World Traveller: 7 Continents, 90 Countries, 871 Days Overseas
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Thursday 11 May 2023.
Highlights: Mountain hiking in Chong-Kemin, Learning about Felt making, exploring Yurt camp, visiting Issyk-Kul Lake.
Today we started with a 2 hour 20 minute hike in the mountains surrounding our accommodation. The local dog shepherded us for the entire time and got some cattle off our hiking trail.
The views were stunning and breathtaking.
Wednesday 10 May 2023
Highlights: Bishkek Bazaar, Victory Square, Changing of the Guard, Imam Sarahsi Bishkek Central Mosque, Dungan homemade lunch, Burana Tower, the Beautiful Mountain Ranges.
The first full day of this new tour and our CEO IIyas Zamanov had us leaving at 8 am to allow us time to visit the Bishkek Bazaar before exploring the city further. The Bazaar sells almost everything you can imagine that a local can make (i.e. not many imports) this includes horse meat, various breads, cheeses, and tobacco based products. An interesting place that I imagine gets busy during the day.
Tuesday 09 May 2023
Highlights: Arriving safely in Kyrgyzstan, Victory Day celebrations in Ala-Too Square, Exploring Bishkek
My flight (review here) from Istanbul safely arrived 5.23 am and after a lengthy Border Control delay I was reunited with my bag, the happiness on seeing your bag in a foreign country is very pure 🙂 The booked transport was interesting as the drive dropped me off half way to the hotel and put me in another car, my booked transfers never go simple.
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Turkish Airlines
Date: Monday 08 May 2023
Gate: F8A
Seat: 14A (Exit Row Window Economy Class Seat)
Plane: Airbus A321neo
Boarded: 20:52
Pushback: 21:16 (Scheduled 20:40)
Arrived: 05:23 (Scheduled 04:45)
Duration: 5 hour 7 minutes
Distance: 3,736 kms
This flight was from Istanbul Airport to Manas International Airport (Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan)
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Monday 08 May 2023
Highlights: Egyptian Spice Bazaar, The New Mosque (1665)
Tonight I had a plane to catch to get to Kyrgyzstan and begin my Five Stans of the Silk Road tour but that still left a little time for more exploring of Istanbul.
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Tour Title: Best of Turkey
Tour Company: G Adventures
Tour Leader: Isik
Cities Visited: Istanbul, Gallipoli, Çanakkale, Ayvalık, Selçuk, Pamukkale
Countries Visited: Türkiye
Dates: 30 April 2023 to 07 May 2023 (Duration 8 days)
Tour Type: Classic – Tour Itinerary (PDF)
Journal Entries
Sunday 07 May 2023
Highlights: Exploring less visited areas of Istanbul, visiting Tekfur Palace, Cruising the Bosphorus Strait
Today was the final official day of the G Adventures ‘Best of Turkey’ tour, which really is normally just an included breakfast but today I had booked an extra option the Alternative Istanbul Walking Tour and Bosphorus Cruise which goes for about 8 hours. I had hoped to do this option before the main tour but my flights got pushed back and didn’t have the time so insteaded scheduled for today.
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Saturday 06 May 2023
Highlights: Exploring the Basilica Cistern, Visiting the Grand Bazaar
A 5 am wake up call plus the local call to prayers had everyone ready for today’s early morning start. Leaving after breakfast at 6.15 am we were on the road for a 50-60 minute drive to nearby Denizli Çardak Airport. What we didn’t know is that our 8.20 am flight (see review here) wouldn’t leave until 10.30 am meaning extra sleep in time was missed.
The worst thing about the Istanbul Airport is it is about an hour out from the city, especially the old district that we are staying in. As a result despite landing at 11.39 am it took us almost to 1.30 pm to get to our hotel. We had an included 3 hour orientation walk of the historic district but everyone decided against it in order to do activities that had planned for the afternoon before we lost so much time. We so many people leaving tomorrow this was their last chance to visit particular places.
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Turkish Airlines
Date: Saturday 06 May 2023
Gate: 2
Seat: 25A (Economy Class Seat)
Plane: Boeing 737-800
Scheduled: 08:20
Boarded: 10:12
Pushback: 10:33
Arrived: 11:39 (Scheduled 09:35)
Duration: 1 hour 6 minutes
Distance: 396 kms
This flight was from Denizli Çardak Airport to Istanbul Airport.
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Friday 05 May 2023
Highlights: Hierapolis Ruins, White travertine terraces, Cleopatra Antique Pool, Whirling Dervishes Ceremony
How last big drive day was to take between 3-4 hours and it happened to be in the rain which all things considered is lucky as we are safe inside the mini bus. We had lunch on arrival at Pamukkale, checked in to our hotel and for changed for our visit to the Hierapolis Ruins.
Hierapolis (Holy City) has been used as a spa since at least the 2nd century BC as a Greek city. The area is famous for the travertine limestone deposited by the hot springs. In 133 BC that area transferred to the control of the Romans. The Hierapolis experience two major earthquakes in 17 and 60 AD leading to being rebuilt into Roman style which today’s ruins represent.
Nathan's Insights 