Cappadocia Turkey Itinerary

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Central Turkey Itinerary
– from Antalya to Cappadocia to Istanbul

Golden Goreme

You should be very excited if you are planning a trip to Turkey.  It is easy to travel on your own. For advice on how to plan and travel in an economical way, see the TripAdvisor page Turkey: Planning a Self-Guided Turkey Trip.   Now comes the hard choice of deciding where to go.  Even if you have a whole month, you cannot see everything.  Turkey is the size of Great Britain and France combined!  

The following suggestions are based on an actual 31-day trip, which was split into two parts. Stay-overs are shown in capitals followed by the number of nights.  Each destination was assigned zero to three dots to give a sense of which sites are most worthwhile seeing.  Hyperlinks will bring you to posts with more details.  This itinerary gives the best places to go for a 14-day trip through Central Turkey from Antalya to Istanbul.

  

RECOMMENDED ITINERARY

See a map of Central Turkey Itinerary
      

ANTALYA 2 nights 

Antalya is dissed by many travellers as just a big city but staying in an old Ottoman house in Kaleiçi (the old city) is worthwhile and it makes a useful base for nearby sights.  Yes, Antalya is a big city but the old quarter, Kaleiçi, is a quiet oasis. 

Ottoman Delight

Staying in an old Ottoman house is a beautiful introduction to Turkey.  It is a much easier way to start your trip than overpopulated Istanbul. 

Kaleiçi ● It is very touristy but there are not as many touts as in Istanbul.  The old town has a very clean, restored look but it is still pleasant walking, as there are few cars.  See the view of the sea framed by the snowy Taurus Mountains near the Hidirlik Tower, especially in early AM before breakfast – and few tourists wake up early so you'll have the park to yourself. 

Antalya Archaeological Museum ●●● is one of the best arranged museums anywhere.  Ancient Roman statues are set into Romanesque-style arches with romantic lighting (not good for photography)

Stupendous Aspendos

Day Trips: 
Aspendos Theatre ●
is basically a large intact Ancient Roman theatre with lots of tourists.  Climb up to the acropolis (included in the price) for more dramatic views of the theatre and the very green countryside. 

Colourful Köprülü

Köprülü Canyon ●● is a spectacular green river visible from the country road.  The Termessos ruins is another good place to go from Antalya.  On the way east from Antalya along the old highway(there will soon be a new expressway), stop along the road for...

Turquoise Treasure

Turquoise Coast ●●●
for perhaps the second most beautiful turquoise coastal views.

KIZKALESI  1 night 

  

Medieval Maiden Castle, on an offshore islet, seems to float just above the sea.  It's OK but not a must-see. The beach is very small but the sand is so soft.  Plus there were few tourists. It made for a pleasant stopover on the long drive to Cappadocia.  

Sensational Sunset

CAPPADOCIA ●●●●  4 nights 

The region of Cappadocia is probably the best must-see area for natural beauty in the country – so don’t miss it!!!  Göreme is just one of the towns in this region but it is still a wonderful base due to its central location.  

Göreme Sunset View ●●● is an easy walk up the hill to the east of the hotel area main drag for spectacular views at sunset of Rose Valley and Göreme.

Car or Dolmuş Trips: 

Not a Fairy Tale

Cappadocia Fairy Chimneys ●●●● are extraordinary even the touristy Paşabagh site.  There are too many hikes to list here. Most are fairly easy, at least at the beginning, or you could simple go for as long as you want and return when you feel like it.  the best hikes were are Love Valley, Zemi Valley, and... 

Kizilçukur

Rose Valley ●●●●
you could walk here on a car-less dirt road but you can drive on a parallel road.  This area has many side trails.  The best spot was the Kizilçukur Viewpoint, located between the "parking lot" and the dirt road below the hill. Again, it's best to come here for the late PM or sunset lighting

Çavuşin has a less touristy, old section of town at the end of the "parking lot" road to Rose Valley

Uchisar ● there is an excellent view of the volcanic plug/castle right from main highway into Göreme but this is a very touristy spot with stalls and even a camel.  There also is good viewpoint of Göreme on the right just a short way towards the town. 

Ogling Ortahisar

Avanos – overpriced pottery

Ürgüp – good food at local prices, except for the excellent but pricey ice cream

Ortahisar ●●
there is a spectacular view of the volcanic plug in the middle of town. 

Day Trips: requires car or tour

   
Mustafapaşa ●● is an old Greek village with interesting architecture

Soganli Valley ●●

Soganli Surprise

is full of fairy chimneys, basalt columns, rock-cut churches and frescoes without the crowds in a country atmosphere. But the best part was getting there with spectacular wide open views of snow-capped mountains in early spring.  

Ihlara Valley – is another place with rock-cut churches 

SAFRANBOLU ●●●  2 nights

Super Safranbolu

Safranbolu Çarşı ●●
You can spend a day visiting and shopping in the old city with its restored Ottoman buildings.  But the views from the ring road high above the market area (çarşı) were very special. 

 

Ottoman Yörük

Car Trips: 
Yörük ●● 
it’s 10 km away to a fairy tale village full of timber-framed Ottoman buildings that are far more nostalgic and run down than Safranbolu.  

İncekaya Aqueduct – 
is very high and in mint condition.   But it is Ottoman not ancient.  It comes with a walking trail into the countryside. 

Grand Fashion

ISTANBUL ●●●●  4 nights

 

Grand Bazaar ●
It is NOT the oldest bazaar as it was only built after the 1453 conquest of Constantinople by the Ottomans.  But it is probably the first covered shopping mall in the world. 

Don't Look at Medusa

Basilica Cistern ●● 
is an underground forest of Byzantine columns surrounded by a pool of water.  Make sure that you do not look at the head of Medusa or you will also turn to stone!  The ancients were very superstitious.  For instance, getting up on the left (sinistra) side of your bed was a very bad omen.  This is very much part of Western culture – you don't believe it?  Guess where the English word sinister comes from?  

Hagia Sophia

Hagia Sophia Dome-ination ●●
had the highest dome built since the Pantheon in Ancient Rome until the Duomo in Renaissance Florence. It was the model for most major mosques in the Ottoman Empire. 

Hippodrome – 
How did a horse race end with 30,000 dead? How is this related to Hagia Sophia?  That's your homework for tonight!  Hint: check the web sites below. 

the not so Blue Mosque

 Blue Mosque ●●●
is not really blue; it’s pastel patterns and graceful symmetry and definitely worth seeing. 

Music in Kadıköy

Kool Kadıköy ●●
is the real Istanbul where the locals work and play. It's a great place to hear Turkish folk music on the streets. 

Bosphorus on a Budget

Bosphorus on a Budget ●
Choose the cruise or the non-cruise (i.e. use the cheap ferries) to see the Bosphorus

Spice Bazaar, Spicy Istanbul ● come here for the spices, the Turkish Delights, and buy the Kurukahveci Mehmet Efendi kahve (coffee) beans.

  

RESEARCHING WHERE YOU WANT TO GO

   

There are many travel sites on the Web.  It is very useful to see what other tourists think are the best sites. Each city, region and country in TripAdvisor has a Things To Do section.  However, tourists have their own bias that may not match your interests.  Also many tourists have not travelled around the world to be able to compare places or know what is unique.  For more detailed information on each location, you can also review the Thorn Tree Turkey Forum, Turkey Travel Planner and Terra Encounters - Turkey web site.  For other countries around the world see our Terra Encounters WordPress web site. 

Spice Bazaar

Shopper's Heaven

Spicy Istanbul

Spice Bazaar

Full of products from spices to soap, delights to deserts – the Spice Bazaar is one of the most popular destinations for tourists.  It is also a small market compared to the Grand Bazaar but a much larger street market area stretches along several roads to the northwest of the  Spice Bazaar. 

 

 
It is also only a short tram ride or a walk from the Sultanahmet area to Eminönü Station.
 

Tasty Tatseven

 As it was late, we stopped to eat at the popular Tatseven restaurant on the Eminönü square.  You won’t find it in guidebooks.  There were so many local patrons so it had to be good.  We shared a mouth-watering, half BBQ chicken – two meals for TL 11.50.  Don’t forget to ask for Turkish tea. 

Turkish Delight

Afterwards we went to the Spice Bazaar, which is officially the Misir Çarşisi or Egyptian Market because it was built in 1664 by the administration of Egyptian part of the Ottoman Empire.  

We bought spices and dried apple mix to make the quintessential tourist tea. 

 

Just Delightful!

 

 

Plus there are lots of yummy things to buy such as baklava, nuts and dried fruits.  The best and more expensive Turkish Delight have nuts in it.  It is hard to believe that Turkish Delight is the origin of American jelly beans.     

Cheese Bar

Agriculture Superstar

Did you know that Turkey is one of the major agricultural countries of the world?  It is a top ten producer of apricots, figs, cherries, raisins, strawberries, and cumin.  Don't forget to try Turkish cheese

  

Tea Jockey

 

Turkey produces 75% of worldwide production of hazelnuts! I fell in love with hazelnuts when we lived in Italy since my favourite gelato flavour is nocciola (hazelnut).  An absolute must is to try Turkish hazelnut butter.  It’s to die for!  It beats Nutella hands down.  By the way, 25% of the world’s hazelnut production is used to make Nutella! 

 

Tea jockeys bring tea to the shopkeepers. You have to go outsize the bazaar to find restaurants and cafes. 

 

The Long Market

 

 

We discovered this area on our first stay in Istanbul.  After we toured Süleymaniye Mosque, we headed east where we had the best and cheapest sahlep drink at the local price.  From here we walked down Uzun Çarşi Caddesi – another busy and long (uzun) market (çarşi) street – where the working class do their shopping.  The amount of things for sale is overwhelming. 

Coffee Anyone?

You will love the Spice Bazaar, as it is compact but not overcrowded.  That’s because the prices are higher.  If you want see where the locals shop just continue south out of the Spice Bazaar and walk along the parallel street, Çiçek Pazari Sokak or flower market street. 

Turn right at the west end of the lane then left on Hasircilar Caddesi as you fall under the spell of coffee roasting aroma. Here you will find delicious Kurukahveci Mehmet Efendi kahve (coffee beans) to bring home.  We made one big mistake!  We only brought one bag home.  This is some of the best and smoothest coffee on the planet! 

Turkish Contributions

Coffee came to Europe in 1598 via Venice, the controller of Adriatic trade between the Ottoman Empire and Europe.  The coffee came from the Ottoman Empire.  That may be the biggest contribution of Turkey to the world (ha ha).  The English word "coffee" is derived from the Italian word caffè, which is derived from Turkish word kahve. 

 

The pistachio tree is native to western Asia and Asia Minor, from Syria to the Caucasus and Afghanistan.  Archaeological evidence in Turkey indicates the nuts were being used for food as early as 7,000 B.C.

Musical Contributions

The Ottoman Mehter, founded in the 13th century, became the model for the world's marching bands.  Think cymbals, timpani drums and bells.  Mehterân music also inspired or influenced European classical music composed by Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven.

Medical Contributions

The technique of inoculation was not invented by Jenner and Pasteur but was devised in the Muslim world and brought to Europe from Turkey by the wife of the English ambassador to Istanbul in 1724.  Children in Turkey were vaccinated with cowpox to fight the deadly smallpox at least 50 years before the West "discovered it".  Our word vaccination comes from variola (Latin), which means smallpox.  The Chinese can claim they used smallpox vaccine at least since it was documented in a medical book in 1549.   

Last Post:  West Turkey Itinerary

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Süleymaniye Mosque Dome-ination

Süleymaniye Dome Based on Hagia Sophia

Süleymaniye Dome

Süleymaniye Mosque is the largest in Istanbul and one of the must-see sights of Istanbul.  The mosque has an amazingly large dome that creates a single vast space for a large number of worshipers.  But the atmosphere is very soothing.  The restrained decoration uses muted colours and blue and white Iznik tiles.  The Ottomans were the first in Islamic architecture to use ceramic decoration on a monumental scale. 

The Süleymaniye Mosque was built by supreme architect Mimar Sinan, who was influenced by Ayasofya.  It blends Islamic and Byzantine architectural elements.  The large dome is supported by half domes in Byzantine style as described in the Importance of Ayasofya.  

One new feature was to incorporate buttresses into the walls of the building.  Note the patter of the prayer rug in the photo.  That is to tell worshippers where to sit so that everyone is organized into neat rows. 

 

Süleymaniye Prayer Rug

Be sure to walk around the courtyards and gardens. Here you will see men washing their feet and hands in the ablution taps.  At the corners of the courtyard are four slender minarets, a number allowed only to mosques sponsored by a sultan. 

   

Inlaid Doors

 

 
The beautiful and intricate geometrical wood-inlay patterns in the doors are spectacular. Sometimes they are inlaid with ivory or mother of pearl.  The image on the right is just one panel of the door.

Süleiman the Magnificent

 

The mosque was sponsored by the Ottoman emperor Sultan Süleiman, who saw himself as a second Solomon, his namesake.  He is well-known in the west as Suleiman the Magnificent, perhaps because his reign (1520-1566) was the peak of the Ottoman Empire.   

Suleiman was influenced by Alexander the Great’s vision of building a world empire that would encompass the east and the west.  This drove his military campaigns in Asia, Africa, and Europe.  He expanded the Ottoman Empire from Hungary to Georgia and Algeria to Iraq.   

 

University Area

 

In the courtyard of Süleymaniye, we noticed a young man discussing the mosque with a group of Malaysian High school students on a ten-day trip in Turkey.  The man was a Malaysian PhD student who is studying in Istanbul.  He said he was the guide for these students that were sponsored to go to Turkey to learn about other cultures and religions.  We all left the grounds heading toward the university.  Outside the mosque on Süleymaniye Caddesi, we had that delicious sahlep drink – an orchid, vanilla or rose water, cinnamon, coconut, and milk drink – for only TRY 2. Maybe that's the student price? 

 

Spice Bazaar 

The Long Bazaar

From there we walked down a steep street (Uzun Çarşı Caddesi, which means Long Bazaar Street) to the Spice Bazaar.  But on the way we saw the real working class Istanbul, shopping and schlepping, including Roma gypsies begging.  It was another world compared to Sultanahmet or Beyoğlu.  Unlike Sultanahmet, there were no touts trying to get us to buy things – not even once. 

Turning right at the bottom of the hill was a long street (Hasircilar Caddesi) of shops with wall-to-wall people.  There were all kinds of things for sale as well as spices.  Suddenly the most aromatic coffee aroma wafted through the air.  A man most have noticed my “coffee eyes” and gestured for me to get into the long line of customers.  We are still sipping some of this delicious Kurukahveci Mehmet Efendi coffee (kahve) at home.

Spice Bazaar

Just a few metres further, Hasircilar led directly to the west entrance to the Spice Bazaar.  Misir Çarşısı or Egyptian Market is the official name on your paper or Google map.   Be sure to also walk on Çiçek Pazarı Sokak (which means Flower Market Street) just south outside of the covered market.  The comparison of the streets and the covered market was like night and day.  The market was far more upscale, higher prices and less people.  The streets were frenetic, with porters carrying heavy loads and shoppers carrying heavy bags.  

So today marks the end of the Istanbul segment of the trip.  Tomorrow we get the car and drive to Asia – I mean Bursa. 

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