Goreme day 1, Turkey

After our short stop in Istanbul, we were heading to the middle of the country, in the region of Cappadocia, where we spent a week. We had an early start at 5:30 AM, walked to the shuttle bus stop,  and waited for it to arrive as we were too fast getting ready. We sat in the minibus who brought us to the main station. We then waited while looking at the chaos of Turkish buses and cars all trying to have priority. Our coach turned up about one hour late, and we were the only ones in it for the first 45 minutes, until we reached the next station. Some people entered the bus and strangely the company seems to be only assigning seats starting at the front. So the back of the coach is empty and the only few people are crammed in the front. We received complimentary crackers and coffee and enjoyed the free WiFi for our really long bus ride. 

We stopped in a rest area for a quick pit stop, and also stopped in the very modern and huge Ankara bus station. We didn't feel the need to visit Ankara, even though it is the capital, there doesn't seem to be much to see. When we stopped in Nevsehir, a minibus was ready to bring us to Goreme. It must have been the driver's last run because he drove like a maniac (110 in a 50 km zone). We arrived in Goreme, found our little bungalow, put our bags down and went for supper. We had Gozleme, a traditional pastry dish filled with meat and/or veggies. A good recipe to keep in mind for the future!

We had a really good night of sleep in our small cabin. When we woke up, we had breakfast and started our first excursion in Capadoccia. We followed the street towards the Open-Air Museum, and kept moving all the way to the Sunset Viewpoint. After 5 km, that is when the real hike started. We climbed on top of the plateau at 1360 meters and had amazing views over the different valleys. We saw multiple caves carved in the stone. We did a grand tour and had a great time. We really enjoy hiking to the top of mountains, when we can see very far, and especially when we are by ourselves. 

Here is a link to the hiking map.

Goreme Day 1

After our 14.4 kilometers hike, we took a well deserved rest in our little bungalow. For supper, we splurge in a nice restaurant where we tried the pottery lamb and pottery veggies. It was very tasty and filing with the complimentary white beans. We bought a bottle of Turkish wine to enjoy in our room.

Here are some pictures of the first day:

We also visited a church carved in the rock on our way back. It was located in the town of Cavusin. There are a lot of those churches in this region. We discovered a lot more in the Ihlara Valley, which was on our forth day in Cappadocia.

First stop in Istanbul, Turkey

As some of you know, we spent the last 40 days in the Middle-East. Our flight was a round trip ticket from Bucharest, where we ended the European part of our round the world trip. We went back to Bucharest only for a few days, deciding on our next itinerary. After comparing prices to get from Bucharest to Istanbul, we opted to fly with Pegasus Airlines. Our first choice was the train but they do not run all the way in Turkey anymore and we would have had to catch the bus at the Bulgarian-Turkish border. Our next option was the bus, but a 12 to 14 hours bus ride was not appealing as we will most likely be spending a lot of time in Turkish buses. The minor difference in price to fly made our decision an easy one.

The security video on board Pegasus Airline was notably different; showing people dancing around in the airplane. With Pegasus you have to pay to select seats, we choose not to pay so we ended up in the same row but on different sides of the aisle. The guy between us was nice enough to switch places with Seb so we could sit together. The flight was uneventful, beside the fact that we had to pay for water. A low-cost airline was substantially different from Austrian Airlines where we enjoyed free wine!

Because it was night time, just before landing in the Asian side of Istanbul, we could admire all the green lights of the many minarets. We had to wait for a while at the passport control, but it was wonderfully easy to go through as we had previously applied and received our e-visas. We picked up our bags and followed the signs to the shuttle bus. We withdrew some money from the ATM and arrived just in time for the 8pm shuttle. We sat in and enjoyed the view of the endless city center, crossing the bridge to the European side.

After a really good night sleep in our little apartment, we woke up late. We were a bit slow getting started so we left only in the afternoon. We started our exploration of Istanbul by walking all the way to the Grand Bazaar. We saw a large number of big mosques on our way. We walked for a while in the Sultanahmet neighbourhood, the area where they actually make the shoes. It is pretty impressive to see the amount of little sewing shops, the multiple stores filled with boxes, the many people running to the market with brand-new shoes. We enjoyed again being in another Arabic city. It would probably have looked a lot more different than Europe if we didn't arrive from a month in Jordan. Istanbul is a good mix of Europe and Middle East; a really huge city with a myriad of shopping opportunities.

The next day, we tried to buy a bus ticket to go to Goreme, in Capadoccia. We asked the lady at the tourist information office located near Taksim Square, and she wasn't really helpful. We walked on the street she indicated and went in the first office. It felt like we were bothering the people working there by wanting to buy tickets, so we walked across the street to the next bus company where we got our tickets and a smile! We chose to try our luck in Cevahir Mall for some hiking boots. We took the subway and got out in the right area, but not quite on the right street. We spotted the Trump Tower which seemed to have many shops, we walked in and found the information desk and asked the smiling girl where to find the other big mall. In Turkey, when entering a mall, one needs to go through security just like the airport. Cevahir is huge and crowded. Unfortunately, we had no success finding hiking boots. We came back and looked around for the post office but somehow we missed it, so we decided it was time to go back to our little nest. After supper, we packed our bags and prepared our lunch for the long bus ride planned for the following day.

Sunset over a mosque

View of the Bosphorus

Cloudy day

The cats are king

Shoe factories in the streets of Istanbul

Open air storage area

Pedestrian street close to the Bazaar

Grand Bazaar

Turkish delights

Taksim Square

Taksim Square

Galata Tower

Inside Cevahir Mall

Roadtrip in Israel

For our remaining days in Israel, we decided to drive around and explore the country. Driving out of Jerusalem was a lot easier than driving in Jordan as most people actually stay within the lines and respect the road rules. We drove toward Tel-Aviv, and went north to reach Akko. Akko has a old fortified city and a citadel. We wanted to visit the citadel, but unfortunately, because of a theater festival, the citadel was not available for regular tourists. We walked for a few minutes in the old city, and in the market but we didn't feel like being stuck in people so we decided to get out of the old city and have a look at the Mediterranean Sea from the Israeli side.We enjoyed the view and the wind before getting back into our rental Smart and driving East.

Because we were early, we went to the viewpoints mentioned in the Lonely Planet. We drove along the Syrian border to Majdal Shams, but couldn't see the viewpoint. The views were pretty good anyway and we got up to Mt. Hermon, were the road was blocked by a gate so we stopped and took a few pictures. The Golan Heights region is scenic with nice valleys and some orchards and wineries. During our stay in Katzrin, we stayed at Golan Garden, a brand-new hostel run by really friendly owners Milou and Alon.

On our second day discovering Israel, we went for a hike in the Yehudiya Nature Reserve. We followed the upper Zavitan trail from the hostel to the waterfalls. It was a good three-our walk. We saw some natural pools and a nice waterfall. After our morning walk, we came back to the hostel to shower and relax, before getting back in the car to have a look at Mt Bental lookout (an Israeli bunker turned tourist attraction) We tried to go in the bunker, but it was too dark to be able to see where we were going. 

On our last day of discovery, we drove toward the Dead Sea. On our way we stopped to a nice viewpoint over the Sea of Galilee. Alon from the hostel had mentioned another nice viewpoint where we could see three countries; Israel, Jordan and Syria. We had GPS coordinates so we though this was going to be easy to find. It was not.

We followed the small road,which looked like a farmer's private road all the way to a United Nation building. We turned around and kept going on the road, thinking we were going to see the viewpoint. As soon as we started going downhill, we were driving along the Syria, Jordan borders... lined with very tall barbed-wire fences. We kept driving, but soon there was a closed gate. So we turned around. On the other side of the electrified barbed-wire fence, the view seemed really amazing, over the mountains of Jordan and Syria, but we didn't feel it was the kind of place to stop and snap pictures. We were just worried somebody was going to stop us and ask us what the hell we were doing on the border line, in a rented Smart...

We kept driving to the Dead Sea, entered Palestine, no question asked, and followed the groups of slow driving tourists. The Dead Sea is nice on the Israeli side as well, the turquoise water and the Jordanian mountain makeup for a good scenery. But again there are some barbed-wire fences so no great photo opportunities while driving. 

We arrived in Masada early in the afternoon. Masada was a fortress, a palace and a rebel stronghold perched atop a mountain. It has a pretty surprising history giving that it is not easily reachable and located in less than human friendly setting. After spending a about an hour at the top, exploring the ruins, and enjoying the view of the Dead Sea and sand dunes, we came back down the 700 steps and drove some more. We stayed in Arad for the night and the next morning we brought the car back to Jerusalem.

The next day was already time to leave Israel and go back to Jordan in order to catch our fight. We left the hostel at 7:30, walked to the bus station and arrived just in time as the minibus was almost ready to leave. We passed a few checkpoints on the way to Allenby bridge. When we arrived to the passport control, we put our bags on a trolley and walked in the building. The way out of Israel was a lot faster and easier than coming in. They looked at our passports and our visa cards and sent us to the next counter. After getting our exit stamps and paying the exit fees, we walked out and waited for the tourist bus to arrive and take us to the other side. The Jordanian side was as hectic as coming in. The officer gathered everybody's passport, and went out of the bus. The guy selling tickets for the bus than got on and collected money. As soon as we paid, we were allowed outside and went to wait in front of the three officers for them to call out our names and give us our passports back. We walked outside and were assaulted by taxi drivers, and finally made our way back to Amman where we spent the remaining of the day doing what we loved most in Jordan: eating, walking around, and trying to find something to spent our last  dinars on.

Mediterranean Sea from Akko, Israel 

Soldier crossing the street

Welcome to Golan Heights

Small town in northern Israel

Go in peace

Viewpoint of the Syrian - Israeli border

Border fence

Mt. Bental bunker viewpoint

Mt Bental lookout

Direction sign at Mt. Bental

Inside the bunker 

One of the pools in Yehudiya Nature Reserve

Zavitan Waterfall

Sea of Galilee

Carved stone head

Dead Sea from the Israeli side

Masada ruins

View from Masada

Masada, Israel

Masada