We had the opportunity to ride in a hot air balloon over the fairy tale rock chimneys of Cappadocia, to explore historic Istanbul, sleep in a cave hotel, and even visit the natural travertine hot springs of Pamukkale. And the food, yum!

We spent three weeks in Turkey, and I honestly wish it had been a lot more.

We don’t have any definite plans to go back (yet!), but that hasn’t stopped us from writing out a bucket list for visiting Turkey the next time.

Izmir is one of those places we’re adding to the bucket list. Known as Smyrna in antiquity, Izmir is Turkey’s third largest city, and borders the Agean Sea. It’s a little outside of the normal Turkish tourism hot spots, but we often find that we find some real gems when we wander outside the well worn tourist path.

Here are our top 10 bucket list of things to do in Izmir, Turkey.

Visit the Kemeraltı bazaar

It’s supposedly possible to spend an entire day exploring this twisting, convoluted bazaar and still not see it all. The bazaar is home to cafes, shops selling almost anything you could possibly want or imagine, artisans workshops, mosques, tea gardens and synagogues.

Take a day trip to Ephesus

Most tourists visiting Izmir are passing through to see Ephesus, which is thought to be the best preserved ancient temple in the eastern Mediterranean. It contains the Temple of Artemis, considered to be one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.

Check out the windsurfers in Alacati

Alacati is hugely popular with vacationing Turks, who visit to escape the busyness of nearby cities. Traditionally the city was known for architecture, windmills and vineyards, but today it’s one of Turkey’s most popular destinations for windsurfers.

Take in the International Arts Festival

Walking along the promenade and visiting windswept coastal towns isn’t all that Izmir has to offer; come June and July the International Arts Festival lets you explore the deep history of the area, as some of its ancient buildings have been transformed into quirky, charming spaces. The festival also offers classical, traditional and contemporary works in music, ballet, theatre and opera with international and national performances.

Take the boat from Konak to Karşıyaka

Join the locals and take the ferry on the scenic ride across Izmir’s bay. Ferries to Karşıyaka leave from the waterfront at Konak’s Pier to Karşıyaka, a quiet suburb. The ride takes about 20 minutes.

Walk along the Kordon

Izmir’s Kordon (waterfront promenade) is the heart of the city, and probably Izmir’s most recognizable attraction. It’s a leisurely walkway along the heart of the city, with bars and cafes packed with locals at the day’s end.

Check out the İzmir Museum of History & Art

This museum is renowned for its collection of ancient artifacts. The sculptures from ancient Smyrna, Teos, Miletos and Pergamon are supposed to be especially sensational.

Bargain with the locals at the Kızlarağası Han market

Sometimes called the best hidden market in Izmir, this is the place to shop for carpets and jewelry. It’s a traditional market that gives a true taste of Turkey, and is a beautiful wander even if you have no intention of buying anything.

Climb the parachute tower

The unfortunately somewhat unattractive parachute tower offers spectacular views. It’s named for days past, when you could climb to the top and then be dropped by cable to the bottom in a parachute.

Visit Sports International

We’re making a concerted effort these days to stay fit when we travel, and Sports International should definitely help. You can dance, exercise or just unwind with a relaxing yoga class.

What do you think? Have you been to Izmir? Did we miss anything on our Izmir bucket list?

But at the bottom of the mountain (more of a large hill, really) is a small town that’s easy to overlook.

When we first researched Pamukkale, almost every comment we read dismissed the town as simply a dusty tourist trap that should be avoided if possible.

And it may be true that Pamukkale isn’t overwhelmingly pretty, or very charming or even packed with a ton of things to do.

But that doesn’t mean that you should disregard the town completely.

So, what is there to do in Pamukkale once you’ve exhausted the cotton castle hot spring terraces and are done visiting the ancient Roman Hierapolis?

Well, food is a good place to start.

We love Turkish food in general and Pamukkale town itself has some amazing food. Don’t let the loud, half-hearted restaurant touts turn you off – a lot of the food here is really fresh and delicious.

One of our very favorites was homemade borek at the Yildiz Restaurant. The dough is made by hand, and the borek is cooked on a wood-heated skillet in front of the restaurant. In truth, it reminded us of a Mexican quesadilla.

For the sweet lovers, there are a few competing dondurma (Turkish ice cream) vendors at the foot of the path leading up to the hot springs. Like everywhere we sampled in turkey, the dondurma was cold and delicious, but most of the fun was in the entertainment provided by the dondurma vendor.

Watch below as our friendly dondurma vendor plays a few tricks on Cole. Just a quick note, by the time we had taken this video we had already eaten more than a few cones in Turkey so we pretty much knew what to expect. This was also the second time we had a cone at this particular vendor.

We also found a couple of great places to just hang out. If you disregard the tacky indoor outdoor carpeting, we loved the beanbag chairs and relaxed vibe at Konak Sade Restaurant. Like pretty much anywhere in Turkey, we were never rushed to finish our dinner and leave. The Turkish pizza (pide) was especially tasty here. And yes, that’s a little swimming pool in the middle of the restaurant.

We also tried the perennial backpacker favorite, Kayas Restaurant and Bar the first night we got to town. We really liked it as well. It was everything the Lonely Planet and TripAdvisor claimed: cheap, good amounts of food and relaxed. That said, for authentic Turkish food in town I think you can do better but they did have a good selection of international style food.

For those looking to take a break from the heat and the travertines, there’s a nice set of swimming pools in town next to the lagoon right under the hot pools. We didn’t have time to check them out personally however they did look inviting from the hillside and would be a great way to while away a hot afternoon.

And then on to the biggest attraction in Pamukkale town itself (other than the travertines and the Hierapolis of course), the Pamukkale Natural Park.

The park itself isn’t very big, with a man made lake full of ducks and geese that the kids loved watching.

There are also pedal boats you can take out for a small fee.

A word to the wise though, the swan doesn’t steer very well in the wind. We spent almost half our allotted time trying to get this guy turned around in the far corner of the lake.

There’s a small restaurant on site at the Natural Park, with surprisingly affordable prices. They make a pretty decent plate of fries, and are a great place to sit in the shade out of the heat.

But the best part of the park is watching people snake their way up the hill along the hot water pools. See that line above the flower of what looks like trees about 3/4 of the way up the hill on the right? Those are people walking along the white travertines.

All in all, we had a great time in Pamukkale town. Sure, the hotels are a little rundown, the roads are a little dusty, the touts are a little loud and besides for the travertine calcium pools and the ancient Hierapolis at the top there aren’t that many things to do but it does make a great stop for a few nights.

It also lets you enjoy the hot pools before and after the upper day tripping crowds have left and seeing the white glow of the travertines from your balcony in the early morning light or late at night is a sight to remember.

Based on what we read, Pamukkale surprised us in a good way. Has a tourist town ever surprised you?

The travertines, with their glowing white natural hot pools terraced along a mountainside, are featured in almost every tourist brochure about Turkey and rightly so.

The pools are perched below the ancient city of Hierapolis (once frequented by Cleopatra and her ilk, and even mentioned in the Bible) and are a UNESCO heritage site. People have bathed in these pools for thousands of years.

The pools are made when naturally occurring hot water bubbles up from under the ground. As it reaches the surface, the water percolates through a layer of limestone, dissolving  calcium into the hot water. By the time the water reaches the surface, it’s chalky white with dissolved calcium, or more technically calcite (CaCO3), from the limestone.

And it’s insanely gorgeous.

Years ago, tourists were free to roam wherever they wanted on the travertines, hotels were built at the top and a roadway was actually created so vehicles could drive up the bank to quickly reach the summit. As you can imagine, this led to some extensive damage.

The Turkish government stepped in to prevent the site from being totally destroyed. The hotels were subsequently torn down and vehicles were stopped from driving on the site.  Tourists are now limited to certain areas, and kept off the most fragile parts of the travertines.

Today, there are a series of controlled shallow pools along the hillside where you can bathe in the hot water. The original naturally occurring basins, like those in the picture below, are off limits to bathers.

You can still see traces of the damage that was done to the travertines before stricter regulations were in place. A section at the top of the hill is closed off, with many of the naturally occurring basins currently empty.

Aside from that one small section, many of the natural travertine terraces remain. We spent the majority of our time playing with the kids on the pathway up, in the pools they formed when the roadway was ripped out.

I expected the pools to be filled with still water, but the entire hillside is covered with a thin layer of rushing warm water and though these particular pools were formed by man, the waters and the minerals have  already claimed them as their own.

You’ll understand why the place is named Cotton Castle as you look up from the pools as you climb the hill. Our kids kept calling it the Cotton Candy hills.

Wherever the water is still, the white calcite deposits start to settle, creating a chalky gloop that’s a lot of fun to squish between your toes and fingers.

Pamukkale Travel Tips

All visitors must go barefoot when walking on the travertines. You’ll be expected to carry your shoes as you walk so a backpack or a string to throw them over your shoulder isn’t a bad idea. Some people just leave their shoes at the top, but if you’re coming from the bottom you’ll want them to explore the Hieropolis when you reach the summit.

The bathing pools aren’t deep. The deepest of them is only a few feet deep, but many of the pools are only deep enough to get your bum wet if you’re sitting. It’s a long, hot hike to the top of the travertines and Hierapolis, especially in summer. Bring along water, sunscreen and a hat.

How fit do I need to be?

A fit adult should be able to hike one way up the hill in about 20 minutes, but that’s without any time stopping to enjoy the pools. Some of the surfaces are quite slippery (especially around the edges of the main pools), so you should take caution.

Some areas where the calcium has already hardened can be a little hard on the feet as well, however there are usually smoother pathways you can find. Expect to get your feet wet regardless and note that the majority of the walk isn’t slippery at all.

We had no trouble the day we went however we did see a few folks slip and fall around the pool edges. We did have to hold our four year old’s hand for some of the slipperier sections and carried her a time or two when she complained her feet were getting sore.

If you’re not fit and healthy, or have limited mobility, you may have a lot of trouble walking up the travertines from the bottom. Entrance from the top at Hierapolis is less strenuous, though some sections are uneven and still relatively steep.

Which entrance should I take?

There are two entrances to the Pamukkale travertines; one at the top at the ancient town of Hierapolis and a less used entrance at the bottom of the travertines in the town of Pamukkale itself. You can buy tickets that give you access to both the travertine pools and the Hieropolis at either gate, but access to the ancient Roman baths at the top is extra.

The top Hierapolis entrance is the one most favored by large tour groups, so you’ll encounter most of your fellow tourists near the top of the travertines and it’s by far the busiest section. Most people who choose the upper Hierapolis entrance only get about halfway down the travertines (at most) before climbing back up. The deepest and busiest  pool is also one of the closest to the top.

All this means is that the bottom of the travertines are quieter than the top. As an added bonus, the rock at the bottom pools is whiter. That said, the view from the top is beautiful so if you have the opportunity, it’s worth the trip in either direction.

How to Get There

By Bus: Several bus lines arrive from almost all parts of Turkey. Most with connections at nearby Denizli town, the closest large regional center to Pamukkale. We took a six hour bus ride from Bodrum, Turkey to Denizli. From Denizli, we took a 20 minute minibus (dolmus) to Pamukkale itself (3 Turkish Lyras a person and kids were free with drop locations all around the town). In general, bus service is reliable, and well used both by Turkish nationals and tourists. The bus terminal in Denizli is huge and on the outskirts of town however there are numerous cafeterias, a nice playground and facilities to kill time if you’re waiting for your bus to arrive.

By Air: Denizli town has a small airport where you can catch flights to and from Istanbul’s Sabiha Gökcen or Atatürk airports. There’s also a direct flight from Ankara or you can fly into Turkey biggest international resort Antalya or Izmir and take a day tour to Pamukkale.

By Train: No trains serve Denizli town (or Pamukkale).

Where to stay: There are numerous budget hotels located in Pamukkale town itself however there aren’t a lot of high end ones. Most are within easy walking distance to the bottom gates and a few have amazing views of the travertines in the morning or at night when the hills seem to glow in the darkness. You can check out the hotel selection (about 40 hotels) for Pamukkale on Hotels Combined.

Look like too much work?

If you’re looking for a tour that will help you navigate Pamukkale and Hierapolis, Viator offers a few highly rated and popular private options.

You can even opt for small group or private tours. Check out details on Viator here.

Where: Pamukkale is in the south west corner of Turkey in the Denizli Province.

The kiddos were a bit incredulous about our next adventure. And to tell the truth, I wasn’t entirely sure that booking a few nights in a cave would be a great idea. Would it be damp? Or dark?

Or, as Cole asked, would there be Batman?

The people of Cappadocia, Turkey have been carving homes out of the soft rock their otherworldly landscape of fairy chimneys for, quite literally, thousands of years. Today, tourists like us flock to the town of Goreme for a chance to stay in Turkey’s unique cave hotels.

Batman or not, we weren’t going to miss the chance to sleep in a cave for a few days.

Our first glimpse of Elysee Cave Hotel was the open, leafy courtyard, with a hammock in one corner and steps leading invitingly up to the rooftop breakfast bar.

Elysee’s manager, Deniz showed us to our cave room. I was expecting small, and dark, but when Deniz opened the door the room’s 10 foot arched ceiling and lovely natural light quickly shattered any ideas I had about a cave hotel.

We spent three days at Elysee , eating scrumptious breakfasts, lazing in the leafy courtyard, and sleeping in our cozy, quiet and surprisingly spacious cave room. When we managed to pull ourselves away from the hotel, we soared above the fairy chimneys in a hot air balloon (video here), ate at some of the fantastic Turkish restaurants Deniz recommended, and wandered around the fantastic landscapes of the Goreme Open Air Museum.

But, by far, one of the best parts of our stay was getting to know Deniz.

It’s rare to find someone who so instantly connects with his guests, and who is so genuinely interested in their welfare. Cole and Charles played soccer in the inner courtyard with Deniz and his staff. Deniz played Uno with Cole in the leafy courtyard, and he took Charles and Cole to a local barber to get Cole’s hair cut before we left.

So, that’s the story of how we learned to sleep in a cave and love it. Elysee, it seems, has everything you’d ever want in a cave hotel, great food, a feeling of family, and a cozy place to sleep.

But, Cole’s sorry to say, no caped crusader.

What you need to know

We stayed in the Elysee Cave Hotel Website Facebook TripAdvisor reviews
You can book the Elysee Cave House on  Booking.com

Getting There: Flights from Istanbul to the city of Kayseri run every day, and cost as little as 30 USD one way with AtlasJet, Pegasus or Turkish Airlines. Check flights on Expedia. It’s an hour’s bus ride from Kayseri to Goreme.

Turkish Airlines has flights from from Istanbul to Nevsihir, a smaller city only 12 km from Goreme. Check flights to Nevsihir on Expedia.

We stayed with Elysee Cave House at a reduced rate, but they didn’t request a favorable review, and we loved them even though we didn’t get to share a cave room with Batman.

In our last post, we wrote about our hot air balloon ride in Goreme, Turkey.

We wanted to give you a feel for what it was like to soar hundreds of feet over the fairy chimneys of Cappadocia, so we created this video.

Be sure to keep watching until our amazing pilot Mustafa from Butterfly Balloons floats us out from behind a fairy chimney and gives us a gorgeous view of the Cappadocia valley and the hundred or so other balloons that shared our sky that morning.

This is one of our first videos and we’re really excited about it. So let us know what you think!

Would you like to see more videos from us?

It’s 4:15 in the morning, and there’s a knock at our door.

My groggy brain can only come up with two possible reasons for a knock at this hour:  The hotel is on fire or the pizza delivery guy’s ridiculously late.

Then it hits me. Hot air ballooning.

We’re about to jump in a hot air balloon and soar over the sweeping valleys of Cappadocia, Turkey. This area of the world is a UNESCO World Heritage site, with homes and churches carved into fairy chimneys as early as the 4th century.

Rick Steeves calls ballooning in Cappadocia “a travel experience of a lifetime“, and I’m itching to see if he’s right.

The next half hour is a whirlwind, with a minibus ride, a fresh fruit and pastry breakfast, a safety briefing, and another short ride out to the launch site.

Just watching the balloons get ready for the flight is worth getting up at 4:15 in the morning.

Giant fans roar and fill the balloon with air, and four year old Jordan and Charles are dwarfed standing in the mouth of the balloon as Cole and I cover our ears against the fan’s drone.

When it’s time to heat the air inside the balloon, I’m standing 20 feet away, but the fire from the balloon’s burners flushes my cheeks as the crew strains to hold the massive balloon open.

We’re flying with Butterfly Balloons. Their crew, just for our balloon with 16 passengers, numbers over six people.

Take off is spectacular, as our enormous balloon rises like a feather in the crisp air. The burners roar with the effort of heating the air in the balloon.

We rush forward to the edge of a canyon and I hold my breath as the balloon glides past the edge, just as the sun rises over Goreme’s otherworldly rock formations.

Rick Steves was dead on right.

We’ve camped in the Moroccan desert, dived the Great Barrier reef, and watched wild orangutans in the jungles of Indonesia. This is on par with any of those travel experiences.

We glide along in the morning light, as our pilot Mustafa guides us over the town of Goreme and along Pigeon Valley.

The fairy chimneys and rock houses of Goreme were beautiful on the ground, but the scope of Cappadocia’s fairy tale landscape is even more breathtaking from above.

It’s utterly silent in the balloon when the burners turn off and we move with the wind across Cappadocia. We swoon pass above the Castle of Ortahisar, a 86 m rock chimney riddled with doors cut into its stone surface.

This part of Cappadocia seems to have escaped most of the tourism, as cave houses nearby are used to store citrus fruits, rather than house tourists.

We’ve lucked out with our pilot, Mustafa Turgut, who’s one of the most experienced pilots in the area and who’s taught many of the pilots sharing the sky with us this morning. He cracks jokes as he skims so close over treetops that Cole reaches down and grabs a leaf from the branches.

Pilot Mustafa wryly repeats his primary safety rule “Don’t get out of the basket“.

He expertly turns the balloon every so often so everyone inside can take photos as we glide past phallic shaped fairy chimneys bathed in the early morning’s golden light.

As the sun rises, we ascend and get a good look at the hot air balloons gliding over the valley. We try to count, coming up with nearly a hundred balloons dotting the skyline.

I don’t want this to end.

But it’s time to go back to the earth.

As we descend, Mustafa lets Cole have a hand pulling the ropes to maneuver the balloon. Cole hurls all of his 55 pounds into the task, and as we move to the landing area we see Butterfly Balloon’s trucks racing to meet us.

Mustafa orders us to assume our landing position, with our backs to the landing site, and feet perched up against the side of the basket.

I brace for a hard bump, but it never comes.

Instead, we plop down gently on the grass as Butterfly’s crew swarms around the balloon, ropes swirling as they tie us down and begin to deflate the balloon.

I hop out, elated from the flight, and sad to be back on terra firma. Meanwhile, Mustafa’s taken Cole to help, and Cole bounces around on the deflating balloon, delighted.

Somehow, in the short 10 minutes since we’ve landed, Mustafa and his crew have set the balloon basket gently in the trailer behind the truck, decorated it with flowers, and prepared a table set with a white tablecloth, champagne glasses and a celebratory cake.

They’ve even found time to neatly fold the balloon and pose for a photo with the kids on top of the balloon.

Mustafa raises a glass of champagne to toast the flight, a tradition said to be started by the Mongolfier brothers who piloted the first hot air balloon flight in 1783.

There’s chilled orange juice for the kids (and mimosas for us), and then we’re off in the minivan back to our cozy cave hotel (yes, a cave hotel, more on that in a later post).

Only a couple of hours have passed, and I’m back in my comfy bed, snuggling in as daylight warms the rest of the world.

Did you enjoy this post? We’re posting another article with a video of our flight soon. Sign up to get our posts in your email inbox so you won’t miss it. In the meantime, you can check out the video on YouTube.

What you need to know

We flew with Butterfly Balloons, one of the most respected and popular balloon companies in Goreme, and highly recommend them. Check out Butterfly Balloons on their website or Facebook or read their reviews on TripAdvisor.

Cost:  A one hour flight costs around $175 Euro per person (children are half price), and includes minibus transfer to and from the hotel, a delicious light breakfast of fresh fruit, pastries and drinks, and champagne after the flight.

What to bring:  A camera, warm clothes to ward off the early morning chill, and sturdy shoes for climbing in and out of the basket.

Safety:  Hot air ballooning is potentially dangerous. Travelling King has a good discussion of balloon safety in their article on hot air ballooning in the Australian Outback, and this checklist of safety questions is a helpful guide for comparing companies.

Where:  Hot air balloon flights depart from the town of Goreme, in the Cappadocia region of central Turkey.

Getting There:  Flights from Istanbul to the city of Kayseri run every day, and cost as little as 30 USD one way with AtlasJet, Pegasus or Turkish Airlines. Check flights on Expedia. It’s an hour bus ride from Kayseri to Goreme.

Turkish Airlines has flights from from Istanbul to Nevsihir, a smaller city only 12 km from Goreme. Check flights to Nevsihir on Expedia.

We flew Butterfly Balloons at a reduced rate, but they didn’t request a favorable review and definitely didn’t ask us to drink a wee bit too much champagne at the end of the flight.

Editor’s note: Istanbul remains one of our favorite cities. We were struck by its beauty, the friendliness of the Turkish people, and the wonderful food and views.

However, the political situation in Turkey is constantly changing. Please check with your government’s travel warnings (Canada USA UK), and keep aware of recent news before you visit. Avoid military or security forces. Recently, the government blocked social media sites like Twitter, Facebook, and WhatsApp, and opposition leaders have been arrested. Geraldine from The Everywhereist has a lovely article on her feelings about visiting Turkey again – it’s worth a look.

If you find yourself in Istanbul, with just an afternoon to see the sights, this itinerary should get you to the city’s main attractions with a bit of time to spare.

We usually like to travel slowly, taking the time to discover the character and hidden treasures of a city. Unfortunately, based on a hectic schedule, we found ourselves with only an afternoon to check out Istanbul’s main sights.

After the initial panic subsided, we got busy and set up an itinerary that would let us check out the must see attractions quickly. Luckily, most of Istanbul’s main sights are within easy walking distance in the old city in Sultanhamet.

Blue Mosque

The Blue Mosque is one of Turkey’s most famous landmarks.

Built from 1609 to 1616, and visited by Pope Benedict XVI in 2006, the Blue Mosque’s domes billow upward into Istanbul’s sky. Know by most Westerners as the Blue Mosque, it’s also called the Sultan Ahmed Mosque (Sultanahmet Camii in Turkish). It’s outside courtyard is about the size of the interior and shares a lot of the same structural plans. The visitor entry is via a back door on the eastern side (on the opposite side of the Hagia Sofia museum).

Free of charge, the mosque is open daily from 09.00 till dusk. Since it is still a working mosque, the mosque closes for 90 minutes at each prayer time. This time changes daily depending on the earth’s position however mornings are usually the safest time to arrive. As their site says, “Avoid visiting a mosque at pray time (Especially Midday praying on Friday) or within a half hour after the ezan is chanted from the Mosque minarets.” Here’s a link to the changing prayer times.

Women are asked to wear a head covering when entering the Blue Mosque. If you don’t have a scarf, the mosque provides some free for your use. Male or female, if you’re wearing shorts or a short skirt, you’ll be asked to wrap yourself in a piece of cloth, again given by the mosque  for free. Flash photos aren’t allowed inside. Before walking into the Mosque, you’ll be asked to take of off your shoes and place them in a plastic bag (free) that you’ll carry with you as you walk through the Mosque and exit the other side.

Hagia Sofia

I’ve never seen a building as stunning as the Hagia Sofia. The architecture of the Hagia Sofia is especially awe inspiring, considering it was built in 537 with materials taken from all over the empire, including columns from the Temple of Artemis at Ephesus and stone from Egypt and Syria.

Originally the crowning glory of Constantinople (New Rome), the city was eventually conquered and the church was converted into a mosque for nearly 500 years before finally becoming a museum in 1935.

Admission to the Hagia Sofia museum is 25 TL for adults and kids under 12 are free. Visiting hours are from 09.00 – 19.00 (the last ticket sale 18:00), and it is closed Mondays.

Basilica Cistern (Yerebatan Sarnıcı)

The Basilica Cistern, built in 542 AD, is the largest of the ancient cisterns underneath the streets of Istanbul. Descending into the cistern feels like you’re visiting a sunken palace. The cistern could hold up to 80,000 cubic metres (2,800,000 cu ft) of water, but today there are around a foot or two at the bottom, and home to some surprisingly large fish swimming among the columns. Make sure you wander all the way to the far left-hand corner of the cistern to see the two Medusa heads.

The Cistern is open from 9:00 am to 18:30 and costs 10 TL for adults, while kids are free. The entrance is across the street from the Hagia Sophia. Signs leading to the Basilica Cistern are named Yerebatan Samici, the cistern’s Turkish name.

Lunch Time!

You should be getting hungry by now. There are a bunch of good restaurants just Southwest of the Basilica on the streets of Yerebatan Caddesi and Divan Yolu Caddesi. We ate at Fuego restaurant and the food was decent. Prices were reasonable for the area, and supper came with a free appetizer of tzatziki, hummus and bread.

Tip: If you’re really in a rush, you can grab an ear of roasted corn on the cob or roasted chestnuts from a vendor when you leave the Basilica. There’s a small park just South of the Basilica where you can rest on the grass and enjoy.

Grand Bazaar

Jammed with literally thousands of stalls, the maze-like Grand Bazaar was originally built in 1455. You can find everything here from food to trinkets to Turkish carpets.

Unfortunately, we spent a little too much time in the Hagia Sofia (and wow, it was worth every second), so we arrived just a bit too late too see the Grand Bazaar in all its splendor, though we were prepared to bargain hard and be constantly bombarded from vendors.

It’s free to enter the Grand Bazaar, which is open 8:30 am to 17:00 (5 pm). Closed Sundays. There are five major gates. If you’re following our itinerary, you’ll want the Örücüler Kapısı gate which leads to the Spice Bazaar.

Egyptian Bazaar (Spice Market)

The Spice Bazaar is home to a few hundred stalls, mostly selling delicious food items, ranging from lokum (Turkish Delight) to spices, dried fruits, honeycomb and nuts. The smell is absolutely heavenly. Built in 1664 with a long tradition of screaming out their wares, we found that vendors were fairly laid back the day we visited, with almost no one in the stalls shouting for our attention.

Free. Open: daily from 08.00 – 19.00. Closed Sunday. Turkish Delight (lokum), nuts, spices, honeycomb, coffee, teas, candies and various wares. Kurukahveci Mehmet Efendi sells good coffee beans.

Bonus: Bosphorus Cruise

If you have a bit of time to spare, and you’re traveling from May to September, consider a cruise on the Bosphorus. You can pick up tickets at Eminonu, at the IDO/Şehir Hatları Bosphorus lines sales offices at Bogaz Hatti dock (dock no.3). The short cruise starts 2:30pm (14:30) from the Eminönü pier and takes 2 hours. Check times and dates at the official ferry website here. The cruise is a steal of a deal at 10 TL for adults, 5 TL kids under 12, and electronic guides are sold for 7.5 TL.

Galata Bridge

Make your way across Ragip Gumuspala Cd while being awed at the floating  kitchens docked near the bus stops and use the underground walkways to check out Galata bridge.

Well worth a look, this iconic bridge spans the Golden Horn bay of Istanbul. Fishermen on the upper level line the edges, and cast their lines into the Bosphorus strait below. The lower level is packed with restaurants serving fresh caught fish fried up and served in a sandwich (along with other food).

Transportation

After walking across the Galata Bridge, you have a few transportation options to make your way home.

There’s an efficient tram that runs back into Sutanhamet (and further West) or along the river’s edge close to the Dolma Bahce Palace. Highly recommended, the tram is fast, cheap at 3 TL for adults, and can save you a lot of time by avoiding the ridiculous stop and go traffic of Istanbul.

You can also hail a cab off the street, but be careful of traffic conditions. We ended up sitting in our cab for half an hour, stuck in traffic, as mopeds whizzed by on one side as pedestrians rushed by on the other. There are also numerous buses running along here, but again, you may run into problems with traffic in this area.

Where to stay

We found Istanbul hotel prices to be surprisingly expensive, so we opted to rent an apartment from Airbnb instead. For less than the cost of most hotel rooms, we ended up with a great two bedroom apartment, with a dishwasher, washer and dryer in a funky, authentic Istanbul neighborhood an easy walk to the tram or ferry station. Check out the listings for Istanbul on Airbnb.

Want a discount on your next Airbnb rental? Click on our link to get a $35 USD credit if you sign up with a new email (and we get a credit, too).

Look like too much work?

If you’re looking for a tour that will help you navigate Istanbul in an afternoon, Viator offers a very highly rated and popular private one day tour. You can check out details on Viator here.

The tour includes lunch, and guides you through the Blue Mosque and Hagia Sophia, among other attractions.

If you’re looking for a more comprehensive itinerary, check out the article for a four day Istanbul Itinerary from Melissa of High Heels and a Backpack.

Have you ever been to Istanbul? What are your must see things to see and do?

But enough of that. We want to go there for the ice cream.

Not any old ice cream, mind you. But the fascinating, stretchy, chewy concoction twirled around by ice cream vendors in the streets of Istanbul. You see, ice cream in Turkey is nothing like ice cream or gelato in the rest of the world. It’s so cool that it had us scouring airfare websites for deals Turkey to see if we can make it happen.

Ice cream in Turkey is folded and kneaded like bread dough, then twirled and stretched beyond what you’d believe possible.

What is this magic stuff? Called dondurma, Turkey’s ice cream is made stretchy with salep (a powder made with orchis tubers) and mastic (a resin from the mastic tree). Despite its stretchy texture, dondurma is just as cold as the ice cream we’re used to in the Western world.

Check out this video of a mischievous ice cream vendor in Istanbul giving his customers their money’s worth in entertainment.

We showed this video to our little ones, and they’ve been asking to watch it constantly. It’s more entertaining to them than the Disney Channel or making rock castles.

Seriously, how did I go most of my life without knowing about this? Our family loves ice cream. If you follow our blog, you might have picked up on the fact that we talk about ice cream a lot. A. Lot. Like our love affair with Trits ice cream sandwiches, ice cream and road trips, and our insistence on putting ice cream in every best restaurants or best things to do post we write.

So how does Turkish ice cream taste? Supposedly pretty darn good. How can something that looks like this not be delicious?

Oh, and once we get our fill of ice cream, we hear the rest of Turkey’s not too shabby, either.

Hopefully we’ll get our fill of it this spring as we enjoy a very open ended, extended trip to Southern Europe and the Mediterranean Sea.