After 4+ years of nomadic life and a whole lot of experience, we finally feel like we’re figuring out our ideal pacing. The first two years (because we thought we only HAD two years) we whipped through 36 countries at practically breakneck speed. And since COVID, it’s often been…too fast…too slow…too fast…too slow… But now, we think we’ve cracked the…
From Finike, we again tossed ourselves in the squishy back of our friends’ Jimmy Jeep to be whisked away to a part of Türkiye we definitely wouldn’t have seen otherwise... Side, one hour east of Antalya, and a terrific blend of Las Turkus with themed all-inclusive hotels, miles of sandy beaches, a polished Ottoman old town, some genuinely authentic ruins…
From Sanliurfa, we relocated another three hours east to the city of Mardin, a resplendent city of 800k equally steeped in history high on a plateau in Upper Mesopotamia. It is perched high on a plateau overlooking the Mesopotamian plains all the way to Syria. It is blanketed with elegant limestone buildings, soaring intricate minarets, and is arguably neck and neck…
Arguably the most momentous archeological discovery of our time, Gobeklitepe is an amazingly bewildering place to visit. This 12,000 year-old-world wonder was designed a whopping 6,000 years BEFORE the Pyramids of Egypt or Stonehenge. Yes, that means it was developed and crafted by Neolithic, basically hunting/gathering cave people, who had not even cracked the code on how to make metal…
The potpourri of cardamom and other exotic smells permeate the air as you amble through the most authentic souk in Turkiye….the sounds of men chattering in a mix of Turkish and Arabic over tea comingles with the haunting call to prayer…the sights of women in various degrees of sheathing sashay by collections of pint-sized tables and chairs which look like…
From Cappadocia, we rolled east to Kahta, which would serve as the base for our venture to the much lesser visited Turkish wonder of Mount Nemrut. We planned to take a direct overnight bus from Kayseri to Kahta but since that would involve a 13-hour wait at the bus station, with the help of a friendly bus station attendant, we…
Göreme Ridge Trail Although we loved the unique experiences like cave hotels and hot air balloons, the reason we loved Cappadocia the most was the buckets of hiking opportunities. To kick off our eight nights in this whimsical region, we stayed in the tourist hot spot of Göreme for two nights and almost immediately went on the ridge walk up…
Anyone who has been to Türkiye usually swoons when you mention the whimsical fairylike land of Cappadocia, located in the Central Anatolian plateau. The entire region is blanketed with fairy chimneys, conical wizard hats, gnome-like domes, and Smurf-esque spectacles, which have served as churches, monasteries, tombs and dwellings for centuries. The landscape of Cappadocia has significant stretches of soft volcanic…
