TURKEY

TURKEY.

I'm not sure how I managed to forget it, but somehow I forgot to mention in our last post that for our 6 year anniversary Trent booked us a trip to Turkey! I knew I couldn't book anything for an 8day period after Paris but had no idea where we were going. I had always wanted to go hot air ballooning in Cappadoccia but had ruled it out on this trip because I didn't think we could afford it. Again, I was lucky Trent came to the rescue and gifted me such an unforgettable experience. 

Istanbul, Turkey: 

Day 138: Today we explored central Istanbul. We visited Hagia Sophia and the Blue Mosque. The Blue Mosque is closed at different times of the day for prayer and while we were waiting for it to re-open to the public we went for lunch at Sehrazat Turkish Restaurant. Here we fell in-love with apple tea! We had a super yummy traditional Turkish lunch here and the service is great, highly recommend. The best part about our time in Turkey was the apple tea, well maybe not the best, makes the Top 5! It is now our mission in life to find a stockist of it in Australia.

I had no idea the deliciousness that I was about to experience. 

Cappadocia, Turkey: 
Day 139: 
I never wake up before my alarm but this morning I woke up at 5am to tonnes of messages and missed calls. I went into panic thinking something had happened in Istanbul while we were sleeping and we did not know. To save responding to everyone I quickly posted a Facebook status letting everyone know Trent and I were fine, still not knowing what everyone's concern was. We finally had a chance to Google what was going on and were devastated by the news coming out of Paris. We also read the there was a planned attack in Istanbul the day prior but it had been intercepted. To be extra safe we travelled to the airport in a cab. We arrived at our hotel in Cappadocia, our room was amazing! Our first hotel since we left Australia, such a treat!

Day 140: 
Today we woke up at 4.30am to be picked up at 5am for our hot air balloon flight! It was such an amazing experience and we would highly recommend putting it on your bucket list! We finished our flight with champagne and cakes then headed home for more complementary breakfast at our hotel. When you're backpacking, making the most of free food is imperative. We spent the afternoon exploring the town of Goreme.

Day 141: 
This morning we woke up early to watch the balloons and the sunrise for sunrise. Even if you don't do the balloon ride it is worth visiting Cappadoccia for the sunrise alone! We spent the remainder of the day wandering through the valleys and enjoyed some a traditional clay pot Kebab for dinner and shisha, of course. We could've spent another day here exploring the amazing landscape.

 This Valley was called 'Love Valley' and the rock formations were known as 'fairy chimneys'... we thought they looked more like penises. 

Amazing Canadian photographer who took our picture. 

Day 142: Today we flew back to Istanbul from Cappadocia.

Istanbul, Turkey: 
Day 143:
Today we visited Gallipoli. We woke up at 6am to travel 5hours to ANZAC Cove. Included in the fee was lunch. The entre and main meals were fine but for desert we were given pumpkin smothered in sugar- I hid in the toilet and left Trent to explain why it was not eaten. But then Trent told me he blamed it on me. We're a team like that. We were taken to multiple sites including Lone Pine, ANZAC Cove, the New Zealand Memorial and the Turkish Memorial. It was amazing to see just how challenging the landscape was for the ANZACs and to learn so much history about both sides. Trent was asked to read some information out loud to the group on Simpson but quickly passed the sheet to me after only one paragraph- typical! Overall it was a very interesting and moving day that made us even more so appreciate the sacrifices the ANZACs made for us.

Genuinely the worst thing I have ever tasted. 

Lone Pine. 

Lone Pine. 

Trent in the trenches. 

Turkish Memorial. 

New Zealand memorial. 

Fave panorama of the day. 

Day 144: This morning we slept in after getting in late the night before. We spent the afternoon at the Grand Bazaar. There are so many amazing treasures here, I could've spent the budget for the rest of our trip. We ended up with two plain scarfs but will likely contact a man once we return to Australia about posting us one of his beautiful shishas. Definitely recommend visiting. The Egyptian Bazaar is also meant to be great but Trent was all shopped out.

Day 145: Today we flew to Budapest from Istanbul.

TIPS:
BLUE MOSQUE: You have to be covered to enter the Blue Mosque (and probably Hagia Sophia as well) but they provide you with scarves for free- woo! I had on jeans but still had to wear a scarf around my waist.
HOT AIR BALLOONING: We flew with Butterfly Balloons and loved it! There were 6 balloons flying from the company on the day we flew and each held 16 people (4 sections of 4). They started us slightly away from the other balloons because of the wind on the day which meant we flew over a longer distance rather than just hovering in one place which is what the other balloons seemed to do. They picked us up from our hotel, fed us breakfast then gave us champagne and cake when we had landed. It's cheaper to fly in winter (140euros/ per person) but you have to allow more days to fly in winter as the conditions are more unreliable. We allowed 1back-up day which was what we were suggested to do.
GALLIPOLI: We did our Gallipoli tour with Hassle Free Tours. It costed 80euros each which included a guided tour of several sites, transport to and from and lunch. It was a great experience however, I think it was really overpriced and it was such a huge day trip to do. It would be better to make a few days of it and see other sites (there is a Troy tour offered by the same company) in the area.
APPLE TEA: As I've mentioned, apple tea is heaven! Note, while the real apple tea is nice, you want the sugary one... TO. DIE. FOR.
CLAY POT KEBAB: So super delicious- a must-try.
PUBLIC TRANSPORT: The public transport system is great in Istanbul however the trams are prone to severe overcrowding so be prepared.