Turkey
 

who's been?

going on Aug 20th for a couple weeks.

family has booked a 7days liveaboard cruise along the cost. Plan on hitting up Cappadocia and a few of the other major locations before hand.

Any must see or do's in Istanbul or the rest of the country?

Went in 2011, things could be drastically different now but I really enjoyed my time there. It's a beautiful country and the people are super friendly. Food is tasty but can be a bit monotonous at times since it seems like only Turkish food is available anywhere. Transportation is easy and cheap. Accommodations good quality and cheap

Istanbul is amazing. Truly one of the great cities of the world. 4 days minimum

Hit up the Black Sea coast - especially a town called Amasra. Talked to a local guy on a bus and he told me we just had to go there. It's a bit off the beaten track for foreign tourists but it's absolutely gorgeous and one of our favorite places.

Ankara is interesting for maybe a day or so to see Ataturk's tomb but it's a good stopover point to break up your trip to Cappadoccia

Cappadoccia - lots of stuff to hike thru, balloon rides (didn't do), also very touristy.

Med Coast - Rented a car and drove from Antalya to Kusadasi. Lots of cool beach towns along the way peppered with Greco-Roman ruins. Don't miss Ephesus, which is the largest Roman city in Turkey. Take a sail boat ride along the coast to see more partially sunken ruins and caves.

Also Pamukkale is pretty cool - you can swim amongst ruins and the salt travertines.

And that's just on the Western side of the country. If I remember anything else I'll add more. Man I gotta go back and check out the Eastern half of the country!

Cappadocia is the only reason I want to go there, add some crazy pics to my collention

Not sure what your photo collection consists of but if you break it down, it's really just a lot of dick shaped rocks.

https://www.viaurbis.com/wp-content/...nformation.png

sweet thanks.

we're in istanbul for a couple days on each end of the trip. the main reason we're going is for the 7 day cruise so going to see a good amount of the west coast. been watching some travel videos on youtube and getting pretty excited

Any special visas or applications required to enter Turkey?

Visa on arrival for Canadians when I went.

Looks like an e-visa now
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Visa_r...adian_citizens

yup we did that a while ago, was approved instantly

That's good to hear.

I had to apply for a visa for China and India and both were not a fun experience.

Russia (pre-war obvs.) was the worst in terms of nitpickiness but I paid a visa agency to do it for me so it was painless for me since they walked me through it

Worst was Brazil, they ask for bank account balances, employment verification. None of it is really needed they just want to stick t to Canadians since we do that to their citizens who want to come here

just got home...pretty cool country.

istanbul is an crazy city.

Cappadocia was amazing, the hot air ballon ride was unreal

Pamukkale was meh

the week on the water was amazing crusing up and down the coast. stopped at knidos, pretty cool ruins

Ephesus was really cool

lots more

^ friend just returned about a week ago and he said, no matter how many 4K travel videos you watch on Youtube of this part of the world ... he was still in awe when he saw it in person !!! So much history and culture.

ya the mosques and palaces in istanbul where underal.

the dolmabahçe palace was really cool, unfortunately they don't allow pictures (although lots of people still were) there main hall/room was unreal, one of the single coolest rooms i've even been in and i've travelled alot.

the balloon ride was fucking magic. i was worried were were leaving later (other balloons up and gone) but we were timed just right to have a ton of balloons ahead (great for photos) and with the sun coming up and balloons behind. ssooo cool.

https://move2turkey.com/dolmabahce-p...s-and-sultans/

3rd photo down. doesn't even remotely do it justice

I will fight you on this opinion!

Might be because when I was there it was full of Eastern European chicks in thong bikinis LUL

lol ya only one or two decent chicks when i was there.

also there wasn't a ton of water running over the pools etc

i could see with more water it being FAR more impressive.

too bad they've controlled the water but that's long done.