Turkish Delights

Turkey is a fulfilling trip with historical monuments, rich culture, throbbing nightlife, delicious food and hospitable people. Words fall short to capture the enigmatic experience that we had in this wonderful country which is full of surprises every time.

High up above from the aeroplane we witnessed the intermingling of mountains and the Mediterranean sea and a glimpse of all the adventure that lay ahead. Antalya is the largest and most popular city in the Turkish Riviera and is both classically beautiful and stylishly modern. We reached our hotel late at night and planned a city tour for the next day. In the morning we went to the Düden Waterfalls which was surrounded with lots of flora and a nice park for a picnic. We even experienced a mini Switzerland atop the Tahtalı Dağı, also known as Lycian Olympus which was at a height of 2365m. It felt like we were floating on clouds as we were at such a great height, who could never have imagined such a place in a beach destination! The next day after an afternoon at Lara beach, we went to the city centre with the well preserved historic district of Kaleici which had finely restored Ottoman houses on its winding lanes. The Roman era harbour had a view of the blue mountain silhouettes which we gazed at for hours. After a lovely dinner at Alp Pasa, we walked along the lanes and reached the Hadrian's Gate.

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On the third day, we took an afternoon flight from Antalya to Kayseri from where it took us about 2 hours to reach Cappadocia. The region was barren and arid with Mt. Erciyes in the background with the lunarscape panoramas of the orange and brown palette was quite an epiphanic landscape. In the morning we had a traditional Turkish breakfast which was perhaps the best we had anywhere in the world. Due to bad weather, our balloon ride had been cancelled the previous day but we decided to make the most of our day and visited the Göreme Open Air Museum which is a world UNESCO site as it houses the fairy chimneys where there are underground caves, carved houses, churches and monasteries. There are Christian sanctuaries containing Byzantine art housing frescos which are an artistic achievement from that period. We admired the Dark Church the most which had blue as the dominant colour in its frescos.

On the fourth day at night, we reached Istanbul which is the melting pot of various cultures and ethnicities with history throbbing in each corner, as it has been a strategic location for centuries being the gateway to Europe. Our hotel was right in the heart of the city from where all the major sights were just at a walking distance, that night we strolled around the city for a bit which had a major Byzantine influence along with Islamic architecture.

The next morning we headed straight to the Sultan Ahmed Mosque or commonly known as the Blue Mosque, whose name is derived from the hand-painted blue tiles that adorn the mosque’s interior walls. The mosque was under construction and we could not see the legendary interiors which it was famous for. Right opposite is the world-renowned Hagia Sophia which used to be a Greek Orthodox church and then was converted to an Ottoman imperial mosque but now both the aspects have been preserved making it a rare sight to behold. We had an amazing guide Sameer, who made us explore the monument with his knowledgeable insights. The interiors were unlikely anything we had seen before and it can be rightly considered as a symbol of harmony and peace as it features elements from various religions like Islam, Christianity, Jews and Paganism and more. As we were lost in the architectural wonders of Hagia Sophia, we forgot about our private yacht ride along the Bosphorus River for which we sped away and reached just in time. The river was so huge that it could have been mistaken for a sea as the rapids were so violent. As we were engulfing the mesmerising skyline full of palaces, mosques, minarets, museums and hotels, a realisation struck that we were in between two continents - Europe and Asia. This made the experience once in a lifetime as we watched the crimson sky fade into subtle shades of blue and city lights began to shimmer.

It was shopping time the next day and we explored the Grand Bazaar from where we bought Turkish carpets, lamps, wool mufflers, an assortment of teas, Turkish delights and list goes on and on. Morning turned into evening as we were immersed in our shopping expedition and we took a cab to Caddesi where the Hodjapasha performance centre was located for a night of the whirling Sufis dance. We were instantly lost in the tranquil and transcending dance of the Sufis who made us lose the sense of time and space and our hearts were at peace. On the last day, we took a quick bath at the Cemberlitas Hamami which is a traditional Turkish bath on a hot marble stone with scrubbing and bubble bath later. After this refreshing and relaxing bath, we headed to the airport which was almost one and a half hours away and with this our Turkish adventure was over but the memories were still alive.