On our first day in Turkey, Henry decided that he wanted to take a photo of a turkey in Turkey. Did this happen? Are there turkeys in Turkey? You will have to read to find out…
Our first week in Istanbul involved us changing hostels multiple times. It took us awhile to find one that we liked…..
In our first week we went on a cruise on the Bosphorous river. We tried a strange dessert made of chicken breast soaked in milk. It had the consistency of bread dough and was nice and sweet.
After a few days we headed over to Cappadocia. On returning to Istanbul we met up with Sue (Henry’s mum) who had flown in from Semey, Kazakhstan where she is currently working. We carried on exploring Istanbul with her, visiting the Golden Horn, Tokapi Palace, spice markets, Hagia Sophia and the Blue Mosque.
Between Christmas and New Years we hired a car and went exploring around the Gallipoli Peninsula with Sue. Having a car gave us the opportunity to go exploring in towns and villages along the way we otherwise would have never seen. On the way we encountered very friendly locals and sampled some delicious, local food that we hadn’t tried before.
One unexpected highlight was the town of Ezine where we stopped for lunch one day. The locals there were very warm towards us. At lunch we were treated to lots of delicious dishes for which the manager decided to charge us next to nothing. It was a surprise coming from Istanbul where (in the tourist spots) they charged as much as they could get away with. We had a lot of fun wandering around the local market and picking up figs, mandarins and burek for snacks. It was everything you could want in a market. Cheap, delicious, local produce and lots of interesting things to see. Henry even got to see his turkey! Although it wasn’t a very happy looking bird and so it was a bit of an anticlimax.
Gallipoli was an interesting but strange place to visit. The weather was amazing while we we were there and it was such a peaceful place that it was hard to imagine people fighting there.
On our way back into Istanbul we encountered the worst traffic jam we have ever found. It took us four hours to get 50 kilometers. We thought we had left plenty of time to get the rental car back before it shut but we turned up at the door twenty minutes after they closed.
Our New Years was spent with some friends we made in our first week in Istanbul - Imra & Baris. It was a really great night of eating all the delicious food that Imra kept on bringing out while playing various Turkish and Kiwi games. At the end of the night we walked home in a winter-wonderland of snow.
After New Years we made a day-trip to Prince’s Island with Sue. It was cold but we enjoyed escaping the crowded city and exploring.
