Posts tagged 'Turkey'

After Istanbul our next stop was in Göreme, where Amanda, Luke, and I, stayed in a fairy chimney hotel. These were rock formation that had been eroded away into conical shapes, that had rooms carved into them, with some brickwork to divide up the space.

After flying into Istanbul Attaturk airport we spent the morning hiding out at the airport in the air conditioning and waiting for the time we'd agree to meet at our apartment with our AirBNB host. We got a taxi from the airport and my first impressions of Istanbul proper were that everything appeared so clean, modern and organised. The highways were multi-lane, there was nobody wandering out trying to sell things to passing traffic, traffic flowed very quickly and efficiently, people drove on the correct side of the road and actually stayed in their lanes for the most part. It's amazing how much your direct prior experiences can colour your perceptions of a place, the Turkey we were seeing was at odds to the reputation that the place generally has for it's drivers.

The apartment we stayed in was located very close to Taksim Square, consisting of the whole top floor of the building and a rooftop courtyard and a fantastic view of the Bosporus. Having modern conveniences like a fridge, a washing machine and air conditioning felt very luxurious after having just spent 5 weeks camping in tents.