Posts

Travelling without a local guide?

Image
My friend told me that she would like to travel to Turkiye on her own.  I told her that though she can easily find information on where to go from  travel guide blog by Turkish Airline s, it is not a good idea as she will face a problem communicating with the locals. Most of the stall owners there do not speak in English and their signbaords are in Turkish language. When you join a travel package, usually breakfast and dinner are served in hotels. Most of the time the food are served buffet style.  Food served at the hotels we stayed in were not labeled. The hotel staff could not tell us what were being served as they could not understand what we were asking in English.  If the dishes were labeled, fussy eaters like me could do a search to check out the ingredients in the dishes.  I was lucky that there was a wide spread of food in most of the hotels, so, I was able to try in small portions, dishes with ingredients that looked familiar.  If I did not have e...
Post a Comment
Read more

Goreme Open Air Museum in Cappadocia

Image
Göreme is located in Nevsehir province in Central Anatolia. It is well known for its: -amazing rock formations -hollowed out settlements and churches from the Middle Ages -underground cities -hot air balloon rides, which started in 1984 (read about its history at  Urgup Balloons )  I read from  Wikipedia  that inhabitants there built stone rooms in front of old dugout caves to live in. The caves were then used for storage and for accommodating horses. As more tourists visit the town, the owners sold their homes to be converted into unique hotels.  We stayed at Kaldeson Cave Suites which is in one of such hotel. I read that the  Göreme National Park and the Rock Sites of Cappadocia is one of the first UNESCO World Heritage Sites registered in Turkey . We did not visit Göreme National Park which surrounds the entire town of Göreme.  However, we visted the Göreme Open Air Museum because in Cappadocia it has the most painted cave churc...
Post a Comment
Read more

Uchisar Castle in Cappadocia

Image
Uchisar is situated at the highest point in Cappadocia. If you stand at the top of the Uchisar Castle you can have a magnificent view of the area.  There are numerous underground passageways and rooms within as it served as residential areas for around 1,000 people during the Byzantine times.  It is no longer inhabited today. This is how  Uchisar Castle looks like from a distance. And that is all we did.  Watched it from a distance. I found this photo shared on Archive in 2019 which showed how it looks at night. Esentepe Village is located between Uchisar and Goreme.  From Esentepe Hill, we could see Uchisar Castle and Goreme which is the entry point to Pigeon Valley.  Here is a tip for guides. Don't just use us to promote your travel agency when we take group photos. Take the trouble to name the place where we are taking the photo at. Include the date of our arrival there if possible. We will be more willing to hold placards from your company if th...
Post a Comment
Read more

Tatlarin Underground City in Cappadocia

Image
Cappadocia means the "Land of Beautiful Horses".  It was the only location on our itinerary where we stayed for two nights.  We had nine places to visit on 17 October which was the following day of our arrival. However, after our visit to the Salt Lake, our Turkish Guide, Yavuz, suggested that we visit the following places a day ahead, before we check in at Kalsedon Cave Suitesin: -Esentepe Hill -Goreme Open Air Museum -The Tatlarin Underground City I read that the  Tatlarin underground city  we visited, at the end of the day, was first discovered by the village people in 1975. It is located on a hill called "Kale" (Castle) near the province of Nevsehir in Cappadocia .  The site was cleaned and opened to tourism in 1991. I want to write about it first because there are lots of history about the underground cities of Cappadocia.  This is a view of part of its exterior. Here is a closer view from the inside.  It was the terrace of the dugout shelter...
Post a Comment
Read more