To celebrate a special occasion, my family and I took a trip to Türkiye for a cultural holiday with the added bonus of some autumn sunshine. We started with a few nights in Istanbul, a historically pivotal location where Europe meets Asia, now a sprawling metropolis with some of the world’s most famous landmarks. Staying in the Sultanahmet district, we were in walking distance of the Blue Mosque, Hagia Sophia, the Hippodrome, Topkapi Palace and both the Grand and Egyptian Bazaars.
We made sure to explore them all, taking in all the colours, scents and breathtaking architecture. Remembering to look up in Istanbul is a must – I have never seen so many beautiful ceilings and mosaic details in one place.
Though not strictly by the sea, Istanbul has a coastal, Mediterranean feel too, which you can fully enjoy on a boat tour or a simple ferry trip over to the Asian side for a closer view of the Maiden’s Tower and some fresh fish
sandwiches. You may even be lucky enough, as we were, to see dolphins in the Bosphorus.
After the bustle of Istanbul, we flew to Cappadocia to explore a completely different landscape. Seeing the ancient Fairy Chimneys, cave dwellings and Göreme Open Air Museum, watching the hot air balloons at sunrise,
walking through the peaceful Red Valley, and visiting the underground city of Kaymakli gave us all a sense of being somewhere otherworldly. I had never seen a landscape quite so unique, with traces of human civilisation
and ingenuity dating back thousands of years – it’s a truly remarkable place.
The magnitude of history and sites to see in these two locations could easily have become overwhelming and a logistical challenge, as there was so much we wanted to see in a relatively short time. However, that stress was removed with the help of our wonderful private guides, who proved to be completely invaluable to our experience. In Türkiye in particular, monuments and museums more often than not have no signage to explain
provenance or context, so without our guides, a lot of the amazing stories would have passed us by. Our full-day guided tour to take in all the sites of the Sultanahmet was seamless, as we were led from one incredible
monument to the next, avoiding the worst of the crowds. In Cappadocia the story was the same, as our guide and driver escorted us across the breadth of the region, full of expert knowledge on the sites as well as
recommendations for places to enjoy lunch, an Anatolian wine, or a little extra site that the large tour groups or independent travellers would miss. I know for certain we would not have enjoyed our experience nearly as much as we did if we had to navigate all of this ourselves, and I would wholly recommend the private guiding experience to anyone. I only wish I’d been able to stay longer and continue to enjoy the wonderful Turkish
hospitality!
