Blogs from Turkey, Middle East - page 11

For those that have followed us over the years, you know that we enjoy exploring the country that we are in. With our birthday’s coming up we decided to plan a trip to Cappadocia, a place that had been highly recommended to us by many that have gone. First off, Cappadocia, is not a town, but a region in Turkey. It is a high plateau (1000 meters/3,280 ft) with hot dry summers and cold snowy winters so decided this was the perfect time to visit. Its name derives from the Hittite word “Katpatuka” which means land of the beautiful horses. When you do a search on Cappadocia you will see that the topography looks almost “out of this world” with what are called “fairy chimneys” scattered all over the area. This area was formed of soft ... read more

Yes, as Tsamaya is a sailboat, we were finally able to leave Fethiye and head toward her winter home f which will be at the Marmaris Yacht Marina. It isn’t that far away, but we decided with the weather forecast we could take a few days more in order to have a chance to anchor out and do a little exploring as well. We not only wanted to enjoy the pleasure of being on anchor for a few days, but with having new batteries Bob also wanted to check out how things were working while away from shore power for a few days. It turned out to be a great first day away from Fethiye, although we could have used a little more wind. We were able to get a sail out which was a great ... read more

Enjoyed my first tour with Salih.http://www.heygo.com Fener was historically the most important Greek quarter of the city, just a short walk up from the Golden Horn. It flourished after the capture of Constantinople by the Ottomans when the Sultan encouraged the Orthodox people to settle there, and it became a prosperous and prosperous district. From the 18th century until the end of the Ottoman Empire, it was to decline and almost fall into ruin in the mid-1950s as a result of the programme that drove the Greek people out, forcing them to leave Istanbul. We saw the imposing Greek Orthodox High School in red bricks. Nowadays, it is one of the most charming neighborhoods in Istanbul, It is experiencing a new lease of life since the 2000s with the Unesco plan that has allowed the restoration ... read more

We are back on a plane tomorrow morning, so I thought it's maybe time to log my last blog. Here I am for 3 days and 2 nights in Istanbul. You cannot go direct between South Africa and Turkey, but you need to stop in a "safer" country for minimum 10 days or risking a 14 days quarantine upon arrival in a government facility at your own cost. Well....Egypt did the deal for over ten days and I was not even asked about my prior traveling movement upon the last 10 days. I can confirm too that Turkish Airlines (even as a Gold member), is better to avoid right now! Been flying with Qatar lately...great lounge, great staff...no decent duty-free in Doha...and Emirates has not resumed to fly to South Africa since 16th January...and it could ... read more

3rd/4th Feb 2020 Goreme, Cappadocia The Green Tour! There are three tours you can do at any one of the hundred tour agencies in the little town of Goreme. Red, Green and Blue. We opted for green and today we travelled around 250 kms to visit some spectacular sights. The Derinkuyu underground city: These cave cities were originally excavated around 1700 BC, and are as deep as 85m! That's almost 4000 years old! They believe they were built to withstand attacks rather than be permanent dwellings, but they contained all of the usual rooms found in a normal city - stables, storage rooms, kitchens, wineries, studies and churches. The extensive network of passages and tunnels and inclined corridors linked family rooms and communal spaces where people would meet, work and worship. Corridors could be quickly blocked ... read more