her off to a high security room, manned by a guard wielding a very large gun. They took her passport and confiscated her souvenir. The agents didn’t speak English, elevating an already stressful situation. This transpired over about 45 minutes, during which I wasn’t allowed to rejoin her and had no idea what was happening. When she finally emerged, she discovered that the agents had her boarding pass. We trouble-shooted that piece, but the whole experience was pretty disconcerting.

Layover issue #2:

The Philippines apparently has particularly strict visa/entry guidelines. We discovered that our layover was too short to get through the process and catch our next flight.

This became a huge problem, since by missing our flight we couldn’t prove that we were departing the country. The immigration agents took our passports and kept leaving for extended amounts of time. They finally returned with a huge stack of papers and took us to the airline booking office to rebook our tickets. Unfortunately, the next flight to our destination wasn’t for three days. Fast-forward eight hours later, we bought a new ticket to an entirely different country for the next day and finally received special permission to leave the confines of the airport for a nearby hotel – and I’m greatly simplifying the ordeal here.

In both situations, no one was articulating what the problem was, so it was up to us to piece it together. When we arrived in Manila, we were completely jet-lagged and struggling to think straight. We also weren’t allowed to venture from a very small section of the airport. So, for awhile it appeared that our dinner might consist of large bottles of Johnny Walker purchased from the only shop, a duty free liquor store.

During our short stay in the Philippines, we got a glimpse of their intense enthusiasm for Christmas. The entrance road to the airport already has a Christmas tree set up, and our hotel was streaming Christmas music. Apparently the hype starts in September!

But that’s all behind us now, because we’ve successfully arrived at our new destination and are loving our experiences so far. Guess where? (a recent Facebook post provides further clues)