Turkish Tour - from Bodrum to Cappadocia and more
An article by Des Hewitt
Since moving to Turkey six years ago Diane and I have planned to do some kind of tour of Turkey taking in Cappadocia as our main destination. We finally got the map out, decided our route, got our good friends and neighbours, Chris and Betty on board, packed the Terios to the roof with enough clothes to last us a year and off we went.
Our plan was to visit friends on the way, so from Bodrum we aimed for Denizli which was going to be our first stop for breakfast passing via Milas, Yatağan, Muğla on the way. After breakfast outside Denizli we aimed for Afyon where we stopped to say hello to Ibrahim from Morgul Antik restaurant`s mother and family. After being treated to typical Turkish hospitality and full of tea we parked up near Afyon castle, decided it was too high to walk up to so looked for overnight lodgings instead but everything was in excess of 150TL so we moved on planning to stay somewhere along the route to Ankara. Bad mistake, we found nothing but rolling landscape till we got to Sivrihisar where we eventually found a small Belediye pension without a name, quaintly disguised as a derelict school with buses in the car park and empty shops below. As it was now getting dark we walked into town for a bite to eat. We found a little döner place where we had mixed grill, salad, pides and pizza for four persons for 26TL total. Pity it was a dry town though....
Day 2 saw us heading for Ankara where we intended to take a bypass through to Emirdağ and onwards to Alaca. Second mistake, the bypass was closed so we had to drive through Ankara. That put another 10 years on my life. At this stage I would advise anyone doing a similar trip to turn off at Polatlı and aim for Kırıkkale. Farther but has to be less stressful! Our route now took us through Delice and Sungurlu to Boğazkale which is fairly central for the Hittite sites at Hattuşaş and Alacahöyük both of which have to be seen. Both sites have museums and are big enough not to be tripping over the coachloads of tourists. We spent days 3, 4 and 5 here staying at the Aşıkoğlu hotel in Boğazkale in their faux Hittite house rooms. We met one of our lifelong Turkish friends here and had a great BBQ at his parent`s house along with other friends from Bodrum who live in this area. If you ever go to the Alacahöyük site then go see our friend Tarkan in the little café opposite the entrance. You will be made most welcome and he is a mine of information.
Day 6 saw us on the way to Cappadocia via Yozgat. Not a lot to see until Avanos when you are entering Cappadocia. We aimed for Göreme and found a lovely little cave hotel called Dream cave on the outskirts where we spent every morning sat on the terrace having breakfast and watching the balloons take off over the valley. Did the same most evenings as well watching them land whilst supping cold Efes... The town is full of bars, restaurants, pensions and tat shops and is a great place to stroll in the evenings.
The tourist information bureau in the town will supply you with all the info you need for the sights in the area and there are a few. We visited Ürgüp, Zelve, Uchisar castle and the Ihlara valley walk. Be prepared for the valley walk, its deep and very hot in places. We were a little disappointed with the amount of rubbish here. There are so many museums, churches and underground cities to see here, too many to mention, you need more than a couple of days! We stayed here for days 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10 then took off for Nevşehir, Aksaray, and Konya finally stopping at Yalvaç in the Hotel Psidia for the night of day 11. Between Konya and Yalvaç are the Beyşehir and Eğirdir lakes which have to be the most stunning blue stretches of water I have ever seen outside of the Caribbean. Day 12 we made good time to Denizli and Pamukkale where we booked into the Sinter Terasse Hotel for the night in Pamukkale itself. This time of year sees huge amounts of tourists in the area which tended to be off putting but the actual site is huge with ruins to see apart from the cotton pools and Cleopatras pool. The damage to some of the northern pools is sad to see but at least the authorities are trying to renovate them. The next day and 2626.4km later home, shower and a cold beer in town. Unfortunately my camera packed up in Cappadocia and our friends left theirs at home so you need to go see for yourself. You won`t be disappointed.
If anyone fancies the trip and needs in depth info, where to stay etc… then please feel free to contact me via This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .