A Week in Turkey

For those who follow me on Instagram, you may have already seen that my last two weeks have been completely monopolised by photos from my holiday to Turkey.

A couple of weeks ago I escaped London to spend a glorious week travelling through the gorgeous country that is Turkey. It was my first time there and I had absolutely no idea what to expect, which was actually quite nice as it meant I had no expectations.

I was completely taken aback by how much I loved this country. The incredible landscapes, the mind-blowing natural beauty, amazing food and some of the friendliest people you’ll ever meet. I knew I was going to see some pretty special places, but all the photos that I had seen and all the stories that I had read didn’t prepare me for how truly breathtaking these places would be in person.

Whilst each place I visited will be getting a separate write up, I thought I’d start by just showing you some of the highlights from the cities that I visited.

My boyfriend and I flew from London to Istanbul on Saturday morning. The 4 hour flight went quickly, but with the 2 hour time difference plus another 2 hours stuck in traffic, we didn’t get in to our accommodation until 6pm which meant that we really only had one full day to explore this huge city. Obviously that’s no enough, but we made the most of it by getting up first thing and exploring on foot.

After another 4am start on Monday morning to get to the airport on time, we arrived in Kayseri airport, picked up our hire car and drove to Goreme in Cappadocia to our gorgeous hotel, where we slept inside a fairy chimney! This has to be one of the most unique, beautiful places in the world and what better way to see it than from a hot air balloon 🙂 The photos really speak for themselves…

After a totally packed 2 and a half days in Cappadocia where we fit in more activities than I can list here, we watched a beautiful early sunrise then set off on an 11 hour drive to Pamukkale via one of the world’s biggest hypersaline (salt) lakes along the way – Tuz Gölü

We arrived to Pamukkale a little delirious and insanely tired, but we were up and ready to explore the beautiful cliff side first thing in the morning. This was a place that I’ve wanted to visit since I first laid eyes on a photo of the glorious white rock pools, and guess what, it was so much better than I ever imagined! That’s not what I expected to think at all. I definitely have to return here one day soon.

After Pamukkale we wanted to find somewhere on a beach where we could relax for the last two nights and enjoy the sunshine, which is how we came across Fethiye. It was recommended to us by lots of people along the way – local and tourists alike, so we headed over and stayed in the gorgeous Yacht Classic Hotel.

Two days of lying by the pool and beach, getting massages, drinking wine and eating hummus – it was exactly what I needed to finish off what was actually quite a hectic holiday, in a relaxing and very zen way.

The theory behind travelling so much on this trip was that holidays seem to last longer this way. After last summer’s Mykonos holiday, I wanted to try something a little more active and I proved my theory right – one week felt like 3 weeks and we managed to see so much! Here’s a summary of how I divided the time:

• Flight from London – Istanbul
• 2 nights in Istanbul
• Flight from Istanbul – Kayseri & pick up hire car
• 2 nights in Cappadocia
• 1 night in Pamukkale
• 2 nights in Fethiye
• Flight from Dalaman – London

If I could do it again, I would spend at least another day or two in Istanbul (but I figure I can go back there any time for a weekend trip), and I’d stay one more night in Cappadocia – though I wouldn’t stay there any longer than 3 nights as you tend to lose touch with the beauty around you.

Internal flights are extremely cheap, so if driving isn’t really your thing, check out what flights are available. You don’t really save time as most flights have to go through Istanbul, but it’s definitely cheaper than driving. Personally, I think hiring a car was one of the best decisions we made. It gave us the freedom to see and do whatever we wanted to and we saw some incredible landscape that we would never have otherwise seen had we not driven through ourselves.

Turkey has now become my absolute favourite country to holiday in and I can’t wait to go back some time soon to explore even more!

Have you ever visited Turkey? What do you want to see most?

Kamila x
LNG