Istanbul
26 August to 2 September 2025
Lygos, Byzantium, New Rome, Constantinople, Istanbul: a city of many guises. So rich in history, heaving with people, smells, sights and sounds. It is like baklava – layered, sticky and sweet.We arrived at the end of the August and it was still sweltering hot. The tourists are out in force at this time of the year but were definitely outnumbered by Turkish locals enjoying the last of their summer holidays. A city with the fusion of Asian and European woven deeply into its being.
Where we stayed: Beyoğlu
We stayed in a beautiful 19th Century apartment building that has been converted into the Meroddi Barnathan Hotel. It stands beneath the iconic Galata Tower in the Beyoglu neighbourhood on the European side of Istanbul. This area is distinctively different from the rest of Istanbul and many grand buildings stand testament to when Constantinople was the final stop of the Orient Express from Paris to the east. It also had a bohemian feel to it with a lot of quirky shops, galleries and tumbledown residences. One of the places we stumbled into was the Museum of Innocence on Cukurcama Caddesi which is the setting for the eponymous novel by Nobel Prize winning Turkish writer Orhan Pamuk that I was reading during our trip. It was very cool to see the actual place in which the novel is set. The neighbourhood is very hilly so everywhere we walked we knew at some point we would have to do a torturous sweaty climb back up to our street. There is a tram and a funicular but we avoided both (given what had just happened in Lisboa) and just accepted the incidental workouts each day as good for us.
At the bottom of the hill is the neighbourhood of Karaköy (full of bars, restaurants and their famous fish wrap shops) and then you cross the Galata Bridge to get to the Golden Horn and into the chaos of the Sultanahmet and Fatih areas. The fishermen lined up along the Galata Bridge became a frequent sight, as did the many fish restaurants set into the bottom layer of the bridge. These are where the Grand Bazaar, Blue Mosque. Basilica Cistern and Hagia Sophia are located. Most tourists end up staying in this area but I’m glad we did the other side because I think we ended up seeing a much bigger range of the city and its neighbourhoods. The shopping around Beyoğlu was more mixed between cool independent boutiques, touristy tack and designer rip off shops.
The difference lies in the fact that in Istanbul the remains of a glorious past civilization are everywhere visible. No matter how ill-kept, no matter how neglected or hemmed in they are by concrete monstrosities, the great mosques and other monuments of the city, as well as the lesser detritus of empire in every side street and corner—the little arches, fountains, and neighborhood mosques…Orhan Pamuk
Basilica Cistern: this was an engineering marvel. Built in the 6th Century during the reign of Byzantine Emperor Justinian I. It used to supply water to many major sites around the area but eventually fell into disrepair. In the 1980s, 50,000 tons of silt was removed to reveal this cavernous miracle and now it sees a very steady stream of tourists herded along its elevated wooden walkways all day every day. It was one of the most crowded sights we visited but it is incredibly beautiful so worth the shuffle with everyone else. The upside down Medusa heads were also cool to see as were some quirky light installations throughout.
The mosaics and frescos in Hagia Sophia tell the complex religious story of this building better than anything else. It has controversially been re-instated as a functioning mosque now so some images have been covered up in the main hall and visitors are restricted to the upper galleries. There is one ángel left with its face uncovered but the other three have gold leaf obscuring their human features.
The best sights and experiences
Hagia Sophia and The Blue Mosque: these buildings are synonymous to the city of Istanbul. They are the perfect pair to see together not just because of their proximity to one another but because they help anchor the complexity of Istanbul´s history and culture. We did this tour through Get Your Guide as it combined these three sights, got you skip the line tickets and a really knowledgeable guide who also happened to have done restoration work on Hagia Sophia so she brought a wonderful artistic passion to all of the stories. The Blue Mosque simply takes your breath away when you step inside so no photo can do it justice.
Bosphorus Sunset Cruise
A cruise on the Bosphorus was a worthwhile experience to get a broader perspective of both sides of the city. We started from the Kabatas Pier near Karakoy and cruised all the way to the Martyrs Bridge (which looks a lot like the Golden Gate). You get to see many sights on both the European and Asian sides of the city such as the Dolmabahce Palace, Ortakoy Mosque and the Maiden’s Tower. The old style wooden houses that line the waterfront on the Asian side are a completely different look to the rest of the city. We also got the perfect sunset on our way back to the dock adding to the drama of the iconic mosque-lined skyline.
Shopping: Beyoğlu, Istiklal Caddesi, Grand Bazaar, Spice Bazaar and Fatih surrounds
The shopping in Istanbul is pretty good. There is just so much to look at and haggle for. The local design shops around Beyoğlu were interesting and we found ourselves drawn into them and over again as we wandered the same key streets from our hotel into whatever other direction we were heading. The big brand stores and crazy little side markets were also great to browse along the pedestrian street leading up to Taksim Square. There was also a lot of Turkish Delight to be had! On the other side of the strait the Grand Bazaar and Spice Bazaar were very touristy but had endless shops selling the same bright shiny things so was worth a wander too. The most interesting experience was being in the gold shop street when the price of gold jumped spectacularly one Friday morning. It was a buying and selling frenzy. Otherwise it was designer knockoffs at overinflated prices in pretty much every other stall. You also have to be prepared to smoke a pack or two of cigarettes as you walk this bazaar because everyone is smoking and there is no ventilation so enter well warned!
The streets around Fatih had more of the locals markets so they were far more interesting to wander through. I just love how all one laneway or street will have a speciality like wedding attire or hardware so every shop sells the same thing. Hard to know how you’d choose.
Antalya
2 September to 9 September 2025
Adora Calma Hotel
Kizilot
Surviving an all inclusive resort
After the frenzy of Istanbul, we flew an hour across the country to the city of Antalya then drove another 1.5 hours to the resort town of Kizilot. This town is in the region of the Eastern Mediterranean. Here we holed up in our first ever all inclusive resort to do absolutely nothing. The resort was beachfront and our room also came with a jacuzzi and a private beach pavilion which we spent many an hour lazing in.
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We leaned into the indulgent rhythm of three buffet meals a day (the food was absolutely delicious), plenty of happy hour cocktails after 5pm (the bar staff had no idea what they were doing so we drank things that definitely didn’t taste like their names) and lots of reading and napping. I did go to the gym each morning and we walked along the beach in both directions. It was really the first time in this whole long trip that we actually stopped and had a “holiday” from our travels.
The resort was perfectly situated far enough away from anywhere interesting that it stopped us from worrying about doing any sightseeing. All I really did was take photos of the beautiful sunsets each night.
The most interesting thing that happened one night was the total eclipse of the moon so that was about as late as we stayed up to see that phenomenon.
Bodrum
9 September to 15 September 2025
From Antalya, we drove about 7 hours along the Eastern Mediterranean coast to the city of Bodrum. The drive through the Taurus mountain range was a dramatic change from our seaside location. Each village seemed to have an agricultural speciality so the roadside stalls would be full of melons one minute then multicoloured dried peppers the next. Then as we drove down the Bodrum Peninsula, the scenery shifted from dusty brown craggy mountains to dazzling white houses contrasted against azure blue bays. The area, which is on the edge of Aegean, lived up to its reputation as the Mykonos/Ibiza of Turkey. We found ourselves staying in the nightclub district called Gumbet. While I thought this would be lively and fun,I didn’t realise we would literally be surrounded by multiple open air clubs that would open at 11pm and close at 5am, ensuring their steady beat of dance music reverberated through every fibre of my being each night as we tried to sleep. Earplugs were essential to say the least. Luckily the family run Gumbet Hotel we stayed in had the most amazing view across the bay so we could watch the sunset each night.
Our cruise out to the islands off the peninsula was full of wonderful swim stops (and one not so good one where overtourism was at its worst). The limestone seabeds ensure the colour of the water is vibrant turquoise. There are lots of fish to see but not anything by way of coral reefs. You can see that Bodrum is developing at a rapid pace so it might not stay so untouched for long.
Selcuk
15 September to 18 September 2025
Our next stop in the Aegean region of Türkiye was the town of Selcuk. The draw card here is the ancient city of Ephesus and is home to one of the Seven Ancient Wonders of the World: Artemis Temple. The drive from Bodrum took a little over 2 hours and was largely through fairly ugly inland towns with a lot of mining and manufacturing. Selcuk itself is quite big and modern but has a very quaint pocket that is considered the old town which is where we stayed. We stayed at the Livia Garden Hotel which was a traditional Turkish style wooden house with lovely gardens, a pool and very friendly hosts. Our Turkish breakfast each morning by the pool (complete with resident cat hustling for scraps) was a feast. The hotel was perfectly situated close to the sights so we could walk to the Ephesus Archaeological Museum, St John the Baptist Basilica and the ruins of the Artemis Temple. Selcuk gets very hot during the day but by the evening the temperature cools making it a very pleasant to sit outside in one of the many local restaurants and enjoy even more delicious Turkish cuisine. We have eaten our body weight in shish kebabs, rice and salads.
We spent our first day looking at the Ephesus Archaeological Museum and also walking around the ruins of the Temple of Artemis, one of two Seven Ancient Wonders of the World located in Türkiye. The museum holds all the incredible finds from the Ephesus Ancient city excavations so it was great to see these the day before we visited the city itself as it gives a lot of background and context to what we saw. The statue of Artemis was incredible and my stand out favourite from the museum.
The ruins of the Basilica of St John and the Ayasuluk Citadel dominate the skyline of Selcuk. The Basilica was built in the 6th Century AD by Emperor Justinian and his wife Theodora. St John is believed to have lived out his final years in Ephesus (it is also thought he brought the Virgin Mary with him) and he is buried in the basilica. It was once the 2nd largest church in Anatolia so the archaeological sight is also massive. We had the place pretty much to ourselves for over an hour. It is in active excavation mode so lots of the areas are still undergoing work by teams of archaeologists.The views across the olive groves and fruit orchards surrounding Selcuk were also worth another hot and sweaty climb to the top of the Citadel.
Sirince
We spent an afternoon and evening in the nearby mountain village of Sirince. It is about 20 minutes via taxi from Selcuk. This was once a Greek village but Turks were installed here after 1923 when the war of independence was over and all Greeks were exiled back to a country they hadn’t lived in for centuries. The two governments essentially did a swap between Turks and Greeks so there was also many Turks who had lived for generations on islands in Greece who were told they had to relocate to mainland Turkey. Sirince is very picturesque and is famous for the production of fruit wines and olive oil. We spent a few hours here tasting wines, browsing the markets and watching the sun set over the village from one of the local terrace restaurants.
The other main place we visited was the House of the Virgin Mary which is purported to be the place where she died after living with St John for many years in Ephesus. There’s no actual proof of this but it hasn’t stopped the Catholic Church from making a lot of money off pilgrims ($25 a person) from a very small stone house on the top of a hill overlooking Ephesus. The main “evidence” came from a blind German nun from the 1800s who had a dream of the place so some monks set out in search and found the place exactly as she had described it. We were in and out of the house in around 30 seconds so I didn’t get to feel much by way of sacredness but the surrounds are very lush and it is a lovely view across the sea as you take the drive up the hill.
Izmir
18 September to 21 September 2025
Our final stop in Türkiye was the 3rd biggest city in the country: Izmir. This town has a very dark past as it was once the city of Smyrna but was completely destroyed during the 1922 Greco-Turkish War. There is a lot of speculation about who was responsible for the destruction but the evidence is pretty compelling that a Greek and Armenian genocide occurred when victorious Turkish forces returned to Smyrna and burnt only Christian parts of the city to the ground. Smyrna has an ancient past (believed to have been founded by Alexander the Great) and up until this terrible event it was a bustling cosmopolitan and multicultural city where Levantines, Armenians, Greeks ,Turks and Jews lived harmoniously side by side for generations. There are estimates that up 190,000 people died in the great fire or were slaughtered by Turkish troops. Original film archival footage shows boatloads of people trying desperately to escape and being ignored by Allied naval ships (British, American) moored in Smyrna harbour. I knew very little about this history but there are many excellent podcasts and online resources (including the original Pathe film footage) which made me understand more about this tragedy. Today very little remains of the past as the whole city had to be completely rebuilt. We visited the Smyrna Archaeological site and museum, Ataturk´s house which tells his part in Turkish independence and walked along the quayside back and forth to the huge labyrinthine market place. It is not an attractive city but feels very youthful and aspiring. We mainly came here to avoid backtracking to Istanbul as we flew out to Athens from Izmir airport. I’m sure I’m not selling it to you but glad we saw it as the least touristy place we visited so probably the most authentic Turkish experience of city life.
As Bodrum is a party town by night, it is very sleepy during the day. We explored a few of the sights and did a full day cruise out to Orak Island. Bodrum town has a great undercover bazaar and lots of restaurants along its marina so it has a vibrant waterfront vibe. The Bodrum Castle and Underwater Archaeological Museum was excellent. We spent hours here viewing their exhibits housed in various sections of the old Knights of St John Castle which was built in the 15th Century. The museum has some of the most incredible finds from Bronze Age, Ancient Greek and Roman shipwrecks.
The other main sight in Bodrum is their windmills. You see these everywhere on fridge magnets, wind chimes and T-shirts but to say they are disappointing in real life is an understatement. We trekked up a very steep dusty hill one hot afternoon to find the seven remaining 18th Century windmills in a state of complete dilapidation. There was only one that wasn’t completely caved in and graffitied. They are on a very picturesque headland (which was covered in broken glass) between Bodrum and Gumbet, so at least the view made up for the terrible state of the windmills themselves.
Ephesus
This ancient city, built in the 10th Century BCE, is a must see near Selcuk. It is a phenomenal sight as it went through so many different iterations (Ancient Greek, Roman, and an early Christian civilisation) and needs at least four hours to cover the whole area. We arrived early and started at the bottom entrance. We bought the Aegean Museum Pass because we realised it would cover around four main sights in Selcuk/Ephesus and then another five museums in Izmir where we were headed next. The ruins were probably the most touristed sight we have been to in Türkiye but they came in waves of tour groups and mainly stuck to the main thoroughfare and also moved from the top entrance to the bottom. This ancient city is a very popular day trip for those arriving in Kusadasi on a cruise ship. So you can guess for yourself the type of tourist they were… We clambered up to higher, more remote points across the city and sometimes found ourselves completely alone. I downloaded an audio guide app called Discover Ephesus which was a great resource to listen to as we moved around each main spot.
There are two main thoroughfares, one of which you can walk along (Curates Street) and the other is blocked off for renovations. The closed off one actually used to be the main street leading up from the port which is now completely silted over and sits a long way from Ephesus. The enormous theatre which could seat over 20,000 people was also closed for restoration so that was only visible from a distance as well. All the other remains were open to wander through. Only one tenth of the city has actually been excavated so it was pretty mind blowing to consider that the majority of it is still completely covered over.
The two stand out parts of the city are the Terrace Houses and the Celsus Library. The latter is a little bit like seeing Petra – a real showstopper as you come through the main gate for the lower Agora.
The Terrace Houses are situated along Curates Street and are an incredible insight into daily life in Ancient Roman and early Christian times. They have a separate entrance fee but worth it to see the mosaics, frescoes and get a sense of the layout of all the different rooms in a typical ancient house belonging to the wealthy families of the city. You also get to see archaeologists at work painstakingly cleaning individual mosaic tiles or carefully brushing away dirt from brightly painted wall murals.
The marble lined street that takes you from the lower commercial Agora to the upper State Agora is flanked by other interesting buildings such as public latrines, a brothel, a smaller theatre, memorials and fountains. Even with such a small part of the city revealed to us, you can imagine what a glorious place it must have once been.
Final thoughts on Türkiye
The four weeks we spent in Türkiye were amazing. From the moment we landed in Istanbul, we could tell this was going to be a special country. It really is the fusion of East and West that everyone talks about. Layers and layers of history – I have learnt so much about Ancient Greece, Ancient Rome, the early Byzantine and Christian civilisations, the Ottoman Empire and modern Türkiye. It is modern and ancient, secular and Muslim. The current political situation is dividing the nation so hopefully they can navigate out of this peacefully to retain all the things that make this country so unique. Here are my main takeaways:
#1: Everyone smokes – and thus I have smoked countless packets of cigarettes unwillingly for a month.
#2: The food is spectacular– I haven’t eaten so well for the entire five month trip to Europe as we have in Türkiye. They take the Mediterranean diet seriously – meat, salad, olives, olive oil and some of the best meze ever.
#3: Wine is good but soooo expensive – I should have expected it in a Muslim country but Türkiye also promotes their long history of winemaking everywhere so to find that the cheapest bottle of wine on the menu almost everywhere we went was at least $100 AUD was challenging. Kimmy’s Kocktails Insta account has been very quiet in Türkiye.
#4: This country is very, very big – we only saw a fraction of this amazing country; mainly the Eastern Mediterranean and Aegean coast cities so will have to make a return trip to those Instagrammable balloons in Cappadocia and the limestone pools in Pamukkale.
#5: Everyone loves a fake designer handbag and shoes – I haven’t seem so many fakes since Bali in the 1990s. We thought we might come here to buy authentic carpets, leathergoods and ceramics but instead have just found pleather Hermes sandals and fake Gucci tracksuits.
#6: The ancient wonders are amazing but a little neglected – there are incredible Ancient Greek, Roman and Byzantine sights across Türkiye. The few we managed to see were spectacular if a little on the neglected side. There seems to be not enough funding and focus on maintaining, protecting and showcasing these sights.Not sure why but there are plenty of tourists who are excited and willing to pay a lot of money to see these wonders.
#7: The sunsets are spectacular….
