Turkey

Trip to Turkey for Ece and Ruben's wedding!

Days at a Glance

Date	Day at a Glance
14-18 May26	Antalya
18-20 May26	Goreme, Cappadocia
20-24 May26	Istanbul

High-Low-Hero-Chow/Ciao*

	Ben	Maggie
High	Running in Istanbul to start days	Cappadocia landscape
Low	Getting sick at the start	Vomiting on the flight home
Hero	Ruben for the tip on spotting dolphins	Ece for her amazing Turkey recommendations!
Chow/Ciao	(I didn't write this one down, sorry babe! did you say lunch in Antalya old town?)	Cheesecake at Cafe Orfe or Sarma from Mamas Teras

*A game I learned from Ben, who uses it with friends as a fun way to reflect on an experience

Journal

Turkey, here we come! Ece and Ruben, our friends from the Netherlands, graciously invited us to their wedding in Turkey! Ece is from Antalya, a popular vacation spot in Southern Turkey, and invited us there to celebrate their Turkish wedding. We would’ve traveled anywhere to see them and celebrate their wedding, but it didn’t hurt it was in a beautiful beach town at an all-inclusive resort…

We had never been to Turkey, and so we used the wedding as an opportunity to see more of the country. I asked Ece for a recommendation, where (beyond Istanbul) does she think we should visit? She didn’t even hesitate, she responded Cappadoccia right away. We planned a 10(11?) day trip, admittedly a bit soon after New Zealand, meaning I was out of vacation days by May. I considered asking Ece if she could shift her wedding to September because that worked better for my schedule, but prudently decided to suffer through my 2 proximate vacations in silence.

Wednesday/Thursday 13/14May26

We both left work a bit earlier than normal to catch an early evening flight. Our path was Madison-Chicago-Munich-Antalya.

The flights were generally uneventful. We watched the Bruce Springsteen biopic Deliver Me From Nowhere on the flight to Munich, it was mid. The Munich airport was eerily empty. There were one hub of restaurants, but terminal A was so abandoned we joked we felt like we were in a zombie apocalypse. This did mean it was a great place to take a nap.

I managed to stay awake on the flight to Antalya by finishing Wind and Truth and playing a bit of the video game Slay the Spire 2 while the guy next to me watched. I died, so I didn’t give him the best show. This is a deck-building game that we’ve been playing lots with friends at home, and downloaded onto our laptop just for this trip.

We landed in Antalya and the Terminal 2 Enterprise desk was closed. They listed a number to call, but nobody picked up. We wandered a bit, eventually getting them on the phone and catching the shuttle to Terminal 1. Once we made it to the desk, the customer service continued to disappoint. Ben waited at the desk while the agent took a phone call, clearly being yelled at by an old Turkish woman in Terminal 2, also frustrated.

After finally getting our car, at this point starving, Ben routed us to an open doner place, at this point ~11PM. He acknowledged it didn’t have many Google reviews, but the few reviews were positive. Upon arriving, it was clear this place was not frequented by tourists. We had left the main drag, and as we pared the car and walked in, we got quite some stares from the locals. Nothing menacing, just a bit surprised and confused. When we later told Ece about our first Turkish durum, she asked where. When we showed her on the map, her eyebrows shot up and she exclaimed “wow, well you really had quite the local experience! I never go over there.” But the restaurant owners were kind and helped us order 2 durum sandwiches with fries and ayran. We ordered “take-away”, but ended up just eating there, we were so hungry. The durums were excellent. The chicken was crispy and felt light and refreshing, and the bread was crispy and flaky. The Ayran was weird, I’m not sure I understand the appeal of drinking very thin yogurt.

It was about 40-minute drive to our hotel in the dark. When we pulled up, there was some confusion, as the parking attendant couldn’t find “Benjamin Rubin” or “Margaret Snyder” on her list. There was a bit of a language barrier, but we explained we were here for the wedding, so she waved us in and told us to work it out at reception. After a similar confusion at reception, we eventually uncovered the reservation, made by Ece’s dad, for “Ben Snyder” and “Maggie Snyder.” Crisis averted, they did have our reservation, and it was only 250 euros/night for an all inclusive. Not bad! I only had to suffer pointed stares and long sighs from Ben!

The hotel was nice. Marbled main floor, large rooms. The only knock was extremely weak AC, which combined with the jetlag confusion, made it difficult to fall asleep. I played some more Spire and ended up falling asleep around 2AM.

Friday 15May26

Unfortunately from the warm room, I didn’t sleep that well, waking up ~8:30AM, but I was greeted by the most amazing view! Wow, surrounded by mountains, with a view of the ocean. When we drove into the hotel last night in the dark, we couldn’t appreciate the view.

We made our way to the breakfast buffet and enjoyed some menemen, fresh fruit, and weak cappuccinos from a self-service machine.

We decided to explore and go for a run outside of the hotel. This meant waiting for Ben to have a bowel movement, and oh boy did we wait. 1.5 hours later, after multiple failed attempts of sitting on the toilet, he finally chugged some water, cocked his head to the side, announced with triumph there may be movement, and did his business. This extra time in the morning did give me time to start my new book while sitting on the balcony: A Dog’s Purpose.

We drove to Goynuk Canyon, seeing there were infrastructure there on AllTrails. After paying a small entrance fee, we both went for trail runs/hikes. The views were beautiful, and while it was difficult to truly run as it quickly just became hiking, it was nice to be outside. It’s clear the main attraction for tourists is paying for ziplining or rafting here.

Walking back into the hotel we ran into Ece! She gave us a sweaty hug and then joined us for lunch at the buffet. We transitioned away from the buffet to the cafe side (strict separation! Absolutely cannot get good coffee in the buffet area, or bring desserts to the cafe side! God forbid!) and Ruben joined us for some Turkish coffee. It was so lovely to see our friends and catch up.

Later, Ben and I rinsed off, put on some swimsuits and headed to sit by the ocean. We knew there was some scheduled volleyball at 4PM so we made sure we had the court in view. We had very low expectations, given the condition of the net, and we remained disappointed. Only 2 kids <12 years old showed up, so wasn’t meant to be. But it was enjoyable to relax by the water. I enjoyed my book, and even cried a little (spoiler alert: dog dies! Who could’ve seen this coming?!)

We showered in the room, I kept reading on the balcony, finishing my book. What a delightful vacation read! Ben played more Spire, and then it was dinner time. We learned we had to eat at the buffet because reservations at their 2 sit-down restaurants are required to be made the day before. Fine with us, the buffet food was nice. Their salad buffet was quite large, with lots of fresh vegetables.

We extended the night a bit by grabbing some herbal tea on the cafe side and enjoying the evening air.

Saturday 16May26

Wedding day!!! We saw the bride and groom enjoying breakfast with their family and friends in the buffet area, clearly not too fussed about the tradition of not seeing each other. I continue to enjoy the menemen, and had the most delicious pogoca. So moist, erring on underbaked, it was wonderful. This would be the best pogoca of the trip, I would keep chasing this high and continue to find dry bread.

We went back upstairs. I suited up for a run and Ben decided to take a nap. He hadn’t been feeling 100%, so some extra hours of sleep served him well.

My run was tough. We had staked out a trail that I could reach without the car, but it was a trail seemingly used often for logging, not designed for running. It was often steep, difficult to maintain footing, and with jetlag, I just wasn’t feeling it. I turned around relatively quickly and tried to get into my groove on the paved road, but felt a bit stared at, so decided to just call it quits.

I rinsed off back in the room and Ben and I went to a lunch restaurant where we ordered pizza and a pide.

More time to read at the beach! I ordered myself a mojito and Ben a smoothie. What we received was a mojito-inspired drink with lemon instead of lime (and not stirred at all) and a fruit juice with some mango syrup (this hotel does not seem to have blenders). Ece later confirmed limes are not common in Turkey. I took a few sips, but quickly ended up falling asleep, feeling very comfortable on the beach chair in the ocean breeze.

Ben left me to go get his pump on in the hotel gym and use the treadmill for a bit.

We both cleaned up in the room and then got carried away playing Spire, Ben helping me with my game, so suddenly we had to rush to get ready. Luckily my makeup goes on quick!

We headed down the beach cabana at 6:30PM, and sipped some champagne with a floating strawberry, while we waited for the bride and groom to arrive ~7PM.

They arrived to claps from the guests, took a few photos underneath the flower arch looking out onto the water, and then with no warning, the ceremony suddenly started. A Turkish officiant had some words prepared that he spoke first in Turkish, and then in English. We later learned that Ece and Ruben had written these words themselves. Apparently, Turkish ceremonies are very brief, ~2 minutes, and Dutch ceremonies are much longer (>1hr), so to blend these a bit, they added a bit more storytelling, and with the repetition in both languages, it ended up being ~15 min. We inadvertently stood on Ece’s side, so we were with all the Turks. They would clap or laugh during the Turkish portion; we’d try to clap along in solidarity, and look forward to the English portion where we could know what was so funny. It was a very sweet ceremony, with a very chaste kiss.

We transitioned to dinner, where they had lovely tables set-up with a view of the mountains and the ocean. The live band serenaded us while we enjoyed the 4 course meal. There was only one food option for each course. We joked you could never get away with that in America, way too many food preferences/allergies! We made conversation with our table-mates: Jeroen and Deepthi. I had actually met Jeroen through Ece before, and Deepthi was another expat friend of Ece’s. They both raved about Istanbul, having gone before the wedding.

Ece and Ruben visited each and every table, per Turkish tradition, and had a conversation with every guest. It was very sweet, even if it meant their dinner food went cold.

We sipped some white wine and had enough to loosen up on the dance floor when it was time. It was fun to watch the cultures interact. The Dutch didn’t do much dancing, but they milled about on the dance floor, bobbing their heads, drinking and smoking. The Turkish ladies danced hard to the Turkish songs, and less hard to the English songs, sometimes leaving the dance floor to smoke a cig. The dance floor cleared out pretty hard for “This is Africa” by Shakira, but honestly I enjoyed the band’s rendition. Ben and I danced hard to “Freed from Desire”, sharing a smile as we remembered how incessantly we heard this during the Olympics. Understanding this song as classic Europop, with English lyrics that don't quite feel right, I later asked Ece and Ruben why neither the Turks nor the Dutch seem to really like that song. Ruben said that song has just been overplayed and it’s “over” now. Huh. As the night went on, the Dutch got drunker and rowdier, as is their move. They earned some scolding “jongen jongen jongen” from Ben after a failed attempt from a particularly drunk lad to get one of his friends on his shoulders.

We danced and enjoyed until ~11:30. The band wrapped up and said goodnight, which we took as our cue. We learned later that guests who felt like keeping the party going transitioned back to the beach cabana to join the other hotel guests at the generic resort-sponsored party. They joined the large group of Kyrgyz, who had overrun the resort with their matching brown shirts with “KYRGYZSTAN” in large letters, traveling in packs.

While we didn’t make it until 4AM like the some of the Dutch guests who transitioned back to the 24/7 hotel bar after the dancing was shut down at 1AM, we both agreed it was a lovely wedding. It was a nice blending of the cultures, and it had been a while since Ben and I could let loose on a wedding dance floor.

Sunday 17May26

Finally we slept in, and then rushed to make it to the breakfast buffet before it closed at 11AM. We fueled up, and then headed out for a day to explore Antalya. It was ~45 minute drive from our hotel, and we remarked on just how well maintained Antalya is. Clean streets, nice landscaping with beautiful pink flowers on the median, nice shops lining the street, selling nice cars, furs, leathers, all with ample parking and sidewalks. It’s clear Antalya has consistent tourist money, from folks coming here to shop and enjoy the mix of history/beach/mountain.

We started with Perge, some old Roman ruins. The overall complex was quite large, with a full stadium, large theater that we could only enjoy from the outside given the restoration work, and then the main city center, with multiple cobble stone streets, market areas, nymphaneums, etc. Ben was still feeling a bit sick, and thus a bit low this morning, and so I knew Perge had to really wow him. It was tough going when we started with the theater, that while large and impressive, was crumbling on one side, and not as well maintained or impressive as the Panathenaic stadium. Once we made out way to the main city of Perge, and the view of the columned streets and large arches greeted us, he let out a gasp, surprised at the scale. I did an internal fist bump.

We checked out old basilicas, and public market areas with clear markings for stalls to go, keeping our eyes peeled for persisting mosaics. The cobble stone streets still had markings from years of wagon wheels.

We climbed up the hill to get a better view of the full complex, and wow it’s big! It was fun to imagine how impressive and exciting this city would have been in its heyday.

Hadrian’s arch was a stand out. While the statues were no longer there, it was clear it would have been quite an advertisement for Hadrian and his family.

We enjoyed exploring, but the placards were few and far between, and we had no audioguide. We left once we’d had our fill, not needing to check every nook and cranny and side street.

We drove to the Old Town next, Ece’s favorite part of the city. We started with some lunch, at a place that advertised as “Self-Service” (that was definitely not self-service. We’ve seen this everywhere, and nowhere has been self-service. Does this just mean pay at the counter?) We lingered near the restaurant entrance, trying to sus the vibe, as it was clearly a favorite by locals, but we were unsure how to proceed. A kind man seated at a table, explained we should go in and ask for a plate, and she’ll know what to do. I’m glad we trusted our gut, because, man, this food was delicious! We ordered 1 plate, pointed at various food items, and she loaded us up. Sauced chickpeas, ground meat with vegetables, eggplant yogurt sauce, everything was great. We were enjoying our lunch when two cats made their way to us; hoping we might drop a tasty morsel. One of these cats was the sickest cat I’ve ever seen: active snot coming from its nose, dirty and disheveled, seemingly burnt whiskers; it was hard to look at, and hard to look away from. It suddenly made the lunch not taste quite as good. I worried that the rest of the trip would be like this, as I know Turkey is known for wild cats. However, we mostly found the cats were well fed, well groomed, and beloved by the Turkish residents. We’d notice people bringing kibble to feed cats from benches, bowls left out for water: the cats were seen as the community’s outdoor pets. This poor sick cat did seem to be an anomaly.

We finished our lunch and walked to Hadrian’s gate, an old and impressive structure marking the start of a pedestrian area only. This area was touristy, focused on shopping and restaurants with English menus, but still felt charming. It honestly reminded me a bit of the pedestrian area in Den Bosch, and when I mentioned this to Ece later, she knew exactly the street in Antalya’s Old Town that triggered this thought for me (shoutout Korte Putstraat).

We ended up at the water, offering a beautiful view of the city stretching along the dramatic cliff into the ocean. We stayed for a while, enjoying the view of this unique city. We wound our way back to our car on a different and quieter path through Old Town.

After the drive back, we decided it was pool time. We changed into our suits, grabbed our books, and were shocked to find upon arriving that the pool closes at 4PM. What kind of all-inclusive is this?! Given that our plans mainly involved reading by the pool, instead of swimming given the slight chill in the air, this wasn’t actually too bad. I ordered an Aperol spritz (that I modestly enjoyed) and Ben another fruit “smoothie”. Ordering this drink took a while, because a large group of vacationing Russian women, all in matching shirts, had very specific drink orders. Ben and I were in a Mexican all-inclusive for our honeymoon (somehow 4 years ago…?!), and the Turkish service pales in comparison to that. In Mexico, drinks are fast, blended, and served with real limes. However, Ben pointed out, the unrushed service isn’t necessarily a con. The wealth discrepancy between the hotel guests and the staff feels more stark in Mexico, compared to this resort. While the pace and quality of service takes a slight hit, the ethics don’t feel quite as questionable.

Dinner was at the buffet again. Ben and I were mid-tiff when Ece and Ruben found us and asked if they could join. We ended up chatting for 2 hours, it was so lovely. Conversation spanned all topics. We shared how much we enjoyed their wedding ceremony, and we heard more from them about how they intentionally balanced both cultures. Ben complained about some egregious line-budging from the Russians in the buffet, and Ece shared that matches the reputation Turkish have for Russian tourists. They caught us up about news in Den Bosch, including some community politics about a potential refugee youth center opening up near their home in Engelen. The time flew, and suddenly we were the only ones in the buffet area and it was dark. It was bittersweet catching up. It simultaneously reaffirmed how lovely they are, how well we all connect, and made me miss times when we lived close. I’m grateful for how much time we got to spend with them on their busy wedding weekend.

Monday 18May26

Up next: Cappadocia! Ece described this region, known its unique landscape and hot air balloon tours, as “touristy for a reason”.

We started with a very early morning, up at 5:50AM to catch an 8AM flight to Kayseri airport in the Cappadocia region. I’d arranged a shuttle by messaging the slightly sassy hotel’s Whatsapp number, and it felt pretty great to have someone waiting at the airport exit holding a paper with my name on it. We drove one hour to Goreme, one of the small towns scattered in the region.  All the sudden, the landscape changed to something fantastical.

Rock formations started jutting up of all different varieties, size, and color. When we reached Goreme, I was shocked to see how the city was integrated into this crazy landscape, rolling hills giving different vantage points of restaurants built into large jutting stone structures. I’d booked us reservations in a “Cave hotel”, so rationally I knew what to expect, but it still took my breath away.

Our hotel was charming, lots of Turkish rugs making the stone cave interior still feel cozy, and lots of winding stairs to reach a nice breakfast room with large windows, affording a beautiful view of the landscape. Our room itself had impressively tall ceilings, and a small warning sign to expect flaking rock from the historical cave walls.

We dropped our bags and headed out for an early lunch at a Women’s Cooperative, where I butchered the title of every single item that we ordered (pogoca and gozleme, can you blame me?). The gozleme, essentially Turkish crepe filled with meat and cheese, was delicious! The pogoca was dry and crumbly. I enjoyed it with Turkish coffee and Ben with OJ. The food helped revive us a bit, but we both still felt groggy.

We wanted to move our bodies to shake off some of the bleariness and explore the area, so we changed into run clothes and both headed out for 2hr runs. It was a great way to watch the landscape change up close. This region has tons of differently named valleys to indicate how the rock structures change. AllTrails had defined hikes through these different valleys, indicating there were trails, but in practicality, it was a run guided by vibes, not by well-defined trail markers (especially without service, so I couldn’t check AllTrails). I wasn’t worried about getting lost, thanks to the GPS on my Garmin, so I just let myself explore. This meant following trails used by horses, to suddenly making a large climb on a rock structure with a deep V, hopping side to side to climb, to suddenly sliding on my butt to make a steep descent, grabbing onto unlucky greenery to slow myself. It was awesome. The views were just incredible. Rose valley felt warm and inviting (reminding me of my postcard of Georgia O’Keefe “Out Back of Marie’s II”) with silly cone-like rock structures standing proudly alone from the complex woven structure behind. Red Valley felt grandiose, steep, evoking the Grand Canyon.

Through all this winding beauty, I stumbled upon multiple open-air churches. This area was used by very early Christians to escape persecution. They found the soft rock (known as “tuff”, from volcanic eruptions) easily shapeable by human tools. They created beautiful churches hidden within the rock structures. Mid-run, I stopped and entered a church, shocked to find paintings in relatively good condition. I honestly wouldn’t have known the church was there, except for witnessing some other tourists leaving it, and some enterprising Turkish folks selling fresh oranges to tourists. The second church cost 100TL ($2) to enter, and the kind man provided me a flashlight to check it out. One of the coolest sections was a huge room with tons of small niches carved into it for messenger pigeons.

We met back at the hotel, cleaned up in a very leaky shower, and relaxed for a bit before heading out to dinner. The restaurant was up a few flight of stairs, and we sat outside, enjoying the view of Goreme. It was a small place, run by one man, and the food was good. The free starter plate was fresh carrot and cucumber with an herbed yogurt sauce and spiced bulgur. We ordered a lentil soup that came with soft bread, shepherds salad, “juicy” (read: oily) eggplant and ground meat dish with melted cheese, and the “King Special” with tons of grilled meat. I could tell we shocked him with how much food we ordered, as he kept starting to walk away, and we kept ordering more food. Lucky for him, we were hungry! The eggplant dish was a touch too oily, but the flavor profile was outstanding. The King Special was a bit lackluster, but improved after we asked for more yogurt sauce. The dinner ended with some free tea and a fresh fruit plate. We enjoyed his musical selection (Ben joked that he must’ve stalked me on Spotify to use my playlist, it heavily featured Harry Styles) while we ate and compared notes about our different run experiences.

After dinner, we strolled for a bit, enjoying the view and slightly cool night air. We stopped at a grocery store for some supplies (aka Magnums), before ending the night in the hotel to play some more Spire. Mulberry and yogurt: 8/10.

Tuesday 19May26

We slept great, enjoying the cool air and darkness of a cave room. The hotel breakfast was good: lots of different spreads, vegetables cooked in oil, yogurt dips, and weak filtered coffee. We ate on the elevated patio with an obstructed view due to a giant hanging Turkish flag: today was Commemoration of Ataturk, Youth and Sports Day, a Turkish national holiday! It memorializes May 19^th, 1919, regarded as the beginning of the Turkish War of Independence.

We headed out for long runs. As beautiful as the run/hike was yesterday, it was challenging terrain to navigate, and I wanted to enjoy a proper run on a paved trail. Lucky for us, Cappadocia had an immaculate trail, winding from Goreme all the way to Avanos. The temperature was perfect, and while the trail was along the main road, it still afforded nice views of the changing landscape. It intermittently passed small towns, thank goodness as I abused a café’s bathroom for the cost of an overpriced water bottle. I turned around after enjoying the view of the Kizilirmak river, ending back at the hotel 11 miles later.

We both showered and I headed out for some kebabs at a restaurant tucked away on a quiet street. I brought them back to our room where we munched, relaxed, and I finished my book. The memoir was moving and really well-written, but part of me was relieved to be done reading about Cambodian genocide on vacation. Onto the next: Mistborn, by Brandon Sanderson!

We headed back out to check out the Open Air museum. A 20-minute walk away, we enjoyed the view of comedically titled Love Valley, known for its phallic rock sculptures. Ben was a bit sheepish about being photographed with the loud and proud rock penises, but I relished the opportunity.

Hubba hubba

The open air museum was a gem. It was a collection of churches, storage areas, tombs, and refectories (a fancy word for monastic dining room, thanks Google), all carved into the rock. The churches ranged from basic geometric symbolism in a distinctive red ochre, to elaborate paintings. Navigating the mediocre audio guide app on limited service meant we didn’t capture every detail, but just feeling the history was impressive. In some buildings, photos weren’t allowed, but I did my best to capture the variety.

Goreme open air museum

After we’d had our fill of exploring, we walked back into town and grabbed dinner at Mommy’s Kitchen Teras. This was one of my favorite restaurants of the trip, everything tasted fresh. We both ordered fresh juice, a strong lemon juice and a pomegranate/orange, and enjoyed a true salad not doused in oil. We ordered sarma, a meat/rice filling wrapped in grape leaves, and it was delicious. We had Turkish dumplings (manti) with yogurt sauce, a nice mix of potato and cheese. The restaurant specialty was a yaglama, a layered dish consisting of thin bread between layers of meat sauce traditional in this region. It was giving lasagna meets sloppy joe, and it honestly wasn’t my favorite, a bit too heavy without any brightness.

We enjoyed the terrace and ate slowly. We stayed a while, partially because we were enjoying the sunset, partially because a curious cat pissed on Ben’s leg, requiring a pause for some bathroom clean-up.

We ended our night in the usual way, with some overpriced magnums from a corner store.

Wednesday 20May26

We slept in, enjoyed the hotel breakfast, and then stored our bags in the lobby while we headed to our 11AM massage appointment. I’d booked us a couple’s Turkish bath experience, something a bit outside of my comfort zone. Ben and I enjoy checking out public baths/spas, (proof in previous posts, such as Szechenyi baths in Budapest and the Aqua Dome in Austria!), but we’ve never had professional massages. However, I wanted to try something new and figured it would be a nice way to kill 1.5hr before our airport shuttle.

Wow, what an experience! They had us change into disposable swimsuits and head straight into a sauna for 15 minutes to get us sweating. I honestly found it hard to relax, why are saunas so hot? Who likes feeling suffocating and sweaty? I kept peeking glances at Ben, who seemed to have no problem relaxing into the heat.

Next, we transitioned into this large marble room, with a giant slab in the middle of the room and marbled sinks in the corners. Ben and I laid on separate sides and each had our own attendant performing the Turkish bath ritual. It started with a rinse down to get the sweat off, before moving into a soap scrub. There’s a special glove used to help exfoliate the skin, and it felt nice enough. My attendant would gently guide me to turn over at the proper times, and she eventually worked my bikini top down to my butt, so I was basically completely naked excluding a flimsy disposable thong. After the soap scrub, it was bubble time. They dipped a torba (foam bag) into a sudsy bucket and whipped it around, creating a mountain of foam that they delicately placed onto us. I cannot emphasize enough how many bubbles we were covered under. I sneaked a glance at Ben, and he was basically invisible under the bubbles. I reflexively bit the inside of my lip to keep from giggling. After chilling in the bubbles for a bit, she rinsed me off and transitioned to a more traditional massage. This felt amazing on my feet and legs, especially after all the running this trip. It felt less nice on my torso; a marble slab isn’t soft, and with a waterproof brick of a pillow supporting my neck, it was hard to relax into a comfortable position. I now understand why massage chairs are designed with plush material and a hole for your face! While it wasn’t the most relaxing, it was fun to do something so unique.

It ended with her having me stand, pour buckets of water on me to fully rinse me off, and then wrapping me in a towel and sending me out back to the locker room. When Ben and I were alone in the locker room, we immediately locked eyes and started giggling through goofy grins; comparing notes on how it went. It was a unique and fun experience where I could peek at him throughout the massage and try to ascertain what he was thinking, but not just ask him, to respect the cone of silence and relaxation the attendants were creating. We both agreed it was a fun cultural experience, but maybe not quite as relaxing as we’d expected. This could be partially due to our status as massage novices, but I think it’s also partly the design of the experience (pillow situation needs improving!).

We ended with some Turkish tea, tipped our attendants, grateful for their care and attention, and then headed out.

We grabbed some durums that we ate in the hotel breakfast area before getting on our shuttle to the Neveshir airport to catch our 3:50PM flight to Istanbul.

After a short flight, we landed in Istanbul and then sprinted to catch a bus that brought us downtown. Man, Istanbul is busy! We got off the bus at a stop ~10 minute walk from our hotel. Given the multiple levels of traffic, we went up and down the same set of stairs a few times while Ben tried to orient himself. It was immediately apparent this city was not the most pedestrian friendly, given the difficulties of layered roads coupled with fences restricting human access. We’re staying at a Marriott, thanks to Ben’s hard-earned points. It’s a nice location in the Beyoglu neighborhood near Galata tower, a lively area but slightly outside of the full tourist bustle of Old Town.

We worked out in the gym; I ran on the treadmill for the first time in years, entertained by Ben looking goofy while he tried to balance on the half-ball.

After a shower, we headed to the Cihangir neighborhood, at Ece’s recommendation. We walked along the pier, both impressed at how popping it was. After climbing an obscene number of stairs from an extremely steep hill, completely cancelling out the shower I had just taken, we were suddenly greeted with an adorable neighborhood. Lit up with hanging lights, the streets were wide to accommodate restaurant patrons enjoying drinks outside, giving a very lively atmosphere.

We took an outdoor table at sushi restaurant, both needing a break from Turkish food. The sushi was tasty, the EFES German beer that we ordered to fit in with the locals was mid, and the prices were notably quite high, but the vibes were good. We enjoyed a slow-paced dinner before walking back home, eating some chocolate in the hotel, and playing some Spire before bed.

Thursday 21May26

We both slept great, thanks to Ben’s contraption to protect our eyes from the blue light emanating from the light switch. We started our day off strong with some good hotel breakfast. I accidentally added a splash of Turkish tea to my coffee, confusing which urn was the tea and the creamer. After one sip tasted almost fully like tea, it was clear their Turkish tea was so much stronger than their filtered coffee. I miss proper coffee.

Man's ingenuity

We both went for nice runs, running South to cross the bridge, and then running East along the water. It was crowded at first, but quickly opened up into a lovely paved trail along the water. I was impressed with easy it was to run in a large city like this. I forgot my headphones at the hotel, so to entertain myself, I started counting cats once I turned around. 35!

We both showered then headed back the way we’d come, to check out the Old Town. The ferry port is at the end of the bridge, with lots of vendors. To fuel up for a day of exploring, we tried simit and the most amazing (only?) honey donuts I’ve ever had.

We popped into Yeni Mosque, using the hoodie on my sweatshirt to appropriately cover my hair. Beautiful architecture.

We grabbed some lunch at a restaurant, trying our best to avoid tourist traps, but recognizing it was somewhat impossible in this area. The meat plate and durum were okay, and we had fun listening in on the Aston Villa fans next to us. The Europa league final was in Istanbul, so we saw tons of Aston Villa jerseys around.

After lunch we wandered through the Topkapi palace grounds, enjoying the views, but deciding against paying the $60pp ticket price. I’ve never been that interested in crown jewels or medieval swords anyway.

We did pay the $25pp entrance fee for the Hagia Sophia, even though it was a bit controversial. Previously, it had been free to enter, like most mosques in Istanbul, and you’d been allowed full access. Now, tourists have to pay and are limited to the top floor. Honestly, it was worth it. The sheer history of this mosque was incredible. It was a very early Orthodox church, acting as a cathedral of Constantinople from 500AD to 1400s, when it was taken over and used as a mosque. The architecture reflected this history, with choices made to center the Islamic religion, while respecting the Christian history. The front of the mosque had white sheets delicately covering some of the Christian paintings, and some very old Christian mosaics are tucked away, but still on display. Large medallions hung with words sacred to the Islamic religion, in beautiful Arabic script. Large chandeliers descended from the ceiling, giving a warm glow to the yellow walls. I didn’t mind being confined to the top floor, as it was a great elevation to view the entire mosque, while giving some respectful distance to those using the space for prayer. We were present during the call to prayer when we realized that the call is projected outside, not inside. A fact that’s obvious if you think about it for a moment, they don’t need to alert those already in the mosque, but it was confusing to hear the call to prayer so much quieter in the mosque than we’re used to hearing from outside.

When we’d had our fill taking in the history and half listening to passing tour groups, we headed nearby to the Basilica Cistern. I’d done some research a few months prior and expected to pay ~$15-20pp for a chance to learn more about Roman civil engineering. Doing the conversion from lira to dollars is difficult under pressure, and so without posted prices, we didn’t realize just how expensive it was until we checked the receipt immediately after paying. After some googling later, I’m guessing they have summer surge pricing, but the sour taste of being overcharged (~$40pp?!) wasn’t the best start to our cistern experience. This was not improved when we descended into the cistern and realized this is a tourist trap because folks are willing to pay for cool Instagram photos. There barely any placards describing the history of the cistern or the Roman engineering principles. Sigh.

I have to admit, it was pretty cool looking. We walked along elevated platforms over a shallow layer of water, weaving our way through columns descending from the domed ceiling. The columns often did not have matching styles, as the old column scraps would be transported down for cheap parts, because the Romans never imagined the cistern would be viewed for aesthetics (a fact I learned from googling ourselves, God forbid the placards explain). Interwoven throughout the cistern were sporadic modern art pieces without much explanation. While the ambiance was truly unique, it was difficult to fully turn myself over to the experience, as we were often getting cut off by tour groups not pulling off to the side, or waiting off to the side to avoid interrupting someone’s photo.

We quickly had our fill, and $80 later, we moved on to the next attraction: the blue mosque! This (free) mosque had beautiful architecture with attractive flowers painted throughout (not as blue as you’d expect!). We learned that it was built to rival the Hagia Sophia, and honestly, it was quite impressive (6 minarets is technically more than 4). We sat on the extremely plush carpet and took in the scenery, while also enjoying some people-watching. Tourists have varying degrees of self-awareness, and watching various ladies in skimpy clothing struggle to keep on a head covering made me appreciate even more why the Hagia Sophia has tourists confined to their own area.

A low wooden fence separates the entrance and viewing area for tourists from the main worship area, but notably only for men. The women’s prayer area tucked away in a small area behind the entrance, without the grand descending chandeliers or proper view of the tile work. I noticed women had different ablution areas as well, doing it tucked out of view in the dingy bathroom instead of from the mosque’s historic marble sinks. I try to learn, experience, and appreciate other cultures while traveling with as little judgment as possible. I found certain aspects of Turkish and Islamic culture challenging in this respect, as it did not fit as neatly into my world view of gender equality. It’s a theme I’d continue to chew on as we visited mosques, as I was continually confronted with the gender separation.

Walking out of the blue mosque, we enjoyed our last view of the main square and the obelisk. The obelisk stood out, as a confusing piece of Egyptian history plopped in the middle of a Turkish square. Crazy how Roman emperors would just take stuff.

We wanted to use public transit to get back, having spent a full day on our feet. Buying an istanbulkaart at the automated machine was like trying to decipher the rosetta stone. While technically in English, none of the options made sense, and once we finally navigated to the proper screen, it took 5 attempts from rejecting our various credit cards. The metro fee is per ride, not per distance, so we took it past our hotel to a different neighborhood for dinner, Besiktas. The traffic was crazy, and at some point we just got off the bus a few stops earlier than planned, and walked faster than the bus. We navigated quiet residential streets, passing by bowls left out for cats, climbing a large hill until we came to our destination: an Indian restaurant. Still tired of Turkish food, and craving something vegetarian, we decided on Indian. While not a flawless experience (their online menu crashed, so the waitress basically read us the options, and then they didn’t have quite a few things on the menu), the food was delicious. It felt so refreshing to eat comfort food, and Ben used it as an opportunity to inspire me to cook more yellow lentils at home (“why don’t you ever cook this at home, huh?”).

After dinner we started our walk home. Just 1 block away from the restaurant, suddenly the quiet streets became super lively. We were in the Taksim major square, and we followed a wide pedestrian shopping avenue basically all the way home. Even though it was late, this street was full with families enjoying the night air. This city stays up late! We got some gelato as we walked, and it was honestly pretty mid. It’s clear that baklava and other Turkish nut-focused desserts are their true specialty, sigh. We checked out the Galata tower, thicker than I imagined, before ending up back at our hotel after a full day. Pooped!

Friday 22May26

We started our day again with some hotel breakfast and a run along the water. I noticed my shin starting to bother me, so I went slow and shorter than I planned, and ended up back in our hotel room feeling crabby. Frustrated by the run, tired from the loud city, and just feeling a bit bleh, we hung out in the room for a while. I felt guilty for needing a vacation from my vacation, and sad that I wasn’t more curious about Istanbul. I usually love walking to explore a city, but instead of feeling invited in by Istanbul, I felt rebuffed in a way I couldn’t put my finger on.

Ben cheered me up with some consoling words and back rubs. After some quiet time and video games, we headed out in the afternoon. We went to check out the Ortaköy neighborhood at Ece’s recommendation. Our first stop was at Café Orfe, where we enjoyed a refresher, iced chai, and 2 slices of cheesecake. It was as if the universe felt my tired soul and (likely related) dessert-difficulty on this trip and sent me a boon. It was clear this café was a new venture for the young proprietor, who explained with gratitude that his mom made all the baked goods. His genuine kindness, in combination with the incredible cheesecakes cured my mood almost instantly. The lemon was perfectly tart, and basque cheesecake was served with freshly melted milk chocolate. Heavenly. We read our books as we munched and eavesdropped on the couple next to us, where the woman was speaking very loudly into the phone about being scammed by buying tickets for a spice tour that did not exist.

When we had our fill, we headed out to explore the area. We popped into Büyük Mecidiye mosque which looked out onto the water. The mosque took advantage, with large windows that let in golden light, giving the pink tiles a warm glow. It was one of the more upscale mosques we’d seen yet.

We enjoyed the view and bustle of the pier, checking out touristy stands selling spices and knick-knacks. The further we walked inland, the less touristy it got. Stalls selling spices became shops selling pet supplies or used vacuums. We left the main road and navigated to Ortakoy Manti Evi, a family owned restaurant tucked away on a quiet street. We ordered large fried pastry stuffed with meat, crispy manti, and stuffed grape leaves. The father took our order, passed it on to mom working in the kitchen, while the teenage son sat on his phone until it was time to hop on this motorcycle for delivery orders. The food was pretty solid, but nothing special. The crispy manti and stuffed grape leaves were nice, but I preferred the versions we had in Goreme more.

We headed home and had an early night in.

Saturday 23May26

Our last full day in Istanbul! Ben left for another long run, and I headed out for a morning of exploring, with plans to meet up at the honey donut stand at the ferry terminal at 1:30PM.

My first stop was Rustem Pasha Mosque, which was hidden in plain sight in a market, with a door that was not well marked. It had lovely tile work, and was a nice moment for some quiet in a busy city.

I wandered up a giant hill to Suleymaniye mosque next, which really impressed me. This epic complex had multiple buildings, including two different mausoleums, dedicated to Suleiman and his wife Roxelana. The mausoleums were really interesting, especially Roxelana’s. A placard outside of her mauseoleum gave some really interesting history for her life (finally! An interesting placard!), explaining how she had started as just another concubine in his imperial harem, but through her political prowess, navigated to be the most influential woman in the Ottoman empire and the sultan’s legal wife.

The mosque itself was large and impressive, and the grounds provided an excellent view of the city.

I walked on to the Fener/Balat neighborhood. This involved winding through twisting back streets intended for locals, I got stares from quite a few chickens. It wasn’t the most relaxing, as I felt like I constantly needed to have my phone out for directions, the streets are so complex and short. I got myself a disappointingly bad iced latte (why are there grounds in this? this isn’t a Turkish coffee!) that I carried around. This neighborhood is known for having a Greek Orthodox community, with an impressively ornate church sitting proudly atop a hill. Surrounding the church are cheerfully colorful houses and rainbow painted stairs. It was charming and picturesque, but unfortunately that attracted tons of ladies hoping for their Instagram-moment. At some point I got fed up waiting to walk down the street, and just started barging through photo-ops. No, I’m not going to wait for you to strike your 3^rd pose to walk down a public street. (I can’t tell if I’m crabby or having justified reaction to tourists being extra ridiculous in this city. Can’t we enjoy the view and take a quick photo without it becoming an entire production?)

I turned around and walked back to the ferry stop along the water, sticking to the main road to make navigation easy. Before meeting up with Ben, I wanted to use the restroom. I got in line at a public bathroom, only to realize the turnstall required Mastercard, which I didn’t have. Luckily, an old Turkish granny set a great example by just stooping low and walking under the turnstile. I figured if she felt comfortable doing it, so could I.

This guy's typical Saturday

I met up with Ben, who was munching on some honey donuts. He kindly but reluctantly shared a few with me. (“can I have some?” “oh…yeah sure”). My generous offer to share my iced latte didn’t feel like a fair trade, he agreed it was notably quite poor. We hopped on a ferry to head to the Anatolian side. Ruben had shared that if we keep our eyes peeled, we might spot dolphins, and he was right! It was fun to watch some fins cresting in the distance.

Instantly, the Anatolian side felt different. Near the port we stopped at a small but packed restaurant selling Turkish pizzas, lahmacun. Ece always spoke so lovingly of fresh Turkish pizza, often using it as a way to express disappointment in the Dutch-ified Turkish pizza, so I knew our first proper Turkish pizza was a rite of passage. We cautiously sat down and ordered two basic pizzas, one with cheese. I eyed the two fellas sitting next to us to learn the proper way to eat it. They put on some fresh vegetables, squeezed a slice of lemon, and then rolled up half of the pizza into a tube. The pizzas were made in a specialized dough press and then cooked up quick in a pizza oven, and man, I get what Ece was talking about. It was really fresh tasting, with a lovely balance of zip and umami. I felt like I was in an I Love Lucy episode because the fellas next to us kept receiving more and more pizzas. I tried not to stare, but after their 6^th pizza, I couldn’t help it. Feeling inspired, we did order a 3^rd pizza to split.

Full and satisfied, we just started walking, roughly with a goal to end up in the Goztepe neighborhood. We walked along the water and it was so lovely to see all the locals out, enjoying a Saturday. Lots of folks out running, walking their dog, drinking beers with their friends, playing some pick-up basketball, enjoying the afternoon. It was so refreshing to see a more livable side of this city.

We meandered past a coffee place that was too trendy to skip. We got another refresher, and Ben was feeling himself enough to order an afternoon cortado. We ordered 2 desserts, a brownie and a cupcake. Honestly, the desserts were disappointing, but the vibes were great, and it was a fun place to read and watch some locals. At some point a cat came and sat on my lap. It was too dirty and smelly for it to be an endearing experience, but I was resigned to provide some comfort for this cat while it needed it (and immediately washed my hands afterwards). Other than a few notable run-ins with cats on this trip, I’ve been surprised at how respectful and hygienic most of them are. It’s clear this city loves them like pets.

Ben and I kept walking and exploring the Moda neighborhood, having one long deep conversation, enabled by the contemplative state that comes on the last day of vacation.

We finally ended up in Goztepe, which felt more spacious than any Istanbul neighborhood we’ve seen yet. Parks, fountains, trees, trendy new apartment buildings, fancy shopping, it felt like the Edina of Istanbul. We stopped for dinner at a trendy Italian restaurant where we enjoyed fresh salad and some pizza before catching a bus to the ferry stop. A young musician serenaded us on the ferry ride home, and we ended the night walking home from Karakoy.

Sunday 24May26

Time to go home. After hotel breakfast we tooled around in the hotel gym, eventually competing on a circuit workout, before packing up and heading to a bus stop. We planned on taking the bus company we’d used to leave the airport, Havaist, and we built in a larger amount of buffer than we usually do for airport travel, not trusting this city. We were right! The Havaist representative loitering at the bus station informed us, via google translate, that the 11AM bus we’d planned was full, but they’d be sending another one 15 minutes later. Okay, sure, we can wait another 15. Soon that 15 minute estimate became 30, and then he finally admitted that the second bus actually hadn’t left yet, and still needed to get gas. Okay, screw you, man. Ben decided to just call a taxi via Uber instead, even though it was 4x the price. Luckily, a fellow tourist screwed over by the bus situation saw us hopping in the taxi and asked if he and his dad could join if we split the price. Worked for us!

The extra buffer continued to serve us well given the airport security situation. This was the longest we’d waited in security in an airport in years, I think uniquely because we were American. We were forced to use separate check-in lines with Turkish airlines (where we had fun counting how many men had received hair implants, we guessed at least 4. A few ladies with nose jobs, too.), and then separate security, which was quite rigorous.

I wish I could say that once we boarded the plane, it was uneventful, but alas. After having a good start (Before Sunrise, Before Sunset double feature!) I got airsick. Likely an unlucky combination of food poisoning, light turbulence, and anxiety, resulted in heavy vomiting. Twice I was fortunate enough to make it to the bathroom, but the final time was during landing, so I was forced to go in the bag. What a relatively recent human experience, to be hurtling hundreds of miles per hour in the air, packed in like sardines with other humans, and have the distinct feeling of a cone of shame descending upon your chair, creating a firm boundary of complete eye contact avoidance, with nearby passengers praying that if they couldn’t see me, maybe they couldn’t hear me. Let's just say that was some of the slowest 11.5 hours of my life.

Ben has a very specific mood that I almost never see, but it comes out when I’m sick during travel. He’s supportive and kind, carrying my used throw-up bag (chivalry!) and suitcase for me, while also giving me side-eye coupled with dramatic exhales, as if he’s stressed to be associated with the ticking time bomb that will go off at any moment. It’s funny in a sweet way that’s hard to describe. Luckily, we made it through bag collection and customs in Chicago without more vomit. We hopped on the Van Galder and I slept almost the whole way home, too sick to force myself to stay awake. One of the more eventful travel days of my life!

Summary

Fun trip! It was really special to celebrate Ece and Ruben’s wedding in her hometown. She’s always spoken so lovingly of Antalya, and it was fun to see why, and better understand her roots. It really is a special place. They had a lovely wedding, congrats to them both!

I’m glad we could use their wedding as a chance to visit Turkey, a place I’ve always wanted to visit, and had a surprisingly hard times getting my arms around. The highs of the trip were awesome, tons of beautiful nature, deeply historical buildings, and often tasty food. But I never felt embraced by Turkey in a way that’s hard to describe. The infrequent but present risk of catcalls, difficulty navigating as a pedestrian, eventual fatigue of meat-focused dishes and nutty desserts, meant I was honestly ready to go home when the trip was done. The hectic culture waffled between amusing and chaotic in a way that made me feel fatigued instead of restored. While I joked that I needed a vacation from my vacation, I’m very grateful Ben and I had a chance to really dive into Turkey, with the advice from Ece, a friend who knows us well. Her Cappadocia recommendation, and curated Istanbul map with pins of places to see, made me feel more connected to Turkey than I otherwise would have. I miss them.

Gefeliciteerd, Ece en Ruben!

For the Record

	Details
Arrival	United, Wednesday 13May26, 4PM (MSN-ORD-MUC-AYT)
Departure	Turkish Airlines, 24May26, 2:45PM (nonstop, 11.5h flight!)
Antalya Accommodation	Balmy Foresta, Başkomutan, Beldibi, Atatürk Cd. No:143/1, 07985 Kemer/Antalya, Türkiye
Cappadocia Accommodation	Bedrock Cave Hotel, Müdür Sokak No: 11, Aydinli Mahallesi, Nevsehir, Goreme
Istanbul Accommodation	Alof Karakoy, Bankalar Caddesi, Arap Cami Mahallesi, No 33
Maisy	With Sarah the whole time! Maisy basically had a professional photographer, proof below...