Turkey

Turkey - Turkey & Egypt have always fascinated me, so I decided to combine the two, since they are only an hour's flying time away from each other. I also had the advantage of a Turkish acquaintance who was able to give me some tips on what to do in Istanbul and a website to check out - www.turkeytravelplanner.com - which I found useful & informative.

Turkey in April is cold, so be prepared! I didn't know what to expect visually, but was quite surprised and disappointed in the modern architecture, which consisted of undistinguished residential tenament blocks. Many of these were unfinished or unoccupied, reflecting the financial downturn. I was also surprised at the amount of litter around in various places, which somewhat detracted from the wonderful scenery in places. We had booked a 2 week tour through Neon and can definately recommend them. The guide and driver were both great. (The guide is freelance & can be contacted on consultmir@yahoo.com if anyone would prefer to tailor an individual trip.) Naturally, we did not see more than some highlights of the western part of the country. Another tour concentrated on the eastern areas & we may take that another time. The Turks initially struck me as being a rather reserved race, but we found them to be most helpful and friendly when approached for assistance or directions and they were not pushy or intrusive.

We covered the usual Istanbul sights of which the Topkapi Palace is the standout, particularly the exhibits in the former mint. The Blue Mosque was impressive but the Grand Bazaar was very touristy & not a patch on the one I visited in Teheran in 1968. After the tour we did a Bosphorus trip on the state ferry, but would have been better not taking a return ticket or going to the end stop which has nothing apart from a good view at the top of the hill & a nice restaurant there, not enough to fill the several hours' wait for the trip back. Instead, we should have taken a single ticket, got off at Sariyer, the stop before, had a look around and a meal, then taken the bus back.

Gallipoli was moving; the lime cascades at Permukkale fascinating; Antalya on the Mediterranean coast enabled us to thaw out a bit & go on a short boat trip around the harbour & coastline; the Fairy Chimneys in Cappadocia were interesting, but we spent too much time in that region before going to Ankara, where Ataturk's Mausoleum was a real highlight. It contained some wonderful exhibits and one of the best dioramas I have ever seen covering the Gallipoli and Independence campaigns, with some fascinating history of how the Allies were defeated and driven out of the country. (Naturally, the British in particular don't dwell on any of this when they teach history in their schools & I expect the same applies to the French!) The Anatolian Civilizations Museum was also most interesting & I felt that the tour did not allow enough time for those final two items.

We had two days to ourselves after the tour to wander around Istanbul & visit places that were not included in the tour, like the Cistern, before we left for Cairo.

Finally, FOOD! The food in Turkey is great, particularly the sweets, so be prepared to put on weight, or take it off after your trip. The Turks have a very sweet tooth, but the sugar in their sweets is masked to some extent by the nuts they use in baklava etc. They also like their lunches and most stops on the trip were set up for a full meal instead of a snack.