A couple of photos taken during a boat ride in Istanbul, taking us from the European side to the Asian part of the city.

Istanbul, the city of two continents, the place where Europe and Asia are entwined. It’s grand, surprising, full of flavor and color.

It’s a must see destination for any serious traveler and it has anything and everything you’d want to see: old, new, art, trade masters, great food, amazing tea, jewelry that makes all women sigh and lights sparkles of desire in the corner of their eyes, parties, belly dancing, burial sites and holy places. Add two seas, great sunsets and quite a few towers to see the city from up top. It is mesmerizing and it crawls up your veins like a drug, turning into an addiction, making you always want to come back. Sure, the traffic is there to provide your everyday near-death experience, but that’s not a big thing, is it?

Photo credit.

As it happens, we rarely have enough time to explore a city. Sometimes we’ve planned a tour and we need to see the best of everything. And as Istanbul is a really accessible destination for a wide number of countries, many travelers may choose to dedicate a long weekend to it! As I have been to Istanbul three times already and it’s always been for a maximum of four days, I thought I’d share the tricks I learned with you. That is why I created a three day guide suggesting you how to mix tourist landmarks with places to eat so that you can see as much of Istanbul as possible.

This guide is not meant to tell you why you should see these marvels, as the Internet is full of such info and the local guide books that you can get, well, everywhere, will tell you the stories behind them! My goal is to help you turn into a happy and effective little tourist and experience as much of Istanbul as you can.

The first day is dedicated to the old city, with ancient palaces, mosques and tombs. The first thing you need to do is wake up early and never, ever skip breakfast! Turkish hotels are pretty good at arranging buffet. Make sure you try everything! The bread, cheese, meat, cookies, coffee and helva! They have really good honey as well. Now drag yourself out of the chair and the hotel, get a tourist map, they are cheap and will help you through the city, and head out to see the Topkapi Palace!

Topkapi is open almost everyday. Still, some queuing might be involved, so I recommend getting there a little before 9. Get your tickets for the palace, make sure you get tickets for the Harem section as well (you really don’t want to get to Istanbul and not see where the Sultans kept their armies of beautiful women!). You can get the walkie-talkie guides if you’d like, they are available in so many languages it makes your head spin, but having a Topkapi guide book is just as good and you get to take it home as a reminder of your trip!

Visiting the whole palace, Harem included, takes a long while. I suggest taking a break after the first couple of hours and have some cay (Turkish tea) in one of the museum’s cafes. Take your time, enjoy the sea view, then get on with your tour of the palace. You will be finished with everything just in time for lunch! And you definitely must try Kofte (a sort of grilled meatballs) with rice and salad!

But don’t be fooled by the many places selling kofte! Go to the most famous place, Sultanahmet Koftecisi, one of the most frequently copied restaurants in Istanbul. To get there, walk out of the Topkapi Palace through the main entrance, walk by the gift shops, turn right and walk toward the tram tracks, having Aya Sofya on your right and Sultanahmet (Blue Mosque) on your left. Once you get to the street with the tram track, turn left and walk along the tracks, on the right sidewalk. It’s less than 100 meters until the koftecisi and the photo I posted should help you. Don’t forget to get Ayran (a salty, yogurt based drink) too!

After lunch, (it should be a about 2 PM by now), it’s time for Hagia Sophia / Aya Sofya / St. Sophia (Yes, they all translate to Holly Wisdom or something like it). As it has stricter visiting hours, I advise you to visit it before the Blue Mosque.

Aya Sofya used to be a Christian church before being turned into a mosque and some traces of it’s Christian past are still preserved. Depending on when you visit, it might also hold religious-themed exhibitions and I advise you to check them out.

As the Blue Mosque is closed for a sermon until 5.15 pm, you might either be in luck and visit both mosques before 4.30 or have some time to spend in the park between them. If you do, look out for these guys:

They sell sherbet, a traditional drink. Even if you’re not tempted, they still make for a great photo subject! Then concentrate on Blue Mosque/ Sultanahmet!

As you can see, it can be rather crowded! Most mosques in Istanbul don’t charge you for visiting.  Blue Mosque is one of them. But they gladly take donations and I advise you to make one, as they do need the money to preserve them.

Go in, enjoy the beauty and the spirit of the mosque. There are some holy books in one of the corners. Unless you’re fluent in Arabic, you won’t understand a thing, but they are beautiful to look at, with artful covers and exquisite writing.

The next part of your day highly depends on when you see the Blue Mosque. If it’s after five, go to the Grand Bazaar first. If it’s before 4.30, save the Bazaar for last. Either way, don’t miss out on the Bazaar!

On your way from Blue Mosque to the Bazaar (a 15 minute walk), you will pass by some burial sites. Pashas and important personalities of Istanbul lay here. Take a moment to acknowledge their presence and to notice an interesting fact: there are a few coffee shops in between the graves.

Just before the Bazaar, you’ll be greeted by the Beyazit II Mosque and the Istanbul University. They are both grand, beautifully looking buildings, quite worth a little of your time and a few dozen photos

And now it’s time for some hard core negotiation, spotting beautiful items between thousands of competitors and just filling your lungs with the Turkish trading spirit. They are great salespersons! Even the best European and North American sales specialists admit it.

Photo credit: Wikipedia

Besides, everything they sell looks beautiful, from tea sets, to shawls and leather jackets. Speaking of leather jackets, if you negotiate enough, you can get great prices for them (as a Turkish bartender once explained it to me, leather clothes factories are close to Istanbul and surrounding areas, that is why buying them there is smart, unlike going to shop for leather in Antalya or other south-eastern seaside resorts).  The Bazaar closes at 7 PM. And if you have saved the other landmarks for after, make sure you get out through the same gate (Beyazit).

Warning: The Bazaar is closed on Sundays and all holidays. So if you’re there in the New Year period, it will be tricky to actually visit it.

Dinnertime! Just head back to the Sultanahmet Square and pick whatever restaurant you’d like. Lamb or chicken shish kebab would work! It usually comes with rice and grilled veggies. Again, I recommend ayran, and a well-deserved after mean cup of cay!

Now it’s time to head back to the hotel and rest. Or go to a local club…Whatever you do, remember: the next day you will have to once more wake up early!

P.S. I mentioned quite a lot of visiting hours and closing time. All of them refer to the local time.

3 Amazing Days in Istanbul – Part II
3 Amazing Days in Istanbul – Part III

Now that winter is here, I’d so wish I were back there, in mid September, enjoying the sea, the breeze and the warmth.

As some of you might know, I’ve been enjoying an amazing vacation in Oludeniz for the past three weeks. You might also remember my big list of things to do when going there. Well, I kind of did less than half, some that weren’t planned and did a lot of laying in the sun by the pool, reading a book. So here’s what I’ve learned and would like to share with you in no particular order:

Lesson 1 – Never underestimate the level of tiredness a stressful year has caused

Lesson 2 – Some of the things you waited and waited for: they will be a lot better than you’ve imagined.

Lesson 3 – Sea + Mountains = really amazing roads but extremely tiring diriving

Lesson 4 - What you think is enough time, never is. And time also has this bad habit of just flying by.

Lesson 5 – Relaxing and enjoying yourself is as rewarding as doing a lot of cool stuff

Lesson 6 – If you also want photos from the road there and back, make sure the family/couple/group shutterbug is not the only driver. I was

Lesson 7 – The Efes beer is amazing!

Lesson 8 – Belly dancing is not that hard

Lesson 9 – Bring more books next time! Running out of books to read sucks a lot more than carrying too many and going back without reading them. I packed four and finished them in a week and a half and bought three more

Lesson 10 – Pet food stores might also sell used books ??? Yup, I haven’t gotten over this…

Lesson 11 – If you go through the trouble of getting road maps ready, don’t forget them on the living room table!

That’s it for now! Next, I’ll share my cruise experience, my paraglading experience, a review of the amazing hotel I stayed at and some other cool stories I know you’ll love! Stay tuned!

What is a Dream Vacation? It’s a masterpiece of Travel Wizards, the kind of vacation that you enjoy so much, you speak about it years and years after coming back. You enjoy every second of every minute of every hour of every day. You take lots of photos, dance like a dervish on the streets and charge yourself with enough energy to last you for a year or two.

How to come up with such a vacation? That’s a mix of knowledge, advanced hotel search skills, planning, great advice from friends passionate about traveling and a whole lot of luck. I’ve had such a vacation last year, when I spent 10 days in the Netherlands. So I did my best to organize an at least similar one for this year. I thought it would be nice to share my plans with you now and then report back every day and tell you what the real deal is like.

Location: Fethiye, Oludeniz, Turkey!

Oludeniz is said to be the best place for paragliding. It’s home to a paradise-like lagoon and beach on the Mediterranean and the nearby mountains are the perfect place for those looking for extreme sensations. Placed in between Kusadasi and Antalyia, it is less popular among travel agencies, but hard core tourists know is one of the most beautiful beaches in the world. The location of choice, Fethiye, is a few miles away from Oludeniz.

I started planning early. I made the reservations at the Blue Pearl hotel back in February. And I advise you to plan early as well if at least part of your trip is in peak season (July-August). I made reservations for an apartment from August 23rd to September 12th and there were only 2-3 apartments left at each hotel in the area. I also advise you to go there in early summer or late summer/early autumn to make sure you’re not affected by extreme heat.

As you can tell, I had quite a lot of time to find out what to do while staying in Oludeniz. You’d think 3 weeks are hard to fill with loads of fun activities, but in these parts of Turkey, it’s actually quite easy!

What to Do in Oludeniz? Anything You Want Basically!

Of course, there’s the beach where you can lay in the sun, swim in the Mediterranean Sea, read a book under an umbrella, have fruit cocktails or simply enjoy the view. There are always the magic moments to be treasured: the sunrise and the sunset. But that’s enough to fill three days. What else?

Let’s Start with Paragliding!

They say Oludeniz is the best place for paragliding in the world. As it will be a first in my life, I’m guessing I’ll love it anyway. And I have this not so secret plan of getting it all on my camera and then share it with you.

For beginners like me, there are several professionals of tandem paragliding to take you on a breathtaking experience from the top of Babadag, above the Oludeniz Beach and Lagoon, and finally landing on the Oludeniz Beach.

Of course, hard core paragliders are not obliged to have an instructor with them and for those wannabes looking for a license, you can get one here, after acing a 5 or 10 day course. You’ll get excellent paragliding conditions from April till November, 8 months every year. Now that’s some extended season for extreme sports!

White Water Rafting

It just so happens that there are quite a few of Turkish rivers perfect for white water rafting. The nearby Dalaman River is the perfect place to try out your rafting skills. The river is graded 3-4 and is open to rafting from April till October.

It also has a 5 grade section for more experienced rafters which is only open from April to July. And if you want to have fun for more than a few hours, there are one day or overnight rafting campings trips. So get your life jacket and helmet ready, add jackets, wet suits and bootees if it’s cold and let’s go!

Dalayan Mud Bath and Turtle Beach

As you must be tired after such extreme experiences, some light visiting is in order. On your way to the Dalyan Delta, stop to see the ancient rock tombs of Caunos. Then go see the mud bath and dip in the sulfur springs of Dalayan. It’s then time for the spectacular Iztuzu Beach, one of the last nesting places of the endangered Caretta Caretta turtles. The turtles measuring up to 3-4 feet in length come here to nest from May to September.

Canoing

You can then take a day canoing down the Xanthos River (Eşen Çay) through the Patara National Park. Luckily with those like me, no previous canoing experience is necessary.

Horseback Riding

Now that you’re a little rested, nothing like a horseback ride to fill your afternoon! The 18km beach of Patara is the perfect place to start, then make your way through the dunes and along the farmland of Cayagzi.

Walking

Alternatively, you can take long walks on the beach or start going up to see snow-covered mountain peaks and the yayla (highland plateau). You’ll be free to enjoy the extensive pine and cedar forests, the junipers, the maquis and everything else the impressive Babadag mountain has to offer.

Time to Dive!

After spending so long on the surface, I’d say seeing the Mediterranean underworld is a must. The Fethiye and Oludeniz areas offer a wide range of perfect places for both scuba diving and snorkeling and there are plenty of experienced teachers ready to give you a few pointers if you haven’t done this before. You can sign up for a 2 to 5 days diving course or become a master diver in one of the specialty courses.

The underwater landscape is typically a varied selection of reefs, walls, drop-offs and caverns. Local marine life is less abundant than in tropical seas but includes grouper, rays, moray eels, turtles and octopi.

Jump on Board for a Cruise

If you made it all the way to Oludeniz, then experiencing a Turkish gulet is a must. Boat trips come in all directions and lengths possible so it’s impossible not to find something to suit your mood. For example, if you get tired of the Oludeniz beach, take a boat trip to Bodrum and enjoy your time in the sun.

And if all these were not enough for you (and I for one still have some hours to fill), then write these down:

• *Must see where Helen of Troy and Paris had their love story – Pamukkale
• *Visit the ruins of Tlos
• *Visit Yakapark trout farm and water gardens
• *See the Hellenistic city of Hierapolis which is over 2500 years old and swim in Cleopatra’s spa bath
• *Visit Ephesus, one of the best preserved classical cities in the eastern Mediterranean

If this is still not enough, just ask around and you’ll surely find out about amazing places to see and new things to try out. I’m guessing I won’t get bored. What do you think?

Photo credit (hotel). Photo credit (Tourist Attractions).