Saturday
Egyptian Bazaar
Grand Bazaar
Cab to Leb-iderya
K P & S get lost, we look for them, find them at
an internet cafe (Omayra Cafe)
Eat at Hanci Manti
Buy Yeni Raki, take shots, go hookah
Get our first wet hamburger
Sunday
Some get breakfast at Bambis, others at
Starbucks
Sultanahmet
Hagia Sophia, Blue Mosque, Basilica Cistern (Harry
Potter)
Get overpriced coffee where Karim steals a small
cup
K, P & S go to Topkapki
Palace
Rest go to bazaar & Jennifer's hamam (where we
should've bought something!)
Hamam recommended by guy at
Denizen
Chill at Denizen where we order delicious smoothies
and encounter a guy from SF (owner)
K P & S get lost, finally find
us
Walk to hamam, get 2nd most delicious
doners
Hamam experience (great for boys, weird for
girls) then dinner at Leb-iderya
Go home, shower, pass out
Monday
Wake up late (12pm) and leave at
1pm
Take cab to Egyptian bazaar and get ripped
off
Take ferry from Eminonu to
Kadikoy
Girls shop (buy jacket)
Boys get shaves/haircut
Haggle for shoes (fail)
Leave tour book and sunglasses at the shoe
store
Walk around more, buy figs, buy flats ($5 flats
ftw!)
Lunch at Ciya Saraysi (sp?) - great
meal
Walk around more and go to Bagdat Caddesi (supposed
to be rich area)
Gets late, we don't see anything
Take dolmus to Taksim, stop at the football stadium
where it's only for women and children
Police there, men outside, looks like riots will
take place any second
Walk back to Taksim, go to Intercontinental hotel
bar but it's way too pricey
Walk to Istiklaal street, boys go to Beer House
(alley with guy harrassing Karim, alley name is Solakzade), girls go shopping
and get dessert at Sarah Muhallehcisi (honey cake place) and order tiramisu and
rice pudding
Get wet hamburger and burger
king
Pack for next day
Tuesday
Flight to Kusadasi
Breakfast at airport (best eggs)
Short flight, rent van (modern
looking)
Drive 1.5 hours to Kusadasi (courtesy of Karim!),
check into Liman hotel
Pick up food at this abandoned looking area right
before Milli Park recommended by the owner of Liman hotel (Ed refuses to eat the
food)
Go to Beach 3 at Milli Park and eat amongst
bees
S freaks out, we all eat in the
van
Boars start to come out in
hoards
We go into the water
Take pictures with the boars
Dolmus drivers scares S
Go to the Zeus Cave
Go back to hotel, shower, go to dinner where we
split up
Orzu Cafe for omnivores, Saray for
herbivores
Buy YSL bag for Ed's mom
Go to hookah place and play mafia (where we learned
that we are all idiots)
Weds
Breakfast on rooftop of hotel
Arzu picks us up for tour, head to
Ephesus
Ephesus tour, Terrace houses
S starts hacking
Finish Ephesus tour
Drive to lunch / carpet weaving place where janice
& i are amazed despite deciding beforehand that we would not be engaged at
all
S taken by ambulance to hospital
Go to Mother Mary's house
Pick S up
Go to Artemis Temple (Janice naps)
Go back to Liman Hotel
Head to airport for Kayseri
Land, no food
Thurs
Breakfast on terrace, amazing views of
Cappadoccia
Tour begins at 930am, picked up by Assim for Green
Tour
No S on trip
Go to Derinkuyu (underground cave, amazing), Selim
Monastery (where we are all ninjas), hike Ihlara Valley, Pidgeon valley (starts
raining and we run outside for a quick picture)
Dinner at Anatolia Kitchen (chicken in clay pot,
best bread on the whole trip)
Drinks at Oze Cafe with weird
dude/dancer
Fri
P & S leave for US
Soyoon & Ed go hot air ballooning at 5am -
amazing experience, 100+ balloons in the air on any given
day
Janice & Rob get up at 7am to take pictures of
all the balloons
Karim spends time in bathroom because he drank the
tap water
Breakfast
Rent motorbikes
Goreme open air museum - we don't get audio guides
so we make up our own stories
Bike to Uchisar castle - highest point in
Cappadocia
Look for Love Valley and bike (scarily) along
lightly marked paths but don't find it
Have lunch back in Goreme
Go to Red Valley to try to hike towards the sunset
point, fail to find it and realize it'll take us over an hour to find
it
Bike (quickly) torwards Urgup and find the sunset
point
Watch sunset
Dinner at Topdeck Cave, #1 rated
restaurant
Pack, all sleep in one room
Sat
Flight back to Istanbul
Find apartment - very modern
Walk towards bridge to Sultanahmet - eat best doner
so far on trip, pass by fishermen, and a "park" (according to apple
maps)
Walk to Suleymaniye mosque - largest one in
Istanbul
Walk back over bridge to Galata Tower to meet Rob's
coworker
Rest at Nescafe, line too long at Galata
Tower
Dinner at seafood restaurant near Galata Tower,
delicious
Back to Nescafe
Go to Istiklaal, get large beers at a bar that
Nicholas Cage was at
Go home & pack
Sun
- visit Doner place in ghetto
Beyoglu
- cab to Grand Bazaar
- go to trendier area to look for Ed's dad's wallet
(Ottimo)
- speedwalk to find the barber place under the
Galata bridge
- walk in heat with sweat dripping to Galata and
take cab back
- United lounge
