Filed under: Turkey
Before heading to Istanbul, we had a stopover in Safranbolu and the small town of Amasra at the Black Sea coast. Unfortunately, we were both struggeling with stomach problems at that time and only managed to do the “Must-See-List” of both destinations. However, the terrace at our hostel had nice views and was a good place to lay down, relax and recover.
Filed under: Turkey
The more I travel, the more I realize that places that are famous and full of tourists are often that way for a reason. Cappadocia is such a place. Photos of Cappadocia decorate the walls of every single hostel in Turkey so I kind of knew what to expect. I knew there would be ‘fairy chimneys’. I knew there would be ‘underground cities’. I knew there would be hidden ‘cave churches’ full of treasures & well-preserved Byzantine art and that the region had a long, Christian history.
As it turned out, Cappadocia is not only about fairy chimneys, underground cities or hidden churches. It is greater than the sum of its parts, an amazing combination of natural beauty and human construction that defies imagination. Photos can never capture what Cappadocia is all about. So make sure to visit yourself, as always.
Filed under: Turkey
Here are some photos of our hike from Göreme to Çavuşin, via Red Valley and Rose Valley. Photos from our second hike and more information on our Cappadocia adventures will follow as soon as possible. In the meantime, we hope you enjoy our selection of photos!
Filed under: Turkey
SETTING:
The UNESCO World Heritage Site of Pammukkale
CASTING:
Svetlana (22, thin, tanned) & Dimitry (45, fat, pale)
Elena (25, fit, blond) & Alexei (38, untrained, bald)
Anastasia (21; tall, big boobs) & Stansislav (35, tiny, big man boobs)
3 million similar Russian couples
Katharina (25, summer tan) & Jean-Claude (27, full beard)
ACT 1
Dimitry and Svetlana have just arrived at the World Heritage Site of Pamukkale in the Denizli province in Western Turkey. Their tour bus drops them off right in front of the entrance, together with dozens of other Russian couples. Pamukkale promises hot springs and travertines, terraces of carbonate minerals left by the flowing water. The couple enters the site, catches a glimpse the first travertines and Dimitry gets out his camera as Svetlana starts to do some provocative poses in her bikini.
Dimitry: “Svetlana darling, you look lovely posing in your bikini. Try to stick out your butt a little more; yes! That’s what I am looking for. Great!!! Look at the camera baby, yes, look at the camera! Da! Da! Da!”
Svetlana turns, bends and flirts for the camera. Ten poses later, she moves down to the next terrace pool and repeats the whole thing, supported by her husband’s comments. Elena & Alexei, Anastasia & Stanislav and all the other Russian couples follow their lead.
In the middle of it all, Jean-Claude and Katharina stand a little baffled, blinded by the beauty of Pamukkale, but also by the swimwear catalogue bordering on porn-star poses that all the Svetlanas are doing. Jean-Claude shakes his head, hands the camera over to Katharina, takes his place among Svetlana & Elena and starts to pose.
Elena and Svetlana look over to Jean-Claude sceptically but don’t let themselves be distracted by him at first. Only when he lifts his leg in an akward position and spreads his arms, Svetlana tells Dimitry:
Svetlana: “Dimitry, look! That weird guy right there with the full beard. Look at how ridiculous his posing looks.”
She exchanges looks with Elena, shakes her head in disagreement and walks off to the next pool to take her pose again, Dimitry following her like a dog, his camera ready around his neck.
Despite all the photoshoots surrounding them, Katharina & Jean-Claude really enjoyed their day at Pamukkale and they take home some memorable photographs that will always remind them of it.
THE END.
Author’s note: Unfortunately, the author does not want to publish any photos containing nudity on her blog. For those interested: Search for “Russian girls Pamukkale” on Google and you will get satisfying results 
Filed under: Turkey
After visiting the ancient sites of Jerash and other ruins in Jordan last year, I was a little sceptical about all the Ephesus hype in Turkey. But I decided to give it a go anyways and I was not disappointed – Ephesus is one of the best preserved ancient sites of Europe.
The city was founded around 3,000 BC and was originally used as a place of worship for the Anatolian Goddess Diana. I strolled around the temple of Hadrian, the Marble Way (where the rich people must have lived) and the library of Celsus which still has niches for storing the papyrus roles. The real highlight of Ephesus was the great theatre built under emperor Claudius. It managed to seat up to 25.000 spectators and was first used for all types of theatre including gladiator fights.
There were millions of tourists there (especially Korean tour buses) but the site is still big enough to escape the main crowds most of the time. And after all, all those people give you a feeling of what life must have been like in Ephesus a long time ago – when it was home to more than 200.000 inhabitants.
Filed under: Turkey
Lycia is the historical name of the Tekke Peninsula on Turkey’s Aegean coast. The mountains rise steeply from the shores and small bays, giving beautiful views and numerous, stunning trekking possibilities as the region is home to the so-called Lycian Way, a 500 km marked hiking path around the coast, leading from Fethiye to Antalya. The Lycians were an independent people, influenced mainly by Greek culture, and were later conquered by the Romans. Their graves and ruins can be found around the entire peninsula and the Lycian Way passes many historical sites.
Of course, we could have never done the whole walk due to the fact that we just don’t have enough time and because it is far too hot here right now. But we managed to do a small section of it, walking from Kabak to Faralya, Butterfly Valley and back. We stayed in Kabak, a remote beach commuty seemingly far away from all the tourists that stay in nearby Olüdeniz (and apparently, they also prefer to stay there – we didn’t meet a single soul on our hike to Butterfly Valley). Our bungalow faced Kabak beach and our host Mustafa and his family took good care of us.
Hiking around Lykia was incredible and we will never forget the first time we got to look down the cliffs of Butterfly Valley. What an amazing place on our planet. Enjoy our photos and if you ever have the chance – go and hike this place yourself. It is so worth it. I will definitely come back and do the whole thing one day.
Filed under: Turkey
Antalya: Douze points.
We would have never expected to like the city of Antalya this much and ended up spending more time there than we initially thought. Its image as a package tourist´s dream come true scared us off in the beginning but when we started exploring the narrow, cobbled streets of beautiful Kaleiçi (Old Town) we started to really like it. Plus, most of the tourists stay in big resort hotels out of the city so we never really had the feeling of being in German town (even though almost everyone in Antalya speaks German). We discovered some really nice places where mostly locals hang out, our favourite being the Art Caffee just around the corner of our hostel. It is a nice little bar in an old Ottoman style house where they play chilled-out jazzy tunes, serve fresh fish and cold refreshing Efes beer. The waiter will hand you the bill inside Marx´s Das Kapital.
From Antalya, we made our way to Kaş, a little seaside town especially famous for Kekova island and the sunken city of Dolchiste, an ancient town which was destroyed by an earthquake during the 2nd century. Its ruins are partly under water, covered by crystal clear, turquoise water. We explored this part of the coast on a lovely sailing boat, led by Ahmet and his wife who cooked the most amazing food for us. We especially enjoyed snorkling the deep blue waters of the various bays we swam in. The sunburn after – not so much.
