"Travels in Turkey" Turkey by TheWanderingCamel

Turkey Travel Guide: 24,412 reviews and 69,885 photos

Turkey on my mind

A book about an Englishman's travels through the cradle of Christianity that led to an abiding interest in Byzantium was the beginning of a fascination with Turkey that led in turn to my first visit to Istanbul back in 1999.

A magazine picked up in a hotel foyer on that first visit whetted my interest in the land and its people, sustained by a subscription to the magazine that continues to this day - my quarterly fix over the years. It was 2009 before I returned however, though, even then, only to Istanbul - an airfare that made flying Turkish the cheapest way to get from Australia to Uzbekistan making an Istanbul stopover a most attractive option.

In the meantime, another book - a novel this time, written in the 1950s about the wanderings around the Black Sea of a group of eccentric English travellers - fired the desire to see a mountainside monastery near Trabzon, while gazing down on Mt Ararat during flights to and from Central Asia added something else to the growing list of things I wanted to see and places I wanted to go when I finally got to Turkey.

All these things (and a whole lot more) finally came together in 2011 when friends who have been travelling to Turkey for years as part of their involvement in a weaving project in a group of villages in western Anatolia let us know they were organizing a trip to Turkey that would include several days in Istanbul, days (and a night) spent with the project's weavers and dyers, and a journey through eastern Anatolia from Trabzon to Antakya - would we like to join them?

Mt Ararat

So - I finally made it, setting off with anticipation and high expectations.

Did the reality live up to the dream? Indeed it did. I already knew what a wonderful city Istanbul was. Five days spent there before we set off on our journey was a brilliant way to start. A short meander through Western Anatolia took us to Assos and Bergama and also to the tiny villages of Suleymankoy and Orselli - so small you'd be hard pressed to find them on a map - where we met the weavers of the DOBAG project, watched their work and spent a night in one of their homes. On then to Izmir and a flight across the country, south-west to north-east, to Trabzon and the start of our journey through the eastern reaches of the country.

Erzurum, Kars, Dogubeyazit, Van, Dyarbakir, Mardin, Sanliurfa, Kahta and Antakya - this is the bare bones of the route we followed, with wonderful sights and sites all along the way. Seljuk mosques and deserted Armenian churches, Ottoman citadels and ancient Syriac churches and monasteries, a golden palace and black basalt city walls, a volcano crater and giant statues set on a mountaintop, "Noah's Ark" and the oldest temple in the world, mosques, bazaars, shrines, museums - all this and more... and more. Everyday brought something extraordinary and time and time again, we found we had these wonderful places all to ourselves. Coming back to the crowds and hustle of Istanbul was quite a shock.

Dyed wool drying - Orselli

It has taken a while but at last I've begun - a page that will take me (and, hopefully, a few of you) on a journey, reliving a tour that took us to many of Turkey's less-visited places, from tiny villages in Western Anatolia to the borders of Armenia, Iran and Syria.

Under the Things to Do heading, the reviews will follow the chronology of our tour - starting in Istanbul, then a couple days focussed on a special interest that took us way off the beaten track before following a fairly set route for most tours of Eastern Turkey. Istanbul is certainly worthy of a page all of its own and, in time, I'll probably do one. I'm not so sure about the other places we stopped at along the way. Certainly for now my inclination is to present this page as a whole package. Whether travelling as an individual or part of an organized group, people visiting this region will almost always be on some form of tour, spending a short while in anyone place before moving on to the next. My aim here is to flesh out the bones of an itinerary of such a tour - I hope it works.

On October 23rd, 2011, just three weeks after we arrived home from our wonderful Turkey tour, Van and the surrounding area was hit by a massive earthquake. 604 people were killed and huge numbers of the 600,000 people who live in the area were left homeless, just as winter was about to set in. The process of rebuilding homes, businesses and local infrastructure will be long and costly. Right now, making plans to travel through this part of Turkey is probably not very high on anyone's agenda but that's not to say interest should be abandoned completely. The region has so much to offer and travelling through here is an immensely rewarding and fascinating experience. I hope anyone reading these reviews enjoys the virtual tour they offer now and may indeed make the journey themselves one day.

Last visit to Turkey: Sep 2011
Intro Updated Mar 30, 2012
Add to Trip Planner (?)
Report Abuse

Reviews (49)

Day 17: Mellow Mardin Things to Do (35)

Photos: 1. Hillside city 2. Golden Mardin 3. Sabanci City Museum 4. Christian Mardin - 1&2. Forty Martyrs Church 2. The... more travel advice

Day 16: Diyarbakir morning Things to Do (35)

Photos: 1. The walls of Diyarbakir. 2. The valley of the Tigris. 3. Under restoration: Ulu mosque. 4. Hasan Pasa Han. 5.... more travel advice

Day 15: The road to Diyarbakir Things to Do (35)

Photos: 1. Along the way to Nemrut Dagi 2. Nemrut dagi and inside the crater 3. Bitlis beauties 4. Restoration 5.... more travel advice

Day 14: Van - A tale of two citadels Things to Do (35)

Photos: 1. Cavustepe's guardian and his castle 2. Urartian script and seeds 3. The Rock of Van 4. Meet the locals or... more travel advice

Hotels (14)
See All What do those stars tell you?

Been to Turkey?
Share your travels with the world!

Comments (9)

Reply
- Report abuse
dumbfark Jul 7, 2012 at 9:26 PM

your pages are informative, witty, intelligently written and "deelightful" ;-P
Reply
- Report abuse
MalenaN May 9, 2012 at 10:24 AM

Wonderful page about Turkey Leyle! It brought back many good memories from my own visits. To sit above Isak Pasha Palace and look at the beautiful view was one favourite during my trips. Now it seems the palace has been restored much more. Another favourit was Ani (which I have also seen two years later from the view point on the Armenian side). Sounds to be interesting to visit the DOBAG villages and learn about the different stages of rug-weaving.
Reply
- Report abuse
starship Apr 24, 2012 at 10:28 AM

Back for another peak, though don't have enough time to finish all today! Enjoying this page so much -- I'll be back again!
Reply
- Report abuse
Trekki Apr 23, 2012 at 10:58 AM

Wow, it is wonderful to see that you are back to magic writing, Leyle :-)) This sounds like a marvellous tour. Of all your days, Sumela Monastery is to me the most fantastic (with my love for hermitages of all sizes high in the rocks). Ani sounds and looks magic too! As does the Pasha's palace. And Church of the Holy Cross in Van Lake. I also like the Orselli project and all your visit there, including the video but most the night under the stars :-))
Wonderful very much atmospheric writing!! Thanks for being back!!
Reply
- Report abuse
ranger49 Apr 23, 2012 at 2:56 AM

What an amazing story. I know I have said this before but after reading some morechapters of your guide I say again- You should get this published more widely!
Reply
- Report abuse
hunterV Mar 30, 2012 at 12:07 PM

G'day and thanx for your fascinating page about Turkey!~ I see it's a Black Sea must...
Reply
- Report abuse
Mikebb Mar 9, 2012 at 12:15 AM

I liked and agree with your update on the Sebnem, we had 3 nights there Sept 2009 on your recommendation. Post tour we satayed 2 nights at Niles Hotel, also very good, near the Grand Bazaar.
Reply
- Report abuse
Nemorino Feb 18, 2012 at 10:35 AM

Great start on your ambitious and enthusiastic new Turkey page! I’ll be back to read about how your tour went on. How awful, though, that there was such a bad earthquake shortly after you left.
Reply
- Report abuse
MM212 Oct 9, 2011 at 4:53 AM

Any sign of Noah's Ark near Ararat? :-)