Türkiye Travel Notes (1)

I took some old friends to Turkey. I originally wanted to go to Kamakura Fuji in Tokyo, but I found out that National Day air tickets were not cost-effective. So I searched around and found that the air tickets to Turkey were reasonably priced, so I happily decided to go to Turkey. have a look.

Air tickets

We bought a direct flight from Chengdu to Istanbul. The outbound flight departs at midnight and arrives in the morning, and the return trip to the city departs in the afternoon and arrives in the early morning. The time is relatively easy to arrange, and the price is 6550 round trip.

I looked at the tickets that seem to be available for over 5,000 during non-holidays. There are also flights that are not direct flights and can be purchased for around 4,000+.

Of course, I searched for places departing from Chengdu. Friends from other places can give a rough reference based on the distance.

visa

Turkey visa is very convenient. For electronic visa, you only need to fill in your passport information and pay 60 US dollars. It is worth noting that you must confirm it carefully before paying, otherwise 440 will be wasted every minute.

currency

The exchange rate between Turkish Lira and RMB is about 1 Lira = 1.25~1.26 RMB.

language

English is acceptable, but the popularity of English among Turks is also very low. It is best to bring a software such as Youdao Translator that can convert Chinese voice to Turkish voice and vice versa. We have relied on this to communicate many times.

weather

It was always sunny at the end of September and the beginning of October, with a big temperature difference between morning and evening. We wore shorts and shorts during the day, and the sun was around 28-30 degrees Celsius, while at night it was around 10 degrees Celsius. If you ride in a hot air balloon, the temperature will be even lower.

It was very, very very sunny, so be sure to bring body sunscreen. I was so tanned in Pamukkale that I was so tanned when I came back. A very important thing - the Turkish Museum pass.

This card costs 375 liras and has a 15-day validity. The time starts from the first use. This card can be used at all state-owned attractions in Turkey.

We can use this in Goreme Open Air Museum, Underground City, Ancient City of Ephesus, Ephesus Archaeological Museum, Pamukkale, Hagia Sophia, Old Royal Palace, etc. Most of these places are in the 60-100 range. For tickets, just go to a few and get your money back.

In addition, there are Istanbul Museum Pass and Cappadocia Museum Pass, which have different time periods and different prices. They are all relatively cost-effective. You can choose according to your own needs. The only disadvantage of this card is that you can only enter one attraction. Once, cannot enter and exit repeatedly.

journey

Because we are not good at driving, and we only have 10 days, we gave up the self-driving tour along the Aegean Sea and chose Istanbul==》Goreme==》Selcuk= =》Pamukkale==》Istanbul Such a route.

The reason why we go around in such a circle is that the traditional ring line basically arranges the night bus from Goreme to Antalya. We, a group of middle-aged health party members, really don’t have the energy to take the night bus, so we basically choose planes and trains.

The approximate time schedule is as follows:

Day 1 Chengdu==》Istanbul==》Goreme (Nevsehir Airport), stay in Goreme

In fact, 3 hours here is enough for connecting flights, but we did not choose a suitable ticket and stayed at the airport for more than 5 hours. It is worth noting that:

1. There are two airports in Istanbul. The new airport is in the European area, about 40 kilometers away from the old city (that is, the area with the most concentrated attractions). There is also an airport in the Asian area called Sabiha Gokcen Airport (this name It’s really too long (just remember to call it SAW for short), and it’s about 30-40 kilometers away from the old city.

There is also an old airport in the European Zone, which was decommissioned in April this year. If you need to transfer, remember to buy your tickets at the same airport. Public transportation from the Asia Airport to the old city is also very urgent. If you can choose a new airport, try to choose a new airport.

2. Goreme also has two airports, one is Nevsehir Airport and the other is Kayseri Airport. Nevsehir Airport is relatively close by about half an hour's drive, but there are basically only flights from Istanbul to and from Nevsehir. Flights to other cities have to go to Kayseri Airport, which is a little more than an hour away from Goreme.

From Nevsehir Airport to Goreme, we were picked up by the minibus we chose on 马云. It cost 45 yuan per person and delivered to the door of the hotel.

Goreme is a small town in the Cappadocia region, where you can take hot air balloon rides and stay in cave hotels. We have reserved 2 mornings here. Whether or not the hot air balloon can fly depends on luck.

We took the ride on the first morning and took pictures of hot air balloons in the town on the second morning, but in fact, the hot air balloon time for both days was only counted as winning the lottery.

The sun had already risen for more than half an hour when the hot air balloon ascended on the first day. The hot air balloon started to rise when it was sunrise on the second day, but there were too many clouds and there was no first ray of sunshine in the morning on the hot air balloon. That sense of light~ Anyway, it’s pretty good once you sit on it.

The next day I took a hot air balloon ride in the morning, and during the day I chose Jack Ma to charter a car to visit the mixed red and green line attractions in Goreme, and stayed in Goreme. The red line and the green line are two classic lines in Goreme. The red line is basically the closest attractions around the town of Goreme.

The Green Line is probably about some attractions in the area about an hour's drive from Goreme. We compared it and finally decided to go to for one day of mixed tours and leave one day for sightseeing by ourselves. The more recommended attractions are the Underground City, Uchisasil Castle (the commanding heights of Cappadocia), Goreme Open Air Museum, Fairy Chimneys, etc.

We asked the hotel to book the hot air balloon, 140 euros per person, from the voyager company, which is not the two largest companies, Butterfly and Royal, but not bad (mainly because it is cheap!! Butterfly and Royal at the same time cost 2000-2200 on Taobao RMB! Too expensive).

Four people rented a car for 810 yuan a day. The driver was given lunch at noon, and the restaurant charged 100 lire (which was regarded as a tip in disguise). The driver basically followed the designated route, but you can also request it yourself. What I want to complain about is that the driver's English is really bad and he can't communicate on the phone at all. In the end, he asked customer service to help communicate.

You can also choose to join a one-day tour group or rent a car here. There are many travel companies in the center of Goreme town that can book group tours, rental cars and chartered cars. These can also be booked on Taobao, but they may be slightly more expensive.

As an aside, Uchisasil Castle cannot go up the mountain because external vehicles are not allowed, so you usually drive to a location behind it to take pictures and then leave.

We didn't communicate well with the driver at that time, so we thought that we were going to the top of the mountain in the itinerary, so we walked for more than half an hour under the scorching sun before reaching the top of the mountain. Halfway through, the driver called us and found that we couldn't communicate at all, so we had to stop the car. Waiting for us there.

Like most of the cave buildings in the Kapa area, Uchisasir Castle is a castle dug out of the top of a hill. Now many hotels have been built along the mountain around the castle, which has also formed a lively tourist attraction. small town.

You can also consider staying here when visiting the Kappa area. The advantage is that the view and scenery are very good. The disadvantage is that it is far away from the place where you can take hot air balloons, and it is inconvenient to take photos of hot air balloons.

Let’s take some hot air balloon photos~

Goreme at night.

I originally took a lot of night scenes, but the wind was too strong at night and the tripod shook and most of the shots were blurred. . Disheartened. . .

For accommodation in Goreme, it is recommended to stay on the slopes on the west and southwest sides of the town. Most of the famous photos of Cappadocia that can be seen on the Internet were taken in this area.

The Amber Cave Hotel we stayed in has a more cave-like feel, but it lacks an Internet celebrity terrace and the angle is not very suitable for shooting hot air balloons. The advantage is that it is only a 5-minute walk from the sunset viewing platform in Goreme Town.

It’s really impossible to take pictures of stars in Goreme. The light pollution in the town is too serious. Unless you rent a car and drive yourself, you can consider driving farther away to find the iconic fairy chimney landscape as a foreground.

There is also a famous carpet hotel in Goreme town. You can go in and take photos for 30 li. The store also rents out drones to help you take pictures of the most popular bird's eye view. We didn't go there because we were playing too slowly. Go inside and take photos.