Traveling Turkey: Istanbul & Lycian Way

My impressions of Turkey before arriving were a strange mix. On one hand, I had headlines in my mind of terror attacks, Erdogan's controversial presidency, and the lira's extreme fluctuations, and on the other I had Frankfurt's döner (kebab) shops. Not specifically those shops, but rather the uniquely German lens with which I had looked at Turkey and its people until now. Even before arriving in Germany eight years ago, I was exposed to novels and films that focused on the Turkish migrant's experience in the country from my German lit classes back at university. I felt like neither of these things really gave me a clear picture of what Turkey truly has to offer.

Istanbul at sunset from the Galat Köprüsü bridge.

Under all this, I also had the enchanting stories of my nearly 94-year-old grandma who visited Turkey decades ago on a sailing trip swimming in my mind. After a lifetime of travel that's taken her across most of Europe, China, Thailand, Iceland, and Cuba, she still recalls Turkey as her favorite trip. She always speaks fondly of the food and people, brought home beautiful Turkish rugs that gave her Californian home a worldly yet cozy feel, and purchased glass blue plates upon returning as a nod to the ones she ate off while in Turkey. Her love of the country has always left me yearning to explore it for myself one day. Now that I've had a chance to see a little, I can definitively say it absolutely does not disappoint. The people, the diverse landscape, the history, the culture, and of course, the food--it's been fantastic. 

Itinerary

Our first week in Turkey was split between city life and hike life. After a little sightseeing in Istanbul, we flew to Dalaman, then hiked along the southwestern part of Turkey's coast.

Part 1: Exploring Istanbul

Our night train arrived in Istanbul early, giving us three days to explore the transcontinental city, which was just enough time to scratch the surface of its diverse offerings and rich history. We squeeze in a free walking tour of the old city, took a two-hour afternoon river cruise on the Bosphorus Strait (for less than €2!), did a self-guided walking tour of the Fener and Balat neighborhoods, spent an evening chatting with our Airbnb host, and, of course, sampled lots of local cuisine.

Istanbul's Hagia Sofia was originally a Greek Orthodox church, with minarets only added under Ottoman rule.

We stopped at Feride, a delicious buffet-style cafe where you can pick home-cooked dishes and pay by weight.

The world's only all-iron church, the Bulgarian Church of Sveti Stefan, can be found in the Balat neighborhood.

Istanbul proved to be a bustling city that is both modern and traditional (and even super hipster), rich and poor all depending on where you look. It sprawls and sprawls as far as the eye can see, across two continents for that matter, and its sheer size, with more than 15 million inhabitants, left me gobsmacked. Just to you give an idea of how this translates, our night train arrived at Istanbul's westernmost train station, Halkali, and it took us another 1.5 hours by bus to reach the city center. Istanbul is enormous! In our three days there, we remained mostly on the European side, only crossing over to the Asian side to catch our flight.

We saw numerous dilapidated houses on our walks. Sometimes even entire streets had fallen into disrepair.

This was in stark contrast to the multimillion-dollar waterfront villas we past on our rive cruise.  

The second thing that really struck me about Istanbul was the amount of stray cats running around. They are everywhere. Before we even managed to check into our Airbnb, I'd crossed paths with at least 50 unusually health and well-fed strays (I was delighted). Looking closer, I noticed that nearly every door-stoop had a bowl of water and cat food, and some even had little cat houses. 

How many cats can you count? A man feeding the neighborhood cats--a typical and endearing scene in Istanbul.

When I asked our Airbnb host about this later, he confirmed that people have a super soft spot for cats here. He explained that part of local taxes even go to keeping the cat population under control. They tag the ears of fur babies that have been given shots, and regularly put out food for them, which is why you see people happily petting strays without being worried about contracting a disease. Locals' love for cats is so striking in fact that a girl even made a documentary about it! I've yet to watch the film, but I did check out the trailer for Kedi. And any culture that has so much compassion for these little furry creatures holds a soft spot in my heart.

Part 2: Lycian Way

Lycian Way offers beautiful views of Turkey's coast! 

After all the buildings and people, I was ready for some nature. A quick one-hour flight South brought us to Dalaman. We then took a bus to the costal town of Fethiye where we spent one night before embarking on Lycian Way, a long-distance hiking route largely made of up of old Roman roads, footpaths, and mule trails that stretches some 540 kilometers all the way to Antalya. 

Although we only sampled about four days of this month-long trekking route, I can absolutely attest to its stunning cliff-side views and would return in a heartbeat. In fact, it exceeded my expectations. Although this wasn’t hard, because a not so small part of me expected to give up on day one once I realized it was going to be about 30C that week (high 80s in F) and I had to hike up mountains...with a backpack. Thankfully, our hotel in Fethiye let us leave some luggage with them for a few days, so we weren’t carrying the full weight of our backpacks. 

The hiking amounted to a little over 12km a day and was definitely challenging, but so rewarding. We used an app called TrailSmart to plan the hike, and I can highly recommend it! It was like having a guide with you at all times. It showed how to break down the trail into sections/days, lets you track your progress offline, and gave recommendations as to how much water to bring and where to stay and eat. It even told you what kinds of animals you might see along the way. I think pictures are probably the best way to convey just how gorgeous and varied the scenery is, so I brace yourself, I’m including a lot. 

• Day 1: We set off from the Fethiye bus station at around 10am and by mid-afternoon were in Ölüdeniz, where Lycian Way officially begins. I can’t recommend staying in either town longer than one night though, as both were very touristic and not particularly charming. 

The highlight of day one was the abandoned town of Kayaköy. It was originally a Greek settlement, and home to both Anatolian Muslims and Greek Orthodox Christians, but the inhabitants were forced to leave as part of a “population exchange” following the Greco-Turkish War, so each country could claim one major religion. 

• Day 2: We hiked a rather challenging portion of the route from Ölödeniz to the peaceful town of Kabak, which gives off hippie mountain-beach vibes (if that is a thing). It’s also an extremely special day for us, because Thore and I got engaged along the way! He proposed at the highest point of the hike looking over the ocean, and we’re looking forward to taking on a lot more of life’s challenges and reaching new heights together. 

A typical Turkish breakfast, with lots of cheese, olives, and honey, was often included in our hotel price.

Energy and enthusiasm was high at the start of the hike!

In some parts, the entire forest was humming with bees, and in the villages local honey was always for sale.

• Day 3: The hike from Kabak to Alinca was by far the hardest but most rewarding leg of our hike. It was all uphill for about five hours straight, and the last 20 minutes had us struggling in sweaty silence. The view on arrival made up for it all though. The town of Alinca consisted of about 10 buildings, and we managed to find a pension hotel with the best view on arrival. For the price of 20 euro per person a night, we even got breakfast and dinner. 

Took a quick swim at Kabak beach before setting off for the day.

• Day 4: We originally planned to hike on that day, but Alinca was so peaceful and fantastic (and also my legs were dead) that we spontaneously decided to stay another night. The following day we hiked back to Kabak where you can get a bus all the way back to Fethiye.

The view from our pension hotel. It was like having a private Santorini.

Weekly Cost Breakdown

Due to the Turkish lira's exchange rate, the cost of travel in Turkey is considerably lower than in the Balkans. That said, the exchange rate also fluctuates significantly, which meant that the cost in euro actually increased since I did my estimates. A reminder that costs listed here are per person, and traveling as a couple really brings down accommodation costs.

I also found it harder to cook here, which drove up costs as well. This is partly because there are fewer hostels and Airbnbs, so kitchens weren't as readily available. Supermarkets also seemed to have a much more limited selection than I am used to, especially with regards to fresh produce (tomatoes, peppers, onions, and eggplant were readily available though). Another thing to look out for is if your accommodation includes breakfast and dinner. Ours did on three occasions, and in Ölüdeniz, we unfortunately found out about the dinner part a little too late to take advantage of it!