Travel Journal
-
Stuffed Mussels in Turkey: a Killing!
Impossible to miss when you walk around Istanbul: the sellers of stuffed mussels (midye dolma in Turkish).They are often proposed by street vendors, but also in the bouis-bouis where they are available and already laid out on your table. Even if I’m a big fan of discovering street food everywhere I go, at first, it was niet! Too afraid to get sick eating not fresh seafood.It was when I saw someone tasting them that I realized that these mussels were stuffed. At that moment, I decided to test it.And… it was a revelation, these stuffed mussels, which are eaten cold, are a killer! An explosion of flavor in the mouth.…
-
Pamukkale (Turkey): No Water, Big Disappointment
Have you seen incredible pictures of the immaculate white basins overflowing with clear water, where people were happily bathing in white mud that was too good for their skin? Well, that’s the vision sold by travel agencies, because Pamukkale isn’t like that anymore: Day 1 : After a day in Selçuk / Ephesus, we take the bus at 4:30 pm with the company Pamukkale Turizm (40TL/person). 3h30 later, having witnessed an exceptional sunset from the bus, we finally arrive in Denizli. We are all transferred in a mini bus. In haste and incomprehension (nobody warned us in Selçuk that there was a change of bus), one of the travelers forgot…
-
Ephesus (Turkey) in a backpack – Travel Diary
This weekend we spend 4 days in the Lycos Valley visiting ancient cities and hot springs. Even if there is very little information for those who want to visit the area in a backpack, our experience in Cappadocia shows us that you can always get out of it. So it is only with two plane tickets and no other reservation that we left Istanbul Part 1: Travel Diary Part 2: Practical Tips Part 1: Travel Diary How to get there? We chose to do a large part of the trip by plane (istanbul – izmir) even if it forced us to get up at 5:15 am. We land with 15…
-
Istanbul (Turkey) #5: Whirling Dervishes Ceremony at Silivrikapi Cultural Center (Silivrikapı Mevlana Culture Center)
As this was a religious ceremony to which we were fortunate enough to be invited, out of respect we preferred to be as discreet as possible and not to take pictures. The photos in the article are from the center’s website. As not all tourists have the same delicacy, you can find photos on Google Images and even videos on Youtube. If you would like to see a touring dervish show that is more “touristic” than the experience described below, you can book a tour on the Viator website. If the whirling dervishes are famous, I must say that before I found out, I didn’t really know what they were.…
-
Istanbul (Turkey) #4: Turkish Breakfast, Blue Mosque, Basilica Tank
Part 1: Travel Diary Part 2: Practical Tips Part 1: Travel Diary New AirbnbCa is there, we changed Airbnb. The new Airbnb is much cheaper (24€/day thanks to a big discount linked to our stay) and much better located. So much the better because I’m starting to feel the need to be closer to fast transports like streetcar or subway (the bus is too slow). From our different windows (yes there are plenty of them, the apartment is ultra bright), we can see well the hills that surround us and the Galata tower which isn’t very far. I let you watch this video made by JB if you are interested…
-
Travel Diary: 3 days in Göreme in Cappadocia (Turkey)
This weekend, we’re going to visit Cappadocia, following the photos that made us dream too much (a hundred hot-air balloons in the sky). We told you about hot-air balloons here. In this article, we will talk about the rest. Part 1: Travel Diary Part 2: Practical Tips Part 1: Travel Diary Departure from IstanbulWe wake up at 4:30 am and order an Uber at 5 am. Because of our ignorance, we booked the flight from the farthest airport of Istanbul (code name SAW) which is 50mn – 1h away. In Istanbul, Uber allows us to call classic cabs so when we see a cab stop right in front of our…
-
Hot Balloons in Cappadocia in Göreme (Turkey) – is this worth it?
Until then, we had never heard of Cappadocia in Turkey, but the pictures seen on a travel blog made us want it too much. The region is really super beautiful (I will talk about it here), but we also came to enjoy a unique show: a hundred hot-air balloons flying over the region EVERY MORNING (well, weather permitting). No no, it’s not a festival or a special occasion, we see it EVERY DAY! Note: this article will contain a lot of blah blah blah blah. We try to show you as many pictures as possible, but you know what we think about pictures: there will be more beautiful ones on…
-
Behind the scenes of an Instagram photo in Göreme (Turkey)
For more than two years now that we have had the chance to travel, we have come across countless tourists ready to kill father and mother for a nice photo to share on Facebook or Instagram. Social networks have exacerbated our narcissism and for some, travel has become more of an excuse than anything else to be able to publish photos and show followers how cool we are. To be honest, it’s very difficult to escape the phenomenon completely and we also like to collect a lot of likes when we share a photo. However, we try to : remain authentic and do not give in to the temptation to…
-
Istanbul (Turkey) #3: Grand Bazaar, Egyptian Bazaar & Galata Bridge
If you missed the previous episodes, here are the links Istanbul #1: Visit of Saint Sophia Istanbul #2 : Discovery of the Sisli district Today, I take you to the markets and I take you to see the famous Galata Bridge in Istanbul. This bridge, although it is very beautiful, does not connect Europe to Asia. No no no! Let’s say that it rather connects the old city (European side) to the more modern city (still on the European side). The Asian side is ultra modern 😀 Part 1: Travel Diary Part 2: Practical Tips Part 1: Travel Diary The Great Bazaar Shopping is my passion. And strolling in the…
-
Istanbul (Turkey) #2: Discovery of Şişli, as premises
If you missed the previous episode, here is the link: Istanbul #1: Visit of Saint Sophia It has been several days that we are in the Sisli district in an Airbnb in Istanbul, but we can’t really appreciate it, not knowing very well the local corners and neighborhood activities. Fortunately, we have a meet-up with other digital nomads like us who rented Airbnb in the area. As everywhere in Istanbul, our neighborhood, very colorful, is made of huge hills: it goes down and it goes up dry Part 1: Travel Diary Part 2: Practical Tips Part 1: Travel Diary We are stuck between two subway stations, and not much is…
